Chapter 506 - Keep Us Company
Today was the last day of the academic year in the Royal Academy.
To commemorate this day, there would only be a closing ceremony followed by one class where the tutors would hand out the home assignments.
Once the young boys picked up the materials needed to study during vacation, they were free to leave for their respective fiefs for the Summer.
Howard and Taylor were supposed to arrive during evening hours but they chose to surprise the little girl and hence had begun their journey as soon as their classes had come to an end.
They journeyed for two hours before reaching the St. Claire Mansion a couple of hours after the usual breakfast hour.
However, upon entering the Mansion, they heard from the Countess that the Earl and Yvonne were over at the Tanner household.
They were not told about what had taken place last night but Raylene offered to take them over there as she too was curious about what was going on in the Tanner household.
They had just entered the Tanner estate when they heard the news of the little girl being missing from her room.
Thankfully, another servant had seen her with the Captain and informed the rest who also made their way to the training grounds.
Howard and Taylor had run away in haste but the rest walked at their usual pace.
Thus, when the other group reached the training grounds, they found Captain Desmo with Earl St. Claire with the rest of the knights, watching the little girl hugging the two boys from earlier.
In the group that had arrived later were four adults and three boys.
Duke Tanner walked with Marquess Samed at the front while Raylene and Beatrice were right behind them.
Next came the heir of the Tanner family, Topher, and then his best friend, Damien, who had returned to the Tanner estate first while the other two boys had headed over to the St. Claire estate.
They were earlier than the other two boys so they were already informed of the conversation that had taken place between the girl and her tutor.
They were also present when the Earl first discovered that she had gone missing from the room where she had been fast asleep.
While the last one in the group was the little girl's butler, Jax who had also requested to follow the Madam and the Young Masters as it was his duty to be with his Big Boss at all times.
When Howard, Taylor, Countess Raylene, and Jax had come over to this estate, the news of Yvonne being in the training grounds was heard and thus all of them had headed over in that direction.
Now, the group had come to a halt before the three children who were huddled in a hug.
While Howard and Taylor were confused about the reason for her emotional outburst, the other two boys were well aware of the cause.
'She sure has strange dreams.' Damien sighed while watching the girl engulfed in the embrace of the other two younger boys.
As though she had felt his gaze, Yvonne raised her head and her tear-filled eyes met those forest green ones looking her way.
The eye contact lasted for a second before she lowered her head once again but Damien's heart clenched when he saw how pale and fragile she looked in that instant.
A sharp pain arose in his chest, making him grip the shirt right over where his heart would be.
However, it disappeared in a second after the eye contact was broken.
'What was that just now?' He grimaced as that pain was something he had felt for the first time in his life.
While he was still lost in his thoughts, the three children before him had separated.
"What's wrong, Vonny?" Howard inquired, troubled to see that she was sobbing until she was breathless.
Taylor too was anxious as she felt cold to the touch when he had hugged her earlier and she was gazing at him with such worried eyes.
Wiping her tears one more time, Yvonne shook her head in answer.
"I… Vonny just missed you two" She lied, not wishing to speak about what she had seen in her dream with these two.
Hearing her response, the rest understood her will to keep matters concealed from them and decided to follow as she wished for now.
On the other hand, Howard and Taylor were elated to hear that she had been so affected by their absence that she had even wept so many tears.
"Don't worry. Big Brother has come back." Howard thumped his chest while declaring that he would not leave her any time soon.
This gesture made her chuckle as she nodded her head in acceptance of his proclamation.
Taylor did not wish to let Howard steal the show so he too thumped his chest and promised the same.
'Look at that fool promising things without even thinking about it.' Topher sneered at his little brother's thoughtless remarks.
To him, Taylor was being careless with his words as he did not yet know that his trip with the Marquess and Duchess had been canceled for now.
Yet here he was, making promises which he was not sure he could keep.
This made the elder brother decide that he needed to teach his little brother a proper lesson to ensure that he did not speak words of promise with such ease and no sincerity.
Now that Yvonne had already received a confirmation from Marquess Samed that he would not be leaving, she did not have to rely on Howard and Taylor's promises as the result would be the same either way.
While the group of noblemen and women were standing around, the rest of the knights and squires were surprised as this was the first time they had seen so many people here who weren't training with them.
Especially the people of the Earl's family whom they had never met before today.
They bowed to greet their Commander, the Duke before greeting the Duchess and their next commander in line, Master Topher as well.
Once the pleasantries had come to an end, Duchess Beatrice proposed that Raylene and Yvonne come with her to the greenhouse she had built on the other side of the estate.
"Let the men have fun here while we enjoy some tea in the greenhouse." She tempted the other two ladies with her.
However, only one of them was attracted by this offer while the other had a reluctant look on her face.
"Ma, why don't you have some alone time with the Countess and Vonny can keep us company here." Taylor was kind enough to speak up for the little girl whose interests laid here rather than in having tea with the ladies.
Raylene too was aware of this fact so she smiled at her child then at the considerate Tanner boy before turning towards her friend and cajoling her.
"Vonny does not get to spend much time with the boys so let her be." She convinced the Duchess as they had met too many times for tea parties while the boys were still in the Academy.
Noticing even Yvonne's nodding appearance, Duchess Beatrice could only admit defeat.
"It is pitiful that the boys missed so…. many parties where I had fun with Vonny," Beatrice muttered with an exaggerated sigh, appearing distressed but her boys knew better.
'Maa is such an actress!' Taylor harrumphed in his heart as the gloating look on his mother's face was so evident that everyone had already noticed it.
Shooting one last complacent look at her second son, Beatrice turned around and walked away with Raylene as they headed in the direction of the greenhouse.
Once the ladies had left, the ones remaining were the men with the child between them.
Rutherford recalled something and began arguing with his old friend for having snatched away his daughter from her room when she should have been resting right now.
'So he did snatch the child!' Deputy O'Reil sighed while rubbing his forehead, troubled by the actions of their Captain.
The Duke, Marquess, and the rest of the knights were concentrating on the back and forth bickering of the two grown men over the child who was now standing in the midst of the group of young children.
"Miss, you left without taking me along." Jax's worried voice rang out as he headed towards her.
As they were outside, Jax had been taught to call her 'Miss' instead of 'Boss' or 'Big Boss' that he often called her while they were at home.
He had been undergoing strict classes with Butler Limo and the results were quite clear to see in his speech and his demeanor.
At such a young age, he had assimilated into the role of a Butler seamlessly and was doing his tasks with perfection.
The Butler standing behind Duke Tanner also felt the same way as he watched and examined his every move.
'Limo finally got a hold of his staff and taught them well, I see.' He gave Jax his nod of approval.
Yvonne smiled at her subordinate who had pulled out a clean handkerchief from the satchel he had brought with him and was about to wipe her face with it.
"Thank you but I can do it." She muttered before snatching it away from him.
Her glaring face made him chuckle as he nodded, letting her do as she pleased.
The center of attention had transferred from the Earl and Captain who were still squabbling to the little girl who was now standing before a servant from her family.
"You must have lost a lot of fluids." Jax mentioned before pulling out another item from his satchel.
'You cried too much so you must be dried up right now.' Is what he wished to say but there were too many eyes around.
Though the little girl accepted the canister of cold water, the glint in her eyes suggested that she had grasped what his true intentions were and was not pleased in the least bit.
Visit freewe𝑏no(v)el.𝘤𝑜𝓂 for the best novel reading experience