I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 133

Becoming the Squirrel Who Saves the Villain 133

After that short engagement ceremony, which felt more like a cozy family dinner, we held hands and went on a date, using the excuse of choosing rings.

There were no more enemies lurking, no need to deceive watchful eyes, and no emergency potions to pack.

It was our first real date, free from the anxiety of something going wrong.

On the way to the jeweler, we shared a long, passionate kiss in the carriage.

As always, Johan relentlessly pushed my buttons, clinging to me possessively.

Every touch of our skin sent shivers down my spine, and my toes curled.

“S-Stop… I’m getting flustered,” I managed to say.

“Yurika, it’s really strange…”

Johan whispered, his voice husky with emotion.

“Now that there’s no magic to calm me down, I find myself even more crazy about you. I’m still ecstatic, and I still want you so much.”

Looking into his dazed eyes, it seemed like nothing had fundamentally changed. He sighed softly and muttered.

“I don’t know what’s different. If a guy like Theodore shows up, I feel like I’d be just as angry as before.”

“Really?”

“The degree of anger might be different. It’s just that now my magic can’t smash anything.”

“That’s a relief.”

In reality, Johan’s core attitude hadn’t changed all that much.

It was as if there was little difference compared to when I used to use my calming magic on him.

“Anyway, something has definitely shifted.”

I intertwined my fingers with his and replied, trying to reassure him.

“The difference is that we don’t have to doubt each other’s feelings anymore.”

“You’re clever, Yurika. As always.”

Johan looked deeply into my eyes and smiled like a boy who had been trapped in a tower and met a squirrel for the first time, a symbol of hope and companionship.

Just as our comfortable first date was now beginning, so were the very different yet fundamentally the same days ahead of us.

“But Johan…”

I looked up at Johan and asked, a question that had been nagging at me.

“Why did you say you wanted to meet Prince Theodore?”

When Father asked, ‘Is there anything you want in his disposal [meaning, how should we deal with him]?’ I asked to meet Libena personally.

Then Johan quickly added, ‘I want to see Prince Theodore once, too.’

“To tease him,” Johan said childishly, but with a very eerie glint in his eyes.

“Just like that bastard did to me.”

“…You were very thoroughly teased.”

“Yeah,” he admitted, annoyed as if he hated even thinking about it.

“Now that I’m not a wizard, I feel confident enough to meet him alone. If I had met him alone when I was a wizard, I would have gone berserk and killed him as soon as I saw his face.”

His words were sincere, laced with a lingering anger.

“It pisses me off to think that he kidnapped you even when I wasn’t a wizard.”

It seemed that Johan’s jealousy had nothing to do with a wizard’s instincts at all.

Maybe he was just a possessive person by nature….

“But what about you?”

Johan looked into my eyes, his expression softening.

“What are you going to do when you meet Libena?”

“Ah, I’m…”

I smiled, a hint of mischief in my eyes.

“I’m just going to teach her a little something.”

* * *

After Father entered the palace and handled all the official matters.

Theodore was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Libena was sentenced to death, a fitting end for their crimes.

The temple was completely dismantled and shut down, its dark influence eradicated.

The drug research that the temple had monopolized was to be linked to the medical academy, opening it up for public benefit. The person in charge of all of this was naturally Renat.

He was an unparalleled genius who, despite being a doctor, had saved people by analyzing the temple’s dangerous drugs.

“It’s like a dream to have this opportunity,” Renat thanked me deeply once again, his eyes shining with gratitude.

“It’s all thanks to the Princess.”

I was also happy to be a positive influence on Renat, who had saved our mother’s life.

Fortunately, the young acolyte did not die. However, I heard that he suddenly became very mature at a young age and became a staunch atheist.

“As I researched, it wasn’t that different from medicine,” Renat said, pushing up his glasses, his mind already racing with possibilities.

“It seems it was just a matter of the system. I will try to research for more people at the academy.”

Since it is not as closed off as the temple, even the same knowledge can be used for more public benefit. It was a good thing, a step towards a better future.

“Ah, and…”

Father cleared his throat and said, drawing my attention.

“The Iella Marquis family has decided to leave the capital.”

“Yes?”

The Iella Marquis family was the group that used to badmouth me behind my back, their words sharp and cruel.

“She came late, so I didn’t see her. Is that woman the clever fake orphan? She came dressed so flamboyantly?”

“Yeah. She came dressed up like she was the real Medeste Princess? Who does she think she is, trying to act like the real thing when everyone knows she’s a fake?”

