"Oh, my Adrien, my dear, sweet Adrien, like you, I've felt imprisoned…by my wealth, by my family name, by my beauty, by the expectations everyone places on me because I am a Rossi. Most of my life, I've felt trapped. I'd given up hope of ever finding a man who truly understands me...that is…until I met you."
In the kitchen, Gabriel, Audrey, and Nathalie, the blueblood matchmaker Gabriel had hired, watched the video feed from the Agreste library with bated breath. They had set the video feed up so they could observe the young women who had come seeking Adrien's hand in marriage in privacy, allowing Audrey and Nathalie to provide running commentary on whether they thought the girls who came by were suitable for Adrien or not.
It also allowed Gabriel to take note of everything that was happening and to make sure that none of the young women who walked into the room where they could communicate with Adrien through a one-way mirror where he could see them—but they could not see him—were breaking the terms of the gag order they had signed.
Two months into their search for Adrien's bride, not one meeting had proved successful. But this girl appeared to have potential.
"I knew it! She's the one," said Nathalie, eyes lighting up. "It seems like she may understand our Adrien."
"I don't know, Nathalie," replied Audrey, looking skeptically into the camera. "Something about her seems a little off. She's being far too sweet for my taste. Something's fishy."
Gabriel peered into the television with appraising eyes. "Saccharine or not, if she is the right girl, than our son's curse will be broken. And my instincts are telling me that she is indeed the one."
"Dearest Adrien, curse or no curse, if I am more than my name and title, then surely you are more than yours."
Adrien peered through the one-way mirror at the girl standing before him in the library, a tall brunette named Lila with piercing green eyes that seemed a little too keen and a low, melodious voice.
"Adrien," she whispered, her voice almost a purr. "Let me in."
He wasn't sure whether to trust her or not, but his instincts were telling him that perhaps this girl was the one—perhaps she wouldn't run away screaming like all the other girls had when they saw his cat ears and tail, the reason his father had forced every girl who came through the Agreste mansion doors to sign an gag order prior to meeting him.
So he did.
"No!" cried Gabriel from the kitchen, watching in horror as his son opened the secret door behind the bookshelves, ears perked up, with his tail curled around a bouquet of fresh flowers from his indoor garden, which he presented to her with a smile.
"Hi, I'm Adrien."
Unfortunately, Lila's eyes bulged out in terror at the sight of him, and she immediately bolted out the door.
"HE'S A CAT! A MONSTER! I'VE BEEN LIED TO! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" she screamed, running down the stairs and out of the mansion, so quickly that Gerard, the Agreste butler, wasn't able to move fast enough to remind her of the gag order she had signed and that she was forbidden from telling anyone—especially the press—about Adrien's unique condition.
"Why, Adrien? Why?" Gabriel moaned as he rushed into the library room with a frustrated sigh, pressing his hands to his temples. "Why did you come into the room? We discussed this. You were to wait until at least the second meeting to reveal your appearance to her. Why do you keep making the same mistake again and again?"
"I'm not the one who ran, Father," protested Adrien, frowning.
Gabriel scowled. "Of course she was going to run! You never give any of those poor young women a chance to process anything before springing yourself at them like a common housecat. What ever possessed you to think that it was a good idea to let her see your ears and tail just because she was speaking to you in a sweet voice? Do you think I told your mother how loudly I snore the first time we met? Of course not! I had the good sense to wait until after we were married."
"This isn't about snoring, Father. It's about my own face."
Gabriel groaned and sat on the bottom of the steps, his face in his hands.
"She was the perfect bride. Tall, beautiful, cultured…and it was clear that she liked you."
"No, Father, she really didn't," said Adrien, soft but firm.
"She did. It was your ears and tail she didn't like. And you are not your ears and tail," said Gabriel, emphatically.
Adrien frowned. "But…they are part of my body. They're part of me."
"No! It's not you. It's this ridiculous family curse. It's your great-great-great-great-great grandfather's fault. Thanks to him, we all have to suffer. You are not your ears—and you are not your tail. I refuse to let this curse ruin your life. Your true self is still waiting inside, just waiting to come out."
"I know, Father."
"That's why you need to get married to a girl of our own class, one of our own kind—someone who will accept you, and the curse will be broken. That's why I need you to cooperate. You understand, right? I only want the best for you, for our family. Getting married is the best route forward for all of us. I know you understand."
