Rutherford had succeeded in appeasing his wife and elevating his reputation in the eyes of his children.

Therefore, he was in a good mood now but that faded when he heard footsteps coming in their direction.

Upon glancing at the source of the sounds that were growing louder with each second, he found his eyes darkening at the sight of the man who was walking towards him.

After all, this man was the reason he had suffered just earlier.

If he had not behaved in such a devious manner then Rutherford would not have to deal with his wife getting mad at him when he had done no wrong at all.

The thought of what he had faced just earlier made the Earl's eyes narrow as he leered at the one who had now come to a halt before their group.

Since the children had already distanced themselves from the three couples who had been arguing, right now, it was just those three couples facing the family of four who had approached them.

Yvonne stood at a short distance away from her parents, with her brother and the other children, as she watched the interaction between the adults.

___

The man who had just arrived, Earl Tobit Blaise went straight to the man with the highest social standing in the group.

Bowing down before the Duke and then the Duchess, the Blaise family greeted them first before turning towards the Marquess and his wife who came next.

Finally, the two who were called rivals in every aspect stood opposite each other.

"Greetings, Earl St. Claire.

" Earl Blaise muttered with a sour look on his face.

There were only three Earls in their Kingdom and among them, the St. Claire's were of a higher standing than the rest.

Therefore, even if he was unwilling, Earl Blaise had to bow down to him and greet him first.

However, his reluctance was clear for everyone to see which made them shake their heads at his impertinent behavior.

Rutherford was already annoyed with this man but did not wish to let a scandal ignite today as he was with his family inside the Palace grounds, hence, he nodded without bothering to retaliate.

However, his indifference was taken as him being haughty by the other Earl.

Therefore, Earl Blaise too decided to ignore him and turned to his wife and children, nudging them to greet the others present.

The Countess as always was obedient and curtsied to everyone present and the children put their best foot forward as they wished to impress the Duke and Marquess today.

Seeing that the Blaise children were done with their greeting, Topher and Jacob led the group of children with them to greet the Blaise couple.

Once everyone had completed following the etiquette of their Kingdom, Earl Blaise glanced down and smiled at his children.

"Why don't you go mingle with the others?

" He tossed out a question to his son, Standley who immediately deciphered the hidden meaning of his father's words.

Before entering the Palace today, Earl Blaise had already commanded his children to make connections with as many other children from influential families as they could.

Therefore, Standley nodded as he walked towards Topher, the boy with the highest social status and Mae soon followed as she headed towards Aleena.

She did not even bother to look at Yvonne who also had no interest in building a relationship with her.

However, Aleena soon called her over so as to not let her feel left out from the conversation.

'You do not have to worry about me...' Yvonne grunted in annoyance that she would have to play nice with this child who was the one to spread rumors about her being ill in the past.

It appeared as though Rutherford could sense her disgruntled state as he turned towards her and shot her an encouraging smile.

'Bear with them for a little while.' He nodded as they would be leaving soon.

Yvonne smiled back at him as she turned around and walked back with the other children, letting the adults continue with their conversation.

Though she now stood with the children, her attention was fixed on the other group's interaction as she was curious to see what happened next.

Back where the adults stood, the men were wearing neutral expressions on their faces as they were upset with the Earl who had gotten them in trouble earlier.

On the other hand, the three ladies were gazing at Countess Blaise with sympathy overwhelming their hearts for her sorry plight.

She was being mistreated by her husband whom she practically worshiped.

To add to her pitiable state, the mistress was beginning to exploit her grasp over the Earl's heart.

Thinking of what Marchioness Patrina had revealed to them about the Blaise couples' rocky marriage, the ladies were filled with sympathy for the Countess.

Just as much as they sympathized with this betrayed lady, they were equally infuriated with this man who had treated his wife so poorly.

Therefore, it was a sight to behold as the three ladies, Duchess Beatrice, Marchioness Patrina, and Countess Raylene, all had cold expressions when they looked at Earl Blaise like he was the scum of this Kingdom.

Earl Blaise could not comprehend how he had earned the ire of these ladies but no matter how appeasing of a smile he put on, they only leered at him with hostility apparent on their faces.

