Chapter 195 - Her Development

Yvonne sat through her usual classes and paid attention to what was being taught.

She had completed the sword training with Captain Desmo early in the morning while Demon and Precious watched their masters from the side. 

The two etchers were the usual spectators for the training sessions as no one else was allowed to disturb the pair during this period.

Yvonne was put through equal parts of motivational speeches and blatant mockery by the tutor who had a vile and torturous tongue.

Captain Desmo Reel did not care that she was a child nor did he bother to refrain from his crude words in respect to her gender.

She had accepted to become his student hence he was going to treat her just like his other recruits at the Red Scorpion Knights.

They only had two more weeks before the month came to an end and he did not waste any time with being gentle and kind to her.

He made sure that she was pushing her limits each day to reach new heights.

This was exactly why Yvonne was glad that she had this strict and rigid man as her tutor.

'He does remind me of Grandpa when he refuses to give me a break at times.' The little girl let out a chuckle.

The lady sitting next to her, frowned when she saw that her pupil was smiling, lost in her thoughts instead of doing what she was told to do.

"Miss St. Claire, I asked you to read the score and not smile at it." Governess Lester chided the child with her eyes narrowed and lips curved downward.

Yvonne was in her third class of the day which was her Piano lesson and the Governess had asked her to peruse the score which she would soon be playing.

'I was thinking about this morning's training and forgot that the Evil Grandma is sitting right next to me!' She winced now that she had gained the attention of this old lady.

After the debacle with the 'Tears of our Love' scores, she had been improving by leaps and bounds in her piano playing skills.

'I might have tapped into my dormant playing skills.' She surmised as this progress could be considered as at lightning speed.

This was the only explanation she could come up with as nothing else made sense.

For a child who was struggling to play without pauses and mistakes was now gliding through the tiles, making it look effortless and clean to hear.

Thus, the little girl had associated this change to the only thing she could think of.

In her past life, Yvonne was trained to be the perfect Heiress which meant that she was taught everything that one could boast about.

This included intensive piano lessons which gave her the confidence to play before a large crowd and have the ability to serenade them.

However, that confidence in her ability was broken in the first class with Governess Lester after she was flogged right on her knuckles.

The improvement she made these days had kept the old lady pleased which resulted in Yvonne's knuckles having a safe and secure life.

But that appeared to have been disrupted today as the old lady continued to leer at the child whose mind was wandering during class.

"Play it!" A command which sounded stern and urgent reached the little girl's ear who nodded the next second.

Yvonne gulped as she flexed her fingers twice before she placed them over the ivory and ebony tiles.

Her eyes stayed on the score that the Governess had brought over while her fingers began pressing down on the tiles.

Governess Lester was watching her with keen eyes, waiting for her to take one wrong step in order to punish her but as it happens, today was also Yvonne's lucky day.

'Maybe the fear of getting hit has made her practice harder each day… This explains why she is doing well in my classes.' She speculated and the chances of this hypothesis being true were high after her careful observations.

While she was still thinking about the growth in Yvonne's abilities, the person in question had completed playing the piece that laid before her.

'Oh thank goodness that I will not be hit today!' The girl sighed as she lifted her fingers off the piano and turned her head towards her piano instructor.

She had already put her body through enough training that she felt sore even after the warm bath she had taken before the other classes began.

The last thing she needed was her fingers to hurt as well so she had tried her best at playing the piece that the Governess had asked her to play.

Governess Lester relaxed her hold over the stick which she had kept prepared for the moment that her student made a mistake.

When that moment never arrived, all she could do was place the stick aside and nod at the girl.

"We shall end our class for today." She announced and glared when she noticed the joyful expression that graced her student's face.

"These…" She added while pulling out a thick folder from her satchel.

Yvonne stared at the dusty and old looking papers which were peeking through the folder.

'Looks like scores.' She inferred after giving it a proper glance.

"These will be your assignment." Governess Lester chuckled when she saw the jaw drop right before her eyes.

Yvonne alternated her gaze between the numerous papers and the woman who was speaking ridiculous things.

'Is it not enough that I have to learn other things now I have to spend more hours learning how to play these!?' She scowled and felt like pulling her hair out in frustration.

Ever since Marquess Samed's plans were thwarted by this child, he made it a point to give her excess homework as a form of petty revenge for what she had done to him.

'I help him not to wreck his life and instead of being grateful I am being punished!' She glowered every time she thought of this.

Now, she was given more work which meant that it would cut into the leisure afternoons that she longed to experience every day.

"The day you can finish playing every single one of these scores in my presence without a single mistake, that day will be our last class together." Governess Lester's words brought her back from her disgruntled thoughts.

The confusion clear on her face made the old lady let out another chuckle as she raised her hand.

Yvonne's first reaction after noticing this was to brace herself for the sting of the stick hitting his fleshy fingers but even after a few seconds, she did not feel any pain.

Instead, she felt her head being caressed by a soft touch which made her open the eyes which had shut themselves to avoid looking at the painful scene.

"You have progressed at an impressive speed and the day you can complete these will be the day that I have nothing else to teach you." The gentle voice laced with warmth entered her ears which warmed her heart.

A smile appeared on her face, one which was genuine and from her heart as she was also pleased with how well she had been performing these days.

However, the thought which dominated her heart was slightly different.

'I get an extra hour of rest if I do not have piano classes any longer!' She cheered for herself and the lazy afternoons which could have another hour added to it.