The Therapist's Touch
Your heartbeat is too fast, you know.
Anyway, night had come again.
We were killing time locked away in our respective rooms.
Taking Ruby outside would be like walking a live strategic nuclear bomb with the safety pin pulled.
If I didn’t want to see civilians turned to charcoal, it would be best to keep this time bomb safely tucked away in the hotel room.
My only mission right now was disguised as counseling.
It was simply to somehow calm the active volcano coiled in her inner depths.
“So, what’s the next counseling session again… kid.”
Ruby leaned against the doorframe and asked with a sideways tilt.
Her tone was sharp as usual, but the momentum behind it was strangely subdued.
Her gaze kept darting to my right hand, wrapped in a thick white bandage, then hurriedly fleeing.
I gestured with my chin toward the sofa in front.
“Sit down first. I don’t have a hobby of treating patients while looking up at them.”
“…Hah?”
Ruby let out a scoff of disbelief, but without a word, she trudged over and plopped her butt onto the sofa.
Indeed, this bandage’s performance was exceptional.
With just a 1,500 PT recovery item, it seemed to have added a guilt-forced injection function.
There was nothing more cruel and effective as a torture than showing the victim their own sins in real-time right before their eyes.
It was a one-time cost that paid off.
“You said you’d pay for my blood money to treat me, but did you actually get treated?”
“Of course. I can’t heal completely yet, so I have to do this, but…”
Actually, I was almost fully healed, but there was no need to say that.
This bandage was a shackle binding her guilt.
“Hah… are you mocking me?”
“No, it’s just a fact check… Hmm.”
I sat across from her and casually crossed my legs.
Then, from my pocket, I pulled out a small notebook and pen.
Of course, I had no intention of seriously taking notes.
It was just a prop to play the part of a professional and strike a pose.
Click.
“Well, shall we start the counseling?”
“……”
The sound of the ballpoint pen’s tip coming out was unusually loud in the silence.
Tension between me and Ruby danced like a tightrope.
Tick, tick.
The second hand of the wall clock scraped against Ruby’s nerves in a regular rhythm.
I pretended to open the notebook and probed her with a bait.
“Um, how are you feeling today?”
“……Still as shitty as ever?”
Ruby shot back bluntly, as if she’d been waiting for it.
Her brows furrowed deeply, the expression of someone carrying all the world’s complaints.
Indeed, that was the answer of a true Ruby Scarlet.
I nodded and brought the pen to the notebook.
Scratch, scratch.
I deliberately wrote something with exaggerated hand movements.
[Puzzle: How to treat anger control disorder.]
[Ah, I want pizza. I want to grill chicken with beer.]
……After scribbling some nutrient-poor nonsense, I stopped the pen.
“It’s good that you’re honest. The first step of treatment is for the patient not to hide their emotions.”
“……You’re talking nonsense. What did you write?”
Ruby narrowed her eyes and tried to peek at the notebook.
I quickly pointed the notebook at my chest and shrugged.
“It’s a secret. If you’re curious, pay extra.”
“Hah? Look at this guy…?”
She clicked her tongue in disgust.
“A fraud with money on top.”
But unlike the first counseling where she was about to storm out, she was still sitting on the sofa, not hiding her displeasure but countering my words with a stutter.
The reason was clear.
Her red eyes were obsessively following the right hand holding the notebook.
Red traces seeping through the white bandage.
Actually, a bit of fluid mixed in due to the efficacy…
This was clearly scratching at her nerves.
I pretended not to notice and raised the bandaged hand to rest my chin on it.
“So, what’s making you feel so bad? Is the hotel service that bad?”
“……That hand.”
“Yes?”
“Tell that hand to move. It’s driving me crazy, really.”
Ruby swept her hair back in annoyance.
“It’s turning my appetite to charcoal….”
“Ah, this?”
I deliberately clenched and unclenched the bandaged hand.
Each time, Ruby’s brows furrowed like crumpled paper.
“Because of you, I can’t even eat properly. You’d better hold back, Ruby.”
“……Tsk.”
She bit her tongue, unable to protest.
She had no words. No matter how broken her personality, what she did was a fact.
“Now.”
Taking advantage of the weakened defense mechanism, it was time to get to the main point.
I erased all playfulness and leaned my upper body forward.
“Enough joking. Let’s analyze.”
“……What again.”
“You, about that damn 「Flame」.”
The moment the word 「Flame」 came out, Ruby’s shoulders twitched.
The temperature in the room seemed to rise by 2 degrees instantly.
“It’s strange. From what I know, your kind, that is, elves, are pacifists, aren’t you?”
“Pacifists…? Hah.”
Ruby twisted her lips in disbelief and let out a low laugh.
