- | Circus Arc |-
I kept my hands entirely to myself as everyone finished loading up our baggage, eyes locked on the ground no matter who passed by. It was incredibly eerie how easily I had fallen into this isolated and ashamed stupor. As though it had happened before.
However, I was fairly certain it hadn't, or I would have remembered how to handle being pushed away so suddenly.
Ciel stood a few feet to my left, in nearly the same pose as I was in. Hand on his cane and gaze averted.
We made eye contact once that entire morning and he had reacted with such disgust I nearly choked on my own confusion.
What in the world made him change his mind so bloody quickly? Ever since he caught the murderer-- who, I was told, was only an escaped convict-- Ciel had taken such a nasty attitude.
"Off we go now, dearie!" Yuki chirped, snapping me out of my thoughts and opening the carriage door for me, "the boat leaves soon, we wouldn't want to keep you from London any longer!"
I pressed my lips together, uneasy. She, along with the twins and Salvador, had been so incredibly relieved when Ciel announced the capture and termination of the perpetrator. I, too, was just as content as them for a moment, relieved and ever so proud, until I was shunned so abruptly by the one who had promised to settle things once they were over.
This must be things settled then, by his own accords.
I should not have expected so much.
"My Lady, won't you step inside?" Rodric asked, extending his hand to me.
My feet shuffled a bit as I regained my composure and I nodded, taking it slowly.
Three days.
Three days pervaded with feeling so ignored. Embarrassed. Regretful.
It must have been Elizabeth. Of course, he loved her. It was dimwitted of me to think otherwise.
Leave her for me? What a preposterous fantasy.
What was left now for me to do was fix my mistake. And the only way to achieve that was to pretend nothing had ever happened.
I couldn't think of an ulterior solution.
Book in hand, Eren made his way to the carriage and bowed his head lowly as his sister folded in the length of my dress once I was seated, humming softly to herself as she did. Ciel approached both of them from behind slowly, frown in place, and Erin happily stepped back to allow him room, smile bright and cheery. I looked out of the other window swiftly and began counting backwards from a thousand to distract me.
"Have a good ride, Earl!" Erin called to Ciel once he was inside.
"Remember to take good care of the Countess!" Eren added, waving his hand back and forth before Salvador clicked the door shut.
The book Eren had left beside me lay forgotten as I became lost in my thoughts, the thick silence in the carriage separating us even further. I had already bid my farewells and was only waiting for a butler to take the reigns of the horses and lead us away and to the sea.
I twiddled my thumbs impatiently.
What could I have possibly done?
"We shall be taking our leave now." Rodric's voice called from the driver's seat, but neither of us responded.
Idly, I leaned my head against the frosting window and kept my eyes closed. I should not have invited him to come along in the first place. None of this would have happened. My confession. His repulsion. The deaths. The distress.
This was all my fault.
-
As expected, Ciel did not even say goodbye once we reached port back in London again. Mey-Rin and Finny barely had enough time to wave sadly as they were pulled away and Salvador could only manage a short grunt, ducking his head down as Sebastian followed Ciel's orders of taking them all home immediately.
Rodric tried to coax me into doing the same and I only nodded numbly, eyes locked on the carriage that sped away without a second thought.
"I'm sure the Queen has left you lots of post!" Yuki said, bags in her arms.
She struggled a bit to carry them to the next coach, refusing the persistent help from Salvador and dropping everything in the next moment. I could have sworn I had caught sight of a male's sleeve slip out from an opened valise, but all the servants had rushed over to pick it up before I could try and see any closer.
I shrugged it off, instead focusing my worried on more trivial matters.
The Queen would most certainly have a new task for me to carry out and I begged to the sky above that it had nothing to do with Ciel. I couldn't bare to see him so soon after today.
Above, the clouds rolled over the minimum sunlight and I sighed as a headache began to bloom.
"It's going to rain, let's get back to the Manor, shall we?" I asked, raising a hand to my forehead.
Everyone nodded with surprising enthusiasm and sped up their movements significantly. Even Rodric arranged the inside of coach, something he normally did not do, to my liking, giving myself enough room to lay down and rest.
"I shall wake you when we arrive," Salvador promised, helping me inside.
