Chapter 718 - Mulciber Matchmaking Ⅲ

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.

Benedict's smile widens slightly much like that of Terry, Benedict resembled his son far too much for comfort. "Mm, then you are implying that either your son or the daughter of our house will perish early on?"

"What are you implying?" Mulciber coldly snapped.

"I imply nothing but that which you, Mulciber has said," Benedict said with a Cheshire cat-like smile.

Mortdecai opens his mouth to protest but a sharp glance from his grandmother, Ethel causes him to snap his mouth shut. With a please expression, Ethel sips at her tea as she waits for her precious hawkling to tear into the pureblood wizard. Her grandson, Benedict, and her great-grandson, Terry resembled her mate the most out of all her descendants. She always had a soft spot for the two of them in her Veela heart much like her deceased mate still possessed.

Mulciber Sr. silently reassesses the delicate, friendly smiling wizard before him. "Well, I suppose you caught me out," Mulciber Sr. relented causing Mordecai to stare at the pureblood utterly aghast. Mordecai wished to see his daughters wed not dead!

"Mm, well, I could not very well kill my son, but the girl would be no problem," Mordecai callously said as Ethel narrowed her eyes dangerously with a predatory hint to them. "Well, I suppose that is out of the question now, so let us be frank with each other. I require a broodmare to continue our lineage, I have no interest beyond that which will be of use to me."

Peregrine stiffens at his father's words but does his best to hide his anger. He reveals nothing except for his hand tightening around his teacup. Taking a sip to calm himself, he maintains a poker face and listens.

"Supposing we are still willing to give one of our own after that interesting debatable," Benedict plainly says, "We still hold the upper hand. Then let me lay out the cards, before you, Mulciber."

Benedict paused and pointed at Peregrine. "One, your son nor yourself nor anyone else will bring harm to a child descended of our household be it magical, physical, or any other means conceivable to a witch, wizard, or magical beings in existence. Secondly, from the day that this marriage takes place, you will never set forth a single foot in their household again."

Mulciber narrows his eyes and counters, "And what about social events? What will society say about a father barred from the ancestral home?!"

Benedict's lips twitch with a Cheshire smile. "Remember Mulciber it is you requesting our aid and not the other way around. And as you have stated before the fertility of the daughters of our house is well known and they do not lack for suitors."

A vein in Mulciber Sr.'s temple pulses with fury, but he cannot deny the words of Benedict Greengrass. "That is an outrageous request, Greengrass!" Mulciber Sr. roared. "I dislike being dismissed nor threatened, Greengrass, you would do well to remember that."

Benedict's Cheshire grin is not lost as he replies. "And you would do well to recall that this is Greengrass manor and not Mulciber Citadel."

Mulciber Sr. pauses for a moment to find that Ethel Greengrass is gazing at him with predatory eyes. Her face has begun to lengthen to resemble a cruel beak as the nails on her hand thicken into razor, sharp talons. She has yet to completely transform into a Veela, but she was a true Veela, and a Veela's wrath is legendary even capable of tearing a wizard from limb to limb.

Mulciber Sr. downs a cupful of his cooling tea to calm himself. However, before he can speak, his stomach begins to lurch most violently. Mortified and utterly humiliated, he rises to his feet and growls, "Where is the gentlemen's room?"

"Jarrey," Benedict called out, and instantly the house elf appeared with a pop. "Please show our guest to the NEAREST gentlemen's room, if you would?"

"Yes, sir," Jarrey answered in understanding at what his master was hinting at. It was best to take the long route and back after having subtly dosed Mulciber's tea with a laxative potion. It was too slow acting for Jarrey's taste, but it got the job done!

With a barely suppressed gleeful expression, Jarrey leads the way and through the manor followed by a paling Mulciber Sr. leaving Peregrine behind alone with the Greengrass family. Not that Mulciber Sr. cared right now as he very much was struggling not to have an accident and further humiliate himself. He would never live it down otherwise!