100th Chapter Special Side Story Unrelated to the Main Plot (Feel free to skip if uncomfortable) - Rosemary's Late Night (Illustration corrected, accidentally omitted it, sorry)
100th Chapter Special Side Story Unrelated to the Main Plot (Feel free to skip if uncomfortable) - Rosemary's Late Night (Illustration corrected, accidentally omitted it, sorry)
A cuckoo called from outside the window. A stray cat lay low against the wall.
It was deep night, and most of the flames in the church had gone out.
Shut up in her bedroom, Rosemary tossed and turned. For some reason, sleep would not come.
It was quiet. Rosemary sat up abruptly. The bed was soft, but for some reason it did not please her.
Why am I so restless?
...Is it because I went to see him?
"...Why would someone that strong end up like that...!"
Irritated, she struck the pillow with her fist. She drove her fist in with all her strength.
Thud.
Feathers burst from the pillow around her embedded fist. Rosemary let her shoulders slump.
Silence could sometimes be grating. Just like now.
Rosemary hugged the punctured pillow and rolled over.
For some reason, stray thoughts had been multiplying lately. The moments when someone kept coming to mind had grown more frequent.
Black hair. Tall. The gaze that had once been level with hers had risen before she knew it. Looking up at him made her feel strange, and she had noticed that the feeling that had once been small had grown before she knew it.
A person who was strong, but did not look down on others because of it.
The person who had taught her, who had once defied him, how to handle an axe.
"...Nnngh..."
Roll.
Rosemary rolled over once more. She kicked the wall with her feet.
My chest feels a little heavy. Annoying. I wasn't like this before.
The emptiness in her heart that had not been filled even by doing enjoyable things had been filled by something strange. The feeling of hollowness had completely vanished, but instead, her chest ached more often.
A throbbing heart. Rosemary did not like it. She sat up again and lit the lamp on her desk.
"...Hoo."
Let's sort out my thoughts. Rosemary opened her diary. But even when she picked up her pen, she did not know what to write.
For now, she scribbled anything.
-Who attacked Inquisitor Zahard?
"...Hmm."
Poison.
That was the first hint. Hadn't Divine Judge Dimona gathered the inquisitors and told them?
That there was poison. That Inquisitor Zahard's life was in grave danger from a truly virulent poison. That visitors were absolutely forbidden.
Fortunately, by the time she had gone in, his condition had improved considerably. He had looked as if he might die at any moment, but the body she had touched directly had been stable.
He would not die. Because he did not lie. He had survived even that dreadful Paramer in the end.
And besides...
Ah, I also confirmed it for sure when he held me...
"...Hng."
Rosemary's face flushed bright red. She kicked the desk with a bang.
W-why did that suddenly come to mind!
W-what was the big deal about being held? I-it wasn't even that big a deal. Yeah. Grown adult men and women could hold each other once, couldn't they? Right?
I-it wasn't even that thrilling! It was nothing! I-if anything, only the sight of him crying...
"...The sight of him crying?"
Rosemary blinked. Her cat ears, already flushed red, turned even redder.
Aaaaaah!!!
Swallowing the scream she had let out inwardly, Rosemary rolled on the floor. Hugging her knees, she tumbled over and over.
Her eyes spun. Come to think of it, I let him see me crying. How stupid. What must he have thought?
A-and besides...I...I...definitely...
"Th-the collar...."
Rosemary flinched. Her body trembled without her realizing it.
She quietly took hold of the collar. The object he had personally placed around her neck.
She had not removed it even once, not when sleeping, not when washing. At first, she had thought of it only as a symbol of defeat. Looking at this disgusting thing, she had sworn not to give up even through harsh training.
But...now...?
"......"
She glanced at herself in the mirror. A plain collar. It had no pattern, like an ordinary dog collar.
Rosemary rummaged through her drawer. Her one hobby that she had never told anyone about.
She took out the case for making accessories herself from the drawer. She picked out a few pieces and held them against the collar.
"...This one...and this..."
They did not suit it. What about another one?
After carefully holding them up one by one, Rosemary's hand finally stopped at a heart-shaped ring. She hesitated for a moment, then took hold of it with trembling hands.
When she held it up briefly, she could not dismiss the thought that it suited the collar quite well. Yeah. It definitely suits it. With this, surely...
A slightly prettier collar...
"Wh-what are you thinking, Rosemary."
Rosemary slapped her own cheeks.
"Get a hold of yourself! Stop talking nonsense and just sleep!"
But unlike her desperately shouting voice, her hands were already fastening the heart-shaped ring onto the collar. The work itself was not difficult. She simply had to attach the heart ring to the place where rings were fitted.
Click.
It was fastened. Rosemary squeezed her eyes shut. Then she slowly opened them.
She could see it. The heart-shaped ring hanging from the collar.
"Nnngh...!"
Rosemary pressed down on her cat ears. Covering her face with her hair, she hid in the corner of the mirror.
She rested for a moment and looked again, then looked away and looked again, repeating the cycle.
"Hah...hah..."
Pushing the mirror aside, Rosemary dove straight onto the bed. She closed her eyes, resolving to sleep this time for sure.
But instead, sleep came even less. Her heart pounded roughly, as if it might burst at any moment.
