I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain Chapter 112

“This place really makes good mushroom soup.”

 

Trevor chuckled with satisfaction.

 

“They’ll do good business.”

 

“Father, this isn’t a restaurant.”

 

Paul rubbed Trevor’s leg and spoke curtly.

 

“This is the estate of Duke Medes, whom you were so loyal to in your lifetime.”

 

“Oh, really? Who would’ve thought the Medes dukedom would succeed as a restaurant? Life’s full of surprises.”

 

Trevor clapped his hands in admiration, then narrowed his eyes and asked,

 

“Come to think of it, I have to return that Medes heirloom.…”

 

“I already gave it back.”

 

Paul grumbled and answered.

 

“Well, there wasn’t really any crisis during the hunting competition.”

 

Paul had vaguely guessed that if the Medes family were to face any danger, it would happen during the hunting competition.

 

After all, they descended from beastkin, and the hunting competition was an event centered on hunting beasts—it just felt like a bad match.

 

He’d debated for a long time before finally chasing after Yurika to return the pendant at the last minute.

 

But it was truly absurd that the person who was actually in danger was the emperor.

 

“If I’d known nothing would happen, I’d have thought twice before returning it.”

 

“Well, who knows? The crisis may already have arrived.”

 

Trevor replied nonchalantly, slurping down his mushroom soup.

 

“But, among the three ducal families, they are the only ones that resolved the curse on their own, so shouldn’t they do well?”

 

“Huh? The duke’s family had a curse?”

 

“Yeah, it’s a curse.”

 

Trevor said with an innocent smile.

 

“Don’t tell me you envy their amazing magical powers? That wretched, painful life?”

 

“Father, are you saying their magic abilities are actually a curse?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Paul’s expression turned serious, but Trevor’s face stayed bright and cheerful.

 

“The curse gave them strength and power—but if you think about it, maybe that’s why they can’t escape it even now. The one family that managed to contain it completely for the sake of their descendants—that’s Medest.”

 

The family originally famous for producing great wizards was the Duke of Hyrad.

 

Even there, the criteria for selecting the head of the family were set based on magical ability.

 

‘I heard that the Elijah Duke family was also famous for magic, but now the line has died out.’

 

But it was the first time Paul had heard that even Medes was from a wizarding family.

 

“Now that Medes has stopped sending divine beasts to the temple, I wonder what all those wizards are going to do…”

 

“What?”

 

Paul’s eyes widened.

 

“Wait, why would the Medest family send divine beasts to the temple?”

 

“Ouch, oh no.”

 

Trevor smacked himself on the mouth.

 

“This is a secret! A secret known only to the Senate and the current head of the family! Now the only one left who knows besides me… is you!”

 

Of course, now the only two people left alive who knew were Trevor and Paul.

 

“Damn it… Patre’s not going to let me off easy for this.”

 

But why bring up Patre’s name here?

 

That could only mean he’d known that truth all along and had kept silent about it.

 

Paul said with wide eyes.

 

“Wait—divine beasts are distributed by the temple. And that’s been happening for nearly five hundred years… No, hold on—who even is the ‘current duke’ you remember?”

 

“Hmm? Paul? Why do you look so old? Just yesterday you were barely up to my knee…”

 

Paul touched his forehead.

 

Trevor’s mind seemed to be wandering again.

 

Still, one thing was clear:

 

The temple had been distributing divine beasts for almost five hundred years.

 

‘But was it somehow connected to the Medes family?’

 

His head was spinning, wondering what on earth was going on.

 

That was when.

 

“Sir Paul! Let’s talk for a moment!”

 

With a hasty knock, Runart burst in.

 

Paul sighed, rubbing his forehead. Another problem.

 

Runart, the young genius doctor of the Medes family, had been tormenting him nonstop ever since the hunting competition.

 

Ever since Paul returned from the hunting competition, Runart had been persistently asking where the painkillers he was taking came from.

 

“I told you, it’s a family matter!”

 

Paul suddenly lost his temper.

 

“I don’t know because it was given to me by a family member I lost contact with!”

 

“So, who is that family?”

 

Runart responded firmly, refusing to back down even though he had been shouted at several times.

 

“This is really important, you know! The Lady and your father’s symptoms overlap in too many ways!”

