Chapter 16: Temptation of BaraonThe gold s Lady Valerius had pressed into Kray’s ha heavy, not just i, but in the weight of the choices they represented. Baraon City. Sugar mommy. Patronage. Wealth beyond imagining. The words spun in his head, intoxig and terrifying in equal measure.

  Baraon City. He had only heard tales, whispered by traveling merts and wide-eyed vilgers returning from rare trips. A city of t buildings, bustling markets overflowing with exotic goods, vish feasts, and endless opportunities. A pce where ambition thrived, and fortunes were made and lost on a whim. A far cry from the quiet, predictable rhythm of Luma.

  Lady Valerius’s offer was a gilded cage, perhaps, but a cage crafted from the fi gold, lined with silk, and promising a life of unimaginable luxury. He could leave behind the dusty fields, the simple farmhouse, the whispers and skepticism of Luma town. He could step onto a graage, practice his pleasure healing on a tele of wealthy city dwellers, gain reition, perhaps even fame. He, Dray, the former quack, could bee a celebrated healer in Baraon City, all thanks to Lady Valerius's patronage.

  And the “sugar mommy” aspect… that was a different kind of temptation altogether. Lady Valerius was undeniably alluring, sophisticated, her world-weariness adding a certain spice to her elegahe memory of her soft sighs, her body melting under his touch, the lingering st of her perfume, the provocative glint in her dark eyes… it all stirred a potent cocktail of desire and forbidden thrill within him.

  He imagined himself in Baraon City, not just as a healer, but as Lady Valerius’s protégé, her… indulgence. Living in luxury, surrounded by opulence, learning the ways of the city, expl the det underbelly he sensed beh its refined fa?ade. The pervert within him practically salivated at the prospect, visions of silk sheets, vish feasts, and perhaps even more… intimate explorations with his sophisticated beor filling his mind.

  But then, the image shifted, the opulent city fading, repced by the familiar warmth of the farmhouse kit, the st of freshly baked bread, the sound of Alice’s ughter eg through the orchard. Grace’s gentle smile, the f presence of his family, the quiet rhythm of life in Luma… a different kind of warmth, a different kind of fort, settled over him, pulling him back from the intoxig allure of Baraon.

  He had to talk to them. Grad Alice deserved to know about this offer, this potential upheaval of their lives. He found them in the barn, Alice braiding flowers into Hea’s feathers (the hen, now thhly aced to pleasure massages, seemed to enjoy the attention), and Grace mending a worn harness, her brow furrowed in tration.

  He took a deep breath, the heavy gold s king softly in his pocket as he walked towards them. “Mama, Alice,” he began, his voice a little hesitant, “Lady Valerius… she made me an offer. A… big offer.”

  Grace looked up, her brow lifting in curiosity, Alice pausing in her floral ador of Hea. “Lady Valerius? The fancy dy from Baraon City?” Alice asked, her eyes widening with i. “What kind of offer?”

  Kray expined, carefully, choosing his words, omitting the “sugar mommy” part for now, fog on the professional aspects – the patrohe opportunity to practi Baraon City, the promise of wealth and reition.

  Grad Alice listened ily, their initial curiosity slowly giving way to a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Alice, ever the adventurer, was immediately captivated by the idea of Baraon City. “Baraon City!” she excimed, her eyes sparkling. “Imagine, Dray! Real shops, theaters, maybe even… knights in shining armor!” She cpped her hands together, her enthusiasm iious.

  Grace, however, was more cautious. Her brow furrowed, her gaze thoughtful, her voice tinged with a mother’s i protectiveness. “Baraon City is a long way from Luma, Dray,” she said slowly. “It’s a big, dangerous pce, they say. Full of… city folk. Not like our quiet vilge.”

  “But Mama,” Alice protested, her enthusiasm uerred, “think of the opportunities! Dray could be a famous healer! We could have a real house, not just this old farmhouse. We could have… things!” Her eyes shoh the allure of a better life, a life beyond the simple routines of Luma.

  Grace sighed, her gaze softening as she looked at Kray, her expression a mixture of hope and . “It is a tempting offer, Dray, I won’t deny it. A better life for us all… it’s something I’ve always dreamed of for you both.” She paused, her voice being more serious. “But Baraon City… it’s also full of… temptations, and dangers. For you, especially, Dray. This ‘pleasure healing’… it’s… different. It might be seen differently in a city like Baraon City.”

  She didn’t explicitly mention the “pervert” whispers, but Kray khey were there, unspoken, hanging in the air between them. She was worried, not just for his safety in a big city, but for his… soul, perhaps, in a city known for its ded moral ambiguity.

  He listeo them both, weighing their words, his own internal flict amplified by their trasting perspectives. Alice’s youthful enthusiasm, Grace’s maternal apprehension – both resonated with different parts of him, the ambitious pervert yearning for Baraon’s allure, and the grounded healer ging to the safety and fort of his family.

  He spent the rest of the day in a haze of ption, the gold s heavy in his pocket, the voices of his mother and sister eg in his mind. He walked through the familiar fields, seeking so the quiet rhythms of the farm, the st of hay ah a grounding presence amidst the swirling turmoil of his thoughts.

  As evening approached, he found himself drawn back to the farmhouse, to the warmth of the kit, to the familiar fort of his family’s presence. He helped Grace prepare supper, the simple routine a calming balm to his rag thoughts. Alice chattered about Baraon City, her enthusiasm undimmed, sketg fantastical images of city life on scraps of part.