If he saw this heart ring, how would he react? Would he scold me, asking why I put an accessory on the collar?
If it were him...if it were him...if...
-Oh? Something I haven't seen before has appeared?
"Y-you're mis..."
Rosemary covered her face.
"You're...seeing things..."
A voice she could not tell was real or a hallucination whispered.
-Don't be like that, show me. It's pretty, so why hide it?
"I-it's not pretty..."
-I said let me see!
He would force my arms away. I wouldn't be able to resist.
In the end, if he saw it himself...just like that...
-...Hmm.
Would he grin like always? Would he whisper to me with that face I can no longer even look straight at?
-A heart, huh?
"I-it just suited it..."
-You kept saying no, no...but you actually liked it, didn't you?
Rosemary's hand caught on the collar. She lightly tugged the ring.
"...Hng."
My neck tightens for an instant. It should feel suffocating, but instead it feels good. What a strange feeling.
My neck...my neck is being squeezed...why does this feel good...
-It was actually very precious to you, wasn't it? That collar?
"N...no, it's not..."
-You never take it off even for a moment...and you even put an accessory on it, so...
Sharp eyes. Thick hands pressing the collar harder.
A gaze looking down at her. A voice lowered as if disgusted.
-Do you like the fact that you've become a pet that much?
"Hngh...hngk..."
Her hand moved downward. Rosemary's hand slipped beneath her thin underwear.
It brushed the tip of her breast and stopped lightly at her navel. After hesitating, it reached her lower belly and quietly slipped inside her underwear.
A little further from there...
A little further down...
"Hah...?!"
At the nasal sound that escaped her without her realizing, Rosemary hastily covered her mouth.
Wh-what am I doing right now. Wh-why am I like this.
I've never once done this in my life, so why...?
-Stop?
A voice that could not possibly be heard reached her. It was definitely an illusion. It was nothing more than a supposition.
But for some reason, she could not refuse the command. She simply moved as he told her.
Her eyes trembled. Rosemary began to slowly move the hand touching her below.
"Hngh...hngt...hngh..."
Squelch...squelch...
Liquid and fingers mixed together, and her underwear gradually grew wet. My head is spinning. It feels like everything is melting.
-Does it feel good?
"I-it doesn't feel good...n-not one bit..."
-Then why is it so wet down here?
"I-it's not wet...th-this is, well..."
Her tongue twisted. For some reason, everything became drawn out.
Her swaying tail twitched and trembled.
-Don't tell me you...
Zahard's voice whispered.
-Got excited from having your collar grabbed?
"N-no, no...I said no...d-don't look..."
Strange.
My hand won't stop.
One circle inside. Then she stirred it around. Her hips lifted slightly. For an instant, no words came out at all.
"...Hnggggggh?!"
A strange sound, impossible to tell whether it was a scream or a moan, leaked from her mouth, which opened belatedly. Rosemary arched her back taut. Her tail, standing straight up, twitched little by little.
"I-it's strange...my...my back..."
-To go just from having your collar grabbed...how lewd can you be?
"I-it's not...that's...that's not it..."
Squelch...squelch...
The hand inside her underwear kept moving. One finger wasn't enough, so another slipped inside.
It's tight. But...but...
More than this...
Thinking back to when he held me...maybe it's bigger than this.
"I-it's already...too tight...i-it won't go in..."
-Don't make weak excuses. Rosemary.
"Y-yes...I'm...I'm sorry..."
She did not know why she was apologizing. Everything before her eyes was simply white.
No.
No.
Something was coming. Not any more than this...
The hand that had been holding the collar wrapped around her chest and squeezed. Her head went blank. Drool leaked steadily from her open mouth.
"N-no...no..."
The words she had meant not to say until the end slipped out of her mouth without thinking.
"M-master...n-not there..."
-Do it.
Rosemary's body stopped.
Her hips lifted completely. Her legs, stretched straight, let out a silent scream.
".....!......!......!!!"
Her fingers clawed at the sheets over and over. Tears streamed from her closed eyes.
Several climaxes. Her fingers, which had made her come again and again, kept stirring inside.
"Hng...hnggh...haaah...♥"
Twitch, twitch.
-You filthy slut.
"Y-yes...Rosemary is...a slut...use me like a slut...♥"
She pulled her hand out of her underwear. Without realizing it, Rosemary licked the liquid from below.
It was not bitter. Rather, it was sweet. A slight fruity scent. It seemed to taste like strawberries.
Just a little more.
I want to do just a little more.
"M-masterrr...♥"
Her licked-clean fingers slipped beneath her body again.
"Just a little...more...pull the collar...please...♥"
Rosemary's night stretched on long.
It continued without ending until the sun rose.
. . .
"Captain Rosemary."
"...Yes?"
"You look especially tired today."
"I-I don't know what you mean. I'm the same as usual."
"Oh...that heart ring on your collar...did you put it on yourself? I've never seen..."
"Hey."
"Y-yes?"
"Lie face down in the hallway."
"Wh-why?"
Inquisitor Rosemary smiled coldly.
"Do you have a complaint?"
At the revived punishment drill, one of the Group 2 inquisitors swallowed his tears and lay face down in the hallway.