A Snare Called Relationship
When I opened my eyes in that pool of warmth, I found myself buried in her arms, breathing against her. Arms, legs — all of me was tangled up in her, held fast in her embrace.
We were about the same height, if I was being honest. She looked a little slimmer than I was, but she was the stronger of the two — and I mention her strength because unless she decided to get up of her own free will, getting out of bed had become an impossibility for me. And that was, without question, by design.
No matter how hard I pushed at her arms, they wouldn't so much as twitch. She was putting her strength into it. That much was obvious. And so every morning, giving those arms a tentative shove, a hopeful tug, had become part of my routine. The helplessness that rose in my chest every time I looked at those unmoving fingers, those unyielding arms, was just a bonus.
How overwhelming did the difference in our strength have to be for something like this to happen?
I finally couldn't take it anymore and brought it up with her.
"Oh my. I had no idea I had a sleeping habit like that. I'm so sorry... If it really bothers you that much, I suppose I could always sleep on the floor..."
"...No, Ely. Forget I said anything."
"How kind of you. I'm always so grateful for your consideration."
How kind of you.
Was I just a pushover for letting that one line talk me into condoning everything she did?
But if you asked me whether I hated this warmth, the answer was no. Every morning, a beautiful woman pulled me into her arms and shared her heat with me. Who in their right mind would turn that down? And all of it out of pure goodwill... or perhaps something less innocent.
Ulterior motives.
Right. That was what I wanted to talk about.
I have never thought of myself as a particularly attractive man. The only praise I'd ever heard had come from my parents or the adults around me — hardly the kind of thing that builds confidence. I'd gone my entire life without so much as a spark of connection with a woman outside my family. And now a beauty who could put any celebrity to shame was twitching those fatally adorable rabbit ears at me—
"Mmh..."
A small sound. A few short, shallow breaths. I could feel her face burrowing into my neck, her hot breath tickling my throat and scattering across my skin.
...The embarrassment is always mine to bear. Yeah.
Her arms squeezed my back tight, then loosened.
"Did you sleep well, Marcus?"
She smiled brightly, stretching her ears out long.
"...I did. How about you, Ely?"
"Me...? Hehe. Every day is so full of warmth, I couldn't be happier."
Every word melted what was left of my reason. My face went scarlet. Mine, of course.
I had no idea how I was supposed to respond to someone who threw her affection at me so openly. At this point, I wasn't even sure I was the master anymore. In a situation where the only things that had changed were the smile on her face and the growing sharpness in her eyes — what more could I even do?
My hand reached out of its own accord and stroked her hair.
"Nnh... hnnn..."
Her ears trembled faintly as she rubbed her head and cheek against my palm with abandon. Looking at her like this, she really did seem like a rabbit, or a cat, or a puppy that just happened to wear a human shape.
...Back to the point. The question of whether I welcomed this change.
Was I the kind of person who would put a collar around her neck and seize the initiative? Wasn't I the one quietly condoning it, even as she slowly, steadily tried to devour me?
A kiss.
Something soft and warm brushed my hand, then vanished in an instant.
"...Huh?"
Another kiss. And another.
She wasn't stopping. If anything, she was only getting started. She held my hand and pressed kiss after kiss to the back of it — rumpled and undone, her hair a little wild, looking up at me as she kept laying her lips against my skin.
"I like you... I like you... I like you so much..."
Needless to say, my arm never left her grip.
"Hey, Ely."
I spoke to her on the way to the dungeon.
"Yes? What is it?"
"This morning. That thing you did..."
Why did you kiss the back of my hand until it was soaking wet?
I couldn't exactly ask her that. Wasn't there a more roundabout way to put it?
Her words shattered the tangled echo in my head in a single stroke.
"...Huh? What did you just say?"
She kept walking in silence, glanced back at me once, then turned her whole body around and planted herself in front of me.
We were about the same height. So why did I keep getting the illusion that she was the taller one?
