A Mad Dog Needs a Leash (13)
Meanwhile, Ezra sat beside Daisy, dragging a hand down his face, drowning in self-loathing. In the moment his eyes had met hers, only a single thought had filled his head.
The thought that he wanted to bend her over and bury himself inside her right now.
How on earth had that happened?
Ezra stole a glance at Daisy. Her dazed, emptied-out expression was admittedly cute, but it hardly radiated the kind of raw sensuality that would drive a man past the limits of his self-control.
And with that, his mind began wandering off on its own.
The first thing that came to him was her field of study. Alchemy — and he'd heard she'd trained under a rather famous professor, at that. Perhaps she had developed some new strain of aphrodisiac, something he'd never been exposed to before. Yes. That had to be it, or there was no explaining the way he'd gone completely feral. It wasn't as though she were the first woman to approach him that way, after all.
The only differences were that Daisy was a specialist, and that she possessed an unusually intense fixation.
Ezra turned his head and glared at her.
Daisy was busy shaking herself out, sighing at the sight of the coat she was supposed to be wearing — now thoroughly ruined with the fluids of the two of them combined. But she couldn't exactly walk around naked, so she forced her arms into the garment, which had long since turned to rags.
"You. What did you do to me?"
At the fury in the voice behind her, Daisy turned her head.
"What drug did you use? What did you do to make me lose control of myself like that! If you wanted me that badly, you should have begged for it."
Ezra looked down at her with a sneer, his eyes brimming with contempt — and Daisy could not stand it.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
She glared back at him through gritted teeth. She couldn't stand it. Did he honestly think she'd pulled some kind of trick on him — when he was the one who had shoved her down first?
"Who was it that grabbed me and dragged me off so I couldn't even run away? And you're saying this? Don't tell me you think I'm so hopelessly obsessed with you that I drugged you. Hah. Get over yourself. Not every woman in the world is dying to climb into your bed."
Ezra snorted at her words.
"You certainly seemed desperate enough for it just now, for someone who doesn't want me."
"Don't forget — you're the one who knocked me down first."
"What does it matter what drug I used? Especially when you've been following me around for days. What is it? Got what you wanted after one taste, and now you're trying to cover your trac—"
Smack.
Unable to bear his filth any longer, Daisy slapped him across the face with all her strength. She finally understood what it meant to feel like your head might burst from rage.
Ezra slowly turned back to look down at her, and Daisy saw it — disgust rippling across those translucent eyes as they met hers.
She knew exactly how much he despised her.
And then, above his head, a new window appeared.
You have lost your pet's trust! Trust has dropped by –50.
Trust: –50 / 100
Restore your pet's trust! If you fail to bring it back to 0 within two weeks, your pet will run away.
Honestly, ever since she'd gotten tangled up with that damned man, not a single good thing had happened to her.
The two of them made their way out of the dungeon with their mouths sealed shut. Some tiny shred of conscience apparently remained in Ezra, because he pulled a set of clothes from his subspace and handed them over to her.
They were older and far worse in quality than what she'd been wearing minutes ago, but to Daisy, they were exactly what she needed right now.
Wearing the borrowed shirt and trousers, she clutched the waistband in one hand to keep the oversized things from sliding right off her. Unfortunately, walking in mismatched shoes proved impossible — and since she had absolutely no intention of being carried in Ezra's arms, she tore the hem off the long shirt and wrapped her feet in it.
It wasn't comfortable, but at least it kept the sharp ground from scraping her skin raw.
She would rather die than be carried by that man.
Through the unbroken silence, the two of them finally emerged from the dungeon — and not long after, it collapsed behind them.
Without so much as a glance at each other, they parted ways.
The moment Daisy returned to her tiny room, she washed herself and collapsed onto the bed.
The rough sex had left abrasions stinging all over her body. And he'd gripped her so hard that bruises bloomed everywhere his hands had landed.
She ached. She was exhausted.
"Haah."
But her mind was a tangled mess over that trust meter.
