I Live With My Villain Uncle Chapter 30

I quickly went around the bookshelves that ended in the center and started looking from the bottom of the shelves on the opposite side.

I was examining them one by one in a waddling crouch when I noticed that one corner of the very bottom shelf was completely empty, with no books placed there.

In other words, I could move straight through it to where we had just come from, where Ruspe was.

The spaces in each bookshelf were so large and tall that I thought I could pass through if I ducked down.

Thinking I would surprise Ruspe, I put my knees on the floor and slowly crawled through the opening.

It was super easy!

“Ruspe!”

I called out softly.

Then I popped my head out, but Ruspe was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did he go? Ruspe, are you behind me?”

I crawled back out the way I had come.

I had been planning to surprise him, but maybe Ruspe had followed me around while I was crawling through.

But when I stood up and looked around, Ruspe wasn’t here either.

“Hmm?”

I ran back around the bookshelves and started looking for Ruspe.

“Ruspe?”

I moved one shelf over at a time, but Ruspe wasn’t there either.

Where had Ruspe suddenly gone?

Come to think of it, I had been able to hear Kamaye and Zenda’s voices from here earlier, too, but now it was strangely quiet.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, just as Aika had told him, Ruspe sat quietly and waited for Aika.

She had said she was going to pick out some books, but even after quite some time, there was no sign of her.

“Aika?”

Ruspe stood up again, walked around the bookshelf, and poked his head out.

But Aika wasn’t there.

“Where did she go?”

If he went too far looking for her, Aika might come back while he was gone, so Ruspe decided to sit quietly where Aika had told him to wait.

Then he began to carefully think back over what had happened earlier.

Ruspe had been the subject of great expectations for as long as he could remember.

He didn’t know why.

All he knew was that everyone in his family said that, as long as nothing extraordinary happened to his father, he would eventually inherit the position of Crown Prince.

His father said there was no need to rush yet, but the other members of the family didn’t think that way.

They always wanted Ruspe to be the best and wouldn’t tolerate even the slightest flaw.

“How about having Ruspe adopted as His Majesty the Emperor’s son?”

Ruspe knew what the word “adoption” meant, too.

It was a word he had seen in a book he had studied recently.

He hadn’t meant to hear it, but he happened to overhear it while passing through the hallway.

Then did he need to be even more flawless than he was now?

Would he no longer be the child of his father and mother?

Until now, Ruspe had grown up without even knowing what he liked.

He had never had the time for it.

Even when he wanted to like something, he had to watch everyone’s reactions, and if his hobby or behavior didn’t match what was expected of him, he received disapproving looks.

If he took too long to make a choice, they said he was frustrated instead of simply being careful.

He had been taught that he shouldn’t hurt other people, so when he chose to speak less, they called him timid.

He was simply cautious and thoughtful, but everyone told him there was something wrong with that.

Eventually, he even came to dislike his own personality.

“Aika……”

There was only one thing Ruspe liked.

Going to the Imperial Palace.

His Majesty the Emperor was always on his side, and at least for a little while, Ruspe could be free there.

But he had recently heard that going too often could become the subject of gossip, so he had been thinking about cutting back.

“Ruspe, come here. Come and say hello to each other.”

His Majesty the Emperor had called him over, and there was an incredibly, incredibly pretty child there.

Her black hair sparkled like the night sky.

Her cheeks looked like someone had rolled up two balls of pure white snow, but there was a hint of pink in them, too, making her look like a doll.

Her name was Aika de Vallier.

He had been told that she was the niece of Marquis Reguier, His Majesty’s friend.

Marquis Reguier was someone Ruspe respected, too.

Because he was strong and afraid of nothing.

Ruspe had been thinking that when he grew up, he wanted to become like Marquis Cassel de Reguier.

“Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Aika.”

“……I’m Ruspe.”

“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.”

Aika’s eyes went round.

She has such a pretty voice, Ruspe thought.

It sounds like a canary singing.

“You’re really amazing.”

“……I’m not really.”

Was that really something worth being called amazing for?

Whenever Ruspe said he was going to visit the Imperial Palace, everyone would start telling him to do this and that, so he had only come with Kamaye.

But when such a pretty girl called him amazing, he felt a little proud.

“Hey, Ruspe. Do you come here often?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“We’re friends now. Next time, let’s play even more!”

“Next time……?”

“Yep, next time. Then, bye for real!”

Ruspe hadn’t even been able to ask Aika if she would be his friend, yet somehow, they had become friends.

For the first time, he had wanted to become someone’s friend, only to discover that it had already been decided.

Is this really okay?

Before he knew it, they had even promised to meet again after sleeping for ten nights.

They were close enough that Aika had given him all the candy in her bag.

That day, Ruspe had stored the candy in a small jar decorated with the ribbon Kamaye had obtained for him, and he still hadn’t taken even a single piece out to eat.

And today, when they met again, Aika had protected him.

From the adult he hated most and never wanted to meet.

“Don’t bully Ruspe, mister!”

“Ruspe is my friend! Bad Mister.”

When he heard those words and looked at Aika, her back seemed to be sparkling.

Rainbow-colored.

No, it was even prettier than that.

She was radiating the most beautiful light in the world, and before he knew it, Ruspe had hugged Aika tightly, as if she were a doll he wanted to hold close.

“Ruspe?”

“Aika, thank you.”

For calling him kind.

For calling him amazing.

For protecting him from someone he hated.

And for becoming his friend.

So Ruspe decided that he, too, would become Aika’s most amazing and closest friend.

For the first time, there was something he wanted to do of his own accord.

……But why was Aika taking so long to come back?

Ruspe eventually stood up again.

I guess I have to go find my friend Aika.