In the end, with Sparkle out of the way, Lucian and Robin continued to flirt and banter as they browsed the street.
Soon enough, Robin was drawn quickly to the display window of a high-end clothing store, where a silver evening gown, glittering brilliantly and inlaid with countless tiny, star-like crystals, was showcased inside on a mannequin.
"So pretty..."
Robin muttered in awe, her eyes lighting up.
"Go try it on."
Lucian did not beat around the bush, immediately taking her hand and leading her into the store without hesitation.
"Welcome."
As soon as the two entered, the clerk standing nearby warmly welcomed them, then began guiding Robin.
Robin, not wasting any time, directly picked out several styles she liked, including the silver evening gown, and went into the fitting room with excitement.
Lucian sat on a soft sofa not far from the fitting room, then casually picked up a magazine from the table before him and flipped through it.
Thanks to the soft, classical music playing in the store, along with the gentle yellow lighting illuminating the interior, the store truly gave off a warm, comfortable atmosphere, making Lucian feel at ease as he unconsciously hummed along softly to the music.
Several minutes later, Robin finally came out of the fitting room, now wearing the glittering silver gown. Under the lights, the gown shimmered like scattered starlight, making her skin appear as white as snow by contrast.
"Hey, how do I look?"
Robin walked toward Lucian with the familiar sweet smile on her face and asked with anticipation.
Lucian looked up from the magazine, but his gaze paused on her high-heeled feet for a second before continuing upward until it finally settled on her face.
"Yeah, you look great."
He put down the magazine, stood up, and showed a gentle smile, yet his mind was elsewhere.
'Reeking of Elation... another Sparkle's prank, huh...'
Indeed, the Robin before him was not his Robin, but none other than a fake—a disguised Sparkle.
He did not even need to use Disarm to tell a Masked Fool like her apart.
However, instead of exposing Sparkle right away, Lucian had a great idea and decided not to expose her just yet. Since she wanted to mess with him so much, she could not blame him for letting his lucky pervert trait do the work.
'Heh, let's see who pranks who...'
Seeing Lucian's gentle smile, Sparkle, now disguised as Robin, walked up to him and tried to hook her arm around his.
"Well, let's buy this one, then. I'm tired from shopping. Let's go back."
Before disguising herself as Robin, Sparkle had already formulated a plan.
First, after she disguised herself as Robin, she would come out while Robin was still busy trying on clothes in the fitting room, appearing in front of Lucian as Robin.
Second, once Lucian was successfully fooled, she would lead him out of the store and then wait for the real Robin to come out of the fitting room, only for Robin to realize that Lucian was missing.
Finally, when Robin began searching for the missing Lucian, she would lead him back to Robin, deliberately making a real-versus-fake Robin confrontation take place.
'If he picks the wrong one, hehe... the little bird would be hard to soothe~'
With this thought in mind, Sparkle reached out to hold Lucian's arm, wanting to lead him to the cashier to pay, but—
*Click—*
An extremely faint sound suddenly resounded.
"Ah!"
As it turned out, the thin heel of her left high heel snapped without warning.
Caught off guard, Sparkle let out a startled cry as her body instantly lost its balance, pitching forward uncontrollably.
Lucian, seeing this, reflexively opened his arms, causing her to crash straight into his embrace. However, because his body followed the momentum of her fall as he held her, their posture became extremely intimate.
Sparkle, with her face buried in Lucian's chest, instantly caught his clean, pleasant, masculine scent and felt the warmth of his solid chest.
In that instant, her mind buzzed, leaving her feeling a little stunned.
'What happened?!'
'No, this wasn't the plan!'
'How did I fall?!'
'Stupid heel!'
As Sparkle complained relentlessly in her mind, Lucian spoke up.
"Careful, little bird."
Hearing Lucian's voice, carrying a hint of concern, sound above her, Sparkle hurriedly steadied herself.
"I-I'm fine..."
Sparkle imitated Robin's tone, sounding flustered, but unfortunately, Lucian did not let go immediately. Even though the strength of the hands gripping her waist was neither light nor heavy, she could clearly feel the warmth of his hands intensifying through the thin fabric of the gown.
"Don't rush back yet..."
Lucian lowered his head and leaned close to Sparkle's ear, his warm breath brushing against it as he whispered in a low voice.
"Since you're changed already…"
Sensing her body stiffen slightly, Lucian continued, his voice dropping even lower, carrying an indescribable magnetism.
"How about… we do something more... exciting...?"
Exciting?
Sparkle, not yet processing the meaning behind his words, suddenly felt Lucian's arm tighten slightly around her waist before he guided her toward another fitting room on the opposite side.
"W-Wait..."
Sparkle began to panic and tried to break free from his embrace, but sadly, Lucian's strong arm was like an iron clamp, not budging in the slightest.
"Lucian? Y-You… What are you doing?"
