Van had a restless sleep. And not just because he was worried about Luna and everyone else. But also because Yesi seemed to have been up throughout the whole night. Even going so far as to sleepwalk into his bed and snuggle up to him.

It was clear to him that she was still very affected by the Eros flower. For on and off the whole night she was either trying to masturbate or stop herself from doing so.

Which led to both of them having a few rings under their eyes come morning…

Yesi at least looked like some of the powder had run its course, though not all of it… it was clear it was still on her mind, though she now had a little more control over her thoughts and body than before.

Though now she couldn’t well look him in the eyes, somewhat aware of what she had done throughout the night…

Yesi gave a slight cough, “about last night…” she began to say, then paused, only to shake her head. “N-nevermind…” her cheeks going red, looking away and pretending nothing had happened.

Van sighed a little. “She’s totally a virgin…” he thought.

“I’ll forget about it if you tell me why you hate nobles so much,” he asked, though he didn’t really mean it, more focused on putting on his coat and making sure he had everything in place for today's journey.

Yesi looked conflicted. “It… isn’t worth mentioning…”

“Why?” Van asked, now looking her way, realizing she may actually tell him if her tone of voice was anything to go by. “You know… You looked quite surprised to hear that me and Luna are soul-bound last night. Do you really believe that nobles can’t love or something? Are we monsters? At least explain something…”

Yesi frowned and sighed in defeat, looking around she decided to rummage through the crates one last time to look for any resources available. “Fine… if you want to know so badly. It’s because nobles killed my parents, and then tried to kill me and my brother.” she said, looking very annoyed. “There, are you happy?” not even looking at him. “Or are nobles so perfect in your eyes that you can do no wrong? No matter how many people suffer…” she mumbled that last part.

Van let that sink in. “... I’m sorry… I know fully of what you mean…” he said, nodding his head.

Yesi rolled her eyes. “Oh ya? What could you know about being screwed over by a noble? Aren't they your own kind? Granted, you are a male, but even you male nobles seem to look down on us common folk with a snobbish up tilt of your nose.”

She then began to angrily tie a few crates together, putting foodstuffs back into place and rearranging a bunch of tools and other things before putting them away. “Do you know how hard I had to work to get where I am today? All the things I had to sacrifice? All for some noble or two not to like me and then make me wait years for my rightful rewards?”

“Or worse, for them to try and marry me to their house, so they could treat me like a slave… promising the fucking honor of being wed to a noble while making it clear they would take everything else away from me, even going so far as to promise, to find suitable spouses for my brother, spouses so far from where we live and who are absolute trash to the point that some slavers are better than them…”

“They literally think they are entitled to everything they have, despite not even lifting a finger to work for it. While all the subjects under them suffer from their capricious whims… they never worked a day in their life, never did anything that proved any semblance of merit or their own worth.”

“Some even sent their husbands to try to seduce me, but they couldn’t hide the look in their eyes… the look in their eyes that screamed they were disgusted about even being near a pleb like me… all because…” she paused in her rant, wondering where the energy for all that anger had come from and realizing she might be more affected by the flower then she first thought.

“Because?” Van asked, wondering what this was all about.

Yesi stayed silent for a long while… silence taking the cave… she stared into empty space as if she was the only thing that existed at this moment. “Because I have noble blood to…” tears then began to fall from her eyes. “They just want me because they figured they could use me… for my status as a ranger… and to press claims on a stupid piece of land so small and insignificant that it’s not even worth the trouble. And yet my aunt still killed my parents for it anyway…” she sniffed.

“Oh gods I fucking hate this flower…” she complained, realizing that she was clearly still not in her right state of mind.

“Why not just get a lover or something?” Van asked, “if you had someone already, they wouldn’t try so hard to send men your way. The lover’s guild provides a great service in scenarios like this.” he said, trying to be helpful, but feeling a little weird and awkward about it. Realizing he may have listened in on more than he should have.

Yesi snorted. “Oh please, they would have realized if I was dating a fake lover… besides… even I want true love…” she mumbled. “But even still… I’ve lost my trust for people, other than my brother… I don’t think I will ever fall in love…”

“Don’t say that!” Van said, saddened by her words. “you can find love! Or at least a lover!”

Yesi turned to him, confused as to why he felt so strongly about this.

“When I was just a teenager. I had an arranged marriage with my wife, Luna…” Van said, beginning his story. “While I was there, a noblewoman literally raped me the day before my wedding night! And yet I still had to go through with the arranged marriage…”

Yesi's eyes widened at that.

“I had to take a potion of Eros, just to get hard and to overcome the trauma I experienced so I could consummate with my wife and new concubine…” Van looked Yesi in the eye. “That noble woman is still out there and planning to kidnap me if she could…”

“But! Despite being in an arranged marriage, and being forced to have sex a day after being raped… I still fell in love with Luna, and she with me… to the point we decided to get soul bonded to each other. If I can find my true love, then so can you…” he then walked up and reached out his hand to her.

Yesi looked at it confused, and up at him from where she was crouched down.

