The Failed and Useless Noble Lady Will Be Reborn into Overwhelming Love!? - 02. Will It Be a Meal or Not?

I ran out of the mansion, and some time passed… I was utterly lost.

“My mistake was being afraid of encountering someone and entering the forest!”

In the pitch-black darkness, I feared meeting a scary person. With that thought, I stepped into the edge of the forest and tried walking along the path while hiding. But before I knew it, I had ventured deeper and deeper. Why?

It seems that, unbeknownst to me, I was directionally challenged.

As a result, I was facing something even scarier than meeting a dangerous person.

The dark birds cawed.

Something flew away with a rustling sound.

Then, a beast glared at me with a growl.

I froze and fell flat on my bottom.

(Hi, hiyaa! What should I do? Why is such a huge animal here!? It seems really angry… Could it be that I’m going to die here?)

Though I couldn’t clearly see its shape in the darkness, was it a wolf? A huge wolf, no less! And it’s growling, which makes it incredibly terrifying. I trembled. Honestly, I had been shaking from the cold since I entered the forest, but now, the fear was overwhelming, and I couldn’t feel the cold anymore.

I had planned to walk through the night and head toward the royal mage’s quarters near the royal castle by tomorrow. I thought I could ask a mage about the path to the magic tower.

(If I had known, I shouldn’t have rushed out while my emotions were high. I should have waited until sunrise!)

But it was too late to regret. The wolf let out an even louder growl, and then it kicked the ground and jumped at me.

Ah, I’m done for. Lutzia Liestella, age 15. No, I wasn’t Lutzia anymore.

After becoming part of the family at age 4 when Lizette joined, I never felt loved, and on the night I stopped being Lutzia, I was about to die like this…

I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that at least it wouldn’t hurt. But… it wasn’t the pain of being slashed by claws or torn apart by teeth.

—This is… fluffy?

I seemed to be wrapped in something soft and fluffy…?

Cautiously, I opened my eyes. The enormous wolf, at least twice my size, was curled around me, wrapping me up.

Huh?

I hurriedly tried to get up, but its front paws held me down—more like I was forced to lie on its belly as if to say, “Go to sleep!”

D-Doesn’t seem like it’s trying to kill me.

I thought that in my confused state, and suddenly realized I had escaped death. My body went slack, and though I couldn’t move, I lay down comfortably. It seemed as if the wolf had placed me in the best position to relax?

Then, I realized how warm it was in the fluffy body. When I noticed, my shaking had stopped. I wasn’t scared anymore, and I wasn’t cold either.

“Did you warm me up…?”

I looked at the wolf’s face in surprise, but its eyes were closed, and I couldn’t make out its face due to the darkness.

Maybe I wasn’t even food for this wolf. Could it be that I was considered a toy or something?

In that case, it would be incredibly lucky, wouldn’t it? Getting attacked by such a big wolf and coming out unscathed was something that normally couldn’t be imagined.

While thinking about that, I must have drifted off to sleep.

✳︎ ✳︎ ✳︎

I must have fallen asleep because of the warmth, as I woke up to the wolf’s movement. Through the gaps in the trees, I saw a golden light streaking across the sky like a shooting star.

“Wow, how beautiful. Wait, is it coming this way? …Ah!”

As the light approached, blinding me, I instinctively closed my eyes. Then a bright voice came from above.

“Pam-paka-paan! I am the mage of the magic tower! Since the contract has been concluded, I’ve come to take you like a prince!”

…Um.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a person standing where the light had been shining.

I was so surprised that I stood there with my mouth agape, staring at the person, and they also stared back, eyes wide open.

“Wow! I thought it was something dark, but you’re being carried by that thing!? Wait, is that a magical beast?”

Wait, this wolf isn’t a wolf, it’s a magical beast?

Looking up, the wolf’s eyes were gleaming, and it growled at the person who had claimed to be a mage. Yikes!

“Wait, is this magical beast protecting you? What? That’s unbelievable! It’s already surprising that the magical beast isn’t attacking you, but protecting you? That’s impossible, right?”

I wasn’t sure what to make of “impossible.”

“Well, whatever! This magical beast looks like it’s about to kill me if I try to take you away, so I’ll just take you along like this.”

“Eh? W-Wow!”

When the mage twirled his fingers, I was floating in the air with the wolf.

I was so stunned that I clung to the wolf’s fluffy fur, and it wrapped me up with its chin, front paws, and fluffy tail. Amazing, it was pitch dark, and I couldn’t see anything!

“Ahaha! Is this thing really protecting you? That’s strange. When we get back, that magical beast enthusiast will be thrilled!”

Oh, right. This person had said he was the mage who came to take me from the magic tower. Does that mean I’m heading to the magic tower now?

I had been sold to the magic tower—though I had written my name on the contract myself.

Apparently, many special mages lived in the magic tower.

To enter the tower, one had to be invited as a special mage like them. If you were like me, an incompetent person, there weren’t many reasons you’d be chosen.

I remembered a book that my grandfather had kept about the magic tower, and I shivered at the memory.

I must be heading to the magic tower now, to be used in the experiments of the special mages…

—Or so I thought.