"Yaaay~! We're finally here~!" Finni cheered happily as he bounced up and down in his seat, eyes sparkling with excitement, as he looked around in every direction he could manage, as they rolled down the road behind Ciel's carriage.
"It's so exciting, yes it is~!" Mei-Rin gushed enthusiastically. "I can't believe Miss Chêne really asked me to be her bride's maid~!" Chêne and Ciel had already explained the situation to the others before their departure.
"Hoh, hoh, hoh," Mister Tanaka chuckled softly in agreement as he drove the servants' carriage. They had finally arrived in the neighboring town of Penbrook, the location of their latest case. Actually, even though it was called a town, Penbrook was closer to being a village, judging by the sparse amount of locals out and about. It did have a certain quaint charm, though. The air was even fresher out here than at the Phantomhive manor since they were even further away from the city. Bard smirked wryly as he took a drag on his cigarette and exhaled.
"Yeah, never thought I'd actually see the day those two got hitched... even if it's just a cover," the chef said, shaking his head out of bemusement. "But, we're not here to play. Chêne's gonna be in serious danger posin' as a bride, so we have to stay on our guard, got it?" he reminded them seriously. After hearing the details of this investigation, Bard had been surprised that Ciel and Sebastian would let Chêne become the target of a serial killer, but with them and Sebastian there to protect her, there was no way the shooter's bullet would hit its mark this time... as long as those two could stay focused and remember the wedding was all just for show... He sweat-dropped. Mei-Rin and Finni looked like they hadn't heard a word he had just said, because they were happily chattering away without a care in the word.
'Sorry, Chêne... maybe you're not as safe as we originally thought...' Bard thought, sighing as he exhaled the smoke in his lungs.
{The town of Penbrook, the Black Pony Inn...}
"Right. We still have one hour to prepare ourselves, before we must be at the church for the wedding," Sebastian announced after consulting his pocket watch once they had signed in and brought the luggage up. Ciel had rented one room for the men to change in and one for Mei-Rin and Chêne to change in. Formal clothes were not meant to be traveled in, after all. Sebastian, Ciel, and Chêne had no doubts that if the three stooges had been allowed to wear their wedding clothes, something would've happened to damage them. They're not sure what it might have been, but they weren't taking any chances. The Inn was within a stone's throw of the local Catholic church, St. Peter's, so it was within easy walking distance for the ladies in their dainty heels and elegant gowns.
"So, what're our parts again?" Finni asked Sebastian as he and Bard started pulling on their dress-shirts. Sebastian had already finished helping Ciel change, and Mister Tanaka was surprisingly fast for an old man, so the two of them had already gone downstairs to have some tea while they waited for the others to finish.
"You, Finni, shall be the ring-bearer. Be careful—very careful," Sebastian stated seriously as he handed Finni the small satin pillow the wedding ring was tied to. He didn't even want to think about what Chêne's reaction might be like if they lost the family heirloom he had ben given by Grandma Willow to use for just such an occasion... Sebastian pulled on his wedding jacket and straightened his tie. "And Bard will be playing the part of my groomsman," he added carelessly as he stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him.
"... Hey, wait a sec! Why did Finni get such a serious speech, when you said my role like it was an afterthought, dammit!?" Bard shouted incredulously after him.
"Ah, this is...!" Finni gasped when he looked at the ring on the pillow.
"Whoa...!" Bard said, his eyes widening when he too saw the beautiful ring. In this time period, it was more common for only one ring to be exchanged when the vows were said, as the custom of using double wedding rings for both the man and woman had not been established as of yet. Most wedding rings, especially those belonging to the lower class, were usually simple bands of gold with the couple's names and wedding date engraved into inside of the band. When wedding rings had jewels on them, the jewels were usually pearls and/or diamonds, but this ring... this ring had diamonds and emeralds! The chef whistled in appreciation. The gems looked pretty high quality, and they sparkled in the light. The design was simple but elegant. This was not the ring of a serving girl! Just looking at it made Bard's wallet hurt. How on earth did Sebastian afford a ring like this!?
