The reward that the demon was talking about was a slice of the deep-dish pie, however, it was only served to you after Ciel had already had his fill of it. The butler had given you scraps as thanks for protecting his master. When he had promised you a reward, you would be remiss to say you had not expected it to be a little more in the realm of that sin he had so much delight in teasing you about only a night prior. Sighing, you dismissed the thought and continued to work on your duties, finding yourself in the foyer as the sky had become painted with pink and orange.
"Oh, you, maid." You heard from behind you. It startled you a touch, you hadn't expected anyone else would be wandering around the manor who wasn't the lord or his employ.
"Ah- Miss Dalles. I thought you had gone home already." you greeted, fixing her with a slight bow, hands clasped at front of your dress, holding onto a dirty rag.
"I couldn't leave without bidding farewell to my nephew. I also have a request to make of him." She tucked a strand of crimson hair behind her ear, "Do you know where he is?" she asked, arms crossed as she smiled at you softly. Caged and unthreatening. You supposed she had a while to practice those kind and welcoming mannerisms.
Looking off to the side, you thought of an excuse for why she couldn't see the earl. He seemed like he wanted to be left alone. "I'm sorry, he's currently indisposed with work." You looked back at her and her eyes had grown sombre, "Is there a message I can relay to him for you?"
Her eyes betrayed her smile as she acted as though she was unbothered by the aloofness of her nephew, "Yes, could you please let him know that I will be leaving Grell here to study under Sebastian's tutelage in a few days' time?"
"Yes, of course." You nodded, "Is that all?"
She chuckled to herself, sparing you a last glance before she turned around to walk through the entrance of the manor, "Tell him it's rude to avoid his guests." Her tone was joking and affectionate.
"Yes madam." You bowed, once again, to the baronesses back and then she was gone, followed at her heels by Grell whom you hadn't even noticed was standing by the doors.
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"That is all, my lord." you informed him of what Madam Red had told you and the boy groaned, playing with a pen on his desk.
"Very well, it would do me no good to deny the Madam's request." When he looked up at you, it almost seemed like he was appraising you. "Say, how do you find Sebastian's teachings?" The question came as a bit of a surprise, you figured an earl would deem the opinion of his staff unimportant.
"I beg your pardon, sir?" you asked, not sure what importance the question had.
"You've met the other members in my employ, they were similarly taught by my butler. I want to know why it is that you can manage to serve tea without ruining the service six ways from Sunday." You suspected he was asking out of genuine curiosity, but his lack of expression suggested he was just asking to pass the time.
"I would say he is... an adequate teacher." you responded, though, as you thought about it, you believed that under any other circumstance, Sebastian would have been considered a terrible teacher. He was perfectly happy to teach once and never again, but then he would complain when something was not done perfectly. No normal human being would be capable of perfecting an entire service after only doing it once. "On second thought..."
The boy smirked, "Right? He's utterly hopeless as a teacher. In fact, I suspect that the reason you are able to perform well is due to factors external to his tutelage." With his visible eye closed, he chuckled into his clenched hand. "I was just curious." When the boy leaned back in his chair, his gaze was held on the stack of papers in front of him and his smile faltered.
"Is something the matter?" you dared to ask despite yourself. It was uncharacteristic for Ciel to ask something like that, you felt as though you hadn't seen much of this side to the boy when viewing him in the anime.
"I'm tired and dreadfully bored of this game." He mumbled, barely audible, smile dropping completely until he was the very picture of melancholy you had come to recognise his character as. "Though I always have that butler by my side, I feel as though..." He trailed off, closing his mouth to allow no further explanation. When he looked back at you, it was with a schooled expression. "Enough of that, you're dismissed."
You wanted to ask what he was going to say, tell him it was okay and that you would listen, but you knew better than that. Better than to risk upsetting a young boy or angering a demon. Instead, you looked down to the floor and bent slightly at the waist before taking your leave.
You were surprised to not get caught by Sebastian outside when leaving Ciel's office, you thought for sure that the demon would be watching his prey like a hawk. Part of you hoped he was there, given that you still hadn't told him what you knew about Jack the Ripper.
You continued through the manor, keeping an eye out for a clock to determine what the time was. When you found one, it was around seven in the evening. Thinking back to the schedule the butler had told you he followed on the first night, you deduced that he was probably in the kitchen, making dinner for Ciel.
"-ow many times must I tell you, Bardroy," faded in the voice of the demon you were searching for, "you must not be in the kitchen as I'm preparing the lord's meal." Oh boy, you knew as well as anyone else in the manor that when the pyromaniac was in the kitchen, it did not spell good news.
"An' 'ow many times 'ave I gotta tell you , I'm suppose'ta be tha' chef, an' chef's cook things." came the american gruff of the soldier.
You cautiously approached the door, peeking in just as Bard slammed his fist onto the countertop. Your sudden appearance caught the two men's attention and their gazes focussed on you, Sebastian sporting a look of contempt whilst Bardroy's expression was in the phase of shifting from anger to embarrassment.
At their sudden come down, you felt the need to apologise for interrupting, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to walk in on that."
Sebastian was the first to dismiss your appearance in favour of getting back to meal preparations. Bard on the other hand, still wide eyed and flushed, took a few seconds longer before he decided to sit at the employee dining table with his back turned to the door.
"Were you in need of something?" asked the butler.
You took your eyes away from the sulking chef and distractedly responded with, "huh?" before being leveled with an unenthused side eye. "Oh uh-" you scrambled to remember why you had been looking for the butler in the first place, "Right, I just remembered that we didn't finish that conversation from earlier today, regarding..." you looked over to the other person still present in the room, "some of the guests from today."
"Indeed we did not." He doesn't turn away from his cooking, "I will find you to discuss it before the night ends. As for now, if you have no other chores left to complete, you will prepare the table for the dinner service." The tension between the two men was palpable at that point so you were glad to have an out from the kitchen.
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You set out the tableware as per Sebastian's previous instructions and before you knew it, time had almost literally flown by and you were heading off to your room. Before reaching it you were stopped by a looming figure in the shadows, belonging to non-other than the demon himself. "I believe there is an urgent matter we are to discuss." he says, stepping into the moonlight streaming through a tall window.
"Yeah, about Madam Red." you began, "She and Grell are the two halves of Jack the Ripper."
Sebastian looked away, placing his thumb and forefinger on his chin in thought, then sighed, "Yes, I'd suspected as much." when he looked back at you, his expression was stern, "I have decided the young lord will not know of this." he tells you with a note of finality. He clearly did not want you to contest his authority.
You balked in surprise, "Why not?"
"I think it would be beneficial for him to figure this out on his own."
"He's just a kid! Not only that but when he does find out, he has to witness the murder of his own aunt-"
The butler interrupted you, "I suspect when he did witness her death, it contributed greatly to the growth of his character in this show you say we are all from." What he said was true, but you couldn't understand why the one person, who was always by the boy's side, would be so heartless as to not even spare a child from witnessing the death of one of his only remaining family members.
Then it occurred to you what it was that Ciel had refrained from saying earlier that evening, that even though he had his butler by his side at all times, he was never truly cared for and was alone. After all, the butler at his side was nothing more than a soul consuming demon, contractually obligated to help a child extract his revenge.
"How horrible..." it slipped from your mouth before you could think about it and by then, you couldn't take it back.
"Excuse me?"