My Niece Is Not A Villainess

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You want to be like uncle?”

 

When Rose suddenly said that, he tilted his head in confusion, and she exclaimed with bright, sparkling eyes.

 

“Swinging a sword like swoosh swoosh.”

 

Her small hand moved as if mimicking Ian’s swordsmanship.

 

He had told her that they would learn once she got healthier, but it seemed she was too impatient to wait.

 

Instead of saying she wanted to learn how to wield a sword, it felt like she was saying she wanted to be like her uncle.

 

“Rose, do you want to learn swordsmanship?”

 

“Yes! I’m healthy now!”

 

Rose patted her chest to show how healthy she was. Ian stopped walking and lifted Rose high into the air.

 

“Let’s see. Let’s see how healthy our Rose has become.”

 

Rose screamed in delight and then giggled.

 

“Let’s see, here and there. Hmm.”

 

Despite Ian’s spinning her around, Rose didn’t seem dizzy and looked at him with an eager expression.

 

“You’re really healthy!”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes.”

 

When Ian hugged Rose tightly and kissed her on the crown of her head, she giggled again.

 

“Then can we start learning now?”

 

“Yes, let’s start learning little by little.”

 

“Okay!”

 

Rose shouted so loudly that it echoed through the mountains, and Ian nodded with a smile.

 

“Then training will start as soon as we reach the inn. Rose, the trainee!”

 

“Yes!”

 

Rose answered energetically, even though she didn’t know what a trainee was.

 

Ian, looking at Rose with a smile, hurried his steps.

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

The journey that started early in the morning continued leisurely.

 

They stopped to look at flowers that caught Rose’s eye and watched squirrels and deer families as they climbed the mountain slowly. Ian faintly heard a small rumbling sound.

 

‘She didn’t eat much breakfast.’

 

Because they had to leave early, Rose, still sleepy, hadn’t eaten much breakfast.

 

On top of that, she had been running around in the forest, so it was natural for her to be hungry.

 

“We should eat lunch.”

 

Ian quickened his pace and in no time reached the summit, where he found a flat spot and spread out a mat.

 

“Let’s eat here.”

 

“Food!”

 

The lunchbox Ian took out from his inventory was something he had asked the innkeeper to prepare the night before. It was a sandwich filled with thick slices of meat.

 

Rose, being very hungry, quickly devoured the sandwich.

 

“Rose, you should eat slowly.”

 

“Yes!”

 

Even though she answered firmly, Rose didn’t slow down her eating pace. Ian gave her some water to prevent her from choking while he ate.

 

By the time he was eating, Rose’s belly was already full.

 

“It looks like there’s no room for snacks.”

 

Ian chuckled at Rose’s round belly, and she giggled.

 

“Uncle! Can I go play over there?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

Rose pointed to a flower field blooming right beside them, probably finding it boring to just sit still after the meal.

 

Knowing Rose’s hobby of making flower crowns from wildflowers at the castle, Ian nodded.

 

“Yes, but only until I finish eating.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Rose trotted over to the flower field and plopped down.

 

Ian, who had momentarily taken his eyes off her while eating his sandwich, thought to himself:

 

‘What time is the auction?’

 

The Jubia territory was located just off the road from the Loenbaum territory to the capital.

 

This was one of Ian’s purposes for taking this trip with Rose.

 

‘I need to find out what time the auction starts as soon as we get to the territory.’

 

Just as Ian finished his thoughts and started to clean up and look around, he noticed that Rose, who was supposed to be playing in the flower field, was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Rose?”

 

Panicking, he threw aside the picnic mat and looked around, but no matter where he searched, he couldn’t find Rose.

 

“Rose!”

 

His heart sank.

 

He had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t even noticed she had disappeared.

 

‘Could she have been kidnapped by a branch family? No, that’s impossible. No one knows we’re heading to the capital. Besides, contact with the constellations is tricky now…’

 

Suppressing his anxious thoughts, Ian spread mana all around to sense Rose’s presence.

 

“Uncle!”

 

He heard Rose’s voice from within the bushes.

 

Before Ian could rush to her, Rose appeared from the thicket, holding a small animal.

 

“Rose?”

 

“Uncle!”

 

Rose ran over to him with quick steps, holding a small creature in her arms.

 

Ian immediately hugged her tightly, needing to feel her warmth to calm his pounding heart.

 

“Rose.”

 

“Uncle?”

 

Noticing something was off with her uncle’s reaction, Rose tilted her head in confusion.

 

Ian, finally calming down, sighed in relief and spoke to her.

 

“Uncle was scared because uncle couldn’t see you. If you’re going to rescue a cat, you need to tell me first.”

 

“Oh. I’m sorry. I heard a cry for help and ran off in a hurry.”

 

“A cry for help?”

 

“Yes, it asked Rose to help it.”

 

“This little one.”

 

It was a tiny animal with leopard-like spots. Blood was dripping from its leg.

