Thrown Into A New World: Let The Punishment Begin!

Chapter 606 - Drastic Changes

With Yvonne's eyes making slow movements to scan the garden and those who are present here, she found quite a few familiar faces around her.

'Hmm…' She pursed her lips in contemplation after discovering something interesting.

Right now, only those either belonging to the Marquess or Duke's families were present here.

Her St. Claire's family was the only one from a lower stratum of nobility who had made their appearance.

'Are the rest still meeting the King?' She speculated if this was the cause for their absence.

They had all been summoned to enter the garden after the preparations needed for the tea party had been completed.

However, it appeared that there was still a delay in the arrival of the guests from the lower levels of nobility.

While others did not know the cause, the little girl had a clue about what had led to this outcome.

The King had spent too much time talking to her family which delayed the appointment he had with the others.

Since he could not do a haphazard job while interacting with the remaining families, he had asked the Queen to begin the tea party with those who had already completed their meet and greet with him.

Though Queen Zena was apprehensive, she did not object and asked the servants to escort those who had met the King and were resting in their allotted rooms over to the garden.

The rest could arrive once they were done with their parlez with the King.

Thus, right now, only families above the St. Claire's were present along with them at this garden.

The latest arrivals to the party were this group of people who were now standing in a corner while the Queen headed in a different direction with two of her trusted attendants following after her.

None of the other nobles could bring any of their servants into the Palace and it was only Queen Zena who had her servants on standby to give them orders on what needed to be done.

Yvonne's eyes followed the Queen's trail and found her come to halt before a small group of women.

All the child had to do was observe them for a second and she was aware of their identities.

The First Lady who caught her eye was someone she knew had seen for the first time today but had no problem with recognizing her.

'Duchess Brodie.' She recalled the name of the lady who was slightly aged in her dreams about 'Yvonne' from the script.

In those dreams, 'Yvonne' had a good relationship with Glennise Brodie and Princess Felicia, therefore, she had met this lady countless times during her visits to the Brodie mansion.

'Now that I think about it… Why was I so curious to see how the Queen looks when I had seen her numerous times in those dreams?' Yvonne scowled at her dull mind which had not recalled this beforehand.

Thanks to her dreams about the deleted scenes from the script, she had witnessed how things played out but had not made the final cut in the script.

She had met all the essential characters in the script through those dreams and also seen them interact with each other.

This was also how she recognized Duchess Anette Brodie who looked the same as she was now even when the script was based on a time that was almost a decade ahead of their current timeline.

'She took good care of her skin.' The child praised the older lady whose future appearance was identical to what it was right now.

Comprehending that she knew how this lady looked and what her identity was, the little girl realized that she was already aware of who most of the people here were even when she was seeing them for the first time.

Therefore, she rolled her eyes while recalling how, just earlier, she had gotten curious to discern the appearance of the Queen and hoped to figure out whether she looked like her mother in her previous life.

However, in the next second, Yvonne scoffed in her heart once again as she realized why she had made such a rookie mistake.

'It was the King's fault!' She blamed the man whose appearance did not match the one she had seen in those dreams.

It was a given that 'Yvonne' in the script had come in contact with the King during her daily visits to the Palace throughout her childhood days.

However, this little girl had only seen the King's visage in those dreams when 'Yvonne' was already in her teens.

'And the King looked nothing like he does now.' She declared because the difference between the two faces was too wide.

In her dreams, King Ophire had long flowing hair that cascaded down to his shoulders, his eyes had lost a large part of their luster and the lower half of his face was covered in a thick beard that reached down to his throat.

Whereas, the King she met today had vibrant eyes which sparkled as he gazed at her and while the hair was of the same length, his beard was non-existent.

This made it possible for her to analyze the contours of his face without any obstructions, allowing her to see the resemblance between him and Harold St. Claire's appearance.

'As I thought!' She huffed, standing by her theory that it was the King's drastic change in appearance in those dreams that had made her doubt whether the Queen had also changed.

She now stood corrected after noticing that Queen Zena did not resemble her mother and it was only King Ophire who had features similar to her father.

Comparing the face she saw today and the man she had seen in her dream, she could find faint traces of resemblance but would never have caught them if she had not seen his current appearance.

The difference in those two faces was so great that she could not deny that she had not noticed it before in her dreams.

Only now that she was looking back at those memories, she could sense that King Ophire held a faint resemblance to her father, Harold St. Claire.

While she speculated over what might have caused this transformation of the King which led his charismatic and charming face to become dull and pale, she soon reckoned that she had deciphered the reason for this.

The plague which right now had ended in a single year had prolonged to over two years causing innumerable deaths in the script.

Bearing the guilt of these deaths that he wasn't able to prevent had caused the once regal man to age due to the troubles that he carried over his shoulders.

Emotions of guilt, heartache, and dismay had taken a toll on his body which appeared on his face as well.

This worked as a reminder for the child who recalled that in the latter half of the script, the King fell gravely ill due to these emotions building up in his body.

Yvonne's brows furrowed at this thought but soon they straightened after recalling that none of these would happen now.

They had prevented the plague from taking too many lives and even the impact on the commoners wasn't as devastating as it had been in the script.

She had only helped them in finding a few faulty procedures in the policy concerning the plagues and rectified it for them.

The rest of the hard work and effort being put into subduing and eradicating this third plague was all done by the King and his talented subjects.

She gave credit where it was due and in this matter, it belonged to the King because while he was shouldering the weight of the Kingdom, she was enjoying her extended vacation with her family in their native fief.

'So he shouldn't be too harsh on himself.' She sighed and decided to stop thinking about this matter for now.

She was in a tea party which was akin to a battlefield among these nobles.

She could not give them a chance to act against her as mere words from these higher nobility could damage her reputation as well as harm her family.

Therefore, Yvonne decided to pay attention to her behavior from here onwards.

Unfortunately, the child lost in her thoughts until now had subconsciously been staring in the direction that she had seen the Queen standing.

The Queen had greeted that small group of women and left that spot but Yvonne who was deep in her contemplation continued to stare in that same spot.

Now that she had snapped out of her reverie, Yvonne rubbed her nose as she was slightly embarrassed to have been in a daze until now.

However, before she could turn away from that direction, she found a pair of eyes looking back at her.

To put it correctly, not one but two pairs of eyes were fixed on her.

The Queen had come to greet this group of women and had moved ahead to another spot while this group remained right there.

Among them, the highest in status was Duchess Anette Brodie who had not noticed her and was busy speaking with the other women.

The lady right next to her was someone whom Yvonne had met in the past and was also one among the pair who had noticed her and turned in her direction.

Two figures, one older while the younger, someone around her age, were rather interested in staring her down than paying attention to whatever it was that Duchess Brodie was speaking about.

'Ugh! Why is she here?' Yvonne groaned inwardly as meeting this person could only be bothersome for her.

After all, the younger one of the pair was someone she had an altercation with in the past.