Chapter 434 - The First Letter
After that heartwarming scene, the Earl had a word with the butler of this house and explained to him about the arrangements needed to be made for his daughter's etcher.
Since the old Patriarch and the Viscount had no issues with preparing special accommodation for Demon among their stables, everything went on smoothly.
Yvonne too made sure to instruct her etcher to not pick fights with her uncle's etcher, Hakka, who was swift to fly away once he was sure that no intruder had entered his territory.
The large reunited family then headed inside but this time, they went their separate ways.
Old man Valente had already asked the servants to prepare rooms for the St. Claire's family and hence the family of four were asked to rest in their respective rooms.
The journey from Amarthea to Valente had been a long one so Raylene and her husband expressed their gratitude for their thoughtful gesture as they retired to their rooms.
The twins took up the responsibility of guiding their cousins to their rooms which happened to be next to each other.
The Butler then added that he would lead the group of servants who had followed the Earl's family to the separate servant quarters once they helped their masters settle down.
"Rest well, Vonny, Howie.
" Knox chirped in excitement as he waved towards the siblings once they reached their doors.
Roman was more reserved as he smiled at them and turned around with his brother, leaving the corridor soon after.
Yvonne glanced at her brother who did not have any servants with him as he was already trained to be more independent after spending years in the Royal Academy.
She waved at him then entered her room with Mrs. Jacinth and Roselie who followed to help her get changed.
The room which Trisha Valente, the Madam of the house assigned to Yvonne used to be Raylene's old bedroom.
As it was more appropriate for a child to stay here thanks to the smaller-sized bed and the decor of the room, this room was given to Yvonne.
'She looked so happy after hearing about this from Aunt.' The little girl recalled her mother's glowing face when she learned that Yvonne would be staying in her old bedroom.
The mother was happy with this decision so Yvonne had no qualms about staying here.
The maids were quick in their movements and the little girl was bathed and changed in no time.
As they had already been informed that lunch would be ready soon, Yvonne wore a simple peach dress instead of the camisole dress that she would have worn if she was staying inside her room the entire afternoon.
The Butler returned and offered to escort the maids to the servant quarters and Yvonne thanked him before sending them with him.
As this household already had their own servants, the servants who had come with the Earl would only have to tend to their masters and not help out in any other chores.
Mrs. Jacinth and Roselie were thus left free to do as they pleased in their lodging until they were called once again.
While Howard chose to take a longer nap, Raylene and Trisha decided to catch up on the events in each other's lives that they had missed as Rutherford was still washing up, the little girl had other matters to attend to.
In the parlor that they had first sat in, Yvonne St. Claire sat opposite the man with the thick red beard.
"So shall we speak about the letter that you sent through that other etcher?
" Viscount Valente asked when the two were alone in the room.
Yvonne smiled at the smart man who had figured out that Tutu was an etcher and nodded her head.
Marcus observed his little niece who was seated on the other side of the couch and wondered where she had found that other etcher.
'That etcher was swifter than mine.' He recalled and recognized this truth that his Hakka would never accept.
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The night when Tutu had arrived in the Valente fief with the letter from this little girl, Hakka was the one who had given her a chase.
He was under the impression that a new etcher was invading his territory and the snow hawk was quick to get on her tail.
However, he could not catch up with Tutu who reached Viscount Marcus Valente on the balcony that he had arrived to take a look at what was going on.
The golden eagle was instructed not to confront anyone and her only mission was to deliver the letter from the little girl so she did just that.
Tutu hid behind the Viscount which succeeded in halting the snow hawk in its flight.
The vigilant and wary hawk was worried that he might hurt his master and thus did not move another inch forward but continued to glare at the preposterous eagle.
The Viscount who was caught between the two birds noticed that the eagle wasn't trying to attack him.
Tutu had stretched out her claw towards the man just like she had done the first time she met Yvonne.
Marcus did not flinch unlike his niece as he stood his ground and untied the letter from the eagle's foot.
Once the letter was delivered, Tutu did not stay for another second and flew high up in the sky to return to her Master's side.
When Hakka tried to follow her, Marcus stopped him which allowed Tutu to fly away without any worries.
Not to mention that Tutu had completed her mission of delivering the letter so this time, if the hawk had attacked her then she would have fought him head-on.
Thankfully, the Viscount had thwarted a fierce battle between the birds from taking place due to his command.
Hakka had no other option but to back down and perched on his shoulder while he entered the room to read the letter that had come to him by means of an etcher which surely was a first for him.
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"I wanted to meet my Uncle whom I did not know existed.
" Yvonne spoke up when she saw that the man was lost in his thoughts.
This managed to snap him out of his thoughts of what had taken place in his estate recently as he fixed his eyes on the little girl before him.
In the letter that Yvonne had written to her uncle, the first thing she had done was introduce herself as the daughter of his younger sister, Raylene.
She was not yet sure whether the Viscount was aware of their existence just like they were clueless about his existence.
Therefore, she decided to make introductions to avoid any confusions which might lead to the Viscount ignoring or throwing away this letter that had been addressed to him by a stranger until now.
Once she was done introducing herself and Howard as well, she mentioned that she had only recently learned about the existence of her mother's maiden family.
She then revealed that she was saddened by the fact that though she had family on her mother's side, she had never had the fortune of meeting them.
She also did not fail to mention the reason why her father had finally decided to disclose this well-kept secret that had been concealed from the children for all these years.
This reason was the desire to locate the family of soap makers that had caused her to learn of their relationship with the Valente family.
Her letter had skillfully been drafted to reveal her relationship with her uncle, to explain why she had written this letter now after so many years, and also the reason which had led her to make this discovery.
As the Viscount recalled the details of the letter, he was troubled that his feud with the Earl had led to his niece and nephew not being able to experience the joys of having an extended family.
To top it off, a certain line from her letter which had left a deep mark on him was the closing sentence that the little girl had written.
{I do not resemble my paternal grandmother and neither do I look like Mama or Papa.}
{I wonder whether I look like my maternal grandmother?}
With that, the first letter he ever received from his niece came to an end, inciting curiosity in his heart just as much as what was present in hers.