(BL) The Villain wants a Divorce! - Chapter 376

Chapter 376: Demon lore with Sam
By the time that this meeting was done, Cass had a mopey Edgar, a sad Sam, and a grinning Fiona on his hands. The two dragons, for once, were managing to keep their cool in the situation presented to them.

They had worked out the uh, ‘kinks’ of having Lord Ridgewood in their party.

Fiona was going to have Lord Ridgewood sign a magical contract with Cass. She said it made the most sense since he was the one who kept trying to harm him. Cass had completely forgotten about magical contracts because while they were Lord Blackburn’s favourite way to bind someone to him, that was not the Cass way.

Edgar had appeared to even forget about them, while Lucian had made a hum of agreement.

Sam had looked utterly dejected at the mention of the magical contracts, and Cass didn’t understand why. Sam did not leave him confused for long.

“I can’t sign it.” Sam muttered. “They don’t work for me since they use holy magic as the binding part of the agreement.” Sam told him. That brought on a different type of concern for Cass, but Fiona easily alleviated it.

“I’m going to use my powers to do it. He’s going to be bound to not hurting you, not the other way around. You barely have to be involved, just consent to the agreement.” Fiona said. Then she grinned. “I’ll go to the temple and have it drafted now if we’re in agreement. I’ll be back with Avie after we go to this cafe that we both wanted to go to. Sounds good?” She asked and Cass couldn’t exactly argue with her.

She was good at this. Cass was begrudging to admit that she had gotten rather good at being the hero. She had taken all of their issues into consideration, talked them all down from a serious situation, and found a solution. There was a reason that when Cass was reading the book that he hadn’t been able to feel angry at Fiona’s actions.

She had acted on the information that she had at the time. That was all she could do as a character in a novel, and even now, Cass found himself agreeing. He knew that he shouldn’t compare them, they had completely different objectives, but it was annoying. Especially since Cass was still feeling rather shitty about everything that was going on.

If Fiona was in his shoes, he doubted that she would have spiraled the way that he had. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

“Go have your date. I’ll be here when you get back. I think I probably have some work that’s piled up, and a dragon I need to speak to about espionage.” Cass said, sliding his gaze towards Byron. Byron stiffened, before nodding slightly.

“Understood, my lord.” Byron said and Fiona chuckled.

“Don’t be too harsh on him. He was just thinking ahead. You should take care of the people who plan like that. After all, you’re like that, Cass.” Fiona told him with a smile and Cass blinked. She was right, but it was annoying to be reminded about it at this moment. Especially since Byron acting on his own had revealed sooo much more than anyone had been prepared for.

If Sam and Byron hadn’t gotten into that argument because Byron had been working with Mr. Collins behind his back, without either Cass or Sam knowing, Cass couldn’t confidently say that they would be in the position that they were in now.

Cass certainly wouldn’t be in Lucian’s lap for as long as he had. He probably would have thrown a fit if the man had asked him to stay in his arms for as long as he had. Cass was just feeling…a little weak. That was the only reason he was allowing this kind of behavour.

That was all. He didn’t enjoy it. Nope.

Fiona stood up with a flourish, giving a small, professional bow to the group before she grinned again, winking at Cass as she left.

“Have fun with our husbands, Cass!” She called as she left the room. Cass glowered at the door as it slammed behind her.

“That woman.” Cass muttered, annoyed, but not angry at her. She had at least only said it in this room, not the hallway.

There was silence in the room for a moment before Lucian let out a sigh.

“Alright. Time for lunch, Cass. We need to put some more meat on your bones. Winter’s coming and I’m getting upset even thinking about you shivering. Eddie, you coming? Or are you going to continue to pout about the fact that everyone could tell that there was enough sexual tension between you and Gideon that you could cut it with a knife?” Edgar’s face flushed red, the contrast making his already handsome features deadly.

He made a small noise, slamming a hand against his mouth as he breathed heavily. It was clear he was restraining himself from yelling at Lucian, and that only egged the dragon on more. Cass felt pity for the man. He knew what it was like to be on the other end of Lucian’s teasing, and while it was odd to see it happen between the two of them, Cass wasn’t upset by it.

He felt a bit like an onlooker. Like he was watching his books play out in real time. Had he picked up a book about vampires and dragons? He wasn’t sure, but maybe he should look for one when he went back to that shop again.

“Lucian! There was not-Gideon and I are not like that!” Edgar hissed and it was Cass who spoke up, surprising both Lucian and Edgar.

