Taken Away (1)

"I don't need you to purchase anything for me," I pulled Sparky out.

"This is Sparky. She lives off fire," I introduced my pet.

Unexpectedly, William's eyes went large, his entire face nearly freezing, eventually twisting into horror. Legendary familiars were easier to raise than normal pets like dogs or cats. Until they hatched, which would take forever, they didn't move around. In addition to the advantage of being able to put them inside your inventory when you had to carry them around. To convince William my pet behaved well, I threw some fireballs towards Sparky.

Like before, Sparkly pulled herself upwards to gobble the fire, almost like a dog doing tricks. However, she wanted more fireballs since I had starved her for three days, and twisted towards me. I sighed as I ended up draining more than sixteenth of my mana supply to fill her stomach. I had to procure a decent fireplace soon. As William slowly recovered, he mumbled, "we have to hide this from your mother."

"This is a dangerous egg of a familiar. I don't have a choice but to help you take care of it," he sighed.

"It's really fine. I can take care of Sparky by myself. Before our deal, I had to raise it in secret and I probably have more experience than you do. I took care of the same plant to help my friend in elementary school," I declined his offer.

"How long have you completely taken care of your familiar by yourself?" William became serious.

"Around three days?" I counted.

"You were sleeping for three days," he pointed out.

"A few hours before I got kidnapped," I hesitantly revealed.

"You can't take care of this dangerous creature by yourself. I will help you hide and take care of your familiar as long as you listen to us," he applied new terms.

"I'm sure your wife won't mind. I can talk to her," I offered.

"Your mother hates pets much more than I do," William disagreed.

Joanna was a reasonable person. She held a grudge against her husband since he pushed more work onto her. William was loyal to his family to the point he couldn't refuse the work from his parents. Joanna was more sensitive than others due to constantly being pressured with endless tight deadlines. It was obvious she would hate pets because it would add more work onto her plate.

"I won't reveal Sparky until your wife agrees. So can you put that fireplace on after I place Sparky inside?" I began to sweep the hearth.

"You're planning to feed your familiar this way," he caught my hint.

"These plants only attack people when they're hungry," I nodded.

I carefully placed Sparky on the charcoal, behind the lovely decorated glass covering the front. Thankfully, Sparky didn't move, and was satisfied from her recent meal. I knew how sharp her teeth could be when I saw how Ethan nearly got bitten from Sprinkles. After I dusted my hands, William activated the fireplace, proposing, "I can bar the entrance to this room."

"Whatever works," I didn't mind.

I was interrupted when Sparky started to greedily munch on the newly created fire, exposing its endless appetite. William was equally surprised, and adjusted the power to its highest, creating blazing blue and purple fires inside the fireplace. It was like Sparky would never become satisfied. I slightly shuddered as Sparky matched the speed of the fire coming out. At least she would never go hungry at this rate.

"We can visit another villa with a volcano nearby soon," William recommended a food source.

"Aren't you busy?" I wondered.

"We're dealing with a dangerous familiar. If you don't feed it enough, it can attack us," he believed me.

I sleepily nodded, and my vision got blurrier, nearly rolling my eyes with the side effects kicking in. As my body rocked back and forth, it stopped when William began carrying me towards the bedroom. My eyes drowsily closed as he returned me to my original position in the large bed. Unfortunately making me replace the pillow Luke was clutching onto from my absence. Why was I always in the middle of these stuffy beds?

The next morning, I slightly opened my eyes, discovering the wide bed was completely empty. Other than me occupying its space, Luke continued to shake me as usual. I stretched my arms and groaned, "what time is it?"

"It's time for lunch, we're a little late," Luke checked his marble.

"Can't you let me sleep in?" I slipped deeper into the blanket.

"Your parents are waiting for you to join them. Today is the day they're visiting us," he started to pull me.

"I'm coming," I staggered towards the door.

"Wear this," Luke passed me a dress.

Like usual, the servants helped me change clothes, working on making me more presentable. This family was always strict about the dress code, regardless if guests were present. After my appearance was polished, I was pushed out of the room, eventually getting dragged to the dining room. As Luke urged me to sit down at my seat, I couldn't stop standing to stare at grandma sitting beside my parents. Wasn't their relationship supposed to be bad after the hair incident? There had to be something I didn't know going on.

"Rika, sit down. We've been waiting for you to start our meal," William interrupted my thoughts.