I used their gossip to my advantage at the first banquet, but that didn’t mean those words didn’t sting. They had wounded me deeply.

I didn’t even know I was their real daughter when I heard those words, so I endured it, even thinking, ‘I’m going to solve all this and leave the Medeste family on my own two feet!’

“Anyway, she’s not just pretending to be real for no reason. But aren’t the Medeste family people too gullible? If they cherish her so much, she’ll think she’s the real thing?”

“I heard from a former servant that she’s really acting like a real princess. I mean, after turning the house upside down with the fake princess incident… Nowadays, she’s even claiming that she’s the real one?”

They kept cutting me down like that even at the last temple event… their words like poison-tipped arrows.

It seemed that not only I but also my father had overheard their cruel remarks.

“I can handle that much easily….”

I had defeated Libena, so the Iella Marquis’s daughter was nothing in comparison. I was more than capable of dealing with them.

But Father laughed and patted me on the shoulder, his eyes filled with affection.

“You’ve worked hard handling difficult things alone. Don’t bother with even small things and just be happy with that damn guy. Ah, you can’t fail.”

It seemed like there was some genuine concern mixed in with his teasing, but anyway, it was a surprisingly mature sentiment from him.

“Then I’ll just take care of the rest,” I said with a shrug, thinking of the ladies I didn’t even remember the faces of who were gathered around the Iella Marquis’s daughter. They were insignificant.

Even if I didn’t remember, if I asked the friendly information guild [a network of informants], they would surely list even their deepest weaknesses. Nothing would be hidden.

“I should start making friends in society, too,” I mused, thinking of the social connections I needed to cultivate.

“Okay,” Father smiled proudly and stroked my hair, his approval evident.

“It’s very late, but make sure to enjoy everything you deserve as the Princess of Medeste. You’ve earned it.”

“Yes, I’ve enjoyed a lot thanks to you, Sister, but still…”

“Anyway, when are you planning to go to Libena?”

“Tonight,” I smiled and replied, my resolve firm.

“Johan has already gone to Prince Theodore. He must have been really determined.”

* * *

As Yurika said, as soon as Johan was granted visitation rights to Theodore, he immediately entered the palace, his purpose clear.

The trial was held, and it was revealed that Theodore had colluded with the temple to harm Roymond, a betrayal of the highest order.

So, as a member of the imperial family, he was sentenced to the maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Many people who heard the result cried out that he should be sentenced to death, demanding justice for his heinous crimes.

However, Johan surprisingly suggested that life imprisonment would be sufficient. A murmur of surprise rippled through the court.

Instead, he set one condition, and everyone, thinking Johan was being remarkably merciful, ended the meeting.

“It’s very fancy,” Johan said, looking down at Theodore, who was slumped in his prison cell, his spirit broken.

Theodore was trapped in a fairly large place, gasping painfully in the corner, a shadow of his former self.

Johan smiled grimly at the sight, a sense of satisfaction washing over him.

“My dear stepmother and half-brother, who tried to harm me, are also in the underground prison of the Hylad Duke’s castle, but the environment there is much worse than this.”

It was a cool, detached expression that was completely different from when he was with Yurika and his family. The mask of the ruthless avenger had returned.

“But to be treated like this even after trying to harm His Highness the Crown Prince, it’s good to be a member of the imperial family,” he sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“…Get out if you’re here to mock me,” Theodore glared at Johan, clutching his chest in pain.

“Do you know?” Johan smiled and whispered in a low, menacing voice, leaning closer to Theodore.

“I was the one who insisted that you not be given a calming potion in exchange for ending it with life imprisonment.”

Theodore’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief for a moment.

“I usually like to give back as I receive,” Johan said with a cold, hard face, his eyes like chips of ice.

“Everyone treated me as a merciful person, saying that it was too lenient. Because there are no remaining wizards among the high-ranking nobles in the capital.”

“How dare you!” Theodore tried to get up but collapsed, seemingly in excruciating pain. Johan calmly watched the scene unfold, his expression unreadable, and continued.

“But you know? Without a calming potion, wizards will become more and more painful. As time goes by, you will suffer from the snowballing pain and cry out to be killed.”

“Y-You cruel monster!” Theodore gasped, his face contorted in agony.

“I was more painful when you provoked me with Yurika,” Johan said, curving his eyes in a chilling smile as if satisfied with Theodore’s suffering.

“I am now completely free from that pain and will live with Yurika, building a family. You live in that pain for eternity.”