Raising a Wolf in the Academy

I couldn’t find her figure anywhere.
It didn’t seem like she was hiding using invisibility magic or such to tease me, as there was no mana reaction around.
To begin with, she’s not the type of person to tease someone like this.
Since it’s unlikely that someone who broke through all of the academy’s security and infiltrated kidnapped her, the remaining conclusion is…
“…I don’t know.”
I guess she had some urgent business that made her leave without even being able to say anything.
If that Aisha disappeared without a word, it must not be an ordinary matter.
After coming to that conclusion, I emptied my mind that was about to become complicated momentarily.
Even as a professor, it’s not right to pry into an assistant’s personal affairs, and.
I knew from years of academy life that it’s difficult to break through the security here.
Rather than thinking about where Aisha went right now…
“Whitey, I’m back!”
“Heck! Heck!”
Petting my cute furball was the priority.
“Yes, did you miss me a lot? I did too.”
-Pat pat
“Heck! Heck!”
Even though we were only apart for a few hours, it clings to me desperately, seeking affection with its whole body.
I had created a doppelganger in preparation for this situation, but.
Right now, its eyes seemed to be saying, ‘Did you think I’d be satisfied with just a doppelganger? This much is not enough! Pet me more!’
Of course, there was no reason to refuse if that’s what it wanted.
-Pat pat pat
“Heck! Heck! Awoooo!”
Thinking that next time I should create multiple doppelgangers, I moved my hand even faster.
“You ate all your food cleanly too? Our Whitey did well!”
I didn’t forget to praise it.
It might be natural for a carnivore to like meat and eat it all without leaving any, but.
It’s the owner’s job to praise even such trivial things.
“Heck! Heck!”
-Chomp!
Perhaps Whitey was happy too, it howled even louder and expressed affection.
It was a moment when I realized once again that the saying ‘Praise can make even a whale dance’ doesn’t exist for nothing.
“Alright Whitey. Are you hungry? Shall we eat lunch soon?”
“Heck! Heck!”
After we eat, I’ll pet you again.
Today, we’re going to be together all day.
“Awoooo!”
Perhaps it sensed my thoughts, it howled in agreement.
*
*
*
-Knock knock
While I was rolling around on the floor with Whitey as exercise before dinner after lunch.
Someone knocked on the door.
‘Who could it be at this hour… Could it be Liannis?’
She might have come to hear the answer to the question she asked earlier today.
Contrary to her cold-looking appearance, she showed considerable passion for the class.
“I guess it can’t be helped.”
A student seeking knowledge is knocking on the door.
What does it matter if it’s the professor’s personal time now.
As a professor, how could I ignore a disciple’s call?
“Our Whitey? Can you go inside for a moment?”
It would be a big problem if Whitey got excited seeing a stranger and rushed at them.
After quickly sending Whitey to the room, I opened the door.
“Please come in, Ms. Liannis. Did you come to hear the answer to the question you asked earlier…”
However.
The person waiting for me wasn’t Liannis.
“Ms. Aisha?”
“Pro-Professor. I brought the pet food… you asked for…”
She was standing at the door, holding an armful of pet food bags.
“Pet food? Ah, now that you mention it…”
I remembered asking for pet food yesterday.
Even though only a day had passed,
Indeed, she was the best assistant.
Seeing how diligently she fulfills even troublesome requests that could be ignored.
“Um… Where should I put these…?”
“I’m sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment… Please give them to me.”
After receiving the food bags and placing them in the corner of the office, I let her in.
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
“Th-thank you…”
“It’s nothing, I should be the one thanking you.”
I said, gesturing towards the pet food in the corner.
Although it was in plain sacks without any patterns, so at a glance one might think it was cheap.
Places that sell excellent products don’t need to advertise flashily.
I, who had been researching for a long time to keep a pet, knew.
Those are from the best shop except for places that require some connections, like the shop where I got Whitey.
It’s a place with such high standing that I would have visited there if my desired pet wasn’t a wolf.
She brought three bags of limited edition food from such a place…
Her effort must have been indescribable.
‘Was her disappearance without a trace around lunchtime for this?’
“No, this much is… nothing…”
My assistant was even modest.
Look at her smiling brightly without showing any sign of difficulty.
It bothered me that all I could offer such a person was a cup of good tea.
As a human being, one should return as much as,
No, more than what they received.
In that regard, I was about to ask if she wanted anything, but.
“Um, Professor…”
She spoke first, asking for permission to speak.
Is she going to directly state what she wants?
Or does she have something else she wants to say?
Either way, there was no reason to refuse, so I nodded silently.
“…What is that wound?”
“Wound? What do you… Oh.”
I felt around my neck where her gaze was directed.
My clothes were disheveled from rolling around with Whitey for hours.
This close, the teeth marks would probably be clearly visible.

