Chapter 498 - A Sharp-tongued Strategist
Eight months had passed since the conversation between the father and daughter in the Office room.
During this period, many things took place.
Princess Felicia's birthday was celebrated in a lowkey manner as she opted for a tea party with just her two playmates.
Therefore, neither were any of the other noble girls invited nor did Yvonne have to think of a way to reject the invitation.
However, during this period, Yvonne did accompany her mother to tea parties to make sure that there weren't any rumors being spread about her health.
She always did her research and avoided the parties where any of the main characters of the story might appear.
The majority of the parties she attended were either from Duchess Tanner or Marchioness Kiron, both of whom she was comfortable being around.
Though there were instances where she met the girl whom she had acted against in Ocular's caravan, Elna Leopold.
At those times, she made sure to ignore the girl and stick closer to the ones she knew.
As she spent more time with the Kiron family, inadvertently, she got to know their youngest son, Jacob Kiron.
The young boy had just graduated from the Academy this year and was following his second elder brother's footsteps of becoming an academician.
Marchioness Kiron was proud of all three of her sons who had not turned out to be wastrels and were making good use of the opportunities that were laid before them.
Jacob, being an avid student, took no time to get acquainted with Yvonne who was smarter than girls her age.
He soon understood that the talks about her being the best student of Marquess Samed, someone he looked up to, were all true after conversing with her a few times.
Thus, the teenager had even visited the St. Claire Estate a few times to discuss certain matters which he could not do so with the others around him.
His second elder brother was not around much so Yvonne had become sort of a study buddy for him which he was much too grateful for.
For this matter, Earl St. Claire was worried at first that allowing a young boy into their home might lead to disastrous outcomes.
However, Jacob made sure to only visit when the Earl was around and this gave him a chance to learn a few things from the wealthiest businessman in the Kingdom as well.
Impressed with his thoughtfulness, Rutherford permitted Jacob to visit but not too frequently.
When this news spread in the upper circles of the noble families, the first to get annoyed was none other than Cecily Yona.
She had her eyes set on Jacob, to become his wife in the future, but this development made it impossible for her to stay calm.
She began to worry that things might go awry in her plans of becoming the daughter-in-law of the Kiron family.
Therefore, during one of Duchess Tanner's tea parties, the young girl confronted Yvonne about her intentions of getting close to the boy she liked.
Cecily had dared to be so forward with her words as in that area, only the young girls were present.
Not to mention that Yvonne's protective brother and his friends were still in the Academy so Cecily could do as she pleased without being interrupted.
She was also confident that no one would offend her, a Marquess' daughter, by protecting Yvonne, an Earl's daughter.
She was right as the other little girls were hoping to watch an exciting show.
They all knew that Cecily only pretended to be a pretty flower before the elders but in truth, she was a cactus who pricked anyone who went against her.
Just when Yvonne was about to speak, she was surprised when she saw Aleena and Rika Kiron, Jacob's younger sisters, speaking up in her defense.
She could understand why Rika was speaking up for her but Aleena's presence was baffling indeed.
The two sisters had announced that they had seen the two interact before and they would talk about topics that even Rika and Aleena could not understand.
{If you like my brother so much, why don't you try to initiate a conversation with him rather than targeting her?}
Aleena had declared while pointing her chin in Yvonne's direction at the very end of her statement.
This shut Cecily's mouth and even if she desired to retort, she found no words.
Every time she saw Jacob at any party, he would be reading a new book whose words she could not even make out so how was she supposed to talk to him about his interests?
Aleena smirked viciously at the girl who had been pestering their elder brother for years now before she scoffed at Yvonne and went away.
However, the keen-sighted Yvonne had caught the flushed cheeks and reddening ears of the girl who was practically running away from her.
On that day, she realized that while Aleena was sharp-tongued, she wasn't a bad person.
Just a little twisted at best.
___
Yvonne now had a small circle of friends that she liked to interact with whenever she appeared at parties.
They were Silvia Zavanth, the serial hugger who engulfed her in hugs each time they met, and her reluctant but ever-present and protective elder brother, Robin Zavanth.
The last three children of the Kiron family, Jacob, Aleena, and Rika Kiron.
