Ch.50Chapter 50 – Zia Lestrade (4)

“Hmm… let’s see.”

“Excuse me…”

“Would this look good, or would that look good…”

Lestrade, who was being dragged around by an excited Adler, opens her mouth while staring at him with blank eyes.

“What exactly are you doing?”

“Oh, this one looks nice.”

Ignoring her words, Adler picks up a dress hanging in front of them.

“Try this on.”

He holds a sky-blue dress against her body and asks with sparkling eyes.

“…I don’t wear anything but my police uniform.”

But Lestrade pushes his hand away with a cold expression.

“And I’ve never worn such feminine clothes, nor would they suit me.”

She speaks with a decisive tone and tries to walk past Adler toward the exit.

“Of course, your police uniform looks dashing too.”

Adler grabs her arm, stopping her.

“But I really want to see my girlfriend in this dress.”

“……..”

When he emphasizes the word ‘girlfriend’ in a whisper, Lestrade’s gaze grows even colder.

“You said you’d comply with any of my requests, didn’t you?”

“…That’s right.”

At his continued whisper, she sighs and takes the dress.

“It’s because I like you.”

Though she muttered this with a still frigid expression, Adler was simply grinning from ear to ear, clearly pleased.

“Change over there. Conveniently, there’s a changing area set up inside the store.”

“……..”

As he points to the changing area and pushes Lestrade’s back, she moves with a deeply furrowed expression.

“Ugh…”

Passing by people who whisper as they look at her, she enters the changing room and begins to undo her tightly fitted police uniform with a flushed face.

– Rustle…

Then, she holds the flowing dress against her naked body.

“…There’s no way this would suit me.”

After secretly trying various poses in that state, she eventually mutters with dark eyes.

“He’s definitely trying to humiliate me.”

Her body, covered in scars from rigorous training and sporting defined abs, didn’t seem like it would match such a feminine design.

It seemed like Issac Adler was determined to break her spirit.

“…Haah.”

But she couldn’t refuse to wear it either.

Whatever the case, she was now Issac Adler’s lover.

“………”

So, desperately suppressing her body’s resistance by gritting her teeth, Lestrade puts on the dress Adler had chosen.

– Creeak…

When she opens the changing room door, the gazes of people lingering nearby all turn to Lestrade at once.

“”………..””

And then comes the silence.

“Wow.”

Adler approaches Lestrade, who is standing with her head bowed and a humiliated look in her eyes, and opens his mouth with a dazed expression.

“…You’re really beautiful.”

“Shut up.”

Stepping on his foot, Lestrade mutters with a trembling voice.

“I can see how everyone is looking at me.”

“…That’s right. It makes me jealous.”

Adler pulls her toward him and begins to walk around the clothing store again, holding hands.

“You, doing whatever you want…”

“Let’s try this one next.”

Ignoring her as she tries to say something with a flushed face, Adler picks up a pink dress.

“After that, this one, and then this one…”

“……….”

Lestrade’s mind began to grow faint as she watched the dresses accumulating in his shopping basket.

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A few hours later.

“…How did you like the play we saw earlier?”

“………”

“Miss Lestrade?”

After being dragged around various parts of London by Adler for quite some time, Lestrade sat in a VIP room of a luxury restaurant with a blank expression.

“…It’s too expensive.”

She finally speaks in a low voice.

“This dress I’m wearing… do you know how much it costs?”

“Yes.”

“And all those bags of clothes beside me?”

“Since I paid for them, of course I know.”

“What about the food we’re eating now?”

“The prices are right there on the menu in front of us.”

When Adler asks with a tilted head, Lestrade frowns and speaks.

“Why are you doing all this?”

“Doing what?”

“Why are you pouring such astronomical costs into a single date?”

Hearing this, Adler chuckles and picks up a piece of steak with his fork.

“Because I like you.”

“……….”

“And if I were to date someone, I always wanted to do things like this.”

He extends the fork with the steak toward Lestrade’s mouth.

“Say ‘ah.'”

“…Are you serious?”

“Hurry up.”

She thought he might be teasing her again, but Adler’s expression was too sincere.

“…Ah.”

So, thinking this was also a request as his lover, Lestrade opens her mouth with a cold gaze.

– Munch munch…

“Ahem.”

As she chews the steak, Adler observes her with a bright smile.

“…You’re cute.”

Stopping her chewing and wiping her mouth with a napkin, Lestrade notices the pure joy in his smile.

“I wonder how much cuter you’ll be at our final destination tonight.”

Hearing Adler’s words, she smiles coldly and mutters.

“So that’s what this was about.”

“………”

“I didn’t expect anything else.”

Suddenly she stands up.

“I’ll go to the restroom.”

“Wait…”

Despite Adler’s call, Lestrade simply bowed her head and walked away.