{Chêne and Mei-Rin's changing room...}
KNOCK. KNOCK.
"How are things progressing with your preparations, ladies?" Sebastian asked politely as he knocked on the door.
"Ah, Mister Sebastian!" Mei-Rin exclaimed, jumping in surprise, as Chêne finished helping her put the finishing touches on her bride's maid dress.
"Mei-Rin's good to go, so she's going to help me into my dress now!" Chêne called out as she started slipping off her black stockings, so she could change into the white ones that matched her wedding dress and shoes.
KACHAK.
The two girls froze when the door opened just enough for Sebastian to slip inside. Mei-Rin was fully dressed, so she had nothing to be embarrassed about, but she was shocked Sebastian had just done such a thing while poor Chêne was sitting on the bed in just her undergarments and corset, in the middle of pulling the first white stocking up. She looked like an old-fashioned pin-up model in the pose she had accidentally frozen in.
"In that case, allow me," Sebastian said smoothly, smiling a radiant shit-eating grin as he took in the scene before him.
"M—Mister Sebastian, you mustn't!!" Mei-Rin shouted as she recovered from her shock, and jumped in front of the scantily clad Chêne to shield her from view. Chêne blushed cherry-red from head to toe as she face-palmed, too embarrassed and exasperated with Sebastian's bad habit of barging in on her to even bother yelling this time. For some reason, being caught pulling a stocking up in her undergarments while using the blue velvet garter that Nina had thrown in for her 'something blue' as a joke, was even more mortifying than when he'd seen her in just her bra and bloomers before... How did she keep ending up in situations that let Sebastian see her wearing so little anyway!?
"Do not worry, Mei-Rin. Chêne is perfectly safe with me. I simply wish to speak to her for a moment, alone," Sebastian stated nonchalantly as he herded the other flustered maid from the room easily, smiling that shit-eating grin of his. "We shall join you and the others downstairs momentarily."
"B-But—!" Mei-Rin started to protest. Sebastian promptly shut the door on her.
The room was completely silent for a moment as Sebastian held the door shut, and Chêne stared blankly at him, wondering if that had really just happened.
"Now," Sebastian said, smirking as he turned to face her. "Shall we—"
SMACK.
"..." Sebastian said as the pillow Chêne had just thrown and hit him smack in the face with slid from his face and fell to the floor. "... Are you quite finished?" He asked dryly, a little impressed she had managed to hit him, but not really in the mood for domestic violence at the moment.
"Are you finished barging in on me while I'm trying to get dressed?" Chêne retorted from behind the changing screen that she had run to after throwing the pillow. "I now it's nothing you haven't seen before, but can't I have even just a little illusion of privacy?" she asked, chagrined, as she pulled on her dress and tried to button as many of the buttons running up the back as she could. "Besides, it's bad luck to see the 'bride' before the wedding, you know."
"I do not know how that superstition came about, but you have nothing to worry about, Chêne," Sebastian said, whispering the last part in her ear as he walked around the screen and took over the work of fastening her dress's buttons. Chêne blushed, slightly chagrined at his continuation on ignoring her right to privacy and the little shiver she felt from his warm breath tickling her neck.
"If you just came to help me dress, Mei-Rin could've done that. Why do you always have to insist on doing it? Sebastian smirked and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him.
"S-Sebastian, what're you...?" Chêne asked, a little unnerved by how strange Sebastian was acting today. Sure, occasionally, he'd invade her personal space to mess with her, and she liked being held by him like this, but... Sebastian was not a 'hugger', and he wasn't the type to openly display his emotions so easily, either. If she didn't know any better, she'd think he'd been replaced by a body-snatching alien, or something.
"Perhaps, I simply do not want to share you with anyone else?" Sebastian said seriously.
"!?" Chêne gasped, eyes widening in surprise, when she suddenly found herself lying back on the bed with Sebastian looming over her. His crimson eyes glowed devilishly as he gazed down on her, softly caressing her lips with one of his gloved hands, while the other held her hand to his chest.
