The following day, Casmir shared a long lay-in within Elena before they both reluctantly got up.
Casmir reminded himself that the family would be having dinner together today, it was traditional for Casmir's family to share a large meal almost every Sunday in order to reconnect and spend time together.
However before they gathered for their dinner, Casmir wanted to remind Rose about it and also talk to Gloria about his engagement with Rose.
Seeing as it was late morning Casmir went to Gloria's workroom to speak to her first, assuming that she would be doing her usual review of the experiments she had conducted during the week.
When Casmir entered her workroom however, he was greeted by the noxious smell of rotten fish and petrol, he recognised the smell as a certain experiment Gloria worked on regularly.
Gloria was standing next to a large table with a delicate glass instrument in front of her, a green liquid snaked its way along the long glass tubes of the equipment before being collected in a small vial.
Oddly enough the liquid had turned blue by the time it entered the vial, clearly the result of some unknown reaction.
Gloria stood there waiting patiently for the liquid to finish collecting in the vial, she wore an odd mask that covered her entire face and Casmir could faintly make out a thin bubble surrounding Gloria and the experiment.
This mask was undoubtedly protective equipment and the thin bubble that surrounded her was Gloria's Qi energy that she was using to trap any dangerous substances.
"Wait there Casmir, I'm nearly done purifying this stuff.. sorry about the smell." Gloria said, noticing Casmir's presence.
Even though Gloria's Qi energy was blocking most substances from being released into the room, a few could not be contained without spending a significant amount of her Qi energy but these substances were not harmful or reactive, so she simply let them fill the room until the more dangerous part her experiment had ended.
Casmir didn't realise Gloria would be experimenting at this time and he didn't want to wait in the room with the noxious smells so he opted to wait outside.
A short while later Gloria opened her door, removing her mask before she invited Casmir in. Thankfully she had already cleansed the room with her Qi energy, removing any lingering smell of rotten fish and petrol.
"What do you need Casmir? And how were your tests?" Gloria asked as she returned to her experiment, taking apart the equipment she had just used and cleaning it for subsequent use.
Casmir quickly explained his experience during Instructor Redfire's tests to Gloria, withholding some of the details about his dangerous experience so as to not worry her or bring down a torrent of question.
Eventually he moved on to his purpose here today, asking Gloria for money to help Rose cultivate.
Casmir explained that he and Rose wanted to get married and that he wanted to help Rose become a cultivator for her protection and wellbeing.
Gloria's brows furrowed at Casmir's words, she was uncomfortable with how fast their relationship was going and didn't trust that it would stand the test of time.
"You're moving too quickly! What if you realise that Rose isn't suited for you? Or that Elena doesn't want to share you with her? I'm not going to give Rose such an opportunity for free, I'm not a charity for ma.."
"Wait! Wait!.. Gloria, Rose and I have already agreed to write a contract so that even if she doesn't want to be with me in the end, she still needs to pay back all the money I have spent on her cultivation." Casmir quickly interrupted, knowing Gloria would never stop her ranting if he did nothing.
Gloria was surprised to hear of their caution, she reluctantly expressed her praise for Casmir, under the impression that Casmir was cautious of Rose and had suggested this idea.
"Oh.. Ok.. Well it's good that you suggested that to Rose.." Gloria replied.
"Actually this was Rose's idea, she didn't want to owe me anything if our relationship didn't work out." Casmir explained.
Gloria was further shocked by this revelation, although she felt she was a fair person she subconsciously held a bias towards Rose because of her background.
She couldn't help but feel that Rose would take advantage of Casmir, but perhaps Rose's actions would help balance Gloria's bias towards her.
"Well.. I suppose that's alright then.." Gloria admitted.
"..But I'll take care of the contract as your guarantor. Don't worry about going to the bank, I'll talk to Rose about the details and have a contract signed, I should be able to get her a spot for awakening he Qi energy next week." Gloria explained.
Casmir smiled happily, it seemed that this conversation went far smoother than he thought it would.
He was just about to explain some further details about his and Rose's engagement when Gloria suddenly spoke.
Gloria was like a defeated politician moments ago, as if her plan to thoroughly debate Casmir on what to do had been dismantled publicly. Then suddenly Gloria remembered something and it was as if she had grabbed onto a lifeline that she could use to chastise Casmir thoroughly.
"There is something I need to talk to you about however Casmir!" Gloria almost shouted at him, a glint of triumph in her eyes.
