Chapter 30

1.

Before he met Lapis, Dojin found sexual desire bothersome. If he didn’t regularly relieve himself through masturbation, he’d end up having wet dreams.

When that happened, he’d wake up feeling sticky and miserable, then see dried semen stuck to his crotch—disgusting despite being his own bodily fluid. On top of that, he couldn’t just toss everything straight into the washing machine; he had to hand-wash it first. It was such a hassle that he’d kept his libido in check through regular masturbation.

Things were different after he met Lapis. For one thing, even though she was a woman, she seemed to have as much sexual desire as a man—maybe even more.

Whenever they kissed, her face would flush and she’d let out a breathy, heated sigh. And on days when she wore particularly thin underwear, he could even see her breasts poking out. Her nipples would swell noticeably with arousal, making their presence known.

She’d also developed certain habits, like unconsciously rubbing her thighs together or getting overly touchy.

Funny enough, Dojin didn’t know this, but Lapis thought she was keeping herself in check even as she unconsciously let it all show. If she had no restraint at all, she’d be eagerly devouring Dojin’s lips and caressing his body right there, no matter where they were.

Dojin had mechanically dealt with his sexual urges, but once he got a girlfriend who liked pervy things, he focused all that desire on her.

As a result, Lapis couldn’t keep up with his sex drive and passed out before she could properly enjoy the afterglow—a disaster (?). But the moment she woke up, she showered him with kisses, telling him it had felt so good.

Dojin used to be irritated that his strong sex drive only added more tasks to his day, but at least it had all worked out well in the end.

Now that he had a girlfriend like that, it wasn’t strange for Dojin to be so obsessed with Lapis…

"So, it’s an outfit Label made…?"

"It’s Ribel. You always seem to get her name mixed up."

He was getting it wrong on purpose. Sometimes Dojin just couldn’t understand this hopelessly cheerful woman.

When a woman clung to him, she’d start with, 'Who is that woman?' and then say, 'You smell like her perfume, so I have to get rid of it,' before hanging all over him for the rest of the day. Yet she couldn’t see his jealousy at all. It was kind of funny.

As Dojin looked at the outfit Ribel had given her—the kind of thing you could call a battle suit—he had just one thought.

'That woman has pretty good taste.'

The cape coat had a strongly cute feel to it. But combined with Lapis’s large breasts, it brought out the sexiness hidden beneath that cuteness.

The combination of a dress that came halfway down her thighs, over-the-knee socks, and a garter belt was excellent, too.

Still, how should he put it?

It was kind of galling.

Maybe he was annoyed that his gift had turned into someone else’s gift.

No. That had to be it. He’d given her a staff that turned into a bracelet, something suited to Lapis, who worried about her mana, and the bracelet itself had also looked pretty as a simple accessory…

But now it had become a thread bracelet that suited her even better, and its functions had been upgraded, too. It felt like they’d made it into a joint gift.

No, this was definitely having his gift stolen.

Dojin decided to see if he could put that irritation to use.

"Lapis."

He called her in a low voice. Lapis, who had been walking beside him with a bright smile, stiffened slightly.

Dojin’s low voice always demanded her submission. Especially ever since she’d been possessed by the doppelganger, not only her mind but her body seemed to submit to him first.

"Y-yes…?"

"You turned my gift into another woman’s gift. Did you like it?"

"Th-that’s not what happened…"

Hearing Dojin say that, Lapis realized she’d been careless. She’d focused too much on the fact that the outfit was made by Ribel’s company.

She’d effectively turned Dojin’s gift into a gift from another woman. No matter what Dojin said, that fact wouldn’t change.

The thought that the outfit she liked and was still wearing had come at the expense of his thoughtful gift made her feel wretched.

"Go home for now."

"D-Dojin…"

Lapis hesitated and tried to grab Dojin, but…

"I’ll message you in three hours, so make sure you check."

After saying that, Dojin let go of her hand and disappeared. It seemed to be his teleportation ability.

Clenching her trembling hands, Lapis trudged home.

Since she understood why Dojin was angry, she couldn’t call him petty or anything like that.

If she had to decide who was right and who was wrong, then she was more at fault for happily accepting his gift without saying a word, even though it had been changed into something else.

