The week of mourning flew by but Yvonne was never able to achieve what she had been trying hard to do all along.

For the past week, the only daughter of the St. Claire family was trying hard to think of some way to escape from meeting the King but she had failed every time.

No matter what kind of excuse she had come up with, none of them worked on Rutherford who insisted that she had to accompany them at all cost.

Raylene had even begun searching for the perfect dress she could wear for meeting the King.

Over the many months that their family stayed at the Summer estate in their fief, the excited mother had asked their family seamstress to stitch numerous new dresses for the little girl.

While most of them were comfortable enough to wear on a daily basis, the seamstress had also worked hard to make dresses that were suitable for formal events.

Now was the time for those dresses to shine as the first event they would be attending was one the King had personally invited them to.

Therefore, throughout the week of mourning, Raylene and the maids around her along with the Young Miss's maids were busy selecting which one would suit the little girl best.

Today was the last day of the week of mourning and everyone had already decided what they would wear on the day of their meeting with the King.

King Ophire had informed them that their family needed to arrive at the Palace one day after the week of mourning would come to an end.

Therefore, on the day after tomorrow, the event that Yvonne St. Claire was fretting the most would be held.

The little girl who was exhausted after a long day of changing into various dresses so that her mother could select the perfect one for her was now laid in bed as she stared at the ceiling.

She had asked Roselie to trim her hair which had grown all the way to her stomach and shorten it to a few inches below the shoulder.

Short hair suited Yvonne just as much as long hair did so Roselie did as she had been instructed.

With her shoulder-length hair scattered all over the bed, the little girl was mulling over what would take place soon.

There was only one day left before their family would enter the Palace.

Tomorrow was the last day that she could find a suitable reason to not visit the Palace as the day after tomorrow was the designated day of their meeting with the King.

If she could not come up with any valid and reasonable excuse by tomorrow then her efforts to stay out of the Royal family's eyes would all be in vain.

She had gone through such efforts to ensure that she was safe and out of their sight.

She had worked hard to not become the Princess's playmate despite being their first choice.

She had also lent her aid to the King in matters concerning the policies of the Previous King by using Marquess Samed as the middleman.

Finally, she had used her alias as VC to strengthen CLOVER's standing in their society.

Throughout all these, never once had she put herself in the limelight as that could bring her closer to the Royal family.

If she were to come in contact with them then the possibility of being sucked into the wretched plot of the script was high and she did not wish to take any such chances.

'I thought that I had done everything to stay away.' She glowered but the letter the King had sent proved that she had thought wrong.

Even if she as an individual had succeeded in staying away from anything related to the Royal family, she had not taken her family into account.

The St. Claire family was still an integral part of the Rosenhyde Kingdom.

Therefore, it wasn't uncommon for the King to wish to meet them.

However, she had assumed that the Ruler would only be interested in meeting the Earl as they were the ones who interacted always.

'Maybe even Howard was called sometimes.' She added because he was the heir and the next Earl in line.

Just as the father and son pair had visited the Palace for the King's birthday event before the plague occurred, she had assumed that it would be the same every time.

But now it appeared that things were not moving as per her plans for the future.

While she had stayed away from the Palace and everyone in it as Yvonne St. Claire, she did not consider that she might be asked to visit it as 'Daughter of the St. Claire family' which was the case right now.

No matter what had caused this change, she did not wish to meet anyone from the Royal family.

One was the man who forced her into an alliance with his younger brother.

The other was the youngster with whom she was supposed to spend the rest of her miserable yet short life.

Then came the siblings who were two sides of the path to doom that 'Yvonne' in the script had walked upon.

Finally came the woman, their mother who had stayed on the sidelines but had played a vital part in all of it as well.

Yvonne wished to stay away from every single one of the Royal family but would she be able to achieve this goal?

With this worrisome question in mind, the little girl fell asleep on the last day of the week of mourning.

___

Bright and early next morning, the St. Claire family was busy preparing for the big day tomorrow.

Since they would be meeting the King, they could not turn up empty-handed.

Therefore, Rutherford was trying to pick out something valuable from the treasures he had gathered throughout these years.

Being the most successful businessman in the Kingdom, he had a knack for picking up valuables whenever he went to different places or met new people for business purposes.

Rooms filled with such valuables could be found in their mansion but were often left untouched unless such unforeseen situations arose.

They did not have much time for him to prepare something precious for the King so they would have to choose one from what they already possessed.

As long as it was an unused item, it would be appropriate to present it before the King.

With the Master and his butler busy with this task, Raylene was helping Howard with his outfit for tomorrow as well as questioning him about the King and her personality.

The Countess had only seen His Majesty, King Ophire from a distance at official balls that the Queen organized back when she and Rutherford were newly married.

Their King had always been a private person so the only times he would come before the other nobles was during such balls.

Queen Zena would often organize these balls in the past but after giving birth to her second child, she had lowered the number of such events significantly.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, she had not called all the families of the Kingdom to balls for many years now.

However, there were still balls for coming-of-age ceremonies conducted every year.

This was a vital rite of passage for the youngsters of their Kingdom so it was never neglected and organized perfectly every year.

But the chances to interact with the King and Queen had diminished over the years.

Thus, Raylene was investigating the personality of the King as her son had met the regal man once.

While Howard had only a brief interaction with him, he explained to his mother what he felt at that time and she paid close attention to everything he had to say.

On the other hand, the last member of the St. Claire family was standing in the grazing field behind their mansion right now.

Beside her stood her large and majestic etcher who was gazing down at her with worried eyes.

'Master, do we have to do this?' He questioned, connected to her through their minds.

Yvonne raised her head and leered at him with a stubborn look in her eyes.

'Of course! If I have to stay away from them then I have to do this!' She declared and clenched her fists.

As reluctant as he was, Demon let out a grunt in dismay before he nodded his head.

With this signal, Yvonne grabbed his reins and climbed up even without the step-stool that she often needed to get on top of her etcher.

The little girl had grown taller and now her feet were able to reach the stirrups which she could use to prop herself onto her fated beast.

"Hup!" She yelped when her butt landed on the saddle.

Giving him the signal, Demon began galloping at a high speed which would have been scary for anyone else to experience but not for Yvonne.

The little girl was enjoying the air blowing past her face at such a rapid pace.

'Master, I don't want to do this…' Demon's hesitant voice sounded in her mind once again but Yvonne only tugged on his reins, urging him to move faster.

Unable to refuse her commands, the etcher increased his speed as the two disappeared from the grazing field after entering the woods behind their mansion.

The sounds of the galloping beast faded away just as a little figure peeked its head from the corner of the stables that were located right next to the grazing field.

Bright black eyes gazed in the direction that Yvonne and her etcher had left in before turning and heading the other way.