@Tatherwood @Sweet_Seats
It really isn't grooming, even if he did have ulterior motives (as a person who knows some of the novel, he didn't), what he mainly did which was different from the original story is kept her from going down the wrong path, what has made her attracted to him is his utter devotion to her and the fact she knows that even if the world turned on her, he would be there for her, and that his kindness to her was, unlike everyone else, who wanted to get on her good side, was completely genuine without any intent for personal benefit.
As for what happened at the dark guild, i think the implication was that the guild leader knew cyril could wipe out the guild if he wanted to through his own connections either through the marquis or other means, but saw it as lacking in benefit(keep in mind, cyril is also trained in combat to protect his lady), and from cyril's perspective he's right, legally it's probably a grey area what the dark guild was doing so getting the guards on his side might be difficult (the parents DID sell their children, whether it was right or not), more importantly wiping out the guild isn't beneficial for either side, if cyril does it, then someone probably worse would take their place, and if the dark guild somehow did win against cyril, it would have the nobles as enemies, so it was mutually beneficial to have a working relationship for both of them as cyril could use their connections, and the guild could have a valuable customer.