Chapter 570 - All Or Nothing!
Yvonne stretched as she sat between her parents inside the carriage.
Two days had passed since the borders were opened and finally, the St. Claire's family had decided to make their return trip to the Capital.
The servants who had accompanied them to the St. Claire fief from Amarthea would all be returning with them once again.
Similar scenes from their arrival to this fief were seen once again with Demon being strapped to his Master's carriage.
Fryght was laid on Howard's lap and Yvonne was sandwiched between her parents who still did not trust her enough to let her sit by the window.
The servants and their luggage were in the next carriages and this long line of vehicles was moving along the route that led them to Amarthea.
The little girl had spent the last three days having fun with Howard and roaming around the entire estate as she knew this would be her last few days here for quite some time to come in the future.
They had spent so much time there that she did not wish to come here any time soon.
Summer would be here again in just a few months but she had no desire to return and wished to spend it in Amarthea as she was missing her room in their Mansion there.
As the family of four with the addition of Rutherford's etcher sat in the same carriage, they began moving towards the St. Claire's border and would soon enter the Tanner fief.
Traversing through the Tanner's fief they would then enter Amarthea after which the last destination would be their mansion.
Tired as she was from the activities she had taken part in before their journey, the little girl decided to nap for the remaining duration of their carriage ride.
Butler Limo had planned such that they would stop only at one location to eat before journeying once again.
Rutherford had agreed as he did not wish to stay anywhere he was not too sure about the health conditions.
Never one to risk the life of his family, the Earl accepted Butler Limo's proposal to only stop once during their journey and hurry back to Amarthea.
Thus, the little girl got her chance to recuperate the energy she had lost in having fun with Howard during the last few days.
Raylene smiled at her child and laid her head on her lap, allowing her to rest in a better position.
Yvonne did not reject her kind gesture and even went ahead and boldly stretched her legs onto her father's lap.
Rutherford raised his eyebrows at his demanding daughter but finding her bold actions to be adorable, he helped in taking off her shoes so that she might be more comfortable in her sleep.
The little girl smiled with her eyes closed and soon fell asleep while Howard's head was lowered in the books he had brought along.
He had already completed the study material that was meant as their Summer home assignment a long time ago and had taken up learning more books with his father's aid.
Rutherford picked new books from their library which would help the boy and one of those books was in Howard's hand right now as he paid attention to it.
Thus, the carriage engulfed into silence with only the sounds of pages being flipped at random intervals.
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Lost in the land of dreams, the little girl was excited as she knew what would take place next.
She was about to witness another 'deleted scene' from the script she had read in the past which brought her great enthusiasm and delight.
She was used to these occurrences which had become common since her stay in the St. Claire fief.
From these dreams, she had learned a lot that had been skipped from the script.
However, what she was about to witness today was something different, something that she had not seen before nor did she ever read anything close to it in the script.
Yvonne's body felt light and her mind was hazy which was unlike the previous instances where she dreamt about the script.
During those times, the images of what took place in the script would appear before her, and she could experience everything through the point of view from 'Yvonne' in the script.
This wasn't the case this time as she could see nothing before her eyes.
No image, no sound… Nothing…
All she could sense was an eerie silence all around her.
In previous cases, she found herself in the body of 'Yvonne' either from her childhood days or after she became a teenager.
However, this time, there was no body as she was only a wisp of consciousness floating in a vacuum of nothingness.
She had a similar experience when she first met the Bird God, Asmodeus after reading his script and rejecting it.
At that time she at least had seen her body in that ball of nothingness, that blank where she first met Asmodeus.
But right now, she could not even sense her body existing in this unknown place.
There was nothing around her and she seemed all alone in this place.
'Where am I?' Yvonne wondered while trying to figure out what she had landed herself into.
This seemed unlike any scene from the script so she could not comprehend why she was here right now.
As Yvonne, now in the form of a glowing wisp of fog, was floating around mid-air as she waited for something to change in this flaccid and lifeless place.