Not to forget, her brothers, Howard, Taylor, and even Topher and Damien.
This small group of people, give or take a few, were always spotted together at parties or get-togethers.
While these were her acquaintances and friends, she had also incurred the ire of a few among the younger generations of the noble families.
The one with the most hatred towards her was, of course, Cecily Yona, then came Elna Leopold who witnessed how everyone surrounded Yvonne while disregarding her.
Finally, there was Mae Blaise who took every chance to act against her despite not having any proper interaction which could validate her actions.
Yvonne made sure to stay away from them lest she got a headache and on the off-chance that she met them, she was ready to use her vicious tongue against them.
After all, in this world that was based on Asmodeus's script, Yvonne St. Claire was a sharp-tongued strategist and it was no doubt that she held the capability to act against those who were trying to harm her.
___
Speaking of those acting against her, Yvonne's company, CLOVER, finally became the talk of the town once Ocular moved to the Central fiefs of the Kingdom.
Once word spread among the noble families, Earl Blaise was quick to make a move.
The King's secret aid of keeping CLOVER's news from reaching the Earl came to an end as the company had gained too much popularity among the commoners.
The fiefs that used to purchase huge amounts of soaps from the Blaise family were now doing so from CLOVER.
Ocular being the official distributor only made things difficult for him as the Master of Ocular was not someone to be trifled with.
Therefore, he chose another route of figuring out who the makers were.
Sending his men to follow Ocular's servants, it was easy for the Earl to track down the source of the soaps and soon he landed up in the Valente fief.
After realizing that the one going against him was the Hagen family whom he once suppressed, he flew into a fit of rage.
However, thanks to Viscount Valente's protection, he could not touch the Hagen family or play any tricks against them.
This further infuriated him as not only was he losing his prospering business but he was also unable to stop the Hagen family this time.
He also could not figure out who VC was which might have given him a better chance of directly attacking the owner of the wretched company that was spoiling his business.
After Ocular sold their soaps in different fiefs, the Master of the caravan sent letters asking if they would like to establish a contract with CLOVER, entitling them to a steady supply each month.
The Fief lords took counsel from their town leaders and found that this soap was well-received by their citizens.
Therefore, they accepted the proposal and most of the Fief Lords signed exclusive deals with CLOVER.
The fiefs where Earl Blaise had exclusive rights of doing business had signed contracts with CLOVER and he was left in the dust in those areas.
Though he still had a few faithful Fief Lords who rejected the contract to stay with him, the number was too low for him to be satisfied.
Thus, he did what he should have done in the first place.
The news of Earl Blaise rushing to the Palace and requesting an audience with the King reached Yvonne who was waiting to see how the King would respond.
Though King Ophire had not replied to the letter that she had sent under the alias of VC, he had given his silent consent to help CLOVER out.
Therefore, the King met with Earl Blaise who had come to report the injustice being done to him.
The Earl revealed that the Hagen family was doing this to seek revenge from him for what had happened in the past.
He brought out the original contract which he had signed with the middle brother of that family while skillfully avoiding the topic of the scam that had taken place.
The King patiently listened to everything he had to say with an indifferent look on his face as this man had always been in his bad books for his greedy attitude.
Thus, once the Earl was done, he instructed his steward to fetch the copy of the documentation that CLOVER had submitted before it began its business.
Earl Blaise had been under the impression that CLOVER was doing things illegally but the documents that the steward handed to him in the presence of the King, proved him wrong.
Not only was CLOVER untouchable due to the authentic seal of the King stamped on it but they also had done nothing wrong.
The recipe was nowhere close to the one in his hand so he could not even spread rumors of the Hagens trying to imitate his products and cheat him out of money.
What hurt him the most was that now the King was aware of his animosity with CLOVER.
If false rumors began to spread or any harm was done to either the Hagen family or CLOVER, he would be at the top of the suspect's list.
This made the Earl gnash his teeth as he bowed before the King and left the Palace without having completed the task that he had in mind while coming here.
On that day, Yvonne was immensely pleased to hear from their secret guards about the disheartened face of the Earl as he returned to his Estate without being able to throw CLOVER's owner or the Hagen family into prison.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