Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: I Became the Villainess Guardian of the Wolf Male Lead
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1.
I was currently sensing a threat to my very life. And of all places, in my own room—where I should have felt perfectly at ease.
Clatter clatter.
The teacup in my hand shook violently, as if the tea inside might spill out at any moment. I sat there with my legs crossed in a haughty pose, but what good was that?
When my body was trembling like this.
'This is the instinct of a herbivore beastkin. Instinct.'
I repeated that to myself as I stole a glance at the child far across the room, brushing the fluffy wool of a sheep.
He looked about seven years old at most. His small frame, so unlike a carnivore beastkin, clearly showed just how harsh his life had been up until now.
The child, crouched down with his little lips pressed tight in concentration as he brushed away, was just starting to stand up.
I whipped my head away, pretending I hadn't been watching at all.
"Lady Lami, I'm done brushing."
At that moment, the child swept back his light blue hair with one hand and spoke in an even tone. As his fierce golden beast eyes turned toward me, a trickle of cold sweat slid down my back.
"Is there anything else you'd like me to do?"
Every time the child spoke, his sharp fangs peeked out between his lips, throwing my vision into disarray. My body jolted in surprise, and a hiccup escaped me.
"Hic, cough."
This body, so faithful to its instincts!
I pounded my chest with my fist to catch my breath, but I could feel the child's gaze staring straight at me.
It was just a simple look, waiting for my reply, but even that felt plenty threatening to me.
'No, you don't have to do anything. Just go rest.'
Deep down, that's what I wanted to say—to let the child relax. But...
No way.
I stared at the three choices floating before my eyes, my pupils trembling. It was a familiar sight by now, but picking one still filled me with tension every time.
'At least... at least number 3 is the best option.'
I glanced at the child, held back tears, and selected 3.
My tightly shut eyes snapped open in a flash, and words flew from my mouth—sharp and against my will.
"Go downstairs and bring me something sweet."
My venomous glare flicked toward the clock on the wall, landing on the back of the child's head as he moved to leave the room.
"You have one minute."
Tilting my chin up arrogantly and uncrossing my legs to recross them the other way was the finishing touch.
But unlike my haughty posture, my body quivered like an aspen leaf.
"Yes, I'll be right back."
The child paused briefly at my last words before replying. His slightly narrowed eyes lingered on me for a moment, then dropped away.
Finally, I was alone in the quiet room.
My tension released, and my body slumped onto the sofa.
"Aaaah! I'm screwed, hic—totally screwed!"
Only my wail echoed through the room now that the child was gone and the choice window's control had lifted.
I'd been an ordinary office worker at a small-to-medium company.
Just like any other day, I was pulling an all-nighter handling the workload of at least two people by myself when overwhelming drowsiness hit me out of nowhere.
Maybe it was from catching the last train home the past few days? I tried to shake it off with that simple excuse, but my eyelids only grew heavier.
I must have dozed off right there in my office chair... and when I woke up...
Baaah.
I'd become a sheep!
I later learned we normally lived as humans—sheep beastkin—and felt so relieved. But since I'd possessed her right when she was in animal form, I'd bawled my eyes out pathetically.
"If you're going to cry, humanize and do it quietly."
Thankfully, my only family—my half-brother, Ramen Morton—had snapped that at me, letting me shift back to human form safely.
My human appearance had snow-white hair, emerald eyes sparkling like lush green meadows, and delicate features giving a soft, gentle impression.
Her name was Lami Morton. A cute name that perfectly matched her looks.
But... I just couldn't get used to the fact that this face was infamous for its villainous antics.
'How can someone this sweet-looking be a villainess? Tyrannical outbursts?'
How bad must it have been for the family to cast her out early, leaving her to live alone in the annex?
Word was, because of those antics, the flower-of-youth twenty-year-old rarely stepped out of the estate, let alone into high society.
I had no clue which novel I'd possessed into, but at least the environment wasn't the worst. Still, it was clear I'd ended up in a terrible character.
One leisurely afternoon, as I'd started adapting to life as Lami...
"This is your slave."
My half-brother Ramen brought over a tiny wolf beastkin, calling him a slave.
The moment I saw that wolf beastkin, it clicked. Which novel this was. And what role the body I'd possessed played in it.
<Please Don't Eat Me, Mr. Wolf>
This novel was famous as a hate-to-love romance between a sheep and a wolf.
