I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain

Becoming a squirrel that saves villains Episode 8

Johann showed up at the restaurant looking disheveled. His fever had risen overnight, and his complexion was at its worst. Unfortunately, his freshly laundered clothes didn’t arrive, so he had to wear the sweat-soaked clothes he had on from last night.

Although the clothes themselves were luxurious conqueror’s clothes worn by nobles, they were of no value in their current state.

“Oh my, Johann. You don’t look very well today.”

Ella fanned herself and looked at Johann with a worried expression.

“Well… my illness has been getting worse lately.”

Medest’s Lady and Lady Mariel, who were sitting in front of Johann, both looked embarrassed.

It was a widespread rumor throughout the continent that the eldest son of the Hailad Duke was a constant patient.

However, they did not expect him to look this bad.

“Excuse me, guests, but if Johann is too tired, can we tell him to rest even during the meal?”

Ella asked Medest’s Lady with a sincere expression, and Medest’s Lady nodded naturally.

“Of course. I know how tiring this kind of public event can be, as I’m also weak.”

Medest’s Lady smiled gently and spoke softly to Johann.

“You can go rest in your room whenever you want. Don’t worry about us.”

“Thank you very much.”

Johann thanked her elegantly despite his pale face and sat down.

His presence echoed loudly in the momentarily quiet restaurant.

Ella gave a knowing smile while looking at the embarrassed Medest mother and daughter who exchanged glances.

She deliberately told Taejin to come a little later.

It was clear that if Tae would appear in this situation, he would look much better than Johann.

“But those purple eyes… give me chills, really.”

Ella frowned as she looked at Johann’s cold expression.

It was natural for Johann’s presence to be unpleasant, as he was the son of his stepmother who had given birth to him for her own gain.

However, besides this primitive reason, Ella felt bad and uneasy when she saw Johann.

It was because it seemed like there was something unbreakable deep inside him, like something that could never be broken even if he were locked up in a tower.

“That guy manifested as a wizard when he was only five years old.”

When five-year-old Johann used incomplete magic for the first time, Ella felt as though everything in front of her was darkening.

Since she couldn’t pass on the position of the Duke’s successor to Johann like this, Ella quickly made up her mind to hide Johann’s talent.

Duke Hylard still didn’t know that Johann was a wizard. This was because Johann went to war before he was two years old, before Tegen was even born.

Even in the letters, Ella only relayed brief messages that the children were doing well, although Johann seemed a little sick.

They even went so far as to forge a letter to accompany the real one, with a servant who could mimic Johann’s handwriting.

After all, Duke Hylard didn’t know Johann’s handwriting.

The fortunate thing was that only Ella and the court physician knew that Johann was an incredible wizard.

Under Ella’s orders, the court physician, who already had an inappropriate relationship with her, disguised Johann’s pain caused by his magic as a disease.

“Being an incredible wizard in this case is actually poisonous. If you leave that incredible power alone, his body will gradually weaken on its own. It’s because he can’t calm down when it’s crucial. If you leave it for a long time, his organs will all suffer internal injuries, and in the end, he won’t be able to use magic properly.”

Fortunately, the court physician suggested that leaving him alone would weaken him, which was easy for Ella.

If it weren’t for the damn rule that one person from each family had to go to war, Johann would have been killed off long ago…

But it was always unknown when Duke Hylard would go to war.

Death was not something that even a high-ranking noble or great wizard could avoid.

In fact, even Duke Medest’s prowess as a warrior couldn’t prevent his disappearance from the battlefield a few years ago.

“Um, are you really okay?”

Meryl, who had never seen Johann trembling and struggling to even swallow water, spoke up cautiously.

“If it’s hard for you, we’re really okay, so you can come in now.”

As befitting of the “Empire’s Flower,” even at sixteen, Meryl was beautiful, with wavy blonde hair and lovely pink eyes just like the Duchess of Medest.

Her fair skin, harmonious facial features, and kind and gentle demeanor were already enough to make the Empire’s social circles flutter.

“Where did he get that face, it’s embarrassing to be a man…?”

Ella glanced surreptitiously at Johann, but…

At that time, the plan was to continuously announce to the public that Tezen was a great wizard, so that rumors wouldn’t spread that she killed him for fear of losing the succession to Johan.

Since everyone knew that the magic used by young wizards was unstable anyway, no one would ask Tezen to perform magic directly.

Just in case the Duke of Highland returned and someone said, “Actually, Lady Ella abused Johan,” she didn’t touch Johan’s body.

As Tezen was two years younger than Johan, she could simply excuse his misbehavior as “a mischievous act of his peer.”

“I wish I could just die and come back after the war is over…”.

However, the future was unpredictable, and Ella had to move as carefully as possible from her position.

Therefore, showing Tezen’s superiority at a dinner with a nobleman like the Duke of Medest was a good strategy.

It was impulsive to plan to calm Tezen, who was proud of not being able to torment Johan yesterday, but the more she thought about it, the better decision it seemed to be.

“Shinsuyo? Oh my.”

Maryell’s gaze, which had been worrying about Johan, turned to the squirrel.

The squirrel was blinking its eyes cutely with a large pink ribbon tied to its head.

“I’m seeing a shinsu for the first time! Aren’t there not many in the empire? I heard it’s really hard to get.”

Maryell expressed her sincere admiration, elegantly turning the phrase “very expensive” into “really hard to get.”

The Duchess of Medest also commented on the squirrel as if it was fascinating.

“To think that it requires such power to have a shinsu… Tezen Gongja seems to resemble the Duke of Highland. The Duke of Highland also always struggled with whether to buy a shinsu or not, despite being quite a powerful wizard himself.”

Although the Duke of Highland did not need a shinsu to that extent, he was still a fairly strong wizard, so there was some plausibility to it.

Looking at the squirrel, Maryell said, unable to take her eyes off it.

“How do you receive it? I heard it’s through contact. Oh my, if I had known I was going to see a shinsu today, I would have studied instead of coming.”

Tezen replied, petting the squirrel’s head gently with the ribbon tied to it.

“Isn’t it different for each shinsu? My squirrel had me touch its forehead. Then soon the pain subsided and it was okay.”

“At that moment, with a loud noise, the glass in front of Johannes shattered.

Only then did the people who had been there realize that Johannes, who had said goodbye and was supposed to have left for the tower, was still sitting there.

“Johannes, be careful,” Ella commanded in a stern voice now that she had achieved her purpose.

“As I suspected, it won’t work out. You’re not in a state to receive guests, so it’s best for you to go back. Fortunately, the guests have all agreed to let it go.”

In fact, it was not Johannes who had broken the glass himself. It was the result of his uncontrolled magical power that had burst out as his emotions surged. After all, young sorcerers’ magic was extremely unstable.

As the maid ran over to clear the broken glass in the distance, Johannes spoke with a calm expression.

“No, thank you.”

His purple eyes were focused on the squirrel in Tegen’s arms.

His previously trembling voice was now clear and distinct.

“I’ve changed my mind. I’ll continue dining here.”