Warnings? Info? Okay. I decided to challenge myself with a romance, since I'm more of the action type writer. This story is mainly from Elizabeth's POV, but it's in third person. I normally like to finish my stories completely before publishing them anywhere, but I'm too excited to see how this turns out. I'll be honored if you follow through with this tale. I'll try to post a new chapter everyday. Thank you for reading! Critiques welcome!
This is the prequel to "Demon of Deception."
Chapter One: Be Safe
"I'll be departing for a while," a 13 year old Ciel informed a 14 year old Elizabeth. He sat as tall as he could as they conversed together in a gazebo nearby the Middleford mansion. The sun glimmered down brightly on the vibrant colors of the garden, and the smell of the flowers filled the air with the familiar sweet scent. The young earl grabbed his fiancée's feeble hands and squeezed them tightly for a moment, knowing it would be long before they would see each other again. Although his feelings were few for the lady, it was part of his duty as her lover to show as much affection as he could. The child sighed and shut his visible eye. "I'm not sure when I'll be returning, but I'm sure the case will be quick and easy to solve." The noble gave a reassuring smile after his lie; this new case would be expected as a long one. However, orders were orders, and the case would be solved no matter the timespan.
"W-Why?" Elizabeth began to tear up. She childishly slipped her hand from his grip and hastily wiped an unnoticeable tear away, trying her best to keep her ladylike figure in order. The Queen had ordered the dog to yet again solve another case, only this time Ciel would be traveling far off to the foreign country known as America. Now it would be more than dangerous without the reliable butler normally at his side, but the man had run off to a "faraway place" beyond Elizabeth's knowledge. She clutched a small gift in her hands that carried a good luck charm- a present for the young master. The young girl suddenly couldn't control herself and began to sob. She covered her face and turned away from him. "Why are you always leaving me?"
The young master's eyebrow twitched. What a nuisance. He huffed and forced a smirk while scooting in closer to her and patting the miss on the back. "Don't worry, Elizabeth. I'll stay safe. I'll even write you every day if that will make you feel better."
Her eyes began to light up as she turned to look at him once more. She clenched her fists and flaunted her teeth with a big smile. "Oh, Ciely! Will you really?!" She cheered. Her golden pigtails flew behind her as she swooped in for a hug around the neck from her beloved fiancée. "Thank you! That will make me feel much, much better! Oh, thank you!"
"Alright, get off of me!" He pouted as he forced away from her, now sitting on the opposite side of the bench. His once blue eye glistened as the awful new red color. The earl stood from his seat and brushed his clothes off before exiting from the gazebo and trudging back to his awaited carriage. He only stopped a moment to look back at his fiancée sit lonely in the freshly white painted structure. They locked eyes, and Elizabeth wiped another tear away. Ciel frowned and creased his eyebrows, studying the laced up doll. Indeed, it would be very long until they would see each other again. The earl turned away from her and lifted his head to look at the slowly moving clouds. "I'll be seeing you, then… Lizzie," Ciel said before making his way to the carriage again.
Elizabeth blushed and smiled as she looked down at her gloved hands which sat in her lap. Although it wasn't what she wanted to hear, it was content enough. He rarely called her by her desired nickname anyway. This would be her last time seeing the darling fiancée for a while. She didn't know how long until he would come back- weeks, months, maybe even years. She knew she couldn't pass up this opportunity. "Wait!" Elizabeth cried as the boy stepped into the carriage. She quickly arose from her seat and lifted her skirt up, now speeding towards the vehicle. "Ciel!" She called again, waving her arm around. The driver whipped the reins of the horses and they all began to start off into a gallop. Elizabeth clutched a small box in her hand. She pumped herself to run as fast as she could to catch up to the carriage, now holding the gift up to the window. "Ciely!"
"What the-?!" Ciel whipped his head around to gaze at the speeding girl. He was baffled. The boy had never even seen a child race so fast in those 13 years of life.
"Please take this as good luck on your journey!" The bubbly girl panted, lightly falling behind.
The box was handed off to Ciel with a struggle, but he took hold of the present and flopped back in his seat, shutting the window curtains so there wouldn't be another disturbance. The noble forced himself to unwrap the orange ribbons. He then opened the white lid to find inside a diamond necklace that beheld a pink kunzite gem at the end. The earl scoffed at the girly junk, but slid the jewelry onto his neck anyways. What a fortune it must have cost to have this made, but the girl was willing to buy anything for her fiancée. He whispered a "thank you" and clutched the good luck charm tight in the palm of his hand.
Elizabeth, not being able to keep up anymore, did her best to run to a stop but ended up tripping and ruining her beautiful coral lace dress with dirt. The dust that had rushed up from the carriage flew into her face, forcing several coughs to slip from her lungs. She covered her mouth with one hand and winded away the dust with her other, then sat in the silence for a while as it cleared up. She was deathly going to miss that boy of hers. Elizabeth cupped her hands over her mouth and called out to the shrinking carriage one last time even knowing they wouldn't hear; "You better not look at any other girls while you're gone!"
