Tainted | Kuroshitsuji ✔️

Chapter 45: Glassy Eyes

Straining her ears to pick up any signs of life, Estella could tell that the whole Phantomhive Manor was already out like the lights from the way it was so still and quiet. The clock on her bedside table told her there was another five minutes before midnight struck, and she could not help but sighed in envy at the others' ability to be able to fall asleep before the big day.

Estella turned around to lie on her other side, eyebrows furrowing in frustration. It seemed almost impossible to fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes in attempt to sleep, haunting images of deaths would appear behind her eyelids. The anxiety and uneasiness created by those images only made things worse.

Her eyelids felt heavy with the need to sleep, but her busy, racing mind simply would not stop the train of meaningless thoughts.

She let out a sigh and got out of bed, giving up on sleep. A yawn escaped her as she made her way to the door.

Maybe she should just clear her head out at the balcon-

Pulling open the door, Estella jumped back in surprise to find herself facing an equally stunned-looking Ciel who stood right outside with a raised fist frozen in mid-air, looking like he was about to knock on her door.

"C-Ciel...?" Estella rubbed her tired eyes to check she was seeing correctly.

Ciel blinked, snapping out of his stupor and felt a rush of embarrassment and instant regret.

Estella wasn't the only one who couldn't fall asleep.

He was woken up by a dreadful dream about the big battle once again. Of how she had turned to him with a gleam of remorse and apology in her eyes, the last sign of life in them before they turned deathly cold.

He just could not go back into sleep after that spine-chilling nightmare. He could not stand the stifling feeling and ended up outside her room.

Stiffly, Ciel brought his raised arm back down to his side. "I was..."

If she only knew how long he had been lingering outside her room, she would not let him hear the end of it. He was pacing back and forth for at least what felt like fifteen minutes while trying to summon the courage to wake up her up in the middle of the night to simply look at her so that he could quell the anxiety in him.

He felt his cheeks heating up. There was no way Ciel Phantomhive was not going to admit doing silly things like this. He was going to sound so stupid trying to explain why he had been doing at such an unearthly hour!

His mouth snapped closed, falling into silence for a while.

"You were what?" Estella quirked an eyebrow at him.

Ciel cleared his throat awkwardly. "N-Nevermind, it's just that..." He started to turn away, "you, err, snored too loud." He blurted out hastily and unceremoniously strode away.

"What?" Estella poked her head out of the doorway and eyed his retreating back with an incredulous frown. "Hey wait-"

His door slammed close before she could finish.

....

Giving the door a thoughtful look, Estella knocked lightly on it and slowly eased the door open. "Ciel...?" She softly called out as she slipped through the door.

Closing the door behind her, she approached the bed quietly and gazed down at the back of the sleeping or seemingly sleeping boy. An amused smirk made its way across her face as she realized he was very much awake from his not-so-calm breathing.