“Well, I think that was because you kept a firm leash on that. It could have been, you were both just so caught up in the roles that you had to play for your families that neither of you acted on it.” Cass said casually before turning his attention to Sam. “Sam? Take a few days to think over what you want to do. We’ll discuss this more. I want you to seriously talk this over with Byron. It doesn’t just affect you, alright? And remember, you can always regain my trust with time. I know…inside of me that you care about me. It’s just…” Cass trailed off and Sam’s eyes watered. He sniffed.

“Understood, my lord. I’m reacting emotionally. I know that you are being very considerate with me.” Sam said. He sniffed before his shoulders stiffened. “I would like to make one thing clear, I did not attempt to poison you. I’ve also never been given those kinds of orders. Someone, probably a demon, impersonated me. Why they would attempt to poison you is something I don’t know, but I would never do that. I would have ratted myself out if they asked me to poison you.” Sam said, his eyes firm when they met Cass’.

Was it wrong of Cass to want to believe him?

Cass let out a soft sigh.

“Thank you for saying that Sam. I don’t disbelieve you, I just need to sit with that information for a bit.” Cass told him and Sam gave a bitter smile. He nodded.

“Understood, my lord.” Sam hesitated for a moment. “Um, if I may offer some help?” Sam suggested and Cass blinked slowly. Sam continued. “If you are looking for more information, might I suggest the bookstore from before? It was run by a fellow imp, just older in years. He might be able to give you some more information on demons and demon shrines. I didn’t have any point to find them again once I was born and slipped through the veil so I never looked for them.” Sam told him and Cass nodded.

“Understood. That would mean I would have to go to the border town again.” Cass said and Sam nodded. He glanced at the people around them before he swallowed.

“You’d have to go in alone. Only…only demons or those with contracts can go in.” He admitted and he felt Lucian stiffen under him.

“You want him to go alone?” Lucian asked darkly and Sam shook his head, his eyes wide.

“I would go with him, but I know that you don’t trust me right now. Also, it’s run by an imp. We can’t…we couldn’t hurt him even if we tried. Just drinking normal blood hurts us. We’re weak.” Sam told him and suddenly what happened when Cass went out with Edgar the first time made sense.

“You can’t drink human blood? What about animal meat?” Cass asked and Sam gave a small smile.

“I usually live a rather vegetarian life. I can’t eat anything that would be bigger than me in my imp form since it would probably kill me. I can’t drink human blood or even regular demon blood.” Sam hesitated for a moment. “I could…drink higher demon blood, like royalty, but normally that is to raise my level up from an imp to something more useful. Usually that is only done when the higher level demon favours you.” Sam said with a shrug.

“So why were you okay with drinking the healing tonic then?” Cass asked, confused and Sam flushed.

“That’s made with higher level demon blood. It’s from a different type as you, which is why you reject it so much. It’ll still heal you, but it will just…taste bad.” Sam told him. Taste bad.

Taste bad?! That’s what Sam called ‘tasting bad’?!

“It tastes like literal garbage.” Cass told him and Sam smiled sadly.

“Yes. There was only one batch that was made from the offering of a sex demon but you got so suspicious that you weren’t affected you had me throw it out. Tragic that I couldn’t explain more at the time. You wouldn’t have heard what I was saying to you back then.” Sam was right. Cassian probably would have had him killed or something equivalent if he had said anything.

“Sam? Have you always known what kind of demon blood I had?” Cass asked and Sam seemed to struggle. He thought long and hard for a moment before he shook his head.

“I had…a narrow pool to pull my suspicions from.” Sam told him. This was all…rather fascinating to hear. Cass wanted to know what pool he was pulling from, but had a feeling Sam might end up choking again if Cass forced it.

“That explains why Sam had such a severe reaction to the wine that time we had a picnic. That was human blood.” Edgar spoke softly. Cass nodded. Byron shifted slightly behind Sam, puffing out his chest.

“I make sure that Sam gets meat every day.” He said proudly and Cass felt his mouth open dumbly. He was proud about that?

“Good job.” Lucian rumbled, his grip tightening slightly on Cass. Cass turned to look at the other dragon and noticed the genuine pride in his gaze. When Cass looked back at Byron, he seemed to be glowing.

Oh-kay then. Dragons got proud about hunting for prospective mates. Got it.

“Speaking of food, you need to eat, Cass. I’m serious.” Lucian growled and Cass let out a sigh. He wasn’t going to drop this.

“Fine. Get some rest, Sam. I’m sure you haven’t actually taken any since becoming my personal aide. We’ll tell the rest of the employees that you’re taking a mandate break until you decide what you want to do. With Byron’s permission.” Cass warned when Sam opened his mouth to respond. Sam nodded glumly as Cass sighed. The man was going to drive Byron to an early grave if he didn’t let him have this moment to think.

Getting bonded was no laughing matter.