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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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From the moment she saw Scarlet Rate’s Instagram post, only one thought remained in Lapis Julie’s mind:
‘I have to go to senpai.’
She’d completely forgotten her dinner plans with Wool Blonde, her fiancé, arranged by her mother, Jelina Julie.
The fear of losing Faster to Scarlet consumed her.
“She said they were going to the outlet mall.”
That’s what the goddamn Scarlet Rate had posted on Instagram.
Hypocity, the city where Liar’s Trap headquarters was located, was the most expensive city in the world. Its infrastructure was impeccable, and there were multiple outlet malls.
If Lapis Julie had been thinking clearly, she would have discreetly tasked Liar’s Trap’s intelligence team with tracking Faster’s location. But panic had clouded her judgment.
“I’ll find him if I have to search every single store.”
So, Lapis Julie, the intelligent and composed flower of the Julie family, found herself resorting to brute force, a decidedly uncharacteristic approach.
“Wait for me, senpai. It’s a misunderstanding. I can explain everything.”
Dressed in a beautiful white dress, hoping to win back Faster’s favor, she left her home, heading towards the outlet mall.
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“Scarlet, which mall are we going to? Red Outlet?”
Whenever Scarlet dragged me along on her shopping trips, making me her unwilling pack mule, she usually went to the outlet malls.
No particular reason, she just liked the “vibe” of outlet malls, whatever that meant. She’d admitted she didn’t even know why she liked them.
I suspected it was because she’d been obsessed with a cartoon called “Owlman” when we were younger, and “Owlman” sounded similar to “outlet mall.” (it’s sounded similar in Korean)
It made no sense, but Scarlet had always been like that, driven by strangely simple logic.
Anyway, since we’d always gone to the outlet malls, I assumed we were going there again, but Scarlet shook her head.
“No, not the outlet mall. We’re going to Furios today.”
“Furios?”
“Yeah.”
Furios was a high-end clothing store, even more expensive than the outlet malls. But the quality of their clothes justified the price.
Well, to Scarlet, both the outlet malls and Furios were probably just “reasonably priced” clothing stores, so it wasn’t that surprising.
But it made me curious.
Why choose Furios, which was further away and unfamiliar, over the closer and more familiar outlet mall?
“Why not the outlet mall?”
“Because our date… I mean, our shopping trip would be interrupted there.”
I didn’t know what she meant by “interrupted,” but I noticed she’d almost said “date.”
I wanted to tease her about it, but I didn’t want to risk ruining the peaceful atmosphere of our stroll, so I just nodded.
“Okay, I see. Well, I’m just here to receive gifts, so I don’t care where we go.”
Considering I’d been planning to buy some cheap clothes at the market, going to either the outlet mall or Furios was a huge improvement. I could probably ask for anything, and Scarlet, in her current good mood, would buy it for me.
So, going to Furios, a high-end brand, was a win-win.
I didn’t like being indebted to anyone, but Scarlet and Ia Aris were responsible for my current predicament, so I had no qualms about taking advantage of them.
“Shall we go then, Scarlet?”
I extended my hand, like a mosquito ready to feast. Scarlet, oblivious to my intentions, smiled happily and took my hand.
“Yeah!”
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We arrived near Furios around noon, had lunch, enjoyed dessert at a trendy café, strolled around the area, and finally entered Furios around 4 PM.
“Wait here!”
Scarlet ran off somewhere and returned with some clothes, then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, ordered me,
“Here! Take off that stupid sweatsuit and put this on.”
I didn’t mind changing, but I couldn’t ignore her words.
I frowned slightly, pointing at the anime character on my sweatshirt, and protested,
“Stupid sweatsuit? This is comfortable. And the character is cute.”
“It is cute. But I want to see you in something… more stylish. So go change.”
It seemed Scarlet wanted to make our time together feel more like a date.
Well, whatever.
I’d decided to let Scarlet have her way and bleed her dry, so I didn’t mind changing clothes.
I went to the fitting room, put on the black oversized blazer, white t-shirt, and black slacks she’d given me, and emerged. Scarlet stared at me, speechless.
“…”
“Scarlet? What? Is something wrong?”
“Uh… Oh, n-nothing! Nothing! Oh, give me that sweatsuit! I’m going to burn it when we get home so you can’t wear it again!”
Scarlet, seemingly snapping out of her daze, snatched the sweatsuit from my hands. Her S-rank grab was swift, and I watched, wide-eyed, as my trusty sweatsuit was taken from me.
She stuffed it into a ziplock bag, which I didn’t know she had, and then put it into a shopping bag, also seemingly conjured out of thin air, smiling brightly like a gamer who’d just acquired a rare item.
Don’t people usually offer to wash clothes when they take them like this?
Well, that would be weird too. Why would she wash my clothes?
But saying she’d wash it would have been better than saying she’d burn it.
Well, both were just excuses. She probably wanted to take it home and sniff it. And then masturbate with it. What a pervert.
Knowing Scarlet liked me had solved a few of the mysteries from my past.
Like how my underwear would sometimes disappear while I was taking a bath back when I was working as a butler for the Rate family, and how Scarlet would always call me on those nights, her voice sounding strangely excited, her breathing heavy, like she was sniffing something.
She’d been stealing my underwear, sniffing them, and masturbating with them.
When I first realized it, I’d been horrified. But after wearing the beastkin collar and experiencing Scarlet’s scent myself, I could… understand.
A person’s scent had a certain… power. Even I, who disliked Scarlet, had been momentarily captivated.
But stealing someone’s underwear, sniffing it, and then calling the owner while masturbating with it… that was some next-level pervert shit.
Anyway, Scarlet was planning to masturbate with my sweatsuit.
Her blushing face, the way she kept glancing at the shopping bag containing my sweatsuit, the way she kept swallowing – it was obvious.
Seeing her so clearly aroused, a thought occurred to me.
Scarlet hadn’t been her usual bitchy self today. And she’d paid for everything without complaint, letting me have my way. Was it because I’d been so agreeable?
I’d only played along to take advantage of her, to bleed her dry.
I hadn’t intentionally tried to manipulate her, but Scarlet had been surprisingly easy to handle today.
She’d had a few moments of her usual snappishness, but compared to her usual bitchy self, the red-haired woman before me was as harmless as strawberry-flavored toothpaste for kids.
Just a little bit of playing along, a little bit of indulging her “date” fantasy, had turned Scarlet into a docile lamb.
Seeing this, a word I’d heard somewhere popped into my head.
Gaslighting.
Manipulating someone psychologically, making them doubt their own perceptions and judgment, ultimately gaining control over them.
And looking at Scarlet, smiling happily, willing to do anything for me just because I’d indulged her whims, a plan started forming in my mind.
Wait a minute. Isn’t Scarlet the perfect target for gaslighting?
Her crying and clinging to my leg, begging me not to leave, her over-the-top happiness at my slight change in behavior, her plan to masturbate with my sweatsuit – it all justified gaslighting her.
But the word “gaslighting”… it felt… familiar, and yet… unsettling. It was probably just my imagination.
Familiar or unsettling, it didn’t matter. After fifteen years of being on the receiving end, it was my turn to dish it out.
“Hee hee. Heh heh.”
I smirked, looking at Scarlet, whose giggles betrayed her complete obliviousness to her impending fate.
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Enjoy your time reading!
