After Being Raised by the Male Lead of a Horror World

The big-eared monster made a strange noise at Little Beagle. “Mummy, tell me the story about how you found me again!”

The swamp monster mother: “…”

How was he supposed to tell the child that, until she grew up, he’d wanted to slap her to death?

*

Jiang Xiaoya transmigrated into a world of strange tales. She had to fight tooth and nail to survive!

The good news: A kind stranger found her and took her in.

The bad news: She’d become a baby!

The even worse news: Her kind rescuer was the biggest boss in this world of strange tales!

At the far end of lakes and swamps lived terrifying water monsters. Whenever it rained, a dreadful swamp appeared around him, swallowing everything nearby. He was savage and murderous, lost in a daze.

Humans called the place where he lived the “Black Zone.”

Then one day… he found a baby.

The shadowy swamp monster let out a terrifying growl at the infant.

The baby wrapped her arms around the water ghost’s leg and made a strange “wer-wer” sound.

Later, the terrifying monster learned how to mix baby formula and point at things while telling bedtime stories.

All in all, although she’d made strange “wer-wer” noises at first, she was still a very cute baby, with big eyes and a tiny body. But as time went by…

And later

The swamp monster: “At my most desperate, I once thought about jumping off a building with her in my arms.”

*

Four-year-old Jiang Xiaoya said she wanted that nutritional milk powder, the one with three deer or something on it.

They said it would make her head bigger and her smarter.

The swamp monster found her annoying, but Jiang Xiaoya really was too small and skinny, and rather stupid. She did need that stuff to nourish her brain.

He went to the human world, but after searching for ages, all he found was milk powder with one deer on it. Nothing with three deer.

He thought for a moment.

Then he reached out and took three cans.

As Jiang Xiaoya learned to read more and more, one day she discovered that the milk powder with one deer on it, the kind she’d drunk all her life, was labeled: instant coffee.

…

Jiang Xiaoya was the only person in the world who understood the swamp monster’s language.

When he went “gurgle gurgle,” it meant it was time to eat. His terrifying snarls were just to scare Jiang Xiaoya into behaving. And when he said “bloop bloop”

He was saying:

Xiaoya, I love you.

[Bonus Scene]

Jiang Xiaoya always thought the swamp monster was her mother, because his hair was so long. Then one day, she saw her mother standing motionless in the rain from far away, a tiny stream gathering beneath her hair.

She ran over, raised an umbrella, and stood on tiptoe.

The swamp monster lowered his head. His thick lashes were beaded with water, and at last he showed his true face. He was actually a handsome young man with delicate features.

So he wasn’t a water ghost mother, but a water ghost big brother!

Xiaoya tried to lead him indoors, but the swamp monster lowered his head and firmly pressed her in place.

He’d learned it from a little deer by the roadside: when it rains, if your fur gets wet, you just have to stay still and the water won’t soak through to your skin.

Xiaoya wondered: But they didn’t have fur!

So Xiaoya had her big brother hold the umbrella.

The two of them crouched by the river and waited all afternoon for the rain to stop.

[Reader’s Guide]

1. Nonhuman pseudo-siblings, close in age, with him raising her from the age of one when he is three. The male lead isn’t human, so he’s much bigger than an ordinary person and exceptionally good at surviving. She calls him “Mom” because his long hair obscures his face early on, leading to a misunderstanding.

2. At first, the male lead is a pure monster who can only chase down and kill every living thing while going “heh heh heh.” As the female lead grows up, he gradually becomes more human. There is no romance during her childhood. Their feelings change after she reaches adulthood.

3. There are supernatural powers and spirit forms. The female lead’s spirit form is a little beagle.

[IMPORTANT!!!!]

This is not a child bride story or anything of the sort, so please don’t misunderstand. It’s a childish, fairy-tale-like story about two little ones growing up together.

Theme: Protecting the little ones is everyone’s responsibility