Just as Rutherford had said it, six months passed before they could even know it.
A lot had taken place in the six months that Howard was away but today was the last day of the hectic academic year at the Royal Academy.
The boys were relieved that they had survived this stressful time and soon would get to go home.
They would have to spend the night in their dormitories as the classes had ended in the evening.
However, early tomorrow morning, numerous carriages would be en route to Amarthea.
An entire year's worth of education had been crammed into just half a year with almost no breaks for the children.
Therefore, they would be allowed to stay at home for the next two weeks before they had to return to the Academy for the second half of this hectic year.
To accommodate the year that had gone to waste due to the plague, this temporary solution was being utilized and once they complete the next half of the year, they would get to spend a leisurely summer vacation.
The hope of resting during the short break and the coming summer vacation was the only thing that was keeping them going.
The progress that they had made during the first half of the year was already marked down in their reports which they would be allowed to take along with them when they head home for the next two weeks.
Most of the boys had worked hard to obtain good scores but there were a few bad apples everywhere.
The professors had informed them that if their scores did not improve in the coming half year, they should forget about graduating from the Royal Academy.
Though Howard had no fear of such a thing happening to him as he had obtained excellent scores as he always did.
All that needed to be done was for him to return home and display this report card to his parents.
'And check the damage that has already been made.' The young boy seated on the bed gritted his teeth while thinking of the obstacles in his path.
For six months, he had only been able to exchange letters with his family and in every single one of them, he heard about his cousins who were now residents of the Capital.
This implied that the twins could spend their time with Yvonne while he was struggling in the Royal Academy to acquire good grades.
Though his education was important, he was still annoyed to think of how the twins must have taken advantage of his absence.
Therefore, Howard had already made up his mind that he would spend his entire two-week break by his sister's side, not letting the twins get any closer to her than they already must be.
*CRASH!*
A loud crashing sound coming from the next room made him glance at the wall separating them before he shook his head.
'And that fool too.' He sneered, thinking of his best friend who was also someone he needed to be guarded against.
Sighing at the ruckus coming from the same room, he buried his head under the pillow to get some rest as they would have to begin their journey bright and early tomorrow morning.
___
In the Office of the St. Claire mansion, Rutherford shook his head while watching his wife rushing out of the room.
Their son would return after a long separation so Raylene had just stopped by to inform her husband that he better be free to spend time with his family for the next two weeks.
He was a known workaholic and while she turned a blind eye towards it most of the time, he was instructed to either finish his work right away or set it aside for later.
The reason for these commands was so that he might spend time with the family which would be reunited after a long time.
Thus the obedient husband did not dare to go against her words and only nodded in compliance with her words.
"Papa should complete everything today." Yvonne, who was also in the room, snickered as she glanced at the pile of documents on his desk.
Since the plague had entered, there was a lot to be done and the two had been busy with matters related to their individual businesses this entire time.
During the last six months, a lot had changed in the life of this young girl as well.
After Howard had gone to the Royal Academy, the Earl had brought his daughter to see the stores he had purchased for her under the name of VC.
The stores were quite to her liking and she had already contacted someone whom Rutherford had recommended to renovate one of them according to the ideas she had come up with.
This person was someone who was an employee of Marquess Jace Kiron, the minister of Architecture.
Butler Limo was the one mediating between this man and Yvonne so no one doubted who the true mastermind was.
After all, the land had been purchased by Earl St. Claire and the man who was in charge of overseeing the progress of renovation was his Butler.
Therefore, everyone thought that it was a store that the St. Claire family was investing in.
Yvonne did not care for these rumors as it was true in one way but with no one coming forward to authenticate this information, everything was based on their speculation.
"Vonny was given the same ultimatum as well." Rutherford rolled his eyes at his child while pointing at the workload before her as well.
Not only he but his daughter was also busy during the last few months.
Therefore, both of them had been warned by Raylene who was now preparing for the return of the Young Master of this household.
Yvonne choked when she saw her father's sneering expression.
Since they had returned to the Capital from the Valente fief, the father and daughter had spent a lot of time together in this Office.
He would work on the matters of his fief and Yvonne would focus on CLOVER's reports.
Thus the two had inadvertently grown closer during these long hours that they worked in each other's company.
Rutherford had realized that his daughter was snarky and mean when she was provoked and in the same way, Yvonne had noticed that her father was capable of throwing back sarcastic retorts at whatever she said.
Unknown to the others, the father-daughter duo had engaged in quite a few arguments which would have shocked the others if they had witnessed it.
However, outside this room, they were the perfect example of an obedient daughter and a caring but stern father.
Yvonne did not retort as she knew that he would have an answer for everything, instead, she lowered her head and focused on the papers before her.
As they had planned previously, Ocular's Caravan had once again begun distributing CLOVER's soaps throughout the Kingdom as they had done in the past.
Though Sevenz had stayed behind in the Capital, his men had done an excellent job even without his presence.
Thinking of Sevenz, Yvonne recalled numerous other incidents that had brought about shocking revelations to her in the past six months.
One of the major changes that took place in her life was when she had contacted Miss Glennise Brodie upon her return to the Capital at the end of the Summer season.
Since Glennise had come to her in peace back when she had attended the tea party at the Brodie estate, Yvonne did not forget to contact her when she returned.
She had already completed her assignments given by the Marquess well in advance which allowed her to focus on her other duties when she was in the Valente estate.
However, when she met Miss Glennise on the day they had decided after exchanging letters, she learned that the other girl was still far from completing it.
Though that was not the matter that had surprised her.
On the day when Yvonne was sent to the Brodie estate to meet Glennise, they had only interacted briefly before the two boarded another carriage and headed outside.
While Yvonne frowned at this sudden change in their plans which she had not been informed about, she did not wish to create a fuss about it.
The young girl who was seated before her was already stressing about how much they would be punished if they did not complete this assignment before the final date.
Therefore, she suppressed her annoyance and gazed outside the window.
When they were nearing the Palace entrance, Yvonne was sitting on pins and needles but her body relaxed when they passed that area and headed towards the estate of the Kirons.
There they met Rika who also boarded their carriage and they were making a return trip once again.
'Did we have to come all this way to pick her up?' Yvonne had scowled while thinking that they could have just waited for Rika to arrive at the Brodie house without going through this hassle.
However, she soon understood why they had done this as their next destination wasn't the Brodie estate as she was hoping for it to be.
Instead, the carriage with the three girls entered the Palace gates, something which she had been wanting to avoid.
The look of surprise on Yvonne's face as she turned to Glennise and Rika seated opposite her made them blink in confusion.
"How can we complete the assignments without the Princess?" Glennise shook her head once she understood why Yvonne was staring at them with that incredulous look on her face.
The young girl who had only prepared her heart to meet Glennise this morning was calm when the plan had changed and they went to fetch Rika.
However, facing this new situation was enough to stun the child after she learned that she would soon be meeting the Princess as well.
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