I Live With My Villain Uncle Chapter 20

“Hey, Peanut.”

Cassel crooked a finger at Aika, telling her to come down.

“Grandfather, Uncle keeps calling me Peanut.”

“Huh.”

Seeing her chance, Aika leaned toward Duke Vallier and whispered her complaint.

“He only does that because our Aika is so cute. Cassel, if you’ve finished taking care of business, take Aika home. She must be sleepy. We can’t keep her in this noisy place.”

“I was planning to. Peanut, come down.”

Just then.

Aika looked as though she were thinking hard for a moment, then her eyes suddenly lit up.

She glanced at Cassel, gauging his reaction, and there was something decidedly suspicious about it.

“Grandfather, I’m going to the Imperial Palace next week.”

“The Imperial Palace?”

“Yes! I made a friend, so I’m going to play with him. His Majesty told me to come, too.”

“Oh-ho, is that so? Then this old man will definitely come to see you.”

At that, Aika excitedly spread her arms and bounced up and down.

“My friend’s name is Ruspe. He’s kind and gentle, and he knows his way around the Imperial Palace really well. He even brought me flowers!”

“Flowers, too? What a fine young fellow.”

“Ruspe said he even comes to the Imperial Palace by himself. He’s a really amazing friend. And his eyes are pretty, too.”

“Ruspe? Could he be that little fellow from Kelpodia?”

Duke Vallier’s eyes turned toward Cassel.

“That’s right.”

The head of House Marquess Kelpodia, Ricardo Willow Kelpodia, was the younger brother of the current Emperor, Winchester Gaia Seledore.

He was also a member of the Seledore family with a claim to the imperial throne.

And the only child of the Marquess and Marchioness of Kelpodia was Ruspe Winteris Kelpodia.

Though Ruspe was still young, he was the nephew most cherished by the current Emperor, Winchester Gaia Seledore, who stubbornly remained unmarried.

He was also another potential heir to the imperial throne, and someone the Emperor had already singled out as a prospective successor.

He resembled the Emperor even more than his own brother, the Marquess of Kelpodia, with striking features and a sharp mind.

His only flaw was his rather weak disposition.

But that aside……

Cassel raised an eyebrow and gave Aika a crooked glare.

Aika jumped in surprise and hurriedly wrapped her arms around Duke Vallier’s neck.

Only then, apparently deciding she was safe, she cheekily stuck out the tip of her tongue.

She was trying every trick in the book because she was afraid he wouldn’t take her to the Imperial Palace.

“He’s not a bad kid. Tell me when you come. And make sure Aika doesn’t catch a cold.”

“It’s almost midsummer.”

“You don’t know that summer colds can be worse?”

“Yes, yes. What am I supposed to say?”

Cassel rubbed the back of his neck and gave up.

No matter what he said, there was no one on his side here.

 

***

 

Goal achieved!

Just as I had promised Ruspe, I was going to be able to go to the Imperial Palace.

Uncle’s glare was fierce, but Uncle was scared of Grandfather!

Grandfather was the most popular person at the banquet.

Even though the place where he had been talking with Uncle was far away from the center of the banquet hall, people kept coming over to speak with him.

So I had no choice but to stop pestering him, say goodbye to Grandfather, and follow Uncle out.

“Uncle, let’s look around a little more before we go!”

“Who told you to act like we’re close?”

I looked up and saw Uncle’s grumpy face.

I pretended not to notice and widened my eyes innocently.

“Hm?”

“Why are you opening your eyes so wide? You betrayed me, didn’t you?”

“No! No! I didn’t betray Uncle.”

I quickly grabbed Uncle’s hand before he could walk off without me.

“…Hehe.”

“You ran over and tattled on me, and now what?”

“That wasn’t betrayal. It was a strategy! …I think.”

Was it?

Even after shouting that, something pricked at my conscience, so I looked away.

“You really are something.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking he was going to flick me on the forehead.

But no matter how long I waited, I didn’t feel anything in my head.

“Tsk.”

I flinched at the irritated click of his tongue and looked up, only to find Uncle’s gaze fixed somewhere else.

