Lexi and I cuddle on a cozy sofa in our softly lit apartment, ambient music playing in the background. The soft lamplight shines off Lexi’s auburn hair and lights up her freckled face. Her green eyes are bright as she chatters to me. “I’ve been thinking, love… about us, about the depth of what I feel for you. There’s nothing I wouldn’t share with you.”

I gaze at her beautiful, freckled face and she gazes back, her gaze soft and sincere. She touches my cheek. “What are you thinking about? You look like you have something on your mind…”

I have a big suggestion for her… I wonder how she’ll take it.

“If you enter a baby competition run by the ogre, you could win a big prize. But you have to let the ogre impregnate you first and give birth to his green skinned baby.”

Lexi gazes at me with surprise and a hint of disbelief. “What…? A baby competition with an ogre? And I have to let him… No, love. That’s insane!”

“It could make us rich,” I say.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

She brushes her long red hair away from her freckled face and stares at me incredulously. “Are you serious? Rich or not, there’s no way I’m letting some ogre impregnate me just to win a competition!”

“The first prize is a hundred thousand orbs.”

She stares at me in shock. “That’s a lot… but still, there has to be another way! There’s no way I’m doing something so extreme just for money.”

“Do you want to live in this tiny apartment, or do you want to live in a mansion?”

Lexi glances around the small apartment, realising perhaps that it’s not what she’s always dreamed of. “Of course I want us to live in a nice place someday, love. But there has to be other ways to get money than this crazy competition.”

Lexi scratches her freckled nose and looks at the ceiling for a moment and then fixes me with her green-eyed gaze. “Okay… let’s say, hypothetically, that I agreed to this crazy plan. How exactly would it work?”

Lexi’s considering it. “You have to go to the ogre’s den.”

Lexi visibly shudders. “And what happens when I get there?”

“The ogre checks if you’re baby momma material. Checks your health. And then tries to impregnate you.”

Lexi stares at me, her green eyes wide. “So I just have to go in there, let him examine me, and… let him try to get me pregnant? And if I win the competition, we’ll get the money?”

“Yes, but there is no guarantee you will be the first place winner.”

Lexi sighs and twirls a strand of her coppery hair in her delicate fingers. “Alright… I’ll do it. For us. For our future together.”