'What did he just say!?' Yvonne's eyes were as wide as they could be after hearing the words that the Butler had whispered to his Master.
Was it not enough that her brothers had caught her red-handed after sneaking away?
If her father were to appear in this place then there was no way that she would be able to get away unscathed.
'He'll know that I've been hiding things from him!' She grimaced thinking of what would happen to her once this day comes to an end.
SO had been observing his little friend all along so it was obvious that he had noticed her inner dilemma over the news that she had heard.
"Invite him in." He instructed his Butler who hurried out to fulfill the orders.
"Leave it to me." He uttered words of reassurance while looking at his little friend.
SO knew that he had been unreasonable in demanding for them to meet and as it turns out, he had caused her to get into trouble.
He did not know how the Earl had figured out that his children were here but now that it had come to this, he would help her sort this matter out before things got any worse.
Yvonne glanced at her former acquaintance who had now become her friend and found that he looked reliable as he said those words to her.
Her worries lessened by a tiny percentile as she nodded in agreement with him.
However, at the same time, she sat frozen still while waiting to see the man who might enter this room at any time.
On the other hand, Jax was shuddering while thinking about what his condition might be after the Earl hears that he was an accomplice to what had taken place today.
'Looks like I will be visiting Lower Hall sooner than expected.' He resigned to his fate of being punished today no matter what happened later on.
Taylor and Howard weren't any better as their carelessness had caused today's matters to progress in this way.
While they were in their thoughts about how they each would be punished today, the doors were finally pushed open.
The Butler returned to the room and this time there was someone else with him.
Walking after him was the man whom the children were dreading to face.
Fierce midnight blue eyes scanned the room and a trace of surprise appeared on his face when his gaze landed on the only man sitting among the children.
SO and Earl Rutherford St. Claire were in silent confrontation with each other as they refused to give in first.
'Is this how you are going to help me!?' The little girl scowled when she saw how SO was leering back at her father instead of doing something to ease the oppressive air around them.
"Vonny, Howard, follow me." The Earl spat out once he had given this man a look over.
His eyes landed on his secretive children and his anger for what they had done was apparent on his face.
If it weren't for the secret guards that he had assigned to watch over their safety, he would not have heard a word about their impromptu journey to this new place.
Those guards had sent word that his children were entering a suspicious place which caused the worried father to rush over, fearing that something untoward had taken place to them.
He was the richest nobleman in this Kingdom so it was not uncommon for him to worry about the safety of the people whom he cared about.
Greed could make people do dreadful things and he feared that his children might fall into the traps laid out by his enemies.
However, contrary to the scary place that he had envisioned the mansion that his children had entered, he noticed that this place was nothing but elegant and oozed of grandeur.
Yet this did not calm his fretful heart which was beating rapidly as he followed the butler to this room.
Upon entering the Parlor, he found his children and Taylor Tanner along with the servants as they sat with someone he had never met before.
However, this did not mean that he was unaware of the identity of the man he was standing before.
'Sevenz Oca, Master of the Ocular Caravans.' Rutherford was sure that the features of this man matched the description of the biggest caravan owner in this Kingdom.
But there was nothing that he could think of, connecting Sevenz, a traveling caravan owner with his children as he was sure that they had never met before.
"Pleased to meet you, Earl St. Claire." Sevenz greeted the man and gestured to him to take a seat.
Rutherford had been waiting for his children to follow him but before they could move, this man had asked him to sit down.
His eyes fell upon his daughter who patted the space beside her on the couch.
Annoyed as he was, he needed to know why his children had come here so he obediently sat next to his beloved child.
"May Mister Oca be kind enough to reveal why my children followed your men here?" The Earl sneered without hiding his hostility from the kidnapper before him.
It did not matter if Sevenz was a rich businessman just like him and he was someone Rutherford hoped to do business with someday.
This man had touched his bottom line by involving his children and this did not sit well with him.
"I'm surprised the Earl has not yet figured my identity out." Sevenz smiled which further infuriated the Earl.
Rutherford had just called him by his real name yet this snarky man had said that he had not yet found out his identity.
While Yvonne was trying to make sense of what was happening, she felt her head spin after what her pen pal had said next.
"You have been searching for me all along and yet you could not find me." Sevenz taunted once again which made Rutherford narrow his eyes.
Scouring through his memories, he tried to comprehend what this white-eyed foreigner was trying to imply here.
'Sevenz Oca…'
'I was searching for him?'
'Sevenz Oca… Sevenz Oc…'
Rutherford froze when something clicked in his mind.
Looking up, his body emitted a scary aura cold enough to freeze anyone it was aimed at.
However, his opponent was not a weakling and this attack had no effect on him which surprised everyone seated here.
"You are the pervert who sent that gift to my daughter along with that disturbing note?" Rutherford let out a low growl as this was the result of his deductions.
'We're done for!' Yvonne froze when the truth was disclosed as her father figured everything out in a matter of seconds.
Sevenz choked on thin air when he was accused of being a pervert out of nowhere.
'Pervert! Me!?' He pointed at his beautiful face which had received numerous compliments in his hometown.
Yet in this foreign Kingdom, he was labeled as a pervert with such ease.
Not to mention that the disgusted stares that he was receiving from the others in this room were aiding in plummeting his self-esteem and his confidence in his appearance.
Even the Butler looked at his Master with a complicated gaze which made Sevenz wish to pull out his luscious black hair.
"What nonsense!? I'm not a pervert!" He clamored to defend his reputation which was dwindling by the second.
"You gift my five-year-old child an expensive jewel, you write a note to her and even add an odd heart to it." Rutherford slapped him with facts which strengthened his deduction of Sevenz Oca being a pervert.
Howard's eyes narrowed while Taylor's widened at this piece of gossip.
Jax too was shocked at this revelation as he had not done anything to stop his Big Boss and even led her into the house of a pervert.
While Sevenz was at the center of these scornful looks from everyone present in the room, Yvonne was trying hard to keep in her laughter which was threatening to burst out.
'His earlier actions were strange indeed!' She snickered, attracting their attention towards her now.
"Ahem…" She cleared her throat after feeling SO's pitiful gaze.
"Papa, he is not a pervert." She clarified the misunderstanding that they seemed to have developed.
However, her words only made Rutherford glare at the 'pervert'.
'He tricked my Vonna into believing that he's a good person.' He sighed at his naive daughter who believed that everyone was good.
However, he had forgotten that his daughter was a great judge of character, and only after making sure that this man was not a pervert did she open up to him.
Now that things had progressed to this stage, there was no use in trying to maintain secrets.
Thus, Yvonne spilled everything before her father and brothers to support her friend who was being accused.
From her first meeting with SO while strolling around the caravan with Taylor, to the letter that arrived with the precious stone that Rutherford had confiscated.
She also spoke about Tutu, his etcher who had helped her on numerous occasions.
The father now knew why his brother-in-law, Marcus Valente had acted contrary to his expectations and offered his help without making things difficult for him.
'Vonna helped without saying a word about it.' His complicated gaze was aimed at the child who was narrating her encounters with the Master of Ocular.
"Why are you doing this?" Rutherford interrogated the man once his daughter had finished speaking.
After everything was said, he was still wondering why Sevenz had been so helpful to his child when their only interaction was the brief meeting at the caravan.
"She's an interesting one." Sevenz's answer was a simple and uncomplicated one.