One More Round
Tick. Tock.
"Haa…… haa……."
A wet, slick friction filled the quiet consultation room.
Don't get the wrong idea.
This was, strictly speaking, nothing more than a medical procedure.
"You…… you little— I'm not letting this slide……."
Tick. Tock.
The soft gasps spilling from Ruby's lips hit harder than the second hand of the wall clock.
I wasn't doing anything fancy. I had barely made contact, and her reaction was already violent.
Two minutes had passed.
"Hnn…… ngh……."
Her breathing was still ragged. But the explosive, barely-contained fury from the start had long since broken. What she was letting out now was the feverish whimper of a patient in pain.
……No. It was the wet, animal sound of something coming undone.
My left hand still wandered along the nape of her neck.
"Your temperature's dropped a little. Looks like you're starting to adapt."
"……Don't give me that bullshit."
"I'm serious. Earlier you were a blast furnace. Now you're more like hot spring water."
I kept the banter light as my fingertips slid slowly down the line of her spine.
"Hnn—!"
Ruby's shoulders jerked as if she'd been shocked. She bit down hard on her lip, swallowing the moan that tried to escape.
"Y-you bastard— where the hell do you think you're touching—!"
A shiver ran the full length of her back. To her, this sensation was torture and a brand-new kind of pleasure all at once. She had spent a lifetime hearing only the screams of people who feared her. A hand that dared to explore her skin without flinching was something she had never known.
……I'm going to lose my mind.
Truth be told, I was right there with her. The skin under my fingers was far too smooth, far too hot. The second I let my guard down, I would forget the pretense of treatment and the instincts of a male would take over.
But I had to stay cold. If I didn't, I would die.
In this world, the moment a doctor crossed the line with a patient, the only thing waiting was a catastrophic bad ending.
I pinched my own thigh and forced my reason back into place. If I wavered here, she would stop seeing me as a doctor and start seeing me as a male—and then she would burn me alive. I had to remain a doctor, completely and without exception, if I wanted to survive.
Five minutes.
Ruby's resistance had visibly thinned. The urge to shove my hand away was gone; now she simply leaned against the back of the sofa, blinking with heavy effort. Those crimson eyes that had burned with rage were glazed and unfocused.
She was adapting. My hypothesis had been right. Under sustained, intense stimulation, the brain shut down the threat signal and began to focus on the sensation itself.
I quietly withdrew my hand.
"……?"
Ruby turned her head toward me on pure reflex. The look in her eyes was almost a question—Why did you stop? She wouldn't have realized it herself, but a faint thread of disappointment hung in that hazy gaze.
I gave a short laugh and brought my hand to her face instead.
"Don't look away."
My palm cupped her burning cheek.
"Nnh……."
"Look at me. I'm touching that terrible fire of yours, and I'm not flinching."
Ruby's pupils trembled as if the ground had shifted under her. The murderous venom that had been aimed at me was nowhere to be found. The moment my cool hand met her cheek, she leaned into my palm without thinking—like a cat seeking relief from the heat.
"Does it feel cool?"
"……."
"You're always burning. Other people's body heat is going to feel cold to you. That's normal."
I pressed my thumb lightly against her damp lower lip, just enough to indent it.
"So hold on. This coolness is going to settle you."
Instead of answering, Ruby seized my wrist. Not to burn it. Just to keep the hand from leaving.
Eight minutes.
The air in the room had gone strangely thick. She wasn't even cursing anymore—just breathing hard, flinching whenever my fingers moved.
For the final test, I lowered the hand that had been cupping her cheek and set my fingers against the hollow of her collarbone. Not over the fabric. Under the collar, against bare skin.
"……Hey."
Her voice came out rough.
"That far…… is actually dangerous."
"Why?"
"……Because I don't think I can hold it."
The corners of her eyes were wet. It wasn't a threat so much as a plea—an admission that if I pushed any further, she might explode, or collapse in some other way entirely, and she couldn't swear which.
I didn't stop.
"One minute left."
"You……."
"Last minute. Hold through this and you win."
I pressed my fingertip firmly into the dip inside her collarbone.
"Ngh— hnnn……!"
Ruby threw her head back, throat bared to the ceiling like a swan. The white column of her neck flushed red; her whole body shook.
Would she erupt? Or would she break?
I swallowed dryly and watched the clock.
Fifty-seven. Fifty-eight. Fifty-nine…….
Tick.
"……Done."
I pulled my hand away at once and stepped back.
The contact broke, and Ruby's body collapsed onto the sofa like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Haa…… haa…… haa……."
She buried her flushed face in her tangled hair and simply dragged air in and out. Her own hands were clamped over the nape and collarbone where mine had been—as if she were mourning the vanished warmth.
I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead when she wasn't looking and straightened my shirt collar with a carefully blank face.
"Congratulations, Miss Ruby Scarlet."
"……."
"You win. Ten full minutes, and not a single spark."
Only then did she lift her head. Sweat-damp bangs clung to her forehead. The rims of her eyes were pink; her lips were swollen. Anyone looking at her would have sworn she had just finished something far more violent than a counseling session.
She stared at me blankly, then asked in a cracked voice:
"……You."
"Yes?"
"……What the hell are you?"
It was an insult, but there was no hostility in it—only deep confusion, and a curiosity she clearly hated admitting to.
I grinned, scooped up my notebook, and stood.
"I told you. I'm a counselor."
I lifted my bandaged right hand for her to see.
