The Demons Bride (Black Butler)

chapter 32

This type of text is normal.

This is thoughts and cinematic records.

This is demonic speech.

This is thoughts and demonic speech.

[This is functions for the start and end of cinematic records.]

                                                             Butler, Escaping. Bride, Warrior

Sat in the cabin of a large junk, Lau smoked a pipe of black wood and embossed gold, a dragon twisted down towards the end. He blew a swirl of smoke into the air, his arm wrapped around Ran Mao, who was huddled into his side.

"One night, Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly. He was a happily fluttering butterfly. It was so much fun. He could fly wherever he wanted, and he had no thought of being Zhou."

Lau was a young boy as he chased a butterfly with black and blue wings around a field of flowers. He had a little girl by the hand, and they laughed and played as they chased the butterfly. When the butterfly landed on a flower, Lau reached out, but the butterfly burst into flames. He cried out and looked to the hand he was holding. There was no girl attached to it, nothing but a hand and a bloodstained sleeve.

"But suddenly, he woke up, and was startled to find that he was human."

Men with blank white faces and no features approached him, dressed in black suits and top hats.

"He couldn't decide. Was he Zhou, who just dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly, who was now dreaming he was Zhou?"

He was beaten to the ground, and whimpered when the butterfly landed on his nose. Lau tried to reach out for the creature as it flew away into the white light of the sun.

"Surely, there must be some distinction between Zhou and the butterfly."

Lau only stared up at the ceiling as he told this story. His hand ran up and down the length of Ran Mao's back.

"This is called the transformation of things."

Ran Mao moved upright to look at his face. He chuckled quietly.

"Just ignore me," he said, bringing her head down to his shoulder again.

She rested there quietly, and listened to the sizzle of burning smoke.

RRRRIIIIPPPPP!

Sebastian's shirt was torn down the front and exposed the pale expanse of his chest. His torturer, a short, portly man with a bald head and only three teeth smirked at him.

"He, he, he! Pretty!"

Randall stood to the side, the demon glanced at him with narrowed eyes.

"You're going to confess to your crimes eventually, you know. So, you might as well do it soon, Sebastian."

Sebastian chuckled under his breath, a smirk slowly crawled over his lips.

"Very well then," he said. "I confess. It was I who was responsible for the outbreak of the Black Death in Europe."

"What?!" Randall snapped.

"As I recall, it was during the reign of Edward III."

"You think this is a joke?! That was over five hundred years ago!"

Randall gritted his teeth and turned away.

"Give him as much pain as you like!" he snarled.

He left the room after that.