I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 43

Johan looked down at Yurika’s small hand extended towards him. For a moment, he felt his breath catch in his throat.

Those were the words he had originally intended to say.

To ask if she would be his partner at the victory banquet.

In fact, she could have been his partner for life, but he had essentially blown that opportunity.

“I’ll try harder too, so I can be of help to you.”

Yurika said, her pink eyes shining earnestly, as if making a proposal.

Johan forcibly suppressed the tickling in his heart and smiled as much as he could.

“What do you mean, try harder?”

And he immediately took Yurika’s hand. Of course, he didn’t forget to send a quick, victorious glance to Renat.

“The honor is all mine.”

He lightly kissed the back of Yurika’s hand, feeling the sharp gazes of Renat and Jaden burning into his cheek. But it was okay.

Of course, Johan knew very well that his partnership request and her partnership request were completely different in nature.

While he was completely devoted to Yurika, she still seemed to think of him as a good colleague to cooperate with.

Just like how they used to meet every night in the Hyrard Duchy’s castle, benefiting each other.

He would calm his rampaging magic, and Yurika would gather magic for her humanization.

It was certain that Yurika still held some of the bond from those days with Johan, but in any case, the reunion did not go as Johan had imagined.

Johan had always thought that after the war, he would find Yurika and they could live together again. That they could become each other’s only and precious companions.

But in the past five years, Yurika had gained another family. A gap that he couldn’t even squeeze into, it seemed.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t jealous, but still, they were people who had cherished Yurika for five years, so he had to be grateful to them.

Besides……

‘I have to make a good impression so I can bring up marriage again.’

That’s why Johan was so polite to Jaden as well.

‘Of course, even if I didn’t know anything back then and the marriage with Yurika had been arranged, it would have been a typical political marriage.’

Johan was quick-witted. He had already realized where Yurika’s mind was focused.

She was conscious of the temple. He didn’t know what she was going there to confirm, but right now, all her nerves were definitely focused on the temple.

Considering the temple people who had chased her all the way to the Hyrard Duchy’s castle to harm her, it was no wonder she was so wary.

‘So, if I suddenly try to start a romance here, it will backfire.’

Yurika still thought of him as a reliable colleague. In fact, right now, he was just grateful to be able to be by her side as a colleague.

Inevitably, she had to receive his help. He felt that it was the greatest luck.

“Then let’s quickly come up with a scenario.”

Yurika said, her eyes shining. As expected, her expression wasn’t one of excitement about the romance of the banquet, but rather a face plotting some scheme.

When she asked him to be her partner, she had already finished calculating all the situations.

Of course, he couldn’t hear the second or third partner candidates because of that, but it might have been better not to hear them.

Just in case, when his magic went out of control, he might ‘accidentally’ harm only them.

“There will definitely be a lot of talk about how I could be your partner. After all, you’re a war hero and the main character of the banquet, and I’m just an adopted daughter from an orphanage.”

He had felt it even in the Duchy’s castle, but Yurika was smart and shrewd, and she was quick to judge situations.

But there was something Yurika didn’t know.

Johan also had quite a talent for plotting schemes in his own way.

It was definitely not a good strategy to hastily say to Yurika, ‘Actually, I wanted to live with you all along. Seeing you completely humanized makes me like you even more… So, will you officially date me?’

Rather, the best strategy was to deliberately try his best to seduce her from now on.

If she only saw him as a colleague now, he needed to create situations that would make him look like a man.

So Johan nodded with a deep smile.

“Okay, let’s coordinate our stories.”

Next to him, Jaden was muttering things like, ‘Yurika, what’s wrong with you…,’ but Johan completely ignored him and slowly continued.

“How about this? Listen.”

“What is it?”

“When I went to the Medest Duchy to break off the engagement… I fell in love with you at first sight.”

Yurika’s round eyes widened slightly at his words.

“So I’ve been visiting the Duchy every day to see you…….”

“Hmm.”

“In the end, I followed you around desperately, and we became lovers. How’s that?”

Yurika asked back with a serious face.

“So you’re saying we should pretend to be lovers in front of people?”

“Well, it’s okay if I’m just unilaterally in love with you.”

In fact, Johan had been visiting Yurika every day, so it was a good suggestion that could also explain that.

Until now, Yurika had been vaguely telling Renat and Meriel, ‘Johan and I were friends a long time ago.’

Meriel knew that Yurika was the Hyrard Duchy’s sacred beast, so she nodded with a knowing look and didn’t ask for details.

“That sounds good. It has some impact too.”

Yurika frowned and nodded slightly.

Seeing that, Johan thought that even if he had married her under the pretext of a clause that he would have a political marriage with the Medest Duchy’s princess, this relationship might not have changed much.

So now, wouldn’t it be more desirable to meet as humans with many things in common and slowly develop into lovers?

However, Yurika thought carefully and added.

“Then it would be good to say that we are considering engagement.”

When the word engagement came out, Johan momentarily became greedy, regardless of what was desirable, and asked with a pitiful voice.

“…Is it not good to just get engaged now?”

“Ah, that’s not going to happen.”

Yurika shook her head, her eyes shining.

“There will be a better timing.”

It was an tone as if all the calculations had already been completed. Then she turned her gaze and asked Jaden.

“Ah, did you happen to meet Meriel on your way here? I heard she was entering the palace.”

“I met her at the main gate.”

Jaden said grumbling.

“I guess His Highness the Crown Prince is calling her to ask her to be his partner for the banquet… Ugh, I don’t like it.”

“Why?”

“It’s not like he came to ask in person, he called her and asked….”

The person who quickly cut off Jaden’s sulking words was Johan.

“That’s very cool. Isn’t asking for a partner by calling them into one’s own territory the most exciting thing?”

“Ah.”

Only then did Jaden realize that Yurika had also called Johan and asked him to be her partner.

“Yes. A partner request should be made by calling them. Isn’t that right, Renat?”

Renat reluctantly nodded. Anyway, Yurika must have had something in mind to do this.

And that was true, Yurika was actually thinking a lot about various things.

One of them was that Prince Theodore should not be the main character of this victory banquet.

Of course, Johan had to be the main character, and the most talked about person had to be Meriel.

She had to let everyone know that she was the Crown Prince’s dignified partner.

It was also to establish the Medest Duchy’s position in high society.

However, if Prince Theodore were to announce his engagement to a woman named Libena that day, the victory banquet would be completely overshadowed by their issue.

Especially since no one knows the name Libena right now.

Seizing the post-war high society spotlight was a very important matter. The capital’s high society was practically nonexistent and was now in the starting stage, so it was necessary to establish a good position in the early stages.

“Libena Sevs… What kind of person is she?”

Jaden answered casually to Yurika’s muttering.

“Well, I heard she’s the daughter of a *nouveau riche* [newly rich] businessman. She must have a lot of money.”

No one except Yurika, who knew the original story, knew that Prince Theodore harbored ambitions for the throne.

Rather, Theodore was gaining people’s favor with his kind and gentle image, and even Crown Prince Roimund did not suspect him at this point.

But originally, politics needed money the most. Money was naturally coveted by those who aimed for the throne, so it was natural to find a backer who would be a source of funds.

‘That might be the temple. In that case, the engagement itself might be a trick.’

She had to find out whether Libena was a member of the temple at this banquet no matter what.

‘If she is a member of the temple, I have to act as if I think they are suspecting my identity too…….’

Yurika’s pink eyes sank coldly.

‘Whatever they’re planning, I won’t let it go their way.’

All the calculations had already been made.

“And Uncle.”

Yurika said, her eyes shining.

“There’s one thing I want to ask of Uncle too.”