VN Ren'Py Love & Jealousy [Act 3] [Professor Amethyst Games]

[funnythings3785]

He had that already in act1. He has a monologue where he straight up says he knows Lacey is peddling a lot of bullshit that don't make any sense. But that's the last we've heard of him like that. After that he is always like I gotta have faith in her, she is trying, jealousy bad, the usual self-blaming victim bs.

Ok, yeah, I remember that... but what I am thinking is he can "tell" himself all of that, and that could be him essentially gas lighting himself while subconsciously, his mind is coming to terms with the reality of it... hence the growing confusion, etc...

It just seems like a reasonable way to explain it all.

 

[AL.d]

Ok, yeah, I remember that... but what I am thinking is he can "tell" himself all of that, and that could be him essentially gas lighting himself while subconsciously, his mind is coming to terms with the reality of it... hence the growing confusion, etc...

It just seems like a reasonable way to explain it all.

I think his depression is just deteriorating, that's why he is having more black outs, delusion etc. Not from a sudden realization. Because he has already realized she is full of shit, the whole rollercoaster started because he could sense something stank in the first place. What he has convinced himself of is...that it's irrelevant. I doesn't matter what she does and/or what he will have to do on her behalf, all that matters is staying together. You can tell from some of his thinking in this update, it's all about resignation. And this kind of self-induced helplessness to take agency of your own self is...very depressing.

I'm not in dev's mind but I think there are not many ways you can put the puzzle together in a way that makes sense, so my read on MC is this. He is a codependent with heavy depression and possible PTSD. PTSD from what? Childhood trauma. He wanted to be with childhood sweetheart. He soon realized he could never do that, because a big bad and powerful man had her under his thumb. Boy was helpless and inadequate to deal with the big bad, not only to stop girl's hurt (he could tell), but also to at least make her look at him, which could never happen in that situation. So he elected to practically become a servant to lessen her hurt this way and bide his time, enabled by the girl who was already screwed up mentally by what was happening to her.

Then it's time for college, girl is supposedly finally free, now he can do something about his feelings, become adequate. Nope. Girl fucks off to college with no warning. He is again helpless to take agency for himself because for many years, he defined himself through her whims. Since it's all he could do and all he knows to do.

Fast forward after college, girl comes back, actually initiates with him, marriage, he thinks he is suddenly getting all he wanted. Then bam he finds out the girl not only abandoned him, but did so in order to find more "bad men". Who would use and humiliate her but this time, she wanted them to. And lots of them. Helpless and inadequate again, not because he is just a little brat, but because he realizes there was never a chance of him not being in that position with her. None of those dudes ever did anything like he has for her, actually most of them treat her like meat. And he sees the pattern during the marriage too, Lacey definitely has a type (knowingly or not) and it's not the servile simp. So all he can do is keep serving and hope for the best. He will try to play the "big bad" when she demands that of him in the bedroom (all initiated by her), in the most awkward and fake way clearly fulfilling an assigned role, but he knows he just isn't enough. And that's what triggers his trauma. He wasn't enough to "get" the girl he is pathologically obsessed with back then, he still isn't enough now.

 

[DeviantFun]

Maybe I am misunderstanding things, but do you think it is possible the MCs "Break", specifically him coming home, seeing the illusion of her like that, what she says, etc... is a realization of this on his part to some extent? That she has been "lying" to him and herself about everything, trying to convince herself, etc... but the truth keeps coming out in various actions and behaviors?

So this realization is manifesting itself in the break because losing her is a large part of his issues and the conflicting actions of her is driving home this realization to which he does not want to consider or accept?

It might explain how the Lacey is in a constant conflict of characters within the story? Maybe I am reading into it too much.

No I do not think the Prof will ever write the MC as reasonable, if you look MC has only one big breakthrough (in the office) in act 2 which is then obviously bulldozed over by act 3 events (and wasn't exactly a great breakthrough either).

MC needs to be always oblivious, sort of immobile and without agency to drive the story further.

The examples are many and they crash with what MC is at his core sometimes:

• Starting from act 3, MC simply follows everyone's orders and even when he says "I will not do it" he then will do it (bdsm club day 4).
• When MC reaches the room and see Lacey crashing out with OS, he does't hug her or try to stop her, he just stands there, so we can get some exposition as readers, MC has experience with that situation and it is stated that he was always ready to stop Lacey self harm.
• At the end of act 3 when he leaves, does he leave of his own free will? no, it is mental health issues, imagine how much more powerful and character defining the whole thing would be if it came from his desperation and under his control.
• When the drug plan is concocted and brought to life, the maximum reaction we have from him is "I am disappointed", considering that Anna lied to him anyway, since she had a direct involvement (she is the one that sends Lacey home lying that those were orders from Veronica).
• Mia does bs? All cool.
• Abby does bs? All cool, actually let him apologize because why not.

