Paul cleaned her face and hands but didn't dare to do anymore and waited patiently for her to wake up.
-Well so much for my visit to a brothel for today.
He said to himself, not knowing if he should be happy or pissed that he found Anna.
One thing was for sure, if he didn't stumble upon her by accident then she would most likely be dead in no more than two days by his estimation.
Paul was getting sleepy so he laid down next to the girl and fell asleep soon after hoping that she would wake up tomorrow and tell him what the hell happened to her.
The next morning he woke up to see a terrified girl sitting on the floor in the corner of the room with her eyes looking at him full of fear.
-Calm down Anna, you have nothing to fear from me.
Paul said trying to calm down the agitated girl.
-Where am I?
She asked with fear.
-I took you to my room in the Inn I'm staying at.
Paul explained.
-Did you…
She wanted to ask but lacked the courage to finish her sentence.
-No, I only cleared your face and hands with a piece of cloth but that is all.
Paul knew she wanted to ask if he had sex with her while she was unconscious.
-Then why did you bring me here?
-Because I know you and couldn't just leave you on the streets to die.
Paul said calmly.
-Anna what happened to you? who beat you up and why the hell were you in the redlight district trying to sell yourself?
Paul decided to be blunt as he wanted answers.
Hearing the questions she knew he would ask sooner or later her eyes were filled with tears again.
-Paul my parents are dead, they hung themselves a week after we were sent to this place because they could not take this life any longer.
She said quietly.
I stayed with my brother for a few weeks but he started to drink a lot and hang out with the bad crowd.
Soon he became violent towards me since I didn't want to become a woman of one of the men he hung out with and when the man tried to force himself on me I scratched him and ran away.
When my brother found me he beat me up and kicked me out saying that he didn't care if I have to become a whore to survive but he no longer has a sister.
That was two days ago and I was starving so without any other choice I decided to sell myself to survive.
But the people here do not care for redheads considering them as a bad omen so nobody wanted me and that is when you found me.
The girl finished her story with a depressed look on her face.
-I'm pathetic, I can't even become a whore to get some food.
She said with tears falling down her cheeks.
Paul was speechless, he never thought that she would suffer this much.
-Anna stop that, you are not pathetic and you don't need to sell yourself to earn money.
Paul tried to comfort her.
-Then what can I do? I don't have any cultivation and my brother took my scroll away before I managed to learn it.
I have no family, no money, no weapon, nothing.
Tell me what the hell can I do?
She shouted the last part at him.
Paul took a deep breath to calm himself as this was not her fault and she was probably on the brink of insanity.
On Earth, she was a spoiled little princess since her father was a wealthy man and could afford to give her everything but here they were nobodies and now she had lost everything including her family and she even sank so low as to try and sell her body.
This was too much for her to handle and she didn't have anything or anyone to hold on to.
-Then tell me Anna what do you want to do? Do you have any goal at least?
Paul asked, he had an idea how to help her but he needed to know if she even had the will to live anymore.
-I don't know what to do Paul and as for my goals, I do not have any.
My immediate concern is not to starve to death what comes after that?
She shrugged.
This was not the answer he expected but it was better than he feared.
-Then I have a proposition for you.
-What proposition?
She asked with resignation in her voice.
Whatever he offered would most likely be better than what she had now so she decided to at least hear him out.
-Become my slave, at the very least I won't let you starve and as a part of a contract I will teach you cultivation.
She looked at him not sure she heard him correctly.
-You want me to be your slave?
-Yes, but that is only if you want to and I'm telling you right now that tomorrow I will leave this town so if you agree then you will have to come with me.
Anna knew what it meant to become a slave as she had seen many of them around the town but in her situation, it was a very tempting offer.
To have food to eat a place to sleep and clothes to wear would be like a dream for her after the nightmare she was living right now.
Even if he wanted her to sleep with him, then it was still better to belong to one man than to be a whore used by many men never knowing if one of them won't kill her.
On the other hand, she would forfeit her freedom and would have to do anything he asked of her without any way to resist.
This was not an easy decision for her but knowing Paul from earlier he would not mistreat her or punish her for nothing at most she would have to give her body to him but that was not so bad considering that he was Quite handsome now.
However, there was something that terrified her and that was the branding.
She saw it once and she had nightmares about it ever since.
-Paul, is there a way to become a slave without branding?
She asked with a little hope that he might know more than she did.
-Yes, there is a way to do that and I actually prefer this way since branding is barbaric and unnecessary.
Don't get me wrong you would still have a mark on your body but it won't leave a scar and it is painless.
What's more, the mark will disappear without a trace once you get your freedom back.
She cared little about the mark the most important part was that it would be painless.
With her body in the condition it was in she would most likely not survive the branding.
-What would I need to do as your slave?
She asked, just out of curiosity but she already made up her mind.
-Nothing much for now, but to give you a fair warning I intend to become a dual cultivator or as most people call it the pleasure cultivator.
So I will most likely ask you to be my cultivation partner then.
He wanted her to know what she was getting herself into if she happened to agree.
She suspected that he would want her body but not that he would want to become a pleasure cultivator.