Blurb：
When perfumer Odette Langley moves into **The Serenity Crest Condominiums**, her luxury fragrance brand **Alchemy & Aura** becomes a target for deranged neighbor **Marlene Becker**—a baby-obsessed Karen waging war against makeup, lingerie, and *any scent* that might "distract" her mediocre husband **Gary Becker**. After Marlene’s unhinged demands flood the building’s social app (**The Crestwood Chronicle**), Odette fires back with viral clapbacks. But Marlene escalates: stealth-snapping lingerie photos, ambushing Odette with *grotesque public accusations*, and weaponizing ChatterBox to brand her a “homewrecking seductress.” With her career at risk, Odette recruits sharp-tongued **Ragdoll Lawyer Camille Stratton** to bury Marlene in lawsuits. Yet Marlene’s baby-manifesting madness hides a darker secret… and that **Solaris Bloom perfume**? It’s about to ignite a scandal that’ll torch Serenity Crest’s faade of luxury.Content：
§PROLOGUEThe first rule of living at The Serenity Crest Condominiums, as I was about to learn, was that serenity was a lie.
It arrived not as a whisper, but as a public declaration on The Crestwood Chronicle, the building’s self-important internal social app.
A notification pinged on my phone, sterile and demanding.
I glanced at it, my hand paused mid-air, a glass dropper filled with a shimmering, sun-colored liquid hovering over a crystal beaker.
The final touch for a new batch of "Solaris Bloom," the star of my perfumery, Alchemy & Aura.
The post was from a user named BabyBoyManifesting.
【Hello, my husband and I are trying to conceive. Please refrain from wearing perfume, as it may affect the fruits of our labor. Oh, and thank you in advance!~】
I blinked.
Then, a follow-up post, barely a minute later.
【Also, my husband and I take a walk downstairs every evening. We would appreciate it if all females could avoid wearing makeup, so as not to attract my husband's attention. Kisses!~】
And the grand finale.
【Oh, and one last thing, darlings. Please don’t hang your lingerie on your balconies. It’s… distracting for our marital activities. You understand.~】
I stared at my screen, the delicate scent of Sicilian blood orange and jasmine from my beaker suddenly feeling like a weapon of mass destruction.
This wasn’t a request.
It was a hostile takeover of basic human autonomy.
I put down the dropper, the golden liquid swirling.
I picked up my phone and found her post.
With surgical precision, I tapped the @ symbol next to her username.
【The psychiatric hospital is to the left of the building. The fertility clinic is to the right. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.~】
I posted it.
Then, I went back to my perfume.
Serenity, I decided, was overrated.
Justice, however, had a very appealing scent.
§01
The first day in a new apartment is supposed to be a symphony of cardboard boxes and the satisfying ache of progress.
Mine began with a warning from the building manager, a man named Mark whose smile seemed permanently strained.
He added me to The Crestwood Chronicle with a strange, almost pleading look in his eyes.
"There's a couple in 12B, the Beckers... they're trying to conceive," he'd said, his voice low. "Just... be patient with them, okay?"
The comment was odd.
What did my neighbors’ reproductive plans have to do with me?
But I nodded politely, eager to start my new life. "Of course. No problem."
Hours later, drenched in the sweat of unpacking, I emerged from a long shower and finally checked my phone. It was buzzing like an angry hornet.
A user named BabyBoyManifesting had tagged me relentlessly. It was Marlene Becker.
BabyBoyManifesting: 【To the new neighbor, miss. I saw you in the lobby earlier. Your perfume is quite strong, dear. But you’ll have to stop wearing it. It’s having a terrible effect on our household!】
I frowned.
An allergy, perhaps? That would be understandable.
I scrolled down.
BabyBoyManifesting: 【You see, my husband and I are trying to conceive. Your scent might capture his attention, and that would negatively impact our conception results. Okay?~】
My thumb froze over the screen.
BabyBoyManifesting: 【You know how men are. There's no such thing as a man who doesn't cheat. A good wife’s job is simply to help him cover up the smell of his indiscretions.~】
BabyBoyManifesting: 【You look so young and pretty, sweetie. You wouldn’t want to be mistaken for a homewrecker, would you?】
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The End