Chapter Text
When Shen opens his eyes again, he is no longer inside the Garden of Maea.
He is now lying outside the entrance of the Garden, on the inlet in the middle of the toxic lake, with an intact specimen of Aberu Mushroom in his hands. Everything about him is unharmed by injuries, yet he still remembers the horrors he saw down there. However, the trials he had to endure in the Garden was not without consequences, as he survived with a major change in his body;
By the time he finally exits the unwelcoming nursery, not only does it feel like months had passed, he could feel his boy-womb turning heavier, his affliction growing worse as the parasite spawn inhabiting his virile boy-womb grows bigger, demanding more space out of his fragile, petite body. In other words; there is now a large, noticeable bump showing on his stomach, one fully showcasing his pregnancy to the world. One that not even his hooded cloak are enough to cover his pregnancy bump.
Shen utterly hates this feeling, yet it is too late for him to complain, as he has a whole new problem presented in front of him; although such an ingredient is easy to obtain, being that it is collected in the peak of evening from the dewdrops of plantlife, he needs to go pass Dilu Village first, and as his contracted fiend had warned him, displaying his pregnancy within the village would be tantamount to a death march.
So far, Shen has lived as a survivor, and there is no way he will be a victim this time. He had vowed to never fall into victimhood ever since the annihilation of his clan, and here he stands; tattered and defiled, yet still as strong as a living tree. A living tree infected with bugs and termites, yet still living nonetheless. Witnessing the next stage of his metamorphosis horrifies Shen, he dreads what awaits him in the future the longer he glares at his distended belly…
For the first time, Shen had experienced what despair truly means. Not when the foul mercenaries of Rudah invaded the plains his clansmen lived throughout and slaughtered them, not when he was about to be raped by his kidnappers, not when he had his virginity forcefully taken and impregnated by the demon he accidentally summoned, not when he finally realized his pregnancy for the first time. But it is when he realized that the accursed fetus inside him had grown to such size in a short amount of time.
“W…what…” Shen stutters, fear poisoning his words, “how…how is this possible…?”
As he monologues, he notices that his annoying rapscallion of a demon servant does not chime in as usual to mock and belittle him, leaving him truly alone with nobody to rely on. This loneliness only adds up to Shen’s fearful paranoia, feeding into his already broken ego. Humans are still social creatures, after all, and in the end, without nobody to console him at his lowest point, Shen simply crumbles down in his own lamentations, curling into a fetal position to cover his distended belly even though no one is out there to see him exposed like this…
…or is there?
“What are you doing out there?” from afar, a gentle voice calls out to Shen, a voice of a woman which lacks any malicious intentions from the surface, reminding him of his mother’s voice tone, “are you alright? You shouldn’t stay around here, this isn’t a safe place,”
Shen froze up, immediately turning cautious by the voice calling to him. He refuses to face the source of the voice, let alone move an inch of his body. In other words, pretending to be dead. He lies on the ground, frozen and motionless, yet deep down, his heart is rapidly racing in fear, his breathing hyperventilates as silently as he can manage. Panic overtakes his nerves,
“If you want to play dead, at least make it look convincing, you know?” the voice calls out to him once again, as if seeing through his mask, which horrifies Shen even further, “it’s okay, don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you at all,”
And yet, even in this reassuring tone, Shen remains like he's always been, refusing to face the source of this kind and gentle voice, he continues his facade of playing dead. From a young age, he had been taught by his clan to not trust strangers, and right now, he has been cornered by a stranger with unknown intentions. For this reason alone, he must be careful to not expose his deepest weaknesses, so he remains in his broken facade of pretending to be a dead body.
“But hmmm…. it'll be difficult to get you out of that inlet by myself….I should get the villagers in Dilu Village to help me out with thi—---”
“No! Please!! Anything but THAT place!!!” After hearing that, Shen immediately springs up from where he laid, careful to not expose his frontal appearance to whoever is the source of the voice that has been calling out to him, but he has certainly broken his usual character.
A long period of silence goes by, to which the only audible sound that Shen could hear is the loud sound of himself hyperventilating in panic and fear as he had fully exposed himself to potential enemies, and now, it’s only a matter of time until his actions bear consequences…
“Calm down, I won't call the other villagers just yet,” the voice reassures Shen once again in the same consistent tone as earlier, “but pray tell, why do you not want me to call the villagers to help you out of that inlet?”
For a while, Shen remains silent, pausing to take a moment to think of an appropriate response for this rhetorical question. For a long while, he carefully thinks over every one of his potential decisions, being cornered with little time to answer the stranger’s concerned question, Shen had no other choice but to tell the truth to the voice behind him.
“How can I trust that you’ll help me instead of casting me aside to be mauled by a pack of wolves?” Shen asks the questionnaire far behind him, still keeping his guard up, it will not be easy to break off his thorny shield of distrust.
“I can tell that you’ve been through a lot,” the voice resolutely responds, “I might not know who you are, but I can tell that you’ve been physically not in the best condition as of recently, and that you need my help…”
“A…aah….” Shen utters, trapped and cornered by the voice’s charming response, “h…how did you know, then?”
“Call it a doctor’s insight,” the voice once again responds cordially, “I’ve been treating the sick and ill for my entire life to the point that I can tell if people are sick or not…and to me, you seem ill, both in body and mind...”
As soon as this so-called “doctor” replied to Shen with her diagnosis, Shen froze in his place. He could’ve sworn he feels something inside him shatter away, and before he could even realize it, it’s already over for Shen, as he already ran out of cards against an impossible enemy.
