The accusation made against Rutherford caused his eyes to widen as he had done absolutely nothing to garner such claims from the Viscount.

"What makes you say that?

" He scoffed at his brother-in-law who had not yet laid aside his animosity against him.

Yvonne too was surprised when Uncle Marcus was quick to point his finger at her father.

Raylene was flustered when she noticed that her brother was picking a fight with her husband once again.

Earlier when she had sat together with Old man Valente and Marcus to talk about the days of the past, her brother had not concealed the fact that he had been prideful in the past and distanced her due to the same.

Shocked as she was to see him apologizing for keeping her away from her family for so long, she hurried to accept his apology and added that she too had given up on trying to reach out to him mid-way.

If she had persisted in trying to contact him then maybe they would not have wasted so many years not being a part of each other's lives.

The Old man was surprised to hear his son's sincere heartfelt words and nodded as this was the best outcome.

His children had reunited and he got to meet his grandchildren so he was extremely happy.

Raylene then went on to speak about how she lived her life in the Capital without any difficulties and was happy with her family.

The father and brother sulked that she was gleaming with happiness talking about the times they were not in her life but after realizing her genuine joy, they felt relieved.

Though Raylene was aware of Marcus's dislike towards her husband, there was not much she could do as he refused to hear anything she spoke in Rutherford's favor.

Marcus sat in silence while she spoke about how Rutherford truly loved and cared for her as though he was not interested to hear about this.

Noticing how he at least did not reject her words and scoff at her, she deemed this as a step in the right direction.

She had assumed that their heart-to-heart interaction in the afternoon had eased the animosity between her husband and brother.

However, she was wrong as right now, the two men were glaring daggers at each other.

Marcus scoffed in ridicule when he heard Rutherford's inquiry about his involvement in the matter at hand.

"Does the name Sophia ring a bell, Earl?

" He smirked as soon after these words left his mouth, the air in the room froze.

Yvonne's curious amethyst eyes were gazing at her Uncle and hence had failed to notice how her mother had flinched at the mention of that name.

The mocking smile on his face as he sneered at Rutherford faded when he saw the saddened look on Raylene's face.

Observing these expressions on Marcus's face, the little girl finally turned her eyes in the direction that he had been looking until now.

Raylene's face looked a little pale while Rutherford's jaw was clenched in anger as he continued to glower at the man who had caused his wife to recall certain bad memories from the past.

"What does this have anything to do with that woman?

" He scowled right back as even mentioning that name made his anger rise.

Thoroughly confused as to what was going on, Yvonne looked around the room to see if someone was willing to shed some light on this vague conversation she was witnessing right now.

Her Aunt Trisha was patting her husband's shoulder, signaling for him to stop talking already.

'She's too busy handling him.' The little girl surmised and turned to her side and looked up at her grandpa who was also watching in silence.

Feeling her gaze on him, Old man Valente coughed in awkwardness as he did not wish to reveal this matter to a young child like her.

However, not only Yvonne but also the other three boys were curiously gawking at him in search of clarity about what their parents were talking about.

Not having left with many choices, Old man Valente glanced at his son then at his son-in-law before clearing his throat.

This succeeded in getting their attention as well, making them turn in his direction.

"The woman named Sophia… Was your father's betrothed.

" He disclosed in a hushed voice but it echoed in the silent room.

Raylene's face grew paler after her father had revealed this fact from their past.

'Betrothed!?' Yvonne's widened eyes were enough to indicate that she was stunned after hearing this.

Her eyes turned towards her father who was now rubbing his wife's shoulder to comfort her.

"Not exactly and what does that have anything to do with this?

" Rutherford was not willing to back down.

"I had never agreed to marry that woman and I stand by my word even now.

" He declared while looking into Raylene's eyes as a gesture of his conviction regarding this matter.

Howard was baffled to hear about this and he looked at his Grandpa who was the only one they could depend on right now.

"Who is this lady, Grandpa?

" He inquired as he wished to know what had taken place in the past.

His mother seemed shaken up and his father was too concerned about her condition to make things clear to the confused children.

'Good job, Big Brother!' Yvonne nodded in approval of his actions as she was equally curious to know more about their parents' past.

This time, before Grandpa Valente could speak up, Marcus decided to answer this question.

"Sophia Blaise, the younger sister of Earl Blaise was deemed to be the perfect candidate to become young Rutherford St. Claire's wife and the next Countess of the St. Claire fief.

" He began explaining what he knew all too well.

From his youth, Rutherford was considered a prodigy due to his quick knack for learning anything he put his mind to.

There were only three Earls in the Kingdom of Rosenhyde, Mikren, St. Claire, and finally, Blaise.

The young daughter of the Blaise family was considered to be the most appropriate partner for Young Rutherford and the two families had already begun talks, in secret, of joining their family through the sacred bond of matrimony.

This was during the time that Rutherford had just given up his dream of becoming a Knight due to his father's constant disapproval and was following him to learn how to run the fief.

He was already in his rebellious phase at that time and the talk of taking Sophia Blaise as his wife to further promote friendship between the two fiefs only made him irritated.

No matter how much his father told him that he would end up with Sophia as his wife, he disregarded it and turned a blind eye to it.

While he was still in the St. Claire fief, learning how to take over as the next Earl, the Capital was filled with news about the marriage between the two young children from the Earl families.

However, Rutherford never bothered with it as he had never even met this Sophia lady and was not interested to do so also.

He began focussing on his heir responsibilities and one among those duties was to accompany his father on certain missions.

One such mission was to help the Viscount of the Valente fief who had requested assistance in a matter involving dangerous bandits attacking their businesses.

This was the same 'Plantation' that Raylene had mentioned where Paula, her old maid, was about to be sent before she was appointed as her personal maid.

With Rutherford and his father's help, the bandits were chased away and this was when the young man met the woman with whom he had fallen in love.

Raylene was enamored by the young man at first sight and after constant interactions during his stay in their fief, she fell in love with him.

Ignorant about the rumors about the marriage alliance between Rutherford and Sophia, she had already given her heart to him.

Promising to visit soon, he had to return to his fief to continue his duties as the heir.

Soon after he arrived in the St. Claire fief, he was informed about the raging rumors about him and the woman whom he had never met before.

Earlier, he could not be bothered with it but now he had to do something about it.

His first thought was to suppress all such fake information being spread in the Capital which might affect his budding relationship with the woman he had fallen for.

However, certain information he received managed to shock him thoroughly.