Hug Me and You'll Die

17: I promise I'll stay with you forever, so please don't be sad anymore.

As she was pulled to the peripheries of the room, far away from the guests, Desmia's flailing arms and legs and muffled protests could be seen and heard.

The earl froze for a second before he flashed a stiff smile at the two brothers. "I'm dreadfully sorry, my lords, but would you mind if our family has a quick little discussion?" He gestured to where Desmia was. "We'll just be over there. It'll be brief."

Rattled by what they just witnessed, the two shook their heads. "Not at all!"

"Thank you."

At the earl's signal, the members of the Fairbloom household closely huddled together in a small circle as they held an emergency family meeting.

In a fierce but lowered voice the earl opened with, "You have to watch your words, young lady! Just now if Saffron didn't have the foresight to block your words you would've implied that Lord Feidhelm and Lord Ferris' stay here would've been horrible, am I wrong?"

"That's because it would be horrible!" she refractorily spat out.

The earl groaned. Why was his normally clever child so silly when it came to matters like these?

"You can't just say whatever you want in front of the members of a ducal household! No matter how politely they may choose to address us, in the end their status is much higher than ours!" he emphasized strongly. "Even I have to take care to speak respectfully to them let alone you. We really cannot afford to offend people like this!"

Desmia scrunched up her face in distaste but no longer argued with him.

"That aside, was there really a need for you to be that surprised that they were staying, young mistress?" Saffron queried. "If you considered the time of day they came and how long it'd for them to get back, it's a predictable conclusion."

"I don't know! They're rich!" She pouted. "I thought that if they weren't returning to their estate or leaving for Stellalux immediately after, they'd rent out an entire inn or something."

"How could you even think of letting your overwhelmingly cute fiancé stay in an inn, young mistress? That's just too heartless!" Brie opined with shaking fists. Now that she had finally seen her young mistress' fiancé in person, she was firmly settled in his camp.

"What's wrong with an inn?" Desmia shot back. "If you're willing to spend a lot of money it's possible to stay at a really lavish place. You guys keep harping on about being unable to send them away but aren't you all forgetting something? We're p-o-o-r! Poor!" She made sure to deliver this last statement as emphatically as she could while still keeping her volume low.

"Our mansion is like one of those chocolate bunnies that those specialty sweets shops sell: pretty on the outside but hollow on the inside! We probably don't even have enough furnished rooms to accommodate these people!" She gave a light snort in Brie's direction. "You look down on inns but at the very least there'd be enough beds for them at an inn!"

Tarragon slid his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "That may not necessarily be true, young mistress. I know for a fact that there are definitely enough beds and bedding in the servants' quarters for three additional people. Furthermore, if we bring a few pieces of furniture in from each of the spare rooms, I believe that we'll be able to prepare two suitable rooms for the two lords as well."

He looked towards the earl. "Are there any rooms that you feel are more appropriate for our noble guests, master?"

"I think Lord Feidhelm and Lord Ferris would be most comfortable in northernmost rooms facing the fountain in the rose garden," decided Earl Fairbloom after a pause.