I GoT Power Manipulation! With caveats...: Chapter 21 (draft part 1) (Patreon)

21st chapter was flagged by Patreon for things which was, IMHO, absent in it.

At first I don't wanted to rewrite it, but because of FederationFan comment I decided to divide chapter into independent blocks, delete potentially violative connections between them, and change potentially violative context to more neutral.

If you want, you can just skip 2 parts of 21st chapter altogether.

For almost the entire history of humanity, romantic relationships weren't very romantic. In preindustrial times, they were predominantly related to:

The results of impulsive male lust and woman’s relative's forcing a father to take responsibility for this.

The results of women’s attempts to bond successful man by pregnancy.

Sex between %% people that very well know each others. %%

Absolutely rampaging adultery.

Arranged marriages for the sake of newlyweds parents’ gain. Sometimes not dissimilar from slavery.

Of course, people sometimes created relationships mainly out of emotions. But because such relationships much often led to tragedies than alternatives, they were widely condemned as stupid, wrong, and amoral.

Successful emotion-driven romances were mainly a luxury of the wealthiest.

Sometimes because of greater choice of candidates for simultaneously desirable and beneficial marriages.

Sometimes because of use of romantic elements as currency. For example, low-ranking men often used abundant attention, compliments, and care toward higher-ranking women to rise in social rank. Why did knights so gallantly court the ladies? Because knights had the lowest nobility rank.

But mainly in the form of mistresses related polygamy.

Until the spread of condoms in the 16th century. Which essentially created almost everything people know about ”romantic relationship.”

Of course, humanity always wanted to maximize pleasure during the 0,5-2 years of hormonal infatuation that nature allotted for the pregnancy period. Honeymoon phase. But before the 16th only very stupid people didn’t understand that such emotions are predominantly short-lived, but children are permanent.

Condoms allowed people to start just enjoying hormonal infatuation. So much that after sentimentalism and romanticism revolutions relationship customs lost almost everything except for the emancipation finale: “Two consenting adults, for the sake of emotions, are free to create and have relationships for any reason and in any form they want.”

But if romantics is almost all about a Honeymoon phase, how one could guarantee that %% relationship be prolonged? %%

Not just out of need — because of habits, necessity, children, fear of losing what’s already there, laziness, etc. — but out of the same crave as it was during the hormonal period?

In nature such question answers by %% First Love. %%

First Love's shyness, nervously stammering, and so on, exist not because of lack of experience, but because from biological perspective First Love is the best and main chance to leave hale offspring.

Which supported by nature via sort of mental ram. Which at the same time give to humans more neurons (Nerve Growth Factor) and emotions associated with creation the most powerful memories. Forming powerful sexual imprinting onto... things.

Sometimes, during the First Love people become so focused on one body part, object, event, or concept that they develop related fetishes. Alas, nature is good, yet not perfect.

But in most cases, sexual imprinting occurs on the whole person or complex of their characteristics, forming related preferences.

Why are so many Women Romance Novels have so much First Love?

If you think of a person’s relationship preferences as a puzzle piece, the more often they try to connect to other puzzle pieces, the more rigid their initially moldable forms become, and the less likely they will find an ideal, and sometimes even a good, match.

Therefore, at a subconscious level, people associate First Love with the level of relationship adaptability and potential longevity of the relationship. And want it predominantly in such quality. As the main factor of a prolonged relationship.

In the case of Women Romance Novels characters, their First Loveness is essentially a subconscious promise to readers that despite the character's enormous traits, skills, talents, and experience, they still retain ideal relationship adaptability and are capable of “perfect love”: the ideal synergistic filling of each other’s gaps at all possible levels.