Chapter Text
A carriage was seen hurrying through the streets of London, heading in the direction of the outskirts of the city. You were going to be late for the 3rd time this month and you don’t have to bet to guess that the others are not going to be happy about it.
Looking aimlessly out of the carriage windows, you assured yourself that it’s the thought that always counts! So long as you show up, they couldn’t say anything else about you. (other than the fact that you’re late…)
“Driver, could you please hurry up?”
You stuck your head through the window and desperately asked the driver to speed up in order to reach a little earlier and at the same time save whatever respect the others had of you.
“I am already trying my very best, my lady.” The driver replied respectfully.
You sighed at his reply and stuck you head back into the safe confines of the carriage, accepting the fact that you’re going to be late again. The only thing you could do is to watch the blur of the streets turn into grassy patches of fields as you wait for the carriage to reach your destination.
Soon enough, you finally reached.
The estate was always a sight to behold, an extremely long driveway leading to the huge gates that protected the estate from intruders. Upon passing through the gates, there was a stunning view of well trimmed flower bushes which had a nice contrast to the regal Victorian building that resides the person who you would be meeting today.
Your destination was none other than the Phantomhive estate where you would be meeting the Earl himself.The carriage slowed down, signalling that you were about to reach the entrance of the manor as you quickly touched up on your appearance. Once the carriage stopped completely, the driver came round to the back to open up the carriage door, allowing you to exit.
“Thank you for the ride. Do be back in approximately 60 minutes time as I would be needing you to ferry me elsewhere.” You thanked the driver before gingerly lifting up your dress and hurriedly walked towards the front door of the estate. Before you could even knock, the doors swung open to reveal an individual dressed smartly in black.
“Greetings Lady y/n, Welcome to the Phantomhive estate. I will be escorting you to the room where the others are currently holding the meeting in.” Sebastian, greeted you with his head bowed respectfully. The head butler of the Phantomhive estate seemingly knew that you reached and had opened the doors to welcome you without you knocking on them.
“Oh it is you. Hello there Sebastian, I am awfully sorry that I am late again. I am assuming the
meeting has already started without me, yes?”
“It does seem that way since they were not sure when you will reach or will even show up for that matter. They are currently in the billiards room.”
“Great then, less work for me to discuss about! Anyways do lead the way Sebastian, if not
they will no doubt be so eager to have my head if I were to arrive any later.”
“As you wish, Lady y/n.” said Sebastian as he escorted you to the billiards room.
Upon knocking the door and opening it, you felt multiple stares eyeing your presence.
“Look who decided to be late again.” Azzurro said harshly while rolling his eyes, adjusting his hands on the billards que and he prepared to take a shot.
“Ah I was wondering if you’ll even turn up today! It’s been awhile y/n!” Exclaimed Madam Red while she rushed over to the doors with her arms out in an embracing manner.
“Madame Red! It’s been a while indeed. How have you been?“ You completely ignore Azzurro’s comments as you rush forward to receive Madam Red’s hug.
“I have been doing well, still busy from work as of late.” She replied as she let out a huff of irritation.
“Ahem…I suppose you two can save the small talk for later. No?” Ciel cleared his throat from where he was seated by the side and you suddenly remembered about the other people in the room.
You reluctantly broke away from the hug and turned to look at the others.
“I forgot that I had an audience here so please do pardon my behaviour. Good day to everyone, I apologise for my tardiness. I do hope I did not miss out anything of importance,” You told the rest of the people in the room while holding your dress and curtsying.
“No you did not miss out on anything worthwhile. In fact we were just going to start talking about the important things.” Lau waved one hand lazily while using the other to cling onto ranmao who was sitting on his lap.
Chlaus fiddled with his hat as he summarised what had happened before your arrival.
“We mentioned that there could potentially be a…”
“Rat amongst us? I am well aware of the fact” You cut him off mid sentence with a smile while holding onto your signature pink handheld fan.
“See, what did I tell you! We didn’t need to wait for her before we continue todays discussion,” mentions Diedrich as he sat on one of the many plush couches, munching on the sandwich no doubly prepared by Sebastian himself.
“I suppose we underestimated her again. No matter, let’s continue with the game.” Ciel muttered the first part before raising his volume a little to gain the attention of the others in the room.
“If I remember correctly, it was Ciel’s turn. Will you pass again, Earl Phantomhive?” Asks Madame Red form where she stood next to you.
“Pass. I don’t shoot for no reason.” Replied ciel in a very bored manner.
“Enough chit-chat, when will this said rat be exterminated?” Chief Randall who was getting impatient from the small talk questioned Ciel.
“Always trying to get things done as quickly as possible i see.” You commented under your breath as you watched the scene unfold before your eyes.