“Ill…? Me…?” Shen utters amidst the stillness, despite his ennui voice tone, he has finally reached his limit, and thus breaks apart like a shattered glass. This has become the first time he snaps, and this won’t be the last, “at this point, I don’t even know anymore…I don’t know what’s befallen me, and I don’t know how damaged my body has become…ahaha…”
Between the broken cackling and the neurotic twitching of trying to hold back his tears from breaking in, Shen begins his slow and gradual turn towards the source of this voice who is actively trying to reach out to him, finally taking the bait after so long, he finally sees who he’s been talking to this entire time. As standing on the edges of the toxic shores is a pale woman, one standing five inches taller than him, her appearance is adorned with straight, long pale blonde hair decorated with a red bandana and a pair of bright green eyes, wearing a white and green dress. Compared to the withered and dying look of the villagers in Dilu Village, this woman is akin to a prospering blossom. Aside from Celias and his clansmen, she is so far the most human-looking person that Shen had encountered on his entire journey of vengeance.
It’s already too late for Shen, for he had fallen for the bait. But what other choices do he have left?
“Tell me, then…what do you think I’m sick with…?” Shen utters in a disheartened tone, displaying his distended belly to his adversary. Shen's pregnancy had become grotesquely erotic, sporting a seven month old looking pregnant belly out of nowhere. Shen knew that with the spawn of a demonic mongrel growing inside of him, having a faster gestational period wouldn't be out of the question. But what Shen fears is the fact that his body had become foreign to even himself, the fact that this won't be the end for him just yet. Shen couldn't find any respite as he helplessly watches over his body being distorted beyond belief from his pregnancy, now and in the future.
The woman turns silent as soon as she sees Shen's condition, her eyes met with intrigue as soon as she notices Shen’s rapidly advancing pregnancy. She retains her kind and altruistic look on her face the same as before, only now, a glimmer shows in her eyes, the kind that shows her interests as dangerously clear as water, yet as murky as mud at the same time…
“...I see now,” the woman quips innocently, yet she acknowledges the true nature of Shen’s condition, “hold on a little. I'll get you something from my office, okay?”
And just as the woman said, she left Shen behind all to himself. Leaving him to contemplate himself as to what he had done and what he had witnessed so far with the excuse of searching for help…but perhaps one most important thing to think about was that strange woman who insists on helping him out. Shen can only wonder whether or not he had made a mistake by revealing his ailment to the strange woman. Shen feels anything but pleasant right now, in fact, his current emotions are conflicting feelings of sorrow, hopelessness, anguish and self loathing, and with each passing second, all of his bottled up emotions produce a regret so palpable to him….that it finally attracts the attention of a certain someone that he wishes to not interfere with him right now…
“Playing a risky game, aren’t we, master~?” A familiar voice creeps up behind Shen, sending a chill down his spine. No matter how much he’s used to the presence of his contracted demon, he can still never get used to his unannounced appearances, “what happened to your usual cautious and skittish self~? Do you perhaps prefer a fate worse than death than to having me stick by your side~? That's so cruel of you that it wound me, master~”
For some reason, in the depths of his infinite hatred towards his demonic servant, Shen all of the sudden lacks the bravery to snap back at his servant like he would normally do. He knew that he shouldn't have done what he did, but what's done is already done. With the lack of response coming from Shen, the demon only grins wider, taking this as an opportunity to tease and poke fun at his contracted master.
“Now, master…that woman you just encountered is a resident of Dilu Village, no~? Why do you think it's a good idea to trust such disgusting vixen~?” The demon continued with his words, encircling Shen lightly. However, his usual teasing and mockery at Shen is instead replaced with a rather stern scolding, as if Shen really had screwed up, “I already told you before, everyone living in Dilu Village was all barren and bereft of their fertility…and once they discovered someone with the ability to bear children, unaffected by the Blight’s corruption, they will keep you to themselves, and you may never see the light of day again and your belly will never be empty of babies…as arousing as that idea sounds to me, I still wouldn't recommend this kind of thing to you, master…” eventually, Shen could feel the demon leaning behind him, he can feel his cold breath close up his earlobe, “but I guess it’s too late for you to repent this time, huh~?”
Shen’s eyes only widen even further the moment his contracted fiend whispers nothing but dread into him. His guilt only grew larger as he listened to the demon's words. His mental state is already crumbling away, and what the demon had fed to him only made things even worse for him. Soon, the guilt consumes him whole, and fear starts painting on his delicate face.
“I know you’ve made a severe mistake, but don’t worry, master~ You still have one more chance at redeeming yourself for this grave sin~” the demon reassures Shen in a teasing tone, “all you need to do is to close your eyes…and keep this word of mine at your mind at all times…‘
Although he knew not of the consequences of his prior actions, Shen still follows his servant’s instruction out of his sheer pressure and influence over his frail mind. Even though it is too late for him to repent, it is still not too late for him to redeem himself, that is, if he plays his cards right…
“Indeed…whatever happened to you in the hands of that woman, and whatever you decide to do from here on out, you should never trust her, no matter what…”
…After the demon finishes speaking, Shen opens his eyes again. With a snap of his fingers in a blink of an eye the demonic servant teleported Shen back to the coast of the toxic lake. He no longer feels the presence of his demonic servant around him, being left alone to fend for himself…
…But just as the loneliness is about to reap at Shen, the blonde woman whom he interacted with earlier makes her return with an axe and a few tight ropes, presumably to chop trees and create a makeshift raft. But now that she sees Shen no longer standing stranded in that inlet, she drops her belongings and sighs exasperatedly.
“Sorry I'm late,” she apologizes to Shen with all her kindness, yet her eyes only pay attention to his pregnant belly, “but it looks like you're fine crossing the lake by yourself, huh?”