“…Acting so expensive.”

At that moment, a mocking voice begins to sound from behind her.

“Looks like she ended up with whoever paid the highest price.”

A young lady hiding her face behind a fan was muttering with curved eyes.

“Was she desperate for money?”

“……….”

As people around began to snicker at these clearly insulting remarks, Lestrade clenched her fists until they turned white.

‘…I expected to be treated like this.’

But she soon droops her shoulders and gives a bitter smile.

‘So…’

“I apologize, Miss Lestrade.”

It was at that exact moment.

“For breaking my promise.”

“……?”

Adler rises from his seat and mutters as he walks.

– SLAP!!!

Zia Lestrade, who had turned around with a puzzled expression, widens her eyes at the scene unfolding before her.

“…Ugh.”

The young lady who had been slapped by Issac Adler was holding her swollen cheek with a dazed expression, looking up at him.

“What are you saying to my lover?”

Meanwhile, Adler gives Zia Lestrade an eye-smile before looking down at the young lady with a cold gaze.

“Trash.”

Lestrade’s pupils began to quietly tremble.

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Hours later.

“Look at that, Miss Lestrade!”

“……..”

“Stars!”

That night, in a quiet open field near London.

“…Is this the final destination you mentioned earlier?”

Quietly holding hands with Adler and looking up at the night sky, Lestrade asks in a low voice.

“What did you think it was?”

Adler asks back, tilting his head.

“……….”

“Miss Lestrade, you’re naughtier than I thought.”

Looking at her reddening face with a smile, he soon shifts his gaze to the sky and begins to mutter.

“It’s been my dream since long ago. To sit in an open field with a lover, holding hands and looking up at the stars in the night sky.”

There was something poignant about his appearance.

“I wanted to have such an ordinary relationship.”

“……..”

“So right now, I’m very happy.”

Lestrade stares at him intently.

“I love you, Zia.”

When Adler calls her name with a grin, Lestrade’s eyebrows quietly twitch.

“…By the way, it’s getting late.”

After some time had passed.

“Here’s today’s payment.”

Suddenly Adler takes out a check from his pocket and hands it to her.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m paying your compensation.”

“Are you trying to buy me with money?”

Seeing this, Lestrade asks in a cold voice.

“Not at all.”

“Then what is this attitude…”

“I heard you have two younger siblings.”

But she flinches, her expression cracking.

“And I also heard that you’re the breadwinner responsible for them.”

“………”

“The part-time job you were looking for at the academy was probably for that reason too.”

“No matter what, I can’t accept money just because I’m dating you…”

“So, I had a good idea.”

Adler cuts in with a clear tone.

“I’ll hire you as my bodyguard.”

“……….”

“Be my lover and my bodyguard at the same time.”

Lestrade is momentarily speechless.

“The payment is of course for you as my bodyguard.”

“But…”

“And these gifts are for you as my lover.”

Looking into her eyes, Adler whispers.

“Zia.”

“What…”

“As I said before, this is my first normal relationship.”

Lestrade’s heart begins to flutter as he suddenly calls her name.

“So I don’t want to lose you.”

Adler takes out a contract from his pocket and hands it to her.

“I’ll be a good boy.”

“……….”

“Only in front of you.”

Lestrade picks up a pen and quietly begins to sign the contract.

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– Tsuuuuuuuu…

“…Huh?”

The dark open field began to glow faintly just as Lestrade finished signing and put down the pen.

“Ugh…?”

Suddenly, an intricate golden seal was appearing on Zia Lestrade’s tingling stomach.

“So, don’t leave my side.”

“What is this…”

“Anyway, now that the slave seal has been engraved, you can’t leave freely.”

She stares at Adler with her mouth agape while dazedly stroking her lower abdomen.

“You should have checked the contract properly.”

Adler whispers with a devilish smile.

“Don’t worry too much, Zia.”

“You…”

“I’ll be a kind and gentle master.”

Only now realizing she had been deceived, Zia Lestrade begins to berate him in a cold voice.

“Trash. Swindler.”

“Ouch.”

“The worst, the absolute worst-“

“You’re being too harsh to your master.”

“Go die.”

Adler, who had been flinching as Lestrade stepped on his foot with each word, quietly gauges her mood before leaning his head toward her shoulder and asking a question.

“Can I rest my head here?”

“…Are you joking?”

“We should continue our date.”

After staring at him with the same cold gaze from hours ago, she eventually sighs and turns her gaze away.

“…I guess I have no choice.”

With her eyes closed, she quietly offers her shoulder, bare due to the dress, and whispers.

“It’s because I like you.”

“I love you too, Zia.”

“Shut up.”

Their date, now in a somewhat ambiguous relationship, continued until the next morning.

“”………..””

Along with two pairs of gray eyes that blinked steadily from beyond the closed field.