Anna's eyes widened and lips trembled.

Not due to surprise, but fear.

The tears that had flowed earlier due to the pain blurred her vision, preventing her from seeing the man's appearance clearly. She only knew that he was a young man with a pleasant voice.

Being scooped up and placed into the carriage had already startled her. Her injured knee and the sudden fright left her no time to react.

As she wiped away her tears, she heard the man's proposal.

But she had no time to be surprised, because when her vision cleared, she saw a sight that nearly made her scream.

—Inside the body of this handsome man was a demon with goat horns!

Anna had been in this world for several days and knew that this world had mages and magic, and that demons were no longer just creatures from fables.

But these supernatural elements seemed to be distant to her over the past few days. She had not felt their reality until today, when she saw a living demon, under the face of a handsome man and even proposing to her!

The body Anna now inhabited was indeed quite beautiful, but there was no way it could make a demon fall in love at first sight. So, there was only one reason for the demon's proposal—he coveted her soul and wanted to trick her into forming a contract by getting her to agree to the marriage!

Anna grew up reading stories like "One Thousand and One Nights" and "Aesop's Fables," knowing that those who made contracts with demons rarely met good ends.

"I refuse."

Anna spoke her answer with a mix of fear and faint hope.

When she saw the man's face darken at her refusal, the fear in her heart nearly bubbled up to her throat.

Would this demon kill her out of anger?

After a moment of surprise, Rotgar thought she might not understand his meaning.

"Beautiful lady, perhaps I wasn't clear enough. I don't want you to be my lover; I want you to marry me before a priest, take my surname, and become Mrs. Wilson." Rotgar suppressed his impatience, still drawing on Parish's memories.

Even though he thought he was restraining himself, his tone carried a hint of murderous intent.

Anna shuddered. If she kept refusing, would he kill her?

But if she agreed, her fate would be worse than death!

With her head lowered, Anna gripped her skirt tightly in fear, her knuckles turning white. After a brief silence, she replied in hopeless resignation, "I... refuse."

The next moment, the surge of malice inside the carriage made Anna freeze. She didn't dare to look up at him or make a sound.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

She silently prayed, hoping she could return to the modern world after her death.

Rotgar almost lost control.

Fine, he had thought that if she agreed, he would give her a quick death. But now she was wasting his time playing hard to get.

If he hadn't promised Balan not to use violence, he would grab her by the neck, forced her to agree, and made her understand how foolish it was to toy with an Abyssal Duke.

"Beautiful lady, I am a gentleman. If you won't accept my proposal, I will have to painfully let you go."

As Rotgar spoke, his face no longer held a smile.

This was the last chance he was giving this human woman.

If she dared to continue mocking him, as a "thank you," he would let her live until her natural death, and every day until then would be filled with torment.

Anna was stunned to hear the demon's words.

"Let you go..."

Could there really be such good fortune?!

She looked up at him but quickly lowered her head again in terror when she saw the demonic face behind his handsome features.

"I... am not worthy of you. Please allow me to refuse," she said softly, biting her lip.

Rotgar fell into a long silence.

He looked at the human woman with her head down, her hands gripping the hem of her skirt so tightly that her veins bulged, and he fought the urge to strangle her into submission.

Since he had promised Balan, he would not break his word.

"Where do you live? I'll take you home," Rotgar said, almost word by word.

Anna, hearing the demon's words and sensing the malice he could not conceal, was on the verge of tears.

The demon said he would take her home! Was he planning to keep her under surveillance?

But then she thought, she couldn't avoid going home. It would be easy for a demon to find out where she lived anyway.

"I live on Pomegranate Lane. You can drop me off at the entrance," Anna replied softly.

Since resistance was futile, she might as well accept it...

Rotgar didn't know where Pomegranate Lane was, so he knocked on the carriage wall. "Did you hear that?"

The soundproofing of the carriage was so poor that the people outside could hear most of the conversation inside. The coachman immediately responded, "Yes, Master Parish!"

The carriage started moving again.

Anna kept her head down, silent and afraid to look at "Master Parish."

It'll be fine once I get home, it'll be fine once I get home...

When Anna got off the carriage, "Master Parish" said nothing more. After the carriage door closed, it quickly disappeared from her sight. She limped away immediately with her bleeding knee.

He said he would take care of her injury, yet he didn't even treat her wound. Fortunately, she had been decisive, neither agreeing to him nor letting him discover her ability to see him.

Anna believed that the ability to see demons couldn't be something a normal person could do. This might be a power she acquired through her transmigration, and she must never let the demon know about it.

Pomegranate Lane was located in the western part of Bluestone. Anna deliberately gotten off the carriage early to avoid causing a commotion with that luxurious carriage.

Only now did she suddenly realize that the person possessed by the demon seemed to be none other than the son of Earl Wilson, the lord of Bluestone. Everyone called him Master Parish.

Due to the shock and fear brought by the demon, she hadn’t even noticed that the lord’s son was young and handsome.

She couldn't help but feel grateful for her wit in not being deceived into signing a contract with a demon.

Rotgar was initially confident in winning the bet, but his first failure left him wondering if the Human World had changed.

When the carriage returned to Earl Wilson's manor in Bluestone, Rotgar used Parish's memories to avoid suspicion.

As he passed the garden, a blonde maid, who was somewhat familiar from Parish's memories, was watering the flowers. Seeing him, the tall maid immediately put down the watering can, lifted her skirt, and curtsied. "Good afternoon, Master Parish!"

Rotgar paused, accessed Parish's memories, and smiled. "Abigail, would you..."

Hearing her name spoken by the handsome young master, Abigail almost fainted. She clasped her hands to her face and screamed, "I do! Master Parish, you can do anything to me!"

The smile on Rotgar's face quickly vanished. He stepped back in disgust, as if afraid of contamination.

Yet at the same time, he felt a sense of satisfaction that things were back on track.

This was the Human woman he familiar with.

So, what was with that human woman who deliberately fell in front of his carriage?