Thrown Into A New World: Let The Punishment Begin!

Chapter 33 - Predators And Preys

Over the next couple of days, Yvonne's usual class schedule had undergone certain changes.

Earlier she would have up to four classes in a day, but she felt really lazy to deal with them so she asked Raylene to revise it.

Thus her new schedule consisted of her usual three-hour class with Marquess Samed followed by either one of the other classes which would last for two hours instead of one.

She had asked Raylene to decide what the second class for the day might be because she was fine either way.

Each day the class with Marquess Samed would begin at 8:00 AM and the next class at 11:00 AM.

She had even opted to forgo her break in between classes so that she might finish her classes before lunch hour.

This way, she could spend the rest of the day doing nothing at all. Her every day now felt like the dream vacation that she would long for in her previous life.

Right now, she had just finished her class with Governess Lester and had reached the dining room.

Governess Lester was a tough woman to please but Yvonne was slowly catching up to her pace.

Today she was flogged only six times which was much better than the eighteen flogs that she had received during the previous class.

'The day I don't get flogged is the day I will celebrate!' She rubbed her tender wrists as Raylene cut up her meat into bite-size pieces for her.

Her hands were too small to hold the knife and the swelling after the piano class wasn't helping in the least bit.

"Thank you." She expressed her gratitude to her mother and quietly ate her food.

"Howie, stop playing with your peas and finish them." Raylene chided her son when she noticed that he was just playing around with his food.

Howard just shrugged at her and kept poking his food.

"What's wrong, son? Did something happen during practice?" Rutherford put down his silverware and looked at his son's distracted face.

"Or did you fall once again while practicing?" Yvonne's childish yet mocking voice brought him back from his daze.

"You… !" He glared at her.

'You are the reason why I am so worried that I couldn't sleep this entire week!' He felt like flinging the mashed potatoes from his plate on her smug face.

The St. Claire couple shared a glance at each other and sighed in defeat.

At the beginning when Yvonne had returned with them from the Earldom, she had tried to get along with her brother. But after multiple failed attempts, it looked like she had given up on trying to play nice.

"You what? Should I teach you some new words because all your brain is filled with is sword nonsense." She sneered at him without restraint.

'I have my pride! How many times can I tolerate his impudence!?' She turned her face away from him and concentrated on her delicious steak.

"Vonna, that is no way to talk to your older brother." Rutherford was always strict when it came to manners being followed in the house.

'My mental age is already above 28 if we consider my last life, so that argument is moot.' She retorted in her mind.

"Yes, father." Her reply was still an innocent and obedient one.

'I still need his approval if I want to start my own business or take over the family business. Oh, how I hate this rigidly patriarchal society!' She lamented.

"Does she even consider me her brother?" Howard muttered while he looked at his uneaten plate.

'If she did then she wouldn't try to snatch away what is rightfully mine. I should have prayed for a brother rather than a cute little sister. Even a puppy would be better than this child of Evil Neo.' He was sure that the evil god Neo must have sent her to this house to wreak havoc.

"Why should I consider you my brother when you don't do the same for me?" She shot back at him instantly.

Every time she tried to get close to him, he would flee as though she was the carrier of the plague.

Though the old Yvonne was trained to subdue her emotions from a young age by Grandpa Leo as a part of her Heir training, this little Yvonne's feelings would get hurt every time she took a step forward towards her new brother only to be pushed away.

'Should I try some of the techniques that Grandpa had used to train me back then?' She wondered.

'I don't think that is a good idea for now. People might think I'm mentally unstable if I go about massacring cute woodland creatures.' Yvonne rejected that idea as quickly as it had popped up in her head.

When Yvonne's parents had died in her previous life, she was just ten years old.

Grandpa Leo thought he had very little time to train her so he used the quickest means possible to get her ready to confidently take over the St. Claire Empire.

One such means was to make her, a mere ten year old child, watch as cute little bunnies and squirrels were cut open right in front of her eyes.

It had traumatized her to no end. The hellish nightmares followed by the high fevers that would just not go down.

Every time she pleaded with him to spare their lives, her grandpa would make Butler Powell to first break their bones before cutting their necks off.

'Your weakness can give someone the chance to cut off your neck in the exact same way.' Was what her grandpa always said after their training session.

Those words impacted her mind and eventually, she stopped pleading and shedding tears for them.

The final day of this training was when he made her hunt and cut open the heart of a deer all by herself.

'The world is made up of predators and preys. It's your choice as to what you end up as.' Those words still echoed in her ears as though it had just happened.

"Vonna…."

"Vonny…."

As though a bright light was pulling her back from the dark abyss of her past, she turned to look at the two faces that were staring at her.

"What's wrong, baby?" Raylene asked in a worried tone.

"I'm fine." Yvonne gave a small smile and looked at her plate.

'I love grandpa but that was one of the worst days of my life.' She closed her eyes and regulated her erratic breathing.

"If you are fine then why are you clutching your fork so tight?" Howard's voice caused her to look at her fingers.

The usual pale white hands were now bright red because of the force with which she was holding her silverware.

"Unlike you, I still know how to hold them properly." She rolled her eyes and began eating again.

The other three at the table were perplexed to see her behaving normally again.

Just now while they were talking, they could hear the sound of her teeth grinding against each other.

When they looked at her, they finally noticed the pained expression on her face which caused them to panic and call out to her.

'Vonna is behaving oddly once again.' Rutherford then paid close attention to her as he ate.

"Did you hear what I had just said, my babies?" Raylene asked and looked at her two beloved kids.

"Huh?" Yvonne's reaction was expected because her mind had been elsewhere.

"Do I have to?" Howard whined and looked at his mom with a pout on his face.

'Did I miss something?' She looked at Raylene to get some answers.