Chapter 21: The fire in her heart can’t think of going out

“…One day… has passed…”

Another red mark was left on my neck.

Now, her fur had all disappeared, but the sweat and curves glistening in the sunlight created an even more difficult situation.

Even so, I had no strength left.

There was no more sensation to be pushed to the limit.

Even if she buried her face in my neck and kissed me now, I wouldn’t feel anything.

Just… a lukewarm and wet sensation.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop her actions.

In my situation, unable to even lift a finger, I just… wanted to let out an empty laugh.

“…Ah. Right…”

As if truly disappointed, she licked my face once with her tongue, then gently rose from her position and closed the curtains.

Then she moved towards the entrance and seemed to be busily doing something.

…I was too exhausted to care about all that, so I just closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes again, it was dark outside.

Feeling a foreign sensation in my body, I moved suddenly, which I later regretted.

“Kugh…..”

A faint moan escaped as the sound was caught in my throat.

As a sharp prickling sensation pierced throughout my body, I could only wait for the sharp pain to end.

Then, a warm hand took my arm and began to knead it thoroughly.

After diligently massaging each of my stiff arms, she then started to diligently massage my legs as well.

Thanks to that, my tense muscles slowly began to relax.

As the pain subsided, I relaxed my grimacing expression and could finally meet the eyes of the person who had massaged me.

“Phew, did you sleep well?”

I wanted to be angry at her, who greeted me with a bright smile after leaving me in such a state, but… well. Had I perhaps already grown attached to her?

But seeing that my body still wouldn’t readily move, perhaps a sense of fear had also taken root.

‘…Obligatory defense.’

I had never imagined those words would be so frightening, nor that the day would come when I truly understood their meaning.

But that’s that, and now I had to thank her for staying by my side…

“Kiss.”

I gave her white cheek a light kiss.

But I felt slightly puzzled at her motionless face.

“Um… did you not like it?”

“No, that’s… I’ll still violate you after all.”

“What?”

…The bed creaked again.

“Our race has something called a heat cycle. It comes around at regular intervals, and when it does, we become quite emotionally intense. Of course, not promiscuous.”

I felt resentment towards her, who continued to speak shamelessly after leaving me in tatters.

“There is a separate medicine that suppresses the heat cycle. If we didn’t have that, how could those without partners maintain their chastity and live respectfully in a civilized society?”

She, who had been leaning on me, subtly extended her fingertip and tickled my chest.

“But besides that, which comes around in regular cycles, we also have beast transformation, which is the form you saw yesterday, Mr. Marcus. Our fur grows thicker, and our animalistic instincts become sharper. Naturally—instinctual parts as well.”

The hand that had been stroking my body then came up towards my face, and she lightly turned my chin to make me meet her eyes.

“I’m sorry, if it was too intense.”

With a slightly apologetic face, she stroked my hair.

Normally, my heart would have been pounding, but right now, the pain was more intense.

My lower body kept throbbing.

“Saying that after squeezing me dry… isn’t that too shameless…?”

Having spoken too harshly without thinking, I was surprised by my own words and covered my mouth.

“I-I’m sorry. I mean…”

She gave a gentle smile to me, flustered, and softly stroked my cheek.

“Since it was also my first time, I couldn’t gauge Mr. Marcus’s stamina. If I had been in my right mind, I would have definitely stopped.”

“In your right mind… you say?”

“Yes, in my right mind.

At that time, I was feeling an overflowing love for you. Although we haven’t known each other for long, as you said, Mr. Marcus has shown me more than enough kindness and consideration. It wasn’t just that. Even though I was being, perhaps, rudely persistent with you, not hiding my feelings, instead of pushing me away or insulting me, you gently accepted and tried to understand me.

Also, you allowed me into your arms so I could sleep comfortably, and wake up feeling warm every day. And even while giving me all the things I wear, eat, and enjoy, you haven’t asked for anything in return.”

“That’s—”

“I haven’t finished yet, Mr. Marcus. Please.”

Her eyes sparkled once.

