CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 60 "THE TRIALS OF MANOBAN (2)"

"What is it, my lord?" Manoban’s father asked, which was met with a wide grin from the city lord.

"I heard you have a daughter, and that she is beautiful." His words stunned both the husband and wife, who immediately began to wonder what the city lord was trying to achieve.

However, what the city lord said next stunned them. "I wish to marry your daughter."

Both the husband and wife thought he was merely asking for their daughter to spend some nights with him before he would use and discard her. But here the city lord was asking to marry Manoban.

This was surprising, but how could they agree to marry their young daughter to a man who was the same age as them, or even a little older?

"Lord, this is..." her father hesitated to speak, so the city lord spoke with a smile, "Speak. There’s no need to hesitate. As I said, this is just an offer; I’m not forcing you. But remember that I can only help you with a solid reason, or I couldn’t face the loss because of your mistake."

His tone was stern and filled with warning.

Both of them couldn’t answer. They wanted to outright reject the offer, but there was another issue: the feudal lord, who might punish them for not delivering the grains, which were a type of tax they had to pay every year.

Seeing them contemplating, the city lord spoke, "You don’t have to answer at this moment. I’ll give you a week to think about my offer." He gave them time to think, but in reality, the week-long period would only increase the pressure on the couple.

"But I need your answer just a week from now," he added.

"Yes, my lord," her father said, and they turned to leave.

Meanwhile, behind their backs, the city lord chuckled, "I can’t wait to get my hands on her, but the longer it takes, the better it will taste."

Once back home, the couple sat, contemplating the offer. They looked at their daughter and couldn’t come to terms with the idea of selling her to save themselves from punishment.

Seeing their sad expressions, Manoban asked, "Mother, Father, what did you talk about with the city lord? Why do you both look so down?"

Her father shook his head. "Nothing. We’ll explain this tomorrow. For now, I think we should go to the field to watch for the wild animals." He directly told her that whatever happened at the city lord’s house, they would tell her later in the morning.

Her mother added, "Hand me the food. We should go before nightfall. Make sure you lock the doors."

Manoban nodded and handed them the packed food without questioning them further, but she felt anxious seeing the look on their faces, which concerned her.

Once they left, she waited for a specific time, then left her house, wearing a dark cape.

"Astban!" she knocked, but no one answered. "Astban!" she called again, but still, no one answered.

She opened the door herself and saw Ray (Astban) sleeping inside. As the door opened, it woke him, and he saw a beautiful woman’s face right in front of his.

For a moment, he was confused, as Ray hadn’t slept for weeks since he began playing Apex Predator, and this was the first time he had slept, even though it was inside the trial.

Then he realized who she was and said, "Manoban!"

"Something has happened!" she said, removing her cape and jumping on him. Ray embraced her as if he were used to it. She hugged him as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Ever since they returned from the city lord’s house, their faces have looked like they’ve gone through something bad," she sobbed. "Astban, I have a bad feeling."

Ray could only listen. "We can solve whatever the problem is. Can you tell me if your family has been facing any problems recently?" he asked. Although he remembered from Astban’s past memories that Manoban had told him about their fields being raided by wild beasts, ruining the crops, he chose to ask again to reconfirm things.

"Didn’t I tell you a few days ago about the grain fields being destroyed by the wild animals? Because of that, we have a shortage of the grain we’re supposed to send every year to the feudal lord via the city lord," she explained.

"That’s the only problem that’s been getting worse year by year. We’ve tried things to stop those animals, but they keep coming, and this time the loss is more than 50%, so we can’t even fill the gap with our own share of grains."

Ray pondered this, thinking, "What if the city lord was behind all of this?" Then he asked, "What about your parents? Did they tell you why they were called by the city lord?"

"No, but they told me they’d tell me later in the morning, since they left early to the field to keep the animals away from the grain," she said. Manoban stopped crying, but her face still looked sad. Even though Ray knew she wasn’t real and this was just a trial, being in Astban’s body, he couldn’t help but feel sad for her.

With a tight hug and a kiss on her cheeks, he said, "No matter what, I’m here for you. Can you bring me a handful of the stored grain here in the morning? Just a handful will be enough."

His request confused Manoban.

"Don’t tell me you’ve learned some black magic," she joked. "No, you fool, but something like that," Ray replied with a chuckle.

Manoban’s hands roamed over his body. "Can you show some love to your Manoban?"

Ray was surprised. He wanted to refuse, but her seduction was too strong to resist. He succumbed to her embrace, a forbidden love that felt right in the moment. For the first time in years, Ray was lost in love. They spent the night together, and as Manoban left, she watched him sleep, feeling it was the best night he’d had in years.