I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain Chapter 53

‘What?’

 

I was so shocked that I almost fell off the railing.

 

‘Now… Is what I just heard true?’

 

It was such a shocking conversation.

 

Holding my breath, I gripped the railing tightly with my front paws.

 

I knew they were having an important discussion, but I never expected to overhear something this unbelievable.

 

‘Then…Then I….’

 

Until I danced with Jayden, I had never even imagined such a thing.

 

‘Am I really Yurika Medes?’

 

It seemed to me that I had met Theodore once before I became possessed, before I had a sense of self.

 

That must be why Theodore had said, ‘Haven’t we met before?’—like some cliché line from a third-rate novel.

 

And somehow, he instinctively recognized that I was the divine beast from back then.

 

I waited anxiously for the next words, my eyes flickering.

 

Rivena’s silence was depressingly frustrating.

 

‘Of course, remaining silent on such speculations is almost like confirming it….’

 

Theodore continued speaking.

 

“However… I heard that the original divine beasts had no intention of becoming human. If it was really Yurika Medes, how did she become human?”

 

I was wondering the same thing.

 

‘Maybe it was because I possessed this animal body… and because of that, I never forgot that I was human?’

 

That was my only guess.

 

As my heart grew anxious and my tail twitched, Theodore spoke again, saying something even more shocking.

 

“Does this have anything to do with Duke Medes being at the temple right now?”

 

‘Duke Medes is in the temple right now?’

 

‘If everything Theodore said was true, it meant my father was alive.’

 

Before meeting me, Jayden always insisted, “Disappearance is not the same as death.”

 

He firmly believed that Duke Medes and Yurika Medes were still alive.

 

And now, it turned out that he was right.

 

“Why don’t you open that smart mouth of yours?”

 

While I was in shock, Theodore spoke in a sarcastic tone.

 

“I need to know more about that divine beast.”

 

“Why—”

 

“I told you, didn’t I? I’ve always wanted it.”

 

Regardless of the shocking content, it was a very infuriating statement.

 

‘I’m not an object or anything…’

 

The unpleasant feeling of being owned by someone was enough when I was labeled as belonging to Tezen after having this body.

 

“There’s no place more private than this, Rivena. I admit that I was a bit anxious, but that doesn’t mean this space isn’t safe right now.”

 

Theodore urged, annoyed.

 

“Of course, to avoid suspicion, we’ll have to keep pretending we’re in love.”

 

Finally, Rivena sighed and answered.

 

“Your Highness’s guess is correct…”

 

The moment I heard her confirmation, my whole body tensed.

 

“But the situation is far more serious and dangerous than you think.”

 

Rivena’s low voice rang out quietly, businesslike.

 

“While testing true abilities, I injected Duke Medes’s magic into her. I believe that’s what awakened her subconscious.”

 

“Subconscious?”

 

“Yes… her subconscious as a human.”

 

Once again, my small heart pounded rapidly.

 

‘What did that even mean?’

 

“It seems like the Duke of Medes’s magic has somehow touched his daughter’s sense of time.… I guess that she now recognizes the future as the contents of a book.”

 

“What?”

 

“That makes her incredibly dangerous. We have no idea how she might use her knowledge of the future to threaten us.”

 

‘Wait—does that mean my possession wasn’t real?’

 

That would explain why I couldn’t clearly remember my past life.

 

It seemed that the moment I believed I had possessed this body was actually the moment my subconscious awakened.

 

So, because of Rivena, my father’s magic mixed with mine, granting me the will to become human… and allowing me to perceive the future as if it were written in a book.

 

‘Then, it means that I am not a possessed spirit and that I was truly Yurika Medes from beginning to end.’

 

Tears welled up in my eyes for a moment.

 

‘Then… I wasn’t a fake after all.’

 

I never cared about the whispers behind my back calling me ‘fake’. But deep down, I had always told myself, I was not Yurika.