An unspecified amount of time had passed and Yvonne was beginning to feel restless in this vacuum of nothingness.
Looking around, she sought an exit but to her displeasure and building rage, she found none.
'How long will I be stuck here!?' She shrieked but there was no voice that came out for she had no mouth to speak from.
Just a wisp of glowing fog with no physical form, she was capable of creating no sounds.
Trapped inside this unknown place, the adult who had been stuck in the body of a child for too long was now hoping to return to her body.
She did not care where she would end up, all she wished for is to feel her limbs once again as her bodiless form right now was beginning to torment her.
Her former composure which was due to her confidence in witnessing just another deleted scene from the script had vanished by now.
She had also tried to wake herself up from this eerie dream but she had no power to do so.
Wandering around in a formless wisp of consciousness, she did not know how much time had passed since she had ended up here as the dark nothingness made it impossible for her to make out night and day.
Uneasy and agitated due to this reason, her vision began to blur and her consciousness in the form of the wisp flickered with anxiety taking over her.
'Will I ever be able to leave this place?' She groaned and moaned but to no avail.
There was no one here to listen to her, who could come to her rescue.
As Yvonne's mind felt weak and hazy after an unknown amount of time she had spent in this place, she finally heard a sound.
'Am I hallucinating?' She questioned herself as all along, she heard neither her voice nor anyone else.
However, right now, the sounds of footsteps coming in her direction made her doubt her own sanity.
The wisp circled in its place but found no one approaching her yet the sounds grew louder, indicating that there certainly was someone moving towards her.
Yvonne's mind was a mess by now as she was unsure of what was a hallucination and what was real due to the long hours she had spent in this place.
Everything could be happening to her or nothing could be but there was no way that she could gauge what was true and what was just a figment of her imagination.
While she was engrossed in her mental turmoil, the footsteps finally came to a halt.
The sound ended close to her but she saw and felt nothing around her.
"How long will you keep me waiting?" A dull and gloomy voice echoed all around her being.
The voice she had heard after hours of utter silence sounded like music to her.
It wasn't a voice she was familiar with and was sure that this was her first time hearing this voice.
However, hearing that masculine voice which trembled as it spoke, made her heart itch as though it was calling out to her in desperation.
Her earlier agitation and unease were beginning to fade after hearing the stranger speak just a few words.
She didn't even know if that was meant for her but she wished that this person was waiting for her.
This made Yvonne mock herself for this ridiculous thought that had just popped up in her mind.
Yet she could not deny that this person's voice was warming her heart.
However, the warmth she had experienced was now beginning to intensify to such an extent that she felt her consciousness burn from its heat.
Taking a look around her, Yvonne found that her surroundings which consisted of a whole lot of nothing was beginning to crumble.
Cracks formed in the darkness around her, letting tiny rays of light seep in and brighten her surroundings.
'Finally!' She rejoiced as her eyes were desperate to see anything other than the blank space she had been trapped inside until now.
The walls around her tumbled, allowing brightness to envelop her.
However, soon she realized that the light pouring in was too bright for her to even keep her eyes open.
Squinting to shield her eyes from the bright light, Yvonne groaned when the heat around her was too much for her to bear.
'Either all or nothing!' She cursed as earlier, she could see nothing in the darkness but now the light was bright enough to burn her entirely.
As the walls around her collapsed, through squinted eyes, Yvonne caught sight of something or rather someone.
A figure standing in the distance was looking right at her and their eyes were overflowing with concern and yearning.
"Come back to me…" The same masculine voice from earlier was heard again, making the wisp containing her consciousness flicker uncontrollably.
Yvonne could sense her consciousness begin to fade as the light engulfed her, swallowing her very existence.
However, she persisted as her gaze remained on the one who had spoken earlier.
There was one question in her mind but without a body, she could not utter the words she wished to convey.
Nevertheless, his final words which answered her query, echoed around her one last time just as her consciousness in the form of the wisp ceased to exist from this place.
"I'll see you soon, Von."