Shen doesn't dare to reply to this woman, only shrugging away at her. And in turn, the woman lightly grins, as if ignoring Shen’s distrust towards her, not caring at all about his cautious nature. Her gaze pierces through the very facade that Shen had immediately constructed, and with just a single glare, Shen already feels defeated.
“Now that you don’t need any more rescuing, I suppose I can leave you alone here by yourself, no?” the woman nonchalantly asks, a seemingly innocent smile plastered on her face as she offers to leave him alone. As soon as the woman proposes her leave to him, a panicked reaction triggers within Shen, as if he feels like he's being locked inside of a dark, empty room with no way out. For some reason, something within Shen warns him that he shouldn't let this woman away, not after her learning his horrible secret. He mustn’t leave behind any loose ends, and right now, this woman is such a loose end that he had created mistakenly.
“W…wait…! Don't go…!” Shen desperately shouts out for the woman, even as she does not make her move apparent just yet, Shen has once again unbeknowingly fallen into the woman’s trap. Whether it is out of the fear of being left alone or out of fear of the woman telling everyone she knew about his bodily condition is unknown. But deep down, Shen knew that he mustn't let this woman get away after she sees him in his weakest.
“Now, now~ I was just kidding, you see? So please relax…” the woman reassures nonchalantly, putting her hands in front of Shen’s panicked visage, “as a doctor, I can assure that I won’t abandon any of my patients that I came across…especially one as special as you…”
The blonde woman gently reaches for Shen’s wrist, grabbing it softly, yet firmly, tugging at him as if she wants to lead him somewhere…to Shen, however, it would appear that she’s leading him back to Dilu Village, to which Shen fervently objects to her decision, shaking his head frantically.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the villagers won’t spot us. We’ll only head to my office where you can stay there safely without them bothering you, and I'll make sure they won't realize that you're even in the village to begin with,” the woman reassures again with her similar kind and gentle tone, offering Shen a promise that sounds too good to be true. “All you need to do is to trust in me, I swear,”
Shen remembers what his contracted fiend had told him, and putting his words into heart, he returns his glare to the woman, reattempting to wear his mask of distrust. However, that would prove to be difficult, as it has become apparent to him that this woman can see through every lie and bullshit Shen puts out in front of her face in the most charismatic and heart-melting way possible. This woman certainly knows how to pry open and expose people for who they truly are, and at the same time is a tough nut to crack into. Shen cannot do anything at this point, for now, at least. But he tries his best to not fall into her yapping.
“...are you sure about this?” Shen hesitantly asks, trying his best to appear as distant as possible to the woman. But try as he might, as he is always still being dragged closer and closer to her no matter what, figuratively, metaphorically and literally.
“Yes. I know Dilu Village like the back of my hand, and I have a special privilege there,” the woman confidently replies, her words cutting through Shen's doubts with poise and grace, “I can enter and exit Dilu Village without having all the villagers knowing that I did out here. The villagers won't have the guts to question me either, let alone will they know of my entry and departure. So it's going to be alright for you,”
Shen turns silent at the woman's proclamation, unsure if what the woman had told him was either a bait to lure him into her grip or the cold, hard truth.
“So, what do you say?” The woman persistently attempts her bargains towards the ever-cautious Shen again, she is standing her ground as much as Shen does, and it begins to infuriate him.
“I…!” Shen stammers away, thinking of the best way to counter her charisma as his last, fragile line of defense, “I….I won't follow you around until I at least know who and what you are! I…I don't trust strangers at all—-!”
“You may call me Leticia then,” and just like that, the woman is fast to respond to Shen's ill attempts at driving her off his tracks, maintaining a demure smile on her face. And just like that as well, Shen had finally run out of cards under his sleeves. He's been defeated in this psychological warfare, but he is still too prideful to admit defeat.
“What about you then, young one?” Leticia questions Shen, her tone is as smooth as knife gliding through butter and as gentle as a morning’s sunlight, “you are quite the strange individual yourself now that I look at you closer. Especially your clothes. I've never seen anything this oriental like this before, where did you come from?”
Shen contemplates for a while. Even if he has been defeated in this psychological warfare, he still doesn't just want to submit to Leticia at all. Even though those who brought pain upon him and his clan never even bothered to care about his name, there's still a chance that the ones who slaughtered his clan and almost made him a slave knew about who and what he is. He thought long and throughout about how he should introduce himself to her. Should he tell him his actual name? Or does he have to weave a false identity?
Then, it hit Shen. He finally had a plan in mind. A plan that could hopefully turn the tides against Leticia's overbearing influence. A plan that could expose who Leticia actually is behind her facade. A plan which requires him to play dumb and obey Leticia even for just a little while. All he needs to do is to endure within his defeat and swallow his pride, even for a short while. His demonic servant won’t be there to help him throughout this trial, and so, for once, he needs to rely on himself.
“the…Northeast…” Shen complies as an act, appearing subservient to her for now, he puts his bait out for her as carefully as he could anyways. Only giving out partially a truth about who and what he is.
“Ouh…the Northeast, huh? So you were one of those people who worshiped Lee?” Leticia points out, her demure eyes still fixated on Shen’s abdomen, “so that would also mean that you were a part of one of the many nomadic clans roaming the Adifan plains...this is the first time I’ve met your kind, actually. Would you mind telling me more about yourself?”
As much as Shen wants to proceed further with his plans, he was caught off guard by Leticia mentioning the knowledge she had about his homeland. Indeed, she may not know of his clan and its history, but as soon as she mentioned Lee, the name of the God who presides over the eastern territories of this world, and the one his clan has been worshiping for generations. This kind of knowledge should've been one of a private nature,
“How…did you even know about my homeland?” driven by curiosity, Shen bites the bullet and asks her about the shock bomb that has been dropped into his mind.
