Chapter 688 - The King Of Beasts

Yvonne did not know about the thoughts going through the boy's mind at this very moment.

However, her thoughts were focused on what she had heard from him just now.

If what he said was true then Demon and she should have trained together before being able to share their powers.

'But Demon only asked if he could help me and I agreed.' She recalled what had taken place during her match with Topher Tanner.

Her feet had been rooted to the ground due to her exhaustion after manifesting her aura.

This made her unable to move even if she wanted to and at that vital moment, it was Demon who had come to her aid.

The moment she had agreed to his proposal, a warmth filled her body and in the next second, Topher was sent far away from her.

If it weren't for her etcher's timely assistance, then she would not have been able to defend herself from his attack.

When that energy had poured into her body, she had understood that it was Demon's aura, his power which he had shared with her, saving her from being struck by her opponent's attack.

However, hearing from Topher that she had done it with almost no preparations like everyone else was surprising even to her.

'Why was it so?' She was lost in her thoughts and hence had not noticed the Duke's heir who was gazing at her with inquisitive eyes.

This, however, had not gone unnoticed by the Earl as his daughter was seated in his lap and Topher had been staring in his direction all along.

Finding this to be annoying, the Earl glowered at the child whose ardent gaze was fixed on his lovely child.

'Who do you think that you are looking at!?' He snarled in his mind while leering at Topher whose back straightened when he caught sight of the elder's ferocious eyes.

Rutherford's anger only rose when he recalled how that thoughtless youngster had used the word 'consent' earlier while speaking about his daughter.

This only made his face fall further and now even others were beginning to notice the change in their surroundings.

'Huh?' Yvonne raised her head when her father's aura flickered and the temperature around him began to drop exponentially.

However, Rutherford was too deep in his thoughts to realize that people were now looking his way.

'I should do something…' Topher, the culprit here, decided to halt the Earl before he bore two big holes into his face with his leering eyes.

"Miss Yvonne," He called out, succeeding in bringing their attention back to him.

This allowed the Earl to snap out of his anger as his brows furrowed when he finally realized that he had subconsciously let out his chilling aura in this Parlor.

Marcus shot his brother-in-law a contemptuous glance before turning towards Topher just like the rest.

"Does Miss Yvonne know about Demon's origins?" Topher's query put them in a confused daze.

Succeeding in bringing everyone's attention away from the Earl's dangerous mood and also in saving himself from the same Earl's wrath, Topher had asked something that no one here had an answer to.

Usually, one could know more about an etcher based on their origins, their native land, and even their ancestry.

"I met Rouge in our Tanner fief so I know that she can survive in a rugged terrain and can withstand sweltering heat which is prevalent in our territory." He explained why he had brought up that topic.

While he might have initiated this conversation to save himself, he also had an ulterior motive in doing so as Demon had piqued his interest today.

Until now he had only thought of the huge beast like any other etcher but with the only peculiarity of being fated to a female child.

However, that had changed today as he had learned many things which he had been unaware of before.

Therefore, bringing this matter up would only aid in learning more about that huge beast.

Yvonne fell into a reminiscent daze after hearing his query as she tried to find an answer to it.

'How did I not think of this before?' Rutherford grimaced as he had not paid too much heed regarding Demon's origins due to his amazement at his Vonna's ability to form a bond with him.

When Yvonne had brought the beast to him, declaring that she wished to keep this horse as her pet, he had only felt hostility towards him.

Upon learning that they had somehow managed to imprint a lifelong bond on each other's souls, becoming a pair of etcher and etched, he was both filled with joy and trepidation.

Back then, he was wondering how to keep this matter a secret from everyone lest they target his beloved child that he had not looked into Demon's sudden appearance in their estate.

After all, Demon had appeared out of nowhere in the St. Claire estate which was a private property that outsiders weren't allowed without permission.

Since he could not have entered through the main gates as they were heavily guarded, there was only one other alternate route for the beast to choose.

'No…' Rutherford vetoed that speculation as there was no way that it was possible.

The thought that had surfaced in his mind was the woods behind their mansion.

That area was filled with greenery and was refreshing but that wasn't all.

As one moved further into that woods which functioned as the posterior boundary of the St. Claire estate, the denser the forest got.

The edge of the woods was where Yvonne and Demon often rode recklessly.

However, they had been warned repeatedly to never cross the tiny stream as beyond that was where the woods grew eerie, known to be home to wild animals of all kinds.

Though they were wild animals living far beyond that stream, there had never been a sighting of these animals anywhere near the St. Claire estate.

Rutherford also knew why this was so.

'The King's powers.' He gulped while recalling something he had heard from his father in the past.

Only a few chosen men had seen the King's glorious etcher in the past and those men knew of this etcher's special powers.

Rumor had it that the King's etcher was so scary that every animal that ever came close to it would shudder and faint at how fierce its aura was.

However, that same etcher was never to be seen and outsiders had only ever heard about it.

Therefore, Rutherford did not know how much of it was true and how much was false.

What he did know and believed was what his father had mentioned in passing when he was younger.

{The forest behind our estate holds beasts of many kinds and the King of those beasts is the Crown Prince's etcher.}

Previous Earl had revealed this back when Rutherford was still studying in the Royal Academy and the Previous King had still been alive.

The then Crown Prince Ophire had formed a bond with a rare and unique etcher whose appearance no one knew of.

However, they had heard that normal animals and even other etchers were fearful of it and would obey it without hesitation.

It was this etcher's command that the wild and ferocious animals living in this forest obeyed religiously.

After all, on one side of the forest was the St. Claire estate while on the other side was none other than a small portion of the Royal Palace grounds.

None of those animals attacked people on either side of the forest due to the command they had received from the King's etcher in the past.

Though they weren't allowed to move out of the territory allocated to them between these two places, they were free to act as they pleased within this area.

Therefore, no one was allowed to venture deep into the woods as there was no saying what would happen to them there.

The animals were enclosed between the Palace grounds and the St. Claire estate, frustrating them at their lack of freedom sometimes.

Thus, if one were to wander into this place, it was likely that they would not come out of there alive.

Recalling this information he had learned from his father and also what he had figured out after inheriting the title of the Earl, Rutherford discarded the speculation he had made earlier.

'There is no way that Demon would have survived the forest and made his way here..' He nodded in absolute acceptance of this claim.