I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain Chapter 93

‘Why does it make my heart flutter, even though he’s just repeating what I said?’

 

Before I knew it, my heart started pounding.

 

The memory of our last kiss was so vivid that I clenched my dress tightly, wrinkling the fabric.

 

Because the memory of our last kiss had become vivid, I grabbed the hem of her dress so tightly that it almost wrinkled.

 

He asked in a whisper.

 

“You’re smart, so you know, right?”

 

“Know what….?”

 

“I like you so much that I would run over to you excitedly whenever you asked me to do something.”

 

‘He’s really… really saying that now?’

 

My breath caught in my throat.

I figured he might say something like that one day—but not now. Not like this.

 

Maybe I wanted time to mentally prepare for something like this, which is why I tried to keep my distance.

 

And now, it felt like we were clearly crossing that line we’d carefully avoided— Or rather, realizing we’d crossed it long ago.

 

“You feel guilty because you think you’re taking advantage of that, don’t you?”

 

Even though the tone was clearly not one of confrontation, but rather of soft, soothing words, my body strangely froze.

 

Since when did things between us become so strange?

 

Back when Yohan returned victorious from war, things were simpler.

 

I even seriously considered marrying him.

 

But the more time we spent together, the more tangled up my feelings became.

 

In the end, it wasn’t the situation that became complicated, but my feelings.

 

‘Ah, that’s why I wanted to stay away from him for a while.’

 

Lean’s warning to beware of the wizard rang loudly in my head, but my heart was already beating fast.

 

It was a special relationship between a wizard and a divine beast, and I could tell instinctively that.

 

“You owe me a lot, Yurika.”

 

He looked at me with wide eyes and whispered.

 

“You don’t like being in debt, do you? So what are you going to do?”

 

It was the first time he directly used the word ‘debt’.

 

He had always told me not to feel burdened.

 

‘So there really is no such thing as a free favor. I knew it.’

 

I sighed inwardly, remembering the obvious truth, and Yohan continued speaking softly.

 

“But there is a way you can truly not feel guilty.”

 

“uh…hm…”

 

“You told me…”

 

He whispered to me as if he were comforting me.

 

“People who are truly precious to each other don’t calculate things like that.”

 

‘What is this, seriously?’

 

‘If this is Yohan’s final attempt to seduce me…’

 

“And there’s always been one thing I’ve longed for.”

 

‘I can’t say no to that…’

 

This is exactly why I tried to keep some distance in the first place.

 

“Look at me, Yurika.”

 

My heart was pounding and I kept avoiding eye contact, but he spoke in a voice that was almost sinister.

 

“Whenever you look somewhere else, I want to get rid of that place.”

 

It was clearly a very creepy statement, but the tone was incredibly affectionate.

 

“Look at me, okay?”

 

I took a deep breath, making excuses in my head.

‘It’s because if I look at him, I’ll probably give in…’

 

That was when it happened.

 

Suddenly, the carriage stopped with a loud bang.

 

I was startled as if I had suddenly woken up from a dream.

 

“Duke!”

 

And then the adjutant’s urgent voice was heard.

 

“There’s a fire at Count Olteva’s estate!”

 

‘Fire? There’s a fire?’

 

My mind, hazy with emotion just moments ago, snapped back in an instant. This was really a big deal.

 

Count Olteva was ninety-four years old. His son was seventy.

 

For the two of them to escape a burning estate in that condition was almost impossible.

 

And if the Olteva family disappeared now, there would be no one left who could tell us more about the Barony of Artea!

 

“At times like this, I can’t help but be thankful that I’m a wizard.”

 

Seeing the shock on my face, Yohan immediately opened the carriage door.

 

“Don’t worry, Yurika. I’ll save them.”

 

And before I could say anything else, Yohan jumped out of the carriage.

 

* * *

 

The fire that suddenly swept through Olteva’s estate was terrifying.

 

And everyone in the neighborhood knew that two old people were living in the mansion.

 

“I heard Count Olteva’s mind’s been slipping lately. Maybe he knocked over a lamp or something?”

 

“Whatever the cause, it’s hopeless now… There’s no way they got out.”

 

“Well, they both lived long enough, didn’t they?”

 

The two old men living in Olteva did not have many acquaintances.

 

Even the son who had returned from war stayed holed up in the estate, rarely seen outside.

 

Still, regardless of reputation, a fire of this magnitude was tragic. People began gathering, murmuring in worry.

