While the men were glowering and scoffing at each other, the women were in a world of their own.

Trisha nodded when she noticed that Raylene's widened eyes were looking her way.

Though Marcus could not stay here for too long, he could at least make time for his sister and her family as they had been separated for too long.

Now that he had returned to the Capital after a long time, he needed to look into a few matters as well as reconnect with Raylene and his niece and nephew too.

Therefore, Marcus and Trisha concluded that they would stay till the end of the week and leave next Monday.

Raylene was overjoyed at this news and began making plans with Trisha on how they would spend their time together.

The first on their agenda would be a daylong trip to the Commercial District.

Initially, today they had plans of heading to that place in the afternoon.

However, everything they heard from Topher during lunch had caused their moods to be complicated and their minds filled with the information they gained.

Thus the ladies had unanimously decided to postpone their trip for another day.

Now that Raylene knew they had ample time to spend in each other's company, she explained the different stores they could visit and also the various tourist attractions they could head to.

"We can have tea parties as well!

" She exclaimed as she had always wished to do this with her sister-in-law.

Trisha was quite older than Raylene and treated her as a younger sister so she giggled upon seeing the ecstatic look on her face.

She would agree with whatever Raylene wished as long as they could spend time with each other.

Observing the pleasant atmosphere here, Rutherford could only give in for the sake of his wife's happiness which had been lessened in the past.

The objections to their marriage had caused a rift in her relationship with her maiden family but seeing her getting along with them after so many years, he could not bring himself to snatch it away from her.

Therefore, he swallowed the words which were about to leave his lips.

He no longer tried to persuade them to leave and instead nodded his head, agreeing with whatever Raylene was mentioning right now.

When Marcus saw this behavior of his, a rare smile formed on his face and for once this was aimed at his brother-in-law.

'Looks like she chose a good one after all.' He no longer tried to pick a fight with the Earl as he was in a good mood right now.

With this, their evening tea came to an end, marking the end of the day for the Tanner sibling as well.

The sun would set soon so it was about time for them to head back to their estate.

Reluctant as he was, Taylor knew that he had spent a lot of time here and any longer would get him in trouble with his father.

He also had a lot to prepare as he had made up his mind to start training from tomorrow onwards after everything he had witnessed here today.

However, he did not forget to promise his lovely sister that he would come by often and spend time with her whenever he could.

Yvonne smiled and accepted his proposal even when she could feel the annoyance radiating from her brother and father.

Her eyes then fell on Topher who seemed to be lost in a daze so she did not disturb him but she did not forget to wave at the adorable-looking little red fox who stood next to her Master.

The Valentes and St. Claires then bid goodbye to the boys who then boarded their carriage and were out of sight in no time.

Yvonne turned around and headed back inside with her family.

The little girl glanced at her father and uncle, indicating that she had something she would like to discuss with them.

Noticing her gaze, the men nodded and Rutherford suggested that they take this to the Parlor.

Raylene and Trisha opted to not join them this time as they had already made plans to spend some time together.

Thus they decided to head to another place in order to have some privacy to themselves.

Their husbands would anyway fill them in on the details of this discussion later on so they weren't afraid of missing anything out.

Rutherford and Marcus nodded as they sent them off before gesturing to those who wished to stick around to follow after them.

Upon reaching the Parlor, Yvonne sat alone on one couch while the men sat on another while the three remaining boys occupied the one at the side.

"Papa, I have something to say concerning CLOVER.

" She revealed what was on her mind.

Since Topher was the only one who had no clue about her association with the business that had taken the Kingdom by a storm, she did not wish to touch this topic in his presence.

Now that he was gone, she was free to speak her mind without letting this crucial and covert information leak to any outsiders.

Sadly, Taylor was missing out because he too had left with his elder brother.

'Serves him right!' Howard gloated at his best friend's sorry state and vowed to rub it in his face the next time they meet up.

Yvonne knew nothing about her elder brother's devious schemes as she was busy focusing on what she had come here to say.

"Papa, what do you think about CLOVER's progress so far?

" She questioned and sat still as she awaited a fitting reply.

Rutherford was a veteran in the commerce field of this Kingdom so who else was better to judge the current condition of the company she had built from scratch?

Therefore, she looked at him with an eager expression, anticipating what his opinions were regarding her brainchild, CLOVER.

"For a company whose owner is still in the dark and has no support from any famous figures in the industry, I would say that it is doing better than expected.

" The Earl gave his honest opinion about the company named CLOVER.

There were a few factors that decided the fate of a newly formed company.

It either had to be excellent in what it did and impress its targeted audience right away or it would struggle to make ends meet without any external support.

However, this could be easily avoided if they gained the support of someone who was already in the business and gave them a helping hand, boosting their popularity.

For example, every business Rutherford started shot to fame due to his family's name attached to it.

When the citizens heard the name of the St. Claire's family attached to a business, they knew that they could trust it in terms of quality and that there would be no fraud as it would affect their noble family's name which was a taboo for them.

Yet CLOVER was a small business that had ventured into an already monopolized sector without any big names supporting it.

The Blaises were its biggest competition yet it had managed to stand against them until now without succumbing to the hegemony that Earl Blaise possessed in the soap industry.

Not to mention that they were now beginning to suppress Earl Blaise with only its products to speak for themselves.

Therefore, Rutherford's estimation of CLOVER's progress was a positive one that pleased its owner, VC as well.

"Though people think that CLOVER and the Valente family are tied together they do not know that for sure, yet they opt for CLOVER over the Blaise's products.

" Uncle Marcus chimed in with his viewpoint.

There were all kinds of speculation going around regarding who VC was and whether it was connected to the Valente family.

However, it was a fact that according to all official documents, all that was known was the fact that VC was the owner and nothing else.

They did not know if VC was truly a Valente or someone else but after a long silence from even the Valente family who neither accepted these rumors nor rejected them, they had formed new theories now.

The latest speculation was that VC was a noble from a side branch who wished to make a name for himself through the means of CLOVER.

After Viscount Valente had spoken in VC and CLOVER's favor in the Palace, it was inevitable that this news would spread outside as well.

Right now, most noblemen already knew that the Valente family were business partners with VC and the same was for the popular yet mysterious Ocular Caravans.

Therefore, all that Yvonne needed to do was to make sure to use this popularity to her advantage.

'That is exactly what I plan to do..' She smirked and finally decided to reveal the plan she had come up with.