'Demon'

'Etcher'

'Vonna's etcher… This horse… Demon…'

These thoughts were whirling around in Rutherford's mind after he heard about the horse who was enjoying the pats from his beloved daughter.

As he observed and scrutinized the beast next to Yvonne, he was sure that his child had not mistaken the beast and that he truly was an etcher.

The word etcher was something he was all too familiar with as he also had a one of a kind etcher which had formed the bond with him.

However, the etcher before him was not like the ones that he had met earlier in the capital.

'Why did I not notice this earlier? He gives off such a deadly aura around him…' He narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze at the beast.

When they had been staring at each other earlier, the beast had given off a certain bloodthirsty feeling which he had not been able to decipher at that moment.

Now that he had heard from his child that they were a pair of etcher and etched, he could easily connect the dots to make sense of the weird sensation that he had noticed before.

The etcher had gone on offensive mode when he thought that his master was being snatched away from him and he would have hurt Rutherford if it wasn't for Yvonne's timely interruption.

Unknown that she had just stopped a full-blown attack from taking place, the little girl was petting the soft coat of the horse.

Desmo sighed when he saw the confused look on the Countess' face and the dazed appearance of her husband, the Earl of St. Claire.

"Why are you so stunned? Weren't you the one who had ordered to get new horses to be brought into the estate?" He interrogated when he noticed that something was not right.

'He seemed oblivious about the horse when the child had told him about it.' He speculated and then gazed at the man.

Coming out from the daze that he had been inside, Rutherford first frowned at his friend then turned to glance at the horse before shaking his head.

"The horses that I had ordered for were of the best pedigree and were of the perfect height for Vonna to ride." He disclosed the efforts he had made to make horse-riding a pleasant experience for her.

Desmo's suspicions about the horse were intensifying as even the man of the house had refused to accept that he knew the existence of this horse.

"So, you have no knowledge about the etcher being in the mix of the horses that were brought into your estate?" He reiterated his question to make sure that they were on the same page.

This time as well, Rutherford gave him a positive nod in reply.

Yvonne stood at the side and alternated her gaze between the two men who were trying to figure out where the beast had come from.

"Does it matter where Demon has come from? He is my etcher now and no one can take him away from me!" She yelled out her piece following which she hugged the horse's leg.

Her actions which seemed like a tantrum in the eyes of the adults were immediately ignored as they went back to trying to figure out the etcher's origin.

'How dare they ignore me in such a blatant and straightforward manner!' She raged in her heart.

The etcher seemed to have understood her emotions and grunted in a loud and fierce voice to get the elders' attention.

This generous action had achieved to attract their attention as they now stared at the beast and child with their eyes opened wide.

The grunt had been so loud that the birds perched on the nearby trees had all fled upon hearing this uproar.

'The heck!?' Yvonne covered her ears as she was the closest to the horse and hence the one who had been affected the most.

The glare she then aimed at the beast made it whimper pitiably and nudged her shoulder but the little girl ignored him.

Given the cold shoulder from his master, Demon shook his head a couple of times as though he was expressing his apology and lowered his head.

Rutheford had been thinking of ways to get the etcher away from his daughter but stopped when he saw this obedient behavior from the mighty beast.

'An etcher and etched cannot be separated once the bond is formed.' He sighed and then pressed his forehead as he felt a headache arising.

His delicate and fragile daughter riding this huge mount was not something that he would be overjoyed to watch.

However, he had no other choice but to accept this new reality with a grain of salt as no matter how he tried to separate them, that feat was impossible to achieve.

Desmo could feel the resistance on his friend's face fading away and once again he shook his head in disappointment.

Yvonne was now not bothered about what the elders might say about her etcher as she was actively avoiding the touch of the beast who had hurt her ears.

'You need to be taught a lesson or you would keep doing it until I become deaf!' She sneered at the beast beside her and looked away.

While these two were playing like children, which they were, the men were having a serious conversation.

"Even if we choose to ignore where the etcher has come from, don't you think that you are taking the news of Yvonne's etcher as though that it is nothing too surprising?" He interrogated as this man was not behaving like any other man in the Capital would.

If any of the other noblemen would have heard the news about a female, much less a child obtaining an etcher then they would have thrown a fit about it.

As they believed that only the most worthy of men could form a bond with etchers and the fact that a little girl had succeeded in doing so was simply outrageous.

Captain himself had also been stunned that Yvonne could form a bond with an etcher and such a fine one at that.

So, he was confused when he saw that Rutheford had no such confusion but only worries when he heard of this.

Rutheford raised his brows in amusement when he heard the way that his friend had addressed his daughter.

"Yvonne? Isn't it supposed to be Miss St. Claire to you?" He scoffed at the man who was becoming too familiar with the apple of his eye.

Desmo could not believe that in everything that they had spoken about, this was what had piqued his interest.

'He is incorrigible!' The Captain blinked in disbelief.

"I was asked to call her by her name." He explained briefly as he was curious to know about the other half of his question.

Though he wasn't too pleased about it, the Earl stayed silent as this was what his Vonna had wished for.

"As for the matter about not being too surprised? Why would I be when I am perfectly aware of my child's capabilities?" The proud father puffed his chest out and looked down at his friend.

"My Vonna can do anything she wants and finding an etcher is nothing to be surprised about!" He boasted and then smiled at his little girl.

While Yvonne was smiling back at the man, she could not help but scoff in her heart.

'Says the man who did not want me to take these classes with the Captain in the first place!' She sneered yet continued to smile.