 

Every time Sienna treated me warmly as a daughter, I felt a little sad that one day she would come to her senses and stop calling me ‘Yurika’.

 

But if the real Yurika had been here all along, then I would never have to leave the Medes household.

 

That meant I could remain Sienna’s daughter, without guilt or pretense.

 

‘Finally, everything makes sense.’

 

I held my breath as I thought.

 

‘The overwhelming magic I sensed from Mariel, and how it was completely stabilized, unlike that of other wizards….’

 

‘So, did the Medes family have the ability to calm their own magic?’

 

It seemed that the Medes family also did not know that they had such abilities, as Mariel did not know anything about it.

 

The only direct descendant of Medes I had ever met was Mariel, so I had no way of knowing if all Medes bloodline members had this ability.

 

‘Medes bloodlines tend to disappear from time to time… but they always leave the firstborn alone.’

 

That meant the temple not only knew about Medes’s secret but had likely been researching ways to use it.

 

‘And the fact that I had transformed into a squirrel, awakening as a divine beast… perhaps that was connected to the beastman blood running in the Medes lineage?’

 

‘But none of the Medes family members can use magic. Despite their overwhelming magical power.’

 

It seemed likely that this fact was also related to the beast’s blood.

 

What was certain was that there was a secret hidden in Medes’s blood that even the parties involved did not know.

 

‘I need to learn more about the Medes family and beasts.’

 

There were no books on the subject in the Medes house, but I had to find the information elsewhere.

 

And if all my guesses are true, what a terrible place the temple must be.

 

They were always controlling everything from behind, never coming forward.

 

By taking advantage of Medes’s ability to make money, while also subtly controlling wizards.

 

As I was gritting my teeth, Rivena’s voice continued.

 

“Then that child would recognize the temple as her greatest enemy.”

 

‘She was sharp—too sharp.’

 

“If she has figured out the Medes family’s secret, she will want to eliminate not just me, but even Your Highness.”

 

She was absolutely right.

 

The temple, and Theodore for siding with them, were enemies I would never forgive.

 

Not to mention, the way he talked about owning me was utterly disgusting.

 

“Then that squirrel… no, Yurika Medes, has no memory of her life before developing self-awareness?”

 

“I’m not sure.”

 

Rivena shrugged and said.

 

“Under the right conditions, she may remember little by little.”

 

“I wish she could remember me.”

 

“She only has memories of her calming you down.”

 

“Still,” Theodore murmured lazily,

 

“It’s unfair if I’m the only one who remembers.”

 

“……”

 

At that moment, I was certain Rivena and I were thinking the exact same thing.

 

‘What the hell is wrong with this crazy wizard?’

 

‘If he liked those memories so much, he could just hug a bottle of calming potion and live with it.’

 

I must have soothed him once before my subconscious awoke, but he was acting as if I had been his divine beast all along.

 

Even Yohan, who had received my calming magic far more than Theodore ever did, wasn’t this obsessed.

 

“So what’s the plan now?”

 

After a while, Theodore spoke in a low voice.

 

“She seems extremely cautious, so drugging her won’t be easy. And since our plan to disgrace her in high society and get her disowned failed, we need a new strategy.”

 

“Hmm….”

 

“We’ll have to come up with something else, right?”

 

“Yes. I’m thinking about both short-term and long-term options.”

 

I flattened myself against the floor, ears perked up.

 

As expected, they weren’t giving up so easily.

 

If they saw me as a threat because of my knowledge of the future…

 

“In the long term… Well, research is my specialty, isn’t it?”

 

Rivena said in a confident voice.

 

“Duke Medes’s magic is uniquely suited for distorting time and space. If that’s what caused side effects in her, perhaps we can use it to our advantage.”

 

My paws trembled.

 

The shock was so overwhelming that I hadn’t even realized—while I miraculously escaped the temple, my father was still trapped inside.

 

* * *