*Click—*
Her voice trembled as Sparkle maintained Robin's disguise, but before she could get an answer, Lucian had already closed the fitting room door—the faint sound of the lock was especially clear inside the room as he turned it.
Just like that, in this fitting room—the space small, the lighting gentle, the mirror bright—there were only the two of them.
"What do you think I'm gonna do? What do I usually do with you in private—you don't know, my little bird?"
Lucian turned back and gave Sparkle a meaningful smile—his gaze deep, carrying a hint of amusement.
Upon hearing Lucian's words and seeing his smile, alarm bells immediately rang wildly in Sparkle's head!
Something was wrong, especially his current look—it was practically like a beast eyeing its prey!
Feeling a slight panic, Sparkle was about to run away, trying to reach the door, but before her hand could touch it, Lucian suddenly caught it, then seized her other hand as well, and pinned both of her hands against the wall above her head with one hand.
"N-Not here..." Sparkle said softly, looking utterly pitiful as she adamantly maintained her Robin disguise. "Let's do it after we go back, okay?"
Firmly restrained, with her hands trapped, she realized she could not break free at all, which showed that the man before her was no pushover.
Unfortunately, it didn't end there.
In the next moment, Lucian, his tall figure cast in shadow beneath the soft light that completely enveloped her, raised his right hand and placed it against her right breast before shamelessly groping it.
In that instant, Sparkle's mind descended into complete chaos, while all the calm she had carefully maintained was torn to pieces.
'D-Did I just get groped?'
'No, this is getting out of control—this is not how the plot is supposed to go!'
'Beast! Pervert!'
'No... I have to escape first, or today I'm gonna lose my purity to him.'
A Masked Fool failing to prank someone and instead getting groped would be humiliating beyond words—something that would ruin her image forever if it were known to her fellow Masked Fools.
With this in mind, Sparkle decided to stop pretending and prepared to use the power of Elation to escape, but unfortunately, Lucian moved faster.
"Disarm."
*RIP!*
A barely audible sound of fabric's intricate structure collapsing resounded as the silver evening gown inlaid with countless tiny star crystals, an extremely expensive, limited custom piece, seemed as if its entire framework had been removed.
It instantly slid off Sparkle's disguised body, and, like a gorgeous curtain that had lost all support, the entire garment completely burst apart. Along with her Robin disguise and even her own clothes, everything tore away and scattered—the whole process took less than a second.
Sparkle did not feel any pulling force at all and only felt a chill on her body before her clothes were gone in an instant, without her even realizing it.
As she looked down, Sparkle saw that she had reverted to her original short-statured form, now completely naked, with her hands still pinned against the wall.
Her eyes were wide like bells!
Her mouth was slightly open!
Her entire mind went blank!
In the next second, as if lightning had struck her mind, Sparkle jerked her head up, staring at Lucian in disbelief!
'Wh-What did he just do?!'
'Where's my disguise?!'
'Where are my clothes?!'
'How did he do that?!'
Sparkle's face instantly turned as red as a boiled lobster, half shame, half shock.
"Y-You—?!"
Seeing Sparkle's flustered and angry reaction, Lucian showed a perfectly timed expression of 'surprise' and 'apology.'
"Oh my? You're not Robin?"
Lucian looked Sparkle up and down, his gaze as calm as if he were admiring a piece of art, yet Sparkle felt nothing but mockery in that look.
"No wonder it felt… a little different..." Lucian continued, nodding like a wise sage while gazing at Sparkle's modest breasts, adorned with cute pink cherries, which rose and fell slightly with agitation. "Hmm, so you switched places with her, huh..."
"Don't look!"
Sparkle exclaimed in anger, then turned into a swarm of butterflies to escape from his grasp before conjuring her usual red kimono around herself.
Standing before the fitting room's door, Sparkle, now fully dressed, glared at Lucian with both embarrassment and anger.
Lucian shrugged and looked away, acting nonchalant, but the slight curve of his mouth clearly suggested he was amused.
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding," Lucian said, throwing his hands up as if he were surrendering, his tone relaxed, as though nothing serious had happened. "I thought you were my girlfriend. If I'd realized you weren't her, I definitely wouldn't have done that. Hahh..."
Seeing him sigh as if in pity, Sparkle, the corner of her lips twitching, really wanted to punch him in the face.
'He's definitely pretending!'
From the look of it, Lucian had clearly seen through her disguise long ago and had deliberately dragged her into the fitting room!
For a moment, she could not even tell who the Masked Fool here really was.
Given that this handsome, seemingly harmless young man in front of her had tricked her so effortlessly and had even seen 'everything,' he felt more like a Masked Fool than she herself was.
Now, all those years of purity she had kept were ruined.
Sparkle truly regretted it.
If she had known this would happen, she would never have provoked this wolf in sheep's clothing.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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