Fostering the Male Lead

‘This tsundere.’

I rolled over and looked at Shasha with a grin.

“Thank you, Shasha.”

“Woof.”

But how come his eyes seem to be sympathizing with me.

It was somewhat nauseating to receive sympathy from Shasha, who was a dog- no, my bad, a wolf.

I wondered why I was even living in all this splendor and honor.

The problem was that he saw the gold coins that had been entering the safe not long ago being handed completely to the Duke.

“Good night.”

“Woof.”

I patted Shasha on the head and closed my eyes, and fell asleep like a log.

When I fell asleep like this, I slept like a dead person until the next morning. It was because no one generally touched me and Shasha stayed calm until I woke up.

But for some reason, Shasha barked fiercely today.

“Ruff, ruff, arggg, ruff!”

“Ugh, be quiet…”

Please be quiet. I mumbled in my sleep and covered my ears, but I soon opened my eyes feeling chilling energy rising from under my feet. Many people charged quickly in the dark room. Men clad in black from head to toe were attacking Shasha with weapons.

“What the hell?! Assassins?!”

One of them reached for me, but I quickly rolled over and dodged the assassin’s hand. Just when my body rolled under the bed, Shasha jumped up and bit the assassin’s arm.

“Aaaargh!”

My head stuck out at the ear-splitting scream. I was stunned to the spot as I was experiencing such a situation for the first time. Seeing me in a daze, Shasha hit me in the face with his tail.

“Ah.”

“Woof!”

“Sorry!”

When the tail struck me, I came to my senses and jumped up and pulled out the sword that was placed above the bed.

I swung the sword at the assassin who approached Shasha and killed him in a single strike.

I got goosebumps at the unfamiliar sensation that was transmitted through the blade. Nevertheless, my hands did not stop.

“Ruff, argggg, ruff, ruff!”

“Shasha!”

As he looked back, he crushed the assassins under his large size, kicked them with his feet, and bit them with his sharp fangs.

The total number of assassins who broke into the room was ten. I had just killed one, while Shasha took care of four others all by himself. The remaining five enemies entered a battle stance while being wary of me and Shasha.

“Who sent you?”

Of course, no one answered. All I could hear was their ragged breathing.

Their gaze was strangely fixed on Shasha.

“Do you have any business with my dog?”

When I pointed towards Shasha, they flinched. Not missing the moment, I quickly lunged at them and swung my sword.

“Ha!”

Clang~! The swords clashed and made a chilling sound.

I noticed from the beginning that their target was Shasha, not me. If I was the target, they wouldn’t have just swung their swords at me, rather they would have stabbed me with the sword first.

“Damn it!”

“Your side! Aaargghh!”

Seeing that the assassin was distracted while shouting at me, Shasha bit him from the side. Shasha sunk his teeth into the assassin’s ribs, shook it and threw his mangled body into the wall. My stomach churned at the sight of his exposed internal organs.

‘I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see it.’

Trying to forget the disgusting scene, I tickled Shasha’s chin as he came next to me. The enemies gulped nervously seeing the mutilated figure.

“Tell me, who wants my puppy?”

“Grrrr…”

“Since there’s no answer, there is nothing I can do. I have to kill you all.”

Well, needless to say, it must be the Empress. She must have prepared to clear everything up. There was no way a thorough person like her would leave any trace, and we would gain nothing by torturing them alive. My grip on the sword tightened.

I must have been slicing around with my sword for a while because when I came back to my senses, the room was a mess with corpses and blood everywhere. The blood clinging to my face made me feel sick.

“…Ha.”

I wiped the blood flowing under my chin.

“That came out of the blue after a good night’s sleep, right?”

“Grrrrrr.”

“Shasha?”

Even though everything was over, he still seemed like a bundle of nerves. He suddenly raised his head.

Kyaa!

I looked out of the window and saw a crow perched on a tree staring at me.

“That bird, that’s the crow, isn’t it?”

My green eyes met its red ones.

The shiny marble-like beaded eyes moved from me to Shasha and then to the messed-up room.

An ominous chill ran down my spine. So that’s what she was watching us with.

‘It was the Empress’s bird…!’

Now I understood why Shasha got so angry at the crow. Sihael knew that the crow was the eyes of the Empress.

Caw caw~

The crow spread its wings. Did it think I would let it go?

I took the gun off the wall and loaded it.

“Where are you going?”

Bang!

With a loud shot, the crow fell down helplessly. I checked where the crow fell and shot once more for confirmation.

‘How did she know where Shasha was? I didn’t know she was watching him with a crow.’

It was my mistake. In the original story, it was mentioned that the Empress used the birds as her familiars but I didn’t notice.

I should have noticed it sooner and prepared for it. I bit my lips hard.

I left the messy room behind and hugged Shasha, who was still in an anxious state.

“Shh, it’s okay.”

I hugged and stroked Shasha. But his back, which should have been soft, was damp. When I looked at it, dark red blood stained my hands.

“Ah…”

I quickly reached over to the bed and wiped the wound with a blanket. Fortunately, the bleeding wasn’t heavy, but I was upset. This had happened when he bit the assassin’s hand while I was stupidly dazed.