Arranged marriage to the princess of the Red Scorpions
Chapter 75 - Clarice Seymore

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Samuel had taken a few minutes to rest his feet in his room after dance practice before he collected the cake that Lena had requested. He wasn't sure where the princess had disappeared to after dance practice as she had ended up leaving before he was done and had swapped his shoes. Santi had asked him to stay back after he was finished practicing with Lena so that he could show the younger man how to better hold his form and look more graceful as he was dancing.

Samuel had expected to be able to replace Lena in her office, but she wasn't there when knocked or peeked his head inside. Regardless, he had decided that he would get the cake together anyways and leave it in her office since he was certain that was where she would be coming back to once she was finished with whatever had taken away her attention.

"Excuse me young man, I can see that you have your hands full, but I was hoping you could let me know if this is the Scarlet residence? I realize that I am a bit earlier than the agreed upon time but I wanted to make sure I would know where exactly I am going to." Samuel had to tilt his head slightly around the cardboard boxes of cake he was carrying to see the older rather tall and elegant woman who was occupying one of the sofa's in the guestroom right inside the front door.

"It has been a few years since I visited, but I presumed so since this appears to be the only estate in the area and I was told the door would be unlocked for me to enter when I got here, but I wanted to doublecheck." She continued on as Samuel looked at her rather confused. Even though it seemed like she was a expected guest, he wasn't sure how to respond to her question.

"This is the Scarlet estate yes, but I can't tell you where Lena or Zane are currently." He replied giving an honest yet uncertain reply to her question.

"You're on a first name-basis with them I see. I guess that must make you the fiancé, Samuel Foster was it." The woman's interest seemed even more peaked now that she knew who he was. She stood up from her seat and approached him. She no more than maybe three inches shorter than him.

"That's correct." He replied as he shifted the boxes of cake slightly so that he wouldn't risk dropping them. Even though they weren't all that heavy, they were still rather awkward for him to try and hold.

"Well since you're the person that I was supposed to be introduced to anyways. Why don't I help you take these to where you're going and then maybe we can take a few minutes to talk?" The woman suggested as he grabbed the top two boxes off the stack, careful to not unsettle the rest.

"I was getting ready to take these to the princess's office, but I'm not sure how she would feel about coming back to an unexpected guest."

"Oh, I'm sure she will be fine with it. After all, I'm not all that unexpected since I was invited to come here today in the first place. Come along then. This cake looks rather tempting and if I have to hold it much longer than you did, I'm not sure I could stop myself from wanting to eat it." The woman joked as she began to lead the way. Samuel didn't miss for a second that it seemed this woman knew her way around the house, had she been here before and he just never noticed her?

Reaching Lena's office, she ushered Samuel inside as she closed the door behind them. Taking the boxes in one hand, she shifted a few things on the desk before she set the boxes down on the space she had made. Turning around, she grabbed the boxes from Samuel's hands as well and put them next to the others.

"Now why don't we sit down and take a few minutes to get to know each other before Lena comes back and we need to get all serious about everything?" The older woman suggested as she made herself comfortable in one of the guest chairs and motioned for Samuel to join her in the other.

"I'm sure you're wondering who I am anyways. Not like you need to worry though- I'm not going to bite or anything. Though I must admit, you're far more adorable than Lena had told me you would be. Had she expressed that better, I might've made more time in my schedule to sooner." The woman rested her chin on her left hand that was being propped by her elbow on the chair of the arm as she looked at the other.

"Yes I am rather curious to know who you are and how you seem to be so familiar with Lena." Samuel replied as he decided to take a seat in the chair that was further away from the other instead of sitting right next to her.

"I see. I guess that must mean that she didn't tell you who I am or what business I have here." The woman mused with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Always like her to leave out the small important details when she doesn't think it is necessary to give them out ahead of time. No matter, the name is Clarice Seymore and I'm the one that Lena might've mentioned brining about to help you with physical combat?" The woman's comment caused a look of surprise to pass over his face. Of course he hadn't been told that the person who would be in charge of training him in physical combat would be a woman.

Considering how elegant the woman looked in her dress jacket and pants with black heeled boots, that was the last thing he would've guessed about this room.

"Indeed I can tell by your expression that she must've left out a few important details about the kind of person who would be in charge of your training. No matter, you'll get to figure out what kind of person I am rather quickly."

"How are you related to Lena though?" Samuel asked as he tried to process what he was replaceing out.

"Oh because I am part of one of the smaller families around here that falls under the protection and control of the Red Scorpions. I have known Lena for years. Back when she was so small that she wouldn't have even reached your knee." She used her hand to indicate how tall Lena would've been.

"Honestly though, I was surprised by the sudden request from her. It has been a few years since we last saw each other and I never would've guessed her reason for getting in touch with me would be something like this." As she spoke, her eyes were still going over Samuel as though she was still trying to take everything in about him.

"One of the smaller families controlled by Lena's family?" Samuel repeated. He was interested to hear more about this, but he was hope of hearing something more from Clarice was shutdown when the woman waved him off.

"You'll hear more about that later I'm sure. I believe that I was told to keep the stories and information to things that would be okay for you to know. Though there are a few fun stories I'm sure I could tell you about Lena that she wouldn't want to get out."

"You breathe one word about anything like that and I replace out, you'll be doing this job for free as a favor without pay." Both Samuel and Clarice turned their heads when they heard Lena's voice as the office door opened. She looked rather unamused most likely due to what she had heard them talking about.

"Lena dear! It's so great to see you after so many years." The woman practically jumped up out of her seat to give the young girl a huge hug. Lena didn't seem all that thrilled about it, but she didn't reject the hug other.

"Goodness. It really does seem that you haven't grown all that much since I last saw you what five, six years ago? I was certain you'd have grown a little bit since then." Clarice took a step back so that she could give the other a better look over. Lena's expression hadn't changed much though there was a twinkle of something different in her eyes as she looked at the other woman.

"I have, but apparently not by anything that is noticeable." The princess replied as she moved past the other woman to over to her desk. It took her a few seconds to realize that the cake boxes had been placed on her desk.

"I do hope you plan on sharing some of that with me as compensation since I took time to come all this way to help you out." Clarice commented. Lena stayed quiet as though she was pondering this as she looked at the boxes of cake.

"You can have one piece, but only after we finish talking. Since you already met Sammy-boy, we can move to getting you two properly acquainted and on task." Lena replied.

"I did tell you that once she came it would all be down to business." Clarice sighed as she took her seat.

"Very well then though, we can go over everything."