“What? Isn’t it normal for doctors like me to be well educated about everything else other than medicine and health?” Leticia replies casually, “I consider myself quite well educated, you know? I even received a few Langrasse awards back in my scholarly years for my intelligence and aptitude in knowledge and wisdom,”
“Langrasse…?”
“You haven’t heard? It’s basically the highest honor one can give to a student at academies in this world. Such an award is named after the one and only genius that has ever graced this world; Celias Langrasse,” As soon as Leticia mentioned Celias’s name, Shen immediately turns pallid. He had never expected Celias to be this well-known amidst people. He always thought of him as just the oddly average hermit just until now. Now, a fire of curiosity has been lit within Shen, and his suspicions towards Celias only grew higher and higher.
But first, he needs to gather more intel before he could cast his judgment to Celias, before he could determine whether or not he is either good or evil.
“Who…was this Celias Langrasse, then…?” Shen stammers, pretending to not know who Celias is in front of Leticia. All in order to satiate his growing curiosity and debunk the main concerns he had in mind.
“you don't know? It's a worldwide legend that at least everyone in the world should memorize,” Leticia responds, her face contorted into a slightly concerned look, “back when the Court of Apocalypse first arose and sent the world into chaos, there was a troupe of heroes who dared to stand against them. Its most notable members were Damien the Brave, Yelen the Huntress, Elphette the Holy and Celias the Indomitable. Even though their glory days were past over five hundred years ago, their tales were still sung about to this day,”
As Leticia had mentioned these legends, Shen recognized at least two out of those four names, with him now knowing Celias even further as to who and what he actually is, and Yelen, as Leticia had mentioned her in passing, being the one of the ancestors of his clan, and to some extent, all of the thaumaturge and demon slaying clans roaming the northeastern plains here. But amidst these revelations, more questions are starting to brew within Shen's mind, notably, about the question of how come Celias could live through five hundred years as a human and remain youthful in his longevity. As to his understanding from what his clansmen taught to him, it would take years and years of effort to even extend one's lifespan even by a digit. But Shen decided that question should be solved later, as now he knows that he shouldn't waste time. Celias is still waiting for him back in his hut after all, and he’s not going to keep the babies in his boy-womb forever. And besides, he has this one odd, peculiar feeling that Leticia might be the key to him acquiring the evening springdew, the one last herb Shen requires to bring back to Celias. So in the end, it revolves back to his plans.
“I…see….” Shen utters, wanting to rush things along, he shakes himself off trance and thinks of a response to quicken things up to the pace of his plan, urgency is written on his very expression, “but I’d appreciate it more if we didn’t just stand around here and talk to each other this leisurely…! The villagers could—”
“I know,” Leticia swiftly cuts Shen away mid sentence, leaning near him to whisper to him in a blink of an eye, “I know that we’ve been wasting enough time. So without further ado…follow me. We can talk more in my clinic, after all…”
Thus, Leticia turns her back, walking away back to whence she came, expecting Shen to follow her along, that which he did. And so the two of them walked along, side by side following a loophole path back to Dilu Village where no one could’ve spotted them. However, despite the things Shen hid away from Leticia, and despite all the suspicions he had of her, unbeknownst to him, there is something that Leticia hid from him…
…something that not even Shen is aware of. All expertly hidden beneath her demure smile and graceful behavior.
—
And just as Leticia promised, she really did know a way to return to Dilu Village without anyone's notice. As she had navigated a path to the backdoor of a building that seems to be her clinic, shutting the door behind locked as soon as Shen entered into her clinic.
Leticia’s clinic is a small, humble place. Looking more like a wooden cabin with a very closed off, limited space, complete with a bed, a few bookshelves and some places where she’d keep her medical supplies and medicine around. She is a medic, after all, or so she claims herself to be one anyways.
“Please, lay on the bed,” Leticia gently demands Shen as she rummages around in her desk, “I need to get a better look on you, after all,”
Wanting to get this over with, Shen had no other choices other than to once again obey Leticia. He lays on the one and only bed available inside her small clinic. His pregnant belly visibly protruding as he does so, which only makes his standing even more awkward than ever.
“Good,” Leticia nods in acknowledgement of Shen’s obedience to her as she quickly returns to attend to him by his side, “now then, we can continue talking leisurely now that we’re back in my clinic. What would you like to ask me about back then?”
In his current physical position, Shen nudges his fingers as he stares at Leticia, who now takes a seat next to the bed he lays in. The only thing he had in mind was the whereabouts of evening springdew, and thus he only obsessively thought of it.
“Let's cut to the chase already. Do you know something about this evening springdew—-”
“Why of course. It's a common tranquilizing medicine used by medics for surgical purposes,” Leticia once again swiftly cuts at Shen’s sentences before he could complete them, “and of course, like any other medics out there with a degree, I know how to craft it,”
Hearing Leticia’s shocking claims disrupting his words, Shen’s annoyance soon is replaced by elation. He couldn’t believe that the last thing he’s been searching for is this close this whole time…
“But, it'll take me a day to craft just one dose of the entire thing,” however, before Shen could even rejoice, Leticia rained on his parade with her words, a bitter reminder that he shouldn't let his guard down just yet, “I need some rare ingredients that I need to gather to procure one dose of evening springdew,”
“Then…what's this rare ingredient? I can certainly help you with it, right—” beginning to turn irritated by Leticia's terms of condition, Shen counters back, offering himself as a martyr to help Leticia in this task all just for the sake of making things faster. He even physically attempts to prove himself by attempting to stand up from the bed he's laying on, however, Leticia gently, yet easily pushes him back into the clinic's bed.