"Your relationship with Rose is known to the family but not your relationship with Elena. I've seen how close you two are and I know you two have been.. together at times.. But!.. If my parents found out about your relationship they would go bananas!" Gloria explained.
"I don't care if you have multiple partners but my parents aren't used to those ideas, they come from a human city after all and polygamy is often frowned upon in human culture. So you need to keep your actions in check, I don't want the family in a big mess over this."
There was an ugly look on Casmir face as he heard Gloria's explanation.
Gloria was right after all, the only people that knew about Casmir's relationship with Elena, were Gloria, Rose and Ling. Casmir wanted to talk to his family about this whole situation but how on earth was he supposed to tell them he got a random prostitute pregnant while still having a relationship with Elena?
"I'm going to rent an apartment at the academy for me and Elena, we'll stay there during the weekdays while we attend our classes and come back during the weekends. We won't be intimate at home.." Casmir explained.
Gloria shook her head at Casmir's suggestion.
"That might help you hide the problem but it's not a solution, at some point everyone will find out. If you don't ease them into it the whole situation will get messy!" Gloria explained, mostly worried about her parents reaction.
Casmir wanted to explain his great plan to solve this problem but truthfully, he didn't know how to explain this situation to the family.
"..Give me some time.. I'll figure something out.." Casmir said rather dejectedly.
Gloria, who was previous proud of herself for 'teaching' Casmir a lesson, suddenly felt guilty.
"I'm sorry Casmir, I just wanted to remind you.. If you need any help you can come ask me.." Gloria said in an attempt to comfort him.
"It's alright.. I'll figure something out.." Casmir said with an awkward smile.
He then reminded Gloria that they would be having dinner soon before he left Gloria's workroom, heading towards Rose's room to remind her about dinner as well.
Fortunately, Rose had remembered that she would soon be having dinner with Casmir's family, she was busy in her room picking the right clothing to wear when Casmir arrived.
"Ah, good timing Casmir! Which dress do you think is better?" Rose asked, holding up two dresses in front of her body.
The first dress was a tight fitting, sleeveless, long dress in a dark red colour that contrasted very attractively against Rose's pale skin. The other dress was more traditional, it covered her shoulders and arms and dangled below her knees gently with a colourful flower pattern on it.
Casmir's first reaction was to pick the dark red dress before he quickly changed his mind, reason prevailing in his thoughts.
"The flower pattern dress is better.. I think you might give some people a shock if you wore the dark red dress.." Casmir explained as he walked over to Rose.
Rose was actually going to choose the dark red dress and she was confused over Casmir's opinion.
"What's wrong with my dark red dress?" She asked.
At this point Casmir was standing before Rose, he smiled at her question before he pointed at Rose's large chest with a sly smile.
Rose immediately realised the problem with a shy yet proud smile, the dark red dress pronounced her cleavage extremely well and that definitely would not be appropriate for a family dinner..
"Haha.. Maybe keep that one for later.." Casmir laughed, sending Rose to redress herself.
After Rose finished getting changed they went downstairs and found Felicity and her mother, Barbara, cooking away in the kitchen.
They told Casmir and Rose to seat themselves in the dining room while they waited.
It wasn't long before most of the family arrived, the only family members missing were Felicity's husband Hiraka, who was working at the Ellaris Guardship for the moment and the grandmother-granddaughter pair of Aunt Linda and Alice who were away at the hospital.
Alice regularly went there for treatment that would take a few days, her grandmother would always accompany her the whole time.
After a short time, dinner was served by Barbara and felicity and the family stated to enjoy themselves.
Casmir was worried about this dinner because it was the first long period the whole family would spend together with Rose.
However everything went rather well, Barbara didn't pester Rose too much about the baby and their relationship, Elena and Rose talked to each other naturally and all seemed well.
What Casmir didn't see, was the occasional odd look that Harold, Casmir's Granduncle gave Rose. Harold was of course aware of Rose's background but had promised to keep it a secret for now, yet he himself couldn't help thinking about Rose's background and how her and Casmir's relationship started...
Harold was a ticking time bomb that Casmir had perhaps begun to overlook.
But regardless of this variable, Casmir saw this dinner as a return to normality.
With instructor Redfire's tests out of the way Casmir hoped his life would normalise without worry for a time and thankfully it did.
Over the next 2 months Casmir advanced his knowledge, cultivation and of course his relationships with those around him. He was hopeful for the future as he strived forward one step at a time.
Yet the future doesn't always follow the hopes of those who live for it, the weight on Casmir's shoulders would soon grow as he began to perceive the true undercurrents of this world and the powerlessness of those caught within them.