At the very least, she should have told Dojin first, instead of showing him the outfit she’d received because she thought he’d be happy to see how pretty it was.

2.

Thinking she couldn’t even remember how she’d gotten home, she trudged into her room.

Ruby and Peridot must have seen her expression and wanted to say something, but they couldn’t bring themselves to speak and quickly let her be.

"Sniff…"

She sat leaning against the headboard and hugged her knees. She was in tears, hurt by both the huge mistake she’d made and the cold side of Dojin he’d never shown her before.

She knew she was at fault, so she couldn’t even bring herself to contact him first. She’d have to wait three hours before she could reach out at all.

For a moment, she considered subtly blaming Ribel, but that wouldn’t do, either.

She’d been happy to accept Ribel’s sincere kindness, and now that it had led to Dojin resenting her, she was going to resent Ribel in turn? That would be so calculating and so wrong.

She couldn’t do that as a person. There were limits to how selfish she could be.

So all she could do was blame her own poor, shortsighted thinking and cry.

If Dojin hadn’t disappeared from the spot by teleporting and had instead walked away, she would have grabbed his pants and sobbed.

She would have said she was sorry for being so thoughtless. She would have begged him not to leave her behind.

For who knew how long—hours, maybe minutes—she just kept crying, completely beside herself.

The smartphone beside her vibrated. The moment she felt it, she realized she was reaching for it.

[ Dojin : Wear that outfit and come out. ]

By 'that outfit,' he probably meant Ribel’s gift, the one she still hadn’t taken off. She rubbed at her face, wiping away her tears.

She glanced in the mirror and saw that her face was a mess. Even if she didn’t put on makeup, she could at least wash her face and remove as many traces as possible.

She stirred her mana and activated a restoration spell, smoothing out the wrinkles as much as she could until the outfit looked fine again.

She swallowed hard to steady herself, then left her room. As soon as the door opened, Ruby and Peridot looked at her with worried eyes from the living room.

"Did something happen?"

"You don’t look well."

"It’s just… nothing. I think I’ll be spending the night out today."

"Uh… okay."

After hearing Ruby’s reply, she quickly headed out of the house.

Dojin was waiting in front of it.

"Come here."

Dojin reached out and grabbed me first. I tried to calm my trembling body as much as I could and clung to him.

In the time it took to blink, everything around us had changed.

This was Dojin’s secret base, the bunker we’d visited last time. The dim lights seemed a little more sinister and gloomy than usual today.

"Lapis."

"Y-yes…!"

I flinched as I answered. Ever since we’d met again, Dojin had been speaking in a deep, low voice.

Every time I heard that voice, my body jolted.

My body urged me.

To hurry up, confess what I’d done wrong, and beg him to forgive me.

I didn’t particularly see any reason to resist.

Just as I was about to drop to my knees and beg him, Dojin spoke.

"I’ve been thinking about it, too."

"Y-yes… I’m sorry… I’ll ask Ribel to change it back to how it was…"

"Let’s not do something pointless. It really is better now."

Since he put it that way, I didn’t know what he wanted, so I quietly closed my mouth.

Dojin walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

Could I go sit beside him? Just as I was about to take a step, Dojin spoke again.

"It’s good that it’s better, and the bracelet suits you, too. I was thinking I should give you a defensive magic tool or an artifact anyway."

I planted my foot back where it was.

There wasn’t much warmth in Dojin’s words. It felt like he was drawing a line between us.

"Then what’s the problem here?"

"My… lack of foresight…"

"Then shouldn’t you be punished?"

"Yes…"

What Dojin meant was simple.

We could overlook the fact that the gift he’d put his heart into had been changed into something else. But since I’d ignored his feelings, I should be punished.

…Logically speaking, I honestly didn’t think that made sense. But Dojin was angry, so if he said that was how it was, then that was how it was.

Making him less angry was the most important thing to me.

Honestly, by now, a life without him felt like a colorless hell.

I wondered if this was what the contract meant by 'being conquered by a man.'

"All right, then. You’ve agreed to be punished, right?"

Dojin stood up from the bed and came toward me.

In his hand was a black blindfold.

I flinched. Still, it didn’t seem like he was going to torture me…

"I’ve done some research, you know. You like BDSM play, right?"

"… Yes."

But hard BDSM didn’t seem like it was within my range of interests.