Refuse The Demon's Proposal A Thousand Times

　　The Demon Realm.

　　The sky here is perpetually gloomy, with phoenixes shrieking as they soar in the distance, leaving ripples of deathly aura in their wake. In the center of an endless plain stands a towering, sinister castle, with no intelligent demonic creatures visible within ten miles.

　　This is the castle of Rotgar, one of the five Abyssal Dukes of the Demon Realm, and no one dares to approach.

　　Suddenly, the tranquility is shattered as a teleportation array glowing with pale purple light unfolds above the castle, revealing two figures embracing each other.

　　The moment the man and woman appear, dozens of black flame arrows shoot up from below with piercing intensity.

　　The horned man shifts his shoulders slightly, and the thin wings behind him swiftly envelop the two. The black flames strike the membranous layer but are deflected and dissipate.

　　"Hey, Rot, is this how you welcome me？" the man shouts discontentedly toward the castle while spreading his wings.

　　A tall figure flew out from the castle, flapping enormous fleshy wings. His long black hair danced in the wind, crowned by dark curved horns. Beneath them lay a face both handsome and sinister—pale, icy, with narrowed slitted eyes brimming with mockery. Crimson orbs glinted as he curled his lips, revealing snow-white teeth. "Balan, since when have I ever welcomed you？" he sneered.

　　"Ah, after thousands of years of friendship, must you be so insincere？" Balan remained unbothered by Rotgar's attitude, replying cheerfully, "I'm getting married! Came personally to deliver the invitation!"

　　With a flick of his hand, an exquisitely crafted invitation landed in Rotgar's palm.

　　Rotgar pinched the invitation between two fingers, his gaze shifting to the woman nestled in Balan's embrace.

　　A single glance was all it took for him to recognize her—a human woman.

　　This human woman possessed lush golden hair and delicate, beautiful features, yet her expression resembled that of a timid forest deer. At this moment, she clung shyly to Balan's waist, as if afraid she might fall.

　　Rotgar is a demon; in fact, all five Abyssal Dukes of the demon realm are demons who crawled up from the abyss. And demons are born racists, looking down upon other races—especially physically frail humans, who in their eyes represent filth, incompetence, and hypocrisy.

　　Every time Rotgar met Balan, he couldn’t resist mocking him. But over thousands of years, he had genuinely come to regard Balan as a friend. Upon hearing that Balan was getting married—and to a human woman, no less—he thought his old companion must be joking: "Have you lost your mind？ Human women are so filthy you’d hesitate to even touch one, and you want to marry her？"

　　"Hey, don’t say things like that in front of my future wife. Catherine is different—she’s a pure and beautiful unicorn. I’ve fallen in love with her." Balan first stopped Rotgar, then looked down at his future bride, lifted her chin, and kissed her with tender affection.

　　Catherine’s cheeks flushed pink as she wrapped her arms around Balan’s neck, her expression intoxicated.

　　Rotgar frowned deeply, wishing he could make this irritating pair disappear.

　　Out of consideration for his friend's feelings, Balam soon ended the kiss and looked at Rotgar with great delight, laughing: "Rot, I used to be obsessed with sensory stimulation, thinking that was the finest thing in the world. Only now have I discovered that the taste of love is truly the sweetest. Don't always hide away in your castle—why not go out and experience the wonders of love？"

　　Rotgar snorted coldly: "Love？ Your so-called love is with a hypocritical, lowly creature like a human？ Balam, you are a disgrace to demons. I think you'll eventually be destroyed by a human woman."

　　"Don't put it so harshly, Rot," Balam said discontentedly. "There are indeed some hypocritical and annoying humans, but there are also little lambs like Catherine."

　　As he spoke, he lowered his head and gave Catherine a tender, lingering smile.

　　The petite Catherine's blush never faded, her emerald-green eyes reflecting Balam's handsome face.

　　Rotgar couldn't bear to watch any longer. He averted his gaze in disgust and said indifferently: "Suit yourself. I won't be attending your wedding."

　　Black flames ignited in his hand, instantly burning the invitation to ashes.

　　Balam called out before Rotgar could fly back to his castle: "Rot, let's make a bet."

　　Rotgar paused mid-flight and looked at Balan, a flicker of interest lighting his crimson eyes. "What kind of bet？"

　　Balan said, "Don't you despise human women, believing they're all vain？ You have six months before the wedding. If you can make one hundred human women agree to marry you within that time, you win. But if you fail, you must attend my wedding."

　　"If I win, will you kill your so-called 'love'？" Rotgar sneered. Though he found the bet ridiculous, a competitive spark had indeed been ignited in him.

　　Catherine shivered upon hearing Rotgar's words.

　　Balan immediately held her tighter to comfort her, shooting a glare at Rotgar before saying, "If you win, I'll give you the Abyss Tree Seed I acquired recently."

　　Rotgar's expression shifted. If he had only been mildly intrigued before, he was now utterly determined.

　　He had searched for the Abyss Tree Seed for thousands of years and had only found two so far. This one belonging to Balan—he would claim it without fail!

