I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 45

Theodore had never personally escorted a noble lady before.

Everyone whispered, “Libena? Who is that lady?” or “Where is Sevce County?”

Due to the prolonged war, social activities were limited, so few were familiar with the local noble families, and no one could answer.

Soon, Theodore entered with a bright smile, escorting a woman.

No one recognized Libena. Her luscious red hair was styled elegantly, her enchanting green eyes shone, and she walked gracefully.

Libena smiled leisurely at the attention and confidently looked around.

“Yohan Hairan is a war hero, and Yurika Medeste is a properly adopted daughter of the Medeste family. I heard the head of the family, Meriel, is protecting her.”

“It can’t be helped. Suspicious points can’t be ignored… I have no choice but to venture out and find out for myself.”

Libena, who had been immersed in research in the temple’s underground laboratory, finally emerged into society.

She was particularly concerned about the divine beast that seemed to have slipped from her grasp and the mysterious adopted daughter guarding its place.

‘I never knew Yohan Hairan was such a powerful wizard. If I had known, I would have dealt with him sooner.’

The adopted daughter had been living quietly in the Medeste family, so Libena had only been observing her. She deeply regretted not acting sooner.

‘Moreover, if she starts attending social events as Yohan’s partner, she could become a threat to the temple.’

Dealing with the Medeste’s princess might be troublesome, but to eliminate future problems, she had to take direct action.

‘If you were alive…’

Libena scanned the surroundings, looking for Yurika Medeste, but she didn’t seem to have arrived yet.

‘You will be my biggest mistake.’

As High Priest Partre said, there was little chance that Yurika had humanized and entered the Medeste Duchy to take the position of adopted daughter.

Nevertheless, Libena thought she should be wary of that ‘Yurika Medeste.’

‘I need to rectify my mistakes so I can sleep comfortably.’

Even if Yurika Medeste was not that divine beast, Libena wasn’t going to leave that girl alone anyway.

After all, there was no need to keep a suspicious risk factor alive.

Libena was quite thorough and had the backing of the temple and the prince. So, she had done a lot of groundwork in advance.

One of her strategies was to subtly ruin Yurika’s reputation before this banquet even started.

She had already spread rumors that the adopted daughter of the Medeste Duchy was very arrogant and didn’t know her place.

If it was difficult to eliminate her immediately, she intended to undermine her position in the Medeste family in the long term.

“I hope there will be gains,” Theodore said nonchalantly beside her.

“Especially since you’ve bet on my engagement.”

“I appreciate your consideration. I will resolve it quickly.”

“Well, I owe the temple and you a lot.”

Libena smiled slightly inwardly, as if that were the case.

In fact, Theodore was a wizard, but he hid that fact from everyone.

If that fact were known, he could be drafted into the war. Leaving the capital and the crown prince for the indefinite battlefield was a terrible prospect for him.

The temple had been secretly suppressing his magic power. This allowed him to conceal the fact that he was quite a strong wizard.

“It’s so much easier now that the calming potion is available. I don’t even have to go to the temple.”

Theodore was a young man with soft silver hair and blue eyes.

At first glance, he had a very kind impression, and his eyes were always curved like crescents, but in fact, he was a man with a dark ambition.

Theodore licked his lips as if he was disappointed and muttered.

“But it was better to be calmed by the divine beast.”

“Is there a big difference in function? I’m not a wizard, so…”

“Well, there’s no difference in function, but there was a feeling that’s hard to explain.”

“Ah…”

Libena thought to herself, ‘If you can’t explain it, there’s no reason; you’re just being difficult because of your feelings,’ but she didn’t show it.

“It can’t be compared to that squirrel divine beast that I kept asking for.”

Theodore’s round blue eyes narrowed.

“When I think of that squirrel divine beast, I feel so wronged no matter how much I think about it. I wanted it so much, but in the end, it was handed over to another noble.”

“It’s just… it’s just because that was His Highness’s first calming experience. There’s no difference from other divine beasts.”

Libena said politely, thinking, ‘Here we go again.’

“And that divine beast was unconscious at that time. Anyway, for various reasons, that squirrel was much more unstable than other divine beasts. I couldn’t possibly give it to His Highness.”

“But isn’t it too much that you didn’t even tell me where you sent it?”

