Larger Than Life, Bigger Than Us

Lily looked at Yang perplexed.

"You keep repeating I'm your young mistress but how are we acquainted?"

The youth smirked strangely.

"Young Mistress saved my life and now I'm forever indebted."

"What? How?"

"I was left for dead on the side of the road, cold and starved when young mistress appeared and convinced Master to take me as your page."

While he was talking, the eyes of the young man was shining with fondness.

He was truly desperate at the time and had given up. His family had been killed by bandits and he was seriously wounded. It was the middle of the winter so nobody had passed by the road during the few days he was left out. He couldn't fight the cold and the hunger anymore so was prepared to close his eyes forever. She had then appeared to save him. She was the last picture he saw before his "death" and the first person to see upon opening his eyes. He didn't witnessed what happened in between but other servants of the estate had told him that the young miss had found him, begged the master to save him and bring him back.

So he had swore then an oath to protect her forever. During the time she grew up on the estate, the days were blissful, before Master became insane.

The youth eyes became darker and he disappeared into thin air while whispering: " I will be back".

After Yang left, Lily couldn't go back to sleep. She felt she was in the midst of a giant puzzle where at each turn new pieces would be discovered. Was she still reliving a memory or was this hers? Everything was so confusing.

Tired from almost a sleepless sleep, Lily didn't manage her second raining day very well. She had at first decided to go to the library after breakfast so she could work on deciphering the booklet. But instead, troubles found her.

"Is this where she is lodging? Tell her to come out!" The words were said in imposing manner that left no room for discussion.

"But Mistress, the Lord had passed orders not to disturb the guest." The maid's voice was very low as she was trying to remind her mistress.

"How DARE you! Just a maid and you want to dictate what I should or should not do....Are you going or not? If don't, don't blame me for handing you a harsh punition later."

Lily could hear everything on the other side of the door and was contemplating what to do...She definitely did not want to meet up with this mistress of the valley.

The maid resigned herself to knock the door. No matter what she was going to do, she would get punished but maybe...maybe the Lord would be a bit more lenient towards her. The Mistress when angry was terrible.

3 soft knocks were heard.

"Esteemed guest, the Mistress of the Valley wish to meet you".

Silence. At this moment, Lily decided to hide from the Mistress. Nothing good would come from meeting her and in her state, with no power or position, the best choice was to flee. She wasn't an heroine and she had to save herself first. However, Ran was straightforward and would never cower...So even though Lily wanted to run, her body went to the door and opened it up.

While Lily was pondering, the Mistress got even more annoyed from the maid.

"What esteemed guest?! Just a parasite, she doesn't deserve such politeness from us!"

As she was about to slap the maid, Lily caught her hand and pushed her away.

" I am no guest but my master's disciple. Forgive me for not staying, I have to continue on with my training" She said calmly and then just walked away.

There was so many ways of handling this, Lily was a bit baffled by Ran's reaction and wondered for how long she would have to relive this memory....

"YOU, STOP. THERE. RIGHT. NOW." The Mistress shouted. But Lily kept on walking.

The Mistress looking at the maid menacingly : "Not going to stop her!?"

The maid could only obey so she went. She was about to grab Lily when a gust of wind pushed her away.