As you gazed out of the window, you stared at the enormous estate that you would be staying at for the next week. You were attending the Phantomhive ball tonight, and you decided that it was a nice idea to spend time with your good friend, Ciel. Although he was 3 years younger than you, you considered him mature and quite wise for his age. You two had been close for a while now, but you hadn't seen him in so long. After his parents died and his home burned down, you respected that fact that he needed time to cope, so you didn't bother him. But now, you could barely contain your excitement; it was going to be so nice to talk to Ciel once again! You missed him dearly and were constantly worried about him, though you couldn't really do anything about it seeing as he basically evaded you.
After your moment of awe, you snapped back to reality, only to find the carriage door open and man standing in front of you, his hand reaching out to yours, offering his assistance in helping you out. He was tall, slender and very handsome. His dark, effortless looking hair along with those entrancing eyes made your heart beat fast and you suddenly got butterflies in your stomach. You had never seen this butler before... You were well aware of the people that served the Phantomhives, but you would have remembered this man if you'd met him in the past.
You couldn't help but stare at him, disbelief that anyone could look as... perfect as him. Normally you refuse to call anything perfect, but there was something different about him... It was almost as if he wasn't... human. You quickly pushed the thought away, angered at yourself for acting like such a hopeless romantic fool.
You quickly regained your composure and smiled, taking his hand, which sent chills down your spine.
"Hello, Lady Katerina. I am Sebastian, butler of the Phantomhive manor." He stated very politely, with a small smile across his face.
"Hello, Sebastian. Thank you for having me. But please, call me Katherine." You said just as politely, letting go of his hand and turning to face him. Then suddenly, there were three others running towards you. They quickly came to an abrupt halt once they were standing a few feet from you and Sebastian. These were also new servants that you didn't recognize. A cute, red-haired girl with glasses; a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy with a hat hanging around his neck; and a taller, broader, blonde male with a cigarette in his mouth. You made sure to give them all a friendly smile.
"Allow me to introduce our other servants. This is Mey-Rin," he gestured towards the girl, "Finnian," he called the boy with the hat, "and Baldroy." He pointed towards the buff male.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm so happy to be here, thank you all so much." You said in the sweetest voice you could. You noticed the boy they named Finnian start to blush, and Baldroy spoke up.
"Oh, the pleasure is ours, Miss. A pretty little lady like you deserves the best." He said grinning widely, and Mey-Rin added, "Oh, it's certainly wonderful having you here, yes it is!"
You gave a small smile and looked down, not wanting them to see your cheeks turn pink.
"You three may collect Lady Katherine's belongings and bring them to her room." Sebastian commanded them. He then added quietly, "Please, be careful. We need to do the finest we can for our guest." The three of them nodded in unison, and hurried off to follow their orders.
Sebastian then held his arm out, gesturing for you to start walking first.
"After you, m'lady." He said ever so kindly, making your heart flutter slightly.
As you stepped inside the new manor, you stopped, pausing to take it all in. You had never visited Ciel's new home before, and already you could tell it was spectacular. Just the front room alone was incredible. The polished wood, the antique decor. It was magnificent.
Your eyes then lit up as you saw that familiar face walking down the stairs. You had to resist the urge to run up and hug him that instant. As he saw you, he smiled, coming up to you and wrapping you in a warm embrace. He was about two inches shorter than you, so you bent down slightly to match his height.
"Hello, Lady Katherine. It's a pleasure to see you again." He said, gently pulling away from the hug.
You smiled, but it soon became a frown once you noticed the black eyepatch covering his right eye. Trying to act as if you haven't noticed it, you replied, "To you as well, Ciel. I've missed you so much. I can't wait to catch up with you, it's been years!" You exclaimed, your calm slowly slipping into euphoria.
"Well, perhaps you'd like to join me for tea then?" He offered, your response a big grin and a nod.
You were then lead to an large room, where a wood table stood in the center with two chairs placed either side of it. An extravagant chess set sat atop the table; you knew Ciel had always taken a liking to chess.
Sebastian pulled out your chair for you, and you thanked him gratefully. As Ciel took the seat opposite of you, Sebastian began to pour tea from an expensive-looking teapot into two exquisite cups for you and Ciel. You immediately knew that Earl Grey tea would be served; Ciel was always so particular about his tea.
After Sebastian left the room and you both made small talk for a few minutes, your curiosity finally got the best of you.
"So, how have you been, Ciel? I mean, with all that's happened to you. We haven't talked since… then. I've been so concerned." His eyes narrowed.
"As you can assume, it was the worst thing that's ever happened to me. My life was completely destroyed." Ciel wasn't often emotional, but he did occasionally open up to you.
"I'm not going to say sorry, Ciel. I know that it doesn't help," You paused, thinking. "Apologies don't mean anything. They don't bring back the people you lost." You thought of your mother, how she was now gone. It's been years, and you've dealt with her passing, but the last memory of you have of her still haunts you. How her beige skin turned to a pale grey. How her rich auburn hair faded and started to fall out. How, at the end, she couldn't even get out of bed. You'd always wished that there was a cure to her disease. That she could have been saved. You were now left alone, your father fleeing after the death of his wife, unable to stay in the house she laid in as her heart stopped beating. You had lost your parents as well; you could understand what he was going through.
