13 years had passed since then.

Lilia grew to be an upstanding young lady.

With her father'guidance, she became a great merchant herself. She helped her father expand their business in many areas in the city and as well as trading goods with other countries.

Although her father still forbids her from going out on her own. So, he hired his daughter two personal guards. Whenever Lilia goes outside, those two would always be beside her.

As for Roosevelt, she decided to serve Lilia in the end. Once the week had passed she was immediately sent for training as a maid Lilia's father's old friend's home. With her consent of course.

There she learned proper etiquette and how a maid should act towards their master, how to properly greet and treat a guest and so on.

She stayed there for 2 months. Needless to say that Lilia felt lonely in those two months. So when Roosevelt came home, she was jumped by a crying Lilia and forced to play with her for a few days after that.

For the 9-year-old Roosevelt, the training she had gone through didn't properly sink in yet but as she grew older, her behavior became more mature and elegant, befitting the behavior of a maid. Or rather, that's what Lilia's father thinks.

Lilia didn't dislike this change but she misses the old shy cat Roosevelt she met back when she was still a child.

During those 13 years, her father continued the investigation of his missing family members and just recently did he get a clue regarding the incident.

Further investigation revealed that the one who's behind it was none other than the 3-time consecutive mayor of the city.

In his anger, he accused the mayor of being responsible for the kidnappings in the past 15 years.

He possesses solid evidence that even someone in favor of the mayor would immediately change their mind. He was confident of his victory.

But unfortunately, the mayor was found not guilty due to the evidence being so outstretched, or so they say. Lilia's father found it ridiculous. He had never heard of such a thing. Upon looking at the other's reaction, they didn't look like they found anything wrong about it. He has a bad feeling about this.

Days later after that, he learned that he was accused by the mayor of slander.

From that, his fears became real. Corruption had taken root in the government. It went so deep that even if the mayor were to kill a bystander on the street in the middle of the day, the court would rule it as the bystander being a long time serial killer or something and the mayor simply doing justice.

And if any opposition were to arise, Lilia's father is sure that he would be able to shut them up.

Lilia's father is sure that this case wouldn't just result in him being thrown into prison.

From the things that he learned in his investigation, what the mayor orchestrated wasn't simply kidnapping for ransom. It went much more horrid than that. The ones who were kidnapped were sold as slaves on the black market. Even worse, these slaves' soul was bounded by a curse. This curse prevents them from going against the one who claimed ownership of their soul.

Two of these slaves were Lilia's father's mother and wife. From the investigation, he found that they were sold to a wicked noble in another country with a habit of dismembering slaves. After only 9 days have passed since the two were sold to the noble, they were found dead and disposed of according to the report. This happened 14 years ago.

This time he couldn't get angry but simply afraid for his daughter's safety. If he gets thrown into prison then a fate worse than death would befall on his daughter and Roosevelt.

Because of that, he sent them out of the city and told them to head to the capital. In the capital, Ronoa, they could safely report the mayor and the others that are involved out of the mayor's corruption's reach.

But along the way, they were hunted down by a group of assassins. Lilia's two guards whom she had been together with for 5 years had fallen easily from the assassins' blade.

But just when their hopes are lost, a girl with long black hair and ghost-like pale skin had swooped down between them and the assassins. They couldn't muster up the voice to tell the girl to run away so they simply kept quiet, waiting to see another person get killed in front of them.

But contrary to their expectations, it wasn't just one that was killed but four. The four assassins, which they feared for, had their heads detached from their bodies. A fountain of blood spurted out from each of their bodies.

It was an unbelievable scene. A girl smaller than them had dealt with those assassins in a short time. But what was more unbelievable was the fact that the girl drank the blood from one of the bodies.

She's a monster, they thought. It's obvious that they're next.

But even after an hour has passed, the girl didn't do anything to them.

It's as if the girl is waiting for them.

Then the sunset came and from that point, the girl moved from her position and headed for their carriage.

