Chapter 444 - His Act Of Atonement
"Due to your inconsiderate actions, that young lady had to be married away to a far off fief and to a man much below her status." Marcus scowled at his brother-in-law who had caused all of this mess.
'If he hadn't entrapped my sister with his charms then she would not have to face those cold gazes from the women in the Capital.' He added in his heart but could not speak of this matter out loud.
He was mad at his sister who had chosen to follow Rutherford, going against his wishes to keep her safe in their hometown.
However, he still worried about her safety and had sent his men to bring him news about how she was doing in the Capital.
This was how he had learned that his darling little sister after marrying that man had become a scorn in the eyes of many.
He abhorred that those nobles blamed her for wrecking the marriage alliance that the Blaise and St. Claire family had intended to form.
She was being ostracized in a place where she did not know anyone other than her husband and his family.
Though she was not to be blamed, they were calling her the cause for the rift between the two families.
The gossip was making his heart ache yet he was angry that she had chosen that path for herself.
But most importantly, he blamed Rutherford for putting her in that position.
"If you had not married Raylene and stayed with Lady Sophia then none of this would have happened." He muttered to himself, disgruntled and annoyed.
However, before Rutherford could retort to those words, a fierce glare landed on his body which made him freeze.
Looking up, he found that the glare was in fact, coming from his baby sister who was now emitting a daunting and unnerving aura.
'There's that scary aura again.' Yvonne gulped as she had felt the same sensation of fright when she was being scolded in the carriage.
Though at that time, the fierce aura was multiple times lesser than what it was right now, implying that this time Raylene was truly furious.
"Brother, the choices I made, I stand by them." Raylene proclaimed her true thoughts while looking into her elder brother's eyes.
The shock apparent in his eyes could have been due to the sudden changes in her temperament or the surprise of what he was hearing.
"That incident was not something that Rut- my husband had a hand in." She continued, stopping herself before she could have blurted out the cute endearment she always used for him.
Marcus was stunned and speechless and could only sit in silence as Raylene went on to reveal the secret that Rutherford had found after the first few weeks of their marriage.
"So you are telling me that all the initial rumors were spread by the Blaise family to force him to marry Lady Sophia?" He inquired as an incredulous expression took root on his face.
He had heard about how everyone was pitying Sophia and distancing themselves from Raylene but he had never heard about this before.
"Does that mean that everything you underwent was because of the Blaises and not him?" He questioned once again while pointing his finger in Rutherford's direction.
Raylene sighed and gave him a nod in answer as that was what Rutherford had figured out after a small investigation.
"I was suspicious when I thought about how I and that lady had never met each other nor did our families make any formal announcement yet there were rumors of our engagement." The Earl finally spoke out while rubbing his chin.
These pieces of information coupled with the fact that only the two Earls at that time, Rutherford's and Sophia's fathers, were the only ones who had knowledge of this matter.
The two old men had only discussed this matter once and had not yet come to a conclusion yet somehow the entire Capital city had heard about it.
The only possible explanation was that someone had orchestrated the rapid spread of the rumor.
When Rutherford returned to his fief, his father informed him that the two would get married and this hasty decision was also being influenced by the pressure of the rumors about the two children.
However, his stubborn insistence to marry Raylene had thwarted the Blaise's plans of making Sophia the Countess of the St. Claire fief.
Yvonne was soaking in all of the information she was hearing from her father and realized that the Blaises loved to spread rumors that were exceedingly false.
'Just like how they did to me.' She gritted her teeth as her excuses to not appear in public had been distorted into her being on the deathbed thanks to the Blaises.
After Marcus realized that the Blaises were the ones at fault here and that neither Rutherford nor Raylene deserved any backlash that they had faced, he was indignant and it appeared in his expressions.
"I had turned a blind eye to the incident with that soap maker's family because I felt that we owed the Blaises." He finally revealed the reason why he had not looked into the matter with Earl Blaise and the soap makers.
He felt that his sister and Rutherford's marriage had caused Sophia Blaise's reputation to be tainted and later, she was forced to marry a Baron from a far off fief.
The couple had wronged her by getting married and he felt responsible as he had not been able to stop them from doing so.
Therefore, Marcus Valente, a man with a heavy conscience about the things of the past had decided to let Earl Blaise threaten those soap makers and did not interfere.
Coupled with the fact that he believed that the documents with the Royal Seal on it were real, he chose to remain silent.
That was his act of atonement on his sister's behalf for the young lady who was distanced from her family.
Yet now, he was being told that everything from the very beginning had been orchestrated by the Blaise family.
His sister had not come between the two families and hence had nothing to be guilty about.
This revelation made his brows scrunch up and his lips to bend in a frown.
Grandpa Valente sighed, sure that his son was facing an inner battle at this moment as the room had returned to its former silence.
"I was wrong." Marcus announced after a while as he looked at his sister and brother-in-law.
Over the years, he had hated this man for snatching his sister away and putting her in the eye of the storm at that time.
Yet, now, that same man was proved to be blameless and Marcus had been wrong the entire time.
Therefore, he chose to express his true thoughts as a form of an apology to this man.
"Thank you for taking care of our Raylene so well over the years." He added and though awkward, a smile appeared on his face.
Rutherford shuddered as he was not used to seeing a smile on that man's face, especially one directed towards him.
Raylene on the other hand was overjoyed that her brother and Rutherford could finally sort out the conflicts between them with this being their first step forward.
"I was wrong to have raised my voice at you, Brother." She did not forget to apologize for her earlier rude behavior.
Marcus shook his head and smiled at her as well.
"It helped me hear your words, loud and clear." He chuckled sheepishly, recalling how he had shut his ears when she tried to speak in Rutherford's favor.
While the siblings were smiling at this happy moment, Old man Valente was engrossed in other thoughts.
"If what you said is true then the Blaises are utterly unscrupulous!" His words brought their attention back to the matter at hand.
First, they had caused his child to bear such pain due to the rumors while pretending to be innocent victims.
Then they had snatched away the soap maker's means of living, even dared to threaten to throw them in prison.
If that wasn't all, they even drove him and his family to relocate due to the torturous methods they had used to force him into a corner.
'Just like how they had tried with my son-in-law.' He recalled but Rutherford had thwarted their plans unlike the poor soap maker who did not have the power or the influence to face Earl Blaise.
Yvonne could feel the anger arising from the old man sitting next to her because she felt the same way.
'Wait till you hear what they did to me!' She scoffed as Earl Blaise's family had tried to harm her as well.
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