One day, when Mary was 24 and I was 23, we got a guest.

  He was the son of a duke and was a year older than my Mistress – 25 years old. This was the same year when his family had decided that he could inherit his father’s title and be recognised as the heir.

  For this to happen, he needed a major achievement or many little ones.

  Alternatively, as a high noble lineage was at risk of being lost, if his family had only one child, he would inherit the title upon the current patriarch’s death. However, the rest of the aristocrats wouldn’t look at him with good eyes until he proved he deserved the title.

  He had a decent build, was slightly shorter than six feet, had a bronze left eye and a silver right eye and his hair was black and combed.

  He and his attendant wore black formal suits and black formal trousers. His attendant carried a small firearm.

  The attendant was the male version of a ‘Lily’.

  There are similarities and numerous differences between the male and the female variants.

  The males were officially called ‘Roosevelt’, but outside our country, they are also addressed as ‘Roses’. The creator couldn’t decide on the name.

  The males began to be officially called ‘Roses’ after the death of their creator, but a group of them can be addressed as ‘Roosevelt’. Outside our country, they take fake names for the duration of the missions they have been dispatched to do.

  The creator preferred to address them as ‘Rose’ when referring to an individual and as ‘Roosevelt’ when talking about two or more of them.

  Their “mark” is a rose with a stem.

  Part of their spine is used for the marking of the stem.

  As a man by himself cannot create life, there are no variants for the breeding type. What discrimination!

  There are two types of them – with red or black petals.

  The red ones who are kept as a pet by an aristocrat are the “failures”, while the black ones are the “good” ones.

  Either way, they were better treated than the ‘Lilies’. At least no one raped them during their “training” if nothing else.

  The ‘Rose’ before me was as tall as his master, his build was like his master's, his eyes were amber in colour and he had short black hair. He held a black umbrella over his master, allowing the light rain to fall on himself, but not on his master.

  The interactions between a ‘Lily’ and a ‘Rose’ were like those between cats and dogs.

  I hated the ‘Roses’ for having it easier than us. Their generations have more survivors. They also don’t get “exhibited”.

  As the head of the family, my Mistress’ father, was out, we had to deal with the welcoming of the soon-to-be duke. It was quite an ordeal, given the reason for coming was no other than my Mistress.

  Young men always flocked for this reason.

  Before we sat to chat, a greeting had to occur…

  “Good day, my Lady. I’m happy to meet you in person again. May I?” he greeted on one knee and outstretched his arm.

  Again, he said? When had he met with my Mistress before? Was it at the gatherings she attended without my escort?

  “It’s also a pleasure to meet you, future Duke Alason,” said my Mistress as she gave her arm.

  The scumbag kissed my Mistress’ hand!

  Luckily, she was wearing white gloves and it was mostly ceremonial, as a polite greeting.

  She wore a light blue lace dress, with the skirt to her ankles, high heels and her perfect blond hair was playfully swinging with the help of the light breeze.

  On that day, she wanted to see how she’d look with curly hair. She was gorgeous.

  In fact, no matter what she wore or what her hair was, she was always beautiful. She was perfect even in pyjamas.

  She had no plans of going outside and picked something she liked and felt comfortable in, but her current wear wasn’t one she would dress up in to accept guests.

  The ‘Rose’ and I looked at one another for a moment, both of us emotionless.

  “May I know the reason why you came here in person to meet me?” she asked.

  “I came to talk about something private. If it’s possible, could we do so in private?”

  “I’d rather have my aide by my side.”

  “May I know the reason why?”

  “A defenceless, unmarried young maiden like myself shouldn’t stay in a room alone with a young gentleman. If nothing else, rumours might occur.”

  “I see your reasoning. If that is the case, then I have to agree for your aide to stay. On the other hand, there is no need for my Roosevelt to stay with us. Could you have him rest somewhere in the meantime? Allow him to have a hot drink and dry himself?” he replied.

  “Alfred, could you please do that?”

  “Yes, young Miss,” the head butler said while bowing, “Maids, I will show him to the guest room while you prepare tea and a light snack.”

  After that, we – my Mistress, I and Alason – went into a room inside the mansion.

  The guest and my Mistress sat down on the armchairs, with an expensive tea table separating them.

  We waited for the tea to be prepared before we started the conversation.

  Soon, two maids came in, one having a tray with two teacups and a teakettle, while the other had a tray with light snacks.

  The head butler entered seconds after the maids, poured the tea and left the room with the maids behind him.

  I was standing upright next to my Mistress during all of that. I was supposed to be her belonging. Sitting next to her, a sign of being her equal, was out of the question.

