The colour of devil eyes (Black Butler love story)

Chapter 30 - Punishment

Serena didn't even spend the next four nights alone. She fell asleep in his arms every night and woke up in his arms the next morning. In this short time she had gotten so used to it that she could hardly remember what it was like to have spent the nights without him.

But never before had Serena felt more useless these days. They always waited for one of the informants to contact them, but Serena wasn't quite sure what to do with herself in all this waiting time. So on the fourth day she strolled a little restlessly through her cottage with no particular destination in mind. While she almost literally twiddled her thumbs, Sebastian mostly took care that the cottage was tidy and that she was always fine.

At some point, Serena ended up in the salon again, where she stopped in front of one of the many dressers. If I don't have anything to do, then I can tidy up a bit here too, she said to herself, glad to have finally found something to do.

A little lost in thought, she opened the chest of drawers and looked down at the contents. But there was hardly anything in it that she could have sorted out. All she found was a few old bills and other notes that she herself had never seen before in her life. Serena could have taken all this paperwork and disposed of it, but strange as it was, she couldn't really bring herself to do it. If it had been herself who had put these things there, she would not have hesitated for a second, but since that was not the case, she simply did not want to do it. It felt kind of wrong.

"It wasn't exactly a lot of tidying up.", she mumbled to herself and was about to close the drawer when her eyes fell on a certain piece of paper. It said "Serena" in a scrawly font and very carefully she reached out her hand for it.

This little piece of paper was actually the only piece of paper that she had put in this drawer herself, but she would never part with this one. Very gently, as if the paper could instantly crumble when she touched it, she took it out and carefully unfolded it.

The same scrawly script read on the note, "I'm very, very, very, very sorry. I love you, sister!". Even though these simple words might have no meaning at first glance, Serena felt the tears welling up in her eyes. As if petrified, she just stood there and looked down at that awkward handwriting. But despite the light tears in her eyes, she had to smile very weakly.

The handwriting belonged to Hyder and Serena could still very clearly remember the day he had sent her this little letter. He was only five years old at the time and had only just learned to write. She remembered exactly how proud she had been of him then, since he had already been able to write at that age.

It had been a Sunday and the cook had made a large pudding for the whole family. When this was due to be served, however, she had only found an empty plate in the kitchen. Almost in tears, the cook had stormed to Serena's parents and had told them about it. Serena could still see it right in front of her, as all eyes immediately had wandered to little Hyder, who had sat at the table with wide eyes. It had been obvious that he had finished the pudding all by himself, even if that was quite an accomplishment for his height. But no one else was an option, and just the look that Hyder had guiltily thrown at his older sister had dispelled any doubts.

Of course, they had all attacked the little guy immediately and as if it had been yesterday, Serena still felt the tug in her heart that she had felt at the sight of him. Without further ado, she had got up from the table and admitted that, in a fit of hunger, she had eaten all of the pudding. Her parents had been skeptical, of course, but Serena had insisted on her opinion so much that they eventually had let go of her little brother. As a punishment for her behavior, they immediately had sent Serena to her room and forbade her to leave it or even to let other people in. She had accepted this in silence and gave Hyder a short wink when she left the room.