So yeah, I do not see MC as a well written character in general, he does have some consistency and some of his ailments are portrayed very well, but he is an dashcam more than a character.

For what I was referring to, I meant that what Lacey does in college is different from what she does now, the motivations and even the acts are different.

As for his breakdown, he is probably seeing his fears that Lacey's actions don't do much to help.
Vegas is not a small oopsie, it is a major fuck up with some pretty heavy implications.

He had that already in act1. He has a monologue where he straight up says he knows Lacey is peddling a lot of bullshit that don't make any sense. But that's the last we've heard of him like that. After that he is always like I gotta have faith in her, she is trying, jealousy bad, the usual self-blaming victim bs.

Amen.

 

[DeviantFun]

I think his depression is just deteriorating, that's why he is having more black outs, delusion etc. Not from a sudden realization. Because he has already realized she is full of shit, the whole rollercoaster started because he could sense something stank in the first place. What he has convinced himself of is...that it's irrelevant. I doesn't matter what she does and/or what he will have to do on her behalf, all that matters is staying together. You can tell from some of his thinking in this update, it's all about resignation. And this kind of self-induced helplessness to take agency of your own self is...very depressing.

I'm not in dev's mind but I think there are not many ways you can put the puzzle together in a way that makes sense, so my read on MC is this. He is a codependent with heavy depression and possible PTSD. PTSD from what? Childhood trauma. He wanted to be with childhood sweetheart. He soon realized he could never do that, because a big bad and powerful man had her under his thumb. Boy was helpless and inadequate to deal with the big bad, not only to stop girl's hurt (he could tell), but also to at least make her look at him, which could never happen in that situation. So he elected to practically become a servant to lessen her hurt this way and bide his time, enabled by the girl who was already screwed up mentally by what was happening to her.

Then it's time for college, girl is supposedly finally free, now he can do something about his feelings, become adequate. Nope. Girl fucks off to college with no warning. He is again helpless to take agency for himself because for many years, he defined himself through her whims. Since it's all he could do and all he knows to do.

Fast forward after college, girl comes back, actually initiates with him, marriage, he thinks he is suddenly getting all he wanted. Then bam he finds out the girl not only abandoned him, but did so in order to find more "bad men". Who would use and humiliate her but this time, she wanted them to. And lots of them. Helpless and inadequate again, not because he is just a little brat, but because he realizes there was never a chance of him not being in that position with her. None of those dudes ever did anything like he has for her, actually most of them treat her like meat. And he sees the pattern during the marriage too, Lacey definitely has a type (knowingly or not) and it's not the servile simp. So all he can do is keep serving and hope for the best. He will try to play the "big bad" when she demands that of him in the bedroom (all initiated by her), in the most awkward and fake way clearly fulfilling an assigned role, but he knows he just isn't enough. And that's what triggers his trauma. He wasn't enough to "get" the girl he is pathologically obsessed with back then, he still isn't enough now.

This was an amazing post that should be pinned at the top so people can finally understand.

I would like to stop on this part:
Lacey definitely has a type (knowingly or not) and it's not the servile simp.

Yeah, we can see this from the start, she wants validation from Jared, she is intrigued by Emilio, she wants the master to dominate her etc...so "powerful" or perceived powerful figures, heck it could go back to Isaac.

But most importantly, this makes me think that Lacey wants MC to look and be successful (car talk etc) because that is what SHE likes it more than what MC likes.
MC is fine with a happy and simple life.

I do not know if the author planned for this or if by scrambling all the drama in it slipped in, but that is shown pretty clearly.
This not being clearly stated in the material makes me think it is just a blunder, but damn it makes perfect sense and the writing seems to point to this heavily.

 

[AL.d]

This was an amazing post that should be pinned at the top so people can finally understand.

I would like to stop on this part:
Lacey definitely has a type (knowingly or not) and it's not the servile simp.

Yeah, we can see this from the start, she wants validation from Jared, she is intrigued by Emilio, she wants the master to dominate her etc...so "powerful" or perceived powerful figures, heck it could go back to Isaac.

