I Live With My Villain Uncle Chapter 15

I hurriedly rubbed my cheeks over and over.

“Come on, come here and introduce yourselves. This is my nephew, Ruspe. And this is Aika, the niece of Marquis Reguier. You’re both seven, so I think you’ll make good friends.”

Without hesitation, I held out my hand.

“Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Aika.”

The boy hurriedly hid behind His Majesty the Emperor and hesitated.

I waited quietly with my hand still extended.

Only after a long while did the boy awkwardly shuffle forward and take my hand.

“……I’m Ruspe.”

Delighted at the thought of having made a friend, I squeezed his hand tightly. Ruspe’s ears immediately turned bright red.

“Who did you come with? I came with my uncle. It’s really big here, isn’t it?”

“I-I came alone. Ah, with my attendant.”

Ruspe said that even though he was the same age as me, he had come to the Imperial Palace so often that he could get around by himself.

“You’re really amazing.”

“……Not really.”

For some reason, it seemed like Ruspe’s whole face had turned red this time.

He really is shy.

I should be a little kinder to him.

I smiled brightly, putting on the biggest smile I could manage.

“I was worried because Ruspe is very shy, but I’m grateful that Aika welcomed him first.”

“He’s the kind of kid who says hello even to butterflies passing by.”

Uncle chimed in from beside us, his arms folded.

I shot Uncle with a sharp glare.

What’s wrong with saying hello to butterflies?!

“Your Majesty. You really must go attend to state affairs now.”

At the attendant’s words, His Majesty the Emperor let out a low sigh.

“I know. I’ll get up soon.”

I blinked as I looked up at His Majesty, whose expression had turned gloomy.

“Your Majesty, do you not want to work?”

A warm light returned to His Majesty’s face.

“Well, sometimes I feel that way. Especially today, since Aika came to see me.”

“Would you like me to help you?”

“How?”

Just like before, I raised both hands and gestured for him to lend me his ear.

His Majesty smiled again and leaned toward me.

I whispered softly,

“When you don’t want to work, you can pretend your stomach hurts. Then you don’t have to do it. They’ll tell you to hurry to bed and lie down.”

“Your stomach?”

A question came back with a small chuckle.

I whispered in an even quieter voice.

“Yes. You shouldn’t do it every day, but if there’s something you really, really don’t want to do, you can. But it’s a secret.”

“That sounds like a really good method. I’ll try it when I really don’t feel like working.”

His Majesty’s voice dropped to match mine.

I nodded and added one more little tip.

“But you have to say it only hurts a little. If you say it hurts a lot, they’ll tell you to take medicine.”

“Haha! I’ll be sure to remember. Just a little, right?”

“That’s right. This is a secret too.”

“Good. Another secret. We already have two secrets between us.”

“What are you two whispering about?”

At Uncle’s voice, I quickly stepped back and clasped my hands behind my back, pretending I knew nothing.

“I didn’t say anything!”

I glanced at His Majesty nervously, and he gave me a wink.

I wanted to do the same, but I ended up squeezing both my eyes shut so hard that everything went completely dark.

“The garden connected to this room is safe, so go ahead and play as much as you like. Cassel, I’m sorry, but please look after the children for me. I’ll see you at the next regular meeting.”

Uncle nodded.

His Majesty was now truly preparing to leave.

But instead of leaving right away, just as he had when he first entered, His Majesty bent down on one knee and took both my hands.

With both my hands held in his, I stared blankly at His Majesty.

“Aika.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Don’t get sick, and don’t get hurt. And if you ever have something troubling you, you can come find me anytime. All right?”

“Yes!”

I nodded enthusiastically.

“I hope you’ll always smile like that. Then, I’ll see you again next time, Aika.”

“Yes, Your Majesty! Good luck with your work! See you next time!”

“All right.”

Soon, His Majesty left with his attendants, leaving Uncle, Ruspe, and me behind.

“You two peanuts, I’ll be watching from here, so don’t cause any trouble nearby. Go play.”

Uncle crossed his legs and sat down, lazily flicking a finger toward the garden as if telling us to go play there.

He looked thoroughly annoyed.

“Aren’t you coming too, Uncle? I don’t know my way around here.”

