Chapter 547 - Her Delusion Crashed And Burned
Many days had passed since the meeting of the King with his officials.
Back at the Summer estate, Yvonne was seated in the Parlor with her family as they enjoyed their evening tea.
When the Butler knocked on the door with the news of a messenger from the Royal Palace arriving at their mansion, they were left stunned.
Rutherford asked the Butler to send the man in without making him wait for long.
As the borders were still closed, no one had either entered or exited the fief in the past three months.
The arrival of this man could only mean that urgent news from the Palace needed to be conveyed to them and hence he was allowed to enter the borders without any resistance.
These messengers sent from the Palace carried a brooch bestowed to them by the King.
Those who possessed this brooch could travel across borders without being halted even when traveling was forbidden.
Similarly, everyone working for the Royal Medical Association was also given these brooches as they too would have to travel between fiefs.
Waiting for the messenger to enter the mansion, the St. Claire family members were silent as they tried to decipher the reason for this visit.
'Has the plague come to an end already?' Yvonne wondered with a bewildered look on her face.
The last time a messenger had arrived here, he had come with the Decree which stated that the next Decree would let them know when the borders could reopen after the plague was contained.
Therefore, it was understandable that the little girl had assumed that the cause of this arrival was to bring news of the plague's end.
'That was quick.' She was happy that they had succeeded in eradicating the plague in such a short amount of time.
In the script, the plague was said to last for over two years and had killed around one-tenth of the entire population of Rosenhyde.
This had troubled her in the past but looking at it now, she was pleased that the loss of life was minimal and the plague had already come to an end.
However, she was grossly mistaken as the plague was still rampant in the Southern, Eastern, and Central fiefs of Rosenhyde and this was not the reason for the messenger's sudden appearance.
The summers had ended which decreased its rapid growth but did not end the plague in any way.
This information, Yvonne would soon hear along with the letter that the King had written for each of the Fief Lords.
While she was still in her joyful thoughts of the plague ending ahead of schedule, the Butler announced the entry of the newcomer.
When the messenger had entered the parlor, he first greeted the Earl and Countess before receiving a bow from their children.
The same messenger from last time had arrived here today.
Taking a seat, he first handed a long sheet to the Earl who did not question him but read it seriously.
Inside this sheet, everything the Royal Medical Association had learned about the plague was mentioned in great detail along with its symptoms.
This was disclosed to prove that the man who had entered their home did not carry the sickness with him and they could be at ease when he was close to them.
Rutherford nodded his head as he was grateful to the King for alleviating their concerns in this precise and swift manner.
Once this was proven, the messenger handed a second letter and this held greater importance as the King's Seal was present on it.
Just as Duke Brodie had suggested, the King had drafted a letter with his request for help and also declared that those who lent their aid willingly would be named in the records maintained by the Rosenhyde Royal family.
"The St. Claire family would be willing to help even if the King had not placed these conditions." Rutherford announced with determination once he had completed perusing the letter.
Their Kingdom was in trouble and he would be happy to lend his resources and power in any way that he could.
There was no requirement of his family's name to be mentioned in any records as helping out was the least that he could do in this situation.
His fief and citizens were safe and he was grateful for this blessing from the Gods.
However, he was troubled that somewhere out there in this great Kingdom, people were still suffering while he was living a happy life in his fief.
The last three months that he had spent here were more like an extended vacation for him and his family but the same could not be said for so many people out there.
There was disease and sickness, sorrow and pain burdening so many innocent lives but he was enjoying every day here in the safe confines of his fief.
Therefore, after reading the letter from the King which mentioned that there were a few fiefs where starvation was also a problem, he was overcome with sympathy for them.
He could not understand their pain and empathize with them but he could surely help in relieving that suffering by utilizing the wealth that he had earned all his life.
Thus, when he read the King's statement which was to lure the Fief Lords to lend their support, he felt it was unnecessary as he would have done so even if that had not been mentioned.