Could she be aiming for the evidence all along!? That thought raced through in Lilia's head and instinctively tried to stop the girl from going any further, but Roosevelt held her back.

Roosevelt believed that this girl would sooner or later kill them. She's merely toying with them now so they had to find a way to escape without the girl knowing.

Such suspicious thoughts jumbled in their heads but contrary to their suspicions, the girl is simply trying to find something to light a fire with.

The girl then tossed them a fire scroll. Both Roosevelt and Lila are confused as to what's going on.

When Lilia looked up the sky, she finally realized that it was beginning to turn dark.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She finally understood what the girl meant. It's to make a fire because it was turning night.

Once the fire was made and the cold night became closer, Lilia invited the girl. For obvious reasons, Roosevelt was against the idea.

But the girl didn't do anything. Not even when they fell asleep. The girl simply laid between them and that was all.

The girl came with them as well. Not only did she pull the carriage single-handedly, but she would also hunt down small rabbits for them to eat.

Lilia thought that she was a good child.

Her background is a mystery and as well as to what race she belongs to. Her pale skin cancels out many other possible candidates. But from what they've observed, she is simply a child. Curious about the world.

For Roosevelt, her top priority is the safety of Lilia. It wasn't because of her responsibilities as her personal maid but it was because Lilia is simply an important person to her.

So for the time they've been together, she'd been quietly observing the pale girl. Looking for any signs that indicate her hostility towards them but she found no such signs from her. The most the child did was to stare at them for long periods of time and the fact that she would snuggle between Lilia and her at night.

From the last bit, when she thought of it, she guessed that Lilia might have been right. That she's simply a little girl, wanting to have someone that she can be with.

She then thought of the time when Lilia and she were still children. Maybe it was like that, She thought.

Then, another group of assassins came after them. No, they were more like bandits than anything.

A tall muscular man stepped forward, pronouncing to them that he was the leader. As expected, this group was hired by the mayor.

There was no way they would be able to get out of here. The moment when the pale girl had saved them, it was simply on a whim, she convinced herself.

There was no way that the girl would save them again. Even if she did, surely she wouldn't be a match with these so many of them.

Roosevelt knew she had to fight. Just long enough for Lilia to escape. Maybe the girl would come with her and maybe she would protect Lilia for her. She resolved herself.

She asked for Lilia to run away with the girl but she strongly refused. She refused to have her fight alone but she couldn't simply ask for the girl to save them again. They couldn't even communicate with the girl.

When Lilia demanded that she should fight along with her, Roosevelt refused. When Lilia persisted, Roosevelt had to lock her in the carriage. It was simply for her safety.

She hoped that the pale girl would save at least Lilia's life from this. She was obviously not human and she didn't know what she was thinking. There may even be a chance that the girl would just run off on her own but that was still one of the good endings she could think of.

But whether the girl would save them or not, it didn't sway her decision. She had to fight. Maybe just enough time until the girl would come to a decision.

Roosevelt was trained for self-defense so she has a bit of confidence in fighting the man. That's what she thought. That's what she convinced herself with.

She asked for a one-on-one match. The leader accepted.

Then when the fight starts, she immediately rushed in. She knew that those who could make the first move would have the advantage. But little did she know of how large of a gap their skills and experience are. She didn't expect to win at all but the enormous gap in their strength surprised her.

In just one punch she flew at least 10 meters away until a large rock and stopped her momentum. For a moment she thought she died. She bled profusely from the wound she had gotten from hitting the rock with her head, as well from her nose and the several cuts that she had gotten from her body getting dragged on the ground.

She resolved herself to die yet she never expected to die so early on. She couldn't even last a minute and when she glanced back at the carriage, they still haven't left.

Rather, Lilia is out of the carriage and the girl is nowhere to be seen.

"Argh...!"

Then a loud scream of pain entered her ears. She turned her head towards where the sound came from and she saw the girl had beaten the large bandit easily.