"You won the bet, so I'll give you this much. You are not an uncontrollable beast."
"……."
"You're a High Elf of remarkable self-control. A noble one, at that."
Ruby had nothing to say. She only stared down at her own palm, turning over the lingering, electric sensation still buzzing there.
Session over. The white-knuckle treatment ended here. I hurried to gather my notes. This was enough. Any longer and I would be in danger—and she would overload.
"That concludes today's session……. I'll see you again tomorrow."
"……Hey."
The moment I turned, her rough voice snagged me by the ankle.
"Where do you think you're going."
"Pardon?"
"I won."
"Ah—yes. Congratulations."
"Ha……?"
Even through the exhaustion, Ruby's eyes curved into crescents as she looked up at me. When I stepped closer, her particular scent hit me in a wave. Not the sour reek of sweat—something strangely sweet, almost like a pheromone designed to draw a male in.
But deep in those red irises, the venom was still there. A vicious pride, clawing to rebuild what had been shattered. And the sadistic urge of a victor who wanted to grind the loser underfoot.
"You little shit…… You think I let you put your hands on me just so you'd acknowledge me?"
She staggered to her feet.
"I said if I lost…… I'd even be your slave. But I won, didn't I?"
She chewed her lip and held out a hand toward me.
"So…… you have to take my demand too, right?"
She hated losing—but the shame of not being able to make sense of what had just happened was clearly eating at her just as hard.
"Get down."
Her crimson eyes flared.
"Bark. Until I feel better."
……Ha. Of course she went there.
I clicked my tongue inwardly. If I tried some cheap line like I never put anything on the line, the fire in that hand would take my head clean off. Word games with a patient who had anger management issues were a form of suicide.
Which left only one option: turn her inflated pride against her and void the match entirely.
Instead of panicking, I stroked my chin with a carefully regretful expression.
"A slave, is it…… Fine. What man would refuse the honor of becoming Miss Ruby Scarlet's dog?"
"……What's with that tone."
"But doesn't it feel a little hollow?"
I pointed at her flushed face, and at the legs that were still faintly trembling.
"Our dear master's condition is…… not exactly impressive."
"……What?"
"Come on. You held out for a mere ten minutes and you're soaked in sweat, your legs are shaking, and your face looks ready to burst."
I smiled and drove the spike home.
"Honestly? You barely scraped through."
"……You bastard—!!"
Whoosh—!
Flame erupted from Ruby's hand. She was close enough to seize me by the collar in a single step, but I didn't so much as blink.
"Aren't you embarrassed? The great High Elf, reduced to a panting mess with jelly for legs after a ten-minute massage."
"Shut up! Before I kill you—!"
—Sssssssssssss!!
A sharp ringing filled my ears. A warning. Black haze was rising off Ruby Scarlet's entire body.
A black aura.
Unmistakable killing intent. Past red rage, into the color of death itself.
But there was nowhere to retreat. Back down here and I would live out the rest of a short, miserable life as a slave. If I was going to die either way, I had to flip the board.
All or nothing.
I took her murderous intent head-on and twisted the corner of my mouth upward.
"Do you really think a slave won through a hollow victory like this is going to feel any loyalty?"
I looked her straight in the eye.
"If I were you, Miss Ruby, my pride alone would keep me from claiming a win this unclean."
Silence.
Ruby's hand froze in midair. At the same time, the ear-splitting ring faded as if it had never been. The black haze still wavered around her—but she could feel it too, on instinct. The rage was real. So was the fact that I wasn't wrong. Right now she looked less like a victor and more like a wreck of a soldier who had forced herself to endure. Her towering pride would never allow her to keep me as a slave when all I would see in her was something to mock.
"……Then what do you want."
She ground the words out between her teeth. She had taken the bait.
I grinned and held up two fingers.
"We raise the stakes."
"……What?"
"Today's a draw. Tomorrow—twenty minutes."
"Ha!"
Ruby let out a short, incredulous laugh.
"You lunatic. You spent ten minutes molesting me and now you want twenty?"
"What, no confidence?"
"……."
"Not barely scraping by like today. If you hold perfectly for twenty minutes—not a single ragged breath out of place……"
I bent down until our eyes were level.
"Then I'll genuinely become your dog. I'll lick the soles of your feet if that's what you want."
Ruby's brow twitched. The scales in her head were tipping. Burn me alive right now for the satisfaction—or crush me completely tomorrow with a perfect victory.
A High Elf's arrogance could only choose the latter. No—it had to.
Please let it be that…….
I prayed silently to whatever god was listening.
A few seconds of silence stretched out like an eternity.
Tick. Tock.
"……Fine."
Ruby scattered the flame in her hand with a rough flick and turned away.
"Twenty minutes. Tomorrow I'm going to leave you with nothing but bones—so you'd better be ready."
She stomped off toward the entrance, still seething. But the tips of her ears, visible from behind, remained stubbornly red and showed no sign of cooling.
Bang!
The door slammed. I sagged back against the wall and slid down to the floor.
"Hoo……."
My back was soaked through with cold sweat.
"I almost died. Hahaha……."
Even I had to admit it was insane. But if you were going to handle anger management disorder, you had to gamble at least this hard. Not by running away—by throwing a bigger piece of bait and redirecting the gaze.
With a shaking hand, I pushed the damp hair off my forehead.
"Tomorrow…… I'm going to need to prepare for real."
Things kept getting bigger, but what choice did I have.
All of this was just a desperate thrashing toward an ending I could actually live through.
Alternate Version
