By that afternoon, I was confident enough to say that Prince Soma had finally reached the end of Ciel's nerves. You see, Agni and him had pestered the Prideful Lord throughout each of his lessons: commanding Mey-Rin and Erin to strip for the morning drawing lesson, introducing a rather immature idea for Ciel's company to produce at the afternoon Funtum Corporation work hour, and even daring to join him during his fencing lesson.
"What are you even doing?" Soma asked from the floor beside me, resting his chin on his palm.
"Soma, be quiet," I warned, seeing Ciel's face begin to turn a shade of red, "You'll end up being thrown out on your face again."
"Ciiiieeeellll!" Prince Soma whined again, brushing me off, "Heeyy--"
"AAARRRGHH! SHUT UP!!! I CAN'T CONCENTRATE!!" Ciel suddenly shouted with abhor, turning around from the match him and Sebastian were in the middle in. He huffed in loathing and I gently placed a hand over my lips to hide my growing smirk.
"You don't have to get so angry," Soma pointed out, and I let out a small laugh, shaking my head at his ridiculousness. Shaking with fury, Ciel went over and snatched Sebastian's foil from his gloved hand, making the demon widen his eyes in surprise.
"Alright." he said through his teeth, tossing it to Prince Soma. "Let's settle this."
It whizzed through the air and the Indian Prince caught it, flipping it forward in interest. It seemed like he was finally going to play with Ciel after all.
"Since you're so desperate for attention, be my opponent."
Agni stood behind me, watching nervously. The Phantomhive servants and my own were currently under order to keep Lau away from Ciel, seeing as he already had enough annoying visitors to deal with. Rodric stayed with me and was leaning against the fireplace, watching the turn of events from the corner of his eye.
"So if I win in this..." Soma said, raising the foil, "you will play with me, right?"
Ciel adjusted his stance and aimed his own at the Prince. "If you can win, that is. If you lose, behave yourself and stay out of my way!"
"And you'll accept that we aren't married!" I added quickly, raising my finger.
Prince Soma pouted at this but miraculously agreed with a nod. "If I lose, then we shall wait to be wed until you're older."
"That's not what I said!" I snapped, standing up. I stepped between the two and pointed to each of them, stamping my foot down.
"Five rounds, three minutes each." I stated, "The fencer with the most points wins."
I signaled for Rodric to come over and referee the games, and I walked up to Ciel, whispering closely to his ear.
"For your sake, I suggest you win."
Turning on my heel, I went to sit back down so I could watch from a safe distance. Rodric stood in the middle and lifted his arm with a smile, bowing. "Begin."
Instantly, Soma dashed forward, lifting his arm to swing down at Ciel, foolishly confident. I scoffed. You never swing during fencing. The entire ordeal is about jabbing forward. Ciel seemed to realize Soma's blatantly clear mistake as well, because he stood still, waiting for him to make the illegal hit.
"You're mine!" Soma cried out, but his expression instantly fell when the foil bent at Ciel's leg.
"The leg is not a valid point in fencing." I sang, clapping at the Prince's mistake.
"Too bad!!" Ciel exclaimed, thrusting forward at Soma's open chest area. Just narrowly, Soma dodged the attack and danced side to side, trying his hardest to avoid being hit, utterly confused.
"You coward! I don't know the rules!" He whined.
"It's your own fault for agreeing to a match without knowing them," Rodric added, smirking along with Sebastian.
"Oh, my dear Prince..." Agni mumbled behind me.
"A match is a match." I agreed, standing up to watch the game closer with a smile. They both continued like this for the next several minutes, Ciel easily jabbing forward while Prince Soma tottered back and forth, his foil bending left and right with him.
"Because you're swinging your foil horizontally," Ciel explained, a malicious glint in his eyes. "you're leaving your valid target area completely vulnerable!!"
Ciel thrusted forward powerfully, but before I could cheer for the point, something besides me dashed forward and I froze.
"PRINCE!!" Agni shouted, sprinting in front of Soma and opening himself to Ciel's jab. Then I gasped lightly, watching Agni's fingers straighten and aim for Ciel's forearm, all the while the memory of him fighting Sebastian in the alleyway flooded my thoughts.
"Ciel!"
Rodric and Sebastian froze as Ciel's foil clattered to the ground and he slumped down with it. It took a few seconds for anyone to react, and when those seconds passed by, I rushed over to him, bending down to touch his arm. In an instant, both demons were crouched beside us and Sebastian began to ask if he was alright.
"He hit a pressure point," I mumbled, sighing. "Like what he tried to do with Sebastian."
"L-LORD CIEL!! MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES!" Agni cried out with a stutter, whirling his head back and forth from Ciel to his hand. "MY BODY ACTED ON ITS OWN WHEN I FORESAW MY PRINCE'S LOSS!"
Soma let out a laugh and patted his butler's shoulder, smiling wide. I glared at him from the corner of my eye.
"Agni! You protected your master, I commend you!" He praised. "And since Agni is my khansama1, and he is mine, that means I win!"
At this, Ciel's head snapped up and he growled, standing up with Sebastian's help. "No--!"
"And now you must accompany me!"
Baring my teeth, I jumped up from the ground and clenched my fists at my sides, turning to Prince Soma.
"Oh, that's enough!" I exclaimed in frustration, taking a step forward to attack his childish visage. Both Ciel and Prince Soma stopped, paralyzed in shock at my sudden and loud outburst. Fortunately for them, an arm wrapped itself around my middle before I could move any further, and I hissed.
"Rodric, let me go."
"Oh my," he said, ignoring me. "Looks like someone doesn't know how to protect their master."
Sebastian and Rodric locked eyes for a moment before he continued with a smirk. "However, now you must avenge your Lord."
Rodric set me down and tossed the fallen foil to the other demon butler. Easily caught, Sebastian stood and swung the foil out nonchalantly. I crossed my arms and looked away from the oncoming fight, frustrated.
"...My master has been injured. As butler to the Phantomhive family, I must do something about it." Sebastian announced, and Agni along stood with him, raising the foil once again.
He then mumbled under his breath just enough for us to hear him. "Moreover, I won't stand to have a snake tell me what I am not capable of."
"That's your real reason, isn't it?" Ciel and I concluded, covering our faces with our hands while Rodric chuckled. Soma, now unfrozen from the fright I had given him, grinned at the offer of both butlers competing.
"Very well, I approve of the duel!"
Both butlers stood in their preferred stance, foils ready and eyes locked. Rodric took his position as the referee again and I glanced at Ciel, who seemed to be even more irked than before.
"Shut him up, Ciel," I said softly, and he nodded.
"Agni! In the name of our goddess Kali, win this match!"
"Sebastian. This is an order! Shut that spoiled brat up!"
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| R E F E R E N C E P O I N T S |
1.) "khansama" means Butler in Hindi
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...My Countess orders, I obey; Anyone who dares interfere, will have Hell to pay...