His face fell and his lips curved into a frown. You knew it was rude to continue asking sensitive questions, but you were desperate to know about it all. You cared for him deeply, wanting to help in him any way you could.
"Ciel…" You mumbled, "What happened to your eye? Why do you cover it? And who are these new servants? They don't seem to be in your... typical taste."
He looked you in the eyes as he spoke. "The injury to my eye was a simple accident, and I prefer to keep the scar hidden. As for the servants, they're merely here to do their jobs. I don't have a preference for housekeepers, as long as they are fulfilling their duties." He spoke coldly, and you could sense that he wanted to change the topic. But you could tell he was lying. The problem with his eye… there was more to it that he wasn't telling you. He rarely lied to you. This worried you even more, but you didn't pry for any more answers. You let the subject drop… for now.
It was now time for the ball, but you weren't too excited. You found them to be boring as they involved lots of dancing, which you weren't too fond of. Although you had lessons and were decent at it, you'd just never taken a likening to it.
You did have a gorgeous gown though. The shimmery, dark grey dress with white lace complimented your ivory skin nicely. You wore white gloves and the silver earrings given to you by your mother; one of the few things you had left to remember her by. Your dark brown hair was parted to one side, the wavy locks resting on your shoulder. Your vivid green eyes contrasted beautifully with your red lips, leaving you looking your best.
As the ball started and the dancing commenced, you stayed off to the sidelines, making idle chitchat with all of the friendly strangers. Soon, your patience started to disappear and you became uninterested. You saw Ciel on the dance floor, moving gracefully with Lady Elizabeth in his arms. You smiled at the thought of him possibly being happy; you could tell that most of the joy he was showing was false.
You began to wander off, curious about the manor's secrets. As you headed up the stairs and down the hall, you saw someone coming out of one of the rooms. Then followed by two others. At this, you giggled.
"Baldroy! Finnian! Mey-Rin!" You called out, waving to them. They turned and you quickly walked towards them, holding up your dress so that you wouldn't trip.
"Hey, Mey-Rin, Finnian, Baldroy," You gave a small curtsy. "What are you up to?" You asked, wondering if you could possibly join the entertaining people.
"Nothing." They all quickly answered, again in unison. You could tell they were up to something, and you were interested, but before you could question them, Baldroy spoke quickly.
"What's a lovely girl like you doing up here? Shouldn't you be down dancing at the party?" he asked you. You shrugged, unsure of how to explain yourself.
"Yeah, I guess I probably should be. Parties just aren't my cup of tea, I suppose," you responded nonchalantly, letting the formality in your voice go. "It's a shame you guys couldn't go down there and have a good time as well. You all work so hard, you deserve a break every now and then." At this, they all looked down in embarrassment.
Finnian was the first to look up and respond. "Sebastian says that we aren't allowed to interfere with the guests or anything. I think it's because we break a lot of stuff," he then promptly added, "But it's by accident, we swear! We never mean to break anything, it just happens!" This caused you to frown; they seemed so disappointed they couldn't go down to the ball.
"Oh, I'm sure it'd be okay for you to go down there. You'll be fine! You'd have a lot of fun, you should go." You offered.
"But Sebastian says-" you cut Mey-Rin off.
"Don't worry about what Sebastian says. If anything goes wrong, just say it's my fault. I don't mind covering for you guys." You gave an encouraging smile, willing them to go. At this, their eyes lit up.
"Oh, thank you so much, Lady Katerina. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" They all kept repeating over and over again, giving you lots of hugs. They then took off, hurriedly racing to the ballroom. Just as you turned around, there he was, standing a mere few inches from you. Sebastian.
"Is there a problem, Miss Katherine? How come you're not down with everyone else?" He asked you, looking into your eyes so intently it was as if he was seeing into your soul.
"I'm sorry, Sebastian. I didn't mean to wander off, it's just, I'm not much for dances..." You couldn't quite read him as you did so easily everyone else. It seemed as if he was slightly angered, but was masking it with a joyous expression.
"So you decided to come up here and tell the servants to join the ball? I specifically gave them orders to keep out of the way for tonight. You see they aren't the most professional in social situations, but they seemed to have listened to you…" He gave a wicked grin, rage flaring in his eyes.
Now nervous and afraid to upset him, you quickly explained as best you could, "Oh, I sincerely apologize, Sebastian. I didn't mean for them to disobey orders, they just seemed so sad that they weren't allowed to attend…" You started to mumble, drifting off topic, wishing you had a better excuse.
"That's quite alright, m'lady," He sighed, looking away. "Would you allow me to escort you back to the group?" You nodded, trying to hide how anxious you were. You enjoyed being around him, but when you were, you irritatingly lost you calm and collected personality.
As he looked at you expectantly, all you could do was agree. He linked your arm into his, leading you back down to the others.