But most importantly, this makes me think that Lacey wants MC to look and be successful (car talk etc) because that is what SHE likes it more than what MC likes.
MC is fine with a happy and simple life.

I do not know if the author planned for this or if by scrambling all the drama in it slipped in, but that is shown pretty clearly.
This not being clearly stated in the material makes me think it is just a blunder, but damn it makes perfect sense and the writing seems to point to this heavily.

Authority plays a part but I think the common trait is bold sexual attention. To an objectifying degree. Practically dudes who see her as a set of holes and are bold enough to show it. While MC has conditioned himself to avoid that, since even the slightest thing resembling that would have made her recoil back then. Which explains her instigating role in sex scenes.

I mean look at who the best of the 300 spartans are. A permanent frat boy who had no issue exposing a married woman at her workplace as a party slut. And a dude who had no issue stalk and pester a married woman, just because she made him feel good about his micro dick back in the day. And it all goes down from there, those two were the good guys.

 

[DeviantFun]

Authority plays a part but I think the common trait is bold sexual attention. To an objectifying degree. Practically dudes who see her as a set of holes and are bold enough to show it. While MC has conditioned himself to avoid that, since even the slightest thing resembling that would have made her recoil back then. Which explains her instigating role in sex scenes.

I mean look at who the best of the 300 spartans are. A permanent frat boy who had no issue exposing a married woman at her workplace as a party slut. And a dude who had no issue stalk and pester a married woman, just because she made him feel good about his micro dick back in the day. And it all goes down from there, those two were the good guys.

Which would explain her total enamourment with flirting at every occasion.

I always wondered if that was the author putting his worldview in or a specific trait.

Seem like it is a specific trait.

It also fits with the sort of encouragement and messages she gives MC during sex.

 

[telly1712]

Which would explain her total enamourment with flirting at every occasion.

I always wondered if that was the author putting his worldview in or a specific trait.

Seem like it is a specific trait.

It also fits with the sort of encouragement and messages she gives MC during sex.

You Are Most likely Right that Lacey „has her Type“ , but for me more Important is if she can live without that permanent desire / feeling of getting attraction or needing that "external“ attraction or confirmation… unchangeable personality or Chance to evolve with help of therapy?

 

[DeviantFun]

You Are Most likely Right that Lacey „has her Type“ , but for me more Important is if she can live without that permanent desire / feeling of getting attraction or needing that "external“ attraction or confirmation… unchangeable personality or Chance to evolve with help of therapy?

This is what I mean about her flirting and maybe the author world view (this is totally a speculation on my part).

Everybody flirts, sure, but if you are married or in a commited relationship? You abstain from it, because you doing the right thing for your partner is more important to you than your instant gratification.
(There are levels too, a silly joke at the office with long term colleagues is definitely something different than enticing and accepting attention from randos at a bar, due to the ovbious expectations.)

This is what never clicked for me in her reasoning (or MC behaviour for that matter), as she goes flirting at the bar literally hours after hard cheating on MC.

I can see how she would look for validation from Jared for example, but the reason does not make a justification, at least to me.

Maybe as you say, thigs will get better in the future, who knows, act 3 sort of smashed Lacey character hard (and not only hers) in more than a few occasions, so maybe we will see something in act 4.

 

[monkeyqueen]

I saw the author trying to justify the insane spending from MC in act 3 (it was one of the issues rised before), when he was worried about some clothes shopping just in act 1 and we know he was overspending on the house (yeah some bonuses + one month of exec salary is not the answer).
But this one we can at least say he tried to explain and we can close an eye.

Yes, this could just be the author saying "we need the MC to have money so I pretended he had a big bank account"

But's here's even weirder idea

Red Bench Theory

A pet theory I am working on (but not i'm committed to) is that the MC has an alternate dissociative identities and it is finally starting to merge with them. One of those identities may or may not be the monster.

Like I've said before I think this story is like Game of Thrones where one or two sentences are more important than buckets of word vomit.

In the kitchen scene where Gristle reveals the rules he followed for Lacey. That's is a very, very important scene that gives us lots of info. But also notice that it's a deflection from the question of what he did when he wasn't studying or attending class. Sure he was "waiting" but it's possible to do things to pass the time while waiting.

This - I admit - is a stretch because the author is not a visual artist and not complete control of AI images. But hear me out and keep an open mind. Lacey didn't notice the red leather pants outfit that Girstle wore in Las Vegas. Why?