  He took a small sip from the tea and spoke.

  “I won’t beat around the bush. I’m here to tell you two things. The first one is about a marriage proposal. I’m asking for your hand.”

  “I fear I will decline. I don’t know if you are the right one.”

  “If it’s about your excuse of ‘I cannot marry someone weak’, I’m quite confident that even if I can’t, my ‘Rose’ can beat your ‘Lily’. But I’m not asking you for your hand for such a simple reason. There are rumours I heard at the last noble gathering I had to attend. They were about a certain aristocratic lady who isn’t doing her due to continue the bloodline. It’s already hard enough to keep the commoners down as it is. Having unrest in the lower nobility is also problematic. If this continues, the woman would either have to make an heir, be forced to have their status as nobility revoked or die. You must know who said noble is, don’t you, my pristine noble Lady?”

  “…”

  If her other two friends, Leonard or Richard, were here, they’d have challenged him to a duel for those words.

  They’d have died for the same reason. This one was not someone to joke around with.

  Not only could he use his ‘Rose’ to represent him in a duel, but he had quite the connections. He wasn’t a future duke for nothing.

  “But that can wait for a while,” he continued, seeing my Mistress being silent, ”as there are more important matters to take care of for the time being rather than entertain oneself with rumours. One of which is that you wanted to become a politician and try to help restore civilisation, to improve the country and et cetera. In short – be helpful to our society.”

  My Mistress did have the goal of getting the ability to change the country.

  She nodded lightly.

  “The country is in no need of more heroes. The Monarch and his agendas have the country in control. He takes notice of both the undead threat and the populace's contentment while also expanding our great country’s influence abroad. However, after speaking with a few people, I came up with two main ways to help your wish come true to the best of my abilities. The first one is to marry me. With my backing, your political career is as good as guaranteed. I vow to never force you into doing anything your heart doesn’t desire, but, at the very least, in front of the people, we must look like a couple.”

  Not a very attractive offer if you ask me.

  “And the other?”

  “The other one that you’ll be more interested in will be to get “merits”. You’ll need a lot of merit to accomplish, but if you were to take on dangerous missions outside of our country’s relative safety, you can, in some years, be acknowledged for that or a similar position of your desires. Also, while you are busy fighting off the infection and our country is gaining benefits from your actions, no one can tell you whether or not you’d have children. You should have some basic combat ability, shouldn’t you? Just know, out there, dying is not unusual.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  All that he said was unpleasant.

  My Mistress is a kind person. She’ll never like any of the vile and corrupt nobles he would introduce her to if she were to marry him. The idea of him having her and her obligation as a wife to bear his offspring made me nauseous.

  As for her combat abilities, she cannot kill others that easily and her fighting ability is mediocre at best. I doubt she could harm even an ant.

  Were she to fight a bit of regular undead, she’d be fine, but were humans to be her target, she was done for. Even with me by her side, I have limited abilities. I am a ‘failed Lily’ for a reason.

  I have knowledge about a vast variety of undead, but my limited experience fighting them in practice might result in my failure to act in the best way to protect my Mistress.

  To get the merits she needs, her life would be in danger constantly. She would have many encounters that might end her life. She might see horrendous scenes, ones even I might flinch at. Her strong will is something admirable, but whether her pure self could endure the sighs is what worried me the most.

  “…”

  Mary had no reply. Yet, her silence was a reply in a way. By now, I had an understanding of her.

  She was uncertain and was contemplating her options. This wasn’t a decision she could have made on the spot.

  Seeing no response from her, Alason continued.

  “For my “inheritance” I was given my mission. Quite troubling one if I may say so. I fear it was personally given to me by my elder brother... Anyway, I’ll have to soon embark on a journey to The Lost Continent and deliver “something” to one of our bases of operation there. The team will consist of four members. The mission is complex and the exact details will be explained only to the team leaders in the future. We fear there might be spies who could interfere with the whole operation if the information were widely known. At worst, another attack from that dark rank with red spider lily might come.”

  Mary clenched her hands and her formal smile was gone.

  The mention of two things instantly made her unhappy – when she is reminded of her late mother and when someone mentions anything about the human with dark rank and a spider lily engraved on one of the sides of the tag.

  I don’t know what the relationship is, but I couldn’t dare to ask her, seeing how much pain it gives her.

  “Why are you telling me that?” Mary finally spoke with her emotions somewhat in control.

  “The mission is dangerous and a failure could mean the loss of the entire Continent to the King of the same Continent. We got reports of high zombie activity to prove that point. This is all according to what I was told. As a backup, we need a second team to “recover” our mission in case of failure. Also made out of four. I was given full authority to decide on my team’s members and to pick the one to command the recovery team. I hope this won’t be needed, but as it stands, is that a bad way for you to start your merit collection?”

