The letter that Countess Raylene St. Claire had sent through the secret guards of their family took a whole day to be delivered to its receiver.

This was the first time that the Countess had ordered them to complete a task for her which made the chosen guards hurry to fulfill her commands.

They did not wish to disappoint their Madame and had traveled non-stop until they reached the person whose name was written on the letter.

The destination they had been traveling towards was right before them and the two secret guards halted in front of the massive iron gates.

The symbols of two scorpions were visible on the gates which denoted that they had arrived at the right place.

The moment they had come to a halt, the people in charge of watching the entrance of this vast estate were already alerted.

Hence, they did not waste time and stepped out to see who had appeared here today.

"A letter from our Madame.

" The older secret guard declared the reason for their sudden arrival.

The guards of this estate wore the emblem of the family they served.

The bright red scorpions embroidered on their chest made it easy to identify that they belonged to this family.

These guards had never heard about a Madame trying to contact their Master which made them skeptical about the authenticity of their words.

However, the secret guards sent by Raylene were smart enough to understand the dilemma written over their faces.

"Our Madame, Countess St. Claire has asked us to deliver this to the Duchess.

" The second secret guard added to clear the confusion which had been created.

These words worked like a charm as the guards of the estate finally grasped the cause of their arrival.

"We shall pass it over.

" The guards did not make things difficult for them and nodded in haste.

The secret guards were already instructed to hand the letter over to the men of this estate and return without waiting for a reply.

Therefore, once the letter had been delivered to the guards who might pass it to the person to whom this letter was addressed, they nodded at each other before disappearing from that spot.

The guards of the estate watched with awe as the two secret guards, one younger than the other, had vanished from before their eyes in an instant.

'Were the guards of the St. Claire family so powerful?' They had the same question in their minds but had no way of finding an answer right now.

Returning from their awe-filled thoughts, the head guard hurriedly asked a young squire to inform the Butler about the arrival of this letter.

____

Inside the estate,

The training grounds behind the mansion were filled with numerous sounds of men talking, running, swinging swords, galloping horses, and even birds chirping.

However, inside the mansion, there was tranquility as it had always been that way.

Three people sitting inside a lavish parlor were seen sipping tea in silence.

The young boy who sat among the two adults could sense the stifling air around them but he did not wish to interfere and get caught up in the silent war between them.

'I wish I could have gone with Vonny.' He sighed while thinking of the sworn sister whom he had not gotten the chance to meet too often in the last year.

Taylor Tanner, the second son of the Tanner family to whom this estate belonged, was reminded of his sorry state as the number of times he had met his sister could be counted on both hands.

As they advanced in age, their classes at the Royal Academy got tougher and their schedules were becoming hectic.

The lack of time for themselves made it hard for them to return home as often as they would have liked which in turn, made it impossible for him to spend time with his cute little sister.

Sulking at the increasing workload which would only get worse once the next academic year began after a couple of months, Taylor bit off a large piece of the cookie in anger.

However, his actions went unnoticed as the elders with him in this room were still too engrossed to pay attention to him.

On opposite couches sat one man and a woman.

The similar features revealed that they were related to each other but the aura between them seemed more like that of enemies as of this moment.

The man with silver hair was glowering at the pretty lady seated opposite him.

"You cannot keep me here the entire time, I will leave sooner or later!

" He muttered without breaking eye contact, defiance evident in his tone.

With a raised eyebrow, the woman whose hair was a blend of silver and pink scoffed at him.

"You can try at any time.

" She challenged him which managed to infuriate him.

The young boy was now out of his thoughts of his inability to meet his sister as he looked up, alternating his gaze between the adults.

On one side sat his mother, Duchess Beatrice Tanner and on the other was his uncle, Marquess Sullivan Samed.

He knew all too well about the cause of the conflict between them but he did not wish to interfere.

Neither of them seemed to back down which resulted in the air around them only getting worse by the second.

His uncle longed to escape from the estate where he was being imprisoned against his will.

Yvonne had requested the Duchess to ensure that the Marquess did not travel and that was exactly what she had done.

His mother had asked his father, the Duke, to station guards outside his uncle's bedroom and there was not a moment where he wasn't under the watchful eye of the guards trained by the Red Scorpion knights.

Even right now as they sat in the parlor inside the heavily guarded mansion, there were two guards stationed outside who were following the orders of the Duke.

With such high security to ensure that he did not escape, how was the Marquess proclaiming that he would leave?

This thought made Taylor shake his head at the empty words of his uncle who could most certainly not escape no matter what.

"Uncle, shall we roam around the estate if you are too tired of staying indoors?

" Being a good nephew, Taylor suggested helping his uncle fight off the boredom of staying in his room all day long.

These words were like music to Sullivan who had been cooped up inside ever since they had arrived at this estate.

He had rarely come to the Tanner estate in their fief so he was still a stranger to most places.

This offer made him enthusiastic and it appeared on his face as his eyes twinkled.

'I can look for an escape route while roaming around.' Marquess Sullivan Samed grinned while nodding his head in acceptance of the brilliant idea his nephew had given to him.

However, in the next second, that excitement died down with a single statement made by his annoying elder sister.

"Don't look so happy. The guards will be following you.

" She disclosed another piece of information, succeeding in wiping that grin off his face.

Before Sullivan could protest about the injustice being done to him, there was a knock on the door which quietened the conversation inside the room.

"Madame, a letter addressed to you has arrived.

" The voice of the Butler was heard which prompted Beatrice to permit him to enter.

Delivering the letter, the old man bowed before leaving the room for them to continue their conversation.

While the Duchess was busy trying to tear open the envelope, the men had gone back to talking about the places they could visit inside the estate.

"A letter from Ray?

" Beatrice chirped after opening the envelope which contained the letter.

Taylor and Sullivan's ears perked up as they turned in her direction with eager eyes.

This behavior made the Duchess chuckle before she read the letter out loud since it did not hold any confidential information which needed to be kept a secret from them.

"Sully, what do you have to say about this?

" She questioned once she had completed reading the entire letter for them to hear.

Marquess Samed did not chide his sister for addressing him by that embarrassing name.

Instead, he was too busy trying to recall a certain piece of information that had been requested in the letter sent by his favorite pupil's mother.