　　"Deal," Rotgar raised an eyebrow, a smirk curling his lips. "Keep it safe for me these six months."

　　Seeing that Rotgar had agreed, Balam didn't mind his attitude of already treating the Abyss Tree Seed as his own possession, and added maliciously: "However, you cannot force them to accept your proposal, nor can you kidnap them to the demon realm. You must remain in the human world and conquer their hearts with your personal charm!"

　　"Mere human women are not worth forcing." Rotgar agreed nonchalantly.

　　"Then I'll be waiting for your good news!" Balam smiled as he activated the teleportation array, giving Rotgar one last meaningful look before happily teleporting away with Catherine.

　　Only after the teleportation glow faded did Catherine whisper to Balam: "What if he wins？"

　　Her voice was soft and gentle, like silk brushing against skin, making Balam's heart tremble slightly. This was why he forbade her from speaking in front of others—such a voice was for his ears only.

　　Balam impatiently carried her back to their bedroom, his mind wandering as he said carelessly: "He's bound to lose. With that foul mouth of his, he can't even speak kindly—what woman would marry him？"

　　“But…”

　　“Shh, don't talk about him anymore, or I'll get jealous. Say my name, darling.”

　　“…Ba… Balam…”

　　Meanwhile, Rotgar returned to his castle, retracted his thin wings, walked through the empty and desolate corridor, and arrived at the castle basement.

　　Rotgar understood clearly that Balan offered the Abyss Seed as a wager for two reasons: first, Balan didn't care about the Abyss Seed as much as he did, and second, Balan believed he was bound to lose.

　　As old friends for thousands of years, Balan had repeatedly told him that even if he truly fell in love with a lady, he would never succeed in pursuing her because he was utterly incapable of speaking sweet words—his mouth alone could turn a woman deeply in love with him from affection to hatred.

　　However, even his close friend Balan didn't know that his innate skill "Possession" came with an additional effect: gaining partial memories of the target.

　　Every Archduke of the Abyss possessed an innate skill, a gift from the Abyss when they crawled out of its depths.

　　Rotgar's innate skill "Possession" allowed him to dematerialize his body and inhabit the body of an intelligent being in a soul-like form, perfectly controlling the host's body. This much Balan knew; what Balan didn't know was that he could also randomly acquire part of the target's memories.

　　Therefore, Rotgar considered the wager with Balan extremely simple: find a playboy, use his memories to win the favor of human women. Human women were vain and greedy—this bet was already won in his eyes.

　　There is no direct passage between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm. The environments of both realms are highly toxic to the creatures of the other side. Only a few individuals from specific races can survive in the opposite realm by relying solely on themselves or by using external objects or secret arts.

　　Even so, their abilities will be weakened.

　　In order to lift the Abyss Curse on himself—a price paid for the gifts from the Abyss—Rotgar frequently travels to the Human Realm in search of clues. Beneath his castle, there is a pre-established cross-realm teleportation array.

　　He stood in the center of the teleportation array, flicked his finger downward lightly, and a black flame struck the center of the array, instantly spreading across the entire formation. After a flash of purple light, he appeared in a mountain forest ten miles away from a certain city in the human realm.

　　The light unique to the spell quickly faded, and Rotgar frowned. Every time he came to the human realm, it made him extremely uncomfortable.

　　Even though he was a Grand Duke of the Abyss and could resist the toxic effects of the human realm's environment on him, it was not without impact. At this moment, his strength was suppressed to less than half of its original level.

　　Voices came from the diagonal front, mixed with screams and wild laughter. Since Rotgar made no attempt to conceal himself, they noticed him as he approached.

　　“Who are you!”

　　Rotgar didn't even glance their way, continuing on his own path.

　　A woman's voice screamed: "Save me, please save me!"

　　"Shut up!" A slap followed, then a rough male voice shouted, "I'm talking to you! Stop right there! Sh*t! Brothers, get him! Don't let him leave!"

　　Several men picked up weapons they had discarded nearby and rushed toward Rotgar. Because the forest was dim and branches had obscured part of Rotgar's figure earlier, it wasn't until they surrounded him that they realized he wasn't human but had goat-like horns on his head…

　　“A demon! It's a demon!”

　　The men screamed in terror, turning to flee, but it was too late.

　　Rotgar raised his hand and flicked his fingers lightly. Black flames emerged from thin air, clinging to the men's bodies like oil, instantly spreading and engulfing them in raging dark fire, reducing them to ashes in moments.

　　And Rotgar didn't even break his stride.

　　Only the woman who witnessed this horrific scene remained, trembling with fear, hugging herself as she wept silently, not daring to make a sound while desperately praying to the Goddess of Light in her heart.

　　Having narrowly escaped death, she quickly decided to treat everything she saw today as a nightmare and never speak of it to anyone.

　　Rotgar soon found a suitable possession target—Parrish Wilson, the son of Blue Stone City's lord, who was returning to the city in a luxurious four-wheeled carriage not far away.

　　Parrish Wilson was not a mage and had weak mental strength. Besides him, there were only the carriage driver and his valet in the carriage, both frail ordinary humans. Rotgar easily succeeded in "possession." This body was young and handsome, capable of making at least ten human women agree to his marriage proposal within a day.