"Lately... that feeling has only gotten stronger. How kindly you treat me. How gently you let even my more extreme behavior slide. Seeing all of that, hearing it, feeling it — it's the kind of feeling I simply cannot keep to myself."
"Marcus. What would you call the relationship between you and me?"
"Well, obviously... that's..."
"You said it yourself, didn't you?"
Her slender fingers brushed across my lips.
"That you weren't expecting a master-and-slave relationship."
Was I imagining the slight lift at the corner of her mouth? She stared straight through my eyes and opened her mouth again.
"I never imagined I would fall for you this fast. This completely."
Her hand slid sideways and cupped my cheek.
"I always thought love was something careful. Something quiet. The way my parents showed it..."
She took another step closer.
"If you would just allow it, Marcus. If you would just nod your head — I would take everything you are, right here, right now. Until recently, I was happy just being yours. Now it hurts that you aren't mine."
"...Ah. Please don't take what I'm saying as rudeness. So, so... if you want me, Marcus, I want you to know that I'm ready whenever you... no... I mean..."
She trailed off. Her face flushed redder and redder, and then she crumpled to the ground where she stood.
"Wh-what do I do... I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I wasn't supposed to do this, I... that wasn't what I wanted to say... no..."
Her sudden confession of love — no. I'd seen this coming. But now that it was actually here, of course it was throwing everything into chaos. It had been less than a month since we'd started living together, and this was already happening.
Was love something that could arrive this suddenly?
We descended into the dungeon in a silence that grew more awkward with every floor. Normally she would have been watching for any chance to take my hand, or quietly linking her arm through mine. This time, she just stared straight ahead and walked in front of me.
From the third floor on, it was supposed to be time to face goblins and kobolds, wasn't it?
"Hey, Ely."
"Ehk?! Mph— kack, cough, cough cough...!"
She whipped her head around so fast she must have swallowed wrong, and a violent coughing fit tore through her. I had no choice but to put a hand on her back and pat her through it. Gradually, little by little, the coughing subsided.
"...Thank you. So... what were you going to say?"
"About fighting goblins and kobolds. I... I get the idea of blocking with a shield, but how do you know when an attack is coming?"
"With my ears."
"Huh?"
She folded her ears once and flicked them back open, then planted both hands on her hips with a look of triumph.
"Normally you wouldn't be able to tell. I believe there are light- or fire-element spells among a mage's repertoire, or certain clerical miracles, that can light the path ahead. But I'm a beastkin. My hearing is sharp. Wolves and cats, as I recall, can simply see through the dark with their night vision. Good ears, a good nose... we have a few advantages over humans."
"Then what advantages do humans even have over beastkin?"
Beastkin were stronger than humans, usually bigger, with better hearing, better smell, better eyesight... what advantages did that even leave us?
Whether she'd picked up on my worry or not, she sidled closer and reached for my hand.
"Hehe. Don't worry. At the very least, I'll be here to protect you, Marcus... ah."
Her large ears suddenly tilted, and her body turned toward the long corridor.
"...There they are. Two... three... three. Three of them moving at the far end of that corridor. They're coming this way."
The looseness left her face. Her hammer shifted from her back into her hand.
"If you're ready, we're about to fight— get down!"
I hadn't even gotten my shield out before her body slammed into me and flattened me against the floor.
"Gah?!"
The impact was rough enough that a sharp pain bloomed through my back and the stomach she'd crushed me onto. But what made me forget the pain was the arrow. It was a crude stone-tipped thing, but it was unmistakably an arrow. Two of them struck the stone floor hard and ricocheted away right in front of my eyes.
"Ugh... just a second...!"
Leaving me on the ground, she snatched up the hammer that had fallen, then vanished into the darkness with startling agility. I watched her back disappear — and then realized I didn't have the luxury of watching.
The scrape of sharp metal against stone. The sound of phlegm bubbling up from deep in a throat.
I turned around. There they were: stunted little figures with green skin.
My first meeting with goblins.