Kuroshitsuji: The Contract from Birth [Ciel Phantomhive]

[30] Her Butler, Invited

A chair hit the wall Rodric had been standing in front of moments ago and I jumped, eyes glued to the small pile of what now was broken wood, felt and wool. Yuki's hands began to enclose themselves on another innocent chair's armrest and I sighed, standing up and making my way towards the parlor with the twins and Salvador, who were also inclined on leaving the room whenever the two had a violent dispute along with me.

The bickering never seemed to end with those two.

"Mr. Rodric sure is lucky--" Erin chirped.

"--Yuki didn't take out his eyes." Eren finished, touching the brim of his left one.

Salvador scoffed lightly and turned to face us all, leaning against the windowsill as I sat down at the nearby desk. Deciding to pass the time by finishing dull paperwork, I pulled out my ink and began looking over contracts and negotiations for the industry, filling in my name when needed and tearing the parchment up when it was not.

They continued speak about Yuki's unimaginable wrath and as I reached for the next sheet in the large pile besides me, a small pack of cards fell from the top, landing in the space in front of me and smearing the fresh ink that I had already added.

Not wanting to be bothered by a trifle mistake, I sighed and ripped the sheet in half.

I supposed the shipment to Canada could wait.

"Oh, you found our pack!" Eren exclaimed when I raised the cards lazily, rushing over to take them once he had bowed. "Thank you, Countess!"

The pack was popped open smoothly and the cards were pulled out, some scattering to the floor but most falling into Eren's hands as he began to shuffle the small deck he had. Erin kneeled down to pick the rest up and Salvador began to pull out the spare seats, bringing along the small coffee table with him.

"What kind of idiotic game have you three decided on?" I asked as my eyes glanced over, trying my hardest to seem as uninterested as possible.

If others were to find out that the Countess of the DelMare Estate was sitting down and playing games with her servants, I would be ridiculed and called a child once more like the times before.

It had been difficult to gain the title of Countess for the manor when my parents had passed.

"Just a simple game of old maid, Miss." Eren said, smiling at me.

Swiftly, Erin pulled out another seat and extended his arm to it with an equally bright smile.

"Care to enlighten us all with your participation?"

The giant stack of documents begging to be signed now seemed awfully unappealing and unpleasant with how tall and ridiculously gratuitous it was. Without a second thought, I pushed myself away from the desk and made my way over to the open chair, sitting down and fixing my dress as Eren pushed me back in with a delighted grin.

Enlightening my servants was certainly not childish.

Besides me, Salvador nodded and slapped his hand down on the small wooden table, shaking it slightly. "Muy bien, Condesa, empezaremos."1

Erin dealt the cards and I held mine close to my chest, knowing very well how the three of them tended to cheat if they were given the chance.

After all, they lived with the King of Snakes himself.

"Who shall commence the round?" I asked, with closed eyes.

When no one responded after a few seconds, I opened one.

"Eren, stop with that!" his sister scolded, swatting his arm as he continued to add another floor to his now rather impressive house of cards.

He ignored her, entirely focused on his task at hand. Sighing, I turned to Salvador but was even more taken aback by his own behavior as well.