I hid my confusion, and silently began to eat my meal to keep my end of the deal. There was a chance William may take Sparky away if my performance wasn't satisfactory. I kept my head low, and didn't complain as usual, noticing the hostile atmosphere. Instead of making any conversations, both Joanna and William were cold, and placed their entire attention on their food. It was these times I was one second away from being sent to the tutors, making me thankful I wasn't in the first district. Normally, they would be more hospitable to the guests, making small talk.

As time seemed to slow down, my eyes brightened when the desserts finally arrived. I could escape from this place soon! My mood improved as the menu was more generous than usual, serving larger slices of strawberry shortcakes. Only stopping and dropping my spoon when my mom interrupted me, "what do you think of breaking your engagement with this family?"

I almost choked on my cake, and Luke patted my back, and passed warm milk tea to help me. My hands unconsciously accepted his offer, not believing my mom's words. Although Luke hid many things from me, he never lied to me before. Did my parents not know the contract they signed with Luke's family? It was strange, my parents discovering my engagement with him through me in the first place.

However, it was a good opportunity to break this horrible engagement and escape from the Roselia family. As I placed my teacup down, I began to open my mouth, but soon closed it again. It was better to pretend I didn't hear anything, noticing Luke's parents no longer appearing tolerant. I slightly shuddered from their eyes glinting with anger, more extreme than the times they lectured me. Especially with Joanna tightly gripping onto her teacup, her hand nearly shaking.

"I finished everything," I whispered.

I tugged Luke's sleeve, wanting to escape from this seat. I had to act cautiously, knowing one mistake could bring irreversible consequences. Luke's parents would definitely not let me go. Joanna spent a great effort on my education with Logan to ensure her workload would decrease in the future. Meanwhile, William would equally get into trouble with Logan. There was always a chance to let my parents know a better way to approach Luke's parents later on. Fortunately, my family remained as if they disapproved of this engagement continuing.

"Our parents didn't excuse us from the dining table yet," Luke frostily answered.

My hopes shattered, noticing Luke resembled his parents, holding back from exploding. Turning to Alex for some help, I began to cry inside my heart when he joined the fuming party. It was up to me to kiss-up to these people to escape from here. Mustering the courage to leave my seat, I ran to Joanna. Once she turned to me, I plastered on the most innocent expression I possessed, pretending I didn't have a hint on what was going on.

"Mother?" I slightly whined.

Joanna was usually quick in catching any acts, meaning she would easily know I wanted to leave. But my eyes went large as she unexpectedly reached out her arms to place me in her lap instead. I thought she hated skinship, always maintaining a fixed distance from others. And my weight was heavy for her, even when I was small compared to others. Maybe I should have never left my seat, I was in a worse situation than before.

"Is there anything you want Rika?" Joanna sweetly faced me.

What act was Joanna putting on now? She was never loving and caring unless it benefited her. I was close to rolling my eyes. Until I realized I could use this situation to my advantage. With my parents here, she could approve raising Sparky if I was persistent enough. I began to pull out my saddest puppy face, "Rika wants to raise a pet. She promises she won't ask for any help from you."

I gulped when Joanna's eyes briefly flickered with irritation, thinking along the same lines as William. Her answer was very similar, "you're not ready to take care of another living being. It's a huge responsibility. We can have this talk when you're older."

"Luke says he'll help Rika," I lied.

"I didn't, I don't have the time," Luke instantly denied.

It was my mistake for bringing Luke into this discussion. Unlike Joanna and William, he despised pets since he believed they were unclean. In addition to the fact he knew I was talking about a familiar instead of a normal pet. It was back to the reasoning route to convince Joanna.

"I promise I'll listen to the tutors and study harder. I'll finish my meals without complaining," I hinted at the benefits.

"I won't add any work onto your plate. I can prove it to you if you don't believe me," I suggested a trial period.

"You don't have to ask them Rika. You can raise a pet at our house when you start living with us again," my mom interrupted us.

"Really?" My eyes sparkled.

Why didn't I have my parents meet with Luke's sooner? I could have used them as a shield against Luke's strict parents. I realized when Joanna didn't have a choice but to give into me. However, there was a hint of warning in her words, meaning this deal wasn't completely solid.

"One week Rika. That's the time period I'll be using to watch you take care of your pet on your own. We can go over the details when our guests are gone," Joanna sighed.