 

“That’s none of my business! But how can I answer something I don’t know?”

 

Trevor, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, intervened.

 

“Huh? That medicine was given to me by Patre.….”

 

For a moment, Runart’s face hardened.

 

Patre? The same High Priest who had been imprisoned for the Crown Prince’s assassination… and later took his own life.

 

When Runart looked at Paul with a dumbfounded expression, Paul sighed deeply and muttered.

 

“So it’s all out now. Well, whatever. Patre’s godfather was my father.”

 

Runart clicked his tongue and shook his head.

 

Then he murmured, as though every puzzle piece had finally fallen into place.

 

“So it was the Temple. That explains why I couldn’t trace the source of this medicine.”

 

“What…”

 

Paul, who didn’t want to reveal that he was involved with Patre, scratched his chin, but Runart spoke quietly.

 

“Thank you. Now I know how to approach it. If the medicine came from the Temple, I have a rough idea.”

 

“An idea about what?”

 

“About Madam’s illness.”

 

Runart slowly got up and politely greeted Paul and Trevor, who were looking at him with expressions of confusion.

 

“I think I can finally cure her. And also…”

 

Runart’s eyes calmed as he looked at Foul.

 

“That family member of yours… seems to have had a major influence on your father’s condition.”

 

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

 

“I mean, it doesn’t seem like ordinary senility.”

 

Paul’s mouth fell open as Runart turned around with a small smile.

 

“Well then, I’ll take my leave. I’ll let you know once I have definitive results.”

 

“Wait, hold on!”

 

Paul tried to stop him this time, but Runart brushed him off coldly, saying he didn’t even have enough time to conduct his research, and left.

 

* * *

 

“Come this way.”

 

I walked carefully as the attendant guided me.

 

Mariel and Yohan, who attended the meeting, could not follow.

 

This was a rare opportunity—one I had fought hard to get. I needed to make it count.

 

Before the nobles, right now, within this short window of time, I had to gather enough justification.

 

It had taken a lot of maneuvering just to reach this point, and my mouth had gone completely dry.

 

“You can come in here.”

 

As we entered the Emperor’s office, a small room appeared. The servant calmly took a key from his pocket and opened the door.

 

Beyond that small room was a staircase that led downward for quite a while. At the bottom was another locked door, which he opened again.

 

This tedious process continued two more times.

 

It was a space that clearly took its security seriously.

 

And when we finally arrived at the small room, there weren’t as many books as I thought.

 

‘Well, it is supposed to be a secret archive,’ I thought as I scanned the single wall of books.

 

And I easily found a very thick book.

 

As Roymond had said, the title was “The Curse on a Noble Family.”

 

‘This must be it.’

 

The attendant stood silently behind me, watching. I opened the book and skimmed the table of contents first.

 

The preface spoke of the nature of magic—how all magic carried a curse, and how the power to nullify that curse came from nature itself.

 

‘Skip ahead. I need the section with the tiger and squirrel illustration—that’s the one tied to Father.’

 

And without much difficulty, I found a page with a picture of a tiger and a squirrel.

 

Roymond’s memory was correct.

 

[In ancient times, when magic and sorcery were prevalent, Belli Medes, the first head of the Medest clan, could take the form of a tiger or a squirrel.]

 

It was a phrase that really opened my eyes, having lived in the form of a squirrel.

 

[When he wanted to attack someone, he could transform into a tiger, and when he wanted to hide, he could transform into a squirrel. This ability to freely transform between human and beast forms gradually weakened over the generations of the Medes family.]

 

‘Tiger and Squirrel… That was us—Father and me.’

 

The story about our family was certainly true. My heart pounded.

 

[As time passed, the heads of the Medes family began to worry that their descendants, having been transformed into beasts, would never be able to return to human form. Believing this to be the greatest threat to the Medes family, they gathered their remaining strength and imbued the jewels with a final spell.]

 

Wait a second— Jewels, spells, danger…

 

Those were all words I’d heard before.

 

And wasn’t there a beast in our house right now that couldn’t turn human again?

 

“Someday, when this whole storm has passed, I must return it to the Medes family. It’s something that could save them from danger.” 

 

I slowly examined my wrist.

 

The old necklace Paul had given me was still wrapped around my wrist, clinking.

 

* * *