A week had passed since Yvonne and her family had arrived at the St. Claire fief and were currently residing in their summer estate.

Today, a letter had arrived from the Capital which had been delivered by one of the secret guards working under the Earl.

The family was seated for lunch when Butler Limo had disturbed them to hand over the letter that had arrived here.

Yvonne had been expecting this letter to arrive for the entire week and only now did it show up.

'What's the situation in the South?' She wondered while waiting for her father to complete reading the contents of the letter.

Raylene and Howard did not have the same troubling thoughts as the girl, however, they too were curious to know what the message written in that letter conveyed.

Rutherford dismissed Butler Limo once he had completed perusing the letter before placing it aside.

A frown was seen forming on his lips as his mind wandered towards what he had just read.

"Ruthy?" Raylene called out when she found that his expression was getting worse by the second.

Coming out of his stupor, the husband smiled at his wife to reassure her.

While Raylene did not pursue this matter any longer, Yvonne could not sit still as she needed to know everything the letter stated.

"What does the letter say, Papa?" She questioned, blinking her wide amethyst eyes which displayed the curiosity hidden within them.

Howard too seemed interested to know more about the letter which had affected their father.

"Is everything alright, Father?" He prodded and waited to hear some proper answers from him.

Noticing that his children were adamant to know more, the father had no choice but to disclose the contents of the letter.

"The news of a disease spreading rapidly in three fiefs of the south has sent the nobles in the Capital into a panic." He revealed the information that his secret guards had gathered and sent to him.

According to what the letter stated, three fiefs, in particular, had seen a rapid growth of people displaying the same symptoms of a strange disease.

While only a few people were infected in the beginning, the growth of affected people was so high that the noble families in charge of these fiefs had fallen into a dilemma on what should be done.

The three of the southern fiefs that laid on the border of the Rosenhyde Kingdom were the only ones affected.

However, the nobles of these fiefs had sent word to the King that these strange events were beginning to unnerve them and they needed aid in this regard.

Right now, the Capital was in a state of unrest due to panic among the nobles and everyone was waiting to see how the King would deal with this matter.

'Isn't this progressing too fast?' Yvonne frowned after hearing the news from her father.

From what she had read in the script, she was sure that only one fief would be affected in the beginning.

The disease would spread only due to the panic among the citizens of this fief who tried to escape the clutches of the disease by fleeing to a different fief.

These people had carried the disease to a whole new fief and began infecting the citizens there without their knowledge.

This was the reason why she had advised the King through her tutor, Marquess Samed, that a lockdown needed to be implemented in order to prevent this from happening in their timeline.

However, her preemptive measures would fail to work if the spread of the disease was this rapid, to begin with.

The Royal Medical Association had not yet been assigned to look into this disease which implied that the disease had not yet been declared a 'plague'.

Thus, the lockdown would not be initiated until this step was fulfilled.

Thinking of the rapid growth of infected people, Yvonne wondered if things would worsen by the time the Royal Medical Association was put in charge of this strange disease which was affecting the bottom three fiefs of their Kingdom.

'They need to be quick!' She declared that swift action might help deter the growth of the cases which seemed to be faster than what she had thought it to be.

While the little girl was wondering whether her calculations were wrong about the progress of the disease before it was declared a plague, the young boy seated on the other side of the table had different thoughts in his mind.

"Which three fiefs, Father?" Howard investigated, his fingers clenching the silverware tight.

Rutherford was thinking about the state of these fiefs with its citizens contracting strange diseases out of nowhere when he heard his son's inquiry.

Glancing at the young boy, the father could grasp that he was not feeling too good.

"Lumex, Wescott and Jorbin." He nonetheless answered without making him wait any longer.

Yvonne too had realized that her brother appeared shaken after hearing the names of the three fiefs which had been affected at this moment.

This made her tilt her head as she furrowed her brows.

'Does he know someone who stays there?' She wondered if this was the reason for the sudden shift in his aura.

"Father, is there any news from the Jorbin fief?" Howard added with a tinge of concern evident in his tone.

Rutherford thought about it for a second before shaking his head.

"Only that the three fiefs were affected." He revealed everything he knew as the letter did not give him too much information, just a gist of what was occurring in the Capital.

Howard remained silent after hearing this and lowered his head into the plate before him.

Numerous thoughts were swirling around in his mind and he did not know what he could do to ease the worries that had surrounded him.

"Is this about the heir of the Jorbin family?" Rutherford polled which seemed to have hit the mark as his son's shoulders flinched for a second before he looked up.

Yvonne smiled when she heard this as she knew who they were talking about.

'Lyon Jordin, son of Marquess Luca Jorbin.' She recalled the identity of the one who had garnered this reaction from her elder brother.

Howard coughed in embarrassment and nodded in reply to the query her father had placed before him.

"He said that his family would be staying at their fief for the summer." He revealed the information he had gained from the heir of the Jorbin family.

The entire St. Claire family had heard about the young boy who had just been mentioned.

After all, this was the same boy who Howard had rescued during the King's birthday celebration in the past.

Ever since that incident, Lyon Jorbin had deemed Howard as his savior and would follow him around every time they met.

'He even joined the Academy to stay close to him.' She snickered at this information she had received from a trusted source.

Yvonne had even heard from Taylor that Lyon, who was two years younger than them, would always stick close to them while they stayed in the Royal Academy.

The Jorbin family head, Marquess Luca Jorbin, was the King's Minister of foreign affairs.

Hence, he would often visit different kingdoms to maintain friendly relations with them.

This implied that his son who would be his heir also followed him to visit these kingdoms.

However, ever since Howard had rescued Lyon from the bullies during the King's celebration, he refused to accompany his father any longer.

He stated that he wished to stay at the Royal Academy and learn swordsmanship from thereon.

Being the only son of the Marquess who had triplet girls before him, Lyon was doted on immensely and his every request was accepted without any questioning.

Therefore, last year had been Lyon's first time studying in the Royal Academy as all his life he had been traveling with his father who was also his tutor and trainer.

Once he had gained admission into the Academy, Taylor and Howard, who would often stick together, had found someone following them around like a tail everywhere they went.

The heartless Howard had forgotten who Lyon was as it had been quite a while after he had rescued him.

This made the younger boy shed a few tears and only after revealing their encounter in the past did Howard recognize who he was.

From then on, no matter how much Howard and Taylor asked him to mingle with boys his age, Lyon would continue to stay with them.

'No wonder he feels bad for Lyon, he must have gotten attached to him already.' Yvonne sighed as the lack of information regarding the same boy was the source of Howard's unease.