Chapter 2

The day that Clarice comes with her parents to meet with Casus and his father had at last arrived. The whole house staff had spiraled into a frenzy to make sure that the whole manor is ready and clean to hold the meeting. Personal servants helped Casus to make sure that he looked his best, and after Isaac showed them out, Casus sneaked off to the library for more studying.

There’s a knock at the door, a servant then notified Casus’s father, and he gave the order to let them in and show them to the lounge area where he’ll meet them. Meanwhile the other servants don’t even bother to try and find Casus, so they send for Isaac to find Casus to tell him it’s time for the meeting. In the library sits Casus reading a new book on war tactics, and Isaac in no time finds him.

“My Lord, they have arrived, the meeting will be in the lounge.”

“Thank you, Isaac, I will be down in a minute.”

“I am sorry my Lord, but Lord Blackwell is already down there waiting on you. You need to go now.”

Casus lets out a sigh and then silently gets up and heads for the lounge. Upon his arrival, he sees that Isaac had tricked him, for his father was not there yet. Not showing that he is annoyed, Casus puts on the most charming smile that was ever possible. He took the seat opposite facing what he assumed to be Clarice, and only after a few more moments of awkward silence, his father appeared. After entering the room Lord Blackwell politely shakes Mr. Adams hand and gives a light charming kiss on Mrs. Adams hand, while he greeted them.

“Ah, it is marvelous that you could come and discuss this matter in person!”

“It was no trouble at all, our daughter is very pleased at the idea of having your son as a husband.”

Mr. Adams voice boomed back in delight.

“That is very good to hear, now let me introduce my son, Casus.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you Casus, this is our daughter, Clarice.”

After her mother cheerfully introduced her Clarice gets up and does a courtesy that was so delicate and graceful, it seemed like a ballerina doing a plie. She seemed shy, and blushed when she meets eyes with Casus. Casus gave a bow back to her, being sure to give her that charming, devilish smile that is sure to make her swoon even more.

“It is a pleasure to meet such a beautiful demon such as yourself, Miss Clarice.”

Turning into a shade of red that shames even a tomato, Clarice replies in a hush tone. “Y-yes, the pleasure is all mine, Sir Casus.”

“Oh, Clarice is that all you can say? You’ve been excited for this day ever since we showed you his picture.”

“Mother! That is not true sir, I mean w-well I um. That is. I’m sorry.”

Clarice calmly got up, excused herself, and walked away in a rushed manner towards the back garden.

“Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry about this. I’ll go get her right away.”

“No no, allow me to go and talk to her. It will give us some bonding time and I can get to know her better.”

“Oh, I can’t let you do that. Besides this is a job for her moth-"

“Miss, if I am to marry your daughter I need time alone with her to get to know her better. You don’t want to be the reason the marriage does not happen, do you?”

“W-well I. Of course, not! *Sigh* Very well, go ahead.”

“Thank you, ma’am, now if you all will excuse me.”

Casus gave a bow and exited the room heading for the garden.

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“After making it out to the garden he noticed a faint whimper in the maze of roses, rounding his way to the sound he found Clarice sitting on the ground surrounded by roses, some that were light shades of red and others that of a deep bloody red. She raised her head to find him standing in front of her with an outstretched hand, but instead of taking the hand she turned her head in embarrassment.

“You must think I’m too weak to be your wife, you’re probably looking for someone who can fight.”

“My dear what makes you think such a thing?”

“The book you had in your hand when you entered the room, it was about war tactics.”

“That is true, I plan on starting an army.”

“See I cannot fight, I would only get in the way! I’m sorry, Sir Casus.”

“Call me Casus, it would be weird if my wife were to call me sir all the time.”

“B-but I just said that I would not be right for you! How could you still say you want me to be your wife?!”

“Because, my dear, I do not want to marry a soldier. I want a wife whom is beautiful and will be at home ready to greet me after a fight. Besides you are quite intelligent, so I say that you are perfect to become my wife.”

Clarice starts to tear up and takes Casus’ hand, stands up nearly falling back down in the process Casus catches her in his arms. She is all smiles now, and Casus had to practically pry her off him to get her to leave his embrace. He then picks a rose and hands it to her.

“Do you know why these roses are blood red?”

“I heard that, it was because once there was a nightingale that cared very deeply for a loved one that she gave up her life to make a red rose so that he could give it to another girl. And so, when the blood spilled, it made a rose so red it looked like blood.”

“My dear, you are very correct. Only when one spills blood onto the rose bush do we only then get a rose as red and beautiful as this.”

They then walked around the garden for a while and made their way back to the doors; where they stood, and talked, until Isaac showed up at the door.

“My Lord, you and Miss Clarice are to come back to the lounge to discuss the final verdict of the marriage.”

“Thank you, Isaac. Well, shall we go and tell them to start planning for the wedding?”

Clarice blushed and put her hands on her cheeks while she gave a nod. Walking back hand in hand, they found their parents having tea and discussing something that had to do with the demon council.

“Father, you all may start planning the wedding.”

“Excellent, this is great! My dear friends, we will meet again to discuss the wedding in further detail. Until then it has been a pleasure to have you here, to unite our houses.”

“Likewise, my wife and I are the happiest parents in the world, to be able to have such a great gentleman to be our son in-law!”

“That is right; Now, come along Clarice, there is much to be done now.”

“Yes mother, I’m coming. Until next time, my love.”

And with that, Clarice gave Casus and quick peck on the cheek, and he gave her the charming smile, which caused her to blush even more than she already was. They all left, agreeing that the next time they meet will be in a month, to discuss the details for the wedding. After they left, Casus returned to the library to continue studying. His father returned to his study, to type up the paperwork for the marriage arrangement. That night Clarice was giddy and happy, the maids had trouble keeping her still long enough to get her ready for bed.

“Miss, can you please stand still?”

“Oh? I’m so sorry! I just cannot help it, he is just the best!”

“Miss, are you sure that this marriage is the right thing? I mean, do you really think that he is the one?”

“Of course! He is everything I could have asked for!”

“How so miss?”

“Well, he is kind, like when he came after me and cheered me up. He’s handsome, he has these crimson red eyes, midnight black hair cut short, he has muscles that I know can protect me but not to the point where they are too big, the perfect height not too tall but not short either he comes a head above me, and his horns are marvelous! They’re on his forehead, you can’t really notice them and yet, you can, you know what I mean? He’s smart, tactical, and powerful, plus he likes me just the way I am.”

“I see miss, I am terribly sorry for doubting you.”

“It is quite alright, you were just worried about me and for that I thank you.”

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