Theodore expressed his dissatisfaction in a low voice.

“Now that I’m using the calming potion, I want that divine beast even more. Apart from the minimum calming effect.”

“That’s just because I don’t remember. These days, I can’t even remember the experiments I did yesterday.”

“Certainly, that squirrel was clearly different from other divine beasts…”

“Anyway, well… there’s a calming potion now. People don’t even use the term ‘divine beast’ these days.”

Libena glossed over it and casually manicured her nails to quickly change the subject.

‘Subtly sharp? That squirrel was a pretty strong divine beast injected with the magic power of the Medeste Duke.’

At the same time, she inwardly canceled what she had just dismissed as ‘just a feeling.’

Theodore often used expressions such as ‘intuition’ or ‘just that feeling,’ and Libena, who was accustomed to quantitative experiments, hated such vague terms.

Nevertheless, she sometimes thought that his ‘feeling’ seemed to be right in these cases.

Anyway, Theodore clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed at Libena’s uninterested reaction and muttered.

“It would be nice if I could get that feeling one more time. A great calming is like a miracle to a wizard.”

Libena swallowed the words, ‘I got rid of that divine beast myself, so you can never get that feeling again, and if I hadn’t gotten rid of it then, I would have used any means to get rid of it today.’

Their secret conversation ended there.

“Your Highness, it’s been a while.”

Soon, people began to gather to greet Libena and Theodore.

“Did you say you were Lady Sevce? Nice to meet you.”

Libena smiled and began to mingle leisurely among the curious people.

After some time, the bell rang, and the servant shouted loudly.

“Duke Yohan Hairan enters!”

Everyone’s eyes immediately turned to the entrance of the banquet hall.

His actions after the victory were a bit strange, but Yohan Hairan was a war hero and the main attraction of this banquet anyway.

Everyone had a rough idea of who his partner would be.

These days, Yohan visited the Medeste Duke’s residence every day, and there had been rumors that he was dating Yurika Medeste, not Meriel, for several days.

“Princess Yurika Medeste enters!”

Soon, Yohan Hairan, with the happiest expression in the world, entered with Yurika, who had a confident face.

‘That child is… Medeste’s adopted daughter, huh.’

Libena narrowed her eyes as she looked at Yurika, who was holding her head high.

Wearing luxurious dresses and flashy accessories that caught the eye, she immediately attracted people’s attention.

Light brown hair and round pink eyes… she certainly looked similar to the missing Yurika.

‘The more I research, the more I investigate, the more it seems that the divine beast is that Yurika.’

Libena’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her.

‘If that’s the case… it would be better for you to disappear quietly without dragging things out.’

Without knowing what Libena was thinking, Theodore crossed his arms and looked at Yohan and Yurika with interest.

“Hmm.”

Theodore tilted his head and muttered.

“Seeing that light brown hair reminds me even more of the squirrel back then.”

* * *

Yurika, who entered the banquet hall, looked around with a calm face while feeling burdened by the attention of the people.

She also had her own thoughts.

‘Even if I’m a Medeste princess, my position is not yet solid, so I feel sorry for Yohan. But I have to survive first… Later, I must let everyone know that we broke up because of me to protect Yohan’s reputation.’

She didn’t know how the life of Yohan, the villain obsessed with Meriel, would go, but it was true that he had an unfortunate childhood.

So, Yurika hoped that he would live a proper life in the future.

She already felt sorry for him for requesting an event from the temple because of her, which led to rumors of him being a troublemaker, but now she was even going to be his partner, so she couldn’t help but feel more sorry.

Yurika whispered to Yohan and apologized again.

“I’m sorry for asking you for so many favors at this banquet. I’m also sorry that I can’t help your reputation.”

“What?”

Of course, unlike Yurika, who was worried, Yohan was so happy just to be attending the banquet as her partner that he felt like he was flying.

Before coming to the banquet, his aide said something unlucky, though.

“Don’t think that everything is going to be resolved so easily, Duke. If partners at a banquet always got along well, there would be no conflicts due to love in the world, right?”

His aide carefully advised Yohan, who had a face that seemed to have everything in the world.

“Be careful because you may meet a powerful rival at the banquet. Anything can hit you in the back of the head in an unexpected situation.”