Now compare that outfit to Brad Pitt's red pants and red leather jacket in Fight Club. Just get on google image and search "brad pitt fight club". Notice how image mimics the iconic stance of fight club's "Tyler Durden" ) and copies his signature colors? Red, red, red - Tyler always wears red.

(Tyler is the DID alternate of Fight Club's "nice guy" MC)

Red bench and Green bench might mean actual benches or they might be DID alternates.

L "And Anna says you two only hung out a couple times a week."
L "What did you do the rest of the time?"
MC "Uh, well... I studied."
MC "And I learned to cook."
MC "Sometimes I'd play a video game."
L "Yeah, we already talked about those."
MC "Uh, yeah, I guess we did."
L "Why didn't you?"
L "Use those magic powers you have, to make lots of friends like you do now?"
MC "Well... it's easier now."
L "Why is it easier now?"
MC "Well, because I have you."
L "What do I have to do with it?"
MC "Um, it's easy to make friends because you don't need the rules anymore."
MC "Because you're here now."
L "Rules?"
L "What do you mean?"
MC "There are rules."
MC "I have to follow the rules."
L "What rules do you mean?"
MC "Um..."
MC "Did you like the dinner?"
L "No, I want to know about the rules."
L "Tell me about the rules."
MC "..."
MC "Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are for the green bench."
MC "Wednesdays and Fridays are for the red bench."


Notice how this manipulates Lacey in two ways:

1) she drops the questions about how we was spending his time. Because who could follow that line of questioning after hearing that your husband has more than 200 rules about how to protect you?!

2) the harem route comes into being. The MC has pushed Lacey in a direction where she develops a plan to make the Gristle into a king with a harem AND a trad wife. She has to provide her husband with all the fun he missed out on in college!

It also explains how this needy, whiny, angry, sexist, abusive fuckface has "magic powers" to convince women to love him and why some of these improbable events like some rando approaching Lacey with a diagnosis happen.

Perhaps red bench day was no longer a childhood reference but a day that his DID alternate did things. Like make sure that Lacey had access to K. Like learned how to manipulate events to manipulate people.

And then, out of college, he did things like make sure that Gristle got a promotion that should have gone to someone else.

And then, out of college, he did things like make investments to give Gristle a good sized savings account.

Now, again, I'm not ride or die on this and I put my odds of being correct at about 40 percent

( before you shake your head open your mind a second time please! )

Consider that the prof's other game - Augusta's - has a division between good-guy "protect vulnerable girls and women" magic rules and demonic, rapist, mind-break the women magic laws. The laws were written by red demon with a big dick. Also note that these powers also come with almost limitless amounts of money.

That pretty much mirrors the red bench / green bench division of my theory.

Perhaps green bench MC was working to protect Lacey. Perhaps red bench MC was working to break Lacey's mind. Green - the color of jealousy "the green eyed monster". Red the color of anger "red with rage"

 

[cormac69]

Did you try the patched version?

Yes, I have the current version from his Patreon with the latest patch he made.

 

[monkeyqueen]

Events explained by Red Bench theory

- where did Lacey get the K?
- where did Mia get the K?
- where did MC get so much money to spend in vegas
- why do all these women fall in love with the MC
- why Dianne show up just at the right time with such a narrowly tailored diagnosis
- how did Abby come up with such an elaborate plan
- who vetted Lacey for the poker tournament
- if Isaac is telling the truth about the house being a tax write off why did he go and live with his mom
- why a red bra? we first learn about red bra night during the first red bra night scene but the text implies this is something that has been going on for a while

(this last one, I fully admit, is a stretch because it requires that both Red Bench theory and Black Bra Lacey theory be correct)

Lacey didn't notice Gristle in red pants because that's what Red Bench MC wears. And white bra Lacey doesn't know Red Bench MC - only Black Bra Lacey knows who he is.

Edit: Also explains how the MC found a "Better Call Saul" accountant willing to do whatever it takes to protect her clients. Kelly found someone "who knows someone, who knows someone" Uh huh. Did this person enjoy wearing red ?

 

[monkeyqueen]

You Are Most likely Right that Lacey „has her Type“ , but for me more Important is if she can live without that permanent desire / feeling of getting attraction or needing that "external“ attraction or confirmation… unchangeable personality or Chance to evolve with help of therapy?

