“This… Where is this?!”
Kaoru Hoshitani snapped out of his overwhelming shock and sense of betrayal, his voice rising in pitch, sharp with extreme anger and the sudden plunge into despair, to the point it nearly cracked.
He jerked his head around, those beautiful doe eyes now wide open, no longer shimmering with mist but burning with flames of rage that threatened to burst forth, mingled with a deeper, icy despair as if he had fallen into a frozen abyss.
He glared fixedly at Rika Kawasaki, his fingers digging so hard into his palm that his nails left deep marks.
“You said… you promised to let me go home?! You liar!!”
He should have known! He did know!
How could this devil of a woman possibly keep her word? How could she let him go so easily?
That fleeting moment of supposed ‘Mercy’ just now had only been a ruse, meant to lure him deeper into the Trap!
A sense of utter humiliation and fury at being played with so thoroughly surged through him, nearly burning away what remained of his reason.
“I did say I’d take you home.”
Rika Kawasaki seemed completely unconcerned by his anger and accusations.
She leaned back in her chair, composed and unhurried, her tone so casual it was as if she was discussing the weather, yet every word was like a poisoned needle.
“But I never said… it would be to your home.”
She deliberately emphasized “your,” and a more shameless smile appeared on her face, as if she was stating the most natural fact in the world.
“Besides, isn’t this place… going to be your ‘home’ sooner or later anyway? Isn’t it good to get familiar with the environment in advance, hmm?”
“……”
Faced with such brazen shamelessness and twisted reasoning, Kaoru Hoshitani was overwhelmed by a powerful wave of helplessness and exhaustion that nearly sapped all the strength from his body.
He opened his mouth, only to find that any words of anger seemed pale and powerless in this moment.
He had never met, nor even imagined, that there could exist such a stubborn, relentless, utterly unreasonable woman in the world!
She was like a mass of sticky, tenacious tar—once touched, no matter how much you struggled, you could only sink deeper, impossible to break free.
“Alright, now, don’t look at me like that.”
Rika Kawasaki seemed to enjoy his frantic yet helpless appearance, her voice even carrying a hint of coaxing, a false gentleness.
“I brought you here for no other reason, truly.”
She paused, her gaze deliberately sweeping over the back seat and the direction of the trunk.
“Those things I bought for you this morning… all those big and small bags, you wouldn’t want to lug them back and let your useless Girlfriend see them, would you? How would you explain that, hmm?”
She leaned in slightly, drawing closer to him, her voice dropping lower, carrying a tone that was both coaxing and threatening.
“So, all those things can only be kept with me for now, isn’t that the safest and most convenient? I’m only bringing you here to drop them off, that’s all. Once that’s done… we can talk, alright?”
Kaoru Hoshitani bit down hard on his lower lip, nearly tasting blood.
Of course, he didn’t believe a single word of Rika Kawasaki’s lies!
Drop things off? That was just an excuse! The first step of the Trap!
How could he possibly believe this demon would truly let him just “drop things off”?
“F-fine, then!”
He took a deep breath, forcing down the fear and revulsion churning inside him, trying to make one last stand. His voice trembled with desperate resolve.
“I… I won’t get out of the Car! You go put the things inside! And then… then take me back… back to my own home!”
He tried to cling to this last bit of “public” space within the Car, as if the thin shell of metal and glass could offer him some pitiful shred of safety.
Yet, before he could finish his words, he felt the air around him suddenly chill.
The faint, playful smile on Rika Kawasaki’s face faded away like the tide, vanishing without a trace.
Her grey eyes instantly turned to bottomless pools of ice, her gaze as sharp as a blade, piercing straight into him.
There was no longer any pretense—only naked, unquestionable coldness and pressure.
That look seemed to say: You’re far too naive, to think you can bargain with me?
Just being locked in by that gaze, Kaoru Hoshitani felt his spine go cold, his remaining words stuck in his throat, unable to come out.
All his courage and hope, under those icy grey eyes, melted away like snow in sunlight.
“You think…”
Rika Kawasaki’s voice was not loud, but it scraped against the air like shards of ice, each word chilling his blood, crushing his last shred of unrealistic hope.
“……That you still have any other choice?”
This wasn’t a question. It was a verdict.
[Yes…]
Kaoru Hoshitani repeated this realization in his heart in despair, his gaze dimming completely, losing its last trace of light.
[If this woman truly wants to do something to me… what can I do to resist…]
Power, influence, leverage…
Everything was in her hands.
