I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 22

Became a Squirrel to Save the Villain – Episode 22

99. “Yurika is finally back…”

As soon as Sienne saw me, she hugged me tightly and muttered distractedly.

“God has answered my last prayer!”

She shed tears so profusely that it was embarrassing to deny it.

I couldn’t coldly say, ‘I’m not your daughter,’ to a sick person, and somehow, my heart softened, so I had no choice but to stay quietly in her arms.

I knew how much Sienne had been waiting for her second daughter… I always thought she was as sharp as a knife, but I couldn’t bring myself to say something that would hurt her.

“What to do…”

And seeing that, Meriel wiped away tears and muttered.

“It seems Mother has finally… lost her mind….”

In any case, because of Sienne, who kept calling me ‘Yurika’ while hugging me tightly, both Meriel and I were very embarrassed.

Sienne called me ‘Yurika’ repeatedly, shedding tears, and soon fell asleep as if she had run out of energy.

“She was already very ill. But it seems the mental shock after seeing you was too great.”

Meriel quietly diagnosed the situation on her own and urgently called the Medest family’s doctor, who had been examining Sienne.

The doctor, who had heard all about Meriel’s hastily arranged plan to bring a smart-looking friend from the orphanage, sighed at this unexpected situation.

“It seems that a person similar to the one she longed for has appeared, causing mental confusion. She has been showing some signs of mental confusion from the beginning…”

The doctor gave his opinion with worried eyes.

“Since she keeps looking for Yurika, it would be good to continue showing her this person’s face for the time being. It is a time when mental and physical stability is most important. If she feels comfortable, her energy will gradually recover.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Meriel listened attentively to the doctor’s words, wearing a worried expression.

“On the other hand, if this person suddenly disappears, the situation could really worsen as she would think she has lost her daughter for the second time.”

The old doctor looked at me and smiled faintly.

“She’s already having a hard time these days… Having this person stay for the time being will be very helpful for the madam’s health.”

In any case, according to the doctor, it was better for me to stay here a little longer for Sienne’s sake.

I was planning to do that anyway, so it didn’t become a major variable….

At the doctor’s words, Meriel sighed faintly and made me a completely different suggestion.

“Now that things have turned out this way… would you really consider becoming my sister?”

It was an unimaginable thing to say.

I blinked with a dazed expression.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t think Mother will live much longer. So, I want her to live with the happy feeling that she really found Yurika until then. Besides, if she finds peace of mind while looking at you, she can recover her energy even more…”

I facepalmed once again at Meriel’s innocent heart.

It was a truly naive suggestion that made me dizzy.

A sister, so she’s telling me to enter Medest as an adopted daughter…

It’s a matter of inheritance rights, how can she so easily recognize a complete stranger as a blood relative!

‘Ah, really… why is she so foolishly easy to take advantage of?’

What if I have bad intentions and run away with the Duke’s family’s wealth!

“Please.”

Meriel, noticing that I didn’t answer right away, fidgeted and asked again in a trembling voice.

“I know it’s a selfish request… You must have a life you want to live, but suddenly I’m asking you to live as an adopted daughter… I feel so shameless even asking.”

“No, that’s not the problem…”

What do you mean shameless!

Even as an adopted daughter, becoming the ‘Duchess of Medest’ was an incredible stroke of luck. Frankly, for me, who had nowhere to go, it was a really amazing situation.

As I hesitated, Meriel grabbed my hand tightly and said earnestly.

“But if Mother passes away, I’m really… it’s going to be too hard… I want to do anything I can if it can make Mother feel even a little better.”

“Since this is only a temporary measure, and her mind and body have been weakened for so long, she probably won’t live long.”

The old doctor seconded Meriel’s opinion.

“I would be very grateful if you could stay with us until then.”

In fact, according to the original story, Sienne did not live long.

Perhaps a few months later, she would fall into a coma and barely maintain her life, passing away before Meriel came of age.

A new realization made me a little depressed.

In any case, knowing the tragic future of someone who cherished me was a sad thing.

