I Live With My Villain Uncle Chapter 19

No one spoke to us, but gazes followed us relentlessly.

“Oh my, isn’t that Marquis Reguier?”

“I was wondering if he might come since Duke Vallier opened the banquet himself… My eyes are certainly being treated. Should we go say hello later?”

“But who’s the child next to him?”

“You don’t know? You know, that child…”

“Ah…”

I could hear whispers here and there, too.

I diligently stretched my little legs as I followed Uncle.

“Stay here for a moment.”

The place Uncle brought me was somewhere where we could avoid people’s gazes a little.

It was a separate space prepared along one side of the banquet hall.

Under a dome-shaped canopy was a table where people could sit and converse.

The four sides were open in the shape of arched doorways, but it was arranged so that you could sit with your back to the gazes of the people outside whenever you wanted.

“Hm? Where are you going, Uncle?”

“I’ll go take care of something for a moment, so stay here. Gerard, watch the child.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Uncle gave those few brief words, then sharply surveyed his surroundings before striding off somewhere.

Left alone with Gerard, I took the hand he held out to me.

“Is Uncle busy even here?”

“Well, he always is.”

“I thought we came to eat yummy food.”

“If you wait here for a moment, I’ll bring something Lady Aika might like.”

“Some for Gerard, too!”

Gerard gave me a warm smile before hurrying over to the nearby table of food.

Though “nearby” was hardly the word for it.

It was only a few steps away—close enough to reach if I stretched out my hand—and Gerard merely turned his back for a moment.

I dangled my legs that didn’t reach the floor and looked around.

“It’s so pretty.”

Everyone was dressed in dazzling dresses and suits, talking with one another.

Of course, no matter where I looked, Uncle was still the most handsome.

People opened their fans and fluttered them gently like peacock tails.

They even smiled and kissed the backs of one another’s gloves. And their cheeks, too!

Oh my goodness!

I quickly turned my head away when I saw that.

Gerard returned in an instant with a plate piled high with delicious food.

I took the fork he handed me and asked,

“Gerard, you know…”

“Yes, Lady Aika.”

“Does Uncle not have a girlfriend? Like those people over there kissing!”

“What? A girlfriend?”

Gerard asked as though it were the first time he had ever heard such a thing.

“Yeah!”

Then he thought about it carefully before shaking his head.

“I don’t believe he has one, at least during the time I’ve been serving him. And I don’t think he’ll have one in the future, either…”

“Why?”

“I suppose it’s because of his temper… Ahem, he’s simply so busy that he doesn’t have time for romance.”

“Hmm, I see.”

I could have sworn I heard something about his temper just now, but surely I was imagining it.

I continued looking around while putting the fruits and jellies Gerard had brought into my mouth.

Everyone working here was someone I was seeing for the first time, but they were all kind and friendly.

Uncle didn’t take very long to return.

“Peanut, get up.”

“Where are we going? Uncle, this is really yummy. Do you want some, too? It tastes all sparkly!”

“You eat plenty yourself.”

The moment he told me to go, Uncle suddenly plopped down beside me.

Seeing my chance, I busily worked my fork, intent on putting every last snack on the plate into my stomach.

“…Did I starve you?”

“Mm?”

“Swallow it. Don’t spit it out.”

“Mmm, ang not spwiting it ouwt! (I’m not spitting it out!)”

I had already finished all the milk Zenda gave me before we came, but I needed strength to protect Uncle, so of course I had to eat as much as I could.

Well, Uncle wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to him.

“But where are we going? What about Grandfather?”

“We’re going to see Grandfather.”

“Really?”

You should’ve said that from the beginning!

I immediately put down my fork and hopped off the seat.

Then I grabbed Uncle and tugged on him.

“I’m done eating, Uncle. Let’s go, you and me!”

Uncle stared at me with an incredulous look, but I shamelessly urged him on.

 

***

 

“Gwandfafa!”

Aika abruptly let go of Cassel’s clothes, which she had been clutching as if her life depended on it, and shot toward Duke Vallier like lightning.

Cassel, who had been standing there with his hands casually shoved into his pockets, stopped in his tracks and stared blankly.

Soon, his brows furrowed in displeasure.

Oh, come on.

“Your tongue’s been cut in half, hasn’t it?”

