Growing relationship

Marilyn thought for a moment while hesitating then carefully asked Ki. "I know that it is already done and cannot be undone but what about your families response to the deaths of your grandmothers sisters family? Also why did we have to end their lives in the end? I thought you would have at least given them some punishment but to kill them isn't it a little too far, they are of the same blood after all."

Ki shook her head with a frown on her face. "You are right there is no turning back what I have ordered to happen but in the end a moment of hesitation can put the family in danger once again. That old woman will not be sorry for what she did even if she appeared before me and knelt before me and said that she regretted what she did. In the end she is this families greatest weakness, she is reckless and vengeful. Worst of all is that although she does not know of the families secrets she knows enough to be able to point others in our direction. As for the family they will just have to accept that while they were captured by the gambling hall they betrayed the family and eventually died within the prison for reasons unknown. Only you, me and the reaper are the ones that know of the true story and it should stay that way for the families sake."

Marilyn sighed and spoke in a sad voice. "So you are taking on all of the burden by yourself then… I guess I can share some of the burden."

Ki finally revealed a small smile and her face expressed her gratitude towards Marilyn's word. "Thanks, you can go back to training. You will not be needed until the martial alliance has left the north as it's not a good idea for the two of us to be seen together too often. If your organisation becomes more famous in the future as the figurehead you cannot be seen to have a connection to the family for various reasons. I'm sure you are already aware of that though."

Marilyn smiled as she pushed back her blonde hair behind her ear, she then stood up and walked towards the door and looked back once more with a smirk. "I will train hard but don't you dare become soft when I appear before you again or I will have no choice but to beat you up to remind you of the reason why I chose to work under you in the first place. I only follow the strong. Haha."

After hearing Marilyn's provocative words, Ki smirked back and looked back with a fiery gaze that met Marilyn's. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Marilyn left the room and when the door shut, Ki removed the smirk on her face revealing a knowing smile. "You say that but truthfully you won't stop following me until the end. After all that's just the type of person you are, it was never about my strength from the beginning but whether I was someone you could rely on when things became bad."

Since Marilyn grew up in the slums she made friends and enemies within her environment but managed to survive her own way.

She lost friends over the years because of starving, fighting for territory, money or food or simply because of getting caught by an enemy or being betrayed by a trusted person.

If a person was strong they could protect themselves in the slums and Marilyn was able to do just that and work hard to protect her friends that were still alive to this day.

Trust was hard to earn within that place because even your trusted partner could stab you in the back, there was once a time when she hid her gender at a young age but when she started showing signs of maturity some of the people she protected realised that she was quite a good looking girl.

Soon a group of them attempted to capture her and send her to a buyer but in the end she fought them off and made them pay for their betrayal.

Facing Ki she naturally had some suspicions and fought with her in the past but over the years she has slowly gotten to know of Ki and her families ideals and how they handle things.

Ki was a different breed than her family who were merchants by blood, the family was clean and did not deal in any illegal or harmful businesses but Ki was not afraid of stepping into the mud for their sake.

What Marilyn admired about Ki was not just that but that she would rather step forward to solve a problem for the family herself rather than taking actions which would sacrifice the lives of others as if they were pawns.

Ki was in some ways a person of noble lineage yet she did not act like the nobles she knew were defined as.

She had seen many young masters who use their bodyguards as if they were disposable goods, they would cause problems and conflicts within the city and as soon as things went bad they would have their guards block them and yell at them to attack.

Soon follows their guards killing innocent people or their guards being unable to handle the trouble they caused and are wounded or die as their master either watches from behind uncaringly or runs home like a coward.

During the time working and training together Ki and Marilyn's relationship has slowly grown into one based on trust and they know each other well.

Although Marilyn may make some jokes about leaving Ki's side if she became soft, she would still stick around because the relationship was stronger than the usual boss and subordinate relationship based on who can make the other submit to serve the other.

Marilyn left to handle her duties and make her people go into hiding after the battle was all handled.

Rashida sat with her arms crossed under her chest with a bored look on her face. "We have completed the clean up and imprisoned them all. Do we need to do anything else?"

Ki peered into her eyes and asked. "You are still not satisfied? What's wrong?"