Yvonne's eyes were narrowed as she stared at this tutor of hers who was being a roadblock in her path right at this moment.

'I struggle for a month with the Captain's ruthless teachings… Worked hard to get back at least the smallest portion of the strength that I once had and get beaten during my fight with this boy…' She recalled everything she had done that had led her to this moment.

Thinking of the multiple warm baths soaks she had to take to ease her sore muscles and the medicinal pastes she had to apply to heal the wounds on her body, the little girl's mood worsened.

'And now he tells me that I did not succeed in the trial?' She glowered at the man standing before her.

Her hard work to get to this final trial would all be in vain if she did not succeed so the anger in her heart was surging with each second that she continued to stare at him.

Just like the little girl, the rest were also staring at the Marquess with narrowed eyes.

'Why does our Little Miss have such horrible tutors?' Mrs. Jacinth lamented for her Master's terrible luck.

Her trainer, Captain Desmo Reel was a mean man who yelled at her, the Piano instructor did not hesitate to strike her in the name of discipline and now, her tutor was also standing against her.

The poor old maid shed silent tears for the unfortunate state that her Miss was currently in.

The rest were unaware of the thoughts going through the maid's mind as they continued to stare at the man who had spoken up just earlier.

"What does the Marquess mean by those words?" Rutherford interrogated what was on everybody's mind.

His children had similar expressions of bewilderment and doubt on their faces but due to the etiquettes they had been taught, they could never openly oppose an elder's words.

Not to mention that this elder was of a higher social standing.

'If only we were alone right now…' The little girl gritted her teeth as she could have given this man a piece of her mind if there were in a more private setting.

However, to have the Master of the house question him was not seen as offensive which was the reason why the Earl had taken that responsibility upon his broad and sturdy shoulders.

'Look at how she is staring at me, so ungrateful!' Sullivan Samed scoffed when he saw the glowering face of his prized pupil.

He was trying to help her out yet she had the audacity to stare at him with anger apparent in her eyes.

This caused his heart to overflow with grief for being misunderstood by everyone except for one person.

Marquess Samed's red eyes turned towards Damien, the only person who had not thrown glances of animosity towards him after he had revealed what was on his mind.

'Hmm?' The brown-haired boy looked at the Marquess with confused eyes as he could not compute why he was at the receiving end of such grateful stares.

While Sullivan was praising Damien in his heart for being a level-headed person, he was unaware of the reason why the boy had not reacted as strongly as the others.

This was due to his indifference to what might happen to the girl after this trial.

The young boy was only interested to watch the show of the two siblings battling it out to the best of their abilities.

Whether she was allowed to train further or not, depending on the results of the trials was none of his concern.

Therefore he was least bothered about the announcement that Marquess Samed had made to halt everyone else's rejoicing celebrations.

With the same thought in mind, Damien went back to observing what was taking place around him which in turn brought Sullivan out of his grumbling thoughts.

When he heard the Earl's query, he knew that he had been misunderstood by these people and the only way to clear this misgiving between them was to explain why he had said those words.

"I stand by what I had said, Yvonne St. Claire did not clear the trial by fulfilling the second condition." He announced out loud while standing with his back straight and his chest puffed out.

'He has no chest so what is he trying to do here?' The little girl mocked his lack of muscles which he was trying hard to display before them.

Being an academician, it was true that he had little to no physical activities in his day-to-day life so Yvonne's evaluation of his physique was accurate.

Thankfully, the Marquess was unaware of the deriding thoughts his pupil had towards him or he would not know how he could live after knowing that he was being mocked by a child.

His earlier announcement only added fuel to the fire and the flames in everyone's eyes were burning brighter now.

"Care to explain yourself?" Captain Desmo Reel finally spoke up since the beginning of this debacle.

He was also stunned at first when he heard this man speaking up against his student which caused him to have a delayed reaction.

Once he had come back to his senses, he did not hesitate to interrogate the Marquess for placing such allegations on the little girl.

'I saw her winning that round fair and square.' He sneered at the silver-haired man who was spouting nonsense according to him.

Marquess Samed scoffed at the man who called himself a Captain and there was a haughty look in his eyes as a smirk formed on his lips.

Turning his eyes towards the little girl then her elder brother, he made another announcement that held equal if not more importance than his earlier declaration.

"Miss St. Claire has cleared this final trial not by fulfilling the second condition…" He took an intentional pause to build suspense for his grand reveal.

'Still the same childish behavior.' The child was taunting her tutor for behaving like one.

Yvonne hated being kept in suspense yet her tutor was doing just that at this moment.

"She has cleared this trial by fulfilling both the first and the second conditions!" He disclosed the information which somehow everyone had seemed to miss.

This brought about a wave of silence among the crowd who were trying to decipher the meaning of the string of words they had heard from the smartest man in the Capital city of Amarthea.

The little girl was the first to grasp the meaning of his words and her eyes brightened in excitement.

"I completed the duration of the trial!"

"She finished her allotted time."

Two sentences were spoken at the same time.

One was from the little girl who was excited to come to this brilliant conclusion which caused her great joy while the other was from someone who had neither joy nor disappointment coming from the words he had spoken.

Damien, the speaker of the second sentence turned towards the girl who had grasped the meaning of Sullivan's words just as quickly as he had.

'Why is it you again!?' Yvonne scowled and hurried to look away from him after their eye contact which only lasted for a split second.