I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 47

“……What is it?”

Of course, seeing me approach with a confident expression, one of them flinched and reacted sharply first.

“Ah.”

The Emperor was still giving his congratulatory speech from the head table, so I couldn’t make a loud noise.

After accepting a glass of champagne from a nearby server, I whispered in a nonchalant voice,

“I thought you were having an interesting conversation.”

I didn’t forget to add brightly to Iella and the young ladies, who were looking at my face with bewildered expressions.

“I can make it even more interesting, and you can ask the person involved if you have any questions.”

“Wh, what……”

One of the young ladies who had been very interested in my story flinched and opened her fan with a somewhat flamboyant gesture, drawing a large semicircle with her arm.

It was one of the social circles’ nonverbal expressions, indicating that she was very embarrassed and didn’t want to deal with someone who lacked refinement.

Indeed, directly confronting someone like I was doing now was quite rude in social circles.

However, I planned to act exactly that rudely all day today.

I turned to Iella, who was leading this whole conversation, and whispered softly,

“Whether I’m an orphan or not, I’m still the Medeste Duchess, and you have no manners.”

“Wh, what……”

“Haven’t you heard that Duke Johann Hyrrad is head over heels for me? How are you going to handle this when I become the Duchess Hyrrad later?”

Even though it was me saying it, it sounded exactly like the lines of an ‘arrogant adopted daughter drunk on power.’ I smiled brightly and added eerily.

“I’ve taken a lot of etiquette lessons at the ducal family; would you like me to teach you some manners directly?”

I was even reminded of Johann saying, ‘I think you’d be really good at it.’

“Ahem!”

As expected, Iella also vigorously unfolded her fan with a large gesture.

And I immediately pretended to be slightly surprised by her rough gesture and deliberately spilled the champagne.

Of course, the champagne spilled directly onto the hem of Iella’s dress.

“You……!”

It was when Iella was glaring at me, angry.

Of course, there was a slight time difference.

In any case, the Emperor’s congratulatory speech was in progress, so it was not easy to create a big commotion.

“Just a moment.”

And suddenly, someone approached the situation. It was Rivena.

“I am Rivena Sevice. I’m sorry for suddenly interrupting.”

I sparkled my eyes and smiled slightly inside.

‘Yes.’

As expected, Iella’s group was quite good bait.

‘You should have come by now.’

Rivena came on her own, so things were going according to plan.

Rivena was Prince Theodore’s partner.

In a way, it meant she was the partner of the highest authority figure in this place, aside from the head table.

Rivena whispered in a small voice to Iella, who hesitated for a moment.

“Since His Majesty the Emperor is giving a congratulatory speech right now… wouldn’t it be difficult for both of us if it became noisy?”

From afar, Theodore smiled and slightly raised his champagne glass.

It seemed that he was sending Rivena to give a small warning because it would be too much if he stepped in directly.

Of course, Iella immediately bowed her head and answered, ‘Yes.’

Even if she upset me by calling me a fake duchess, Meryl, the head of Medeste, had a gentle personality, so nothing much would happen, but upsetting the prince was another matter.

“Of course… I don’t know well, but it doesn’t seem good to say things that would upset someone in front of them.”

Rivena said gracefully.

“It’s a good day. Let’s have a good day saying only good things, shall we?”

The voice whispering quietly was kind.

The people around us looked at Rivena with admiration.

Everyone would obviously think that Theodore’s partner was quite noble.

It was the first time seeing her in the capital, but they would be evaluating her as quite strong and wise.

‘It’s going well.’

I, who was looking at Rivena with friendly eyes like the others, smiled with a somewhat moved expression.

‘Anyone who sees it would think that Rivena’s stock is only rising because of my troublemaking… but the important thing is to make it look that way.’

It would be a success if it looked like a naive orphan girl was acting without manners, as rumored.

‘Rivena, play the role of being good and wise for now.’

And let her suffer from that role.

‘I’ll make you regret spreading such vicious rumors about me.’

My rumors were something I could take care of later. That’s easy.

