Chapter 718 - Mulciber Matchmaking Ⅲ (1/2)
Having formally announced the Mulciber father and son, the house elf, Jarrey loudly says, ”Jarrey shall promptly bring in the tea and the canapés,” before vanishing with a loud pop.
Mulciber Sr. pays the house elf no mind as he tilts his head in a formal bow. ”It is the Mulciber households honor to be permitted to visit with the Greengrass Matriarch,” Mulciber Sr. smoothly said with Peregrine bowing in agreement.
”Take a seat,” Ethel Greengrass curtly muttered with a flick of her smooth, unaged hand.
Mordecai shifts in his seat a bit displeased by his grandmother's curtness, but he does not dare speak up. He knew that he would only arouse his grandmother's ire and cause the betrothal to fall through. He must carefully bind his tongue until the end if he wished for the match to be successful!
”Disgraceful,” Ethel bluntly said as Mulciber Sr. took a seat and Peregrine alongside him, but with a wide breach between the two of them.
”What is, Matriarch?” Mulciber Sr. feigned innocence.
”Your youngest son is not even buried and not dead even a month, and yet here you stand before with the audacity to request a betrothal with my house!” Ethel hissed as her hypnotic gaze grew more intense and dangerous.
”It is precisely because of that,” Mulciber Sr. fearlessly countered. ”My youngest son lays dead not even of age, and the Mulciber family is far and few in between. I will not permit our lineage to be erased from history. And so here I come to request a marriage for the eldest of my sons, Peregrine, a squib.”
”A squib?” Ethel suspiciously asked as she studied the young man seated as far as possible as he can from his father on the stylish settee. Her grandson, Benedict had investigated the squib prior to the meeting and he only had good things to say about him. Mm, perhaps, he was not like his father, but that did not mean she would give in so easily.
”Yes, I know a terrible failing,” Mulciber Sr. said with a bit of visible humiliation on his face. ”However, I know that your descendants, who have married squibs still produce witches and wizards even those daughters that were classified as squibs themselves.”
”True,” Ethel acknowledged. ”However, I am not the Bell family patriarch, who foolishly tied and condemned his only daughter, Meredith Bell to a lifetime of violence at the hand of a merciless brute.”
”Grandmother!” Mordecai blurted aghast. ”That is mere heresy! And besides another family's personal matters are not for us to subject and criticize!”
Ethel sends her eldest grandson a sharp look, which causes him to sit down with a thump. Mordecai's mouth snaps shut automatically having been well trained by his grandmother in his youth. Even now, he couldn't escape his upbringing and still felt his behind sting painfully from the smacks he received at the hand of his grandmother when he behaved poorly.
Seeing that an emotional confrontation is about to commence, Benedict changes the subject. ”Jarrey, where are that tea and canapés?” He called out to the house elf.
With a loud pop, Jarrey appears with a silver tray and says, ”Jarrey is here!” And begins to serve tea and various other snacks. Jarrey happily goes about his business serving everyone in the parlor and giving time for tempers to cool. ”Is that all, Master?”
”Yes, that will be all for the time being,” Benedict instructed as Jarrey vanishes with a pop.
Taking a spoonful of sugar, Benedict leisurely swirls the sugar in his teacup with a faint smile on his face. In a pleasant tone of he begins to speak out loud. ”Say, we do consider the marriage for the briefest of moments, Mulciber, what guarantees can you offer us that a daughter of our family would not be mistreated?”
Mulciber Sr. having expected this question politely takes a sip of his tea, before setting it down to answer. ”I have already spoken to my son regarding this matter. The Mulciber ancestral home will be the residence of his wife and including that of my wife. I shall remove my physical presence permanently from the manor to one of the lesser proprieties for the entire duration of the marriage except for social events naturally,” Mulciber arrogantly said.