“No need for that,” Leticia quickly cuts Shen off with a gentle, yet oppressively authoritative voice tone, “you are not suited to help me with the procuring of the rare ingredients, whatnot with your large belly, stuffed with life. And besides, don't you want the villagers of Dilu Village to not spot you as you are right now?”
Even with the disrespectfully dismissive way Leticia silenced Shen away, for some reason, he suddenly lacks the courage to snap back against her declarations, now that the hunter is now trapped in his own trap, it's prey is free to do as she pleases to him. The tables have been turned and Shen is slowly losing his advantage against Leticia.
“Now then…let's continue where we left off, shall us?” Leticia trails off, her green eyes staring at Shen's pregnant belly this entire time in a predatory way, one that Shen had cautiously unveiled as a part of her facade, “I believe you haven’t introduced yourself to me, so why don’t we start with that? May I inquire upon your name?”
Shen takes a deep breath as soon as Leticia makes her move in her attempts to coax him into exposing himself any further. One which Shen could take advantage of by giving her the bait bit by bit, he once again attempts this mental war against Leticia. He ruminates for a long while until eventually he came upon an answer;
Shen remembers many things from back when his clan was still thriving, one which is a title that his family would refer to him as, one that they would refer to whenever he was called in to perform their once in a year ritual as they traverse the northeastern plains they used to call home in order to banish the evil of the land before his clan would occupy it temporarily in their nomadic voyage. It was just by the tip of his tongue, and if he were to slip up, it'll be over for him…after all, there's no way in hell he will reveal his true identity to this woman, as far as she doesn't know anyways.
“...Just call me “Yan”. That's all,” Shen exhaled as he made up his mind, firmly standing his group as he was, facing Leticia's overwhelming dominance. Yet despite this, Leticia's facade shows no signs of cracking apart, instead, she became even more unpredictable to Shen, making her upcoming actions and words even harder to predict.
Silence permeated the entire room. Within this entire time Shen can never set his eyes away from Leticia, unable to do anything other than staring away at her with doubt and anxiety, hoping internally that his bluff of his succeeds in tricking her. But even then, it's impossible to know with Leticia keeping her persistently obvious facade around.
“Yan, huh…? I see…” Leticia responds back after a long time of what seems to be ruminating, “you truly have a special name, Yan. Among all my patients, I can tell that this is the first time I received a patient as interesting as you,”
Shen internally dreaded Leticia's hollow praises and sweet nothings, but he endured it all quite well. However, he might not know how long he'll last against her until he slips up, the grip he has on his mask has always been unsteady and nervous, so Shen wouldn't be surprised at all if Leticia had already seen through his facade to begin with. But how can Shen even tell at this point?
“Now then, Yan…do you have anything else you'd like to ask me?” Leticia gave Shen his choice in the most gentle way possible, “a question, perhaps? Maybe a favor? Go ahead and tell me what you'd like to say, then. I'll answer anything you throw at me with the best of my capabilities…”
“How long has it been…?” Shen blurted out his first question without thinking about it throughout. It is out of impulse that he asked such a question, after all, he is still confused with his current sense of time from his emergence from the Garden of Maea.
“I was just going to get some herbs by the side of the toxic lake just before dawn,” Leticia quickly answers, yet her response is still too vague to gather answers from, “why yes, I have to restock my supply after a hard and busy day of hard work treating these villagers, it was before sunrise that I found you laying dangerously close to the Garden’s entrance…”
Shen froze in place as soon as he fully received and processed Leticia's input of information. He realizes that the long months worth of time he felt like he had spent within the Garden of Maea was an anomaly in and out of itself. He quickly pieces it out of the fact that time goes on slower back in the Garden of Maea, making one day spent there felt like six months. As Shen contemplated further, the sickening fact dawned upon him; all the victims of the Garden he had seen and passed through on the way to the Garden's nursery have been trapped within the Garden for varying amounts of time, but they are old prisoners there nonetheless. However, due to the Garden of Maea's anomaly of slowing one’s perception of time down to an agonizingly slow pace, Shen couldn't even begin to comprehend all the pain and suffering that the Garden’s victims may have felt spending their god-knows how long times unfortunately trapped there. Never before had Shen felt this immense amount of guilt upon realizing this fact, one which causes him to turn nauseous in his empathetic ick.
“Are you alright, Yan?” Leticia asks Shen, leaning closer to him with a concerned facade.
“I…. I'm fine…I'm…just feeling cold a while ago…” Shen excused himself, trying to steer away from the horrifying and cruel realization of what he had to endure in the Garden of Maea, “it's just that…I've been out cold only for a day, right?”
“I don't know of your circumstances, but I'm pretty sure that I've only saw you recently by the edge of the Garden of Maea's entrance,” Leticia responds as swiftly and gracefully as ever, “that was the first time I saw someone like you laying dangerously close to the maws of the Garden, indeed.”
Shen internally sighs in relief after having been clarified completely of his situation, knowing that he still has enough time to help Celias in need. However, he is still far away from escaping the metaphorical woods, as he still needs to extort a dose of Evening Springdew by all means, even if it means dissecting his vulnerabilities for Leticia to behold and exploit.
“Ummm…. so anyways…about the Evening Springdew…” Shen impatiently trails back into the original topic of his questionnaire, hoping to rush things even quicker, “I…just want to know what ingredients are you using to create one…and how hard is it to find such ingredients for such an important concoction…”
“For the Evening Springdew, huh? I suppose I need three ingredients to craft one…two out of three has already been gathered, though. And all I need to do is to gather one more ingredient,” Leticia makes her reply, slyly winking at Shen with a wry grin, “the last ingredient I need, however, is a trade secret. But since you really want to know how I do my things, then why don't we strike a deal?”