  After supper, as the fire crackled merrily in the hearth, casting dang shadows on the walls, Kray gathered Grad Alice close, his decision finally solidified in his mind. He looked at their faces, their loving gazes fixed on him, and spoke, his voice firm but tinged with a touch ret.

  “I’m not going to Baraon City,” he announced, his words hanging in the quiet room.

  Alice’s cheerful chatter faltered, her sketg hand pausing mid-stroke. “What? But Dray, why?” Her initial excitement gave way to bewildered disappoi.

  Grace, however, simply nodded, her expression a mixture of relief and uanding. “I thought you might say that, dear,” she murmured, her voice soft but knowing.

  Kray expined his reasoning, his words flowing more easily now that the decision was made. “Baraon City… it sounds amazing, yes. And the opportunity is… incredible. But… it’s too soon. I’m not ready. Not yet.” He struggled to articute the deeper reasons, the unspoken aies swirling within him.

  “I o… get stronger, Mama, Alice,” he tinued, his gaze shiftiween them. “Stronger as a healer. Stronger as… myself.” He couldn’t quite bring himself to say “Pervert Healer” aloud to his mother, not yet. “I o hone my skills, to learn more, to… uand this power I have. And… I o do it here. With you.”

  He reached out, taking both their hands in his, his gaze log onto theirs, his voice filled with heartfelt siy. “Luma is our home. You are my family. I ’t just… leave you, not now. Not when I’m still… learning. Maybe… maybe someday, when I’m stronger, when I’m ready, we all go to Baraon City. Together. But for now… I o stay here. With you.”

  Alice’s initial disappoi softened, her gaze mirr his siy. “You’re staying for us, Dray?” she asked, her voice quieter now, touched by his words.

  Kray squeezed her hand, his heart swelling with affe. “I’m staying with you, Alice,” he corrected gently. “For us. Because family is… more important than gold s and fancy cities. For now, anyway.” He winked pyfully, trying to lighten the somber mood. “Besides, who knows what kind of trouble we’d get into in Baraon City? We’re better off here, safe and sound, in good old perverted Luma.”

  Alice giggled, her pyful spirit quickly rebounding, the mention of “perverted Luma” striking a chord of shared uanding and slightly sdalous humor between them. Grace smiled, a warm, relieved smile that reached her eyes, her hand squeezing his gently.

  “You made the right decision, Dray,” she murmured, her voice filled with quiet pride. “Family is everything. And Luma… Luma is where we belong. For now.”

  The tension in the room eased, repced by a fortable sense of shared uanding and familial warmth. Kray felt a weight lift off his shoulders, the allure of Baraon City reg, repced by the solid, f presence of his family. He had chosen Luma, chosen family, chosen the familiar path, at least for now. But the seed of ambition, the whisper of Baraon City, still lingered, a promise of a future he would eventually cim, but on his own terms, in his own time.

  As the evening deepened, and the fire crackled low, Kray found himself drawn to Grace, a desire to solidify his decision, to reect with the familial warmth he had chosehe city’s temptations. He sat beside her by the fire, gently taking her hand, his firag the liched on her palm, lines of hard work, of unwavering love, of quiet strength.

  “Mama,” he murmured softly, his voice filled with affe, “your shoulders still stiff from weeding today?” He offered, not a “demonstration” for a skeptical t, but a gesture of love, a quiet of his healing touch to the woman who had always been his anchor, his safe harbor iorm.

  Grace smiled, a soft, knowing smile, her eyes meeting his, a silent uanding passiween them. She leaned back against the armchair, her head resting against the cushion, presenting her shoulders to him, her posture rexed, trusting, open.

  Kray moved behind her, his hands instinctively finding the familiar knots of tension in her shoulders. He focused on the [Pleasure] skill, the warm energy flowing from his fiips, now imbued with a deeper sense of familial love, of gratitude, of quiet intimacy.

  He massaged her shoulders, her neck, her upper back, his touch slow, deliberate, sensual in its tenderness, devoid of any forced suggestiveness, purely focused on easing her aches, bringing her fort, and sharing a moment of quiet, familial pleasure. He let his hands drift lower, trag the curve of her waist, feeling the warmth radiating from her skih her simple dress. He gently caressed the soft curve of her stomach, just below her ribs, feeling her breath deepen, her body rex pletely under his touch. He even dared to let his fingers brush lightly against her upper thighs, just above her knees, a fleeting, almost actal caress, sending a subtle shiver through her body.

  Grace sighed tentedly, her head lolling back against the chair, her eyes closed, her lips slightly parted. Soft murmurs of pleasure escaped her lips, sounds of deep rexation, of quiet joy, of a shared intimacy that transded words, transded the perverted uones of his skill, transded even the allure of Baraon City.

  In that quiet kit, bathed in the warm glow of the firelight, surrounded by the f presence of his family, Kray realized that true pleasure wasn't about wealth nition or forbidden thrills. It was about e, about love, about the simple, profound intimacy of touch, shared with those he held most dear. And for now, in Luma town, with Grad Alice by his side, he had all the pleasure, all the fulfillment, he truly needed. Baraon City, and its temptations, could wait. He had a family to heal, and a perverted healer’s path te, right here, in the heart of his own unventional, loving home.