He was like an insect trapped at the center of a spider’s web—the more he struggled, the tighter the binds became.
“Click.”
The passenger door was pulled open from outside.
He hadn’t even noticed when Rika Kawasaki had gotten out of the Car and circled around to his side.
The cool night air, tinged with the scent of grass and trees, rushed into the Car, but it brought him no sense of freshness—only a deeper chill.
She gave him no more time for hesitation or delay. She reached in directly, her fingers gripping his slender wrist with irresistible force and gave a sharp tug—
Kaoru Hoshitani felt a powerful force pull him forward, his body tipping uncontrollably.
He was like a lifeless object, dragged effortlessly out of the passenger seat by Rika Kawasaki.
His feet stumbled onto the cold, flat stone slabs in front of the Villa, barely able to stand, and he could only be dragged along by the woman, staggering toward the wide-open Villa door that seemed to gape in the night, ready to swallow everything.
This Villa was something Rika Kawasaki had only recently obtained from her almost completely uninvolved Mother.
The old Villa where she used to hang out with her gang of delinquent girls was chaotic and noisy; subconsciously, she felt that place was unworthy of the delicate, fragile man before her.
She had no intention of letting him come into contact with the traces of her “other side.”
This was where she thought fit to “settle” him—private, luxurious, and entirely under her control.
Kaoru Hoshitani was pulled along through a high-ceilinged, spacious Living Room.
The decor was austere and modern, but the emptiness made it feel somewhat intimidating.
His feet, unsteady, stepped on the polished marble floor, echoing hollowly.
The metal railing of the spiral staircase was chilling to the touch.
He was like a puppet whose soul had been drawn out, his eyes empty and unresponsive, letting Rika Kawasaki lead him step by step into the unknown.
At last, they reached the Main Bedroom on the second floor.
Rika Kawasaki pushed open the heavy solid wood door.
There were no lights on inside—only sunlight spilling in through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, outlining the contours of the room’s minimalist yet expensive furnishings.
The air carried the faint, cold scent of a recent renovation.
She didn’t pause or even turn on the lights.
She shoved the dazed Kaoru Hoshitani forward forcefully—
“Ugh!”
He let out a muffled yelp, stumbling as he lost his balance, falling heavily onto the enormous Bed in the center of the room—so soft it seemed it might swallow him whole.
The down comforter and silky bedding sank slightly under his weight, wrapping around his powerless body, yet providing no warmth or safety—only a suffocating softness and despair, like falling into a bottomless marsh.
The bedroom door closed softly behind them…
At this moment, lying atop the almost devouring softness of the massive Bed, Kaoru Hoshitani was bathed in the faint sunlight seeping in from the window.
His limbs sprawled limply, black hair disheveled across the dark silk pillowcase like beautiful seaweed washed ashore, drained of life.
His posture, for a moment, eerily resembled those offerings, artfully decorated and laid on stone altars in ancient times, meant as Sacrifice to the Divinity—a living gift for the gods.
The same exquisite beauty, the same helpless fate, the same silent waiting for a “holy” or “inevitable” ravaging and consumption from which there was no escape.
His skin glowed pale and warm under the sunlight, his chest rising and falling with weak breaths.
Those usually dewy, bright eyes now stared blankly at the intricate shadows on the ceiling, as though his soul had already fled this body wracked with torment, leaving only numbness and exhaustion.
And Rika Kawasaki was like something spawned from darkness, preparing to feast upon her sumptuous “blood meal.”
Her tall figure climbed onto the Bed with a slow, unhurried, oppressive grace.
The Bed sank deeply under her weight, making a faint sound.
She leaned over, her shadow completely enveloping Kaoru Hoshitani.
She didn’t rush to perform the final “ritual.”
Like savoring a starter, she began with his sweat-dampened forehead, tightly shut eyelids, and trembling lashes, using scorching lips and teeth with a bit of force, inch by inch, possessively “gnawing” along, leaving behind moist traces and faint stings, as though confirming her Ownership—or perhaps marking him with wicked glee and control.
The torments and domination of the past days were replayed now on a stage more luxurious and private—and all the more inescapable.
The scene had shifted from the cramped apartment full of his memories with Aina, to this cold, empty “Mansion” that belonged solely to Rika Kawasaki.
Familiar routine, unfamiliar setting, but the result was an even deeper sense of helplessness and despair…
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.