A deal.
Such words struck deep within Shen, even until now. Deals, promises, contracts, all meant the same thing, and all resulted in his sorrow and suffering all over again. Yet at the same time, he foolishly accepts the values of a contract, no matter what awaits him at the end of it. When Leticia mentioned these words, Shen is reminded of many instances of him making promises that he would soon come to regret…only this time, this promise is a part of a scheme. One that hopefully would benefit him more than anything.
“...What is this deal about, then…?” Rightfully so, Shen questions Leticia's shaky terms of service, silently shuffling away from Leticia as she uncomfortably leans closer to him.
“As long as you are to stay in my clinic, you are my patient…which means, as long as you hide here, away from the people of Dilu Village, I will have full authority to do whatever I want with your body…of course, as long as it's within your limits,” Leticia replies to Shen's skepticism, in contrast, her tone of voice is rife with confidence, “I will perform medical examinations on you, I will study your body, and once I'm done with you, I will reveal to you my trade secret, and you are free to leave with the Evening Springdew in your hands…so, what do you say?”
In the end, Leticia corners Shen by the edge of the bed he lays on, standing so dangerously close to the point where the tips of their noses almost touched each other, yet, even in this closeness, not once does Leticia's gaze focuses onto Shen’s eyes, instead leering down at his pregnant belly, which she effortlessly pins down with her index finger, stopping Shen from running away from her despite her being gentle with her touch…
“Fret not…. I'll be gentle all the way from the beginning to end…it'll all be quick and painless ...just the way you like it…”Leticia utters those words, and just like magic, Shen immediately becomes weak in his knees. Unable to even say a single word, Leticia takes this as a sign of his final compliance to her, allowing her to do whatever she wants with Shen, “now, lay back down on the bed. Let's begin our medical examination,”
Still stunned for words, Shen wordlessly obeys Leticia, slowly slumping his body down on the clinic's bed, he lays upwards, unchanging in his position as his heavily pregnant belly sticks out like a sore thumb, with Leticia having free access to do whatever she wants with his body…
“First, I'd like you to undress yourself,” Leticia commands with a neutral look on her face, “you can put on your clothes back once we're done with this, don't worry. It's just that it's way better to feel around your belly without clothes obstructing the way…you feel me?”
Begrudgingly, Shen begins to undress himself from his attire. Putting his red ancestral dress aside, leaving him laying on the bed, only wearing his white panties and his thigh high boots. As Shen is almost naked, one could see that he is that of an utmost beauty, even for a male. His pale, hairless, flawless skin and his slim effeminate body made many think that he is a girl had it not for his flat chest that could never grow and his crotch where his male genitalia dangles from. Ironically, one factor which heightens his beauty even further is his pregnancy, not only making it seem as if his skin is glowing, but also giving his normally flat body a charm unlike any other. Shen looks away from Leticia as she approaches him, as if in acceptance that whatever he's planning will involve her getting away with doing whatever she wants with him if he wants his plans to succeed.
First and foremost, Leticia gently places her hand on top of Shen's heavily pregnant belly, the warmth of her hand spreads throughout the sensitive skin of his heavily pregnant belly, initially causing him to flinch on contact. However, as Leticia remains gentle in her touch as she scans throughout Shen's heavily pregnant belly with her hands, Shen suddenly feels a sensation of arousal unlike any other; although he tries his best to hide his small, feminine cock's erection by clamping it together with his thighs, he couldn't hide the fact that for some god-forsaken reason, his boy-cervix begin to twitch in arousal at the mere sensation of Leticia caressing his pregnant belly. It feels as if his boy-womb has turned into a second heart within his abdomen, throbbing and undulating like a beating heart. He can feel his belly turning warmer the more Leticia caresses and runs her hands around it, and as much as he couldn't afford to be distracted by the carnal pleasure he never wants, a part of him yearns for more of his heavily pregnant belly to be touched around more.
“Now then, Yan…as I examine you, do you mind if I also ask you a few questions?” Leticia asks Shen with her usual gentle and caring look. But Shen knew better, as he caught just a coy look glistening on her emerald eyes. However, Shen decides to pretend to not even see that look in her eyes, so he nods silently at her, wanting to rush things along desperately…
…But little did Shen know, the weight of these questions will be too much for him to bear.
“How many times have you been pregnant before?” Leticia shoots out her first question to Shen, staring straight into his eyes almost too overpoweringly. Her index finger circles around his protruding belly button, slowly and agonizingly, making his body shudder and twitch with every slow caress.
“T…this is…my first…time” Shen answers between bated breaths, trying his best to hide his arousal. This fact about his pregnancy he could answer to Leticia truthfully without revealing much, much more about the things he had chosen to keep silent about.
“I see…for a first time mother, you seem to be doing quite well,” Leticia hollowly praises Shen. She doesn't even make an effort in covering up her facade as she only fixates on Shen's heavily pregnant belly, not saying a word for almost a long while until she snaps back from her trance as soon as her index finger lands on Shen's protruding belly button, which indirectly causes him to let out a shocked moan. Shen could feel his butthole at this point turning wet with love juices, and his boy-womb twitching irrationally as long as Leticia puts her touch on top of his protruding belly button. As much as Shen would like to complain against Leticia about this behavior, he finds himself once again silenced by his own self, unable to stand up against Leticia's dominance, “now…onto the second question…who, or what is the father of the fetus in your womb?”
