Translator: Elisia
Editor/Proofreader: TempWane
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There are generally two types of ‘Villainess’.
The first type is a villainess who is truly vicious and cruel.
No matter what happens to the heroine, this type of villainess commits all kinds of wicked deeds to render the heroine completely irredeemable.
In such cases, the villainess naturally appears as the antagonist in serious novels, games, or comics. Usually, their only redeeming quality is their beautiful appearance.
However, because their image is so bad, reactions like "I won't play this game because of this character" can occur. As a result, such characters are often avoided during creation. Instead, this type of character is more common in melodramatic soap operas on major television networks than in subculture media like games or comics.
That’s why I still don’t understand why the so-called ‘original work’ became popular in the first place.
The second type of villainess is one in name only, with a backstory that offers some context.
This villainess is designed surprisingly well for a villain and crosses the line just enough to antagonize the heroine without fully overstepping.
In this case, it's essentially a declaration to reuse the character. Even if they crossed the line in the main story, it might not have reached that point yet, or it wasn’t revealed for various reasons.
...Of course, in this situation, such ‘intent’ doesn’t exist. After all, this moment isn’t part of the original novel.
“He, heeek!”
Diane’s terrified expression was surprisingly amusing.
I’m not some pervert who enjoys seeing frightened girls, but seeing someone her age clinging to another girl’s back and trembling was, dare I say, somewhat cute… Besides, she wasn’t unattractive, so that played a role.
In truth, her reaction was understandable. Anyone would be scared if fourteen wolves over two meters tall suddenly leapt out.
And if one of those wolves bit into someone’s head—
Chomp.
“Kyuung?”
This time, however, I was faster.
For some reason, Snow always wanted to bite my head whenever someone new appeared. But this time, I grabbed her mouth first.
Whether she was trying to say, “We’re close enough to joke around like this,” or not, I had no idea. Regardless, putting on a crocodile show every time we met someone new was a bit embarrassing.
I grabbed Snow’s soft snout with both hands, preventing her from opening her mouth.
Nom.
Then I bit it.
“Kyiii!”
Snow’s hind legs kicked into the air.
“Eek!”
Seeing me overpower a wolf with my mouth, Diane let out a horrified scream.
Did it look like I was picking a fight with the wolf?
Come to think of it, Diane knew I had druid abilities but not how I used them.
To an outsider, this scene must have looked utterly bizarre.
When I released Snow’s snout and let go, she whimpered and licked my face.
I hugged her neck and stroked her fur vigorously.
Snow’s white coat was a bit dirty. It made sense—melting snow often left the ground muddy.
And being a carnivore, she must have hunted all sorts of herbivores to survive. It was only natural she’d be messy, smeared with blood and all.
Of course, her clinging to me made my clothes dirty, too... but I didn’t mind.
As Snow snuggled up to me, several other wolves followed suit. When I plopped down on the ground, they huddled around me, almost making it too warm.
It was fluffy and comfortable for me, though...
As always, Gray and a few other wolves approached Amelia, while three went toward Adele and Diane, who was practically hiding behind her.
“Eek! Eek! Please stay away from me!”
Diane was so scared she even spoke politely to the wolves.
She probably never participated in hunts before, which made sense.
“Lady Hoover, there’s no need to worry. These wolves won’t bite humans,” Adele reassured her.
“They don’t look like that at all! They look like they could bite us in half in one go!” Diane protested, still unconvinced.
Amelia snorted as if Diane’s reaction was ridiculous.
True to his name, Gray’s fur was a dull gray, so he didn’t appear as openly filthy as Snow. But that was just appearances; the moment Gray leaned against Amelia, her clothes became dirty in an instant.
...Looks like we’re both going to get scolded today—Amelia and me.
Diane, too focused on the wolves approaching her, didn’t seem to notice Amelia’s derisive snort. Not that it would’ve mattered much if she had; at least it avoided unnecessary conflict.
“Good boy.”
“W-Wait! Hold on! If you do that, it might bite your arm o—”
Pat.
Before Diane could finish her sentence, Adele’s hand touched Brown’s nose.
“Good boy.”
“……”
When Adele stroked Brown’s nose and moved her hand to his back, Brown sniffed at Adele’s neck and then licked her.
“Haha.”
Adele let out a small laugh, seemingly tickled, and wrapped her arms around Brown’s neck.
To be fair, while Brown looked somewhat fierce, he was, fundamentally, a wolf. His seemingly intimidating appearance was mostly due to his charismatic features, rather than looking genuinely menacing like a fighting dog. He didn’t have saggy jowls or overdeveloped pectoral muscles like a muscle-bound creature. In some ways, he resembled a large, docile dog.
When Adele embraced him, it was clear—he looked just like an oversized puppy.
Well… a puppy that was very… very large.
“……”
Diane stood frozen, mouth agape, unable to take her eyes off the scene unfolding in front of her.
“What do you think, Lady Hoover?”
Adele turned to face Diane, her expression faintly smug. It almost made me snort, much like Amelia had earlier.
“Would you like to try petting him too?”
Diane’s face still showed fear, but there was also a flicker of longing in her expression.
As I said before, even I thought my wolves were quite handsome.
It was the kind of look you’d see on a child visiting their grandmother’s house in the countryside, staring at her dog. They’d want to pet and play with it but feel too intimidated by its barking to approach.
“Eep…!”
But before Diane could muster the courage to act, one of the wolves approached her first.
A wolf nudged Diane’s back with its nose, causing her to stumble forward and fall right onto Brown’s face.
“Snort.”
Though Brown made a noise, he caught Diane as she toppled onto him.
“Oh no…”
Diane’s clothes were now dirty.
Given that the wolves lived as a pack, it was impossible for only some of them to be clean. They hunted together, ate together, and naturally got dirty together.
Her fine riding attire, clearly crafted from expensive fabric, was visibly soiled. Diane let out a despondent sigh, looking utterly dejected.
But despite herself, her hand had already reached under Brown’s chin.
Her body was honest, it seemed.
Well, now that her clothes were dirty, there wasn’t much point in holding back anymore. A little more dirt wouldn’t make much of a difference.
“Ahhh, really, what is this situation!?”
Though her face still showed fear, her hand was now contentedly stroking Brown’s chin. Brown, for his part, leaned into Diane’s touch, looking equally pleased.
The other wolves, seemingly amused by Diane, started nudging her with their noses. Every time they did, Diane let out panicked squeals, making it hard to comprehend the chaotic scene.
“Do you like Elsie’s wolves?”
At Amelia’s question, Diane’s head whipped around toward us, her eyes brimming with tears.
…Had we teased her too much?
“D-Do I?”
Her forced smile made her expression amusingly awkward. Trying to suppress laughter, I tensed my stomach.
“And Lady Carlins is right. These wolves rarely bite humans.”
“Haha… haha…”
Of course, there’s a big difference between “rarely bites” and “never bites.” It’s as vast as the gap between zero and one.
As the wolves rubbed themselves against Diane, her outfit became increasingly dirty.
But what could she do?
Over there, Adele had fully adapted to the situation, sitting and playing with the wolves as if she belonged.
Wolves distinguish between targets to attack and those to leave alone by scent—or at least that’s how it seemed to me.
What they were doing now, rubbing their bodies against Diane, was leaving their scent on her.
Since we had brought her here, it meant they were accepting her as part of the pack.
Well… Diane was still a long way from truly being part of our circle.
At the very least, she wasn’t running away, so I supposed that was worth some praise.