Thus he turned his gaze towards the husbands who surprisingly turned a blind eye to his inquisitive gaze.

After all, they were finally let off the hook and it was a pleasant sight to see the main culprit being treated with the animosity that he deserves.

'Better him than us.' Rutherford, Obinn, and Jace all had the same thought in their minds.

Thus, Earl Blaise had an awkward look on his face when he could only continue being leered at as the other men refused to lend him a helping hand.

The atmosphere had turned awkward but thankfully, someone had arrived just in time to break the tension bubbling up here.

"Oh, Earl Blaise! Good to see you here today!

" A cheerful voice coming from behind made them turn in its direction.

The voice was so loud that even the children who were standing at a distance had also heard it.

Yvonne rolled her eyes as she was well aware of who this person was.

After all, how could she forget the voice of the one who had betrayed her?

Therefore, she fixed her narrowed amethyst eyes at her tutor, Marquess Sullivan Samed who had appeared after a brief disappearance.

Ever since the Duke had arrived at the tea party, Sullivan had sneaked away to avoid his scary brother-in-law.

He took this opportunity to greet the others present and only returned when he had completed his responsibility as a member of nobility.

However, on his way back, he noticed that the atmosphere here was unnatural.

The women were leering at the Earl while their husbands did nothing to remedy this situation.

'I would have thought that it would be the men who were miffed with the Earl.' He surmised but it appeared that reality was different from what he had expected.

Therefore, he hurried back to see what might have caused this reversal of roles.

Upon arrival, he first greeted the Earl and Countess before standing next to his sister.

Shooting a questioning glance at her, he saw her ignoring him so he could only turn towards the Earl once again.

"How has business been, Earl?

" He posed a question with a wide smile which only worsened the situation.

Earl Blaise's most prospering business was the one that dealt with soap but ever since CLOVER's emergence, he had lost a huge chunk of his profit.

He had spent numerous sleepless nights trying to figure out how to destroy his competition but had failed to do so.

In fact, even to this day, he had no clue about who VC truly was.

However, he knew for sure that VC was someone from the Valente family.

He had no reason to interact with the Valente family earlier but ever since he learned of their involvement in this matter, he could not deny that there was an intense resentment burning in his heart against them.

They were shielding the Hagen family, the original soap makers from him, and also were the family to whom he believed VC belonged.

Therefore, when Marquess Samed had inquired about his business, his subconscious gaze fell on Countess Raylene who happened to be a part of that family before she married into the St. Claire family.

This only brought up memories from the past and his expression further darkened.

His hostile gaze was so blatant that everyone had noticed him staring at the Countess with a vicious glint in his eyes.

However, in the next second, a fierce aura surrounded them which snapped Earl Blaise out of his thoughts.

Looking up, he found Earl Rutherford's narrowed eyes aimed at him.

Raylene had already deciphered why this man was leering at her but she did not shy away from his gaze.

She would face those glares willingly as it was to safeguard her daughter's secret identity as VC.

But this did not mean that her husband would tolerate what was happening here.

Therefore, when Rutherford witnessed his wife being leered at right in his presence, he did not bother controlling his aura and aimed it at the other Earl.

A smirk formed on his lips when he saw the pale face of earl Blaise.

"Maybe you should have directed a part of your energy to actually producing better products than blaming others for your shortcomings.

" He uttered in a nonchalant tone but every work was a slap to Earl Blaise's pride.

The inner workings of his mind were revealed which made him grit his teeth.

Earlier, Rutherford had not unleashed his annoyances against this man as they were inside the Palace but Earl Blaise had crossed the line when he leered at his wife.

That gaze back then was filled with a malicious intent that had not sat right with Rutherford and hence he did not hesitate to direct his powerful aura at the other man.

Duke Tanner felt a headache arising as he observed this situation.

Rutherford had a clear advantage in this confrontation as Earl Blaise already had a sheen of perspiration forming on his forehead.

Marquess Samed was enjoying this entertaining scene which he had partially orchestrated but just a look at his brother-in-law's expressions, he could tell that his entertainment would soon come to an end which made him sulk and pout.

'But I finally got to see something amusing!' He groaned inwardly as that would be snatched away soon.