The carriage creaked as I laid down on the fluffed pillows and Yuki adjusted herself so my head rested on her lap, letting her fingers caress hair like my mother would do once upon a time.
"We're here, little Adelina, all will be fine," she mumbled, humming softly as she continued to comb through my knots.
I struggled to keep my eyes from closing, but once the carriage began to move, the bumps and jumps rocked me back and forth ever so slightly, enough to lull me into a nightmare filled and paralyzing sleep.
It began with the voices.
"Aunt Opal would have been next."
"Yes."
"She should have been next."
I could not swallow as I continued to listen, stuck in a pitch black void that refused to give me room to move. Or more so, I couldn't move. I could barely breathe.
"One way or another, we did what we had to do," the older feminine voice drawled, sending a shiver down my spine.
She sounded so familiar.
So close.
"Do you think she can hear us?"
"No, she's a deep sleeper when she's tired. After what he's made her go through, I'm sure she's exhausted."
The second, deeper voice huffed and there was a slight sound of a shuffle.
"I feel like he's going about this wrong. She's only more confused and upset. I don't like it."
"It will work itself out. As long as he keeps quiet, eventually, they will come back together. That's what we were told."
Again, another huff. I could feel tears begin to pool at the edge of my eyes and I whimpered softly, unable to do anything more.
"We should have just killed them all for what they knew. She would have been better off and Lord Phantomhive wouldn't be in the position of being forced to do this to her."
At the mention of Ciel, I shot up from where I had been laying, covered in sweat and tears. Frantically, I looked side to side to try and identify the speakers, nearly sure that Yuki and Salvador had been conversing the entire time but was only met with a shocking reality, leaving me stunned.
"My Lady, are you alright?" Eren worriedly asked, hand at the edge his seat, ready to help me to my feet.
Glancing backwards, I saw Erin with her hands wrapped around her front apron, frightened. She blinked a few times before extending a hand to me and rubbing my hand gently, reassuringly.
"Nightmare, my Lady?" she asked softly, brows furrowed.
I refused to answer, panting softly to catch my breath. The twins exchanged nervous stares when I still did not reply and the carriage door opened, scaring me slightly. Erin caught me when I jumped from my seat and Rodric only extended his hand to me, unfazed.
"We've arrived," he motioned for me to step out and I hesitantly did, still slightly dizzy from the unpleasant jolt out of my thoughts. "I do believe you have a few letters to attend to."
Begrudgingly, I stepped inside the manor and made my way to the parlor, waving away the twins who insisted on staying with me until I recovered. This was not the first nor the last time it would happen and already learned that the effects of the event wore off after a few hours.
I would be fine.
"Tea or milk, Countess?" Rodric asked me once I had sat down at my desk, shoving Yuki out of the room as she growled.
"It was my turn to ask her, you twit!"
I smiled wearily and shook my head.
"Tea, with honey please," I said, waving them both away.
He nodded pleasantly and shut the door in Yuki's face, leaving me in peaceful and much-needed solitude. My desk
was cluttered and the blinds were pulled shut, oil lamps lit around the room nicely to give me a relaxing space to work.
The first letter was from the company extension in Ireland. The next was from a local business chain wanting to buy some nearby, open land. The third letter, enclosed by the familiar wax stamp of the Queen, held a single olive tinted ticket, with the words bolded in childish letters at the front.
Noah's Ark Circus.
I tore open the letter and began to read.
My Little Darling,
I do hope your visit to America went well. There was word of the tragic and unforeseen circumstances that occurred but I was assured everything was fixed. Both you and Ciel have seemed to find a way to work well together, it puts my heart at such ease.
Now, I as for the enclosed ticket. Did you know a circus is expected to arrive in London soon? I'm told it's a traveling troupe, and a large number of children are missing from towns they've visited. Although police are doing all they can, they still haven't been found. They always vanish without a trace in the middle of the night. It's as though they've been lured away by the Pied Piper of Hamlin. The sorrow of losing a family member difficult to bear, both you and Ciel know of this. I sincerely hope the children will return to their families soon, don't you?
Sincerely,
Queen Victoria
My heart hammered in my chest.
A mission with Ciel so soon?
This certainly would be a circus of emotions.
-
NEXT UP, BOOK OF CIRCUS.
-
...My Countess orders, I obey; Anyone who dares interfere, will have Hell to pay...