Kuroshitsuji: The Contract from Birth [Ciel Phantomhive]

[37] Her Butler, Unconcerned

"Le chien de garde de la Reine est ici!"2 He announced to everyone loudly, which actually seemed to relieve the crowd of some tension.

Of course, those who weren't relieved began to mumble out hate-filled questions as per usual.

"What the devil is he here for, this isn't a game--"

"Poor Arnold, he's been left to be nothing but entertainment for the Queen's Court..."

I smirked at their comments but paid them no mind.

Sir Gunther placed a hand on Rodric's shoulder, (even though he was a head shorter than him), and looked down at Arnold sorrowfully, eyes brimming with tears. As soon as they had appeared, however, he wiped them away dutifully and turned to face his family.

"S'il vous plaît, everyone! Retournez-vous à la grande salle!3 We must get to the bottom of this horrific situation!" He boomed, successfully grabbing everyone's attention.

The servants immediately took action and began to gather everyone and lead them away from the scene, tugging and holding onto whomever lagged behind or protested slightly. In a matter minutes, the entire upstairs floor area was cleared and we were ready to investigate.

Or for the most part, I was.

Rodric seemed entirely uninterested in the situation and Adelina seemed unsure on how to act-- which was rather odd since this was more or less part of her daily job back in England.

"It was only a few hours ago that he had been eating with us at the table..." She mumbled softly under her breath.

My eyes widened and I realized that Arnold, in fact, had been the man that tried to speak with Adelina about her business last night during dinner. A lethal fork had silenced him before he could continue, and now the silence had been made permanent.

"Adelina, my dear, I would ask you to come with me back into the living room, but I suspect that you would want to stay with your fiancé as he investigates." Sir Gunther said, taking a step back before tipping his hat, "so I shall leave you four here."

With one last sad glance down at the body, he walked away, his soft sobs now being heard as he reached the opening of the staircase. Once he was out of sight, I tucked the badge away.

Something was awfully amiss.

"The principle murder weapon seems to be something incredibly blunt, enough to bash his skull in mercilessly after stabbing him numerous times in several parts of his body." Adelina choked out a few moments later, using her forefinger to point out her findings.

Rodric closed his eyes and placed his hands on her shoulders to ease her pain and yet in the midst of her mourning, Sebastian found the decency comment on the body as though it was nothing more than a mere broken toy.

"I personally feel as though maybe a few broken bones would have done the trick as well."

I scrunched my eyes together in aggravation and refused to look at Adelina's reaction, but with her gasp and Rodric's snarl I could tell his words had not gone ignored.

"Why don't you dress your Master, Michaelis?" Rodric hissed lowly, eyes narrowing as he looked down at Adelina and I. "It seems as though both of them got up in quite the hurry."

I looked down at my clothes to see what he could be insinuating at and flushed when I noticed that my buttons were amiss, fabric was incorrectly tucked in and frankly it seemed as though I had been dressed in the absolute dark.

Sebastian chuckled and lazily directed his finger towards Adelina.

"Might you take into account your Lady's attire as well."

I glanced quickly over to her and was also mortified to see that the top of her dress wasn't even properly closed. Compared to Elizabeth's body, Adelina's was clearly the more developed one and her maturer fashion certainly accented these features. My cheeks began to burn and a gloved hand fell over my eyes soon after a sudden squeal pierced my ears.

"I'm going to change!" Adelina announced tightly with a crack in her voice, which was then followed by quick footsteps in the opposite direction.

I was soon able to see and both Rodric and her were out of sight, leaving only Sebastian, the corpse and I in the wing.

Crossed, I scowled and began investigating the surrounding area.

There was a ceramic vase broken in half on the floor a few feet inside the bedroom Arnold had been occupying and the bedroom window seemed to be wide open, yet there were no other signs of struggle or foul play. By the way Arnold was laying face down, one could only deduce that he had been trying to escape the culprit but only managed to get half-way out of the bedroom doorway.

Sebastian leaned against it with a small smile and I again felt my blood begin to boil.

"Tell me," I began, peeking out the window to try and find any other clues, "what need was there for you to comment so nastily?"

I turned my head around and was met with an amused smirk. Red eyes flashed malevolently.

"Sir, I can assure you it was not directed towards Countess DelMare," he said slowly, walking up to me. I stiffened and raised my chin at his words.

"Then who else would you want to a reaction from, given the circumstances." I demanded.

Instead of responding, Sebastian merely shrugged and bowed politely. My eye twitched in irritation at his sly and vile demon nature.

"Let me have you change before we start any further investigations, hm? I sure am quiteintrigued with this homicide." he hummed, to which I narrowed my eyes at.

That sneaky bastard.

"You cannot lie to me, Sebastian," I hissed, taking a step towards him, "If you know who did this, tell me."

At this, Sebastian fell to his knee and placed a hand at his heart, head bent forward and other hand behind his back. I frowned but he did not move.

"Master, I cannot lie to you. I do not know who murdered this man," he said smoothly, glancing down at Arnold. "Nor do I know why. Which is why I would like to start investigating as quickly as possible."

I did not have any intentions on giving Sebastian the satisfaction of being correct with his suggestion and so I simply walked past him and left the room, making sure to avoid touching Arnold as I did so. The click of Sebastian's shoes were instantly behind me and I headed towards the bedroom in silence, already formulating a plan to commence the examination of not only the crime scene, but the body itself.

However, just around the corner, I spotted the twins and Salvador huddled together in a panic near an oddly shaped portrait that reminded me strongly of the ship we had taken to arrive here. Suitcases in hand, they each spoke to each other in hurried whispers until they saw Sebastian and I.

Immediately, they stopped.

"Wh-Where's the body, Sir?" Erin asked me softly, hands shaking.

I nudged my chin behind me.

"A few doors down," I responded, continuing on. "He's facedown so there's no need to worry about accidentally locking eyes with him."

A weak smile cracked on Eren's face and they scurried off like mice.

"What do you suppose they're off to do, my Lord?" Sebastian mused.

I glanced back and no longer saw either of them. Shrugging, I proceeded on to the room.

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1.) "Mon Dieu!" means My God! in French
2.) "Le chien de garde de la Reine est ici!" means The Queen's Guard Dog is here! in French
3.) "S'il vous plaît, everyone! Retournez-vous à la grande salle!" means Please, everyone! Go back to the large living room! in French

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...My Countess orders, I obey; Anyone who dares interfere, will have Hell to pay...