She felt a sigh of relief. It looks like the girl had made her decision and it was to help them.

Then Lilia came over to heal her wounds.

Lilia discovered that she could use restoration magic when she was 7 years old but she wasn't very proficient at it. For common scratch, she could heal it in a minute but for a wound that Roosevelt currently has, it would take a few days to fully heal, if she constantly applied healing on her non-stop.

It wasn't much but it was better than nothing.

Once she's able to partially stop Roosevelt's bleeding, she gave her a good slap.

Surprised by the sudden action from Lilia, she looked at her uneasily.

She expected her to have an angry expression. Angry that she didn't obey her and that she locked her inside the carriage but all she saw was a crying Lilia.

"You idiot! What are you thinking, trying to get yourself killed!?"

"But I—"

"No buts! I don't want to hear it! Did you really think that I would be able to forgive you for trying to get yourself killed!? *Hic*"

Roosevelt knew that what she did was pointless. From the very fact that her opponent was a huge male, she knew she didn't have a chance to win. She knew that her swordsmanship was at an amateur level at best.

What she was doing wasn't about buying time or distracting the opponent so Lilia and the girl could get away. Even when the girl suddenly stepped in and done in the leader, she expected that. It was plainly obvious that the girl would because she was oddly attached towards Lilia for some reason.

They were all simply excuses that she convinced herself to believe in so that she can have a reason as to why she's doing what she's currently doing.

She didn't want to feel worthless.

The reason why she immediately jumped on the idea of spending weeks to train as a proper maid. Why she changed herself, so she wouldn't be such a shy girl anymore, why she acted like a proper maid for Lilia even though she knew she didn't really like that. It was so she wouldn't be a burden for her and prove to her that she was useful.

She took the opportunity to 'buy them time' to show to Lilia that she can do something like this as well and not be afraid. To not be afraid to throw her own life in order to save her dear master.

But all she's done is to give her grief. She made her cry even more than how she cried for her father.

She forgot one, very important thing. That Lilia is someone who hated being alone the most.

She was all that Lilia has now and she only realized it now.

And all she can say for that is...

"I'm sorry..."

Lilia silently continued her healing until it looks to be partially healed and the bleeding stopped. It would take a few days for it to fully heal but until then, she would Roosevelt to be careful.

Roosevelt's heart had calmed down a bit after that. However, she didn't think that the drive to prove herself worthy to be something detrimental. All she had to do is keep herself in check and all will be good.

Although that calmness only lasted a second when she realized that the pale girl was fighting with several armed men.

Lilia's expression became stiff from this for a while now. From the looks of it, the girl is having a hard time. And her heart aches from the guilt for having to selfishly ask her to do something like that.

The girl didn't understand their language, it was plainly obvious but the girl understood her despite that.

Had she sent the girl to her death? Such thoughts like that went through her mind.

With every second passing, she felt more and more guilty.

To make matters worse, she can't do anything at all to stop it. The stronger between the two of them was Roosevelt but Roosevelt is currently too injured to even walk. There is absolutely nothing she could do but simply watch.

Every time the girl gets injured, she felt her heart sinking and her grip on the hem of her clothes gets tighter.

The girl gets cornered and she saw her injuries increase even more.

Such thoughts like 'Because of us, this girl will die'. Regret filled her mind. She didn't want to have somebody to die because of them again. She had to stop this somehow.

But her fear blocked her voice from speaking out her desire.

Then arrows appeared from the bushes. Fortunately, the girl dodged it but then when another one was released, this time she wasn't so lucky.

It landed right at her forehead. From the very moment, Lilia felt the world turned dead silent. She just couldn't believe it.

The assassins cheered loudly. They too didn't expect the girl, who had killed the best of them and several more.

For Lilia and Roosevelt, their mouths were agape. But before any tears were to appear, something happened to the supposed corpse of the girl.

Her blood, that she spilled and made a pool of, suddenly rushed back into her body.