Hearing Yvonne's words, the Valente family turned in her direction and wondered what was the meaning hidden behind those words.

Facing their curious expressions, the little girl chuckled and glanced at the report which Marcus had prepared for them.

'I knew that the soap maker's family must have been down on their luck but I did not expect for such a thing to happen.' She shook her head, remembering what she had just read.

As per her speculations and what she had heard from her father, Yvonne was sure that the middle son who had stolen the recipe of soap from his family and sold it to Earl Blaise for an exorbitant sum of money had not returned to his family.

This meant that the oblivious family had continued to make and sell soap as usual without a care in the world, just as they had been doing for many years.

Thus, when Earl Blaise caught wind of it, he threatened to get them thrown into prison for their unlawful activities.

He had the sole rights in the eyes of the law so they were forced to stop all production and sale of their soaps.

Yvonne was sure of this matter but the report Viscount Marcus Valente had brought out had more information than what she had knowledge of until now.

'Earl Blaise truly is cunning and shrewd.' She grimaced at the thought of what that poor family had to undergo based on the report.

The elder son was made the head of the family soon after their father died and had just taken over the reins of their small business when a powerful and rich Earl began scheming against them.

Since Earl Blaise had spent a large sum of money to attain the rights of the soap recipe, he was not willing to part with it even after learning that he had been scammed by the middle son.

Therefore, his best chance was to threaten the family with Capital punishment for their dirty deeds.

He circulated information in the surrounding areas that it was this family who had indeed sold him the recipe but was now trying to make a profit on the sly.

There were rumors which began to spread about the greedy family who demanded a large sum and even after gaining it, they continued to sell their product under their name.

With the documents proving that he had purchased the rights of the recipe from the middle son, Earl Blaise was already considered as the victim and this family was deemed to be shameless schemers who were greedy for more.

They were derided by the very neighbors who once used to be loyal customers of their product and were ostracized after a few incitements from the Earl.

Being driven into a corner by the Earl's tactics, they had to give up on the business that their deceased father had worked hard to build from the ground.

They also had to bear with the humiliation from the neighbors who treated them as filthy money-grubbing thieves who were trying to steal from the Earl.

Not being able to bear such shame being brought to their father's lifetime of hard work, the family had no other choice but to move away.

'They are not the ones who should be ashamed.' She scoffed because it was the greedy middle brother and Earl Blaise who were in the wrong in this matter.

Yet, the poor family had to bear the consequences of the actions which they had not even made.

Everything that she was aware of right now was thanks to the report which Viscount Valente had prepared after receiving the letter from Rutherford.

"This happened due to my negligence as a leader." Marcus muttered while clenching his fists.

The events written in the report took place when he had been newly appointed as the Viscount.

Roughly around ten years or so ago, his father had chosen to step down and hand over the responsibility of the fief to him.

This had taken place after Raylene had married Rutherford and Marcus, in his anger, forbade her from ever returning.

He was still beginning to adjust to his new responsibilities when he heard about the scandal that had taken place in his fief.

The family of soap makers were residents of a small town with a population of fifty families and were not much in the limelight before this incident.

This incident with Earl Blaise made the Viscount hear about the family and after looking into it, he chose not to interfere with it.

Grandpa Valente frowned when he heard this self-deprecating tone that his son had just used.

"Did you know about it?" He inquired before he could console his son about this.

Marcus nodded his head but then shook it immediately afterward.

"I knew about the scandal but was not aware of the intricacies of that incident that I now know." He revealed as his eyes traveled to the report he had received from his subordinates.

"Explain yourself." Grandpa Valente demanded in a stern voice as he wished to know what had led his son to be so lax in his judgments back then.

Taking a deep breath in, Marcus looked his father in the eye and did not hide the truth from him.

"I was told that the Earl had the rightful ownership of the recipe." He disclosed the information he had received at that point in time.

Since this small town was far from here, the only means of obtaining information were the flying rumors that he had heard.

It was the truth that Earl Blaise had a signed document that gave him all the rights to the recipe.

It was also true that the Royal Seal was present on that very document so there was no reason for him to look further into this matter.

This caused the newly appointed Viscount to not interfere in this matter as he too assumed that the family was the culprits who were trying to cheat Earl Blaise.

It was a good thing that the Earl had chosen not to take the family belonging to the Valente fief to the law authorities else the scandal might have escalated.

"But Earl Blaise would never have done that because he was also wrong." Yvonne commented when somber silence took over the room.

Just like many others, Marcus was unaware that it was the middle brother who had cheated both his family and Earl Blaise after which he had escaped with the money.

The Earl who had already paid the man and had obtained the Royal seal on the documents decided to not bring too much attention to the incident lest the authorities look into it.

Therefore, though he was targeting them in secret, he behaved like a benevolent Lord by offering to back away if the family stopped producing soap entirely.

The family was forced into a corner and had to obey him, resulting in the Earl leaving them alone once he got what he wanted.

"But I did not know that back then." Marcus blamed himself for not looking deeper into this matter.

If he had only scratched the surface then he would have realized that the true victim was the family whose business and home were uprooted after that incident.

The middle brother ran away with the money and the Earl was still enjoying the fruits of the labor and toil of that family which he had shamelessly destroyed with his ploys.

Yvonne felt sorry for her uncle who had failed to do his job properly but it was undeniable that he too was at fault in this matter.

'If you had only tried to look for the truth without believing in the rumors then you could have changed the sad fate of that family.' She sighed as what was already done could not be undone.

However, Grandpa Valente was not as sympathetic towards this son of his.

He knew that his son was sneaky and sly and had a sharp mind which allowed him to turn any situation in his favor.

"You could have helped your citizens but you didn't. Tell me why." He interrogated, dissatisfied with the answer he had received from him.

His son had just looked away while such a thing had happened? This part of the narration was something that he was skeptical about.

Marcus gritted his teeth as his father was just as sharp as him and had caught that he had been hiding something.

While everyone's eyes were fixed on him, Viscount Valente raised his head and glared at the man who was seated next to his baby sister.

"I had to turn a blind eye because of this man!" He uttered in a low voice as he looked straight at Earl Rutherford St. Claire.