When Yvonne entered the Office room, she smiled at her father who was seated behind his desk then turned her eyes towards her elder brother seated on the couch reviewing some files in his hand.

Howard smiled back at her and gestured for her to take a seat beside him on the couch which she agreed with a nod.

The little girl walked up to her brother and sat with him while their father rose from his desk to join them on the couch.

The Royal Academy had ended their academic year last week which meant that Howard was free to do as he pleased while staying at home with his family.

The Summer vacation had begun and would last for a month before classes would resume for the next academic year from the next month.

Thus, right now, Howard was fulfilling his promise of learning about their fief whenever he had free time.

"What has brought you here, Vonna?" Rutherford inquired with a smile as he sat opposite his children.

Ever since their last conversation before the King's banquet regarding her future dream of becoming a businesswoman, his daughter had not returned to this room.

However, today, she had taken up the initiative to meet him here so the Earl was curious about her reason for doing so.

Yvonne smiled at him as she nodded and took a deep breath in before she could drop the bomb about the people who had caused her harm a few months ago.

"Papa, do you know who spread those rumors about me?" She interrogated and was quick to notice how the father and son had stiffened up.

Their faces formed similar-looking frowns at the thought of the scoundrel who had created the mess which had taken the Capital by storm.

"No." Rutherford answered through gritted teeth as his men had failed to find the real culprit behind this incident.

'If I had found the person then I would have taken care of them already.' He grimaced that he had failed to protect his child though he had spoken big promising words to her earlier.

Yvonne was not disappointed in his answer as she was aware that her father must have tried hard to find the culprit.

She had already expected such an outcome, after all, her father's men held expertise in matters concerning business and everything that surrounded it.

'But the culprit wasn't someone related to it.' She scoffed at the one who had initiated the rumors.

"Do you know who did this?" Howard prodded when he saw how calm she was even after hearing the negative answer from their father.

The nod she gave in answer was enough to cause their eyes to widen as they waited for her to continue speaking.

"Mae Blaise." Yvonne revealed the name of the culprit who had started the rumor regarding her.

"Earl Blaise's daughter?" Rutherford inquired and gained confirmation from his child who nodded once again.

The reason why Rutherford's men did not find the culprit was because they were searching in the wrong direction.

The Earl had sent his men to look into each of his business rivals and see who might gain the most from the rumor about his child.

While his men had come back empty-handed, Yvonne's spy, Marquess Samed had come back with proper answers.

Unlike Rutherford, Sullivan Samed's spies were the servants in the houses of these noble families.

Noblemen often disregarded their servants and did not control their tongues while speaking in their presence.

The Marquess exploited this minor slip on their part to gain most of his information.

Carriage drivers, guards, and even simple kitchen maids were the ones he bribed to get information and that was also how he had found the one who had wronged his pupil.

Mae Blaise, in one of the tea parties that she had attended, had made a 'slip of the tongue' while discussing matters regarding the child who never appeared.

Whenever they spoke about Yvonne St. Claire, somehow she managed to slip it into their conversation about how ill that poor girl was.

As days progressed and the children met for various tea parties, the word of Yvonne's illness grew graver as it passed down through the grapevine.

With more mouths speaking of her illness, more variations of Mae's story began to form.

The truth that she had distorted just a little slowly turned into the daughter of the St. Claire family being on her deathbed.

At first, Marquess Samed felt that Mae's words in the beginning, though false, could not have been held responsible for the mistakes of other people.

However, that impression of his changed when his men heard the confession of a lower maid in the Blaise family.

According to her revelation, it was their little Miss Mae who had sparked the thought of Yvonne being fatally ill in the minds of her acquaintances.

She had directed the public's opinion in that direction and she had done it all by whispering these false words in confidence to the other girls.

'A secret is never truly a secret.' Yvonne shook her head as these little girls were quick to inform their mothers about this and thus began the wildfire in Amarthea about her ill health.

"Blaise…" Rutherford's eyes narrowed dangerously when he heard the name of the family who stood against him at every turn.

After noticing his anger, Yvonne turned her head towards her brother who also had an equally annoyed expression.

She had heard from the Marquess about how the Blaises had tried to mess with her father and brother at the King's banquet.

'Thankfully, nothing went wrong with his introduction as the heir.' She sighed that her brother's special day was not disrupted by the Blaise father and son.

But this only proved that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

'Mae Blaise and her brother are just as rotten as their father.' She sneered as she had heard of what a vicious and cruel man Earl Blaise was.

Therefore, her plan for revenge was not just for herself but it was also for the insult her father and Howard had faced at the banquet a few months ago.

Once Rutherford got a hold of his raging emotions, he frowned while looking at his daughter.

"How long have you known about this?" He interrogated as he had already guessed that her source of information was her tutor.

He was the only connection she had with the outside world who could have been able to procure this information for her.

'Not to mention that Marquess loves to gossip.' He sneered as this task would have been a fun little project for the man.

Yvonne did not hide the truth and disclosed that she had knowledge about the identity of the culprit for well over two months.

"Why didn't you let us know then?" Howard interrupted while looking at her with confusion.

In response, Yvonne smiled at him but that smile sent a shiver down his spine.

"It wasn't the right time, Brother." She answered euphemistically which went over his head but Rutherford raised his brows.

"You have something in mind, don't you?" He butted into the conversation between the siblings, making them turn in his direction.

This time, Yvonne's smile was genuine as her father had figured it out so quickly.

"Yes, Papa." She revealed then alternated her eyes between the two men.

"Do you know about the Opera groups that had been going around the Kingdom on the King's command?" She inquired and the two nodded at once.

While Rutherford knew of this because he had sanctioned their entry into his fief, Howard was knowledgeable due to different reasons.

"Dean Aramis Brodie brought a troupe to the Academy so that we might learn from it too." Howard revealed that he had watched the show with his friends in the Academy.

Not only did the boys learn a valuable lesson from the show but they also were given soap in their dormitories free of cost, courtesy of the Dean.

'Not bad.' Yvonne applauded the Dean for his actions of supporting the King's campaign of educating the populace.

The children of today will be the citizens of tomorrow so Yvonne was pleased with how Dean Aramis Brodie had dealt with this matter.

Now that she was sure that they knew what she was talking about, Yvonne moved to the next topic, the crux of her plan.

"Papa, Big Brother, what is the main business that the Blaises depend on the most?" She questioned with a smirk, indicating that she was already aware of the answer.

This query was for them to realize which direction she was moving in.

Rutherford let out a chuckle when he heard this as his daughter was displaying signs of his own unforgiving and ruthless nature to those who dared to harm her and her family.

'She is my daughter after all.' He bragged with pride filling his chest for her brilliant mind.

While the Earl had already understood where she was heading, Howard took a while to find what he was looking for.

"Earl Blaise's major profits come from his business that deals with the manufacturing of soap." He muttered after recalling what he had learned in the Academy.

Though the Blaise family had many minor businesses, their most successful business was the soap business which was now thriving after the King's orders of using soap on a regular basis.

Looking up, he found his father and sister with similar wicked grins which made him shudder once again.

'Maybe it's still cold outside.' He rubbed his arms but the hot breeze coming in through the window said otherwise.