The corner of Cassel’s mouth twisted crookedly, just like his eyebrow.

He didn’t talk like that to me.

“My little one. My princess. How did you get here? Isn’t it about time you were sleeping?”

“I came with Uncle. They said Grandfather was coming!”

“How did you know this old man wanted to see our Aika?”

“Because you left me behind last time. I was really, really sad.”

“Oh, our princess, were you? It’s all the rascal’s fault. None of it was your fault.”

There they went again, showering each other with affection. It was always such a tear-jerking family reunion.

Even the dignified beard he had once grown majestically was now neatly trimmed every single day ever since he first met Aika.

Because he was worried she might dislike it.

Duke Vallier, who had lifted Aika into his arms, walked over to Cassel, who was standing off to the side with a crooked expression.

“Did you meet him?”

Cassel gave a slight nod.

“Yes, more or less.”

“Tell him we’ll accommodate him as much as we reasonably can. Once we get the academy charter, we can build the grounds ourselves. If he won’t cooperate, just clean things up and take it.”

The Vallier family was currently seeking the charter to establish an academy.

Unlike the direction of their finances up until now, where they had practically hoarded money as much as they could, establishing and operating an academy was a business that required pouring money into it.

And there was only one reason they wanted to establish such an academy.

For Aika.

‘It’s the academy my little one will attend. I can’t just send her anywhere.’

Aika was still a long way from attending an academy, but Duke Vallier believed there was no better time than now.

As luck would have it, the oldest academy in the capital had closed the previous year, leaving its charter for a new academy hanging in the air.

The charter to establish a new academy was still in the hands of the chairman of the academy that had closed.

Today’s plan was to secure it for House Vallier before it fell into someone else’s hands.

Money was hardly an issue for them, so once they pushed aside all the competitors, everything that came afterward would be easy.

Fortunately, even if they acquired the charter, there weren’t many competitors because establishing an academy meant money would pour out far faster than any income could come in.

“How troublesome… Why not just acquire one that already exists?”

Cassel spoke in a bored voice.

“No. We can’t send her to that rotten academy, can we? First, we’ll secure the charter, then we’ll have to hurry as much as possible and turn it into a prestigious academy before Aika starts school.”

Unable to trust a single person, he had ultimately decided to establish an academy himself and had already devised a long-term plan, complete with a chairman and faculty.

“Rotten” was a bit of an exaggeration. There were already three academies in the capital that were considered prestigious.

One had produced the current Emperor and many of Wapford’s most renowned talents; another boasted an impressive faculty and excellent facilities; and another was the second-oldest academy after the one that had just closed.

But none of them were good enough for Duke Vallier.

“Grandfather, am I going to that school?”

“When our princess gets a little bigger, we’ll go. This old man will make it very beautiful by then.”

“Really?”

“Of course!”

His logic was simple: if it was a place his precious little one would attend, then even a single brick had to be brand-new.

In truth, Vallier was the youngest among Wapford’s major families in terms of history, so no matter how much wealth they accumulated or how powerful they became, there was still something lacking when it came to being called a prestigious old family.

No one dared to mess with them, but they weren’t respected.

That weakness had remained like a lingering flaw, and Duke Vallier worried that it might become an obstacle for Aika once she grew older.

So he intended to eliminate that weakness as well.

“But Grandfather, what do you do at school?”

“You read books, ride horses, and learn all sorts of fun things.”

“Can you do everything?”

“Of course. You can even draw pictures, just like the ones our Aika likes.”

Now that Vallier had begun to move, it was only a matter of time before the new academy stood proudly among the prestigious institutions.

The real problem was that Cassel would have to do all of it.

Bringing in famous professors would be as easy as drinking lukewarm soup.

In the past, Vallier had used every means available to establish itself firmly in Wapford.

They frequently crushed people through force and shed blood without hesitation.

That was why Vallier had earned such a notorious reputation.

But ever since Aika had been born and entered their household, they had been trying to use relatively gentlemanly methods instead.

In any case, all that damn hard work fell on Cassel’s shoulders.

Whether she knew who was suffering for it or not, that little Peanut with those round eyes was simply clinging happily to her grandfather and smiling.

That little rascal. Who do you think is doing all the hard work?