"Yes, Father, I do."
"Then, please, will you try to cooperate? Please follow the steps that Nathalie and I have so clearly outlined for you, and do not deviate. Follow the path, and you will find the perfect bride, and we will have our happy ending—you will be free of your ears and tail. Isn't that what you want?"
Adrien knew the only way to stop this lecture was to nod, so he did.
And then Nathalie rushed into the room with a frantic look on her face.
"Monsieur Agreste, we have a serious problem."
"What? What is it?"
"The girl that just ran out…Lila Rossi—she didn't sign the gag order. She could tell anyone about Adrien's appearance. Anyone at all."
Lila sprinted down the streets of Paris until she found the closest police station, where she reported a monster at the Agreste Mansion, with huge furry ears and a tail and fangs that had almost torn her apart.
Of course, she was met by nothing more than laughter.
"Mademoiselle, I beg your pardon, but this is very hard to believe," said the police chief, doubling over with giggles. "A monster with fangs and cat ears? Surely you must be joking."
Lila raised herself up to her full height—which was quite considerable—and glared at the jolly police chief.
"Why on earth would I joke about a horrifying experience like this? I know what I saw! Are you going to arrest him or not?"
"I'm sorry, Mademoiselle Rossi, but I cannot arrest a young man for a first date gone sour," said the police chief, shrugging. "If that were the case, I'd have to arrest half the city."
"Look, I know what you're thinking," said Lila. "It's because it's the Agreste family, isn't it? One of the richest families in Paris, old money, high class, with a great reputation—that's what I thought too. That's why I went there, because they were looking for a bride for their son. And who wouldn't want to marry into such a family? But they're all frauds, the lot of them. When Adrien mentioned that he was suffering from some sort of curse, I thought it was simply a figure of speech. But it was not a figure of speech. And they are not a nice family. And I am telling you, if I hadn't gotten out of there when I did, that monster they call a son…he would have eaten me alive."
The police chief rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"That's it. Please escort this young woman into the holding room overnight and make sure she understands that if she ever wants to come back into this station, she needs to have a legitimate complaint. Nobody in this office has time to listen to tall tales and libel against the most respected families in Paris. Monster, my foot."
"You'll regret ignoring my report!" Lila shouted as the other officers dragged her out of the office and into the holding room. "He's a monster! He will attack you!"
That night, outside the Rossi mansion, Gerard, Gabriel, Audrey, and Nathalie waited in a car, waiting for the young woman to return home.
"Lila should have come home by now, shouldn't she?" asked Gabriel, brows furrowed.
Nathalie nodded. "Yes. I don't know where she is."
Unaccustomed to staying up so late, the four adults soon fell asleep, and didn't wake up until the next morning, when they were rudely risen by Lila's indignant shrieks as she walked up to her doorstep after being released from the holding room and she read the headlines of the Sunday newspaper.
"ROSSI HEIR SUFFERS FROM NERVOUS BREAKDOWN? WHAT THE HELL?! WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?"
Gabriel and Nathalie sat bolt upright at the same time, ears ringing.
Gabriel turned to Nathalie, eyes narrowed. "Did you go to the press?"
"Of course not," said Nathalie, shaking her head. "I'm a matchmaker, not a gossipmonger. I would never do anything to jeopardize one of my clients, let alone one as sweet as Adrien."
"What's happening?" moaned Audrey, rising from the front seat. "Why is there shouting?"
"The press has discovered Lila's decidedly ungraceful behavior at our mansion from yesterday."
Audrey frowned. "They haven't learned about Adrien, have they? If they have, I will have that ridiculous Master Fu's head if it's the last thing I do. Gerard, please make sure to comb through every single Sunday paper and make sure there isn't even one sentence hinting at my son's connection to Mademoiselle Rossi. I knew something was wrong with that young woman. But someone didn't believe me."
"Yes Madame, I will be sure to do so," replied Gerard with a respectful nod.
As the three others continued to bicker, he looked through the rearview mirror at the young woman standing in front of the mansion, practically hopping with rage, and smiled. A longtime butler for the family, he was protective of each and every one of them, and he had no patience for silly young flibbertigibbets who were more interested in the young master's fortune than they were in getting to know him.
Which was why he might have let a little something slip to the press about the nasty young woman who had come by the day before.
Surely nothing would go wrong.