Vol 3 Chapter 46 – I Love You Both【Vol 3: Torte the Dog-Eared Girl Ar】

Even at the dinner table that evening, Eclair refused to meet my eyes.

“Come on, drop it already, Eclair…”

Every time I tried to talk to her, she turned her nose pointedly away.

The high, rigid curve of her tail said everything her words didn’t.

“You don’t have to sulk like this. We had an arrangement to work on Torte’s curse-breaking during the day, didn’t we?”

“I’m not angry about that. I’m angry because you told me a pathetic lie about your stomach.”

…She had a point.

But what was I supposed to say? “Torte is under the table giving me an intimate service right now”? That would have made me sound completely unhinged.

“And Torte!” Eclair pivoted, pointing a sharp finger. “That kind of special activity is off-limits, understood?!”

Torte tilted her big dog ears sideways with a blank expression.

“Special? What does that mean, El-sis?”

“I mean—doing things secretly, hiding like that! I’m not saying don’t do it, but that sort of thing is supposed to happen in a bedroom, like a normal person!”

“Hmm~? But isn’t it more exciting when there’s a chance of getting caught? It makes everything feel even better, you know?”

“What—?!”

Eclair froze.

…Who taught this innocent girl something like that? Was it me? Could it possibly have been me?

“But I mean… you’re the type who gets more worked up when you try to hold back your voice, right, Eclair?”

“Excuse me?! What is wrong with you, you absolute pervert?! I have absolutely no such preference! None whatsoever, not even a little!”

Her words said one thing. Every inch of her face, from chin to the tips of her ears, had gone the color of a boiled lobster.

The noise and warmth of it all drifted through the evening.

Or it should have.

“Done.”

I set my fork down in front of a mostly untouched plate.

“Already? You’ve barely eaten anything.”

“Yeah. I’m just not that hungry. Sorry.”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just a little worn out.”

I gave Eclair a reassuring smile.

Tonight I’d promised to work on her treatment. I couldn’t keep her waiting when she was still suffering from the curse. This wasn’t the time to be resting.

I pushed my chair back and stood up.

—Hm?

Without warning, my vision tilted and went dark.

The room lurched sideways. Ceiling and floor swapped places.

“Theo?!”

“Master?!”

I thought I heard both of them cry out from somewhere far away—and then my consciousness simply cut out.

“I thought you’d died, you idiot.”

“Sorry for worrying you…”

I answered in a hoarse voice from where I lay in bed.

My entire body felt as if it were packed with lead. Even lifting a finger felt like too much to ask.

“Don’t apologize. I’m the one who’s sorry… I’ve been putting too much on you.”

Eclair placed a cool, damp cloth against my forehead, her voice heavy with something she was trying not to show.

I could feel that she blamed herself. She had no reason to.

Beside her, Torte was clutching the edge of the bed with an expression that looked one breath away from tears.

“Master…”

“Sorry for scaring you both, Torte. That must have been frightening.”

At my words, the dog-eared girl shook her head rapidly.

The thought of making someone as relentlessly sunny as Torte look like that—that was on me, for not taking better care of myself.

“Trying to break two curses at once was just reckless. Even the mana drain alone isn’t normal.”

“You think so?”

“Obviously, you idiot. At least one at a time would be…”

Eclair let the sentence trail off.

And at that exact moment—

“Oh…”

Torte’s drooping dog ears snapped upright, as if something had just clicked into place.

Something shifted in her eyes—a deep, turbulent flash of emotion. My foggy mind couldn’t quite catch what it was before it was gone.

“For tonight, you just rest. We’ll sleep in the next room. Call out if you need anything.”

“Yeah… thank you.”

Eclair stood and reached for Torte’s hand.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Ah… yes…”

The two of them moved toward the door.

At the threshold, Torte stopped and turned back hesitantly.

“Master…”

“Hm? What is it?”

Her emerald eyes held mine with a clarity that felt like falling into them.

She opened her mouth as though she had something to say—

—and then quietly shook her head.

“No, it’s nothing!”

She smiled.

But it wasn’t her usual smile. Not that boundless, sunlit warmth.

This one was quiet. Faintly hollow. Like something had gone out behind it.

Click. The door shut.

Even as the silence settled back over the room, Torte’s smile lingered—lodged somewhere in my chest where I couldn’t quite reach it.

The soft trill of birdsong.

Morning light through the window.

I came awake slowly. My head was considerably clearer.

The heaviness was still there, but manageable. I could move.

(I should thank the two of them.)

I climbed out of bed and made my way to the dining room.

When I pushed open the door, Eclair was standing at the table with her back to me, her shoulders trembling in small, rapid shivers.

“Morning, Eclair. What’s wrong?”

At my voice, she turned—slowly—with a face drained of all color.

Her lips were shaking.

“Te… Theo… this…”

Without a word, she held out the wooden board she was gripping.

I took it and read it.

The words hit me like a fist.

Written in Torte’s unsteady, newly learned handwriting:

master eclair-sis

I love you both

goodbye

“—!”

The shock was physical.

Eclair’s words from the night before came rushing back.

Trying to break two curses at once was just reckless.

Torte had decided that if she disappeared, the burden on us would be lighter—and she had walked out the door.

She had used the letters she’d only just learned to write something this heartbreaking.

“It’s my fault…”

Eclair’s voice came out in fragments.

Tears were already spilling down her cheeks.

“I said that, and she took it to heart, and she felt so cornered that she—she—!”

“No—Eclair, this isn’t on you!”

I grabbed her by both shoulders before she could fall apart completely.

“Right now, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. You know that.”

“Theo—!”

Torte was still under the heat curse.

There was no telling when the symptoms might hit her.

If she was out there alone when they did, and the wrong person found her—

“She can’t have gone far. Let’s go find her!”

Eclair wiped her eyes and gave a single, firm nod.

We ran out of the house in whatever we were wearing.