'Calista! What a beautiful name?' Orson could feel the name rolling perfectly off his tongue.
A beautiful name for a beautiful lady. He was even more curious now.
"Thank you, Ms. Calista, for saving my life. I truly appreciate it!" Orson said gratefully.
With how severe his wounds were, if he hadn't been saved, his life would have been in grave danger. So, despite Calista's ill intentions towards him, he was grateful that she had saved him without being stingy.
If she were to sell the medicine, she had used on him abundantly, she would become a very rich person. After all, he had never come across such medicine that could not only heal both inner and outer wounds at the same time but also could remove deep scars like that.
It was even more so for the medicine that she applied on his cheek to give him a scar. He had touched it earlier, and it was real, without any fakeness to it.
Just who exactly was she?
"You don't have to be in a hurry to thank me!" she said slyly, as she looked at him with a calculative gaze.
Seeing that, he knew that it was about to come. The beautiful lady was about to scam him, but in which way was she going to do it?
"Could … is there something that you want from me?" he hesitatingly asked, his face worried.
Calista smiled brightly upon hearing that. "Bingo! I am just a lonely woman; how could I dare take in a man in such dangerous times?"
"You … tell me, what do you want?" he clenched his fists as he looked exasperatedly at her, his gaze filled with uncertainty.
Calista adjusted her sitting position so that she was sitting cross-legged on the bed while facing him. Her back wasn't leaning against anything. She was sitting so dangerously that if Orson was to push her, she would fall on her back and her head would definitely suffer damage.
However, she just sat there calmly and oozing so much confidence that Orson's feelings became complicated.
"Have you ever heard of repaying a drop of water with a fountain of water?" she asked amusedly with a smile on her face.
"This …. I think I have heard of something like this before. What are you trying to say with this?" he asked doubtfully, trying to gauge her meaning.
Calista clapped her hands excitedly like a child who had been promised a piece of candy and said, "It's quite simple, actually. In this village, a single man and a single woman shouldn't be seen together or be in the same space together unless they are siblings."
"And you, dear, we have happened to cross that bridge already. Not only did you spend hours in my house, but I have seen your body. According to tradition, I need to take responsibility for you. At the same time, you need to pay me for saving your life. I have used a heavenly medicine on you to heal you in such a short time, something I have been saving for emergencies. But because of you, I have used all the medicine up. so, what should I do now?" she asked as she spread her hands helplessly and shamelessly as well.
Otherwise, how could a woman speak so freely about seeing a man's body like that?
Orson was rendered speechless, actually. He didn't think that she would use such a tactic to scam her into marriage. Was she really that desperate to get married?
By just looking at her, he could tell that she was beautiful and rich. So how could she not find a man to marry her?
Although he wasn't sure of the place he was at, the fact that he hadn't heard a single person except Calista the whole time meant that wherever he was very isolated.
From where he came from, houses were nearly clustered, and people could be seen everywhere. So where exactly were they that she couldn't get a man to get married to?
Even though she was shameless, that wouldn't stop her from finding a man.
And why was she openly acting so shameless like that to him?
However, to get what he wanted, he had to play along. Otherwise, the sacrifice would be for nought. He couldn't risk it.
"This … you … what do you want me to do? Is it really that bad?" he anxiously asked.
As a so-called scholar, even a normal citizen of the kingdom and empire knew about maintaining one's reputation.
It was very easy for one to end up in a forced marriage simply because he saved a girl from harm. The fact that he touched her while saving her would be the cause of forced marriage.
And it seemed that was now being used on him. Wasn't this refreshing?
Calista shrugged as she looked at Orson with a relaxed expression.
"I need a husband, and you need to repay that drop of water. And now it's the chance," she directly answered without beating around the bush.
Orson wasn't surprised this time around when he heard her directness. Indeed, she was the type of person who would go for what she wanted, but he just couldn't understand why it had to be him.
"Is … is there really no other option from that?" he nervously asked as he swallowed hard, with some drops of sweat already forming on his forehead.
"There is another one actually," her lips curled upwards as she said that.
Seeing her like that, he knew fully well that she was up to no good. However, to keep the ball moving, he still followed the script and asked, "This, what is it?" looking expectantly at her.
Suddenly her eyes turned fierce as she said icily, "I just need to send you back to the same condition I found you. Go and call the village chief and report you for trespassing and trying to take advantage of me." Her tone was very cold.
That response dumbfounded Orson, that his eyes and body shook with fear. "Lady Calista, this? Can we talk about it? I don't want to be reported. I definitely am not a bad person. I don't know how I got here and what happened. But my gut is telling me that I am not a bad person!" he swore solemnly as he moved a bit closer to her.
"Tch! How do we know that? You forgot everything except your name. What if you are some wanted person and I saved you? If you can't even sacrifice yourself and marry me, why should I bother to waste such heavenly medicine on a stranger like you?" Calista wasn't one to be taken advantage of.
Although there was still plenty of medicine where she took it, that was her cabinet drawer. For it to get there, the process wasn't very easy. So why should she allow someone to make use of her for nothing?
"Lady Calis_"