Chapter 225 - Welcome Back, Brother Howard!

Soon after their little secret conversation in Demon's stable, a servant rushed over to inform them of the carriage that had arrived from the Royal Academy.

"Stay here until I call for you." Yvonne commanded her etcher who grunted a refusal.

He wanted to follow his master but before he could take a single step, she had forbidden him from accompanying her.

'Was he always such a brat?' She narrowed her eyes at the big red eyes which were staring at him.

The pleading look in those eyes softened her glare as she sighed and patted his muzzle.

"I need your help, Demon. So stay here and rest well until I call for you." She repeated her words but this time there was a certain indulgent tone heard in her voice.

Butler Limo smiled after witnessing this interaction between the etcher and his master.

Once the horse had nodded in admittance of her command, Yvonne and the butler left the stable and walked towards the front porch of the mansion.

On their way, they passed by the training ground which now had beautiful canopies set up, and the equipment needed was all prepared to be used at any time.

'Papa got the work done in such a short amount of time.' She praised the man whom she had abandoned to meet her pet earlier.

She must have spent about twenty minutes with Demon and Butler Limo but within this time, Rutherford had completed all of the preparations.

What Yvonne did not know was that her parents had been working since dawn break to ensure that everything was well prepared for the return of their firstborn son.

As they walked along, the little girl and the old butler did not utter a single word as they maintained the pretense of not having discussed a mighty scheme to expose one vicious maid.

Upon reaching the entrance of the Mansion, she found her parents standing before a carriage.

'Ah, so he has arrived!' She smiled at the blue-haired boy who was standing beside the carriage.

It appeared as though the young boy had just gotten off the carriage and the first faces he had seen were those of his parents.

Yvonne continued to walk at a leisurely pace and scanned her eyes across the family of three who stood ahead of her.

Rutherford had changed into new fresh clothes once he heard the news of the carriage being near their estate.

He had asked his servants to keep an eye out for the family's carriage which helped him stay prepared for when the boy would arrive.

His black overcoat had the symbol of the three blue tulips, the crest of the St. Claire family.

The man looked tall and his broad shoulders made him look even more daunting after putting the coat on.

Raylene on the other hand wore a red dress that matched the color of her copper-red hair.

Her hair was tied in a low bun and she held a black fan in her hand.

The boy who had been absent for the past one month had a wide smile on his face as he hugged his mother tight upon meeting her after a long time.

Rutherford patted his son's head who was clinging to his wife's waist like a little child.

'He looks like those koalas who cling to the branches.' Yvonne chortled after making out the resemblance between the two.

This soft snickering voice alerted the little boy that there was still one member of his family whom he had yet to meet.

Extracting himself from his mother's warm embrace, Howard turned in the direction of the little girl who was his younger sibling.

'Why does the atmosphere feel so heavy out of nowhere?' Yvonne wondered as she tilted her head in confusion.

Howard's scrutinizing gaze landed on the child who was standing a couple of steps away from them.

Her lavender dress touched the ground as she stood in the same place and her big amethyst eyes blinked at him.

No matter how much he disliked her for the trauma she had given him in the past, she was still the same little sister that he had once longed for.

There was still a tiny spot in his heart where this child resided even if he refused to accept the truth about it.

'Did she grow taller while I was gone?' He wondered while glancing at her from top to bottom.

There was no way that she could have grown any taller in just a matter of thirty days but there was no way that he would ask his parents that question lest they assume that he cared for her.

"Welcome back, brother Howard!" Yvonne greeted him with a curtsy and a wide smile.

In response, all she received was a lazy nod as he turned away from her and towards their parents.

'Hmph! Who even wants to smile at you!' She harrumphed and pouted her lips.

The muffled chuckle she heard from the butler who was still by her side elicited a deadly glare from her.

'Who do you think that you are laughing at!?' She raised her brows at him with questioning eyes.

Butler Limo gulped and reverted to the neutral expression he always had to appease her anger.

He had only today had a proper conversation with her and he was already beginning to comprehend her behavior better than the others in this house.

He was now her accomplice in the plans she was cooking up to keep her family safe from the evil intentions of a certain someone.

Hence, he was beginning to pay closer attention to her and her every expression.

'Young Miss is so cute!' He squealed while seeing her now pouting face as she stared at her father.

Yvonne's pout was aimed at the man who had already melted after noticing her gloomy appearance.

'Did you see how he ignored me?' She blinked her wide amethyst eyes at the father who sighed.

He glanced at his son who was still cold in his attitude towards his sister and this made him worried about what might happen soon.

"Shall we head inside? You can rest for some time." Rutherford suggested as he tried to divert their attention.

Yvonne did not interrupt them as she did not have any opinions about how they would choose to proceed from here.

Howard alternated his gaze between his father who had not yelled at him for ignoring her and his sister who did not throw a tantrum as usual.

"I'm not too tired so let us take a look at what she had learned in this past month." He replied while looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

Rutherford had not yelled at his son for behaving rudely to his sister as he did not wish for him to form a bad impression or a worse impression than what he already had.

He had seen her excitement when she spoke about her training with the Captain but that would disappear if Howard was against her taking the lessons.

At the time that they had discussed these terms when she first mentioned the desire to learn sword fighting and other arts, he had sided with Howard as he did not want her to learn them.

But she had changed his opinion over the course of the last month.

Now, he wanted her to continue doing this as her heart desired to learn these skills.

While Rutherford was lost in his thoughts on how to aid his daughter to live out her dreams, he heard the same daughter speaking out.

"We need to wait for Captain Reel!" She objected when she finally noticed that he had not yet arrived.