"Miss, we should start preparing for the Young Master's departure." The maid who knocked on the door relayed the reason for disturbing the little girl who was laid on the bed.

Earlier, Yvonne had completed filling in the ledger with the information that she had received through the letters and even gone to have lunch with her family.

A feast was served for it would be a long period of time before Howard would return home.

Soon after lunch, Yvonne had walked around the garden to digest her meal and then returned to her room for a nap.

Right now, the maid had come here to wake the child up and help her get dressed before Taylor would arrive to pick Howard up.

Yvonne groaned before she sat up in bed, permitting the maid to enter.

As she ran her fingers through her hair, she realized that the length had decreased considerably.

'I forgot about the haircut.' She shook her head as the grogginess from her nap had not yet faded.

It was Roselie who had entered the room and she hurried to bring out clothes for the Miss to change into before she prepared warm water for her to wash her face.

It took the maid a few minutes to help the Miss wash and change into the new clothes.

The long violet tresses which needed a longer time to be tied intricately now only needed to be combed and adorned with a pretty clip.

This cut their time by a lot and she was ready in no time.

Looking at her face in the mirror, Yvonne smiled as the violet dress matched her hair.

Her now short hair was adorned with a snow-white butterfly-shaped clip which clasped a tiny portion of her hair and pinned it up on the side of her head.

The white gemstones on the clip sparkled when light fell on it, contrasting her dark hair.

Pleased with the way her outfit had turned out, the little girl had high praise for Roselie who seemed to have a knack for fashion.

The maid then escorted the Miss to the entrance of the Mansion where the rest of her family stood, waiting for her arrival.

Yvonne smiled at them when she reached their position and then stood next to her brother who would be leaving shortly.

The family of four then stepped outside where Butler Limo and Jax were speaking with the other servants.

'He got acquainted with the others quickly.' She smiled at her aide who had no trouble mingling with the other people in this estate.

While they waited for Taylor to arrive, the soft evening breeze swept across them.

It was just four in the evening and there were still two hours before the sun might set.

It was neither too hot nor too cold and hence was chosen as the perfect time for the boys to begin their journey.

Yvonne looked in the direction in which she could hear the sounds of hooves coming their way.

'He's here.' She surmised that her sworn brother must've arrived.

However, the appearance of two carriages, one after another made her narrow her eyes as they had been expecting just one.

As her eyes were focused on them, she watched the first carriage coming to a halt and saw Taylor hopping out of it.

Yvonne smiled at the young boy who ran in their direction but it was most probably towards her that he was rushing at full speed.

In a split second, Taylor was in front of her but before he could even touch her, Yvonne felt a gust of wind coming from her side.

Her short hair that had been pinned to the side with just a decorative butterfly clip fell over her face due to the gust.

'Ugh! Does he have to do that every time?' Yvonne grumbled as she knew that it was her brother who had rushed ahead in order to block his best friend from hugging her.

Her hugs were solely reserved to her blood-related brother and no other brother, sworn or otherwise, could get close to her.

Rutherford and Howard had declared this a long time ago and since then, no one was allowed to hug her other than the few who were related to her by blood.

Hence, even now, the caring elder brother had helped her stop the fly named Taylor Tanner from buzzing too close to her.

While Howard and Taylor were glaring at each other, not willing to back down first, two more had gotten down from the second carriage.

The two familiar faces which the St. Claire family members knew all too well had walked up in their direction.

The little girl was trying hard to sort out the mess that Howard's movements had caused to her hair that she had failed to notice their arrival and their presence.

'Finally!' She scoffed once she had successfully combed her hair back in its original position but froze when she saw the new faces now standing before her.

One with bright and flaming red hair while the other with chocolate brown hair.

Two people that she had not seen for quite a long time had appeared before her when she had not been expecting them.

She had not seen either of them for months now and she could make out with ease that they had grown up a lot during this period.

"Greetings, Young Master Topher and… Damien." She curtsied to the heir of the Tanner family then narrowed her eyes at the one next to him.

Damien rolled his eyes at her disrespectful behavior but did not focus on it.

However, his eyes were fixed on the changes in her appearance that had taken place since the last time that he had seen her.

After their secret conversation at Topher's birthday on the balcony, he had met her once again at Howard's birthday.

This was months ago and he had not seen her since then.

She had grown taller, her belly fat had decreased, and her hair was shorter than before.

'She looks good either way.' He complimented in his heart but would never let those thoughts come out of his mouth.

Therefore, he gave her a look over before nodding his head.

"Looks like those long hours of training finally paid off." He sneered as his gaze landed at her not-so-bulging belly before he looked away.

'He's mocking me!' Yvonne did not conceal her annoyance as she leered at him.

While Damien shrugged, not bothered with her glares, Topher felt a headache arising.

'You do not care about annoying her but what about them?' He cried out in his heart as now numerous people excluding the little girl were shooting them unfriendly glances.

The parents, brother, and even his little brother along with the St. Claire family's servants were all displaying animosity towards Damien and as Topher was right next to him, he fell victim to those glares too.

"He is joking," Topher uttered to ease the environment which had gotten colder with just a single statement from Damien.

'Yea, right!' Yvonne scoffed as she knew that this bothersome guy meant every word he said.

Thankfully, after Topher's timely intervention, Damien did not speak any further to worsen the damage that he had already done.

Seeing his smart move to remedy the situation, Yvonne was impressed with the heir of the Tanner family.

Scoffing at the poison-tongued boy, she averted her gaze to the one beside him.

The red hair that she had seen in her vision of the 'deleted scenes' had the same intensity of color even now.

This young boy would soon turn into a robust young man who would take over the dukedom and even run it efficiently.

'He had a crush on Yvonne from the script.' She recalled but was sure that nothing of that sort was true in their current instance.

However, thinking of how gentlemanly he was even when 'Yvonne' had rejected him and how he did not lose his composure at her, the little girl's good impression of Topher grew by leaps and bounds.

While she was gawking at the young boy standing before her, Damien and the rest had their eyes narrowed while witnessing this silent interaction between them.

'I did nothing!' Topher cried out once again as this time, the most hateful gaze of them all was coming from his very own little brother, Taylor.