Chapter 03

I stared at him for a few moments, waiting for him to say that he was simply joking with the sudden proposal. I mean… there was no sane man in this world who would go to a bar and ask a total stranger to become his wife for a few years. That was just absurd! Plus, with the words he just said, he also probably meant that after that few years he just mentioned, he would be divorcing me later on. No such immortal would ever do that as we consider marriage as a sacred union.

But then, he stood quiet for several minutes wearing his ever serious expression. There was no sign of jest in his dark grey eyes. 

“In that contract, it states that I shall pay you a hundred thousand dollars every month. Is that not enough for you to say yes?”

I was so sure that if only it was possible, my brows could have already met in the middle of my forehead out of confusion. All I thought that escorts do was to see this guy off here in his place and go on a few dates with him but why was he suddenly bringing up the matter of marriage? Julian and Milan never mentioned this and never told me to prepare for it.

Still, I cleared my throat.

“It seems like the money you are offering is of high value but… you see…” I shifted in my position. “I am already engaged with someone else so I cannot be your wife.”

This time, it was him who gave me a confused look. He leaned forward with his elbows leaning down on his knees and his hands clasped together.

Still wanting to keep eye contact with me, he said, “Where is your fiancé then?”

Oh, shoot! I could not possibly tell him that there was a chance of my fiancé’s soul to be inside him. When I said that out loud a few weeks ago, I was laughed at and told that I was crazy. This person, judging from the way he had acted so far, would brazenly label be as a psycho for sure.

I cleared my throat and looked away. “He… he is in a coma right now.”

Well, that was true though. Since his body was currently in the land of the Silver Foxes seemingly to be in a deep slumber. But instead of receiving a tiny bit of sympathy from him, I heard a snicker coming right out from his mouth.

“I see. So you are in need of money to keep your fiancé alive. Since the two of you are still not married, you can take my offer and I will pay the hospital bills of your fiancé. When he wakes up, then we can cut our ties. How does that sound?”

That was really not a good thing on my part because it would only make me a wife with disloyalty. If Arsen ever knows of this, I could not even think of how he would react. But to think that this guy in front of me was so eager to continue with this plan kind of scares me actually.

I clutched at my bag and let out a nervous laugh, hoping that he would take back what he said. But his domineering gaze just screamed at me that he had no plans of going back on his words.

“I do not know why you are so persistent about this but I must apologize since I cannot accept your offer. Have a good night, sir.”

After saying those words, I got up on my feet and dashed to the door. I never dared look back because all I wanted was to leave the mansion and never meet this guy again. My feet felt the cold marble tiles in every step I made but that did not matter at all. All that matters was that I must leave this place and go back to Julian’s place.

I ran down the stairs and stumbled upon the elderly man. I flashed him a smile before passing him by and headed to the door where we entered just a few minutes ago. Several maids wearing the same uniforms looked at me with confusion but I simply ignored them and held the doorknob.

I already attempted to open it three consecutive times but the door won’t open. What the hell was going on? Turning around, I saw the maids still looking at me.

“Catch her!” one of them yelled and they came lunging in my direction.

“Let me go!” I yelled back as I ran on the other side of the room and entered what seemed to be the living room.

I scanned the vicinity and saw another door and wherever that led to, I did not care as long as I could leave this mansion, that would be alright. Opening the second door, I found myself in a rather dashing kitchen with granite tiles as the counter. It was way much better than the ones I and Forsterite had seen before in the magical waters of Oliviland. Wait, this was not time to be appreciating the room!

The footsteps of the maids became more prominent so instead of heading straight into the other door, I grabbed the chair nearby and placed it below the glass window that was big enough for me to fit in. I threw my purse outside first and took one leap so I could at least get into the window.

“Bring her to the master’s bedroom no matter what!”

One of them managed to take a hold of my foot so I flailed my feet, ignoring the fact that I could kick them on the face or the head. I pulled myself until half of my body managed to get through the opening. They were even forced to let go of my foot. I clipped a few locks of my hair at the back of my ear and took a quick glance at the maids.

“Tell your master that he won’t be able to make me say yes unless he catches me.”

I flashed a victorious smile and stuck out my tongue at the losers. And since I did not want to waste any more time, I climbed off. With a small thud and a grunt of pain, I landed on the ground covered with small green grasses. The muffled voices of the maid left inside the kitchen could still be heard from here but that didn’t matter. I grabbed my purse again and stood on both feet.

I looked around and all that surrounded me were tall, green hedges that hindered me from locating the fountain. That was the mark that would tell me where the exit was. Where should I go? Going through the hedges seemed to be a dangerous path since I could get lost since it looked like some kind of maze. But come to think of it, why would that guy even have this kind of thing here?

“There she is!”

Without thinking any further, I turned to my right and dashed away before the maids could actually get to me. I just ran straight, following the path that did not lead to the maze-like hedges. Without realizing it, I managed to step into the area where the fountain was. A shower of relief came over me and since I was already pumped up to run further, I jogged towards the gate.

Giggling with how I successfully outran several pursuers, I raised both of my arms after pushing the gates open as if I just finished a race.

“Finally-”

“You said that if I catch you, you will say yes to my proposal.”

Mr. Ryso’s warm breath brushed my ear as his arm was wrapped around my abdomen. He pulled me closer to him until I could feel his chest on my back. His hold was tight that even though I struggled and even tried to push his arm away, he won’t budge.

“You better keep your words, Ms. Livine. Besides, no matter where you go, I will be able to find you and even if you can hide now, you won’t be able to run away from me for long.” His voice was serious and with him being far too close to me, I could only shiver at his touch. It felt like he was threatening me into submission.

It was a good thing though that he was not holding my hands so I opened my purse and brought out the taser. Okay, I will be able to get away from him.

“What you are holding is rather unnecessary.”

Before I could even electrocute him with the taser given by Milan, he tossed it away and held both of my wrists with one hand. The pepper spray… I still have that.

“Ow! Hurting a lady is in no way a good thing for a gentleman to do!” I yelled at him after he pushed me onto the solid post nearby.

He held my wrists tighter and raised them just above my head with a smirk plastered across his face. Oh, that kind of grin was infuriating! Maybe I should kick…

“That hurts!” I screamed.

I tiptoed as he pulled my wrists higher and with that position, it was just impossible for me to kick him. I might break my toes if I forced myself to raise my foot.

He leaned closer that the tip of his nose almost touched mine. He ran the back of his fingers from my cheek down to my chin.

“And who told you that I was a gentleman?” he whispered. “I will grant you anything you want. Money, jewelry, accessories, tickets to go abroad, and even your freedom to leave the bar for good. I can give them all as long as you agree with my proposal.”

I glared at him because what he said was like telling me I was being a materialistic woman. I was never like that so being insulted just made me more persevered to never accept his offer.

“Even if you give me your life, I will never agree! If you think that marriage was simply something you could get into and then leave when you want to, then I am sorry to tell you that I think otherwise!”

I felt his grip on my wrists loosen so I pulled them down and managed to keep a distance between us. I fixed my dress as not to show more cleavage because for sure, this pervert of a man had already seen too much.

Just then, he suddenly let out a snicker, making me knit my brows at him.

“So, you think marriage is a sacred union?” he asked.

“Of course, it is.” I rolled my eyes at his obvious remark.

“I do not believe in such a vain thing. And for you to know, I bought you from that bar so technically speaking, you are mine.”