The plot was straightforward. The heroine was the first from the sheep territory—where mages were rare—to be officially hired by the Magic Tower.
But on her first day, she has a disastrous encounter with the wolf beastkin male lead, who tries to eat her.
They keep crossing paths despite everything, bad blood turns to affection, and they fall in love.
And in this sweet hate-to-love tale, the body I'd possessed was the sheep beastkin who made the male lead hate sheep.
The male lead, Ed, lost his parents in an accident as a child and became a wanderer.
He got caught by illegal slave traders and sold into slavery—right here, to the Morton Family, a noble house in sheep territory.
Ed became the slave of Lami Morton, the infamous illegitimate tyrant of the Morton Family, enduring all sorts of abuse and grueling labor for three hellish months.
Yes, three months.
In just three short months, Lami Morton inflicted a trauma on Ed that would haunt him for life.
'No, does it even make sense for a herbivore beastkin to bully a carnivore one?!'
Surprisingly, it did.
Though a carnivore beastkin, child-sized Ed silently endured Lami's bullying and harsh labor.
Lami saw Ed—who alone among the servants who subtly looked down on her actually watched her closely—as an easy target.
So, despite fearing carnivores, she escalated her torment, making his life miserable.
That he was a wolf? Or that his guardians might come looking, or grown-up Ed might seek revenge? None of that factored in.
Ramen had brought Ed for a purpose, and Lami didn't want to pass up her first easy prey after constant abuse.
'She must not have been in her right mind.'
Otherwise, how could this body—so particularly afraid of carnivores—bully a wolf of all things? It didn't add up.
I wondered just what horrors she'd inflicted to leave Ed with lifelong trauma.
Anyway, while Ed suffered under the deranged Lami, his real family searched the entire continent for him.
And finally, he comes to the Morton estate to retrieve Ed: Billy Rub, head of the wolf territory with influence across the continent!
And that's my execution day—the day every sheep in this estate meets their end.
Once Billy Rub learns how Ed was treated, he plans to wipe out the entire Morton Family.
The sheep beastkin who tormented Ed all get torn apart by wolves in gruesome deaths.
In short, if things continue like this, we're all dead.
'Ah, no...!'
Save the sheep!
"..."
I silently observed the child my brother had brought.
His gaunt body from all the hardship. Eyes full of wariness. Stiff expression. Threatening fangs peeking from pursed lips...
My legs moved on their own, out of control, toward the corner.
"What are you doing over there?"
I stood awkwardly from behind the bed. To them, it probably looked like the villainess rising rigidly from her hiding spot.
"He's your slave now, so train him well. Who knows—you might become famous as the sheep who tamed a wild beast."
My half-brother Ramen's cold green eyes fixed on me. His voice, laced with a hint of mockery, filled the quiet room.
"Instead of the rumors about a tyrannical, rampaging sheep."
"..."
As Ramen left, his long white hair swaying, silence settled over the room. Ed and I stood far apart, staring each other down.
Flinch.
My body instinctively shrank from the feral wolf's gaze, curling up in search of cover.
'Stay calm, Lami Morton.'
As long as I don't bully Ed, I can avoid the bad end. Contact the wolf territory ASAP, treat him well until Billy Rub comes to fetch him. Treat him well...
"Um, what should I do first?"
"Hic!"
I was peeking at Ed from behind the sofa, eyes alone visible, when he looked right at me and asked.
'What do you mean 'do'? Treat this like your home and rest easy!'
To make a good first impression from the start, that seemed best. Plant the idea of a kind adult, and the kid would lower his guard.
Then fatten him up with good food until his uncle came. Send him off safely.
'Invest three months in this kid, and not only do I save my neck, I can prevent the destruction of this wretched Morton Family that's kept my comfy life going.'
With that in mind, I opened my mouth to say the words I'd prepared.
But...
I could only gape at the choices that suddenly appeared before me.
"...?"
W-what is this, you hack of an author!
I inwardly cursed the faceless author who must have created this world.
I tried ignoring the choices and speaking anyway, but no sound came from my throat.
Gulp. My tense Adam's apple bobbed, and a split-second stretched into eternity.
"Lady Lami?"
Ed called out again, and my startled hand jerked up like it had a spasm, touching one of the choices.
In an instant, I stood tall as if I'd never hidden, arms crossed, and spat out coldly:
"Scrawny thing—you don't even look worth feeding. Get out, you're annoying."
Ah...
I'm done for.