“That… Could it be—”
Her pupils were shaking a little.
Various emotions were visible, but the largest proportion was ‘worry’.
She would be even more worried seeing a wound on someone who had never shown an injured appearance before.
‘Although it’s not a wound to begin with.’
I didn’t want to cause unnecessary worry over this, so I decided to tell the truth.
If I tried to gloss over it with a suitable lie, it might cause even greater worry.
It wasn’t something to hide in the first place anyway.
“Your guess is correct, Ms. Aisha. This is proof that I am loved.”
“Proof… that you are loved?”
She covers her mouth with an expression of disbelief.
An expression that seems to say ‘The professor is loved…?’
…Even so, this reaction is a bit hurtful.
‘Alright, I’ll show you proof.’
To show how much I am loved and give love.
I was about to get up to let Whitey familiarize with Aisha’s scent.
“This is perfect. I was going to introduce you anyway.”
Aisha also quite likes cute things, so she will surely be unable to escape Whitey’s charm.
‘If that happens, she’ll visit my office more often to see Whitey. Using Whitey as a hostage for paperwork…!’
A perfect plan.
One pet for one document should be fair, right?
“I’m… sorry…”
Just before executing the perfect plan, a thunderbolt-like sound is heard.
“Pardon? Ms. Aisha, what do you—”
“I’ll leave right away…”
Before I could ask what she meant, she got up roughly from her seat.
“Why, Ms. Aisha? Stay a little longer.”
“It’s okay. I, I have an urgent matter… Goodbye…”
With those words, she left the office in an instant.
What’s going on?
At lunchtime too, why does it seem like she’s avoiding me like this?
Could it be…
“Am I disliked?”
Why?!

A few hours earlier.
‘Okay, I can do this… Don’t be nervous…’
Aisha was taking deep breaths in front of the professor’s office, trying to calm her nerves.
The sacks of pet food piled up high enough to block her view.
It was the pet food the professor had asked her for yesterday.
With the determination that ‘I can’t choose carelessly for something to give to the professor’, she had spent all her free time in the afternoon to obtain this top-quality pet food.
Even though she had obtained pet food that even most nobles would find difficult to get, her expression was dark.
That’s because compared to what she had received, this was nothing.
‘Think positively… It’s something that I can repay little by little like this…’
After lightly patting her cheeks to shake off negative thoughts, she took a moment to catch her breath and knocked.
-Knock knock
Soon after the light knock, the door opened and he came out.
She recalls once again the content she had practiced many times in her head to avoid any mistakes.
‘Just hand this over, and then say I’d like to treat you to dinner, that’s all I need to do.’
If she said ‘I’d like to cook for you myself since you treated me yesterday’, he wouldn’t refuse.
‘And then…’
Of course, she wasn’t inviting him just for a meal.
Along with gratitude for the great kindness 10 years ago that made her current self possible.
She intended to confess her feelings for him that she had been nurturing for 10 years.
‘If by any chance, he accepts…’
Aisha wasn’t someone who didn’t know her place. Rather, she was one of those who knew it well.
Her life before being saved didn’t forgive those who lived without knowing their own measure.
But.
There’s always a slim chance anywhere.
Stories of love between a lowly prostitute begging on the streets and a prince can be found throughout history and across cultures, can’t they?
“Um, Professor…”
What greeted her, who was holding expectations that she might become that lowly prostitute if she’s lucky, was…
“…What is that wound?”
Clear teeth marks imprinted on the prince’s nape.