I Live With My Villain Uncle – Chapter 8

Author: isuzuuy

A polite yet urgent voice came from outside.

There were exactly two people in this household who were close to Uncle and spent a lot of time with him.

One was Reto, the chief administrator, and the other was Gerard.

Gerard’s face wasn’t scary, but he was scary because he always carried a sword around.

“Come in. You go to your room now.”

Uncle spoke to me with an angry look on his face.

His voice was noticeably different from before, and I was startled enough that I couldn’t even ask him for the letter. I hesitantly shuffled toward the door.

“Ah, okay……”

Gerard soon entered.

Deciding to ask about it another time, I simply said, “Uncle, see you later,” and headed for the door.

“Young lady, how do you do?”

Gerard stopped and bent down on one knee to greet me.

He had curly gray hair and round black eyes. A smile gently lifted the corners of his mouth, and there was a single mole beneath one of his eyes.

“Gerard, hi!”

“If I had known the young lady was here, I would have brought you some snacks.”

“Enough with the useless talk. Did you find him?”

Uncle spoke sharply as he strode over, picked me up, and pushed me outside.

“That’s not all. We found one guy……”

“Talk after you send the child away.”

As if that weren’t enough, he even gave my butt a little push, urging me to hurry up and leave.

I was shoved out into the hallway in an instant and looked up at Uncle with my lips sticking out in a pout.

“I-I’m going.”

“Stay quietly in your room.”

“Uncle, then later, my letter……”

Thud.

The door closed before I could finish speaking.

“Geez.”

I hope a horn grows out of Uncle’s butt.

I glared at the firmly closed door before turning around and heading back to my room.

I could get the letter later.

***

“When is Uncle coming back?”

“He seems like he’ll be a little late. Why don’t you eat first? I heard the chef prepared plenty of the creamy milk dishes that you like.”

“It would be nice to eat with Uncle.”

I sat on the bed, swinging my feet back and forth as I muttered.

Not long after Uncle kicked me out earlier, he went out with Gerard.

And Uncle still hadn’t returned by the time evening came.

“If you eat dinner, perhaps he’ll be back soon?”

I thought about it for a moment before nodding.

“Then I’ll eat and wait.”

“That’s a good idea. Now, shall we go?”

Zenda bent down and held out her hand to me.

I took Zenda’s hand and headed toward the dining room.

And at the end of the hallway, I came face-to-face with Uncle, who was approaching with an ominous presence.

“Oh! Un……”

He looked exactly like Uncle, but somehow, he didn’t seem like the Uncle who usually got annoyed with me.

He was much scarier, and it felt as though all the good energy he had before had completely disappeared.

On top of that, one of Uncle’s hands had somehow become wet with a dark red substance.

I hate to say it, but I think I understood why Uncle had been given that nickname.

For a moment, I was so frightened that I almost took a step backward.

But Uncle was faster.

He disappeared down the hallway to the right, radiating a frightening aura, and Gerard merely bowed before hurriedly following him.

“……Come on, young lady.”

Zenda pulled me along again after I had frozen in place.

I stared blankly in the direction Uncle had disappeared before following Zenda.

And I didn’t see Uncle again until the next day.

***

Three days had passed since I was kicked out of the stable and then Uncle’s study.

For those three days, Uncle was still angry with me more often than not.

“Just go away, please.”

“Can’t you just go away?”

“I told you to stop following me!”

He probably got angry every time he saw my face.

Especially on the day he returned from going out with Gerard. Not only had he come back with blood on his hands, but he was so frightening that I almost instinctively ran away from Uncle to my room.

And yesterday, after I followed him around everywhere, Uncle even yelled at me, asking if I was a stalker.

Was it when he was going to the bathroom? Anyway!

After almost getting into serious trouble at the stable, thankfully I hadn’t had any more dreams or visions yet, so all I could do was linger around Uncle.

Then again, if I had stuck to him like glue, he might have really thrown me away.

“Thank you, Zenda!”

Zenda wiped my wet face with a soft towel after I washed up.

Even though Uncle had openly warned her on the very first day I came here not to treat me too well, Zenda had been incredibly kind to me.

