The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 4

#4.

I subtly tried to push his face away with my paw, but the boy just grinned nonchalantly, his golden eyes staring intently at me.

“Why do you keep avoiding me?”

“Chyu, chyuuu!”

I-I’m not avoiding you!

He’s definitely crazy, but he’s so handsome it’s overloading my brain.

I bristled my fur, trying not to reveal how defenseless I was against his face. With a desperate heart, I glared at him with wide eyes.

A staring contest ensued for several minutes.

The boy offered his finger with a bright smile.

“Good girl? You can bite me if you want.”

“Chyu, chyuuu…….”

He’s a strange one.

I looked at the boy with wary eyes.

This guy is suspicious. My instincts tell me it’s dangerous to get close!

Get that finger away from me.

I tapped his finger with my paw in protest, and the boy muttered.

“You’re looking at me like I’m trash.”

“Yes. You’re looking at me like I’m a bug.”

“I didn’t say bug, Ivan.”

“No way. You definitely just said bug, I’m sure you did?”

“Do you want to wriggle on the floor like a bug?”

“You didn’t have to put it so brutally when you meant you’d step on me.”

The blond lion, called Ivan, rolled his eyes and feigned innocence. It was a familiar name, but so common I didn’t think much of it.

What caught my attention more was Ivan’s reaction. The way his lips twisted into a grin made it clear he was teasing the boy.

He seems a little strange too.

It’s clear all lion beastmen are out of their minds.

I looked at Ivan with hazy eyes before turning to the boy.

‘Are all lion beastmen like this? There doesn’t seem to be a sane one among them.’

The problem was I was in the middle of a lion’s den. No matter how hard I looked, there didn’t seem to be any way to escape. If I tried to escape carelessly, I’d be caught by the boy again.

I should stay put for now and escape when everyone is asleep.

While I was making my escape plan, Ivan and the boy continued their conversation. It seemed they were discussing what to do with me.

“Why don’t we just let her go? She’s not even a mouthful to eat, and she’s too cute.”

Ivan, you’re a better beastman than I thought.

I agreed with Ivan’s words, shining my eyes and nodding. At that moment, the boy pressed down on my head, hiding me in his hand.

‘I-I can’t breathe!’

“Why are you calling this fluff cute? Don’t call her cute, she’s mine.”

He even growled.

‘Since when was I yours? I’m my own!’

As I resisted with all my might, the boy stared down at me blankly. His eyes were so fierce, as if he would bite me to death if I didn’t agree with him.

If pheromones existed in eyes, they would be just like that.

‘Ah, no, why are you being so serious again.’

“Chyuuu…….”

I whimpered and lowered my head, nestling in his arms. Only then did the boy stroke my back with satisfaction and say.

“And I told you, I’m going to raise her.”

“She’s not just a ferret, she’s a ferret beastman who failed to humanize. It’s a violation of beastman rights.”

“You can just say ferret. Anyway, I can’t really feel her pheromones. If I cover her with my pheromones, it won’t even be noticeable.”

“You shouldn’t raise her with such a light heart. It’ll be a headache if she ever humanizes. If you get tired of her later, Fluff will become a tasty snack for hyenas.”

Ivan, who had diligently changed my title from Ferret-nim to Fluff-nim [Nim is a Japanese honorific], poured out scathing criticism.

‘Good job! Keep pushing like that!’

It seemed this boy was trying to raise me. I don’t know what he liked about me, but I’m declining.

Honestly, how would I know what a crazy person is thinking! I don’t even want to understand!

“Okay, then let’s have Fluff decide.”

The boy put me back on the cushion. I felt a little chilly when the warmth of his hand disappeared. I crawled into the handkerchief, revealing only my face.

“Chyu?”

What are you plotting?

As I looked up at the boy and tilted my head, the boy said with a sinister look.

“If you say you’ll live here, I won’t punish you.”

“Chyu?”

Punish?

I looked at him with eyes that said, ‘What kind of dog bone are you talking about?’ and the boy lowered his head and muttered grimly.

“I know you raided our house’s food storage.”

“Chyu?!”

H-How did he know?!

I was startled and looked back and forth between the boy and Ivan. Ivan, who was next to me, shook his head.

“Using threats is against the rules.”

“Well, who cares, as long as I keep her.”

The boy poked my stomach with his finger as if he didn’t care.

“That little belly of yours has our house’s storage food in it.”

“Chyu, chyuuu!”

Ah, I haven’t even had a bite yet! This is just my belly!

I wouldn’t feel so wronged if I had eaten my fill. I felt like my belly fat was being attacked, and my heart was scratched.

I quickly curled up to cover my belly. What should I do with this crazy guy who said, “It looks like swollen white beans.”

Cold sweat ran down my back. As the boy said, I was indeed a storage thief, so I was even more nervous.

The accomplice had already escaped, so I was in danger of taking the blame alone.

It was a fatal mistake to be caught by him while watching Bianco take the food.

I peeked my head out again and decided to use the excuse strategy.

“Chichiii…….”

I’m sorry……. But there’s a lot of food in the storage, so you can share a little.

Did the sympathy-inducing tactic work?

“But it’s okay because I’m a merciful Black Lion.”

The boy offered his finger to me as if doing me a favor. When I just stared at the hand, the boy shook his hand and continued.

“If you live here, you’ll get three meals a day without having to steal secretly.”

Really?

At the word ‘three meals a day,’ I perked up my ears and looked at the boy with sparkling eyes.

I was tired of hunting and being self-sufficient for a year. If I didn’t have the memories of my past life, I would have been satisfied with the life of a ferret, but I had the memories of a human with intelligence.

‘I’m tired of worrying about food every day.’

Should I trust a stranger so easily? It’s a rule that strangers who say they’ll buy you delicious things are dangerous.

But sometimes, people you’ve known for a long time can be more dangerous than strangers.

I had the memories of my past life when I was betrayed by my childhood friend and ended up in debt.

I was saddened that I had no one to trust and was only worried about making a living, then and now.

‘I’ll hit first from now on; I absolutely refuse to be backstabbed. But even if I go back to the wild, there’s no special way.’

Noticing that I was tempted, the boy continued to coax me.

“Besides, you’ll have a cozy cushion where you don’t have to shiver in the cold. It’s still too cold outside. We have to wait another month for spring to come.”

The boy tapped the cushion under my feet and smiled. I turned around and stared out the window.

The desolate outside still looked cold. On the other hand, it was very warm here.

A cozy place I hadn’t felt in a long time. I swallowed without realizing it, and the boy brought his hand even closer.

“How about it? Living in our house? You’d be better off being raised by me than living outside, right?”

“Chyuuu…….”

I’ll think about it.

It’s better to decide after I know exactly who you are.

I heard the name of a family I shouldn’t have heard for a moment.

But for me, who was about to starve to death, the offer was irresistible.

‘Now that it’s come to this, should I stay for a while? At least until spring…….’

So I had this naive thought. Leaving my suspicious mind behind, I touched the boy’s finger with one paw as a sign of reservation. But the signal seemed to have been misinterpreted.

“I knew it.”

Suddenly, the boy smiled brightly and grabbed my paw tightly, shaking it up and down.

‘Whoa, dizzy!’