Triumphantly, I slapped down the ace card I had hidden in my hand on the table with a loud slap and proud grin, giggling as Ciel stared in absolute shock.
"You cheated." He finally declared after a few moments, throwing his own hand of cards down in frustration. "...Again!"
Lau chuckled as he too set down his cards, shrugging in indifference.
"What a player you are, my Lady." He praised as Ciel continued to protest my win with flabbergasted stutters.
"Y-You can't just... this is a ga-- third time in a row--!"
Despite the circumstance of being so vexed with my servants, I smiled. Beating him in a simple game of cards certain you had lifted my spirits; but it even more so lifted them when I won by cheating and he hadn't noticed until the end.
"I'm rather disappointed in your card expertise." I snickered with an innocent wave of my hand, hiding my giggles as he turned a light shade of red.
Before I could continue with my fun of bothering the Earl, there was a light rapping at the library door and my contentment melted away in an instant, being replaced by the fury that was once there hours ago.
"Countess?"
Erin's faint voice made my eyes soften and I relaxed my tense shoulders as she opened the door with the rest of the servants in tow.
Rotten bunch; Of course they would use her to ease my anger. I could never scold Erin, she was the most amiable of the five.
"The curry you requested has been made," Rodric's voice announced, walking in with a large pot that emitted hot steam everywhere. "You'll be pleased to know, my Lady, that we believe your idea may have been the solution."
My scowl returned and I stuck my nose in the air, waiting for Sebastian to serve the dish as Rodric and Yuki continued to speak whilst Salvador held a bag of ice against forehead with mild groans here and there.
Stricken, I waved Mey-Rin, Finnian and Baldroy over.
"Take care of him, please?" I asked in the sweetest voice possible, to which they saluted with what seemed to be the biggest smile I had ever seen them make.
"Yes, my Countess!"
Not giving him a chance to stand for himself, Salvador was once again whisked away from the room in their arms and I smiled at their blatantly clear enthusiasm to serve.
"Do you really trust them?" Ciel asked me as Sebastian finished serving the curry into his bowl, head on his hand.
"I do," I said, shrugging. "They are your servants after all."
"And that's that supposed to mean?" Ciel interrogated with his eyes now narrowed.
Naturally, I rolled my eyes at his childish nature.
"I trust you, and therefore said trust is transferred to them." I explained easily, picking up my utensil to begin digging into the curry, "I suspect you chose them because you trust them, no?"
Stomping footsteps caught our attention just as Ciel was about to respond, and immediately Prince Soma sprinted into view, skidding into the library and across the rug, crashing into the side of the table with a loud bang. The silverware was jostles as he crashed into the floor, and I peeked over to make sure he was alright when he himself shot up without missing a beat, scaring the bloody hell out of me.
"YOU FOUND A WAY TO PERFECT THE CURRY IN ONE AFTERNOON?!"
Eren tackled the Prince to the ground and placed his hand over his mouth to silence his shouts, obviously just as annoyed as we all were.
"You really ought to stop doubting the butler duo, Prince." He suggested before letting him go, brushing off both their fronts politely as Soma stared at the new curry in astonishment.
Ciel snickered and Lau smirked, enjoying themselves at the expense of the Prince. In any case, I shrugged the boys off and blew on the curry before popping the spoon into my mouth.
An explosion of spices burst in my mouth as soon as the curry had touched my tongue, leaving me in slight shock at the grand difference from the first few batches compared to this one. Not only was the flavor rushing and overpowering my senses, but the texture was now --even though I knew nothing about curry enough to critique-- much more pleasant than before, if that was possible.
The chicken was perfectly cooked, soft, delightfully spicy and tender enough to break away easily as I dug into the dish to spoon up a fair amount of sautéed potatoes, yellow rice and sliced carrots, each paired with its own red onion ring that gave off a Hispanic vibe, syncing perfectly with the curry aesthetic.
Whatever Salvador used in his molé had obviously done the trick.
Chewing the last of what was in my mouth, I blinked and turned to Rodric, who was watching me along with Yuki. She looked incredibly anxious whilst Rodric kept his expression to a minimum, clearly waiting for a type of criticism or compliment.
"This is amazing." Ciel finally muttered after a few silent seconds, which was rather shocking. A praise from the Earl himself was certainly something to be proud of.
However, the actual man whose word was law when it came to curry had yet to speak.
We all spun to stare at Prince Soma with grave concern as we awaited his verdict.
His silent marvel as he stared down at his plate in a hypnotic trance was more than enough to explain what he felt.
This was the dish.
"Are you having an epiphany, Prince?" Yuki asked Soma, biting her lip and prodding him gently on his shoulder.