Even when I simply said I was thirsty, she never gave me water carelessly.

She always checked whether it was too cold or too hot first.

Zenda seemed to be terribly afraid of Uncle, so much so that I sometimes worried whether she was even allowed to disobey his orders.

“You’re very welcome.”

That was why I liked Zenda so much.

Her kindness, her grass-like eyes, and her ripe-rice-colored hair braided over to one side.

Of course, I liked all the other servants too.

“Can I go to Uncle?”

“Again……?”

Zenda looked at me anxiously.

Her face quickly turned pale.

“Mm-hmm, because Uncle doesn’t eat breakfast.”

Mom said that eating breakfast properly made it easier to start the day well and kept you from feeling worn out by dinner.

As usual, Zenda tried to stop me several times, but in the end, just like always, she took me to the door of Uncle’s room.

“Zenda, thank you!”

“If you get scared, you must run out immediately.”

“Okay, I understand!”

“And if Master gets angry, make sure you tell him that I opened the door on my own, not you.”

“Huh? But that would be a lie.”

“Lies like that are okay.”

Listening to Zenda’s worries, I slipped right into Uncle’s room.

Pitch-black curtains covered every window, so even though the sun had risen quite a while ago, it was nighttime here.

Fortunately, although the room was enormous, there wasn’t much furniture, so I didn’t have to worry about bumping into anything.

It smells good.

I looked around the dim room, searching for something I could step on to climb up.

Why was Uncle’s bed so high?

The last few times, I had used cushions and a footstool to climb onto the bed, but perhaps Uncle had gotten rid of everything, because today the floor was completely empty.

But I couldn’t give up!

Grunting and struggling, I managed to climb onto Uncle’s bed without using anything for the first time.

“Uncle, it’s morning.”

Then I sat near Uncle and persistently called out to him.

“Uncle. Uncle?”

Around the tenth time I called him, harsh words suddenly poured from Uncle’s mouth as he slept facedown, and then his ominous golden eyes appeared.

I looked at Uncle and smiled brightly.

“Uncle, good morning! Did you have a nice dream?”

“……You still haven’t gone away.”

Uncle looked at me, the one who had woken him up, and asked in a hoarse, crooked voice.

“Where?”

I asked, widening my eyes.

“The old man’s house.”

“I told you I’m not going to Grandfather’s. Uncle, let’s go eat.”

“Phew……”

Uncle raised himself halfway and roughly scratched his hair.

His upper body emerged from between the blankets, looking as though dozens of boulders and stones had been tied together.

“Uncle, aren’t you cold? Why do you sleep without clothes? You’ll get a stomachache if you do that.”

“What are you going to do with that information?”

“I’m worried you’ll catch a cold.”

“I’m not cold because you make my blood boil. Aren’t you getting down?”

“……Get down.”

Uncle always got angry whenever he saw me.

I hadn’t even caused any trouble yesterday or today.

Mom, Grandfather, the servants, and even the people at the shops Mom and I used to visit all liked me.

I wished Uncle would hurry up and like me too.

I knew he would get angry again if I didn’t get down, but if I did, he would obviously just go back to sleep, so I shamelessly wandered around on the bed.

“Why did you come?”

Uncle sat up completely, grabbed a shirt that had been carelessly sprawled across a small table, and put it on as he asked.

“To eat breakfast together!”

“You eat.”

Uncle got up and gulped down some water irritably.

Then he disappeared somewhere, presumably to wash up.

I sat on the bed and waited quietly.

Despite saying that, Uncle eventually came back, changed his clothes, finished getting ready, then tucked me under his arm and carried me all the way to the dining room.

“Uncle, I can walk too.”

I muttered as I dangled from his side.

“You need to eat quickly so I can get rid of you.”

“Eeeh……”

I had pestered him every day, saying that I would stay beside him if he didn’t eat, so he had obviously remembered that.

But throughout the entire meal, Uncle’s crooked gaze never left me.

Even though he only drank water.

After finishing breakfast, I patted my round belly when Uncle suddenly called me.

I happily ran over, but somehow, the atmosphere seemed even more ominous.

“Get ready to go out.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Come down when you’re done.”