“Soon, since the mouse has already left it’s teethmarks in the cheese and we already have the key to the warehouse.”
Instead of listening to the details of their talk, your attention was on Azzurro since it was his turn to pocket the remaining balls. His face showed immense amounts of displeasure from Ciel and Lord Randall’s conversation which only morphed even more intensely after failing to hit any ball into the pocket while also managing to pocket the cue ball.
“It takes a bit of effort to find the nest and exterminate them. Could the arrangement be a suitable compensation?” Ciel asked while signalling for the game to continue.
“You vulture!” Chief Randall exclaimed while crossing his arms in displeasure.
“Do you possess the right to insult our crest? You, a bloodhound that can’t even catch one single rat?” Retorted Ciel as he stood up for his turn.
“You missed! And that’s a foul.“ Lau called to Azzurro.
“What now, Earl?” Azzurro ignored Lau’s taunting as he turned to address Ciel.
“It’s time to end this silly game.”
“Next players turn is Earl Phantomhive’s. What is next? Will you put an end to this waiting game?” Madam red questioned him.
Ciel stood up from his seat and strides towards the billiards table while pausing to look at Chief Randall.
“And? When will you be able to prepare the compensation?
“This…evening.”
“That’s fine. I’ll send a carriage afterwards.”
Ciel says before adjusting his position before the billards table, making sure that’s his aim was perfect.
“Will you target all of the balls like this?” Diedrich stops mid bite to wonder out loud.
“How about taking a look at the skill of this game’s prodigy?” Madam red announced proudly.
“Greed will only destroy your body ciel.” You instinctively said out loud without thinking.
“Greed huh…” Ciel repeats your words thoughtfully as he strikes the Billard cue forward after precise aiming.
Like you predicted, the cue ball was aimed so that it would be able to hit both the 7 and 8 ball. The 7 ball was pocketed perfectly while the 8 ball rolled forward to then hit the 9 ball which in turn after getting hit also rolled forward. Eventually, the 9 ball was also pocketed with the help of the 8 ball.
“As expected of the Earl Phantomhive.” You said as you clapped your hands in awe after that stunning display of billards.
“I mean he’s not called a prodigy for no reason,” Madam Red murmurs while staring towards a far corner of the room, deep in thought as though she was reminiscing the past.
Once the game concluded, Chlaus cleared his throat while calling for the attention of the others in the room.
“I think we’ve discussed enough for todays agenda. If you’ll excuse me, I have a boat to catch.” He says while promptly exiting the room.
With that, Diedrich, Lord Randall and Azzurro all followed in his footsteps, leaving you, Madam Red, Lau and Ranmao and Ciel alone.Seeing that the 4 of them showed no signs of leaving the estate anytime soon, Ciel called out for Sebastian.
“Why don’t we head to the drawing room for some tea? Sebastian, do prepare tea for the guests.”
“Yes my Lord.”
The 5 of you proceeded to the drawing room and took this opportunity to catch up with each other.
“So Ciel…i mean Earl Phantomhive, how have things been for you recently?”
“Could be better i suppose.“ Ciel shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
“You could say that the Earl has been busy playing exterminator lately hunting for this rat.” Lau pointed out.
You giggled at Lau’s witty response.
At that moment Sebastian walked into the room pushing a cart with multiple tea sets and the pot containing the tea. He proceeded to hand them out to everyone.
“Grell, do learn from Sebastian! He’s such an exemplary butler who does things perfectly unlike you.” Madam red said towards Grell, who looked dejected after that comment, while fussing over Sebastian.
Ignoring the stunt his aunt was pulling off, Ciel turned to face you.
“I’ve been meaning to ask since you since just now…how did you know that there’s a rat amongst us?”
“Hmm…that would be a secret that i cannot indulge you in.” You pressed a finger to your lip and winked at him.
“Hmph, quit playing mysterious already” He rolled his eyes in reply.
“What the fun in that though?” You held a hand to your chest pretending to clutch onto your broken heart.
“So Earl, you mentioned that one of your guests was selling on the black market?” Lau who had felt a bit left out decided to ask.
“Yes indeed.”
“Just leave the extermination to Lau, he’s more than capable anyways.”
“Mice know where other mice live the most am I right?” You added while setting the teacup back onto the table.
“Oh you wound me…I prefer to be known as a tamed Guinea pig rather than a rat.”
Lau got up and walked over to where Ciel was seated. He then placed one hand on top of Ciel’s head in a grip like manner.
“If the Earl gives me the order, I shall obey.”
The next moment, Ciel was snatched out of Lau’s hand by a fuming Madam Red who started flinging curses at Lau for touching her “cute little nephew”.The scene before you was almost comical with how animated Lau and Madam Red look while arguing back and forth. In the middle of the chaos, Ciel was locked in Madam Red’s vice grip and looked like he wanted to desperately escape this situation. Pitying him, you decided to help him out.