“Yes, phew, heh heh, ah—truly. I can’t help but love you. I have been under the gaze of countless people, but you seem like the only one, besides my family, who has shown me such harmless, warm affection and attention. What am I going to do? Really…

Oh, this isn’t it. More than anything… looking at your condition now, it seems you need to rest for two days. Since you were so kind, I’ll endure it, yes. That is surely the least I can do, having received overwhelming love and consideration.

…Where were we? Oh, right. The setting. As you can see, I’m quite strong. Hmm… I remember having unusually great strength for my race. That’s why I’m quite muscular for a rabbit beastman, and I think my shoulders might look a little wider compared to other women.

Of course, regarding physical beauty… I’m so happy that you seem sufficiently satisfied and enjoying it, but what Mr. Marcus has asked of me is truly nothing, not even this much, compared to the things I’ve endured until now.”

She overlapped her thumb and index finger, and after waving them before my eyes, she once again brought that hand to my face.

“Ah… it’s really warm. So warm that I almost unconsciously—”

“Ah, no!”

Her eyes became dangerous again, and when she once again licked her lips, which she had wet countless times, with her long tongue, I instinctively yelled out.

“Really?”

“No. Seriously. Have you ever heard of death by snu-snu?!”

“Ah… oh dear. Shall we work on this part, Mr. Marcus and I?”

“Work? Is this something that can be improved with effort?”

“Yes. Of course, there might be some financial loss, but if you just bring the right ingredients and a ‘little’ cooperation, it can be done.”

She smiled and made a circle with her hand, waving it once in the air.

Seeing that, I felt my body instinctively recoil.

“How do you even know about that!”

Just as I tried to subtly move away from her, terrified of being squeezed again, my arm was grabbed, and I was dragged into her arms.

“Mmm, no. It’s a little sad to be apart.”

Tight, I was buried in her body.

After taking several breaths in her embrace, which I had been held in countless times, my head began to feel hazy again, and my mood relaxed. Before I knew it, my hand was caressing her back.

“Ah, really, I can do it again, right? Right?”

A low growl, rumbling through the room, scraping her neck intensely, enough to make me question if she was truly a rabbit.

“…That’s really not okay.”

No matter how much I allowed her to do what she wanted, this was not okay.

At least I needed to rest a bit… and then do that.

“Then, will you ‘cooperate’?”

“Cooperate… you mean that? If it’s that…”

“See? This is why I can’t help but love you.”

“In what part, exactly?!”

Once again, swoosh, as her face tried to burrow into my neck, I grabbed it with both hands and laid it back down on the pillow.

Even then, as she caressed my hand, saying it felt good… haa.

‘Am I crazy? She does look lovely.’

“You’ve shown me endless goodwill, you always listen to my opinions first, except for the parts you can’t concede on, and you give me nothing but actions filled with goodwill, concern, and love. How can I not love you?”

Her eyes shining sincerely as she confessed her love.

Too embarrassed to face her directly, I tried to turn my head, but my head was caught and forced to meet her eyes again.

After meeting her gaze, as she giggled, I posed a question.

“Hmm… is that how people usually fall in love?”

“Then how do they fall in love?”

Her surprise question. I scratched my head, rolled my eyes, and somehow managed to answer.

“Usually… um… that is, you meet someone, talk to each other…”

“We did that.”

“We can try that later. I think it would be fun to do things Mr. Marcus likes together.”

“That is, that part is missing—”

“We can do that from now on. What’s next?”

“Next… well, I guess, confirm each other’s feelings, think about whether we can be together in the future, and whether we can truly live together caring for each other without fighting…”

“You’ve already shown enough consideration. Now it’s my turn, isn’t it?”

My answer, utterly shattered by her affection, made me dumbfounded.

“No, that’s what I’m saying, something feels strange…”

“There’s nothing strange about it.”

“Why!”

“Because my heart has already caught fire, and the one who set it ablaze is none other than you.”

She took my hand and placed it on her chest.

A surprisingly strong heartbeat could be felt from her hand.

Thump, thump, thump, thump…

As if she had just run intensely, her heart was pounding like crazy.

In response, mine also began to beat a little faster.

“Now that I’ve felt your affection, I will continue to love you.”