I Live With My Villain Uncle Chapter 18

There was no one else in the carriage besides Cassel.

Cassel’s face grew even colder, and soon a troubled sigh escaped his lips.

“Peanut, come out.”

There was still no one in the carriage.

Only the sound of the carriage wheels rolling along and Cassel’s voice lingered in the air.

Then, with a rustle, something small began to squirm in the darkness beneath the seat on the opposite side.

And then—

“……Phew!”

Aika stuck her head out from beneath the opposite seat, gasping for breath as loudly as someone who had just been pulled out of the water.

The place where Aika had been hiding was barely big enough to fit a few small pieces of luggage.

She had hidden herself inside the cloth used to cover the luggage.

What am I supposed to do with this child? Seriously.

How on earth did she even squeeze herself into that tiny space?

As the back of his head began to throb, he met a pair of round, sparkling golden eyes.

Those are the same color as mine, which somehow makes it even more irritating.

“Hehe, Uncle……”

“……”

“H-How did you know?”

Aika crawled out timidly and sat on her knees on the floor. Unable to bring herself to stand, she rolled her eyes around, desperately trying to figure out how to get out of this situation.

She had clearly planned on following him, because she was dressed in a pretty dress decorated with ribbons here and there instead of her pajamas.

Having hidden beneath the seat, she had covered the fancy outfit she had dressed up in with dust.

So she hadn’t disappeared to go to bed like a good little girl after all.

She had disappeared to pull off this sneaky little stunt.

“You. When did you get on?”

Aika didn’t answer.

Cassel could practically hear the gears turning inside her little head.

After staring at her for a long while, Aika finally seemed to realize she couldn’t get away with staying silent and began to mumble.

“I-I came out earlier to say goodbye to Uncle…… but you took so long to come out.”

“So you just hopped on?”

Aika’s big eyes rolled around once again.

It was painfully obvious that the tiny head was working nonstop.

Anyone could tell she had deliberately hidden herself here.

She must have been waiting until she could no longer stand it, then decided she had to get on when he still hadn’t come out.

And this was the best idea she had managed to come up with.

What is she, a duckling that just hatched from an egg? Why does she keep following me around all day long?

He had gotten angry at her this much and even sent her away. She should have been tired of it by now.

Yet every time he turned around, she was there, grinning at him like a goldfish that had forgotten everything.

It was enough to drive him crazy.

He had put up with it inside the house, but now she was following him outside, too.

What if he had actually been going somewhere dangerous? What then? Huh?

She really had no fear.

His sister had told him she was obedient, brave, and perfectly capable of staying home by herself.

Where?

Seriously, what am I supposed to do with this tiny little chestnut?

Even when he put her inside a safe fence, she would spring right back out like a curious kitten and cling to him, making him want to tear his hair out.

“Haa……”

Damn, my head.

Whether it was because of the rattling carriage or because of this troublesome niece, Cassel felt a deep headache coming on and pressed firmly at his temples.

Then he pulled the cord inside the carriage.

“Yes, my lord!”

At the same time, Gerard, who had been sitting in the driver’s seat, stopped the carriage.

A moment later, Gerard hurriedly opened the carriage door.

“What is the matter, my lo—oh, Lady Aika?”

Gerard’s eyes widened.

There was supposed to be only Cassel inside the carriage, but now there was one more rabbit-like little creature.

“Gerard, heeellooo……”

Aika glanced nervously at Cassel while still remembering to greet Gerard, but it was obvious that something about her situation was not quite right.

No.

More accurately, it was the atmosphere inside the carriage that was the problem.

“Lady Aika, why are you here? No, more importantly, how are you here?”

“Mm, well, I wanted to follow Uncle……”

Aika kept sneaking glances at Cassel as she brushed the dust from her clothes.

“Take her home and come back.”

“Nooo, I can’t!”

Aika immediately clung tightly to Cassel.

“What do you mean, you can’t? Get down.”

“Uncle, can’t I come with you too? You’re wearing pretty clothes, so it’s not somewhere dangerous, right?”

“The moment you get there, it’ll be a battlefield. Get down.”

“Just this once!”

“Once, twice, whatever. Get down.”

“Uh, um……”

Gerard stood awkwardly between Cassel and Aika, unsure of what to do.

Aika desperately tried not to get out, gripping Cassel’s trouser leg with all her strength.

Then she looked up at Gerard with sparkling eyes that seemed to say, Gerard, help me!

It was difficult to coldly refuse such a plea.

“……Wouldn’t it be all right if you took Lady Aika with you just for today?”

Cassel glared at him.

“Do you want to say something useless?”

“I apologize. But His Grace the Duke of Vallier will also be attending this banquet……”

A whole mouthful of vicious curses seemed to pour from Cassel’s eyes as he glared at Gerard.

“I’m sorry……”

Gerard lowered his head, then secretly winked at Aika.

A bright smile spread across Aika’s face as she sat awkwardly on the floor, ears perked up.

“Grandfather?”

Aika’s voice bounced brightly.

At the same time, she wrapped both arms around Cassel’s arm.

“I want to go see Grandfather! Uncle, please? I’ll really stay quiet!”

“Haa……”

Cassel was dumbfounded by the scheme that was obvious from a mile away.

Why the hell did the old man have to come into this?

That bastard Gerard must have completely fallen for his niece’s cuteness, too.

He couldn’t exactly throw both of them out of the carriage.

Cassel noticed Aika subtly wiggling her fingers, waiting for an opportunity to take his hand.

Apparently, if he held her hand, she intended to take that as his permission.

I have no idea what kind of logic or law that is, but she always seems to have her own firm standards.

If he took her home and came back, he would be late.

And there was no way she would go alone, not in a million years.

I’m going to die of old age before this is over.

“Close the door.”

Cassel finally raised the white flag.

“Yay!”

Aika threw both hands into the air, practically jumping for joy.

Gerard smiled faintly and cheerfully called out, “Yes, understood, my lord!” before closing the carriage door with gusto.

Once the carriage started moving, Aika decided there was no longer any danger of being sent home and clung even more tightly to Cassel.

“Uncle, you’re the best! You’re amazing! The best in Wapford! The best in the world!”

“Sit properly. You’re hurting my ears.”

Even so, Cassel did not push away the hands that were wrapped tightly around his arm as though afraid to let go.

Now in an extremely good mood, Aika began humming a song with completely incomprehensible lyrics.

Something about forsythias.

Something about yellow flowers.

Something about a yellow cat.

Something about a white butterfly.

Cassel glanced down at Aika and noticed some dust that was still stuck in her hair.

He raised a hand to brush it off, but Aika abruptly looked up.

“What? Why?”

“Uncle, what were you trying to do?”

“Trying to do what?”

Pretending he didn’t care, Cassel nevertheless carefully brushed the dust from Aika’s hair and shoulders.

“Uncle, by the way, where are we going?”

She had already transformed this into a full-fledged outing now that he had given her permission.

Unbelievable.

“Where are we going? You’re not getting out of the carriage.”

“Gasp! I don’t want to!”

“Where do you get off talking back to me? Who told you to follow me in the first place?”

Aika’s cheeks puffed up in an instant, sulking.

“But I’m doing all this for Uncle’s sake!”

She really should just stop talking.

“……Let’s not even talk about it.”

In the end, Cassel gave up trying to reason with his niece.