Vol 3 Chapter 43 – It Feels Good, But It Hurts…♡【Vol 3: Torte the Dog-Eared Girl Ar】

“Hahhh…”

I let out a wide yawn and rubbed the corners of my eyes with my fingers.

Spreading a borrowed book open on the dining table, I let the morning light wash over the pages.

I’d barely slept last night—thanks entirely to Eclair’s voice carrying through the wall.

And the culprit herself was, at this very moment, tucked soundly in bed without a care in the world.

…Must be nice.

“G-Good morning…”

A timid voice, and Torte appeared from behind the door, peeking in hesitantly.

Her round dog ears were flat against her head, and she had the look of someone who’d been bracing themselves.

“Morning, Torte. What’s wrong? You seem off.”

“…Are you angry at me? About yesterday?”

“Hm?”

“Torte thinks she may have been very rude to Master…”

She clasped her hands tightly in front of her chest and looked down with an apologetic expression.

“Rude how?”

“Um… climbing on top of Master, and… sitting on his face…”

Ah. I let out a wry smile.

In the moment, Torte had been acting on pure instinct, going full-tilt—but now that she’d come back to herself, she was apparently mortified by everything she’d done.

“Well… I mean, it’s fine. It didn’t bother me. If anything, depending on who you ask, that might count as a reward.”

“It would?”

“P-Probably…”

Those completely guileless eyes stared up at me, and I found myself looking away.

What kind of conversation am I having first thing in the morning?

“…Oh! Master, are you reading a book?”

“Oh, yeah. I borrowed it from the library. It’s about curse-breaking methods—I was thinking there might be a more efficient way to go about it.”

“Wooow…”

Torte’s expression transformed entirely. Her eyes lit up, and she padded over toward me with quick little steps.

“Master can read?!”

“Of course I can. I learned in school.”

“School…?”

“Wait, you don’t know what that is?”

“Torte’s village didn’t have anything like that…”

“Ah, apparently that’s pretty common. I didn’t know either until I left my village.”

It was something I’d only understood after coming to the city—places that actually taught reading and writing, like the village I grew up in, were apparently the exception. Even here in this large town, people who could reliably read were maybe half the population at best. Being able to write your own name was considered more than enough.

“U-Um… does that mean… You can write, too?”

“Of course.”

“Th-That’s amazing, that’s so amazing! Torte is in awe!”

“Ahaha… you’re making me blush…”

“Oh, um—! Then could I ask you for something?”

“Sure? What is it?”

Torte looked up at me with eyes full of hopeful expectation and said:

“Please teach Torte to read and write!”

◆　◇　◆

And so, Torte was now perched beside me, practicing her letters.

Writing each character one by one onto a wooden board with ink, tracing them carefully.

“Ko… n… ni… chi… wa… there.”

“That’s it, exactly. Nice work.”

“Ehehe~! Master is such a good teacher!♪”

“That’s because you pick things up so quickly.”

“Waaah, a compliment~!”

Her fluffy tail swung widely back and forth, broadcasting her delight.

She really was absorbing everything at remarkable speed. Part of it was sharp intelligence—but more than that, she was genuinely earnest and enthusiastic in a way that made everything sink in. Teaching her was, honestly, enjoyable.

“Torte always thought people who could read were so cool and enviable. It feels like a dream is coming true!”

“Hah, I’m glad.”

“Wuffu-ffu~!♪ Now Torte can be even more useful to Master!”

In high spirits, Torte began writing out each new character she’d learned across the wooden board in rapid succession.

Something she’d said nagged at me, and I found myself asking about it.

“Hey, Torte. Why is it so important to you to be useful to me?”

I meant it as a casual question.

The answer I got was anything but.

“Because if I’m not useful, I’ll get thrown away!♪”

“…What?”

The gap between her bright, unclouded smile and the meaning of those words brought my thoughts to a complete stop.

“Thrown… away?”

“Yes. Because that’s what Mama did. And the caravan leader, too. …Um, let’s see—th, a, n, k, y, o, u… there.”

“W-Wait. What do you mean?”

When I asked in a hurry, Torte tilted her head with a puzzled look—genuinely confused as to why I seemed so surprised.

“Torte was born in a different village from Mil-sis and El-sis. Her family didn’t have much money, and she was the smallest of her siblings and couldn’t work, so Mama used to tell her all the time. ‘You useless little thing!‘”

Something tightened in the back of my throat.

“So Torte was sold to a merchant caravan. But she couldn’t be of any use there either. The caravan leader told her ‘I’ll throw you out‘ every single day. But that was Torte’s fault, so that it couldn’t be helped.”

Torte gave a self-deprecating little “ehehe” and smiled awkwardly.

That’s not something you should be smiling about.

“Then one day, the caravan was attacked by monsters, and everyone scattered to escape, and Torte was the only one who got left behind, and she thought she was done for—and that’s when the village chief saved her.”

“The village chief?”

“Mil-sis’s father. He let Torte come live in his village. Everyone was so incredibly kind, it felt like having a family again!♪”

“…”

“So Torte wants to be useful to everyone. —Because if she isn’t, she’ll get thrown away again.”

Something hot and heavy rose from deep in my chest, thick as mud.

“Of course, Torte will be useful to Master, too!♡ Because Torte doesn’t want to be thrown away by Master! Torte will work as hard as she can, so please keep watching!♪”

Torte smiled—bright and earnest.

The moment I saw that smile—brave and so terribly sad—something in my chest gave a sharp, aching throb.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had pulled her into my arms.

“Huh? M-Master?”

Torte went rigid with surprise.

But I held on, pulling that small body against me with everything I had.

She was warm. And fragile—like she might snap if I held too tight.

This small girl had been rejected by the world, entirely alone.

“M-Master, um… that’s a little… it hurts—”

“I won’t.”

“Fweh?”

“I won’t throw you away. I never had the right to do something like that in the first place.”

I forced the words out.

Torte looked up at me from within my arms with a bewildered expression.

“Nobody has the right to throw you away. Whether you’re useful or not doesn’t matter. Please—don’t ever say something like that again.”

I understood her pain—more than she could know.

Once, I too had been branded useless by the party I’d believed were my companions, and cast out. That despair. The loneliness, like all the color had drained from the world.

But Torte’s wounds ran so much deeper than mine.

Her own mother had abandoned her. Told she wasn’t wanted.

And yet she didn’t resent them—she had convinced herself it was her own fault.

I couldn’t let her feel that way again. Not ever.

“M-Master…♡”

Torte squirmed in my arms with a small, pained sound.

I blinked and quickly loosened my hold.

“S-Sorry! Did that hurt?”

“No, I’m alright… But, um… my chest…”

The dog-eared girl looked down, her face flushed, and pressed both hands tightly against her chest.

“Your chest? Did I hurt you?”

“No, that’s not it… When Master hugged Torte, she felt so happy, but… for some reason it wasn’t a ‘yay!‘ kind of feeling—it was more like something deep inside her chest was going squeeeeeze…”

Torte’s expression melted into something soft and aching.

“Master…♡ Torte feels strange again…♡ It feels good, but it hurts…♡”

A sweet, thick warmth clung to the end of her words.

Those glistening eyes were beginning to go hazy and unfocused.

(……Wait. Is this…)

“I’m sorry… Torte still wants to be useful to Master… she wants Master to feel good…♡”

Torte was in heat.

—Wait. From that? Right now?

While I was still reeling, Torte’s hand reached out toward my chest.

“Wh—hold on—wah?!”

A push—deceptively firm—and I stumbled backward into the chair behind me.

Torte lowered herself slowly in front of me, positioning her face between my legs.