I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 90

“You!”

In her wretched state, Ella gnashed her teeth and screamed as soon as she saw Johann.

“Even if we aren’t blood-related, we were once family. How could you treat your legal mother like this?”

Ella spat out curses and even saliva.

Of course, Ella hadn’t always reacted hysterically the moment Johann arrived.

At first, she had groveled at Johann’s feet, begging for forgiveness and pleading for mercy.

But when all her entreaties failed, she began to hurl insults freely.

“Well.”

Johann replied calmly, his expression devoid of emotion.

“Didn’t you treat me, your legal son, exactly the same way?”

“What? What did I do wrong? All I did was marry your father!”

“Young Johann Hyrard was also innocent. He was just born as my father’s son.”

Johann glanced around the prison with indifferent eyes, assessed their condition, and immediately turned away.

His occasional visits weren’t necessarily to see Ella and Tezen’s faces.

Rather, it was to directly show the guards watching them that he was paying attention, keeping them on their toes.

“You wicked people! Don’t trust Johann Hyrard! A crazy wizard can’t get along with anyone!”

Ella shouted to the guards around her.

“He’s just pretending to be human. He knows nothing of loyalty or honor!”

“Ah, right.”

Johann replied in a languid tone, rubbing his eyes as if tired.

“I don’t know those things. I pretend to know, but I really don’t.”

The lack of sincerity in his reply made him seem even more terrifying.

“But didn’t you desperately want to make your son a wizard who knows nothing of loyalty or honor?”

Speechless, Ella caught her breath and changed the subject.

“You resemble your father in the most terrible ways.”

She continued in a seething voice.

“Your father was just as ruthless and indifferent as you. Ah, well. Wizards are just that kind of breed.”

Johann showed no particular reaction and turned away.

“Do you know that your mother died at your father’s hand? Driven mad by jealousy.”

Johann knew nothing about his mother.

Noticing his slight pause, Ella was gleeful.

“Your father loved your mother, not me.”

She continued, panting in a hoarse voice.

“In other words, your mother died because your father loved her. It’s only natural. How could a wizard have a normal love? You know that better than anyone.”

“……”

“Just as your father was the worst to you, and just as your mother and I were unhappy because of your father…”

She cursed with gleaming eyes.

“You will never be able to create a proper family. Just like all the spouses involved with the Hyrard Duchy throughout history.”

The prison guards protecting Ella rushed to gag her, but she strained her neck and shouted.

“Try to imitate a human as much as you want! You’re still an abnormal wizard. The Hyrard line will either end with you or you’ll have a child just as unhappy as you. Any woman who gets involved with you will be miserable. You’ll wither her away and end up making her that way.”

Ella gave a victorious smile, looking into Johann’s calm eyes.

She had expected Johann to rage, demanding to know more secrets about his mother.

Ella licked her dry lips and continued with malice in her eyes.

“Your father was obsessively attached to your mother. Aren’t you curious about the detailed process of that destruction?”

But Ella’s expectations were not met.

Johann shrugged, looking completely indifferent.

“What do my parents have to do with me? They didn’t raise me, did they? I don’t even know what they look like.”

It was as if he couldn’t understand why Ella was making a fuss about that fact.

And that in itself was the problem, as Ella shouted.

“Wizards are not normal after all! The blood of wizards is clearly the curse of Hyrard…”

Ella couldn’t speak any further.

The guards, noticing Johann’s gaze, took immediate action.

“Aaaaaaah!”

While Ella’s screams echoed, Johann slowly walked away without any change in expression.

On his way out, Tezen, who was separately imprisoned in the dungeon, sat in a corner glaring at Johann.

Tezen, who had been plump and always dressed in fine clothes, had become a miserable-looking adult.

“You will surely be unhappy.”

Tezen muttered, looking at Johann.

His eyes were also filled with madness.

“Are you happy now that you have everything that was mine?”

And Tezen still thought that everything in this duchy was his, just as he had thought throughout his childhood.

“I knew you envied me ever since you were eyeing my squirrel.”

The word ‘squirrel’ caught Johann’s attention as he was about to ignore the nonsense and pass by.

As Johann slowly stopped, Tezen laughed grotesquely and continued.

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice? You were always staring at my squirrel with such envious eyes, no matter where we went?”

Just then, a large stone on the ceiling of the prison fell on Tezen – clearly magic.

“Aaaaaaah!”

“Think whatever you want. I don’t care about the thoughts of an insect. But…”

Johann said coldly as Tezen screamed and rolled on the floor.

“It wasn’t your squirrel.”

His purple eyes gleamed eerily.

“If you say that again, you won’t be able to speak again.”

Tezen couldn’t say anything more because of the oppressive atmosphere Johann exuded.

There was an unapproachable danger that could only be felt from a wizard who had just used magic.

“Remember well, brother.”

Johann said, looking at Tezen with contempt.

“I remember everything that happened between us, too.”

While Tezen sobbed quietly, Johann slowly walked out of the underground prison.

Bright sunlight streamed into the garden, and his eyes, unaccustomed to the light, squinted for a moment.

The Hyrard Duchy without Yurika.

She had only come and stayed for a few days, but he already felt her absence.

Perhaps it was the life he had dreamed of throughout the war: living an ordinary life with Yurika in the Hyrard Duchy.

And those few days were both happy and painful for him.

Ella’s words weren’t entirely wrong. Being a wizard was more of a curse than a blessing.

The constant pain of having to be together, the possessiveness that felt like his body was burning, a personality that was endlessly persistent about certain things but completely indifferent to others.

Johann wanted to be a truly human partner to Yurika, who wanted to live as a human more than anyone else.

And it was too difficult for him.

Would it have been easier if he wasn’t a wizard?

If he had been sure that his desire for Yurika was within normal bounds, would he have been able to express his feelings fully without being so cautious?

Even now, he wanted to rush to the Medest Duchy to see Yurika, but he was holding back, afraid that she would find it too burdensome.

Besides, Teodoro was imprisoned and the temple was almost destroyed, so everything was going according to Yurika’s wishes… He was afraid that she would say that they shouldn’t be fake lovers anymore, that there was no need.

Could he accept that fact?

He had already become accustomed to expressing himself as he wanted in the past.

He pretended not to care, but he was not entirely unconcerned about what Ella had said about his mother and father.

There had never been a happy spouse involved with a Hyrard wizard….

“He’s just pretending to be human. He knows nothing of loyalty or honor!”

Ella’s words might have been true.

He also found concepts like loyalty and honor too vague.

He hated Teodoro, who kidnapped Yurika, so much that he wanted to tear him to pieces… but he didn’t completely fail to understand him.

No, perhaps he raged so much more because he understood.

Johann was lost in thought as he strolled through the garden.

“Your Grace!”

The butler rushed over and handed him a letter.

“A letter has arrived from the Medest Duchy. It’s from Lady Yurika Medest.”

Johann immediately opened the letter and began to read, his face brightening.

The failed love of his predecessors was troubling, but good news was good news.

The letter was simple.

There was something she needed to investigate, and the person in question worshiped Johann, so she thought they should go together. She was sorry to ask, but could he accompany her and help?

Johann’s lips immediately curved into a smile.

It seemed Yurika still needed him as a fake lover.

‘She’s probably thinking this is the last time.’

And Johann knew very well that Yurika wouldn’t continue to ask him for favors like this.

‘So… I need to drive in the wedge this time.’