“The both of you stop arguing! Poor Ciel always has to get in between your little petty arguments.” You got up and in a split second, managed to unlatch Madam Red’s grip on Ciel and essentially freed him.
“It’s not my fault! Lau is the one who doesn’t know when to back off!”
“I could say the same about you lady.”
Sighing while you watch the both of them continue their argument, you turned to check if Ciel was alright. Other than looking a bit tired, he was mostly unscathed from the “fight”.
“Thanks for that, don’t tell them I’m heading back to my study.” he mumbled softly enough for you to hear before sneakily trying to exit the room.
Poor kid, you thought to yourself while coming up with a mental note to check up on him in his study later.
“…she’ll choose to support me over you! Right y/n?”
Upon heading your name being mentioned, you turn around to see both Lau and Madam Red staring intensely at you.
“For the sake of my safety and well-being I don’t choose sides.” You told them while walking back to where you were seated previously.
“You’re too cautious for your own good.”
“Isn’t it better to be cautious than to regret it later on?”
“Exactly! I knew I could count on your common sense, Madam Red.” You told the both of them as you took another sip of your tea.
“Let’s call it a truce for now and discuss other important matters.”
“Fine but I’ll have you know that I’m always right.” Lau crossed his arms and frowned.
“So…any speculations on who this mice might be?” Madam red asked the both of you.
“I do have some speculations myself. However this mouse is quite good at hiding.”
“I can’t rule the both of you out as suspects because of your close relationship with the Earl. However, I don’t think you two would be stupid enough to face the wrath of the queens watchdog.” You told them directly.
“Sooner or later it will fall for the bait laid out by the Earl and without a doubt meet its own doom. Until then, we’ll just have to wait patiently and see how this unfolds.”
Just then, Sebastian wheeled in another pushcart but this time, the contents of it were plates and an afternoon tea snack.
“I’ve just finish making a baked pie of apple and raisins for tea. Do help yourselves to a slice.” Sebastian said while slicing the cake and putting them onto the plates before handing them out to the people in the room.
“This is delicious! Sebastian’s food never fails to impress me.” You noted before happily polishing off your slice.
“Thank you Lady yn. It’s only natural for me to be able to cook food of this quality as the head butler of the Phantomhive household.” Sebastian placed his hand to his chest and bowed lightly.
“Ah…now that I think about it, where did Ciel head off to?”
“The young master is resting in one of the rooms.” Sebastian politely replied a slightly panicked Madam Red.
At that moment you felt a shiver run down your spine, as though a foreshadowing that something bad was about to happen. Living long enough to know that your instincts were mostly right, you hurriedly thought about checking up on Ciel. He was the only one not present in that room which would mean if anything bad were to happen he would be unable to fend for himself.
“This dessert is too good for Ciel to pass up on. I shall go give him a slice. Do excuse me for a moment.” You hurriedly took another plate from the table and exited the room, ignoring Sebastian’s arguments that he could bring the snack to Ciel himself and that the guest should not do the work.
After running hurriedly down the long hallways of the estate, you finally reached Ciel’s study. When reaching out to knock on the door, you realised that the room before you was oddly silent as though there was no one present. You hastily knocked on the door.
“Ciel, is everything alright?”
You waited for a few seconds for his reply but it never came.
“That’s too strange…” you mumbled to yourself.
“Ciel are you sure you’re alright? I’m coming in to check up on you,” seeing that a reply would never come, you decided to take matters into your own hands and open the door to check up on him.
A gasp left your mouth as you took in the state of the room. Multiple documents were thrown onto the floor, ink spilled from the bottle and caused a puddle on the carpet and the window was opened hazardously, letting wind from the outside cause the papers to start flying all over the room.
Yeah something was definitely not right.
After thinking hard about what could’ve possibly happened to Ciel, your face paled as you realised the extremity of the situation.
“Shit…those people must’ve already gotten to him. I was too slow this time around!” You lividly cursed under your breath before taking off towards the direction of the foyer.
Once there, you hurriedly ran out of the doors of the Phantomhive estate and towards the carriage where the driver had followed your orders to arrive 60 minutes later.
“My lady, where are you off to in such a rush?” Asked the driver.
“I have no time to explain but take me to the ports.” You huffed in reply as you tried to catch your breath from the sprinting you did earlier.
The driver’s eyebrows lifted in surprise at your request.
“As you wish.”
With that, the driver hurriedly tugged on the reigns of the horse and took off in the direction of the woods, leaving the confines of the Phantomhive estate and headed towards the location you ordered him to take you to.