  “That is an interesting offer. But won’t that mean that I could just happen to do nothing during all that?”

  “It could be, but who knows? If worst comes to worst, you might get the merits you need in one go… but that would mean I would have lost my life… Anyway, I’ll leave you now to think about everything I said. And I’ll ask you again to reconsider my marriage proposal. I really do have feelings for you and would do everything in my power to make you happy. I’ll come tomorrow after you give it a thought. I would have preferred to allow you more time to think it through, but… It’s confidential. Thank you for the hospitality,” he said, got up and left.

  My Mistress stayed still in her armchair. She was in deep thought. We didn’t leave the room for more than an hour

  Night came. We took a bath and went to bed.

  It became a routine for us to sleep together a long time ago.

  She asked me.

  “What do you think? What would I need to do to make my dream come true?”

  “Is there really a reason for you to sacrifice so much of yourself? I will respect your decision and follow you, but I would prefer it if you wanted to make yourself happy, instead of risking it for the good of the others who won’t even care about what you had to lose.”

  “It’s not enough for me. Living only for myself… That is not who I am. I’m sorry you have to put up with my selfish desires.”

  I knew you’d say this. There is no way to change your mind when you have made it up.

  “I hate males. I can never let a male take you. They are all evil. They only desire to have you as a trophy, someone to continue their rotten lineage.”

  She petted my head.

  “But I’ll eventually need to do that. I’ll need to marry and have children with my husband. That is my obligation as a noble. My obligation as my father’s only child.”

  ‘Obligation’. A word you often use as an excuse for your goals.

  “Am I also an “obligation” to you? Am I just a “nobility’s mistake”? As you are part of the nobility, you feel guilty and is that why you took me in? Was taking me in just on a whim?” I replied like a robot, my gaze showing my discontent.

  She then turned to me and looked me in the eyes.

  Her dark blue eyes were filled with tears. She slapped me.

  “Don’t say anything like this again! I never wanted to be noble! I just wanted my… my… friend to be happy! I couldn’t bear to watch you suffer because of our mistakes! I… I … The more time I spent with you, the more you felt like a sister to me. For me, you are my best friend, my sister I never had. Don’t ever say I did all of this on a whim!”

  I saw my Mistress couldn’t hold it in and started sobbing quietly.

  Mary, in my opinion, you are a good, kind and caring person. After C11’s death by my hands… you are the sole reason for my existence.

  Sorry for daring to test you. I needed proof that your personality, the kind and gentle persona, was the real you and that your goals, with the reasoning behind them, were from your pure heart.

  After all, how could I not question you after realising that the ‘Lily & Rose Project’ was made by your mother before you were born and continued to be led by your father after her death? That they were the first to take the reins with Generation Zero of ‘Lilies’ and ‘Roses’? That you keep it hidden from me?

  You are trying to change the society that requires ‘Lilies’ and their sacrifices. For that, you will be forced to sacrifice yourself. I know that I couldn’t protect you forever. Yet, losing you is the last thing I ever want to happen.

  I hugged her and put my face on her chest. I spoke, barely holding my tears. The tears I thought I had lost after C11’s death.

  “I think the offer for the merit is a good idea. As for the team, it could be you, me, Rich and Leo. They are the few males I don’t hate with all my might. You won’t be forced to marry some lowlife and won’t be forced into bearing their child. I have no right to stop you from marrying whoever you decide to. All I’ll do for you is to protect you from those you reject and defend your happiness with the one you choose.”

  I’ll do anything for you, Mary. You are my world. You are everything I have. Your smile is what I need to see to be satisfied.

  “Is that what you think? Dear Lily! I love you so much!” she said, her mood getting better and squeezing me harder into her chest, her strained heartbeat becoming calmer.

  “I love you too,” I whispered to myself rather than her.

  The next day, we had the promised meeting with the future duke at the same place as last time, but now, his aide was with him.

  Mary wasn’t ready to welcome them with their unexpected arrival yesterday, but now she was even more stunning and after dispelling her uncertainties, she was shining brighter than the sun.

  “I’ll agree to be in the ‘plan B’ team. I assume I’ll be the one to choose the members?”

  “Yes, you have that right. Pick trustworthy and strong companions. Ones you know will never betray you.”

  “As for the marriage you proposed, I would ask for your patience. I appreciate your kindness and your ability to think. I appreciate you giving me a choice and that you refrained from challenging my protector into meaningless duels. Therefore, I admit that you have shown me good sides of you and made yourself a promising candidate, but I require more time to think it through. I’ll give you my reply after the mission is done.”