Until that window appeared, all she had done was writhe in anxiety, praying it would show up again. Now that it had, she didn't feel the least bit happy. If anything, it had gone from bad to worse. There seemed to be some kind of system behind it, but Daisy knew absolutely nothing about the power at work.
"This godforsaken world."
A world that wouldn't let her die, that simply kept repeating itself over and over — it made her skin crawl.
"What sin did I commit in my past life to deserve this?"
Not that her past life mattered. If she was doomed to live this same life an uncountable number of times, surely she deserved forgiveness even if she'd sold out an entire country in her last one!
"Aaargh! This is infuriating!"
Just as she was kicking her legs furiously into the air, a bizarre message materialized before her eyes.
Hello! Thanks to your heightened resonance, I've finally been able to appear before you! I'm your adorable little System. Please refrain from swearing — I'm a delicate framework, and too much shock could overload me and shut the whole system down. Now then, I'll be taking your questions!
Rows of letters that looked loud just from reading them scrolled across her vision.
"System?"
Yes! Though calling me "System" doesn't feel very friendly, if I'm honest. We're going to be weathering hardship and adversity together from now on, so how about giving me a cool, sweet name? Let's see what you've got!
"And who exactly are you to be testing my sense of style?"
Now that's a little hurtful. This is our first conversation, but I've actually been watching over you for a very, very long time, Miss Daisy. From your very first regression until now! So really, you and I are basically BFFs.
"BFFs? What now?"
Oops, I used a term that doesn't fit this world. Please forgive me — I'm not perfect either, so these slips happen from time to time. BFF is short for "best friend forever"! It means your closest friend.
"Haah... just get to the point. Please."
But firrrst, you must give me a naaame~
Having to come up with a name on the spot felt like an unexpected burden. Daisy mulled it over for a moment before speaking.
"...I'll call you 'B.'"
"B," hm? Simple. I like it. Now that the most important matter is settled, shall I explain myself? You seem to have plenty of questions about me — System "B" — so ask away, one at a time.
Swept along by the system's chatter, Daisy finally snapped back to her senses and began firing off her questions one by one.
"What the hell is happening to me? Why did I start regressing in the first place?"
That question is not mine to answer!
She pressed for answers about her own situation, but B gave her nothing.
"So what can you do, exactly? Tell me, you useless thing."
Useless? That's a little sad. As a subordinate system bound to a higher-tier system, there's only so much I can do. But I can offer you a solution to your most pressing problem at the moment. Say, the little matter of restoring trust that's troubling you right now. And while I help you with that — might we restore the trust between us as well?
"What's in it for me if I restore this trust?"
You'll be able to change this world's ending, of course!
The hope she'd barely dared to entertain hardened into certainty, and Daisy's voice rose with excitement.
"Okay. This trust restoration business — how exactly am I supposed to do it?"
Oh, that's not difficult at all. Did you know? Nothing restores trust between two people quite like a conversation of the body.
Daisy's jaw dropped.
"Don't tell me — are you talking about sex?"
Correct! The precise term is sex. You two have already done it once, so the second time should be far easier. Wouldn't you say?
"E-easy? Easy how? Are you insane? That man thinks I'm a stalker, and you want me to sleep with him again? Are you out of your mind?!"
Oh, don't be like that. The two of you are bound by threads of fate — it won't be hard at all. Oh, right! I have an item for you. It'll benefit you both!
The moment the system finished speaking, something took shape in Daisy's open palms.
It was a buckle-style collar made of black leather.
"And what am I supposed to do with this?"
It's a collar, so naturally — you put it on.
"On who?"
On your pet, of course.
In that instant, the image of Ezra wearing the collar flashed through Daisy's mind. He was handsome enough, so no doubt even that absurd accessory would suit him perfectly. Some small corner of the population would probably lose their minds over it, too — exactly their kind of taste.
"But how on earth am I supposed to get it around his neck?"
If I told you that too, where would the fun be? I look forward to your performance, dear user. This has been your System, B — signing off!
"Hey! Hey—!"
Before she could ask anything more, the system vanished.
And so Daisy's problem now shifted to a single, daunting question: how on earth was she going to get this collar around Ezra's neck?