7 CHAPTER 7

Morning came and the blues turned into a vibrant glow. Lily was hurdled in a corner with a blanket wrapped around her. There were dark circles under her eyes and was dazed. There was a knock on the door and two maids entered the room.

"Good morning, Miss. I am Ann and this is Bell. We're assigned to you by the butler. We'll be serving you from today onwards".

There was no response. The maids looked at each other. Bell went towards the window and drew the curtains, "it's quite chilly in here. you could've rung the bell and someone would've come and lit the fireplace for you".

"I'll go and draw a bath for you. You have an appointment with the Lord today after breakfast".

Still, no response Bell approached Lily, "Miss is everything alright. Are you not feeling well? Should we call a doctor?", she stretched her hand to remove the blanket when Lily stood up blanket dropping on the floor. There were specks of blood all over her clothes.

"The bath is ready", Ann came out of the bathroom but covered her mouth after seeing Lily. Both of them gasped.

"Miss. What happened? Who did this to you?", Ann hurry and go call the doctor".

"There's no need to call a doctor. I'm fine".

"But still we have to get you checked up".

"There's no need. Please, just….stop".

"Okay. As you wish. Let's get you ready then". Bell complied.

"Y-Yes. We don't want to keep Master waiting. He has quite a short temper", Ann tried to joke to lighten the mood.

"Ann! Don't talk about Master Shax like that. What if someone hears you? You could lose your job".

'So, his name is Shax. He never introduced himself, Lily thought.

They took Lily to the bathroom, "You're such a scaredy-cat".

Both of them kept chatting while bathing Lily but there was no change in her expression. Although she was listening to each and everything that was being said she just didn't know how to respond. She never had any friends when she was alive. Many came to her wanting to be friends but all of it was a prank a joke. No one wanted to befriend a poor orphan girl. And now that she is here in hell, she was not sure whether to trust them or not.

Ann remembered something. " If you don't mind us asking What's your name, Miss?".

Bell was going to scold Ann again when Lily replied, "Lily. My name is Lily".

"Lily. It's such a beautiful name".

"I—I don't know".

Lily was sitting in a robe on her bed. There were no clothes for her to wear. Bell sends Ann to find butler Harold and ask him what to do about it.

"It's almost fifteen minutes. Where is that girl?", Bell was anxious because there was not much time.

The door to the room burst open and Ann came running, gasping holding a few dresses in her arms.

"What took you so long? We don't have much time. Hurry and come in".

"I apologize for my poor conduct Miss. The butler said that he will send someone in the afternoon to get you fitted for the new clothes but for now we have to make do with these".

Ann laid the dresses onto the bed. There were only four of them all plain looking.

"Which one do you like Miss?".

"Anything is fine", the maids looked at each other after hearing such an indifferent response. They chose a dress that has a white blouse with a peach color embroidered skirt.

"Our Miss is so beautiful. I'm sure she'll look good in everything. Let's get you ready then shall we".

"I can get dressed by myself".

"But it is our job---".

"I'm not a kid. I don't need assistance".

"Okay, Miss".

After getting ready and done with breakfast Harold came to pick her up.

"Was the room comfortable?", Harold lead her to Shax's office.

"Yes".

"The mansion is quite big and it's easy to get lost. You can ask your maids to give you a tour because we don't want you to get lost and end up somewhere you're not supposed to be", he smiled but there was something eerie about it.

Lily didn't know what to say to that. Was it a warning or a threat she didn't know? she was saved when Shax's office came into view.

"We're here", she breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

Harold knocked at the door and waited, "What is it?".

"I have brought Miss Lily".

"Let her in".

Harold opened the door for her, " You may enter now".

'Am I going alone? Is he not coming', Lily was nervous going alone in the office she thought that if the butler were to come there would be less tension in the room.

"Go. We don't want to keep him waiting", Harold whispered to her. Lily gulped and entered the office the door closing behind her.

"Take a seat", she sat down on the opposite side fidgeting.

He looked at the ring on her finger, "Any problems with your body?".

"None".

"Good", he leaned back in his chair. "I've read your file its almost blank which means you're clean. But it's to be expected that you died quite young".

"What do you mean by 'clean'?".

"It means you're to go to heaven directly without receiving any type of judgment", Shax explained. "But it would've been possible if you were a human and not a mix. So, your only choice is to work for us if you want to have a peaceful time here in hell".

"Having a clean slate also means we'll be able to carry out the task with ease without being found out. So, you've to work hard not to get caught because if you do our only choice would be to", he made a motion with his index finger against his throat.

Lily could not help but clutch her neck in fear which Shax found cute, "You don't have to be that scared. Just do your job well and everything will be fine", Shax explained amiably but his words were not kind at all.

'it doesn't matter if I want to do this or not. Either way, I'm damned. I don't have much of a choice and can only oblige. I hate being weak'.

"Now, let us discuss what you will be doing. You are to act as a reaper. Some souls were lost a hundred years ago. You are to find them and bring them back here", his expression was serious.

"They'll be hard to find in this day and age so we decided to send you back in time when the incident occurred".

"Why me? why not send someone stronger and more capable".

Shax was amused by the retort, 'So she's not that simple-minded'.

"As I've said before we don't want to be found out. The reaper who was in charge of collecting the souls was murdered. We suspect that the murderer is one of us. Because a human is not strong enough and the 'holy people' above", he pointed upwards with his fingers. "They won't gain anything by it".

"We have sent many demons before but they all ended up dead. That means the murderer knew who we were going to send. So, believe me when I say that If I could I would love to send someone else because I don't have the time to babysit a fifteen-year-old who can't even speak without stuttering".

"Any more questions?", Lily was embarrassed and shook her head.

"Good. Let's continue. I suspect that the reaper must have seen or heard something and before he could do something about it, he was killed. And to distract us from finding him he released the souls and masked their presence disturbing the balance between living and the dead. We have to restore the balance if not calamities will keep descending upon the living world. Now, do you understand why we chose you?"

This was a lot for Lily to digest. She still wasn't familiar with her surroundings and now she was being dragged into this situation against her will.

"It's really simple. Go back in time, collect the souls and bring them back here. you'll be compensated accordingly".

'Simple, my foot. Nothing is simple about this. How do you expect me, a weak girl to find them when powerful demons like you couldn't'.

"Also, one more thing whatever we discussed should remain within these four walls. Because I would hate to nip the flower in a bud before it even blooms.", he said menacingly.

Lily could only nod at the threat. A knock sounded at the door, "Come in".

The man entered and saluted, "Lord".

Shax motioned with his chin, "Sit". The man took the seat next to Lily. The man was lean and muscular and was wearing simple training attire.

"Bruce this is Lily, Lily Dalton", Bruce bowed. "Greetings Miss Lily".

"Miss Lily is the daughter of a dear friend of mine. She wants to be a reaper but because of her weak constitution, she can't. So, I suggested that he can send Miss Lily here to do some basic training because I have capable men in my ranks. So, from tomorrow you're in charge of her training. I hope you won't disappoint me. Train her well and you can use any methods as you see fit. Miss Lily is quite passionate about being a reaper. We don't want her to feel that you're going easy on her just because she's a daughter of a High-tier".

"As you command, Lord".

Lily this is Captain Bruce. He will be the one training you from tomorrow onwards. I hope you work hard". Even though he was smiling outside Lily knew what he meant.

'He won't waste a second to get rid of me'.Lily got up from the seat and stretched her hand out, "I will be in your care Captain Bruce. Please take good care of me".

"Yes", he shook her hand briefly.