This particular question sends chills down Shen's spine. The way Leticia phrased her questions implies a lot of things and says a lot about her true nature. To Shen, there's simply no way for Leticia to know if he was contracted to a demon to begin with, let alone for her to know about how he got pregnant to begin with, but that conclusion isn’t as concerning as the latter, as the way that Leticia refers to the thing growing within his boy-womb suggests her lack of empathy regarding any forms of life…deep down, as much as he loathes to admit it, Shen couldn't help but to agree with her, but the red flags surrounding her are too hard to ignore as well…
“I…” Shen stammers between carnal pleasure and the traumatic memories of how he became pregnant to begin with, attempting to come up with an answer, he eventually relents, he improvises by protecting the truth with his bitter thorns, “I…it's none of your business,”
“I see. That is understandable if you don't want to tell me about the father of your spawn. I won't press on it any further, don't worry,” Leticia responds in a surprisingly tolerant tone, lifting her index finger away from Shen's protruding belly button, and instead traces her finger down from it to his crotch in a gratingly slow manner, “anyways…to the third question…have you ever thought of giving birth to the baby you're carrying in your womb?”
A realization comes into Shen's mind as soon as Leticia shoots that question out. He has never thought about giving birth to the genetic abomination in his boy-womb to begin with…no, it is more like he refuses to think of such thoughts, because doing so defiles his tarnished legacy of his bloodline lineage. What is worse than having one’s entire family slaughtered and being its sole survivor is to carry the spawn of the things that one's family has sworn to slay and destroy in their founding. Shen couldn't stop blaming himself ever since that day, and as long as he is bound in a contract with that foul demon and is forced to carry his child like a common whore, he knows that his clan and ancestors will never forgive him for his desperate insolence no matter how much he repents with his every breath and beat of heart. Shen also refuses to think of the idea of having to raise the mongrel child between a human and a demon. For such thoughts would be unideal and blasphemous. It would not only be a blemish to his bloodline, but also a shamefully disgusting thing to commit to, as the thing growing within him is not only a mongrel mixling, but also a result of rape.
“I…I can't imagine that happening to me…” Shen struggles to reply to this particular question, his eyes on the verge of tears of sorrow and pleasure as he couldn’t contain his disgust anymore, but he can still control himself from reaching an emotional meltdown, “I don't even want to imagine giving birth to this…abomination…inside me…”
Leticia's fingers stop trailing down as soon as she almost reaches Shen's crotch. For whatever god-forsaken reason, Shen's boy-womb and boy-cervix reacts madly to this sensation, jolting away in a quick, blissful relief that is close enough, yet not similar to an orgasm. She remains silent for a while again, all before withdrawing her finger away, and instead moves on to a more intimate touch, hugging the entirety of Shen's exposed heavily pregnant belly, putting her earlobes in contact with his sensitive skin, as to completely feel the stuffed contents of his boy-womb. A move so sudden that Shen couldn't complain about it once again.
“You must be so scared, right? Afraid, even? Like I said…you shouldn't worry about it…I shall help you should you give birth while you're on your stay within my clinic…but so far, you don’t seem like you’re about to pop any time soon, so fret not…” Leticia coos away, pressing her head even more into Shen's heavily pregnant belly in her attempt to gain a much more intimate connection with Shen's body. Shen feels as if he was being violated the more Leticia touches him, it doesn't help his case that his body is betraying him, as the mongrel inside of his boy-womb begin to rouse up, undulating and moving around in a burst of activity unlike any other, writhing like a wretch inside of his fresh boy-womb as she embraces and caresses his heavily pregnant belly, which in turn increases his arousal and sexual frustration. Leticia looks up to Shen, her gaze piercing and eerie as she applies more stimulation to Shen’s currently sensitive body, “...well then, onto the fourth question…why did you choose to carry on with your pregnancy?”
At this point, Shen is continuously being put in his limits. Having to hold back a torrent of humiliation from Leticia’s violating touches on his delicate, doll-like body and deluge of sorrow from Leticia’s stinging and accurately piercing questions will not do good on him. Physically, he feels himself to be at the edge of a dry orgasm as Leticia probes at his heavily pregnant belly with her hands and head, although he hides his erection with his thighs, he can already feel the gap between his thighs turning more and more wet and bothered. Mentally, he is now at the verge of having a mental breakdown, having been pressured with questions which triggers his traumas and unpleasant memories. Shen cannot escape Leticia unless he gives her answers she demands out of him, and the cruel mistress that she is, Leticia will do anything if it ensures her getting answers out of someone. Shen realizes that right now, he is negotiating with a cunning, predatory beast. And one wrong move could be the end of him…
…Shen had two choices here, that is to either give a vague answer, or to tell the truth, even if it's only a partial answer. The truth that it was his clan’s doctrine to protect all forms of lives, that he was taught from birth to not harm or kill a single living being by his elders and kin. The former presents a quick escape that will eventually bite him in the back, while the latter. After a long while of rumination, Shen finally comes up with an answer satisfactory enough to give to Leticia.
“I…don’t know. It’s…complicated,” those are the words that he’s chosen as a response. Those are the answers that he’s chosen as a tribute to Leticia’s seemingly never ending voracity for knowledge. To which, Leticia gave a vague hum as her response. One that Shen had never heard from her before that it’s concerning to him.