Her crimson pupils curved like crescents as she stared at me piercingly.
“Talking about peace like that. Pretending to be high and mighty on the outside while bullying and trampling on others behind the scenes—what kind of pacifists are they?”
“Hmm, is that so….”
I nodded with a serious expression and moved the pen again.
[Special note: Deep hatred for own kind. 99% chance of being a dysfunctional family.]
Of course, I said something completely different out loud.
“Yeah, it’s true that there’s a difference between the outside and inside in sentient beings. But I thought your innate level would be different.”
I stared at her intently and drove the point home.
“Ruby, you’re not just human, you’re a noble half-elf, right?”
Instantly, Ruby’s expression froze coldly.
“What about that.”
“Aren’t half-elves different?”
—Zzzzt.
A sharp ringing suddenly flashed through my brain.
My Aris skill’s passive, Psychological Insight, was warning me.
This word was not just a simple title to her.
Her reverse scale.
The culprit who treated her as a hybrid in the elf society and the root of her complex.
“……Hey, do you even know what a half-elf is?”
“Well… will you tell me?”
Her brazen response made Ruby cross her legs and look out the window.
“Tsk, why would I tell you. A cursed race….”
“Cursed? What do you mean.”
“……Hey, counselor. You seem to know nothing about elves. Have you seen elves using fire?”
Indeed.
Elves were usually imagined as handling water, wind, earth, or natural elements, or shooting bows.
“Well, don’t all elves handle elements?”
“You’re joking. Kid… Hah, because I use flames, I became even more cursed. Do you know what that means?”
Zzzzt.
Another warning sound.
What mixed in her voice was not just simple irritation. Deep-rooted self-loathing.
Instead of backing down, I stepped on the accelerator.
To treat anger control disorder, I had to scrape the bottom of that anger.
Half measures are poison. Better to explode it completely or not at all.
“……Indeed, that’s right.”
“……?”
I twirled the pen and showed a smile that scratched at her nerves.
“You’re fundamentally different from other elves.”
“Hah…? What’s different?”
“Loving the forest, communicating with spirits. It’s common for elves to only shoot a bow or something when they pick up a weapon.”
I rested my chin and dug into her red eyes relentlessly.
“You’re not protecting the forest, but you have the firepower to burn an entire forest to the ground.”
“……What?”
“This is more like a curse or a mutation than a blessing, don’t you think?”
Ruby’s lips closed so tightly they turned white.
Mutation.
That word was the trigger.
Uwoong—.
Flames began to rise around her body.
I didn’t care and poured oil on it.
“I’m curious. Is this terrifying flame congenital? Or….”
I lowered my voice and struck at the most intimate place.
“Was it broken by some incident?”
“…….”
“You burn and destroy things casually, turning people to charcoal. The public calls it ‘disaster’.”
“……So, you want me to call you a monster or something?”
She laughed bitterly.
Like a familiar insult, thorns sprouted to protect her wounds.
But I shook my head.
“No. I want to know the cause.”
“Cause?”
“Yes. The mechanism by which you get angry.”
I pointed the pen tip at her.
“Normal people yell or swear when angry. But you immediately start producing flames.”
“It’s annoying because there are bugs buzzing around, so burning them is the fastest.”
“Is that really so?”
I narrowed my eyes and laughed mockingly.
“To me, it seems like the desperation of a coward.”
Instantly, silence.
Ruby’s expression turned to stone.
“……What?”
“Scared. Because anyone entering my territory is terrifying. Before trying to talk or compromise, you just shoot flames to drive them out, right?”
I delivered the final blow.
“……Like a scared puppy barking.”
Kwaaang!
Ruby pushed off her seat and stood up.
Blazing flames raged like a storm from her entire body.
“Hey, counselor. Want to get burned?”
Ruby glared with murderous intent, squeezing flames from her right hand.
“This crazy guy, just like that…!”
The ferocious red aura spewing from Ruby’s body.
It was not simple anger.
It was clear murderous intent to turn me into a handful of ashes right away.
But I didn’t even blink and clicked my tongue.
“Whoa, again, again.”
“……”
“If you have nothing to say, look at how you light the fire. That’s proof you’re scared, right?”
“What, you bastard!?”
“If you’re so bold, put out the fire and talk. Why? Are you scared to clash body to body?”
Ruby’s lips trembled.
The desire to turn me into a well-done steak and the pride unwilling to accept the coward label were in a standoff.
I didn’t miss the gap.
“If you’re aggrieved, prove it.”
“You’re joking. Why do I have to prove it? You just burn….”
I cut my words short and laughed softly.
“Indeed, if you can burn it somehow, that’s the end.”
“Hah…??”
