The Devil's Temptation!

Annalise surprisingly found herself back in a unique place known as Green Town with Roshan standing by her side. For a moment, she nearly lost her breath at the thought of how she ended up in a completely different location but after seeing Roshan, a thought suddenly hit her.

Of course, he was a demon and it’s quite normal for Demon’s to vanish and appear through thin air whenever they felt like it.

But they could transport humans too?? That was a new occurrence to her.

Shaking off the reality on how everything had turned out to be, she could trust no one but herself at this point.

“Isn’t this Green Town in Euphrasia?” She asked and he nodded with a firm expression, letting his tongue slide through the area of his teeth were his fangs were meant to come out from as though they were itching him.

“Why are we here? I’m not really welcomed in Euphrasia at the moment.” She told him but the being barely reacted to her words and just kept a straight face.

“I know.”

There were tall trees with fresh green leaves at both sides as they stood on the earthly path, the sky looked clear and blue, indicating it wasn’t going to rain anytime soon but Anna still had her doubts since the clouds could be really tricky.

.....

Fancy-looking carriages hurried past them and the clip-clop of the horses hooves could be heard. Very few people dressed in modest outfits strode by but that didn’t spare Anna from the strange looks she got from them.

It made her naturally uncomfortable.

“Then why are we here?”

“The great count of Green Town should be expecting us.” He responded and Anna couldn’t help but find his tone pleasing whenever he spoke with that deep sophisticated voice of his.

She didn’t want to find anything pleasing or appealing about him, she wanted to despise every single thing that had to do with him but unfortunately, things never seemed to work out the way one expected.

To put it simply, things never seemed to work out the way SHE WANTED!!

“Who is the count of Green Town?” She asked while shifting that uneasy feeling from her heart, leaving Roshan to arch his brow at her question as his Hazel-green eyes shifted to meet her stare.

“You don’t know him?”

She shook her head in response while returning her gaze back to the calm streets of Green Town, “I’ve barely visited this part of Euphrasia before, but I’ve heard about Green Town, the people here are rather not so nosy and I don’t think they’d be familiar with me.”

Although she had worn the Jewelry headband again, she could tell from the people’s stare that they saw her as nothing but a stranger, that alone relieved her heart to some extent.

“Good, come on.”

He strode off, leaving Anna to scrutinize the view once again before following his steps.

Green Town were more like for the nobles who weren’t poor and lived a much more comfortable life than those living in Daekrahm village, the village closest to Euphrasia and where she lived with her parents.

Her mother wasn’t the type of woman who’d let her child wander too far and because of that, she barely knows much places about the town’s and smaller towns in Euphrasia.

Her mother had been too protective of her and her safety the moment she was born so most of her life was spent indoors while her mother went out to work.

Her mother was young, beautiful and very hard-working cause she knew her mother did three jobs, she wasn’t familiar with the two but she knew her mother worked for a ship by helping them unload their bags or boxes once they’ve made it to their right destination so she was usually left alone.

That was until the terrible incident happened when her mother decided to take her along one certain day and the painful memories were still fresh in her head.

Getting into the Euphrasia kingdom became even worse, the rules of the palace made it extremely difficult for the maids to go anywhere, the head maid was rather strict and thankfully, she had to stick around Calista and avoided the head maid.

Since the palace was her only source of shelter, adhering to the rules was all she could do, closing the doors that would lead her into taking any step towards an adventure.

Noticing the gloominess in her eyes as they strode by, Roshan had to speak up.

“Hey, baby girl, I don’t need you sulking at the moment, gather yourself lest everyone might get the wrong impression that I kidnapped you.” He mischievously hinted, gaining Anna’s attention with that wicked, yet pleasing tone of his.

“I told you not to call me that, I have a name!” She countered with a look of great displeasure, except Roshan wasn’t the kind of person who cared much about what she thought of it.

“And when did a maid learn to order her master?” His question came rather cold to her ears, sending a little trickle of fear down her heart and that reminded Anna of her place.

“People are passing by dear master and I’m just trying to help keep your moral rectitude in check.” She smiled politely like the humble maid that she was who only cared about the reputation of her master or Lord.

“How generous of you, I’ve always known you had a liking towards me.”

“Don’t mistake generosity for affection, Lord Roshan.”

“True generosity is given freely and out of pure love, or am I missing something, Miss Anna?”

Another carriage hurried past the two young fellows who looked no different from a couple taking a walk under the friendly weather.

They were starting to approach the main streets where stone buildings came into sight. Healthy green trees stood beside each building and that brought about the name Green Town, they had many healthy trees and with it, came a cool vibrant breeze.

Anna would have taken her time to enjoy the view and the sight of beautiful houses if she didn’t have a mission here.

“Where exactly does the count live?” She changed the topic, reluctant to continue her earlier discussion with Roshan since he always manages to twist her words.

Her sudden question didn’t really come as a surprise to Roshan and he stopped walking.

“Right there.”

His gaze was fixed in a certain direction and when Anna followed it, he was staring at a golden gate which wasn’t too far from where they stood. The gate suddenly opened to Anna’s unexpected surprise and a lady was roughly thrown out by a guard.

“Dear lord!” Anna couldn’t hold in her exclamation at the sight as her hands went to her mouth, in an attempt to stop herself from uttering anything else.

“Please, sire, forgive me! I never stole a thing, I’m being falsely accused of this, please!” The lady instantly went on her knees to beg the man who proudly stepped out with two guards standing behind him.

“You never stole it?” The man who was dressed in a stylish outfit questioned the lady who pleaded for mercy with tears in her eyes.

“Then how did it get to your bag?” His tone was unforgiving and demanding, his eyes holding no trace of pity.

“I swear with my life, I have no idea how it got there, I’m pleading for mercy, my whole family depends on this job, I’m innocent of this.”

“Humph! When you’re done, leave my premises and return to the slums where I was once kind enough to pick you from, you irritate me!”

He walked inside as though the sight of the lady disgusted him to the very core, the poor lady who Anna assumed to be a maid was further pushed out by the guards and she fell to the ground with a soft cry escaping her lips.

“Please! Don’t do this!”

The iron gate was closed shut right in her face, shattering the lady’s hope of ever working here. She finally rose to her feet and walked away in another direction when she noticed people were starting to gather.

Roshan’s expression barely changed, he looked as though the scene had bore him out but Anna was the one who looked broken down by what she just witnessed.

“How can a human being treat another fellow human like this?? it’s completely unfair and outrageous.”

“Who knows, maybe she did steal something.” He shrugged in a nonchalant manner, causing Anna to look at him in disbelief but his boring gaze remained fixed on the iron gate.

“Even if she did, manhandling a woman like that is absolutely cruel, there are many better ways to handle the situation than to do this!”

“He’s a top official,” he reminded her with a hint of annoyance etching to his tone, “no one can question him based on the actions he chooses to take, whatever happens in Green Town is his business.”

“Well I find such men utterly disgusting!” She spat, remembering Sir Arlow wasn’t any different with the way he treated the maids too.

“Hold in your disgust baby girl, he owes us a special visit and whatever happens, just smile.” He warned in a calm tone.

“At this point, I’m not Roshan, but General Hendrick and you’re lady Odette.”

“I beg your pardon?” Annalise blinked in surprise, wondering why he changed their names.

“We came in presence of one of the neighboring towns, sent to get the information about Demons ravaging Green Town, that is if they’re here.” The evil smile returned to his lips and Anna knew this meeting won’t end very well.

He walked out, leaving Anna to think wisely about the precautions of her act before accompanying him in and with a few minutes walk, they were standing before the golden iron gate.