I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 7

Became a Squirrel to Save the Villain 7

I put my front paw on his forehead and absorbed mana, my paw feeling hot. It felt like I had a fever.

“Kyuoong.”

Honestly, I felt so sorry for him.

You’d have to be inhuman not to feel sorry for the young villain in this situation, really.

I sighed once more, looking at the tray placed on the floor.

All that was there were dry, crumbly pieces of bread and some lukewarm, watery soup.

It must have been because I ran away today that they gave him such a poor meal.

“Thank you…”

Johan whispered weakly, raising a finger to stroke my back. His long fingers gently stroked my fur.

Even though I had absorbed all the mana I could today, I didn’t remove my paw because I felt sorry for him.

His forehead was burning with fever, and he would be publicly humiliated in front of outsiders tomorrow.

Everyone would whisper that the eldest son of the Hylard Duchy was sick and unable to fulfill his duties.

Moreover, Hylard originally adhered to a merit-based succession system, not one centered on the eldest son.

It was practically advertising that ‘Hylard’s eldest son is not fit to inherit the title.’

In this situation, I didn’t know whether Johan would fall in love with Meriel at first sight as in the original story, but it was obvious that he would show a miserable figure in front of the female lead.

“Kyukyung.”

And since Tezen said he would take me, I would have to see it all.

To stay here, I had to act like a squirrel who knew her place, even if she wasn’t an obedient one, so I would quietly stay in Tezen’s arms tomorrow, but…

Still, the thought of seeing Johan’s sickly face made me sigh involuntarily.

I wasn’t such a reckless squirrel as to throw acorns if things went wrong there.

In the end, that meant I had to watch the whole thing.

Just imagining it made me feel down.

“Your name.”

Then, Johan said with a faint smile as he lay there, looking dejected.

“I’ve been thinking about it all day… How about Mary?”

Oh my god, that’s terrible.

I shook my head immediately.

It’s not even a shortened version of the female lead’s name, what…

“…Then, how about Liel?”

That’s really bad. I shook my head even more violently, as if to say I absolutely hated it.

I sighed. I didn’t want a fake female lead’s name, no matter what.

I couldn’t even possess a normal human, let alone the female lead, and now he’s teasing me…

“Okay… I’ll think about it more.”

Johan muttered gloomily. Well, it wasn’t a sin to have bad naming sense.

I raised my front paw and tapped his cheek, as if to cheer him up.

I didn’t need to be with him any longer. I had absorbed all the mana I could absorb today.

I couldn’t do anything about simple cold symptoms that weren’t related to mana overload, but his expression was much more peaceful than before.

“…Are you going?”

As if he sensed my thoughts, Johan asked sadly.

The purple eyes under his long eyelashes trembled slightly, as beautiful as jewels.

I briefly thought about my luxurious cushion in Tezen’s room and the overflowing pile of acorns, chestnuts, and sunflower seeds.

It was much more comfortable to rest in Tezen’s room, but…

“Is it because you don’t like the name… that you don’t want to be with me anymore?”

Johan’s pretty eyes seemed to be filled with tears, so I sighed and shook my head.

Even with that pathetic expression, he was still handsome.

‘Well, he’s going to have a harder time tomorrow… should I stay by his side a little longer?’

The thought of being held by Tezen and watching him get publicly humiliated already made me bitter.

‘I should comfort him in advance.’

I laid down on Johan’s palm in my own way of comforting him.

‘Here, look at my belly.’

Honestly, my belly was covered in white, fluffy fur, making it very pleasant to touch.

It was not only pleasantly warm to the touch, but you could even feel my heart beating.

Not just anyone could scratch a squirrel’s belly, so I did him a great favor because I felt sorry for Johan tomorrow.

‘What are you doing? Touch it. It’ll feel good, right?’

I pointed to Johan’s hand once, then pretended to rub my belly with my hand.

“Ah… okay.”

Johan looked at me with surprised eyes for a moment, then giggled and gently stroked my belly with his fingers.

He even slowly drew circles with his thumb near my pounding heart.

“It’s warm and so nice, squirrel,” Johan whispered, rubbing his cheek against my head. Of course, it would feel good. Whose belly is it?

I liked the touch of his hand stroking my belly so much that I didn’t hear the next words properly.

“My squirrel.”

And, because I still couldn’t read, I didn’t read a passage from the book about divine beasts that was spread out on Johan’s bedside.

[Magicians whose mana has been stabilized by a divine beast usually develop a strong possessiveness towards that divine beast.]

[In severe cases, they may be overwhelmed by unbearable jealousy after seeing the divine beast with another magician.]

