His eyebrows rose, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "...Luther Satanael," he replied calmly. "But, pray, what do I need to take responsibility for?"

All the blood drained from her face before it returned in double the amount, making her dizzy with the rush of heat. "For the child, of course!" She snapped back as if this strange man was a simpleton. "You have...you, you…!"

She was so angry she couldn't even speak right. Instead, frustrated with her inability to talk, she indicated her lower half.

Luther's dark face almost seemed to glow as he threw back his head and laughed, gold eyes burning bright with mirth. "I see...yes, it is only proper," he nodded a few moments later.

"Why are you laughing?" she hissed, distraught. "This is no laughing matter! If you do not accomplish your duty, I shall become no more than a slut in the eyes of the world. I did not ask you to place your hands upon me, let alone take my chastity!"

His arms came around her in a caging embrace, his body still shaking in humor as he withstood the weak blows she rained on his chest and shoulders to vent her rage.

Once she was left breathless and trying to recover, he leaned his head down, whispering in her ear. "Sweetling, I promise I will make an honest woman of you if it helps you calm down. But we have to leave this place and you must know that you'll never be able to return. We'll be going back to my world, understand?"

Thrown off by the bizarre words Luther was speaking, the young woman inhaled and exhaled a few times slowly to calm down. Her cheeks and ears were still stained red with a blush, but she didn't try to push him away.

We have already been...intimate. Something as small as this should be fine, she attempted to reassure her faltering heart.

Luther's gold eyes glowed even brighter, a helpless look of amusement spreading across his face. "Ah, so innocent. I really can't tell if I should be exasperated or completely charmed by you." Leaning down, he pressed his forehead against hers; breathing deeply alongside her own attempts to calm her pounding heart.

"W, what do you mean by another world? Leaving and never coming back, how can that be?"

His warm breath turned into a chaste kiss against her temple as he pulled back enough to look her in the eyes. "I suppose the easiest way would be to show you."

He shifted position, holding her against his side so they could face the same direction. Then, with another lazy flick of his wrist, a scroll appeared out of thin air.

Floating peacefully a little less than a foot away from her face, the young woman stared at the scroll that was unraveling itself. "How—?!" She started to demand how such a thing could be possible, but what she saw next made all the air escape her lungs.

Sagging against Luther in stunned exhaustion, her wide eyes read the words in front of her. All the while, her heart was filling up with fear and anger.

[Prayer: for the life of His Majesty, the King, to be spared. Price: my ability to taste blueberries, my favorite fruit.]

[Prayer: for this harvest to be bountiful and that all people of the kingdom may have full stomachs. Price: I will walk backward for five steps after waking up every day.]

[Prayer: that the plague sweeping through the kingdom will dissipate and take as few lives as possible. Price: I shall spend an hour a day in reflection of your glory, beauty, wisdom, and love.]

[Prayer: that this drought shall pass and a grand harvest to come nipping at its heels to save those in need at this time. Price: I grant you the feeling in my left hand an hour out of the day.]

……...

…….

….

The list kept going, each prayer written in the young woman's own hand with normal black ink. The price for each was written in a bold, striking hand, the ink as red as freshly spilled blood.

"...No," she breathed out weakly. Shaking her head, she pointed a shaking finger at the scroll, too afraid to touch the mysterious thing. "H, how do you…?"

She was much too scared to look up at his face, but Luther’s deep voice was more than loud enough for her to hear. "I told you before," he replied calmly. "I am the one who owns you. The 'Goddess' and I made a bit of a bet, you see," he added a few moments later.

"She was so sure that this child she had chosen would be a pure saint. She granted you this ability after I told her to bet on it. I, of course, believed that at some point you'd fall to selfishness, envy, and anger. But...it took you so long to do it."

When the young woman whipped her head up to stare at Luther, her expression twisted in horrified disbelief, he let out a low sigh. “I hate losing bets the most, you see. When I make a deal, I always want to come out on top. And,” he scratched the side of his face awkwardly, smiling brightly.

“Nothing in the rules of our agreement said that I couldn’t cheat.”

The blood drained from her face, making her head spin in dizziness. Luther’s large, warm hands kept her steady, but they didn’t soothe her aching head. “...G, go on,” she whispered through numb lips.

A flash of guilt cut across Luther’s expression as he continued. “One of my subordinates messed up, and in the process of fixing their mistakes, I owed a woman. She couldn’t continue living in my world, but I offered to send her here, along with one ability of her choosing. She requested ‘to be able to make any man of my choosing worship the ground I walk on’...so, I granted it to her.”

Hands clenched into fists at her sides, the young woman glared up at Luther in disgust. “The viper!”

His lips twitched into a swift smile, but it was gone in less time than it took the young woman to inhale her next breath. “Exactly,” he nodded slowly.

“You!” she snarled, rushing forward to beat this treacherous man to death.