Turning to her right, Elna glanced at the older girl who had been standing with her for a few minutes now.

Earlier, she had been with her mother, Marchioness Leopold, when another pair of mother and daughter had come to greet them.

Marchioness Leopold had exchanged greetings with this new lady and was now busy discussing certain matters.

This left the girls to mingle with each other but Elna could not bother to go through with it as she would rather stay by herself than talk to someone like her.

The other girl too seemed uninterested in speaking with her which had led them to stand in utter silence.

Left undisturbed, Elna glanced around the garden and this was when she had found Aleena staring at the heir of the Tanner family.

However, she wasn't the only one who was staring in that direction as she soon found the girl standing with her to be looking that way as well.

Though her gaze wasn't on Aleena Kiron but her older brother, Jacob.

After all, this girl was Cecily Yona, daughter of Marchioness Yona, who had her sights on marrying Jacob Kiron for many years now.

Seeing the one she yearned to get closer to, happily mingling with the children of the St. Claire family was like a thorn in her eyes.

She had never once seen Jacob smiling at her but he was happy to do so when in the presence of the daughter of the St. Claire family in the past and today he had done the same with their son.

This only made her grit her teeth because while she could never bridge the gap between herself and Jacob, this pair of siblings had no qualms about getting closer to him.

They put in no effort as she did yet were able to become close to him with ease.

Thinking about this, she recalled how the last time, she had tried to warn Yvonne about getting too close to the one she wished to marry.

Surprisingly, that plan had been thwarted when Jacob's sister had intervened and even spoken in Yvonne St. Claire's favor.

At first, Cecily had thought that she had upset Aleena somehow which had caused her to express her dissatisfaction in that way.

Only upon later contemplation did she realize that Aleena Kiron had actually stood up for that other girl and defended her.

She did not even realize that she was mocking her future sister-in-law which had made Cecily annoyed to no extent.

However, even if she disliked this hotheaded daughter of the Kiron family, she could not act against her or argue with her.

Having followed Jacob for a few years now, Cecily knew just how much he loved and cherished his siblings.

If she were to act against them then he most likely would not remain as calm and composed as he was at all times.

Thus, despite her anger towards Aleena for mocking her on that day, she did not go overboard.

However, she did not have to be as restrained when it came to the other party in the argument she had on that fine day.

Yvonne St. Claire was just an outsider who did not deserve the same care that Jacob gave his sisters and this reminder led Cecily's animosity against that girl to only heighten over time.

Even now as she watched that same girl interject a few times during the conversation that the boys were partaking in, she could not help but leer at her with anger ablaze in her eyes.

The one who had noticed this annoyance bubbling up on Cecily's face was none other than Elna Leopold.

Now that things were moving in a direction that was favorable in her opinion, a slight smirk formed on her face.

'I won't even have to get my hands dirty to deal with her.' She sneered and chose to remain the bystander during today's event.

If Cecily Yona wished to deal with Yvonne St. Claire then, she could do as she pleased.

Elna would be more than happy to watch Cecily doing all the work for her, dealing with that impudent girl, and also cleaning up the mess.

With this thought in her mind, Elna had a subtle smile as she waited to see what happens next.

The girls each had their own thoughts and similarly, so did their mothers.

Marchioness Yona had been busy conversing with Marchioness Leopold when she caught a sight that made her furrow her brows.

Right before her eyes, she watched how Marchioness Patrina Kiron had led her children to greet the Duchess.

While she wasn't against this and even had plans to do the same later, she frowned when she saw the other lady standing with them.

From a young age, Lady Beatrice and Lady Patrina had been close friends and their friendship only grew stronger as they matured and got married.

It was common knowledge that due to the close connection between the two ladies, the two families also had close ties with each other.

To add to this fact, even their husbands were close as they were both ministers of the King's council.

Duke Tanner was in charge of the military and Marquess Kiron was in charge of architecture.

Even when the Kiron family was on the same social standing as the Yonas, they were indeed a class apart.

If the Leopolds were the wealthiest among the Marquess families, Carters were leaders of Duke Brodie's faction, Kirons were forerunners of Duke Tanner's faction, Samed was already an influential family with one child being the Royal Tutor and the other the Duchess of Tanner.

Jorbins were the secluded family but the Marquess being the Minister of Foreign Affairs and his wife coming from a wealthy noble family from a neighboring country gave them prestige as well.

However, it was another matter that the ladies of this Kingdom often disregarded Marchioness Jorbin due to her foreign birth.

Among the six Marquess families, it was only the Yonas who were scraping at the bottom of the barrel.

Every single family had someone who had close ties with the King.

Marquess Samed had no position in the past but he was now the Royal Tutor which was a high post as well.

The Yonas on the other hand did not have any influential position in the political sphere and even their businesses weren't as blooming as the rest.

This had brought many sleepless nights to the Yona couple who tried their best to form relationships with the other families in order to elevate their own status.

Marchioness Yona had been sucking up to Duchess Brodie since she was married into the Yona family but later, her daughter's interest in Jacob Kiron had led her to change factions and join Duchess Tanner.

Of course, as a deserter of her previous faction, Duchess Tanner did not get too close to her but at the same time, did not shun her.

She could do as she pleased as long as her actions did not affect the ones around the Duchess in a negative fashion.

Thus, for her daughter to marry into the influential Kiron family, Marchioness Yona had spent too much time getting closer to them.

However, one fine day, a lady from a lower family had waltzed right into their gathering and with ease obtained everything that she had worked hard for all these years.

Therefore, how could Marchioness Yona stay still while watching her hard work being proven to be for naught?

With a vicious glint in her eyes, she glared at the woman who had dared to be so arrogant and snatch away the place that should rightfully belong to her.

Marchioness Leopold had noticed that there was something odd with the look in Lady Yona's eyes and thus, had turned to glimpse at who had caught her attention.

After which, she laid eyes on the group among which was someone who had infuriated Marchioness Yona.

'Like mother, like daughter.' She sneered and looked away, uninterested to waste her time on people who weren't worthy of her attention.

____

On the other side of the garden, Yvonne was trying to converse with Jacob but was unsuccessful each time as her elder brother kept interrupting her.

'What is he trying to do?' She narrowed her eyes at Howard who had brought up the topic of a new book he had read.

As expected, Jacob was eager to discuss this matter with him which left him no time to even look at Yvonne.

Howard noticed her frown but decided that he would be willing to accept her anger as long as her attention was still on him and not on Jacob.

Watching this obsessive behavior of his best friend, Taylor scoffed while shaking his head.

'And he told me that I was obsessing over his little sister back then.' He mocked his friend for doing exactly what he disdained about him in the past.

Even when Howard and Yvonne were not on good terms in the past, Taylor had shown interest in getting closer to the little girl but was dissuaded and scorned by his best friend for not having eyesight.

However, now that same best friend was stooping down to petty schemes to make sure that his sister wasn't snatched away from him.

Yvonne, who was unsuccessful in her attempts to speak to Jacob, could only look for the other two children from the Kiron family who might help her get some answers.

Turning to her right, she found that instead of two girls, there was only one with her right now.

'Why did she have to be the one here?' She grumbled as she would much rather prefer the other sister than this one who remained.