"You really are an interesting girl, Chêne. Time and time again, I have stated demons do not 'feel' the same way humans do. I truly believed that, and yet..." Sebastian mused as he held her hand to his lips and gently kissed her fingertips. "Will you marry me, Chêne?" he asked seriously as he caressed her hair. "I thought my blood contract with you would be enough, but the longer I am with you, the more I want. Even if you are bound to stay by my side for the rest of eternity, I cannot stand the thought that someday you might develop feelings for another... that you might let another man touch you. Heh. I suppose on earth this desire I feel for you is often called 'love'. In Hell I feign that they recognize it as hunger. Demons are very selfish creatures, Chêne. Once we find something we want, something that interests us... we will, without fail, seek to covet it for ourselves. Like a child enchanted by a butterfly gliding through the air, we will snatch it from the sky, and we will not stop until it becomes ours, no matter what means we must employ to obtain it. If it tries to fly away, we will pluck its wings. If it tries to crawl away, we will cut off its legs, and so on... this destructive hunger is said to be the closest thing to 'love' that my ilk is capable of."
Chêne furrowed her brow slightly in confusion. Although she was elated when he actually asked her to marry him, his words following his initial proposal were somewhat frightening. And yet, despite his cold words of a cruel and painful love, the demon she loved was staring down at her with the same tender look he had given her on the carriage...
"I want to cherish you. You're the first one I've ever met who makes me want to treat you gently. I want to protect you while you fly, rather than just entrapping you in a cage. Marry me, Chêne." He whispered softly, almost begging the petite girl in his arms, as he gently touched his forehead to hers. Chêne's eyes widened in surprise. Sebastian was not one to beg. Even though he would do anything once ordered by his contractor, Chêne knew the demon had a great sense of pride. He would never willingly expose what he would consider to be 'weakness' to another like this... However, she relaxed as she gazed softly into Sebastian's crimson eyes. There was no sign of hesitation. He truly meant every word he had just said. These were his true feelings for her, despite all of his teasing and harassment over the years. Sebastian would never lay bare his emotions like this unless he was completely and utterly serious. She reached up and gently caressed his cheek with her hand, smiling tenderly at him.
"I might be 'book smart', Sebastian, but when it comes to love, I'm a hopeless idiot. After all, I love you even though I know you're a sadistic demon, and I'm a non-masochistic catholic. As strange as it is, I honestly think I'd be able to be happy anywhere, as long as you're there with me. We'll probably have our ups and downs, like every other couple out there, but there's no one I'd rather face them with!" she said, smiling lovingly at him. Sebastian smiled.
"I take it you accept my proposal, then?" he asked coyly. Chêne blushed shyly as she gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"Does that answer your question?" She asked, smiling a little coyly at her soon-to-be husband, despite feeling a little embarrassed by her own boldness. Sebastian grinned, his eyes shining devilishly as he held his blushing bride.
"What on earth is taking you two so—!?" Ciel started to demand as he suddenly entered the room, without knocking. The young earl froze and turned blue with shock when he saw the extremely compromising position that Chêne and Sebastian were in.
"... Do you mind, sir? We were having a moment," Sebastian deadpanned, staring accusingly at Ciel, as though he felt the boy interrupted before he could kiss Chêne senseless on purpose. Was the entire universe conspiring to protect Chêne's chastity from him?
Ciel sweat-dropped, wishing eye-bleach had been invented so he could un-see what he had just witnessed. For some reason, even though Chêne and Sebastian were both fully clothed, Ciel was feeling the same sensation of slight nausea and betrayal that most kids do when they walk in on their parents doing you-know-what...
"... I didn't ask about that, and I don't want to know... Just get up so we can get to church and get this over with!!" Ciel snapped back defensively, blushing furiously as he ran from the room.
"Is it just me, or did a really big misunderstanding take place just now on Ciel's part...?" Chêne asked, sweat-dropping. Sebastian smirked.