Elizabeth lied in her bed early the next morning, unable to get up. She hardly gained a wink of sleep because she was so utterly weary about her fiancée's travels, wondering if he would be safe or not. The lady sat up in her bed and lifted her hand over her mouth to voice a yawn. Moments later, her servant known as Paula came in to dress her madam. The maid smiled. "You seem tired, milady."
Elizabeth nodded and lifted her arms so her gown could be removed. "My Ciely won't be around for a while," she sighed. Her eyelashes fluttered and she let out another ungraceful yawn into Paula's face. "I don't even know when he's coming back or if he'll even be okay."
Paula frowned and hummed, thinking of how to cheer up the child. She quickly finished dressing the small girl and jumped back, suddenly waving her hands around and smiling so big that it forced her eyes close. "Why don we go shoppen fer some new cute dollays? That will make those nasteh thoughts go aweh, huh?!" She forced a big, bright laugh and opened her eyes again, only to come to a frown at the sight of her master's sorrowful facial expression. The maid lightly smiled again and sat down next to Elizabeth, throwing her arm around the depressed child and rubbed her shoulder. "Iem sure he'll be well. He's alwehs turned up safe bafore," Paula encouraged, slightly tilting her head. "You don think he'd do anythen to get himself killed, would ya?"
"Oh, but he would!" Elizabeth pouted, ripping from her servant's grip to stand and look at her. "My Ciely is always getting hurt; he's always risking his life for that bully of a Queen!"
Paula was taken aback from the sudden outburst. "Oh, mai. You shouldent talk like that about Her Majesteh."
Elizabeth puffed out her cheeks and held her breath. She whipped her arm forward and pointed at Paula, thinking of what to say without trying to say anything mean, but nothing crossed her kind and delicate mind. Instead, the stubborn girl blew out her breath and turned around and marched out the door without another word, swinging her arms and legs up in the most absurd fashion. "She could never understand my fury!" Elizabeth pouted in the most humorous way. She made her way out of the manor and into the very outskirts of the gardens, stopping at a semi lonely tree. There, she twirled and twirled and flopped right underneath it. The breeze cooled her temper, and the soft grass eased her tension. She sighed and shut her eyes wishing to take a nap after the exhausting, sleepless night.
A laugh was suddenly heard to her right, and she popped her eyes open and jerked her head to see what the noise was, only to be surprised by the sight of her fiancée. Ciel was lying on his back next to her, and he was smiling. He outstretched his hand and took hold of hers. How warm he felt on her bare skin. Elizabeth giggled and played with the earl's fingers. She felt herself blush as they stared into each other's eyes. Ciel's hair lightly lifted from a short breeze. "It's good to see you, Lizzie," the earl hummed. He sighed and closed his eye, the smile never departing from his lips.
Elizabeth also shut her eyes. "It's so good to see you, too! I'm glad you're back." She whispered, her stomach filling with butterflies as she began to slumber once again. Before she would completely fall asleep, she forced her eyes open once more just to make sure that her fiancé was still there right by her side and still clinging to her hand.
But he wasn't.
The dazed and confused girl sat up, realizing she fell asleep. She should have known it was only a dream; the way Ciel's eyes glimmered so blue like they had before. Instead, they were currently now a deep shade of crimson red, like Sebastian's. She hated that unnatural eye color, but things were already in their place and they wouldn't change no matter what she wanted. Elizabeth huffed. She glided back onto the grass and stared up at the leaves of the tree. Some of the glow from the sunshine fell through the tree top, painting little beams of gold on the young girl's body. Those beams were so warm, like Ciel's skin. The dream was so real; it was as if she was actually touching him, but unfortunately it was just a dream.
Elizabeth could feel a familiar lump in her throat. She sat up, realizing she was about to cry again. She shouldn't have been crying about such things. Ciel would always venture off to solve cases, and he would always be gone for a little while. However, this time was different. This time he would be hundreds of miles across the sea in a new world. This time he would be gone for possibly weeks and weeks without a day's rest. This time Elizabeth wouldn't be able to visit him on his tough case to cheer him on or even say hello. He would be off on his own little adventure all by himself, unaware of the time or date, and he wouldn't even be able to speak with his beloved fiancée. At least he had his good luck charm to keep him safe.
Elizabeth shook her head as if to clear her thoughts and forced away her puppy face. She should feel extremely happy for Ciel. After all, he was doing what he did best; solving cases. "I'm sure the case will be quick and easy to solve," he had so merrily acclaimed, meaning it wouldn't be long before he returned. He would come back safe and tulip petals would fall through the air and they would giggle and joyfully run in slow motion through a field and embrace each other just like in the books. It would be as if they had never even left each other's side. Elizabeth cupped her face with her hands and blushed at the sweet thought. She would just have to wait a while before her fiancée's return.
The young girl brought herself back up to her feet and brushed her fluffy satin lavender dress off, and she blithely skipped back to her abode, letting a merry tune flow from her humming lips.