Chapter 916

Chapter 916: Innate Villainousness

By the time the St. Claire family entered the Banquet Hall located in the Main Palace, most of the invited guests had already arrived before them.

It was considered disrespectful to arrive after the King had entered and taken his seat inside this Banquet Hall.

At the same time, it was even worse to keep the King waiting for them to assemble at the venue of today’s event.

Hence, everyone had been rushing to enter the Palace ahead of the time mentioned in the invite they had received a few days ago.

The sun was beginning to set now and as the frequency of nobles entering the Banquet Hall lowered, it seemed that they would get to meet the King soon.

The moment Yvonne set foot inside this vast and spacious hall she had never seen before, she made sure to take a look at her surroundings.

Directly opposite the entrance, at the other end of this large hall, was an elevated level with a grandeur throne present right at the center of it.

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A few other seats were next to this Throne though they weren’t as carefully crafted as the one at the center.

Excluding these chairs, there was no other seat anywhere in the entire Banquet Hall which caused the hordes of people in here to remain standing.

The Earl and Countess led their child into this hall, heading in the direction of those whom they were familiar with.

As Yvonne walked along, she smiled when she found that they were moving toward the Kiron and Jorbin family who had formed a group.

This was the first time she had seen Marquess Jorbin so her gaze lingered on him for a second longer before she turned towards the triplets.

Taking a look at the similar-looking girls, she realized that their facial features matched the Marquess whereas Lyon Jorbin’s appearance closely resembled his mother’s.

However, when her gaze landed on the eldest triplet, her thoughts went back to the dream she had this afternoon.

Due to the unexpected appearance of Mrs. Jacinth in her room, Yvonne had forgotten about the dream but now that she was facing Melissa Jorbin, those images returned to her mind.

Not only did the entire dream that she had seen through the perspective of Melissa flash across her eyes in that brief moment but the face she had failed to catch sight of was also made clear in her mind.

The shock that engulfed her when she finally realized who Melissa was longing for dissipated quickly when she sensed multiple pairs of eyes being aimed in her direction.

‘Not the time to focus on this...’ The young girl chided herself for getting swept away with the flow and soon regained her composure.

While she had been lost in her memories of the dream which were refreshed a moment ago, her parents had greeted the two Marquess couples and it was now Yvonne’s turn to do the same.

Therefore, their gaze had fallen on the child who stood with a dazed look on her face without stepping forward to greet the elders.

When Yvonne realized her folly, she hurried to curtsy to the couples who were also looking at her with concern filled in their eyes.

Though Marquess Jorbin had never met the daughter of the St. Claire’s family, he had heard a lot about her from his wife and children.

While Lyon did not seem to like the child too much, the others spoke highly of her.

He had been worried that his daughters would have a tough time assimilating into the noble society which had rejected the woman he had married after disregarding their initial objections toward their relationship.

However, he was glad that his worries were not needed as many young girls had reached out to befriend his precious daughters.

One among them was the only daughter of the scary Earl which had led Marquess Jorbin to be anxious as she was quite famous in their society.

Thankfully, her fame did not harm his daughters in any way and their friendship had been a harmonious one for the past few months.

Therefore, when he saw her standing still with that face depicting her confusion, he had assumed that she too was nervous about attending this special event.

Hence he did not take offense at the delayed reaction from the child as even his daughters were unable to calm their nerves.

“I’ve heard only good things about Miss St. Claire from my children and it looks like they were right.” He smiled after noticing how there was nothing to be corrected in her etiquettes.

The others present also nodded in acceptance of this statement.

However, Yvonne only responded with a stiff smile which they could not differentiate from as it seemed quite genuine to them.

‘I doubt that...’ She scoffed in her mind as there still was one member of the Jorbin family who disliked her just as much as she disliked him.

Thankfully, that boy wasn’t present today as he too was in the Royal Academy, far from the Capital right now.

This eased the displeasure in her mind and she simply nodded to the Marquess who assumed that the child was shy as this was their first interaction.

Noticing this awkward air, Aleena Kiron who had been standing with her elder brother, Jacob, came forward to greet the Earl and Countess.

Once everyone had greeted each other, the girls separated from them to form a group of their own, leaving their parents behind.

Jacob Kiron had already graduated from the Academy so he was free to come along with them but felt embarrassed to join the group of younger girls and thus chose not to accompany them.

Thus Aleena brought Yvonne and the Jorbin triplets to a silent corner before letting out a huge sigh.

“How uncomfortable!” She whispered when she received their glares as her sigh could have attracted the attention of any nearby noble.

Aleena had arrived with her parents and two siblings, Rika and Jacob, a while ago.

Ever since they had entered this Hall, all they had been doing was greeting the rest with a mechanical smile and stiff movements.

Hence the eldest daughter of the Kiron family felt relieved when she found her friends and was able to drag them away from the sights of the other guests.

Now that these girls had found a safe haven where they could be themselves without getting scrutinized, they began discussing how they had prepared for this event.

Aleena revealed that her younger sister, Rika was the one who chose their outfits for the day and was also in charge of their accessories.

Hearing this the triplets praised both the sisters, one for looking stunning and the other for having such a talent.

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“But where is Miss Rika?” Yvonne questioned as she wasn’t with the Kiron family earlier.

In response, Aleena shifted her gaze and when the others followed her line of sight, they found the young girl they were talking about in another group that had formed on the other side of the hall.

In this group, Yvonne could make out Glennise Brodie with Rika standing next to her and there were also others whom she recognized at first glance.

“Look at her, dressing as though this is her special day.” Aleena harrumphed after uttering her dissatisfaction in an annoyed tone.

Yvonne did not have to think too much about who she was referring to as there was only one person who came to her mind.

“Miss Elna must have raided her family’s reserves.” Moana giggled when she too laid eyes on the person in question.

In the group with Glennise and Rika was Elna Leopold whose family was famous for dealing with precious gems of all kinds.

Right now, that young miss appeared to have worn one too many eye-catching pieces of jewelry, causing this group to snicker upon laying eyes on her.

It wasn’t just the jewels but even the dress she was wearing sparkled from miles away, making her appear more eye-catching than she had ever been before.

Usually, Elna portrayed the image of elegance and propriety before them but it seemed that today she had made up her mind to look the best when compared to the rest who had been invited.

This made the girls shake their heads as she had gone overboard with her attempts, especially after noticing how even Duke Brodie’s only daughter who was higher than Elna had chosen to be dressed in a beautiful yet modest gown.

‘Wow, villainousness comes too easily to us.’ Yvonne grimaced when she realized that they were mocking a little girl’s attire and appearance right now.

However, recalling that the character of ‘Yvonne’ in the script was made out to be a villainess, she brushed away the self-doubt that had just formed in her mind.

‘If she did not want her appearance to be discussed then she should have stayed at home.’ She reminded herself that everyone had the right to have an opinion about others.

She too could get mocked by someone else for her appearance and there was nothing she could do about it.

Hence it was only natural to have thick skin when being a part of nobility which always waited for the moment for one to stumble before they could attack.

“Miss Elna seems to have gotten too excited about celebrating the King’s birthday at the Palace,” Yvonne muttered to herself but even this soft voice was able to reach the ears of those standing close to her.

Soon more giggles and chortles were heard in her vicinity, making the instigator rub her nose as she did not expect such an enthusiastic response from them.

Unknown to them, there was someone who had subconsciously eavesdropped on their little discussion just earlier.

‘Tsk! Does she not know that there are ears everywhere within the Palace?’ This silent spectator frowned at the sight of the careless girls who weren’t mindful of what they were speaking right now.