Chapter 26 - Stay Far Away

Howard just stared at her and tried to gauge what her plan this time was.

The siblings were never close because of many reasons but mostly because Yvonne was a two-faced little demon who always put the blame on him whenever she made mischief.

The adults could never believe that the innocent and angelic Yvonne could cause trouble and hence it was always the poor big brother who was punished with no fault of his own.

At first, when he was told that there would be a new baby in the house, he too was overjoyed that he would get a younger brother or sister and would not be alone anymore.

So he patiently waited till she was old enough to talk and move about to play with her.

But who would have thought that baby Yvonne would turn out to be a genius child and excelled in everything she touched. So much so that she had started to hoard his parents' attention all to herself.

'She's an evil genius, that's what she is!' Howard shook his head and straightaway rejected Yvonne's soft plea to make new memories together.

"What's your plan this time?" He scowled at her.

Yvonne felt bad that he was so guarded against her but it looked like there was some deep-rooted bad blood between them that would take time to be resolved.

"There is no plan, big brother. I just want to be friends with you." She spoke in a sweet voice that brought a smile on their parents' faces.

They knew that their children never got along with each other which was why they were worried about what would happen when they met again.

"How has your sword training been?" Rutherford diverted the topic when he saw Howard's angry face.

His face instantly turned to joy and excitement when he heard his father's words.

Yvonne could only watch as they conversed about swords and fighting with great enthusiasm.

"Vonny, let's go. They won't stop once they've started." Raylene picked her up and left them alone.

'So my brother likes swords huh? Does he want to become a knight when he grows up?' She imagined an adult Howard in a shining knight's armor and was satisfied with the result.

"Baby, today you can rest all you want but from tomorrow morning your classes will begin. So you better be prepared." Raylene spoke as the maid opened the door for them.

Yvonne glanced around the room and was pleased with how it looked. 

Large windows which allowed the bright sunlight to illuminate the room with a beautiful looking window seat attached to it. A huge bed with a canopy, a tiny study table and chair, and a couch in the other corner.

"Classes?" She looked back at Raylene and asked in confusion.

"Etiquette class, history class, dance class, embroidery class…" She kept naming different classes that Yvonne was attending previously.

'Great! I was thrown into this world to speak to birds, meet ghosts, and to learn how to stitch.' She rolled her eyes.

Yes, Yvonne had recalled what had happened on that night with the crying ghost when she was taking a nap in the carriage.

She had woken up screaming hysterically and then went back to sleep.

But what she did not know was that her parents had witnessed that scene as well. 

This scared them endlessly and they decided to get a physician to take a look at her when they reached the capital. 

"Vonny? Are you okay?" Raylene asked when she did not get any reply from her.

"Don't worry mother, I will be prepared." Yvonne looked away from her room and assured her mother.

Reluctantly, Raylene left her with Mrs. Jacinth and went away. 

The important servants like Mrs. Jacinth and the other personal maids came back in another carriage that followed Yvonne's.

She quickly bathed her and got her dressed for lunch.

When Yvonne arrived for lunch, the rest of the family was already present.

"Mother, Father, Brother." She greeted them and dawdled to her seat.

Her parents smiled at her but Howard just harrumphed and ignored her existence for the entire duration of lunch.

When they were done, Yvonne attempted to speak to him once again.

"Big brother, would you like to.."

"Mother, Father, I am full. I'll be going back to my room now." Howard hopped off his chair and ran away before she could finish her words.

'What a brat!' Yvonne frowned when she started at his back as he swiftly ran away.

Left with no other choice, Yvonne accepted defeat for this round.

'I will change this behavior of his! No one ignores Yvonne St. Claire and gets away with it!' She vowed and was led back to her room.

Now in the peace and quiet of her new room, Yvonne perched on the window seat and observed the small pond and the ducks that swam in it.

She thought back at the female lead, Hilda's promise to meet again next summer.

But that promise would never be fulfilled because according to the story, the male lead would offer a huge sum of money to the gardener for saving his life.

This money would then be the reason for the gardener to quit his job and shift to someplace far from the St. Claire Earldom, where they would start their new life as a nouveau riche commoner family.

The next time that Yvonne would be seeing that puffy haired girl is when she arrives at the Capital after she turned sixteen.

"So I do not need to worry about her for a long time to come. But there are still the other characters that I need to be careful not to meet or have any contact with." She picked up a piece of paper and wrote down four names.

"Prince Fritzen Rosenhyde, the future crown prince of this Kingdom and the Male lead of this stupid story. The very same pig that I pulled out of the stream." She circled his name and drew a big 'X' over it.

"Princess Felicia Rosenhyde, the princess and the apple of the eye of our dear King. Not to forget, a bratty pain in the ass." She shook her head and scratched out her name.

"Lady Glennise Brodie, daughter of Duke Brodie. My best friend in this story, also the main reason that Yvonne found herself in the middle of all these conspiracies." She scowled.

"Finally, the man I never hope to meet. Grand Duke Roschester. AKA the scum of the Earth." She completely scratched his name out in such anger that the paper now had a big hole on it.

"These are the four people I need to stay far away from and by no means can I attract their attention." She tore the paper up and threw it in the bin.

If someone were to see that she had written the names of the Prince and Princess and then scribbled over it, then she could even face capital punishment for disrespecting the Royalty.

But Yvonne wasn't one to care about such things.

She was already aware that she would somehow get dragged into the plotline just like how she had saved the Prince even though all she wanted to do was to stay away.

So now she just had to limit her encounters with these four people so that she doesn't have any reason for those future events to have any connection to her.

She reviewed the *Hiding from the main characters for the next twelve years* plan and was satisfied with it.

'It might be possible if I just lock myself indoors like that princess with the long hair who was locked in that tower. What was her name again?' She went off topic and began thinking about a particular movie she had watched as a child.