“You can just play in the area in front of you.”

“But I want to look around a lot……”

I wanted to look here and loooook over there too.

No matter how pitifully I looked at him, Uncle didn’t budge.

He’s really mean.

But then someone gently tugged at my hand from beside me.

I whipped my head around and saw Ruspe’s hand.

“Um……”

“Oh, Ruspe!”

Ruspe’s face turned red once again.

“I-I’ll show you around.”

“Really?”

“Y-Yeah. I come here often.”

I beamed with joy.

“Wow, thank you! Ruspe, you’re really kind. Then let’s go play over there and look around too!”

Instead of answering, Ruspe quietly nodded.

I secretly stuck my tongue out at Uncle, then quickly followed Ruspe.

The moment we opened the huge transparent glass doors leading to the garden, the scent of flowers wafted over us so strongly that it made my nose tingle.

Ruspe and I wandered all over the spacious garden paths without stopping.

There were many adults in the garden too, dressed in dresses or formal attire.

There weren’t any tall flowers or trees in this garden, so even if you stood on your tiptoes just a little, you could see far into the distance.

“Wow. Those are my favorite yellow flowers. Come look, Ruspe!”

I crouched down in front of the yellow flowers that had stretched their long stems toward the sunlight.

Without taking my eyes off them, I waved to Ruspe with one hand.

“Ruspe, do you like flowers?”

“……I don’t think I’ve ever thought about whether I liked them, but today……I-I’ll try to.”

Ruspe crouched down beside me and mumbled quietly.

“Hm? You don’t like them?”

“Ah, no. I like flowers too.”

“Really? Then we like the same thing, right?”

Ruspe nodded vigorously.

“Huh? Look at this!”

I spotted a tiny purple flower, barely visible as it hid in the corner of the cluster of bright yellow flowers.

Mom had told me never to pick flowers carelessly, but I really wanted to show it to Ruspe.

I picked one of the three tiny purple flowers and showed it to Ruspe.

“Look. It’s exactly the same color as your eyes.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. It’s the same color as His Majesty the Emperor’s eyes too. But do you want to see something even more amazing?”

Ruspe gave a small nod, looking curious.

I made a tiny hole in the stem just behind the flower with my fingernail.

Then I curled the stem into a circle and carefully tucked the end into the hole.

I held out the finished purple flower ring to Ruspe.

“Here, it’s a present!”

Ruspe took it with both hands, placing the flower in his palm and looking unsure what to do.

I took the flower ring again and slipped it onto the ring finger of Ruspe’s hand.

“Like this. Pretty, right?”

“Ah.”

Ruspe stared at the flower ring on his finger for a long while.

Shiver.

Just as I was about to touch the yellow petals again, I suddenly felt a tingling sensation.

Startled, I quickly looked around, but there was nothing there.

I abruptly stood up and called to Ruspe, who was still unable to take his eyes off the flower ring.

“Let’s go look somewhere else too.”

Flinch.

But the farther we wandered through the garden, the more often I began to feel something strange.

It was like a cold chill, or perhaps the same sensation that seeped into me whenever I was about to see the future.

Am I the only one?

Ruspe didn’t seem bothered at all.

“Are you okay?”

Just in case, I asked Ruspe.

“Hm?”

“Never mind.”

I guess I’m the only one who feels it.

Flinch.

With every step I took, the strange chill gradually turned into a feeling of fear.

It even felt as though my feet were being pushed forward one step at a time without me realizing it.

“Ah.”

The icy chill, sharp as frost, spread through me, and the buzzing in my ears began to sting. I shuddered involuntarily.

Even then, the feeling wouldn’t go away, so I wrapped both arms around myself and stopped walking.

Why am I like this?

I was overcome by a strange sensation, as though if I let my guard down, I might become entranced without realizing it and wander somewhere all by myself.

“……Aika.”

“……Huh?”

“Aika, what’s wrong?”

Ruspe asked as he looked at me.

My face went pale, and I hurriedly turned around.

This won’t do. I need to go home.

The only thought in my mind was that I had to get to Uncle as quickly as possible.

“Ruspe, I’m sorry! I have to go to my uncle!”