“I’m really… sorry…”

I sighed deeply, looking at Meriel, who was making a sincerely apologetic expression.

‘This is so annoying.’

There was no choice.

I couldn’t rest easy, so I had to watch over her.

“Okay, Duchess.”

I answered with a determined look.

“I will… become Yurika.”

“Ah, thank you so much. I’m so relieved.”

Meriel smiled brightly and hugged me tightly.

“I’ll have a smart advisor, and Mother can spend the rest of her life happily… Thank you so much, Kkamang… No, I should call you Yurika now.”

I carefully hugged Meriel’s shoulders in return.

Now that things have come to this, I had to live up to the name.

I will protect Medest’s wealth and honor. ‘And….’

I stroked Meriel’s trembling shoulders and thought.

‘I need to think of a way to save the Duchess. Somehow.’

The current doctor of the Medest family was a very experienced and skilled person, but not a genius.

To save Sienne, whose mind was ill and whose body was weakened by chronic diseases, an excellent doctor alone was not enough.

A genius doctor who would dominate an era was needed. Perhaps they were currently being neglected in a corner of an orphanage, struggling to grow up day by day.

When I became the Duchess of the Medest family, as Meriel said, I felt like I knew what to do first.

7. * * *

The news that Sienne had gone mad after seeing a girl with light brown hair and round pink eyes, who looked similar to her dead child, swept through the capital.

Even the fact that Meriel, unable to bear it, had adopted the child into the Medest Duchy for her mother’s happiness.

It was such a Meriel-like action that no one found it strange.

The girl, who was said to have been brought from a distant orphanage, naturally became Yurika Medest.

Sienne treated the child as if her second daughter had really come back to life.

Of course, the kind Meriel took care of Yurika like her own sister. Everyone praised the orphan girl’s incredible luck.

“Isn’t it like a sudden stroke of good fortune? An orphan girl of unknown origin becoming the Duchess of Medest!”

“It seems the innocent Duchess of Medest has been scammed.”

“She might not be an ordinary cunning child. Could it be that a group of con artists orchestrated this? It’s possible that they found a child who looks exactly like the missing second daughter and coincidentally presented her. Maybe they’ll eat up all the wealth of the Medest family.”

In any case, Meriel was only sixteen, not yet of age, and Sienne was out of her mind with a girl who looked exactly like her second daughter who had appeared from nowhere.

It was only natural that everyone clicked their tongues at the future of the Medest Duchy.

“The Medest Duke was really powerful when he was around….”

“Well, he was such a meticulous and clever person. But he went missing in the war without even finding his body, which shows how futile human life is.”

Everyone knew that Meriel was kind, but because of her kindness, she was not properly leading the family, and the Medest family was declining. Therefore, it was only natural that everyone was more worried about this incident.

Amid such curious gazes, the first official step of the lucky adopted daughter, Yurika Medest, was decided.

It was to go to an orphanage in the south to find a child to sponsor.

“I want to share even a little of the grace I have received with children in the same situation as me.”

Yurika Medest was a cute and adorable girl, so much so that Meriel and Sienne believed without a doubt that ‘this is what their younger sister would look like if she had grown up.’

“The Medest family has always been at the forefront of supporting talented commoners, so I will continue that lineage.”

People who were even slightly skilled in social etiquette clicked their tongues behind their backs, saying, ‘She’s not an ordinary person after all.’

By setting her first official schedule at an orphanage, she was showing that she had no intention of threatening Meriel’s position. It was also an expression of her will: ‘I have no intention of hiding my origins, so don’t use it as a weakness.’

At the same time, by putting forward the justification of ‘following the traditions of the Medest family,’ she mentioned the direction of her future actions, stating that she would act as a dignified member of Medest.

Thus, Yurika, who headed to a small orphanage located in a remote area of the Medest territory, began to carefully look around at the children who were her age.

‘It must be here.’

The orphanage was small, and despite being instructed to act as usual, all the children were a little intimidated.

‘Ah, there he is!’

Yurika’s eyes, which were carefully scanning each of the children her age, turned to a boy who was quietly reading a book in the corner.