I suspect that one route will be a BDSM route - for Lacey to completely drop her masochism would require a mind wipe and reprogramming. Love to see it but I suspect that she is going to have to fuse

She doesn't really need that much external validation from men other than Gristle - she's telling the truth when she says that the flirting is not about the men, it's about her husband. She wants she the monster inside her lover "unchained" and for that monster to abuse her - to verbally slap her around, cause her physical pain and make her feel protected. One monster is enough for her.

She also wants to have husband love the 3rd part of her - he loves the damaged girl, he loves the trad wife but he doesn't love the party girl (yet).

That will only change if the MC gives into a cuck kink and becomes like Lorenzo. Then she will need to find a monster she respects. And that's the tragedy of "her" plan - if MC comes to love the party girl the other two sides of her will love the MC less.

 

[cormac69]

I found another instance where the wrong person is labelled as the one talking. This should be the MC saying this not Issac.I added the next two frames so that hopefully the Dev sees this and can see how it was supposed to flow.

 

[NewGuy2022]

Maybe I am misunderstanding things, but do you think it is possible the MCs "Break", specifically him coming home, seeing the illusion of her like that, what she says, etc... is a realization of this on his part to some extent? That she has been "lying" to him and herself about everything, trying to convince herself, etc... but the truth keeps coming out in various actions and behaviors?

So this realization is manifesting itself in the break because losing her is a large part of his issues and the conflicting actions of her is driving home this realization to which he does not want to consider or accept?

It might explain how the Lacey is in a constant conflict of characters within the story? Maybe I am reading into it too much.

MC knows Lacey lies to him and has known since Act 1. On my re-run through the story I'm surprised at the number of times MC mentions this to himself; I guess I skipped too much content on my first run through. He realizes how often she gaslights him, too.

Every time Lacey says, "you don't need to worry about it" that's code for, "you're on to something and I want you to stop because you might learn some truth; I don't want for you to know the truth about that."

As for the constant conflict w/ other NPCs I assess most of them, at some point in the story, claim to want the MC to be happy and healthy; Lacey's lies, gaslighting, and questionable (if not disloyal) actions toward the MC create friction. Folks don't like it when you lie to them or do/say things that harm people they care about.

Then, Act 3. So now I don't know anything.

 

[WannabeShady90]

You Are Most likely Right that Lacey „has her Type“ , but for me more Important is if she can live without that permanent desire / feeling of getting attraction or needing that "external“ attraction or confirmation… unchangeable personality or Chance to evolve with help of therapy?

Okey, let me try to explain this. I'm trying to simplify the psychology behind her behaviour as much as possible and use some metaphores.

The way a person sees the world is formed during their childhood years. Lacey was raped during that time by a person who is supposed to love her - her father. So Lacey thinks on an emotional level, that love means pain. The person who "loves" her, doesn't care about her emotional wellbeing and treats her like a piece of meat. (Foreshadowing) The psychological impact of that fact alone might have been lessened to a certain extend if she at least had a loving mother. But sadly, Lacey is shit out of luck again. Her mother is a narcissist. Without any fault of her own, Lacey was doomed to a life of misery from the very beginning of her life. She wasn't able to process that, which isn't her fault. Children are not able to understand the world around them on a fundamental level. They just assume that behaviour is normal and cope accordingly. Later on you might be able to explain to them on an intellectual level, for example in therapy, what was done to them, but the emotional damage has already been done. Love means to her being treated like her father treated her. This is some (extreme) form of what is commonly known as "daddy issues". She will - for the rest of her life - see this behaviour as love. People often self medicate their (emotional) pain, eather by substance abuse or self harm. I think you start to see the pattern here. What they essentially do, is replace one form of pain with an even more painful form. That is where the doom loop kicks in.

Lacey was abused --> Lacey physically hurts herself --> Lacey starts substance abuse to numb the pain --> Lacey gets "Love" out of the most hurtful forms of Sex

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT

Some people around here think that her self medication worked. It didn't. She replaced pain with more severe pain. She never healed. The moment she was ready to return didn't change anything. She still to this day wants to be hurt during sex by us. She copes about it. She thinks she's doing it for us, but she doesn't. That's called rationalization. It is a defense mechanism to cope with severe mental trauma. Think of it like that: Before your self identity collapses, your brain does whatever it has to do to avoid shutdown. "We" aka Captain SaveAHoe suffers from the same coping mechanism. That's why he starts to hear and see things that aren't there - his brain is literally fighting for survival.