While I was standing confidently, Rivena quietly raised her hand and called the servant again.

Then, she picked up the champagne on the tray and handed it to me directly.

“I hope this will ease the Duchess’s mind, though it is a small gesture.”

“Thank you.”

I nonchalantly accepted the champagne glass that Rivena gave me. Rivena also picked up a champagne glass and lightly bumped it against my glass.

‘I knew it.’

Toasting meant creating a situation where I had to drink it now.

Because if I didn’t drink it now, it would be tantamount to ignoring her kindness.

‘Rivena is a person from the temple who came to eliminate me.’

And through that action, I immediately became completely convinced that Rivena was from the temple.

The majority of drugs are controlled by the temple [referring to a powerful organization, possibly religious, that holds significant influence].

Especially drugs that can harm people.

Just like Ella tried to make Johann a puppet through drugs in the past, the fastest way for the temple to eliminate me was through drugs.

‘And when the temple uses drugs, they absolutely only use people from the temple. It’s too dangerous to entrust the drug to outsiders.’

A slight cold sweat ran down my spine.

It was because I felt like I was facing the reality of the enemy that I had only vaguely guessed at until now.

However, I smiled brightly all the time.

It wasn’t difficult to act this much.

‘Then shall we go to the next stage.’

The pink champagne shimmered in the champagne glass that Rivena handed me.

I expected that if the temple wanted to eliminate me, they would definitely hover around me and create a situation where they could feed me something directly.

Of course, it must have been quite difficult until now.

I didn’t go outside the Medeste mansion unless it was for a special occasion. Moreover, all food and beverages in the Medeste mansion had been thoroughly tested for poison since the Jayden incident.

Therefore, this banquet was a huge opportunity to harm me, and if they joined hands with Prince Theodore, it was easy to use one of the imperial servants.

They could just tell them to hold a champagne glass mixed with drugs and keep hovering around Rivena.

This drug would obviously not take effect right now.

I thought it would be similar to the drug Ella tried to use on Johann before.

‘Confirmation should be done quickly.’

Rivena probably planned to create a situation where she could offer me champagne during the banquet.

But I was a little busy to wait for that situation.

The banquet was a limited time, and I had to start my counterattack as well.

Rivena was staring at me with gentle eyes as if telling me to drink quickly.

I could feel Theodore watching us from afar as well. His blue eyes sparkled.

I stared at the glass for a moment and smiled brightly.

“Thank you for your kindness in mediating, Young Lady.”

Then I whispered again.

“To repay that kindness, I will give this champagne to Young Lady Iella.”

I smiled more deeply at Rivena, who had a slightly surprised expression, and handed the champagne she gave me to Iella.

“Here, let’s clear up our grudges with this.”

And whispered as if bestowing a great favor.

“Someone said something inappropriate and caused an unnecessary commotion, but now I want to focus on Johann’s congratulatory speech.”

Iella hesitated slightly and rolled her eyes.

She didn’t seem to want to clear up her grudges because of my obnoxious words, but not accepting this meant that she wouldn’t even accept Rivena’s mediation.

Of course, I didn’t care about Iella’s hesitation.

My only concern was Rivena.

‘Now, what are you going to do?’

Rivena was smiling, but she must have been embarrassed inside.

Moreover, she had already created an image of a ‘wise and kind prince’s partner’ to the people around her, so she couldn’t suddenly order me to drink in a high-handed manner.

‘A good image is dangerous for that reason. It’s not easy to change your attitude now, is it?’

I was smiling and watching to see how she would handle this when suddenly a strange man’s gentle voice was heard.

“Let’s stop here.”

“I hope everyone will focus on His Majesty’s congratulatory speech, as the Medeste Duchess said. I’ll take this.”

It was Prince Theodore who had approached before I knew it.

‘……Is the prince stepping in directly like this?’

Theodore lightly accepted the champagne I was holding.

The moment the glass was handed over, our fingers accidentally brushed. At that moment, Theodore’s eyes widened and then narrowed in an instant.