Wasn’t he looking at me?

He didn’t let go of the hand I was holding, either.

“It seems there is someone here who is rather difficult to meet at banquets.”

A man around Grandfather’s age approached us.

He wasn’t particularly old, yet his hair was much whiter than Grandfather’s.

His white hair was neatly swept back from his forehead, and his reddish-brown eyes sat beneath completely monolidded eyes.

His lips were pulled upward into a bright smile, but his eyes weren’t smiling at all.

Pure white hair and brown eyes.

And he was holding a cane, just like Grandfather.

The cane had a pattern resembling a tortoiseshell, with interwoven branches forming hexagonal shapes.

Oh, where had I seen that before?

That crest… Mom had definitely taught me about it!

‘Ro, Rondo?!’

I remembered hearing about it from Mom a long time ago.

I liked drawing, so I used to show Mom the pictures I drew all the time.

Then one day, I drew the crest of House Vallier and showed it to her.

Mom had been startled, and after that, she taught me how to draw every family crest in the Empire, starting with the easy ones and working up to the difficult ones.

And whenever I drew a family crest, Mom would explain that family to me.

Most of the words were difficult, but it had been such a fun time.

I had memorized all of them!

Rondo was one of them, too.

“Mommy, is this Rondo? An ugly turtle!”

“Haha, why is it ugly?”

“Because you said I have to be careful!”

I had drawn four legs, a head, and a tail to make it look like a real turtle, and Mom had let out a little laugh.

I remembered hearing that Rondo was close to House Deslin!

“But Aika, the people of Deslin and Rondo have snake-like eyes, so you must never become close to them. It may be…… difficult right now, but you must remember this.”

“Mmm-hmm……!”

Rondo was a marquess house, but its power was comparable to that of a ducal house, so it wasn’t a family that could be taken lightly.

It had maintained a brother-like relationship with one of the ducal houses, Deslin, for such a long time that it could practically be considered part of Deslin’s faction.

And Deslin had been the most powerful family during the reign of the Emperor before the previous one, and being an old family, it had a large number of vassals as well.

They were rather troublesome people, so Mom had once sighed and told me that if I ever crossed paths with them, it would only make things tiring.

That was how I had memorized it.

“Be careful of turtles and snakes!”

“Our Aika is so smart. My pretty daughter.”

But although I had never seen this man before, his voice strangely sounded familiar, as if I had heard it somewhere.

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”

At Uncle’s low voice, Grandfather flinched, and his eyebrows trembled.

I was a little startled, too, because Uncle’s voice was lower than usual.

Maybe it was just me, but it felt like Uncle could crush down the entire atmosphere around him with nothing but his voice.

Was it because I had betrayed Uncle?

“…Of course not. I merely meant that, after everything you’ve been through, it is fortunate that both His Grace the Duke of Vallier and Marquis Reguier are safe and well. Especially after going to the trouble of holding this banquet.”

A faint breath of laughter escaped Uncle.

It felt like cold air was dripping from his every word.

“What, are you afraid things didn’t go according to your expectations and your plans might have been disrupted? Should I have spent a year rotting away in some back room?”

“P-plans? Surely the Marquis is greatly mistaken. It was such a shocking incident that we were deeply concerned. Is this child perhaps the Prime Minister’s daughter? The one we’ve only heard about in rumors……”

The white-haired old man trailed off, his eyes lowering.

His gaze landed directly on me.

Those reddish-brown eyes felt strangely cold.

Wood was supposed to be warm in color, wasn’t it?

I flinched without meaning to and quickly hid behind Uncle.

Feeling frightened for no particular reason, I clutched Uncle’s leg and looked up at him.

At the same time, Uncle turned his head toward me.

I wondered if he was going to scold me for being a nuisance, but suddenly, Uncle scooped me straight up into his arms.

My body lifted off the ground.

Startled, I hurriedly wrapped my arms around Uncle’s neck.

“Keep talking, and you’re going to make things troublesome for yourself from now on.”

Uncle’s voice was even colder than before.