Summer was en route to the Capital of this Kingdom, Amarthea.

The winds blowing past them carried warmth but weren't scorching enough to deter people from holding gatherings under the open skies.

The pleasant weather in addition to the flowers that were in full bloom in the back garden of the Main Palace made it the perfect venue for the tea party to be held.

Since the lunch after this short event would take place in the banquet hall of the Main Palace, the Queen had deemed this spot to be perfect for this purpose.

As Yvonne neared the garden behind the Main Palace, she could smell the sweet scent of blooming flowers and the earthen tone of the damp soil which must've been due to the recently watered shrubs.

The group who had walked together paused for a second as it was necessary for a servant to announce their arrival at such formal events.

The servant standing by the entrance of the garden waited for their signal which Marquess Samed and Earl Rutherford gave, permitting him to make the announcement.

Following hierarchy, the servant first called out the Duchess' name followed by her two sons then came the Marquess's turn, and finally, it was the Earl and his family's turn.

The moment Duchess Beatrice and the rest entered the garden, all eyes were on them.

They had been expecting this lady who was at the pinnacle of the social circles to arrive sooner but they had never thought that she would come along with an Earl's family right next to her.

Many people had heard about the unlikely friendship between the Duchess and Countess but had not taken it too seriously.

Only a few who were close to the Duchess knew of the truth while the others were still suspicious about the news being circulated.

However, seeing the two women coming in together made them wonder if there was some truth to those rumors.

Since it was a custom to first greet the host of the tea party upon arrival, the two families headed towards the woman who had worked hard to organize this event.

At the far end of the garden, a group of ladies surrounded the most respected woman in the entire Kingdom.

This would be the first time that the children would be meeting their Queen so they straightened their backs and stood upright as they approached her.

Her Majesty, Queen Zena, had been waiting for all the guests to make their entrance before she could commence the tea party.

Seeing a new group walking towards her, she turned in its direction and waited for them to come to a halt before her.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." They pronounced in unison as they either bowed or curtsied to their Queen.

Ashy brown hair which was twisted into a lovely braid adorned with the whitest of pearls fell over one side of the lady's shoulder.

Thick and aligned brows sat on her forehead which brought attention to those pale yellow irises that reminded Yvonne of a pretty canary.

A soft smile was present on the Queen's face as she nodded at them, in acceptance of their greetings.

The four children were discerning the appearance of their Queen while she did the same to them.

Since Queen Zena was someone who wished the best for her son, Prince Fritzen, she had gathered information about all the young boys who would be making an appearance today.

Her goal for today was to not only meet these families but also to focus her attention on the boys, figuring out which one of them would be the perfect aide for her Fritzen in the future.

Prince Fritzen was the sole heir to the throne of Rosenhyde and as the Queen, she hoped that he would do an excellent job at preparing for his future responsibilities.

As a member of Royalty, it was necessary to not only be good at your tasks but also have capable people assisting you.

To make sure that he had the best resources available, Queen Zena had researched each one of these boys as one among them might be attending to her son in the future.

With this thought in mind, she scanned the boys standing before her.

Her eyes first fell on the heir of the Tanner family and instantly rejected him from that list as he was too old to be serving under Fritzen.

Prince Fritzen would need someone who was closer to his age and would be a perfect subordinate to the future Crown Prince and later King of Rosenhyde.

Thus, her gaze turned to the other two boys who were also present today.

One was the talented heir of the St. Claire family while the other was the wastrel second son of the Tanner family.

There would be no harm done without any comparison but upon comparison, it was clear to her who the better choice was.

Not to mention that it would be better to have an aide with a lower social standing as they would obey their Master without any chances of retaliation.

This only elevated her good impression of Howard and increased his probability of becoming the aide of the future King.

Yvonne had been observing the Queen who for the last few seconds was alternating her gaze between the two she called her brothers.

Despite not knowing what thoughts the Queen had in her mind, the child could not help but feel uneasy at how the older lady was analyzing them.

Feeling a gaze on her, Queen Zena turned towards the pair of amethyst eyes which were looking at her without fearing the consequences.

'That is the child who refused to be the playmate?' A subtle frown formed on her face which the others weren't able to catch.

However, Yvonne had lived numerous years in a world where she was surrounded by stone-faced CEOs who concealed their true intentions while interacting with each other.

This made it possible for her to discover that, for some reason, the Queen was unhappy with her.

'Nope, she doesn't look like my mother.' Yvonne declared after giving the Queen's face a good look.

She wasn't bothered that she had somehow seemed to have offended the Queen.

Instead, she was ecstatic to find that this lady looking at her did not share any resemblance with her mother from her previous world.

It was only King Ophire who seemed to have the same face without any memories of their past life together while the Queen was nowhere close to how her mother looked.

Thanks to this discovery, a wave of relief washed over her as she would have once again been troubled if the Queen resembled her mother but she now knew that this wasn't the case.

Queen Zena raised her brow when she saw that the child before her wasn't scared of her and even dared to stare back at her so brazenly.

However, she did not wish to waste time with a child who did not know what was good for her.

The daughter of the St. Claire family had rejected the offer of becoming the Princess's playmate which in her eyes, was the wrong move to make.

No one in their right minds would opt to study privately than to join the Princess which could only be beneficial for their future.

Thinking of this, Queen Zena wondered if she needed to be more thorough before deciding who could be added to the list of potential aides who might work alongside her son in the future.

'What if the brother is also like this child?' She shot a glance at Howard as she thought of this issue.

With this cautious thought in her mind, Queen Zena decided to keep looking for other potential candidates instead of finalizing with this one right away.

After all, this was for her son's future and she could not choose just about anyone without observing them first.

Yvonne did not know that her brother's probability of becoming Prince Fritzen's aide in the future had gone down by a considerable percentage due to her rejection of joining the Princess in the past.

However, if she had known about the thoughts in the Queen's head, she would have sneered and rejoiced as nothing good could happen to Howard if he were to take up that responsibility.

Queen Zena was now determined to keep her eyes open for other potential candidates and nodded at them before resolutely walking to another part of the garden.

The St. Claire couple and the siblings of the Samed family shared a confused glance.

The Queen had not said a single word from beginning to finish and only stared at the boys before leaving them alone.

Duchess Beatrice decided to bring up this incident to her husband's attention when he arrived as she did not have a good feeling about the way their Queen had scanned the boys.

Marquess Samed was already aware of what the Queen had in mind as it was about time for the Prince to pick his aide.

If the aide to the Prince started serving him from a young age, it would be easier for them to function together in the future.

Similarly, Rutherford, who had a faint clue about why the Queen had behaved that way, frowned as he did not wish for his son to get caught up in any political scandals.

The fights among nobles were already tiring enough and to get involved in matters concerning the entire Kingdom would only bring bigger troubles to the young boy.

Raylene glanced at her husband who appeared to be in deep thought and did not disturb him as now was not the right time to get the answers to her questions.

She would have to wait for a little longer before discussing this with him.

On the other hand, Yvonne shrugged after the Queen left them and scanned the garden to see who else was invited today.