250 Found Sleeping Beauty (1)

I clung onto Luke's arm as I was on the steps leading to Ben's mansion. Although my sudden disappearance almost caused chaos yesterday, no one had any time to linger on the issue. Instead, Belle and Lucius sent Luke and I back to the Roselia family mansion, taking care of the rest of the preparations by themselves. As the fraction leader, Ben's mansion was open again for the first half of the week.

My pastel pink dress had a tumbling number of roses near the ends of my skirt. It perfectly suited the flower theme that the neutral fraction had. Even my hair was decorated with large white roses intertwined together to create a hair band. But unknown to anyone, under my puffy dress was where there were small daggers attached to my leg with a shiny white ribbon.

It took hours to get to my current state as the sun didn't even rise when the servants came into my room to help me get ready. Meaning there was no time for breakfast when I also had to skip dinner yesterday from my disappearance. My stomach grumbled as I felt lightheaded from the hunger. When I stepped into the ballroom, there was no dessert table as I had predicted. They only served lunch last year which meant that it was likely they were going to the same this year.

There were only waiters, standing around to serve some familiar drinks. One of my eyebrows raised in suspicion as these were the drinks that almost landed Sienna and I in trouble. Maybe it wouldn't be bad to substitute for my breakfast.

"It's safe, we properly tested them out this time," Sienna slightly wobbled towards me.

I grabbed a drink from the tray to energize myself for the rest of the day. It was likely we wouldn't be having lunch here since we would already be attending another event for Luke's fraction. Sienna's hammered posture was slightly faltering as she wore thin heels to match her dress sprawling out like petals from a dahlia.

"Is this what you've been busy with?" I took some sips.

Sienna nodded as she took a drink for herself. Normally, I would be helping her with developing the drinks, but after I left the internal affairs of the neutral fraction to Luke, Sienna was pushed to do my part as well. Meanwhile, Luke took over the other work, placing more orders to decorate the ballroom with more extravagant flowers.

I apologetically smiled at Sienna before she became busy with checking the last-minute details. I sat down on a chair, leaving Luke's arm, feeling lethargic from drinking the beverage on an empty stomach. Why were there no signs of food anywhere?

"Ben!" I rushed towards him before the event opened.

"Why isn't there any food anywhere?" I slid in front of him, interrupting him from ordering the servants.

"You know how we plan to serve the guests during lunchtime," Ben waved to the servants to leave him.

"Is there an extra plate from the food prepared for lunch? I can't skip lunch, dinner and breakfast," I grabbed both his hands.

"Please?" I pulled out my pitiful eyes.

"I'll have to ask the servants in the kitchen," Ben called for another servant.

I didn't know how Luke was still alive when I never saw the sight of him eating. But I knew I wouldn't be able to survive for the rest of the day without a decent meal. Luke noticed Ben ordering some plates of food for me and joined our conversation.

"I apologize, but it's been a long day yesterday. We recently joined another fraction, which didn't let us have any time for breaks in between," Luke asked for another plate of food for himself.

"Which fraction?" Ben led us towards the same blue room as last year.

The table was set like a full lunch course. I grabbed a spoon and inhaled all the food in front of me, spending no time on a conversation like Luke did with Ben while he ate his meal. While he talked with Ben, he sliced the fruits and meat. When Ben talked in response, he elegantly emptied his plate at a scary pace.

"The fraction currently led by the Mizuki family," Luke multitasked.

"Isn't that your family's rival fraction?" Ben seemed a bit surprised.

Luke nodded, taking the chance to take another bite. Without even noticing, I realized Luke had eaten some of my portion when I finally gained some awareness of what was going on. I stopped eating, letting Luke eat the rest since I was somewhat full anyways. In less than ten minutes, the table full of food was empty with the servants taking away the finished plates.

"It wasn't a bad deal," Luke got up from his chair.

"Rika was already close to some of the members, so they wanted us to join," Luke hinted it was like how we joined the neutral fraction.

Yes. It wasn't a bad deal how Haruka left our room, looking almost dead, helping with the non-confidential work given by the neutral fraction. Ben slightly nodded his head, understanding what the rival fraction must have gone through.

The problem was, after eating with a prolonged lack of sleep, it was hard to not feel sleepy. I pushed most of my weight to Luke as we returned to the ballroom. I raised my head when the grand doors opened to indicate the event was finally starting. Ben and Alice stood near the entrance, waiting for guests to come.