“By running away like that, it proves you’re a coward. Whenever you get a chance, you use flames to try to burn everything… Isn’t that like a child who disrespected the blanket and hides under the bed to avoid punishment?”
“This bastard….”
Ruby trembled and gave me a look full of desire to kill.
Of course, the look in her eyes with murderous intent was enough to make one’s knees buckle.
However, I didn’t show it and calmly looked at her.
“So, prove it. That you’re not a coward.”
“How am I supposed to prove it?”
“Simple. Just 10 minutes.”
I held up one finger.
“For the next 10 minutes, if you don’t use flames no matter what I do, I’ll acknowledge it. You’re not a coward, just a cool woman with a fiery personality.”
“……You’re a real idiot.”
Ruby scoffed in disbelief.
“Just 10 minutes? Are you joking? I won’t even do 10 hours. What’s so hard about that.”
“You talk big. If you start, you won’t last even 1 minute and will burn me up.”
“Don’t joke! Start right now! If I lose, I’ll become your slave!”
Caught the bait.
I swallowed my triumphant smile and stood up from my seat.
“Good. Then, let’s start the test.”
I slowly moved my steps and dove into the seat next to the sofa where she was sitting.
Thud.
“Hey.”
Ruby, startled, tried to push her body away.
But the sofa was narrow, and the distance was close enough for my thighs to touch hers.
Through the thin fabric, each other’s body heat was felt nakedly.
“Don’t move. We’re in counseling.”
I raised my left hand that wasn’t bandaged.
And slowly wrapped a strand of her red hair that had fallen over her shoulder around my finger.
“10 minutes. Hold on.”
Before the words fell, Ruby’s body stiffened.
Her legs touching mine trembled like a sewing machine.
It was not simple tension.
It was a murderous impulse to twist my neck right now.
A beast suppressed only by pride.
Scratch.
Slowly wrapping the red hair caught on the finger tip.
“Ugh…!”
Ruby let out a beast-like cry between her teeth.
The surrounding air suddenly became hot, and the smell of burning leather started coming from the sofa’s seat.
“She seems to be struggling.”
I observed her reaction coldly.
This was not simple skinship or teasing.
In terms of knowledge from Aris Mardia’s body, it was stimulus threshold training?
……Something like that.
Ruby Scarlet’s problem was that the anger button was too light.
Anyone who touched it even slightly would cause an immediate nuclear explosion. The reflex nerves themselves needed to be rewired.
Just scratching with words wasn’t enough.
Biologically, to make them endure the most difficult stimulus, physical discomfort and threat, they would develop tolerance even to weaker stimuli.
I deliberately changed my hand movements to be more bold.
Using fingers to comb her hair down, I placed cold fingers near her chin, at the neck artery.
“Hic…?!”
An unintended scream came from Ruby’s mouth. More like a suppressed coquettish voice than a scream.
“Hey! Where are you…!”
“Shh.”
I pressed the fluttering neck artery near her Adam’s apple with my thumb.
“Stay still. We’re treating.”
“Treating, what… ugh, ugh….”
Ruby tried to swear but bit her lip tightly. Her red pupils gradually became hazy.
A woman who had lived her whole life locked in flames.
Her body had never allowed even someone’s hand to touch it, let alone someone coming close.
To her, my cold hand without burns was digging into her vital point for the first time.
It would have hit her brain with this foreign stimulus she’d never experienced.
“Your heartbeat is too fast, you know.”
“……Shut up. Take your hand off.”
“Before the brain understands the situation, the body gets hot first, right?”
I applied strength to my fingertips and rubbed her throbbing nape even colder.
“That’s proof it’s broken.”
“……Hah, hah….”
Ruby’s head fell back helplessly.
The part my hand touched was too cold and refreshing. I wanted to kill her, but oddly, I wanted to lean on that cool sensation.
“Endure this.”
I whispered low to her ear.
“Even if the most sensitive spot is pricked, the body doesn’t explode on its own.”
“You… really….”
“I’m making each of your nerves familiar with my touch.”
I moved my hand up and headed toward her most flushed area.
It was right there, the ear. No matter how mixed, the sharp tip of the elf’s sacred and vital point.
I flicked that spot with my fingers, scrubbing relentlessly.
“Huuueng…!”
Ruby’s waist shot up like a bow.
She hurriedly covered her mouth but couldn’t stop the wet breathing leaking between her fingers.
In her glaring eyes with murderous intent, shame and inexplicable pleasure mixed in.
“……You pervert.”
She glared at me with tears in her eyes.
“I’ll kill you… After 10 minutes, for sure….”
“Yes, yes. Do as you wish.”
I chuckled and brushed her sweaty side hair behind her sensitive ear. I pressed her wet earlobe again with my thumb and said.
“Only 1 minute has passed, Ruby.”