  “That is understandable and words to describe my happiness don’t exist. You have around a month to prepare. Is there anything else you’d like? Consider it as a small gift from me.”

  My Mistress was thinking. I’ll leave the talk to her. Both the ‘Rose’ and I were statues, a sign of the high status and importance to the country our masters possessed.

  Heh. How ironic. Although they had it better than us, ‘Roses’ must also face their hardships. What they are, I don’t know, neither do I care. I am a ‘Lily’, not a ‘Rose’.

  My only regret is that I couldn’t pay back that damn bastard that raped me years ago… the bastard that forced me to take the life of C11…

  “Lily, do you have anything more to add?” my Mistress asked me.

  That startled me, but I replied immediately.

  “I have… Well, Mistress, if I could speak…”

  I was about to be frugal and say ‘I have nothing else to add’, but my thirst for revenge was too strong. I might never get the opportunity if I miss this chance.

  “I give you permission to do so.”

  We maintain our intimacy in private and present ourselves as a master-servant relationship in public. We were forced to do so. How dare a lowly servant from an unknown birth such as I be equal to their master, a pristine, high noble beauty? I was dirt compared to her.

  “I have a grudge against Viscount Balor. Would it be possible to settle it before we go? I might have problems focusing on the mission otherwise.”

  As I was a human trained to become a weapon, I could dare to ask for such a thing. Everyone must have understood that I wanted that person’s life taken by my own hands.

  “What type of grudge exactly?” he asked to make certain.

  “One for which his death may pay.”

  After some thinking, he replied.

  “I can make you meet him in private. But killing him might be too far. If you really need to kill him, then I’ll have some men ready to cover it up, but I’ll need time. Even if he is considered a failure, his previous service to the country kept his status as a noble. I’ll give you the meeting place in about a week at the earliest. However, I would ask if the Lady is fine with that request before proceeding with it.”

  “Well… I’m no fan of meaningless fights and bloodshed, but this time, I’ll close my eyes. Do as my loyal aide desires. It’s the least I could allow her as a ‘thank you’ for her constant service and unlimited loyalty.”

  “… Are you certain?”

  “Yes.”

  Alason seemed reluctant and wanted permission from my Mistress. It was strange. Was there something between my Mistress’ family and Balor’s? A connection of sorts?

  “… If that is what you wish for, my Lady, I will comply. Now, if this is all, I’ll be on my way. After all, there are some strings I have to pull to make all we talked about happen. Maybe I’ll even have to ask my big brother for help,” he said and was getting ready to go.

  This time, we sent him off.

  His parting words pierced my heart.

  “I hope by next winter I will have the honour of inviting my elder siblings to my marriage.”

  “Only time will tell. Be in good health in the meantime.”

  After a few more goodbye exchanges, Mary and I discussed my wish.

  “I know what that … cretin did to you. But you know that I’m against seeing other people suffer. I know that you cannot forgive him. I’m not forcing you to do so. But, if possible, could you have a chat with him to know “why” he did all that? He might have had a good reason to do all of that. If you still decide to kill him afterwards, I’ll have no objections.”

  “I will keep it in mind, sweet Mary,” I said and rested my head on her thighs.

  She patted my head and started combing my hair.

  If I were to kill him for his participation in the ‘Lily & Rose Project’, what should I do with you and your family who created it and forced us to have such a childhood?

  I hope she didn’t have similar thoughts. I really do. Otherwise, my life would have been lived in lies.

  Time flew fast.

  Richard and Leonard were informed of Mary’s intentions to undertake such a risky endeavour and were on board immediately to help her.

  How could they have their crush go somewhere that dangerous with some strangers? What if she started to like them?

  At least grow some balls and tell her how you feel!

  Though she probably knows and will reject them if they were brave enough.

  Over the years, they had participated in raids against undead nests and had undertaken numerous missions as Mercenaries. Their knowledge along our journey would be crucial.

  In our free time, both my Mistress and I had practised shooting.

  My aim was decent since it was part of my training. I also restarted my harsher training routine: I had morning and night jogs with a heavy backpack on my shoulders and lifted weights.

  I had lost a small portion of my physical strength, endurance and combat ability, but with a bit of training and life-threatening experiences, I will be in top shape.

  My Mistress, on the other hand… let’s say she needed more practice shooting and her sheltered life prevented her from getting a strong and enduring body.

  As for my “reunion”, the time was getting close.

  It happened a week before our departure to The Lost Continent.