　　Rotgar's possession would not cause the original owner of the body to die. The original soul would be forced to curl up and fall into a deep sleep, leaving the body under his control.

　　The carriage slowly entered Blue Stone City. Rotgar opened the window and gazed coldly at the outside.

　　These lowly, incompetent, and feeble humans were just as repulsive as ever.

　　The carriage suddenly came to an abrupt stop. The driver shouted angrily, "You wretched commoner! How dare you block Lord Parrish's carriage! Do you want to be hanged？"

　　Rotgar withdrew his gaze, hearing only a slightly panicked, delicate female voice say, "I'm sorry, someone pushed me… I'll move aside right away!"

　　A lame excuse.

　　Rotgar vaguely recalled witnessing similar scenes many years ago—impoverished yet beautiful maidens collapsing before wealthy young masters' carriages, hoping to leap into privilege in one step.

　　Hmph, women.

　　Rotgar pushed the carriage door open and stepped down, seeing the girl lying in front of the carriage struggling to push herself up. But with injured knees, she barely half-rose before collapsing again in pain.

　　Onlookers had already gathered nearby, whispering among themselves.

　　Quite the convincing performance.

　　Maliciously thinking this, Rotgar walked over to the fallen girl who couldn't rise. Under her astonished gaze, he bent down and lifted her into his arms.

　　His action drew gasps of surprise from the crowd.

　　Most recognized their lord's son—the shocking sight of a noble carrying a commoner left them astounded.

　　In Rotgar's eyes, humans ranked lower than the basest slimes of the demon realm. Had this been his true form, he wouldn't have allowed this human woman to touch even a corner of his garments.

　　But for the Abyssal Tree Seed, he could endure this temporary discomfort.

　　Rotgar drew upon Parrish Wilson's memories, using this body to smile and gaze affectionately at the girl who appeared no older than sixteen or seventeen, saying: "Lovely miss, your beauty has made me fall in love at first sight. Your injuries break my heart—how could I bear to see you suffer so？ Please come home with me, I will take good care of your wounds."

　　Thanks to his privileged family background and natural advantages, Parrish had become a playboy quite popular with women, his mind filled with sweet nothings. Among the random memories Rotgar glimpsed, there was more than enough material for him to choose from.

　　The girl had long, wavy red-brown hair and was about sixteen or seventeen years old. Her skin was fair and tender, her sky-blue eyes brimming with a shallow layer of tears from the pain. Her lips were full and a healthy red, though the slightly worn, smoke-gray old dress she wore made her resemble a pearl covered in dust.

　　Without waiting for the girl to respond, Rotgar carried her into the carriage, eliciting a wave of murmurs from the onlookers.

　　“Wow, Young Master Parrish is so gentle! I wish I were the one who fell in front of his carriage!”

　　“That girl is so lucky! Merciful goddess, why couldn't it be my daughter who encountered such good fortune？”

　　“……”

　　Rotgar heard those envious whispers and let out a cold, knowing sneer in his heart.

　　These inferior humans never failed to disappoint him.

　　Contrary to his inner thoughts, he gently placed the girl on the seat, sat opposite her, gazed at her with tender affection as she wiped away her tears, and said in a magnetic voice: "Fair maiden, you are to me like the rising sun, illuminating my path. Without you by my side, I would be lost. Please marry me!"

　　Rotgar adopted a swift and decisive approach. Since this human woman had thrown herself before Parrish's carriage with the ambition of skyrocketing to wealth and status, she would surely accept his proposal with ecstatic delight.

　　He saw the girl opposite him freeze, her hand still mid-air after drying her tears. She looked up at him, presumably overwhelmed by shock and joy—her eyes widened slightly, and her lips trembled faintly.

　　Rotgar's disgust intensified; this unsightly display nauseated him.

　　The moment she agreed, he would kill her.

　　However, just as Rotgar slightly lowered his gaze and casually rested his hand on the dagger at his waist, waiting to strike upon hearing an ecstatic acceptance, what he heard instead was the girl's faint yet resolute voice: "I refuse."

　　Rotgar abruptly looked up, his reaction uncharacteristically delayed.

　　……She actually refused him？

　　This was impossible!

　　Anna's wide eyes and trembling lips were not due to pleasant surprise, but sheer terror.

　　Her vision had been blurred by physiological tears shed from the pain earlier, so she hadn’t clearly seen the man’s appearance, only knowing he was a young man with a pleasant voice.

　　Being carried princess-style into the carriage had also startled her, but with her injured knee and the sudden shock, she hadn’t had time to react.

　　As she wiped away her tears, she also heard the man’s marriage proposal.

　　But there was no time for astonishment, because when her vision cleared, she witnessed a scene that nearly made her scream.

　　—Inside this handsome man’s body lurked a demon with goat horns!

　　Anna had been transported to this alternate world for several days now and knew that this world possessed mages and magic, and demons were no longer confined to fables.

　　But these supernatural elements had felt so distant to her these past few days—she never