“How so?” and it too wouldn’t be that long for Leticia to shoot back her own questions to him, all with that same eerily uncanny calm and collectedness that she had always been maintaining to Shen. At the same time, Leticia arises from her embrace of Shen’s heavily pregnant belly, only to face his protruding belly button…and gently licks it with the tip of her tongue. It is from this action that Shen finally couldn’t hold back anymore. From this, he arches his back as an intense, dry orgasm overtook his entire body, where he could feel his anus contracting and twitching away and his erect cock he has been hiding away from Leticia leaking precum. Gritting his teeth and frothing at the mouth, Shen tries his best to suppress his moans from coming out, he wishes to keep what remains of his dignity and pride as a refined young man intact, yet all which comes out of his clenched mouth is a guttural sound that is a mix between a growl, a moan and a hiss, all his attempt to hide his reaction from Leticia so that he may not perceive him as a sexually desperate degenerate. All of which Shen had already failed to prove himself as such. Eventually he couldn't hold back anymore, and thus releases a thunderous moan as his body uncontrollably twitches from his dry orgasm. Although he did not ejaculate from his puny, effeminate penis, he sure does excrete a lot of precum from his erection.
Leticia watches this event with an unphased look. She steps away from Shen as his orgasm subsides within his body, wracking at him away with it mercilessly. The monotone smile on her indicates two possibilities; either she's used to seeing her patients in such conditions, or she expects Shen to react this way after her forcefully violating stimulation.
“Oh dear…” still, Leticia speaks up, feigning her blissful ignorance and innocence, “looks like you're too taxed out to even answer my questions, huh? My bad for that. Please, wait for me here, if you may. I'll return back with some tea and medications to refresh your mind…”
And with that, Leticia rushes back into a peculiar backdoor in her office, one that has been standing around ever so suspiciously from when he was introduced into the clinic by her. One that seems to be tightly locked, no matter what, and one that can be accessed by Leticia only, as she alone possesses the keys to that door. Shen almost didn't notice her absconding from the scene as he was too preoccupied with his dry orgasms, but as it slightly subsided, he lay there on the clinic's bed, his heart riddled with embarrassment and shame. He couldn't believe that he let his guard down around Leticia like that, cursing his lack of ability to control himself, and dreading what was Leticia up to this entire time…
Not wanting to ridicule himself any further, he immediately gets up from the clinic's bed and puts his clothes back on himself. Now properly dressed, yet still steamy from his previous encounter, Shen lets out a frustrated and frightened groan as he presses his forehead up his hands, covering his still flushed face. He pinches his tiny erection with his thick thighs as he sits on the clinic’s bed, as if to soothe his raging boner. But that alone is not enough to expel all the ecstasy still echoing within every tendril of his existence, so Shen forces himself to vomit. He casts a simple thaumaturgical trinket by inserting his ring finger into his mouth and making it touch the roof of his mouth where he would wordlessly cast a purifying rite. All of which results in an explosive reaction as Shen collapses from the bed that he previously sat onto the floor where he would vomit out all the impurities toxifying his body. It would take a while for Shen to recover from the affliction he inflicted onto himself, as he spends his time afterwards hyperventilating, staring at his muddled reflection in what he vomited out.
“It wasn't meant to be like this…” Shen bemoans nauseatingly between his coughs and heavy breathing, his thoughts already plagued with the worst case scenario of if his schemes were to fail, “it wasn't meant to be like this at all…! This is not how it's supposed to go…!”
Shen knows that he’s not out of the woods just yet, but he starts to doubt whether or not he can even escape from this hypothetical woods to begin with. As he spends his time alone in this small clinic, he foresees his hope of ever escaping and reaching the light of day getting thinner and thinner,
“Well done, master~ I must say, although amateur, your performance amused me to no end~” in midst of his lamentations, Shen heard a familiar voice echo at the back of his mind, and soon feels an ominous presence behind him, signifying his contracted demon finally making an appearance after a long while, “my favorite part of the show was when you had a dry orgasm when that woman licked your protruding belly button~! Ahhh…I should get you pregnant very often so that I can try stimulating that stretched out, sensitive skin of your pregnant belly, don't you think so~?”
“If you don't have anything nice to say, then leave me alone…!” Shen harshly parroted his words at his contracted fiend, scowling at him with annoyance as he uncomfortably shifts around in his seating, “I’m sick and tired of your bullshit, and I don't want you, of all the fuckers I had the displeasure of meeting so far, to make things worse for me, so—-!!!”
“Geez…why so serious, master~? Don't you think it's time for you to grow a thicker skin~?” The demon deflects as usual with his teasing facade, although he didn't physically manifest himself, he grins at his young master still, as if excited to see that he has taken his bait once again, “and here I thought you needed my help…but I suppose you really ARE confident in that plan of yours, no~?”
“W…what…?” Shen stammers as he looks around in a paranoid manner, feeling the pressure around him increase ominously. His paranoia turns into panic as soon as his mind quickly pieces out that he has burned away his only chance at receiving help, so he scrambles around even more like a wretch, “w…wait…! Don't go yet…! I—-”
“But, since I'm feeling kind of generous to you at this particular moment…I suppose I'll give you a hint, a small hint if you want to escape from the grasps of this vixen’s trap…” the demon coos in his echoing, fading voice, “there is a clue hidden within the surface of this clinic. This clue will reveal the true nature of this clinic and that wench in general. It is hidden somewhere so close, yet so far here, and once found, it cannot be returned…now, I bid you good luck on your hunt, master~”
And so, once again, the demon left Shen behind when he needed his help the most, leaving Shen frustrated, his mind maddened with thoughts of despair and desperation. The only thing keeping his fragile state of mind intact is his stubbornness in wanting to see his plans through, and his wishful thinking that he will return to Celias fulfilling all of the promises he made to him back in his abode. Shen couldn’t just stand by and let time pass by so wastefully here. He needs to immediately make his quick and decisive action to investigate this clinic.
After all, his very intuition tells him that there is a very fishy secret hidden within this clinic, and everything about that “medic” Leticia is rancid…