Sebastian extended his arm to Yuki and she obediently stepped away, allowing him more room to speak with the Prince personally.
"Does it please you?" he asked, and finally Soma looked up at him with what seemed to be an apologetic smile.
"This is not Agni's curry." He said to him, but before anyone could speak, Prince Soma continued.
"This is a curry that contains complicated flavors and spices like Indian curry does. It now has the depth and fresh taste I could only hope for a British genius to be able to recreate... This curry is worthy of competing with the curry of God."
Both demons looked incredibly smug, and I rolled my eyes.
"It's delicious, butler."
He then turned finally to us all, now a bit puzzled.
"How did you manage this in one afternoon?"
A hand was gently placed on my shoulder and I turned my head to the side, seeing Yuki's proud smile beam. Still a bit angry with them all, I shrugged her hand off and leaned forward a bit, frowning slightly. Her hand now rested at the top of the chair and she was now watching me from the corner of her eye, making my skin crawl.
She could be rather scary when she wanted to be.
"Actually," Sebastian began, waving his arm towards me with a gentle smile, "Countess Adelina is to praise for her suggestion."
My eyes widened and a smug smirk instantly grew on my face, leading to a roll of Ciel's eyes and a chuckle from Lau. I shifted in my seat and straightened my posture as Sebastian proceeded, eyes closed as I listened to my commends.
"Using Salvador's methods and Mr. Agni's curry-making skills, we were able to produce a curry worthy of being called a winner. The key similarity that brings this dish together is actually an ingredient that is also essential in the Hispanic dish; molé."
He gracefully pulled out a circular bar from his front pocket, which was wrapped in a crinkly, bright yellow and red wrapping paper.
I blinked as I recognized the ingredient.
"Chocolate is what gives it the body it lacked before." Rodric finished, taking the chocolate and breaking it into pieces before having Yuki disperse them all to us.
As she walked around, I extended my hand for my own piece, and she slowly placed it down, seeming almost hesitant to do so.
I brought the sweet to my lips and bit down on the tip, feeling the flakes of the cocoa candy sprinkle on my tongue before biting down on it completely.
I froze.
The chocolate tasted sickeningly familiar.
It left an awful taste in my mouth as I swallowed it, until I couldn't handle its potent flavor anymore, placing it on the table and reaching for my cup of tea to wash my tongue away.
"How acrid." I muttered, glancing up in distaste.
My actions paused midway, cup still in my hand, as I tried to decipher what I had caught sight of.
Behind Ciel stood the silhouette of a man with a tall stature, wearing a tall hat and cane. He raised his hand gradually, until the cane was lifted over his head and in one quick, easy movement, it was brought down.
There could be no other words to describe the terror that coursed through my body as I heard the cane whip through the air.
My arms snapped up to block the oncoming strike, hands clenched shut and teeth braced, grit and ready for the impact. In almost a syncing motion, my legs were brought up towards my chest and I leaned as far into the chair as I possibly could, unable to move from my spot in paralyzed fright. My eyes, luckily, were able to look about even if I myself could not, and what I saw alarmed me deeply.
Erin had practically fainted as she leaned against the wall besides the exit and Eren had started to panic, sprinting about the parlor in such rapid strides that I flinched whenever he came towards me.
Something gently wrapped itself around me as I continued to watch the twins, tensing me up even more so than I already was. I strained to see who it could be, and the sight of Rodric's familiar pale lilac eyes loosened the vice my body seemed to be in, practically leaving me limp in his arms without a lick of energy left.
"Yuki, this is not the time to drown yourself in your own emotions." Rodric snapped cruelly, shocking me.
I'd never heard him speak so nastily to any of the servants before.
Yuki, in spite of that, instantly snapped out of her horrified trance, beginning to usher everyone out of the parlor, and if I heard correctly, from the manor as well.
Weakly, I began to shake my head at the embarrassment I had caused but no one seemed to take notice of it.
"Please, just do as I say without question Mr. Sebastian." Yuki's voice pleaded a few feet in front of me.
CRACK
Again, the process made a full cycle and I once again was frozen up in a curled ball, trembling in a freezing cold sweat.
"Everyone, leave right now!"
Ciel's voice echoed loudly throughout the parlor and I was whisked away from the room, held tightly in Rodric's arms as he took me to my bedroom in utter silence, eyes a glowing shade of pink as my own eyes began to flutter shut, until the world went (...CRACK...) black.
-
YES SHE HAS PTSD, AND YES THIS IS AN IMPORTANT HALLUCINATION AND FLASHBACK. YES THE CHOCOLATE TRIGGERED IT.
And yes, mole is a real dish and it really does contain chocolate. It's super yummy.
-
...My Countess orders, I obey; Anyone who dares interfere, will have Hell to pay...