Chapter 557 - The State Of The Fiefs (1)

In the parlor of the Tanner mansion in the same fief, a group of people was seated as they engaged in animated discussion.

The news of the cure being found had been passed to the Duke directly from the Capital so there was no doubt about its authenticity.

During this time when travel was prohibited, he was glad that they could use their etchers to communicate among themselves.

However, the only drawback of this skill was that they could only connect with etchers who had met each other in person.

For instance, Duke Tanner could use his etcher to connect with the other etchers that he and his beast had come in contact with in the past.

He could speak to Earl St. Claire and even Captain Desmo as they had met each other as well as their etchers.

However, he would not be able to communicate with Yvonne as Duke Tanner and his etcher had never met Yvonne's Demon, and neither did they know of its existence.

Similarly, while Topher had met both Yvonne and Demon but Demon had never met Rouge so contact was impossible between the two.

At the same time, this trick worked wonders and proved itself to be worthy during this time of distress.

Being able to communicate over long distances using their etchers was something that most of the fief lords were practicing right at this moment to relay information to one another.

In the parlor, Marquess Sullivan Samed sulked when his brother-in-law and elder nephew were speaking in favor of this skill which had come in handy right now.

'Will I ever find mine?' He sighed as he had not even received a chance to venture outside the estate to look around for his fated etcher.

However, thinking of his initial plans for the summer which had been disrupted by his prized pupil, he was glad that he had listened to her words of warning.

He had planned to head to the Central fiefs as that was the region surrounded by woods where he had hoped to find his fated beast.

To add to that, he had also planned to take his little nephew, Taylor who had not found his beast as well on this excursion.

His elder sister volunteered to join them as she did not wish to leave her son alone in the hands of the Marquess who acted like a child himself.

Therefore, if they had followed his initial plans, the three of them would have remained stuck in some unknown fief for the duration of these long months that the plague had terrorized the Kingdom.

It would be a miracle if they were safe but after listening to the reports which often reached their estate, it would have been a long shot.

The child who had practically begged them not to go had done so due to a fleeting dream she had seen but that same dream and her insistence of believing it had saved their lives.

While Marquess Samed still deemed that dream to be some bizarre stroke of luck, he was glad that he had accepted her suggestion and postponed their travel plans.

For just as she had expected, a couple of weeks after the plans had been postponed, the lockdown was initiated and they had lost all chances of traveling after that.

The rest of the people with them had similar thoughts as they too were grateful for her childish demands which had acted as a forewarning, saving the three from getting caught up in a sticky mess.

What they did not know was that Yvonne had not only saved them from the hassle of being stuck in some unknown place but she had also saved their lives.

However, this was something that she did not wish to let them know.

She would not mind if they thought of her as a child who had gotten lucky after acting wilfully to get her way.

After all, she had achieved her goal and the rest did not matter to her.

The Tanners with Marquess Samed were thus happy that they were safe during this time of distress and a major portion of its credit went to the child who had advised them back at the Capital.

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In another place, below the St. Claire fief was the Valente fief and people there had also heard the same news of the cure being found.

Since Rutherford's Fryght had never met Hakka, the task of relaying this news fell upon Yvonne and Demon.

Through their connection, Viscount Marcus Valente was overjoyed to hear this happy news.

He asked his servants to prepare a feast and even invited the Hagen family members to eat with them.

The creators of the soaps for CLOVER had become close with the Valente family over time due to their constant interactions for the company's sake.

The twins, Roman and Knox, often went over to the Plantation to check how things were going and even helped their father if there ever was a need.

Even the Hagen family members treated them with respect for they were the Fief Lord's family and also related to the one who had given them a second chance at life.

CLOVER was still in business within their fief as no cases of the plague were reported here and they also sent crates of soaps to the Capital to be supplied in the fiefs where they were needed.

Thus, the members of the Hagen family worked harder to create better versions or newer options that their Boss, Yvonne could use in the future.

They planned to help increase the profit of their company to make up for the losses incurred due to the donations being made for the relief of the plague victims these last few months.

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Far up north, above the St. Claire fief was a smaller fief belonging to the Zavanths.

"Father, remember to thank Miss Yvonne later." A cute little girl whispered in her father's ear as they sat next to each other.

A family of five was seated around a table inside a warm greenhouse whose temperature was much higher than what was found outside.

The glass-walled greenhouse gave the people seated inside the perfect view of the sporadic snowfall which appeared and disappeared at will.

The Zavanth fief was situated alongside the Timara Mountain range and hence faced moderate snowfall beginning from autumn which later became heavy when winters arrived.

However, they still had other seasons, unlike the Roschester fief, their neighbor, that had snowfall all year round.

The snowfall and lack of sun exposure in this fief led to the pale skin and the light-colored hair and eyes of its residents which was also the same for the Zavanth family to whom this fief belonged.

Silvia Zavanth, the little girl who had just spoken, smiled at her father who nodded his head in agreement.

Viscount Zavanth had spoken to Earl St. Claire who had proposed certain suggestions given to him by his daughter, the Young Miss of the St. Claire family.

When he had first heard about these from Silvia who was in constant contact with Miss St. Claire through the means of letters, he had not taken it seriously.

However, when he heard the same from the Earl who had mentioned that he had already implemented those suggestions in his fief and the same was for many others, he decided to pay heed and follow suit.

Therefore, just like the St. Claire, Valente, Tanner, Kiron, and Samed fiefs, he too had accepted the child's suggestion of building granaries and filling them up with rations to be used in times of need.

He had not known at that time that these granaries would come in handy so soon and he was glad that he had made preparations in advance.

His fief often faced shortage during times of snowfall which covered their farmlands and they would usually import grains to manage this shortcoming.

However, after building these granaries, his first task was to fill them up even before winters could arrive.

This had worked to their advantage as any possibility of importing rations had been wiped away due to the Lockdown.

Thanks to these additions to their fief, their citizens did not starve and even had the capability of sending help to others who were in need.

Thus, when his daughter had asked him to express his gratitude to her friend, Miss Yvonne, he did not reject her as he had already planned to do so when they got the chance to meet again.

'Which will be soon, considering the good news we received.' He smiled as this plague would soon be coming to an end after the cure was distributed to the infected fiefs.

Viscountess Zavanth smiled while looking at her husband and daughter, glad that she had accepted Duchess Tanner's invitation to attend Master Topher's birthday party at that time.

'My Silvia could meet Miss Yvonne during that party.' She gushed as that was the beginning of the interaction between the two girls.

Her daughter had become so sensible and even paid attention to her classes as she wished to become like Miss Yvonne who had already excelled in her piano skills.

'Well, she just wants to stop getting hit by Governess Lester for making mistakes.' She snickered but the motivation to complete classes ahead of schedule just like Yvonne had boosted Silvia's confidence and her determination.

What else could a mother want than her child excelling in what she puts her mind to?

Thus, the Viscountess was jubilant on this day as she sat with her family to sip warm tea as the weather got colder each day.

At the same time, two others had been ignored and could only sit in silence.

The eldest son, Robin Zavanth frowned as his sister's attention was fixed on that girl from the St. Claire family.

The youngest son, Tatum Zavanth, a three-year-old, was busy making spit bubbles while seated on his brother's lap, oblivious to the troublesome thoughts running through Robin's mind.