Chapter 744 - Thank Us Later

"Miss Yvonne, may I speak with you for a moment!?" 

Taylor and Howard heard this loud query just as they stepped into the garden.

The elder brother had been away to bring his friend to the party and it now seemed that quite a lot had taken place in his absence.

The two friends shared a glance and realized that they had reached the same conclusion.

Thus without wasting another second of their time, they hurried in the direction of that sound in order to check on their sister whose name had just been mentioned.

It took them no more than a few seconds to reach the place where everyone's attention was focused right now.

There they found Yvonne standing between the St. Claire and the Leopold family.

'Why is it her?' Taylor frowned when he found the Miss of the Leopold family there as he did not have a good impression of her.

However, the center of attention was on someone else so he too shifted his gaze towards them.

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Yvonne had turned around to face the ones who had approached her but was surprised to see the boys heading over here as well.

As much as she wanted to greet them, she needed to focus on the people who were already here.

Thus she fixed her gaze on the two girls standing before her at this moment.

The unruly voice shouting out loud belonged to one of them while the second request that had been made in a gentle tone had come from the second person.

Both were sisters but had conflicting personalities that were clear for everyone to see right now.

Yvonne first shot a slight glare at Aleena Kiron, the one who had yelled before shifting to a more curious expression as she glanced at the younger sister, Rika Kiron.

"Yes, Miss Rika?" She inquired and waited to hear why they were looking for her and in such haste at that.

Howard and Taylor had now reached her position and were standing on either side of her as though they were guarding her.

The other nobles watching this scene were not too surprised to see Howard acting this way as it was the duty of an older brother to watch over his sister's well-being.

However, they were surely not expecting to discover the same behavior from the younger son of the Duke as well.

Yvonne did not know whether to laugh or to cry as the boys were currently baring their fangs at the Kiron sisters when, in fact, it was the grandfather-granddaughter duo of the Leopold family that had tried to mess with her.

Rika had a mild personality and her eyes trembled at the sight of the older boys who were leering at her as though she had done something wrong.

Not able to see her younger sister in this troubled state, Aleena took a step forward and shielded her from their sight.

"Miss Yvonne, we decided to catch up earlier, didn't we?" She reminded the other girl with a tilt of her head.

Yvonne knew that they had made no such promise but looking at Aleena trying so hard, she nodded her head anyway.

"How could I forget?" She played along before turning around towards the ones she had been conversing with until now.

Elna Leopold had regained her composure already and was watching them in silence while the old man was doing the same.

"Excuse me, Lord Leopold." She bowed her head a little before glancing at her parents.

Rutherford and Raylene smiled at her which implied that they had no qualms if she left them and went ahead to spend time with her friends.

"Shall we, Brother?" The child asked her brother's opinion and even glanced at the other boy.

"And Brother Taylor?" She smiled at him happily, making her chubby cheeks look fuller.

Taylor felt a wave of warmth flood his heart at this adorable sight and the fatigue that had been building up in his body over the last few days had vanished in an instant.

Nodding his head in response, he did not even wait for Howard's answer as he held her hand and led her forward.

Rutherford and Howard glared at this sight while Raylene giggled at how childish they were being.

In order to not lose, Howard grabbed onto her other hand and Yvonne was escorted by two little knights who were ready to protect her at any time.

Raylene smiled and watched them leave along with the girls of the Kiron family who had come to pick her daughter up.

On the other side, Elna had been waiting for someone to invite her as well but from beginning to the end, no one had even looked her way.

This caused her to grit her teeth in anger at the insult she had faced today and glanced up at her grandfather with an aggrieved look in her eyes.

She was hoping to prove that Yvonne St. Claire had often acted in this way.

That girl conversed freely with children of higher noble families without any respect for the hierarchy followed in their society.

Just earlier too, she had addressed the son of the Duke as brother and did not even bother to bow before the daughters of a Marquess.

Not to mention that Yvonne had ignored her and left without inviting her to join them.

Sadly, Elna's grievances were about to accumulate further at the sight she would witness next.

Her grandfather whom she was hoping would help her relieve some of her frustrations was now looking at the same child who had caused them in the first place.

"Just like Hannah…" Old man Leopold muttered to himself while reminiscing about the person whom the daughter of the St. Claire's family resembled.

When Yvonne had smiled happily at Taylor, her appearance had overlapped with an image he was quite familiar with in the past.

While Elna had not caught the words her grandfather had just said, the same could not be said about Rutherford and Marquess Leopold.

They both gave the old man a side glance and frowned when they saw him still gazing at the child who was now on the other side of the garden.

It was not just these two men but Yvonne too had heard that mutter while she was walking in the other direction.

People with etchers had already awakened their inner strengths and thus had heightened senses.

Due to this reason, these three with etchers in the old man's vicinity had caught the soft mumble coming from him.

'How does he know grandma?' Yvonne did not turn around as that would expose her secret of having an etcher.

However, the slight frown on her face portrayed her confusion at this strange incident.

There was still time to gain answers for this so she shook her head and decided to focus on something else that needed her attention.

'I can ask Uncle Marcus about this later on.' She added in her mind since using their etchers to communicate right now would not be a clever idea.

Whenever an etcher's powers were used, the etched's aura would also be utilized and even if it was in small quantities, that aura was discernible by others who also owned etchers.

With the number of men and youngsters with etchers around her right now, Yvonne did not wish to take the risk of getting caught using her aura.

She knew that doing so would be equivalent to announcing to the entire Kingdom that she had an etcher of her own.

Therefore, she did not ask for Demon's aid to communicate with her Uncle who might help her understand this situation a little better.

She would wait until they returned home before she could inquire about this strange matter.

Thus, for now, she alternated her gaze between the two sisters who had brought her over to this side of the garden.

There weren't too many adults in this part of the garden which gave them enough space to converse freely without being under their watchful eyes.

Howard and Taylor had guarded expressions while waiting for what would happen next.

"You can thank us later." Aleena scoffed at the little girl she had brought with her to this place.

Rika widened her eyes at her elder sister's rude words before shooting an apologetic gaze towards the other three.

"Thank you for what?" Yvonne retorted, unable to understand what Aleena was up to.

This time, it was the younger sister who took up the responsibility of filling them in on the details.

"We thought that you might not be too comfortable around Miss Elna." She first looked around before whispering even when she knew that there weren't many people nearby.

Hearing this reasoning, Yvonne chuckled a little while the boys each had a contemplative gaze on their faces.

Taylor had already presumed that she might have a hard time when Elna Leopold was around and this revelation from Rika had only confirmed his thoughts.

"Is that why you yelled out loud? Because you were worried about me?" Yvonne inquired teasingly, her mischievous smile now aimed at Aleena.

It looked like the other person had not expected to hear this reply.

This had caused Aleena to cough in embarrassment before putting on a furious expression.

"Don't read into it! Who even cares about you!" She clamored to deny the claims that Yvonne had just made.

However, her reddening cheeks were evident for everyone to see which only weakened the intensity of the impolite words she was spouting to refute what had been said about her.

'I was right… She puts on a tough act but is still gentle on the inside..' Yvonne was reminded that her impression of Aleena had been right all along.