Chapter 409 - Needle In A Haystack
"So Raylene and I decided to use Topher's birthday celebration as a means to dispel these rumors." Duchess Beatrice spoke up when she found that their group was engulfed in silence.
Taylor and Topher looked up at their mother with furrowed brows which made them appear too similar to each other.
"You knew about this, Maa?" Taylor inquired after grasping what her words meant.
The elder brother remained silent but he had the same thought as his little brother.
Duchess Tanner nodded and then glanced at Raylene.
"We did and so did our husbands." She disclosed another piece of information that the children had been oblivious about.
Yvonne's mind was still trying to wrap itself around the fact that someone was trying to use her absence from public appearances against her.
However, when she heard that the adults had hidden this matter from them, she looked up with a frown.
The mother was the first to take notice of this change in her daughter so she leaned forward and caressed her child's cheek.
"Vonny, we did not tell you about these matters because we did not want you to get affected by them." Raylene explained her reason for keeping this matter under wraps until now.
It was just a few weeks ago that the tea parties had started being organized and within this short amount of time, people were speaking nonsense about her daughter.
The mother was both annoyed and distressed that these rumors could affect her daughter's mood.
Thus, when she was approached by the Duchess who was wondering how she would deal with this issue, Raylene had not shied away from requesting her help.
"I did not tell you about this matter to keep you safe." She repeated and smiled at her with guilt for hiding this matter from her.
Raylene then looked at her equally confused son and decided to share with them the plan that she and Duchess Beatrice had come up with.
The preparation for Topher's birthday celebration was made as he had desired with no changes being made to the guest list or anything else.
The only thing that the Duchess had added to the itinerary was the performance by the little girl which would become their foundation to prove to everyone present that she was not sick like how the rumors portrayed her to be.
Yvonne was now putting together the pieces of the puzzle while the Duchess continued to speak.
'Was that why I was forced to come here even when I promised to send my gift over to Topher on a later date?' She realized that this was what her mother had planned all along.
Her desire to stay at home even on this day was completely disregarded and she was dragged here because her presence in this event was vital for their plan.
Her mere presence, looking well and good, accompanied with the fact that her excellent performance demanded everyone's attention would be sufficient to quell any further escalations of these rumors.
Duchess Tanner repeated the same conclusion that she had come up with, proving that the little girl's mind was moving in the right path.
Now that she had figured out the 'why' and the 'how' aspect of the rumored issue, there was just one other part that needed her attention.
'So the question that remains is… Who spread that rumor in the first place?' She wondered and turned her eyes to Damien.
"Where did you hear the rumor?" She directed her query to him without bothering about any pleasantries.
Unlike with the other three boys here, Yvonne could not bring herself to speak to him in a more polite manner as every time they conversed, Damien always managed to get on her nerves.
Topher coughed when he heard this and turned his attention to his best friend who did not usually speak a lot.
However, this time, Damien was cooperative as he named the boys whom he had found discussing this matter.
"I recall one of them saying that he had heard about this from his mother." He revealed and even glanced in the direction of the said person.
Though Yvonne followed his gaze, the name and face of the young boy rang no bells in her head as she had no clue who he was.
'Never heard of the name from Marquess Samed nor read it in the script.' She surmised and found herself clueless.
"Vonny, that boy's mother is from one of my social circles and that is how I first heard about this news." Duchess Beatrice chipping in while flawlessly changing the way she addressed the little girl.
That lady was a known gossipmonger but the Duchess was sure that she could not have been the one who initiated the rumor in the first place.
Beatrice then ignored how her sons had rolled their eyes at her sneaky actions but she was proud of what she had accomplished.
As Yvonne was trying to make sense of the information she was receiving, she had not picked up on the Duchess's sly method.
Therefore, Duchess Beatrice, on her son's thirteenth birthday succeeded in addressing Yvonne in a more casual and intimate way.
Howard too had noticed this but he had a much more pressing task to worry about.
"Let's go ask his mother where she heard this from!" He declared but before he could take another step forward, Topher blocked his way.
Facing his idol, Howard had no other choice but to back down instead of shoving him aside and moving ahead.
"It's useless to track down who started the rumor." Topher tried to talk sense into the hotheaded elder brother who was annoyed for his sister's sake.
Damien nodded as well since it would be a wild goose chase and right now was not the appropriate time or place to do so.
"Howie, Young Master Topher is right. What's important now is to prove that the rumors are all false." Raylene patted her son's shoulder when he appeared to be disappointed after being rejected.
Finding the source of the gossip in this intricate and tight-knit noble society was equal to finding a needle in a haystack.
It would be better if they focused on what was more important right now and that was to discredit the validity of those rumors.
If the guests realize that the rumors about the daughter of the St. Claire's family were proved to be false then they would do half the work for them by refuting these claims if they ever were to witness them in the near future.
Not to mention that nobles were a chatty bunch and they would discuss the events that took place during the birthday celebration of the Duke's heir.
This would once again aid in spreading the news that Yvonne St. Claire was perfectly fine and that the news of her being sick was false, to begin with.
"And to do that, we need Vonny to mingle with the people here." The Duchess added while looking at the little girl who seemed to be lost in her thoughts.
'Did this news affect her too much?' She wondered as such an incident might be traumatic for any other child her age.
However, what Duchess Beatrice Tanner did not know was that Yvonne wasn't just any other little girl and right now, trauma was the least of the thoughts in her mind.
'I will find the person who dared to spread such nonsense about me!' Yvonne was seething in anger at what she had faced today.
Her efforts until now of staying out of the limelight by avoiding public appearances were all for naught now that her matters were being discussed by almost everyone in their society.
'Someone needs to pay for what they have done.' Her eyes narrowed as she continued to stare at the ground.
Though the ladies had not noticed the change in her aura, the boys who had keener senses thanks to them awakening their powers had certainly felt the change.
'Bloodlust…' Damien, the strongest among them was able to perceive the aura which lasted but for a second before it faded.
The other three had only noticed a stifling feeling for a second before they could no longer sense anything around them.
Therefore, they pinned this change to the fact that the little girl was annoyed with the rumors and nothing more.
But Damien wasn't as careless to shake away this thought, he continued to watch the little girl to make sure that what he had felt was indeed true or just a figment of his imagination.
'How could a little girl like her display such complex emotions?' He wondered in disbelief yet his eyes never left her.
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