“Yesi, I’ll be your pretend lover. If any noble women or men want to try and use you, they will have to get through me and my wife first…” Van said, giving Yesi a sincere look. “Please… let me help you… I don’t want to be your enemy…” he said honestly and hoped that this small act of kindness may help her see people like him in a new light. He genuinely was just trying to help her out.

Yesi was taken aback by the offer. Mostly because she couldn’t sense any deceit in Van’s words or eyes. Slowly, she gently took Van’s hand and was lifted up to eye level with him and saw how beautiful said eyes were… she never could believe that someone would so openly court her like this. Her, someone people derided for being hard angles and not soft like a woman should be… a guy like him was still willing to be with a woman like her who treated him like just any other package that had to be delivered. She had treated him badly, and yet he was not only big enough to forgive her, but to also try and help her…

Suffice to say… she was very confused right now… but also deeply touched…

“Umm… okay…” she said with a slight blush, wondering if it was the pollen talking and making her heart skip a beat or if she was genuinely intrigued by the offer and the sincerity shown to her.

“W-what now?” she asked, eye to eye with her new pretend lover, her blush expanding.

“Now… if I may have your permission, I would like to help you with your… problem…” Van said. Taking this professionally as if he was a member from the lovers guild, which he technically was…

“W-what will you do?” Yesi asked demurely, surprised by her own tone of voice and silently berating herself for acting like a young girl with a crush, even as her heart began to beat faster and her body became excited against her will.

--- sex scene ---

if you want to see, read on scribblehub or on patreon.

--- end of sex scene ---

“We are to never talk about this again…” Yesi said flatly. “What happened in that cave stays in that cave,” she growled, not even looking back towards Van as she led the way.

“Are you sure? I could-” Van was about to say something, but was cut off.

“NO! What happened in that cave! Stays in that cave!” Yesi said, finally turning back to glare at him, her voice filled with a tone of finality. She then turned to look ahead once more, almost tripping on a rock, then grumbled under her breath after she righted herself. “Because of you, I can barely walk…”

“Alright, alright,” Van said. “But if you ever change your mind, you know I'll be there for you.”

Yesi grunted, “don’t we have your wife to save or something? Maybe you should be thinking about that?” she said rather rudely, probably to distract him.

“I already talked with her this morning…” Van said solemnly. “She says she’s okay, but that they are lost… Yassan told her that most of the forest is a little different than it was a few years ago… and the stash cave they stayed in last night was practically empty…” getting worried again now that he didn’t have anything else to preoccupy his mind.

Yesi actually felt terrible now for what she said. But did not want to admit it, instead she continued to lead them in silence towards the fort. Hopefully, there will be safety there.

And… she was also worried about her brother… In her mind, the sooner she could drop Van off, the sooner she could look for her sibling before anything wrong happened…

Finally, she sighed after what felt like forever… “Look, what happened in the cave… was because of the pollen I inhaled… what we did was just to help me get over its effects sooner… nothing more… but… if… for whatever reason you want to continue to play… pretend lovers… I don’t mind… but! That discussion comes after we save our family.” she turned to look at Van with a slight glare, though less intense than the last one. “Understand?”

Van nodded his head wholeheartedly. “Definitely. Let’s find Luna, Yassan, and the others as soon as possible!”

Yesi grunted. “After we reach the fort…” She then looked around after a few seconds. “Hmm… Yassan is right… this forest seems to have changed… I can feel it…” she slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled it, opening her eyes that now seemed a little clearer.

“Someone has been fucking around with the ecosystem of this place…” she said after a few moments. Her hands tightened on her bow. “Those fuckers will pay double so if they are to blame for this…” her inner rage growing.

Van looked around a little nervously. “Is the change that bad? I can’t tell so…”

Yesi nodded. “It’s worse… it might seem small… But trust me when I say that it has huge effects on the forest. This forest has just got even more dangerous… we should be doubly careful of where we tread…”

She looked around some more, before turning back to Van. “You should have that cat of yours help out. It seemed pretty useful last night. Maybe it can help us again today…” She then gave one last look around. “It should be only half a day towards the fort, if nothing gets in our way… let’s pick up the pace…” taking the long way to avoid any bandits that might pop up.

She then took the lead once more and began to go a little faster.

Van, who was not used to these kinds of woods, had some difficulty following. Thankfully, his experience in the forest he spent a few months before helped him at least keep up, if at extra cost to his stamina…

For a few hours they traveled, every so often Yesi would stop him and tell him to hide while she picked off a few more of those strange mushroom monsters. After that, they continued, dodging giant hornets, avoiding trees made of thorns that apparently shoot paralyzing poison and another one of those shriekers that seemed to be nothing but pure nightmare fuel.

After all that, they finally decided to take a short break near a river, much to Van’s relief.

“We’ll stay here for a few minutes. After that, we head the rest of the way without breaks to the fort.” Yesi said. “So get your rest while you can, you won’t get any later after this.”

Van sat down on a nearby rock and sighed, his feet killing him. On the one hand, he didn’t look forward to the trek ahead… on the other hand, he was very worried for his wife… “don’t worry Luna… I’m coming for you…”