What some people around here refer to as "healing" is possible, but not in the way they think. People like Lacey are treated with heavy - let me emphasize this - HEAVY MEDICATION. Therapy might be able to teach you what was done to you and why you are the way you are. What the the medication does is essentially tranquilize your brain. Think of it as a form of auto immune disease. Your brain activly hurts you, because your mind is broken. Tranquilizing your brain essentially slows down your brain so you hurt yourself less, but you will never be healed as in become a "normal" person.

 

[WannabeShady90]

If we assume for the sake of the argument, that Lacey actually at least tries to love Captain SaveAHoe, there are two possible paths forward. (Reminder that the author definitly suffered through some form of the trauma he writes about, so this is what he is familiar with).
--> One path is that Captain SaveAHoe actually becomes the abuser. That's what I was referencing with the Nietzsche-quote "If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you" earlier. That way Lacey would experiance the "love" of her father again - the exact one she has been seeking throughout the whole story so far.
--> The other path is the continued doom-loop Lacey just escalates. If we take her word for it and she is actually jealous and fears us leaving, it will probably include a kind of Harem-route to induce even more severe pain to punish herself. (Remember: She hates herself. She goes out of her way to experiance pain because she thinks she deserves it). If you wanted to actually "heal" her, you would need her to stop punishing herself and pushing everyone away in the process.

 

[funnythings3785]

MC knows Lacey lies to him and has known since Act 1. On my re-run through the story I'm surprised at the number of times MC mentions this to himself; I guess I skipped too much content on my first run through. He realizes how often she gaslights him, too.

Every time Lacey says, "you don't need to worry about it" that's code for, "you're on to something and I want you to stop because you might learn some truth; I don't want for you to know the truth about that."

As for the constant conflict w/ other NPCs I assess most of them, at some point in the story, claim to want the MC to be happy and healthy; Lacey's lies, gaslighting, and questionable (if not disloyal) actions toward the MC create friction. Folks don't like it when you lie to them or do/say things that harm people they care about.

Then, Act 3. So now I don't know anything.

That is part of the frustrating thing about the MC. He has awareness in most things. He can see the lies, tell when he is being manipulated and reasons this (outside of his constant turn to blame himself) as a serious problem. He just never acts to it to any ultimate result.

It is why I can respect his character in that (at least up to Act 3), but hate him and think him completely retarded because like I said, he never puts his thoughts to any action.

While he degrades over the course of the acts, Act 3 is... well... a really crappy representation of him in all aspects. Even his mindset, his inner voice begins to give up, ignore, and excuse things which when you combine that with Lacey's change, it is really devastating and makes Lacey look like a complete pile of shit (as well as the other girls), yeah... I know she kind of is all things considered and it makes the MC look like some super cuck toy for them to get their thrills on.

It would be counter to his character, but the suggestion of him hard cucking all the girls with an new character he meets while he is away actually sounds kind of appealing.

 

[DeviantFun]

Lacey was abused --> Lacey physically hurts herself --> Lacey starts substance abuse to numb the pain --> Lacey gets "Love" out of the most hurtful forms of Sex

I will not go into the rest of your post on which I might even agree, especially on the trauma and meds part.

But she started loving sex when she started having sex with MC, which if you look at the scenes, is not the "most hurtful forms of sex".
And feels love differently than what you are implying.

In theory what you are saying it might make sense, but it is not corroborated by the material, check the marriage night, damian and other sex scenes with MC (maybe not the wine bottle one haha)

 

[WannabeShady90]

I will not go into the rest of your post on which I might even agree, especially on the trauma and meds part.

But she started loving sex when she started having sex with MC, which if you look at the scenes, is not the "most hurtful forms of sex".
And feels love differently than what you are implying.

In theory what you are saying it might make sense, but it is not corroborated by the material, check the marriage night, damian and other sex scenes with MC (maybe not the wine bottle one haha)

Are you familiar with the concept of projection?
During the Damian-event, Lacey interacts with Captain SaveAHoe, which means she is aware of his presence and awareness. What does she know hurts him the most? Jealousy. She uses every trick in the book to inflict maximum pain to Captain SaveAHoe. What is it she thinks is love again? Correct: Pain
Lacey projects her kinks onto him. Her enjoyment is his suffering.

 

[WannabeShady90]

She even says it herself: His jealousy (aka pain) gets her off. That's the whole reason for the bar-flirting event.