Chapter 734 - Social Obligations

Unlike Rika Kiron who had been crying over the assignment she had received from the tutor, Yvonne simply glanced at them before nodding her head.

The only reason she had lagged was her lazy attitude during the extended vacation due to the rampant plague.

Now that she had come back to the Capital and their lives were regaining normalcy, she had no intention of continuing her lackadaisical behavior from the past.

She was determined to complete most of her classes ahead of schedule which would give her more time for her business which would be expanding soon enough.

Therefore, changes needed to be made and she wasn't too troubled with the excess work he had assigned to her.

Being reminded of her business plans, the little girl looked up at her tutor during their class.

Marquess Samed had been teaching her the latest lesson they had begun but stopped once he found her ardent gaze fixed on him.

"Did you not understand something?" He inquired, wondering where she might have gotten stuck.

However, Yvonne shook her head as she was following what he was teaching but had another thought in her mind.

The encouraging nod she received from him, asking her to speak up made her clear her throat.

"CLOVER will soon be invading the noble markets as well." She declared with confidence apparent in her tone.

The Marquess was stunned for a second which made him set the notes in his hand aside so that they might discuss this matter further.

The little girl chuckled when she saw his curious eyes and did not withhold any information from him.

She revealed how she had brought this topic up before her family and also explained that she would be speeding up the completion of her other classes to focus on her duties towards CLOVER.

"Jax is a good option." Marquess Samed agreed with the Earl's suggestion for appointing her butler as her second-in-command.

There was trust between the two parties already and the young Butler was quite capable from what he had seen until now.

"How do you plan on concealing his face?" He pointed out the same aspect that she had been unable to resolve even now.

Many people had seen Jax moving in and out of the St. Claire Mansion so it would be hard for everyone to believe that the young man wasn't connected to that noble family at all even if he said so later.

The other tutors, those who visited the mansion for whatever reason, and even some of the people in the Commercial District had witnessed Jax around the members of the St. Claire family.

Therefore, if she wished to keep Jax's connection to her family a secret, she needed to figure something out which would ensure that his identity as her aid would remain unknown.

Yvonne groaned when she was reminded of this fact once again and nodded impatiently, indicating that she would look into this matter at the earliest.

'I wonder how I will achieve this!?' She grimaced, realizing that a major portion of her plan depended on Jax's identity as her butler remained under wraps.

Marquess Samed decided not to pry further after noticing the frustration bubbling in her at this very moment.

To avoid getting caught up in the storm, he chose to divert her attention from what seemed to be inciting her anger.

"You will have a lot to do from now on." He mentioned while expressing his sympathy for her busy schedule in the coming days.

This managed to bring Yvonne's attention to the other big incident that had taken place just this morning.

She would be busy with CLOVER's duties during her birthday period but the two weeks before that, she would be tied up with social obligations thanks to the promise she had made to her mother.

A sullen look of frustration took over her face once again which made him panic as well.

He had just succeeded in distracting her from her issue with Jax's face and now he had brought about a new trouble upon himself.

Marquess Samed felt himself treading on thin ice, watching his every move and making sure that he did nothing to gain her ire.

After all, he had just paid the price of getting on her bad side by signing the contract with a much-hiked-up rate for soaps.

This only worked as a reminder to keep her happy at least in incidents where he was still involved.

Yvonne did not realize that her tutor was fretting over his every step when he dealt with her as she was engrossed in trying to come up with ideas on how she would escape these social obligations.

Thinking of something, she looked up and found the best person to help her with the problem she would be facing soon.

"Marquess, you should know about the parties that will soon be held!" She clamored with a strangely eager smile on her face.

The tutor flinched at first but soon nodded for he had indeed heard a lot about it.

Earlier, he only had his employees who would relay pieces of important information to him whenever they got their hands on it.

However, now his etcher, Keira, was the perfect addition to his little organization, improving his chances of gaining gossip material by leaps and bounds.

Just yesterday, Keira had revealed to him the information regarding various households that were busy preparing for the social season set to begin soon.

"My sister has been pestering me as well." He grumbled with a disapproving shake of his head.

Yvonne then paid attention while the Marquess complained about his elder sister who shoved him around, making him do all the hard work for her most of the time.

Thanks to his ramblings, the little girl gathered that the first party of the season would be organized by the Tanner household.

Her party would be in two days but the Duchess was panicking as she had not yet completed preparations for it.

"She was the one who insisted on holding the first tea party of this year's social season even when she had not yet finalized everything." He scoffed at her difficult personality which was bringing him a lot of headache.

The tea party held in the Palace, hosted by the Queen previously inaugurated their social season so now it was time for the rest to follow suit.

Duchess Tanner wished to be the first noblewoman to host a party outside the Palace and hence was working hard towards it.

"And I am being forced to lend a hand in the preparations even when I care nothing about it." He continued as an incensed look appeared on his face.

"You only care about the gossip that happens at these parties," Yvonne mumbled her retort but unfortunately, the room was silent enough for him to hear her taunting words.

This made him glare and glower at her, causing her to look away almost immediately.

'Can you deny that it isn't the truth?' She continued looking away while adding this query in her heart.

Marquess Samed scowled at the child who had just mocked him but being the adult in this situation, he decided that it was his duty to be the magnanimous one.

'She can still hike up the price in my contract next year.' He recalled something which played a vital role in his decision-making process.

"Why do you need to know about that?" He interrogated with a suspicious look on his face.

She would get the invites anyway so why was she curious to know about the parties that would be held?

The St. Claire family was neither too low in the social hierarchy nor were they too high.

However, their position in terms of wealth made them eligible to attend any such parties as many of the nobles wished to establish business connections with the Earl who had brought his family's wealth to such great heights.

Therefore, there was no reason for the child to worry about not being invited to these parties.

"You should be invited to most, excluding a few…" He muttered while thinking of a few households that might choose not to interact with her family.

The name that first came to his mind was the Blaise family who was known to not have a cordial relationship with them.

Excluding some of the families which did not host parties altogether, the St. Claire's family was guaranteed to be invited to attend the rest.

'That was what I was worried about…' She grimaced at the very thought of attending too many parties and meeting people she did not wish to interact with.

Her mother had not yet revealed the names of the households they would be visiting in the next two weeks that they stayed in Amarthea before leaving for the Valente fief.

While Yvonne might have acquiesced to going along with her mother's plans, she needed to know where they would be going so that she might plan accordingly.

Since she needed the Marquess's help in this matter, she decided to explain the unpleasant conversation she had with her parents after breakfast this morning.

The more the Marquess listened to what had taken place, the harder he tried at keeping a straight face and not bursting into peals of laughter.

"I will never understand you, Yvonne St. Claire!" He announced at the end of her narration.

She had tried to fall off her etcher in an attempt to not meet the King and when she was caught red-handed by her father, he had given her this unique punishment.

There were girls even younger than her who were eager to attend these parties and here she was, the child who was thinking of ways to get out of these social obligations.

"Will you help me or not?" The same child blurted out, causing the Marquess to raise his hands in defeat.