Confused and left in the dark about the interaction between the two men, the children and Countess sat in silence until someone was willing to explain matters to them.
As an outsider was present Rutherford did not hand over the letter to his wife and children to read as he would have usually done.
Therefore, they were gazing at the Earl and the messenger with curious eyes which were hard to ignore.
The messenger had been admiring the Earl's noble benevolence when he felt the gaze of those around him.
Rutherford could not hand the King's letter to them but he did not wish to keep them in the dark.
Therefore, disregarding the presence of the messenger, he turned towards them and explained the entire situation.
From the symptoms of the plague to the King's letter containing the request for aid to help the starving population, everything was explained to his wife and children.
This made the messenger widen his eyes in surprise as such a thing had not happened before.
After all, this had not been the first fief he had visited with the same letter in the last few days.
Since it was not convenient to send too many men out to travel across borders, only a few men were chosen and handed over the responsibility of delivering the King's letter to various Fief Lords whose territories were close to each other.
Earlier, for the task of delivering the Royal Decree many months ago, he had only been allocated to travel to the St. Claire fief but this time he was assigned the fiefs of Tanner, Samed, St. Claire, and Valente.
The first place he had visited was the Tanner fief where the Duke was more than willing to support the King.
He even met the Marquess of the Samed fief there which saved him a trip to the second fief on his itinerary.
However, neither of those men had revealed this matter to the Duchess who was the Duke's wife and the Marquess' sister.
They had made a decisive declaration to help out and had not involved the others in this matter.
Even the heir of the Tanner family, Topher Tanner, had been absent when the Duke had promised to help the suffering fiefs.
But what he witnessed here was unusual as right now, the Countess and the children were present to listen in on their conversation and were even explained the details of the letter sent by the King.
The shock he received was great as usually the Fief Lord and his heir were the only ones who had a say in the matters of the fief.
Women and children were not involved as they would not have anything valuable to say in such matters.
Yet, now he was speechless as he observed the Countess and the two children give their suggestions on how they can help in this time of distress.
Yvonne had been ecstatic due to her misunderstanding that the plague had come to an end but her delusion crashed and burned after listening to what her father had revealed.
Therefore, it did not take long for her to come up with something that could be used to help the troublesome situation that still prevailed in their Kingdom.
'I had heard that the daughter was the Royal Tutor's favored pupil but even the Countess…' The messenger marveled at the sight he was beholding at this instant.
He was not so surprised with the heir as he had already known that the young lad was promising and talented but the women had certainly stunned him.
The heir, Howard, was mentioning the storage houses built.
The daughter, Yvonne, was expressing her thoughts on how to transport the grains stored in those large granaries in the fief.
Finally, the Countess was revealing her thoughts of sending some clothes as well to these fiefs.
These infected fiefs were receiving aid for food and they already had shelter so the only necessity missing was clothing.
When Raylene had heard about the blisters which covered the bodies of the plague victims, she wondered whether there would be enough clothes for them to change into.
Not to mention that the high number of patients could lead to a shortage of clothing as well so she had suggested that they could send some clothes along with the food grains that they had in their granaries.
The messenger was stunned after discovering that the three who had just spoken had all given out valid suggestions.
But the most shocking of his discoveries was the Earl's reaction to those suggestions.
Most noblemen he had seen until now would snub their wives and children by reminding them that they are not worthy to join a conversation meant for men.
However, he had not observed any such scene today.
Instead, the Earl had high praise for the three as he revealed a rare smile which the messenger had never seen throughout the numerous interactions that he had with this man in the past.
If that wasn't enough to shake him senseless, the Earl's next action had succeeded in doing so.
This was because the task of preparing the clothing needed to send for the relief of these plague-stricken fiefs was handed over to the Countess.
"I know that my Countess will do an excellent job." He encouraged her while reassuring the messenger that this task was now in good hands.
Yvonne chuckled inwardly, appreciating the look of utter confusion on the face of the messenger as all he could do was nod in a daze at the strange sight he had witnessed today.
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