Chapter 727 - The Choice Was Hers
Having lived in the body of a child for almost three years now, Yvonne felt no shame in pretending to pout and sulk before her parents.
When these tactics worked like a charm on them, why would she not use them to get her way?
Therefore, right now, the parents seated before her were being tormented with the pitiful look she was shooting towards them.
She had already made plans on how to avoid stepping into the eyes of the public and that was to seek refuge in the Valente fief, using the excuse of meeting the Hagen family to discuss CLOVER's future endeavors.
However, her father had rejected her idea straight away before proposing to visit her maternal fief only when it was time for her birthday.
Back then, she had agreed since her goal of staying away from the public's eyes would be achieved either way.
All she had to do was stay indoors until it was time for them to leave the Capital.
Now that she was recalling her father's firm decision in rejecting her initial idea, Yvonne realized that something was strange.
He had rejected her a little too quickly back then and even ignores her attempt to act cute while staying firm on his decision of not letting her head to the Valente fief soon.
'Was he already aware of this plan?' She wondered while tilting her head slightly and gazing at her father with a curious look in her eyes.
If he did then it would explain why her attempt to act cute before him in order to get her way had failed.
Now, she was sitting before her parents and asked to do something she disliked.
Sadly, Yvonne already knew that she might be able to get out of this.
If her father had to choose between his wife and child, he most certainly would stand by his wife and agree with whatever she said.
However, even if she had lower expectations of receiving help from him, she wasn't willing to just give up without putting on a fight.
"Mama, Papa, but I do not like tea parties with too many people…" She mumbled, continuing to act pitiful to garner their sympathy.
She even lowered her head, glancing at her lap while gripping the hem of her dress to enhance her performance which was already on a higher realm than her previous ones.
By all means, she needed to stay away from any outsiders as doing so might bring even more attention to her which was not something she wished for.
Therefore, she could only persevere in bringing her parents over to her side by acting cute before them.
An air of gloom was now all around her as she portrayed the perfect image of a disheartened child who was not happy with what she was being subjected to right now.
As the child's head was lowered, she had failed to see the reassuring pat that Rutherford had given to his wife's hand.
Raylene had been determined to make Yvonne understand her intentions and follow her plans but looking at how sad her child had become was making her heart waver already.
However, it was Rutherford who had just reminded her to stay strong and not give in so easily.
Ignorant about who was encouraging the other, Yvonne continued to sulk with her head lowered.
'Vonna, go along with your mother's plan if you do not want her to learn about the stunt you pulled to avoid entering the Palace.' A voice echoed in the little girl's mind which made her raise her head in the next instant.
A pair of widened amethyst eyes collided with those dark blue ones belonging to the man who had just used the mental links between their etchers to communicate with her.
Earlier when the Duchess's letter had arrived for Raylene, he had promised his wife that he would convince their daughter to go along with the plans they would make for her well-being.
Even when Raylene had tried to investigate further about the methods he wished to utilize for this task, the Earl had remained mum which made her stop questioning him.
The reason Rutherford had not answered his wife's queries was the secret he had kept from her for a few days now.
The incident that he had witnessed with his own eyes in the woods behind their mansion was the one that he had mentioned to his daughter just now.
When he had caught Demon and Yvonne attempting something foolish in order to avoid meeting the King, he had only sent them away without punishing them.
The only reason for the delay in punishing her was the lack of ideas about how he should be disciplining the child.
Every time she caused mischief, he would ground her and she would accept it wordlessly but cause chaos again on a later date.
This was beginning to become a vicious cycle where she did as she pleased without worrying about the consequences of her actions as she knew that they would only ground her at best.
Therefore, he had realized that grounding her was no longer effective.
Not to mention that at the end of her punishment period, it was he who would suffer from her silent treatment until he coaxed her later on.
Therefore, he had not chosen the same punishment for her this time after he had caught her and Demon in the woods.
He had been waiting to see how he could deal with this matter when the letter from the Duchess had arrived.
In that letter, Duchess Beatrice Tanner had mentioned the same information as the Young Heir of the Tanner family had done during their lunch together.
The ministers who were working hard to spread information about the child and she had also mentioned something which Master Topher had not known.
According to what she had heard from the Duke, there were factions being formed concerning the revelations made by the King and his ministers.
While the neutrals were a larger number, those who were expressing their disapproval of what had taken place was also not small.
Therefore, the parents, on the advice of the Duchess, had come to a conclusion.
Making their move before the other party began to act was the plan they had come up with.
To put this plan into action, they needed Yvonne to make as many public appearances as she could in the next few weeks.
If others had a favorable opinion of her and realized that what she had done was nothing wrong then they would stop harboring ill feelings towards her.
Rutherford knew that some minds could never be changed but he had never put his hopes on them anyway.
His aim was to sway public opinion onto their side in order to ensure that the criticism his daughter received was minimal.
Therefore, he and his wife had asked their daughter to follow them into the Office so that they might disclose this plan they had come up with.
Rutherford was already aware of his Vonna's introverted nature and how much she disliked attending parties with large audiences.
In fact, what he did not know was that she did so in order to avoid meeting the main characters of the script written by the God this world worshipped.
However, his ignorance of this vital information had made him believe that she had a demure personality that only subsided in the presence of people she was already acquainted with.
She disliked being the center of attention but to achieve the goals they were aiming for, she needed to take on just that role.
Therefore, when his wife had expressed her concerns about their daughter might refuse to play her part, he had assured her that he would take care of it.
The method he was using right now was the one he had come up with back in that moment.
'You haven't been punished yet so think of this as your punishment.' Rutherford's startling words made the little girl's eyes widen further.
She had been surprised previously when her father had not punished her straight away like in the past.
He had even allowed her to go on a ride with Demon yesterday with the other children which had come as another surprise to her.
Now that she had heard the words her father had just said, she was beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
For this purpose, he had been so calm and nice to her despite being angry at what she had done.
Instead of punishing her right away, he had held it in, waiting for the perfect opportunity to reveal the punishment he had come up with for her.
'I cannot tell if he is a genius or an evil genius.' She grumbled in her heart, not allowing him to hear what she was thinking.
Gaining only silence in response, the father decided to give her another nudge.
'You can either accept this punishment or I shall reveal everything that happened on that day to your mother.' He tossed her a choice that made her grit her teeth.
If she chose to agree to the punishment then her plans of staying out of the public's eye are as good as destroyed.
On the other hand, if her father disclosed that she had attempted to injure herself so that she might skip meeting the King earlier then she did not even want to imagine how furious her mother would be.
Therefore, right now, it was beyond doubt that she perfectly encapsulated the meaning of the expression, to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
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