. The Mad Dog of Valliart and the Tiny Puppy

Right now, the Worpord Empire is probably the most peaceful country on the continent.

But before the previous Emperor came to power, Worpord was called a land soaked in blood and bones because of endless wars—continental wars, ancient relic wars, and more.

After finally finding peace, the empire was held up by four major duchies, right after Emperor Celedor, the “Sun of the Empire.”

Valliart, Kadier, Deslin, and Notium.

Among them, my family—Valliart—had the shortest history.
But despite that, we earned more honor and titles than most.
That’s because my grandpa was the one who helped the previous Emperor rise to the throne and made sure the current Emperor stayed there too.

Our family also became famous for gathering the most wealth in the shortest amount of time.
Even excluding our land and the imperial lands, over a third of the capital belonged to Valliart. That’s no exaggeration.

There are two more reasons why the Valliart family is so well-known:
One is my amazing mom.
And the other is… my uncle.

…Mom is the best!
But I’ll talk about her later since she’s precious to me.

My uncle is known as the strongest swordsman in the empire.
He’s so skilled that people say his whole body is a weapon.

But… it’s also said that all his stats went into his looks and sword skills, and none into his personality.
Even the Emperor finds it hard to control him and has to constantly try to calm him down.

Honestly, when people talk about the Valliart family, most of the rumors are about him.

At least that’s what Mom told me.

So then… why do I keep messing with someone like him when he’s clearly scary enough to kill me?

“Uncle! Nooo!”

“Let go.”

I heard him grit his teeth again.

“No! You can’t go!”

I clung to his long leg like a koala, wrapping my arms and legs around him.
This way he can’t walk, right? Maybe I’ll crush one of his legs?

I felt bad for the pain, but it was better than him going.
If he goes there now, it’s like walking straight into death, you dummy!

“Huh? Huh?”

But this monster didn’t even flinch.
He just kept walking, dragging me along like I weighed nothing.

I panicked and bit onto his pants with my teeth.

“Dohhn gooo!”

Finally, Uncle stopped walking.
Above my head, he let out a deep sigh that felt like it made the whole floor shake.

Gulp.

Even the air around us felt heavy.

It was the kind of sigh that made your whole body freeze.

‘I have so much to say too…’

But a secret is a secret. Even if it makes you want to explode, you have to protect it.
That’s what Mom always said.

And this secret… was our last one.

Mom isn’t in this world anymore.
I’ll never be able to make new secrets with her.
So I didn’t want to break the last one we had.

“Hey, Peanut.”

I let go of his pants with my mouth and looked up.

My arms were sore, and my mouth was wet from drool.

“I’m not Peanut!”

Gotta fix that name first.

“Get down.”

“No! If I let go, you’ll leave!”

Still hanging on, I wiped my drool on his pants.

Hah! Now your pants are dirty. Guess you can’t go out looking like that!

He glanced at the spot, wrinkled his face in disgust, and said,

“Then get off.”

“…Are you gonna throw me if I don’t?”

I gave him my best sad puppy eyes.

“Ugh, you’re driving me crazy. Why do you always have to argue with me? I told you not to get in my way.”

Argue?!
I’m doing this to save you!

If you weren’t Mom’s brother, I wouldn’t care!

But saying that out loud won’t help.
So I swallowed my feelings again.

“…Tch.”

His angry face relaxed a little, like he was giving up.

“You’re just like your mom. So stubborn it’s disgusting.”

“My mom wasn’t stubborn!”

“You never shut up, either.”

“Uncle.”

“What.”

At least he always answers, even if his eyes look like he wants to eat me alive.

“Uncle, I’ll give you all my snacks. Just don’t go. Please?”

Uncle looked stunned.

“What the hell… Did the old man send you to do this?”

“Old man? Who?”

“Get off before I throw you.”

He spoke through clenched teeth, and I flinched a little.

But I couldn’t give up.

I tightened my grip around his leg.
My fingers were starting to feel hot from how hard I was squeezing.

If Uncle keeps this up, I’ll have to use that.

If I don’t stop him today, he’ll run into someone from the Hendel family, one of Valliart’s enemies.

“Get. Off. Now.”

Actually, it’s worse than that.
He won’t just run into them—the Hendel family heir will pick a fight with Uncle.

And Uncle… will hit him.

Then?
It’ll blow up into a full-on war. Hendel’s estate will be soaked in blood.

“Uncle, please. Just this once. Aika’s one wish!”

“GET. OFF.”

“Whimper…”

The Hendel family hated that someone from Valliart—like Mom—became Chancellor.
They always caused trouble during meetings and were a thorn in Uncle’s side.

After this, there’ll be war between the families, and Valliart will lose a lot of land.
Uncle’s already been cleaning up enemies ever since Grandpa asked him to find the ones behind the carriage attack.

Uncle thinks I don’t know, but I heard everything he and Grandpa said when I was pretending to sleep at the funeral.

I want to help too, but my memory is fuzzy from hitting my head during the accident, so I can’t be useful.

If things keep going like this, Uncle will die.
And I’m the only one who can stop it.

‘In the dream… the Hendel family didn’t kill Mom.’

So I have to protect him.

“Uncle… I miss Mom…”

I couldn’t hold on anymore and let go.

Thud.

I landed on my butt.

When I mentioned Mom, Uncle suddenly went totally quiet.
Like someone hit pause.

“Huh?!”

Suddenly, he grabbed me—well, my clothes—by the scruff and lifted me up like a doll.

Now I was dangling in front of his scary golden eyes.

“Then go look in the mirror.”

He was a bit calmer now, but I shook my head.

“I don’t look like Mom that much. You do. You look just like her!”

I grinned.

I don’t even have her red hair. Mine’s pitch-black.

Only my golden eyes are like hers—exactly the same.

But Mom always said my hair was as pretty as the night sky.

“Argh!”

Uncle, who had been staring at me, suddenly groaned and grabbed his hair like he was about to rip it out.

Then, still holding me, he stomped off somewhere.

I kept quiet. I was scared he might actually throw me out the window this time.

Luckily, he carried me to my room.

He tossed me on the bed and sat down with a glare like he wanted to kill me.

Gosh, isn’t he cold without a shirt?

Worried he might run away again, I crawled across the bed and grabbed his pants.

“Hey, Peanut.”