Chapter 15 - New Employee

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  Just joking. I do agree that life hasn't been kind to her so far, but she must know who to respect and who to hate. And unfortunately, it looks like helping her know that... that kind of shitty job fell on my head.

  Now, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. I'd rather not use the harder way, considering all that went through recently. Let's try being nice for once, since she hasn't shed out at me yet.

  "Hey, the name is Lily. And it just happened to be that I am the one who became your owner in name. Now look, I don't really need a sve or object to py around with. Rather, you seem like someone who can handle some work. Considering your debt, you would need to earn a sizeable amount before buying out your freedom. So why not just work as my employee, and we can deduct some of your pay to pay off the contract amount? With housing and food provided to you free of charge till your release, it isn't a bad deal, right? Be rexed, as you can truly go your own way after the contract debt is paid off."

  Damn, that came out somewhat rougher than I had hoped for. She just rubbed me the wrong way earlier, and my frustrations so far just came out on her. Is this considered workpce harassment? Thank gods that harassment ws aren't a thing yet here in this world.

  Even after my lengthy talk, the girl didn't look convinced as she stared at me with suspicion.

  "Don't look at me like that. Just to be clear, I didn't buy your contract for any stupid reason like the others. We would just have a purely work retionship. Hmm, come to think of it... I have been thinking of getting a secretary to assist me in some matters. But it is still to be seen if you qualify for that. Since you look to be physically fit, you can work as my personal guard at the moment. So, you agree with that? It's a fair deal, I think."

  The girl looked surprised as she heard me speak, biting her lips as she pondered upon something, before her body began to tremble. She hugged her shoulders tightly, with god knows what going through her head.

  After a while, the girl spoke up with hesitation,

  "My parents... I need to bury them."

  Recalling the tragic past of my personal guard, I could only sigh with exhaustion as I turned towards Sarah and asked her,

  "Sarah, what to do about this? I think we have some area allocated for the burial of our household knights, right? Think there is some space there?"

  Sarah, who seemed to have become more spirited than ever, replied cheerfully,

  "Yes, young miss. Just as you said, we have a cemetery for our fallen knights some distance from the castle premises. Although it hadn't been in use recently due to a ck of violence in this region."

  Wait, how did I detect her good mood? She still looks expressionless, so am I assuming too much here?

  "Well... that's good. Please make arrangements to have this dy's parents buried there. Our pce is nice and sunny, right? And it would make her visiting their graves a lot more convenient, too."

  Sarah didn't seem to agree with that as she spoke up with hesitation,

  "I would not recommend doing that, young miss. It would also be difficult to get permission from the Master to do so.

  Oh, yeah. Didn't think about that at all. Well, there is an easy fix for that, too.

  "Got it. Don't need to worry about that thought. I believe my mother would definitely agree with my choice. Oh, nearly forgot... you okay with us doing that, girl? And by the way, I don't know what to call you. You haven't introduced yourself yet. My name is Lily, by the way. And she is Sarah, my personal maid."

  As I turned my attention back to my new personal guard, tears were falling freely down her face. Her body wasn't trembling as much as before, but was still shaking as she cried silently. Slowly, she began to mumble out a response,

  "My... *sniff*... name is Helen. Helen Sprigs. I... would be honoured to have my parents..."

  Unable to see her break down in sorrow, I didn't make the girl continue her words and hastily spoke to her,

  "Okay, okay. Got it. So, stop crying so much. Uh, I am sorry if I ended up being rude to you today, and it wasn't my intention to do so, but... my mood became bad for various reasons. I am not used to conversing with strangers that much, so I may have said something insensitive without my knowledge. So if I did offend you somehow, just let it slide for today, okay? I will try to be careful from now on."

  The girl, Helen, shook her head as she bowed towards me and muttered,

  "No... *sob*... Miss is too kind... too good..."

  Hearing her say that made me somewhat embarrassed, but since it wasn't a bad thing, I let it go as well. One good thing that came out of our brief dialogue was that Helen's eyes didn't look as sharp as before. Rather, they were filled with warmth now, or so I felt them to look like. Still, it took a while before she stopped crying.

  In the meantime, Sarah had organised the other guards to respectfully escort the deceased parents of the girl back to our estate. After Helen gathered some of her stuff, I invited her into my carriage as we left the despairing pce behind, returning home.

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