(Yuri POV)
Looking at the sakura trees lining the road to the Pink Petals Sect gate, I felt a bit giddy as I held Zen's hand.
We had arrived here about a day ago and stayed in the town that is at the bottom of the mountain that belongs to the Pink petals sect. Luckily, we were not late but arrived a day early. Today was the exchange festival, but Zen received a message from the elders of the pink petals sect to come and see them. Since it was a sect filled with women, Zen decided to come with me since he did not feel safe coming here alone.
He did not want to be pestered by the females in the sect, so I am his shield.
Looking at his side profile, I felt my heart flutter a bit. I know that I am not supposed to have these kinds of thoughts since technically he is my master and my savior, but I just can't help it.
He is handsome, smart, strong, and even wealthy; he ticks off every checkbox a girl could ever ask for, but sadly I am old enough to be his elder sister since he would be turning twenty-four by the end of this year and I have just clocked thirty-five.
I have never been in a relationship before, and this is my first time holding a man's hand, aside from those of the dark sect people. Luckily they never made any advances on me, so I am still a virgin.
Does that mean I would be like this for my whole life? Because I know that I won't fancy any other man after seeing Zen.
"This place is really nice," Zen said, looking at the trees.
"Ah, yes."
To be honest, I have been having a very hard time ever since he held my hand. I don't think I have been thinking clearly.
"No wonder female practitioners love coming here when they get the chance," he added.
"What is this sect about anyways? You said they only accept female disciples, but I have also seen some men wearing the sect robes. Look at one now." I pointed to a man who was sweeping the fallen petals on the road.
"They are servants and helpers, and some are criminals." Zen replied with a chuckle. "There are some things that the female practitioners of the sect can't do, for example, planting trees, hunting, fishing, fixing broken materials, and the like, so they sometimes hire men for that, or some men volunteer to help them; those that do are doing it in hopes of catching the eyes of one of the female disciples."
Oh, I never thought of it like that. I thought they wouldn't have any men at all; maybe the husbands and boyfriends of the females in the sect will be the only ones.
"Wait, what about the criminals?" I suddenly remembered.
"Ah, those are practitioners that have been found guilty of either sexual assault, abandonment, or killing a female practitioner without any reason; they would have their cores removed and then serve as cheap labor," Zen replied as he looked in a direction.
Following his gaze, I saw a man in what looked like orange clothes as he dug a hole with a shovel.
"He is a criminal; since he is wearing orange, that means it was a light crime and he willingly got himself arrested."
Apparently, there are three tiers to the prisoners; orange is for men that did some little crime against a woman, like scamming her or stealing from her, and she came to report him. Yellow is for crimes like beating up a woman or a child, and red is for sexual assault or rape, running away from your family, killing a woman, the list goes on.
"Of course it's not only men that they arrest," Zen suddenly said as we saw a group of pink-robed women escorting a woman in red clothes out of their sect gates.
Looking at the eyes of the woman, I suddenly realized that I had been living a lie. Only a woman like her would love me and give me the protection I need. I just have to save her and have her all to myself! I just need to ...
"Snap out of it," I heard a voice, and suddenly felt the whole world become dimmer.
"What happened to me?"
I could not believe that such a thought would enter my head after seeing that woman; looking at her again made me scared as I felt a shiver run down my back. But then a sudden warmth came over me.
"It's fine; I have blocked her hypnotization power from reaching you." Hearing Zen's voice above me, that was when I realized that I was in his embrace and he was patting my head. "Are you okay?"
He asked, but I found it hard to answer, as all that filled my senses was his frantically beating heart showing that he was worried and his masculine scent that overwhelmed me.
Is this the warmth of a man? I have never felt it before; it does feel nice.
"Yuri?" I heard Zen's voice snapping me out of my reverie as I quickly distanced myself away from him, quickly covering my face as I felt it heat up.
"Ah, yes, I am fine; I was just a little startled."
I have to try and not think about the hug just now. "Who was that woman?" I asked, quickly diverting his attention from me.
"She is an insectoid. They are very dangerous and more numerous than us humans. Since the other races are in decline, they slowly sprung up. She should be from the spider race," he said. "Let's go."
Looking at his outstretched hand, I felt conflicted. That feeling that suddenly overwhelmed me when he hugged me has not dissipated at all. Mom said that as a woman, falling in love is very hard since we mostly go for a man that we feel is capable of taking care of us even though we might not love him.
And a woman should not fall in love quickly since men are also good liars, but I don't want to believe what I'm feeling for Zen is love since we only spent about a month together and never did anything like this for once. Maybe it's something the Pink Petals sect sprayed in the air? Yes, that could be the only reason for this.
"Yuri? Are you sure you are okay?" Seeing his concerned gaze, I felt conflicted but still held his hand and instantly drew it back after I felt a jolt run through my body.
It seemed he felt it too, as he quickly grabbed my hand and felt my pulse.
"Could it be a side effect from the way I healed you?" He muttered as he released my hand and placed his hand on my head.
"Ah... No, I uh... lost control of my powers for a second because of what happened earlier." I quickly thought of an excuse.
"Am sorry for what happened, sir/ma'am; it won't happen again."
One of the female practitioners that was escorting the spider woman came to us and apologized as she gave us a token.
"This is a token that would allow you free access to the top of the love pagoda in our sect so that you and your partner can have a lovely view," she said, bowing again. "Sorry for the inconvenience."
I looked at the token in Zen's hand. I felt my face heat up when I remembered what the girl said.
"You want to go there after I see the sect master?" Zen turned to me and asked with a smile as he waved the token.
Oh, no, is this what Mom called love? Because I think my heart is about to leap out of my chest.