I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain – Chapter 100

Author: Chewyy

In fact, it was a book that even his biological son, the crown prince, Roymond, had not been able to read.

Of course, the book wouldn’t be easily accessible.

“Paul is right,” I said sullenly.

“Medes lost even its sense of identity as a noble family over the past hundred years.”

They’d practically forgotten about the vassal families that once served them too.

Even if it wasn’t in any records, that didn’t mean it never existed.

So it was understandable why Paul kept his mouth shut to us.

At least Patre saved their lives, so why would he bother sharing anything with the untrustworthy Medes?

If it weren’t for Yohan, I would never have known all this.

I’d even tried talking to Trevor in the afternoon, but he was clearly not in his right mind.

“According to Paul… high-ranking noble families have power, but they also suffer a kind of backlash. The royal family calls it a ‘curse.’”

“Hmm.”

“And I have a feeling… the secret might be hidden in His Majesty’s private library.”

If you pieced things together, a lot of things began to make sense.

The dissolution of the Elder council, the strengthening of imperial power, and the subsequent gradual loss of history by the nobles.

“Yurika.”

And then Yohan, who had been staring at me blankly, slowly opened his mouth.

“About that thing we talked about earlier….”

“Even if the imperial family is involved and you want to stop me, I…”

“Whatever you’re planning… can I do it with you?”

“Huh….?”

I looked at Yohan with surprised eyes.

Until now, Yohan had always just been my supporter.

He’d always had this quiet and reliable air—‘If it’s something you’re doing, I want to help however I can!’

But now, his expression was different.

‘Right… even earlier, when the curse came up, he looked a little off.’

This time, it meant that it wasn’t an action to win my favor.

“The Hyrad family doesn’t have many old records either,” Yohan said slowly.

“I thought it was because I returned to the Duke’s house after becoming an adult.… But now, it’s a bit suspicious that Medest is like that too.”

There were only three ancient ducal families in the empire:

Hyrad, Medes, and Elijah.

The Elijah family had lost most of their influence in the capital since their direct lineage had been cut off a long time ago.

So, the only noble families with great power are the Hyrad and Medes. And yet neither had decent records?

“And it’s strange how magic doesn’t work on royalty.’

Yohan furrowed his brows and muttered,

“I looked into it too… the records say magic can’t be used on the Emperor specifically. But at some point, that wording changed to ‘Royal family’ in general.”

I nodded with a serious face.

Honestly, no one had really cared whether the Hyrad could harm the Emperor or the royal family.

That’s because not all of the Hyrad family were great wizards, and their magic was mostly physical in nature.

When in life would you ever have reason to attack royalty directly?

And with the wars dragging on for so long, nobody had the luxury to care about such things—not even the Hyrad themselves.

“I wish the previous Duke of Hyrad were still alive,” I said, eyes shifting thoughtfully.

“We could’ve at least asked him something… now there’s only you, so it must feel overwhelming.”

“Not really….”

Yohan crossed his arms, his expression indifferent.

“Even if he were around, I doubt he’d be much help.”

“Why?”

“According to Ella, he was a little crazy.”

His face looked more gloomy than ever.

I quietly studied his shadowed expression and gently took his hand.

Then he smiled brightly and spoke cheerfully.

“Alright, let’s figure this out together.”

Yohan once said that while magical powers are good, they are more of a curse than a blessing.

As Paul says, power comes with a price.

It would make sense to call it a ‘curse’.

“Let’s find out what kind of curse is placed on us.”

Yohan looked at me silently as I grinned, then spoke in a somewhat subdued voice.

“Yurika.”

“huh?”

“About…. the child-planning thing I mentioned earlier…..”

I, who was trying to strengthen my resolve and share the same sense of purpose with my lover, was shocked by the sudden topic.

“Ah… oh.”

“Why are you making such a ridiculous expression?”

“Isn’t that obvious? It’s so sudden.” I said, blinking.

