The tall, spiky-haired boy stood by the door, head lowered, his fists clenched at his sides, his ears still red.
He had just... held that round-faced woman.
And touched her hand.
He had been ready to leave. Staying in this human woman's house for half a month had already been a lapse in judgment.
He should despise humans to the core, yet this woman was different from any human he'd met before; no human had ever been this kind to him.
This woman didn't have the slightest intent to harm him, and he had actually let himself stay in her home during his weakest time.
In the past, when he'd been confined and abused, he had never stopped yearning to escape human homes.
Now, he had let himself stay in a human's house for over half a month.
He had already gone downstairs when he heard her muffled groan from falling to the ground. When he saw her on the floor, he helped her up, making physical contact with her.
Every male werewolf was careful about keeping his distance from females, especially this human woman he supposedly disliked. But at that moment, he didn't notice any of that.
He only wanted to know what was wrong with her.
A woman who could kill a succulent plant might very well kill herself.
He frowned, looking at the woman recovering on the couch. Eulalia—that was her name.
"You—what's wrong with you?"
Eulalia dabbed her forehead with a tissue, brushing it off casually. "It's nothing, just haven't eaten all day."
She'd been eating less for weight loss lately, and today, she was so focused on her work that she didn't eat, leading to low blood sugar.
Low blood sugar—nothing new.
Since cutting ties with her family four years ago, she'd been living on her own. Living solo meant she was pretty casual about meals—boiling a pasta when she was hungry, cooking a few dishes when in a good mood, or occasionally eating out.
She kept all kinds of bread and instant noodles stocked at home.
At that moment, she turned to Grey. "Could you get me three pieces of bread from that cabinet and two bottles of milk?"
Grey didn't reply, but he went to the cabinet and got the bread and milk as she asked.
Eulalia accepted the milk, smiling in thanks, a dimple appearing on her round face. "Thank you."
Grey froze momentarily, then looked away.
He asked, somewhat awkwardly, "Are there many humans as friendly as you?"
"Hm? Friendly?" Eulalia asked, sounding nonchalant. "You mean giving you food and shelter?"
"Yeah." Grey thought, what else could it be?
Eulalia took a big sip of milk. "There should be plenty, right? You saved me, so isn't helping you recover the least I could do? Lots of humans are like me."
She took a bite of bread. "What's that line's saying... 'I have no way to repay a lifesaver other than with my bod--'" She trailed off suddenly.
Realizing that saying this now wasn't quite appropriate.
Grey looked at her, a bit puzzled. "With what?"
Uh...
Eulalia felt her face heat up inexplicably. "With... no, I made a mistake, is 'only be good to the one who saved your life'. That's what I mean."
She heard him respond with a simple, "Fine."
For a moment, she felt a little relieved that he was a werewolf, ignorant of too many things; otherwise, it would have been awkward.
"Are there really a lot of pure humans like you?"
The boy with spiky hair and sharp eyes clenched his hands and asked again.
He thought the woman in front of him was a good, pure human who wouldn't lie to him; she was the first pure human he trusted.
Eulalia replied, "Yes, a lot. It's really not worth mentioning."
"But there are also ungrateful people. We have all kinds—kind and friendly, evil, mean, and purely rotten. Just stay away from the bad ones."
Grey lowered his gaze and tugged at his lips at her words. So, was he just unlucky enough to only encounter bad people before?
He thought of the woman from Luna Palace, the mother of the young cub.
He had hurt her, and that night he shouldn't have acted on impulse, thinking too highly of himself. Alpha Roderick had treated him too well, making him forget his place.
Alpha Roderick had his own judgments about everything.
He had hurt Catriona; that was his mistake. He needed to make amends.
"Um, maybe you should put some clothes on?" Eulalia had been wanting to say it for a while—the werewolf only had a cloth wrapped around his waist, standing a bit distantly as he spoke.
"If you go out like that, people will stare." After a thought, she added, "Us pure humans always wear clothes and pants."
"I have some men's clothes here; I'll get you some." She got up and went to the balcony. Among her colorful women's clothes on the drying rack, there were a few pieces of men's clothing.
"This is the largest size; it should fit you."
Grey stared at the clothes in her hands, sniffing slightly, trying to catch the scent of a strange man.
But he only smelled the fragrance of laundry detergent.
The man's scent must have been washed away.
He stepped back and said, "I won't wear your partner's clothes."
With that, he turned and headed toward the door.
This woman was a bit chubby and quite cute. It would be strange if she didn't have a partner—she seemed like the type that would be popular in the human world.
He had stayed in another man's home with this woman for over half a month; he had messed up again.
A trace of astonishment flickered in Grey's eyes.
Why did he keep messing up? He was no different from a useless fool.
Then, Eulalia called him back.
"Don't worry about it; I don't have a partner. I bought these men's clothes myself."
"I live alone as a woman, so I bought men's clothes to make people think there's a man in the house—it makes me feel a little safer."
Unexpectedly, Grey's face darkened. "Someone wants to harm you? Who?"
Eulalia:...
She had to explain quite a bit more before the boy understood.
After she suggested wearing clothes again, Grey went to the room to change. The clothes were obviously small for his height, but as long as he could wear them, he didn't mind.
"If you ever find yourself in danger, you can call my name."
The young werewolf saying this still had a youthful aura, a hint of rebelliousness in his eyes that made it clear he wasn't easy to get along with.
"I will... protect you."
After saying that, the werewolf's ears flushed red again.
Eulalia, however, was stunned.
Growing up, her parents had excessively favored her brothers. Her brothers always had new clothes, while she could only wear their hand-me-downs.
It wasn't hard to imagine how classmates viewed a girl in elementary and middle school wearing old boys' clothes.
On top of that, her name was 'That', which everyone knew that this name was chosen without much thought, so there was a mix of pity and sympathy directed at her.
She was never the slim type of girl, so during her school years, no boy liked her—they just treated her as an object of ridicule.
She never expected that one day, a tall, lean werewolf boy would, with flushed ears, tell her that: He would protect her.
He would protect her?
Even her own parents had never protected her.
She had made it to today by protecting herself, never once considering that she could be the one protected.
Even if the werewolf boy was only being polite, she was genuinely touched.
She had a younger brother, but he was anything but lovable. At home, he bullied her, always shifting the blame onto her for his own wrongdoings. He'd even stolen money from their dad and accused her of being the thief. And her parents? They always took his side.
She had cut ties with those people.
So, she didn't have a brother anymore.
Yet this werewolf before her gave her a warm, comforting feeling—almost like being an older sister.
"Alright, if you don't mind, you can consider me as your 'sister' from now on."