 

“Huh? Wait a minute!”

 

“Hey, you can’t just go in there!”

 

Suddenly, a young man ran from afar and entered the burning mansion.

 

People gasped in shock and tried to stop him, but the man trailing behind him waved his hands dismissively.

 

“Don’t worry.”

 

Yohan’s adjutant was more concerned about the panicked crowd than Yohan himself.

 

“That’s Duke Yohan Hyrad. He won’t be hurt.”

 

At his words, the crowd grew even more agitated.

 

‘Yohan Hyrad? That war hero came to this remote village?’

 

The man with the infamously terrible personality, rumored to be the worst in the entire Empire?

 

Yohan’s adjutant shrugged casually.

 

“Of course, this mansion will be wiped out. Nothing can be saved.”

 

But with someone as powerful as that wizard, there wasn’t much to worry about.

 

In fact, Yohan began to destroy the mansion faster than the fire spread.

 

Meanwhile, inside the mansion, the elderly Count and his son had already resigned themselves to death.

 

They were too weak to move, and escaping from a burning mansion in such conditions was impossible.

 

“This is all because you’ve gone senile, Father,” grumbled Paul Olteva, the son, sitting beside his father, Trevor.

 

“When Lady Mariel Medes came to visit, you blurted out the name Artea. She was definitely someone from the temple.”

 

“Who was Mariel? Was she your wife?”

 

“I’ve never been married before, Father.”

 

“You’re my son? Then why are you so old?”

 

“Because you’re old too, Father. Anyway, this must be the temple’s revenge.”

 

Paul was speaking indifferently, but he was still massaging his father Trevor’s leg.

 

“I wonder… maybe something happened to Patre. If nothing else, that child would have protected us until the end.”

 

“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore—we’re about to die. Oh, and he became a High Priest. That was a while ago.”

 

“No, when on earth will the High Priest come?”

 

“And he died too. So there’s no one to protect us.”

 

“Oh my god… Why did Patre die?”

 

“This is the tenth time I’ve told you that. You always grieve like it’s the first time.”

 

It was absolute chaos.

 

Even as the heat of the flames closed in, Paul muttered calmly:

 

“Well, at least thanks to Duke Yohan Hyrad, I’ll get to die alongside my father. I mean, it’s a shame I have to die, but at least I’ll be there for your final moments.”

 

“Hey, who’s going to die! I’m not going to die! Why should I die! I’m still young!”

 

“Then I’ll count on you to be there for my final moments.”

 

Paul sighed and covered Trevor’s mouth with a wet cloth.

 

And he muttered quietly.

 

“The only person I’ve ever been grateful to in this life is Duke Yohan Hyrad. The Medest family? Absolute trash.”

 

Cough, cough!

 

“I still feel bad because I feel like I’m going to die because of those people.”

 

As Paul reflected bitterly on his life, there was a loud crash.

 

The mansion began collapsing all at once.

 

He grabbed Trevor tightly, thinking this was it—but then, the door suddenly burst open.

 

“Huh… Do you see the person you most wanted to see when you’re about to die?”

 

Paul muttered doubtfully as he looked at the young man who appeared before him.

 

“Or is this a hallucination?”

 

And with the flames billowing from the mansion as the background, Yohan spoke dryly.

 

“I’m Yohan Hyrad.”

 

Paul now really thought he was crazy.

 

He had never seen Yohan in person—but he had heard of the cold, beautiful man with black hair and violet eyes.

 

So this striking figure standing before him, unfazed by the flames… he really was the war hero who had granted Paul’s discharge.

 

Looking at him standing firm with an indifferent expression in the midst of that flame, it definitely seems like he is a wizard.

 

“I will save you.”

 

The 70-year-old Paul nearly fainted from shock.

 

It was the moment he went from admiring Yohan from afar to full-blown worship.

 

“I came to rescue you two.”

 

To be saved so dramatically… Paul felt like he could do anything for him now.

 

“Then shall we go out now?” Yohan said with a smirk.

 

“I have to go back quickly and finish what I wanted to say.”

 

He didn’t seem to be talking to them, really—More like mumbling to himself, full of mystery

 

“If things go this way, it’ll be even harder for Yurika to say no to me now.”

 

Although his tone was regretful, there was a proud smile on his face.

 

“I’m just a piece of trash who keeps moving even though I know that.”

 

* * *