 

“It seems this little one is injured.”

 

Despite its injured leg, the small creature in Rose’s arms looked peaceful.

 

Ian observed it closely. Unlike ordinary animals, its eyes sparkled like blue gemstones in the light, and it stared intently at Ian.

 

‘It’s not a monster.’

 

Monsters typically had a distinct dark aura, regardless of their appearance.

 

However, the animal Rose held lacked such a dark presence.

 

“…We need to stop the bleeding.”

 

Pushing aside his thoughts, Ian carefully set Rose down and took a handkerchief from his pocket, wrapping it tightly around the cat’s bleeding leg.

 

The cat did not make a sound despite the pain. Instead, Rose looked as if she were the one injured, anxiously stomping her feet.

 

“There, all done.”

 

When Ian removed his hands, the cat’s leg was wrapped in a makeshift bandage. Rose beamed and bowed her head.

 

“Thank you, Uncle.”

 

“It’s my pleasure as a gentleman.”

 

Rose blushed and giggled at Ian’s response.

 

“So, should we let this little one go back to the mountains now?”

 

At Ian’s suggestion, Rose’s eyes widened.

 

“But it said it wants to come with me since it’s injured.”

 

“I treated its wound, so it should be fine now. It must have a family waiting for it too. So—”

 

Before Ian could finish, the animal cried out loudly.

 

– Meow!

 

“Uncle! It says it doesn’t have a family!”

 

– Meow!

 

“And it wants to live with me!”

 

Ian was taken aback. How could ‘meow’ translate to such a statement?

 

More than that, he didn’t know how to refuse Rose, who was showing her first bit of stubbornness.

 

“Rose, that is….”

 

– Meow.

 

“Uncle, it says it really likes Rose.”

 

Ian hesitated. The look in Rose’s sparkling eyes and her insistence made it hard for him to leave the cat behind.

 

The cat, freed from Rose’s arms, wrapped its long tail around Ian’s leg.

 

It then looked up at him with bright, sparkling eyes, similar to Rose’s.

 

Anyone could tell it was begging to be taken along, and Ian’s brow furrowed slightly.

 

“Uncle, can’t it come with us? It has no mom or dad, and if we leave it here alone, it’ll die. Please?”

 

“..…Rose, this little one lives here.”

 

– Meow.

 

At the strange cry, Rose’s eyes sparkled.

 

“It says it doesn’t need to stay here! It wants to come with us! Please?”

 

“…Rose.”

 

Hearing Ian’s troubled voice, Rose started to tear up.

 

“I’ll eat less and share my food with it. Please, I really want to keep it. Please?”

 

“Rose, it’s not about the food. You won’t have to go hungry. But—”

 

“Please? I really want to take it with us.”

 

When Rose began to cry in earnest, tears streaming down her face, Ian hurriedly picked her up.

 

“Oh, don’t cry. Don’t cry. We’ll take it with us. If you want to take it, we’ll take it. Uncle was wrong. If you want to take it, we will. There, don’t cry.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes, really. We’ll take it and treat its injury properly. So, don’t cry. Our kind Rose, don’t cry.”

 

As Ian comforted Rose, he glared disapprovingly at the cat, which licked its paw leisurely as if it had expected this outcome.

 

‘This is not an ordinary cat,’

 

Ian thought with a sigh.

 

‘I’ll have to get rid of it while Rose sleeps.’

 

Ian had decided to remove the unknown creature from Rose’s side when she fell asleep.

 

Just then, Rose, who had been petting the cat, collapsed.

 

“Rose?”

 

Ian, alarmed, quickly held Rose in his arms.

 

“Rose? Rose?”

 

Despite his calls, Rose, who appeared merely asleep and not feverish or in pain, did not wake up.

 

[Do not worry. She’s only been put to sleep for a short while.]

 

Hearing a sudden voice, Ian turned to see the cat floating in midair.

 

“What are you?”

 

Ian asked, quickly putting distance between them. The cat, still hovering, leisurely licked its paw.

 

[I didn’t want to do this, but you were planning to get rid of me.]

 

“Who are you?”

 

Ian demanded.

 

[I’m a spirit.]

 

A spirit? Ian furrowed his brow at the unexpected answer.

 

“A spirit?”

 

[Yes.]

 

In the original story, spirits were mentioned as beings from a long time ago, but they never appeared directly. Yet here was a spirit, suddenly.

 

Ian quickly recalled things he had overlooked.

 

It didn’t make sense that he hadn’t sensed Rose’s movements despite his sharp awareness.

 

And while Ian only heard ‘meow,’ Rose seemed to understand the cat perfectly.

 

If all the things Rose had said, which he thought were just a child’s imagination, were true…

 

“Are you saying Rose has the potential to be a spirit mage?”

 

[Yes. To be precise, she has the potential to be a grand spirit mage.]

 

‘A grand spirit mage.’