* * *

“Good morning, Divine Beast.”

The next morning, a maid came to Tezen’s room. “We will dress you up today, as there will be guests.”

I didn’t like any of the people in this house, so I glared at the maid with a stern look as a squirrel.

However, the maid was not at all affected by my glare and carefully picked me up and headed to the bathroom.

“Kyuoong!”

‘What, what is it! What is it!’

The maid didn’t answer and pushed me into a small basin.

Then, she began to carefully wash me in warm water with scented oil.

“Kyukyung! Kung!”

‘Damn it! I hate it but I like it!’

The instinct as a squirrel who didn’t want to be washed and the instinct as a human who liked the warmth collided.

Come to think of it, I had only shaken off my fur after being rained on yesterday, but I hadn’t taken a bath.

As I sighed and rubbed my face dry because I was confused, the maid chuckled.

“Kyung?”

“I’m sorry, Divine Beast.”

The maid held back her laughter and patted my fur dry with a handkerchief.

“It’s just too insignificant… I’m sorry for laughing… hah, I’m sorry.” “Kyuoong…”

I had been very strict and serious since the maid came in, but she said I was insignificant, which was a very insulting remark.

Honestly, I had a very cynical and realistic personality rather than a cute and adorable one.

You could say that my personality was quite different from my appearance. So I couldn’t help but be angry at the word ‘insignificant.’

But my appearance in the mirror… was too squirrel-like… so I decided to forgive the maid.

Because I am a rational and objective person.

“Now, shall we choose a ribbon?”

The maid placed a wooden box full of ribbons in front of me.

I seriously crossed my arms and pondered, then placed my front paw on a purple ribbon with a thud.

It was because I was reminded of Johan’s sad and pretty eyes for some reason.

“Those dull colors are not good for welcoming guests, let’s go with this one.”

Then why did you show it to me?

The maid completely ignored my opinion and picked out a pink ribbon and tied it around my neck.

I stomped one foot on the ground in dissatisfaction. Of course, I was ignored.

“Kyuoong…”

“Oh my, how cute.”

The ribbon around my neck was subtly annoying, but I decided to put up with it because I looked really cute in the mirror.

The maid brushed my fur once, slightly lifted the fur above my forehead, and gave me sunflower seeds, thanking me for my cooperation.

Hmph, I don’t like any of the maids in this house, but sunflower seeds are innocent.

While I was stuffing my cheeks with sunflower seeds, the door burst open and Tezen came in.

“Oh, slave.”

I stared blankly at Tezen.

Good quality black hair, round red eyes. Plump cheeks with a healthy amount of fat, healthy and well-proportioned arms and legs. He couldn’t be called handsome, but anyone could see that he was a well-raised young nobleman.

Tezen flicked my forehead once and sneered.

“You’ve dolled up a bit?”

“Kyuoong.”

‘Yeah. You’ve dolled up a lot.’

His neatly styled hair and the obviously expensive clothes. There was no doubt that he had dressed up like crazy.

Well, the Medest family members are very important guests.

Moreover, Meriel is only sixteen years old, but she is already famous as a great beauty in the empire.

Tezen would also be eager to impress Meriel.

“Now, let’s go.”

Tezen smiled brightly and picked me up.

‘And why… do I feel like I’ve become your most expensive accessory?’

Judging by the commotion outside, the guests seemed to have already arrived.

Hugging Tezen, who smelled nice, I started to go down to the dining room.

‘If Tezen is dressed up like this… how badly has Johan been messed up?’

Perhaps the reason Tezen’s steps seemed so cheerful was because of that.

To contrast the two, Ella would have made Johan look even more miserable than usual.

Her goal was to make everyone naturally think of Tezen when they heard the words ‘Hylard’s heir.’

The war was long and there was no end in sight.

Now, no one in the mansion thought that Duke Hylard would return anytime soon.

Rather, Ella would want to keep Duke Hylard in the battlefield forever.

And she would hope that he would quietly die in battle when the war was over.

‘It’s a mess, a mess.’

As I sighed deeply, Tezen and I arrived at the dining room.

“I apologize for being late.”

Tezen said fluently, standing in front of the guests.

“I had a bit of a headache because of my mana. I was a little late because I was being calmed by the divine beast.”

No, I never calmed you down? You’re lying just because I can’t talk?

I glared at Tezen, then suddenly realized that Johan had already arrived.

Did he fall in love at first sight with the warm and kind female lead like in the original story?

It’s a doomed love anyway, so it would be better for him not to fall too hard.

But Johan’s purple eyes were constantly directed at me.