Yvonne St. Claire sat in the room where she had her usual classes with her tutor.

The weather was now at its hottest degree and the little girl was having a tough time coping with the absence of an air cooling mechanism which she desperately wished for.

The heat was causing her to become grumpy and aggressive which even she failed to notice.

'Why has he not arrived yet?' She grumbled while tapping her fingers on her lap.

The little girl was unaware of the grand scheme of a certain god which had almost tied her fate to the very boy she dubbed troublesome and disliked.

She had no clue about how she had made a narrow escape thanks to her maid.

Since she was oblivious about the scheming minds of the gods up above, she was more focused on matters that she had control over.

It had been a week since her last conversation with her tutor who had promised to speak to the King concerning her proposal of 'Lockdown' in case of a plague.

In the meantime, Howard had also kept his promise and returned to meet his family after his first week in the Academy and left once again early this morning.

He had only managed to stay in their mansion for one day before he had to return to his Academy.

'I hope he doesn't continue this every week.' She felt sorry for the boy who might exhaust himself if this continued.

She had seen his fatigued face when he left this morning and felt that something needed to be done.

According to everything she heard from him and their mother, he worked hard each day in the Academy.

The only days he would get a chance to rest was during the weekend.

If he spent that time traveling to and fro then he might face backlash soon enough.

'I should have a talk with her!' Yvonne decided to be the bearer of bad news to her mother which might save her brother at the same time.

She didn't even get a chance to spar with him since he slept most of the day, tired after making the journey back home.

This only strengthened her resolve to seek justice for his health's sake so that he might return only when he was fine with it.

While she was in her thoughts about how to convince her mother to let him stay back in the Academy, the door of the room was pushed open.

The maid who let the Marquess in bowed her head and exited the room.

Yvonne looked up when she heard the sounds of footsteps coming her way.

"Greetings, Marquess." She welcomed after hopping to her feet and curtsying to him.

In response, he nodded and slumped onto the couch before her.

'Why does he look so defeated?' She wondered while scrutinizing his demeanor which expressed that he had just lost a battle.

Yvonne's amethyst eyes widened when a strange yet plausible thought popped up in her head.

"Did the King reject our proposal?" She inquired in a soft voice and looked at him with curiosity brimming in those big eyes.

Marquess Samed raised his head and scoffed at the little girl who had used the word 'Our' when they both knew that the proposal was all hers.

However, even this time, she had requested him to keep mum about her involvement in the new improvements for the policies of the Previous King.

'No matter what words she uses, it doesn't change the fact that the King is already aware of her involvement in this matter.' He sneered at the clueless little girl who was happy in her own merry world.

Facing her confused eyes, he did not reveal this truth and decided to disclose something else.

"Why would the King reject something that is for the betterment and safety of his people!?" He scoffed at her as his earlier defeated atmosphere faded.

He glared at her and sat up like a crusader of the King, fighting to defend his honor which the girl had dared to question.

Yvonne blinked at him in disbelief after taking in his rapid change in behavior within the blink of an eye.

"Then why was Marquess pretending to be defeated?" She retorted as what she had seen earlier was not just an illusion.

For this, Sullivan narrowed his eyes and leered at the girl who was the cause of half of his sorrows.

"You are the reason why!" He snarled and did not conceal the frustration in his eyes.

"How so!?" Yvonne was not one to take this blame without trying to defend herself.

"You keep sending me back to meet the King!" He glared while letting his grievances pour out.

The little girl was stunned when she saw the pouting face of this grown man who was rubbing his arms and shuddering at the thought of meeting the King.

"Shouldn't you be happy that you get to meet the Ruler of the land so often?" She muttered in confusion at his odd behavior.

Sullivan sneered at the cowardly girl who refused to even meet the King once and expected him to rendezvous with the same scary man often.

'What is with those accusing eyes?' She was befuddled at how reluctant he was about meeting the Ruler.

As per what she had read in the script, the King was a good ruler who cared for his people and brought many reforms to improve their standard of living.

If that was the case then why was this man so frightened and reluctant to meet him.

'Did that bird brain miss something out again?' Her suspicions turned to the one who might be the cause of the discrepancies between fiction and reality here.

Marquess Samed could see the doubt on her face but he misunderstood it as though she was doubting his words.

"Try standing in the presence of the man who owns the Kingdom. His majesty is enough to make your knees buckle!" He revealed to her the reason why he feared the King.

With his majesty came his frightening and powerful aura that suppressed everything and everyone around him.

Sullivan's teeth would shatter and his knees buckled every time he would have to face the Ruler.

"And every single time it was for you!" He blamed her for the tough situations he had to face in these past few months.

"I'm sure that statement is not true, ROYAL TUTOR." She enunciated each word to prove that there could have been other reasons for them to meet but the man refused to accept them.

'Lose the battle to win the war.' She placated her heart and nodded, accepting the blame he placed on her head.

"Can you tell me how the conversation went?" She inquired while rolling her eyes at his victorious smile for having won an argument with a child of five years.

"As I said earlier, I repeated the words you had said and it did not take long for the King to realize that this new proposal made sense." He revealed the portion that she needed to know.

The other parts remained hidden from her and she was lost in her thoughts to inquire further about this.

"What about the previous suggestions for the policies?" Yvonne inquired after her moment of silence.

Marquess Samed knew in an instant what she was talking about and nodded to give her a positive answer.

Thus he began stating the progress of her suggestions one after the other:

"The proposal of building better roads has already been sanctioned."

'Oh, better roads!' She rejoiced as this brought more joy to her than the news of the King's acceptance of her latest idea.

"The routes that you had proposed have gained approval by the King and his council of Ministers. These roads will be built on those major routes first."

'That was a joint collaboration with Papa.' She recalled how they had discussed and debated before forming a proper report for the Marquess.

"Construction would most probably begin next month." He disclosed privileged information to which no one outside the Palace had access.

'The plague will arrive after two years so they have time.' She nodded her head in approval after she recalled the proper time frame.

"Royal Medical Association has also supported your idea of educating the citizens about general health safety."

"How do they plan on doing so?" The inquisitive little girl interrupted his speech to place her doubt before him.

Sullivan rubbed his chin and gave it a moment's thought before he could remember what the old men of the Royal Medical Association had advised for this.

"Pamphlets! They plan on distributing pamphlets among the populous to educate them." He ascertained when it finally struck him.

'Might as well not do anything if that is your best suggestion.' Yvonne scowled at the slow-paced method the elders of the Medical Association had opted.

As a true businesswoman, she weighed the profits and losses occurring in this endeavor and declared that it was a waste of time and money.

"Those pamphlets will be tossed around, wasting our King's money." She objected to this idea and shook her head.

"Have any better ideas?" Sullivan raised his brows at her in question to which his pupil giggled and nodded.

"As a matter of fact, I just might have the perfect solution to this problem." She smirked with confidence, making the Marquess groan as he knew what this meant.

'Another trip to the King's Throne room!' He lamented the fate of his knees which felt soft every time he had to meet that powerful man.