“I mean… this doesn’t seem like the right order of things…”

“Oh? Then in terms of ‘order’…”

Yohan’s eyes narrowed.

He rubbed his flushed eye and leaned toward me.

“You were waiting for a proposal, weren’t you, Yurika?”

“What are you talking about?”

It was obvious that he was trying to seduce me, so I rolled my eyes and pushed his chest away— though it didn’t budge.

“It’s not the time to be thinking about that, okay? Don’t tell me you actually want to die by a tiger at the wedding.”

“Yeah… that’d be a bit of a problem.”

Yohan shrugged like it wasn’t a problem at all.

“Wouldn’t want Father-in-law getting so upset he attacks the guests…”

I’d meant it as a joke, hoping we could figure out the curse to somehow help bring his father back… but of course, he took it seriously.

And when I leaned into him, pretending I had no choice, he sighed softly and began speaking again.

“The truth is, Yurika…”

“Hm?”

“I don’t know what you think, but… if it were just up to me… I never really wanted to have kids.”

Hmm.

In fact, children were a topic I had never thought about before, so I could only blink blankly.

As if he had noticed my thoughts, he smiled and continued speaking.

“It’s okay. Of course, you didn’t have time to think about it.”

“Um… we haven’t been in a serious relationship that long. Don’t you think you’re rushing things a bit?”

“Maybe.”

He hugged me tighter and whispered,

“But I’ve thought about it for a long time. You and me, living happily together at the Hyrad estate.”

“For a long time?”

“Since the battlefield.”

‘Oh wow… So he’s been dreaming about marriage since back then…’

I blinked slowly and asked cautiously.

“Then why didn’t you want to have children?”

Some weird thought like “Is it because they might be born as squirrels?” was about to leave my mouth when Yohan replied slowly,

“What if they’re born as wizards?”

I had no words to say, so I carefully buried myself in his arms.

Yohan continued.

“Pain is a given. And if, by any chance, they’re unlucky enough to be born as powerful a wizard as I am, they’ll have to live their entire life relying on the Temple’s calming potions.”

Only Yohan—an unimaginably powerful mage—could say something like that.

Normally, powerful wizards were the object of admiration. The Hyrad family itself upheld the tradition that only strong wizards could become the head of the family.

That’s probably why even Tezen wanted to become a wizard.

But it seemed that Yohan, the powerful wizard, wasn’t too happy about that fact.

Tilting his head slightly, he murmured in a low voice,

“I never want to pass on this pain to our child.”

“…….”

“Just the fact that they’d be our child… I already love them deeply for that alone…”

It’s not that I don’t understand that feeling.

I didn’t want my child to live a life burdened by suffering either.

Rather than building a family based on such suffering, I wish it could be a little more ordinary, without any suffering.

‘Isn’t this exactly how Medes’s ancestors used to think?’

As I kept my mouth shut, Yohan smiled and continued speaking.

“But if there’s a way to break this painful cycle…”

He hugged me tighter.

“Then we can imagine a child who resembles us without any worries.”

For some reason, my heart ached at his words.

I felt a quiet sadness when I recalled the little boy I once saw atop the tower.

“I think, Yurika, in the end, this all comes down to the Emperor’s decision. Which means we have to get involved with him. Whatever plans we make, that has to be the foundation—finding a way to leave a psychological debt he’ll owe us.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

I also came to my senses and nodded vigorously.

“And there will be those who think like us. People who want the Emperor to owe them something so they can sway his personal decisions.”

The rough plan had already been drawn up.

Rivena, for instance, was likely plotting something similar—to get Theodore’s arrest lifted.

“Let’s do our best, Yurika.”

Yohan said, lightly kissing my cheek.

“Before we get married, we have to uncover the truth about our family.”

‘Hmm. Wait a second.’

I blinked confidently, but inwardly tilted my head in confusion.

Now that I think about it…

When did we officially decide to get married?