Chapter 692 - Odd Pair Of Best Friends
Roman and Knox rolled their eyes at Taylor whom they now realized was an excellent actor.
Just earlier when they had arrived at the Dining Hall, the twins had found Howard and Taylor in a fierce confrontation.
Seeing their escalating argument showing no signs of subsiding, they rushed forward to intervene.
After all, the only other elder in this room, Marquess Samed, was thoroughly enjoying the show taking place before him and displayed no signs of stepping in to stop them.
This caused the Valente twins to hurry inside the Dining Hall to play the peacemakers between this odd pair of best friends.
However, when they got close enough, hearing the topic of their argument had made them almost slip and fall.
"I will sit next to Vonny!" Taylor declared, glaring at his best friend who was on the verge of losing that title today.
Howard glared at him viciously, not caring that the person he was dealing with was his best friend as well.
"Dream on!" He retorted, making his stance known to the other boy.
The petty conflict between the two made Roman and Knox shake their heads in obvious frustration.
While they too hoped to be able to sit next to their little cousin, they weren't childish enough to bicker about it like the other two were doing right now.
"Sit down already." Another voice rose in the room which made everyone turn in its direction.
Walking into the room was Topher Tanner who appeared to have freshened up and was once again the prim and proper elder son of Duke Tanner.
His fierce and narrowed eyes were aimed at his troublemaker of a younger brother which succeeded in halting the scuffle between the boys.
Howard still admired Topher even though that had diminished by a small percentage after what he had witnessed in the back garden today.
However, he wasn't going to disobey the command given by his idol so he hurried to take his seat.
This action of his led Taylor to sneer and growl at the wily youngster who had taken advantage of Topher's arrival.
As Marquess Samed was already seated on the right of the Earl's seat, it was only natural that the Countess would sit to the Earl's left.
Next to her was their heir's seat which was exactly where Howard should have sat and after him was where Yvonne would sit.
However, the crux of their argument was that Howard did not wish to sit next to his mother but reserved that place for his baby sister.
His actions did not imply that he desired to give his heir's seat to her, instead, he was only trying to separate her from Taylor who was planning on sitting on her other side.
If Yvonne were to sit next to her mother then Howard would sit on her other side, blocking Taylor from having any contact with her during their lunch.
He had already missed the chance to spend time with her this morning since she was busy with her classes so Taylor did not wish to waste any more time.
So when he caught sight of Howard sitting in the place where Yvonne should have been in, their argument had initiated and continued until Topher had appeared.
The witnesses of this conflict, the Valente twins and Topher, ignored them now that their argument had ended and went to take their respective seats.
Whereas, Marquess Samed sulked that his source of entertainment had been snatched away due to his elder nephew's interference.
Topher could sense both his uncle's and Taylor's glaring eyes but he did not care too much about them and chose the seat at the opposite end of the table.
Thus, the issue with the seating arrangement had come to an end with Taylor being wronged once again.
___
Recalling what they had just witnessed earlier, it was truly Taylor who had been suppressed by his elder brother and best friend but to see his pitiful face was making them roll their eyes nonetheless.
'Does he have no pride?' Topher too sneered at this younger brother for behaving in this manner.
If Taylor were to hear this question then he surely would nod his head in eager acceptance.
Who needed pride if he could have his little sister right by his side by acting this way?
He was right to think so as Yvonne's heart softened when she saw his wronged appearance.
Turning towards her elder brother, she blinked her wide amethyst eyes and without even uttering a word, she had managed to convince Howard to change places with her.
Thus, with his face as dark as the bottom of a charred pot, the heir of the St. Claire family took his rightful seat at the table instead of the one he had occupied forcefully earlier.
'Who would have thought that you had such vile tricks up your sleeve?' He scoffed at his best friend who shot him a victorious smirk when their eyes met.
Uncle Marcus and his wife, Trisha who had arrived before Yvonne, giggled when they saw the interaction between the three children, discovering that they had a fascinating relationship between them.
The son of a Duke did not have any issues with interacting and playing around with the children of an Earl which was not something common for them to see.
During their youth, hierarchy was strictly maintained and the cat and mouse relationship between Howard and Taylor would have been looked down upon back then.
Even now some noblemen and women dropped their jaws every time they saw how the two boys behaved and looked at Howard with a reproaching gaze.
However, the two boys and their families never cared about it so the rest could only keep their opinions to themselves and discuss this matter in private rather than speaking out loud about their dissatisfaction.
While the Valente couple were learning new things by observing the children, Yvonne had finally taken her seat with Howard on one side and Taylor on the other.
The Valente twins were also pleased with this as now she was opposite them, giving them the perfect view of her.
'We can serve Vonny too!' Roman and Knox shared a glance and their thoughts were clear for the other to discern.
At the lunch that they had attended in the Palace, Taylor and Howard were next to her while the twins were far away due to the large size of their table.
However, today they would be able to do as they pleased as their long hands could reach her in order to serve her a few dishes from their lunch.
The Earl and Countess entered the room when the twins were lost in their thoughts and now that everyone had arrived, lunch was served soon after.
The little girl felt overwhelmed when the four brothers all competed against each other to place dishes on her plate.
The adults all chuckled at this sight while Marquess Samed rolled his eyes at the little girl who was enjoying everyone's attention.
'It's getting boring to watch now…' He pouted before taking another sip of his creamy soup.
Topher had already caught sight of his uncle's uninterested face which gave him a strong impression that he was up to no good.
As expected, the nephew's intuition was right as the Marquess had been deciding how to spice things up during their lunchtime.
"Earl, don't you think that Miss Yvonne has become too popular these days?" He pointed out, reminding them of what had taken place during their lunch at the Palace.
Yvonne's head whiplashed towards her tutor and her eyes narrowed dangerously.
'Why do you think that happened!?' She growled in her heart at the man who was the root of all her problems.
If he had not disclosed her identity to the King then the King would not have made everything known to the rest of the nobles.
Therefore, in this matter, as much as it was the King's fault for breaking the promise he had made, it was also Marquess Samed's fault as originally it was his responsibility to keep his mouth shut.
Earl Rutherford St. Claire had no idea about the deal that his daughter and her tutor had made in the past and neither did he know about the one that had been discussed today.
Thus when he heard what the Marquess had mentioned, he seriously nodded his head, not liking the number of people who were speaking about his Vonna everywhere.
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