Standing at the balcony of the large entrance to the exhibition, Ciel surveyed the area. The air was cooler in the upper atmosphere, but it was still a nice and sunny day. The Eiffel tower, standing like a proud soldier, caught his eyes. Beside him, his butler quickly went over the introductory information he had memorized from a pamphlet earlier.

"The Champ de Mars is home to the Palace of Fine Arts…" he started.

Ciel was barely listening, but he didn't let that show. Wherever he wandered around the area, surely there would be something interesting to watch. In this giant area, where would the Queen most likely be at?

"Shall we look around a bit more? It should give you ideas for new products." Sebastian finished.

Ciel thought about the idea a bit. Although it would be a lie to say he wasn't interested in seeing some exhibits, it could be a business trip as well as leisure. Leaving it up to fate, he resolved to at least enjoy his time here.

"Yes, they say there's a stuffed angel at the Palace of Wonders!" came a voice from behind them.

Ciel and Sebastian turned around, but only two generic Frenchmen were chatting. Not suspicious, but quite a turn of events.

"A stuffed angel…?" Ciel wondered aloud.

He and his butler turned to face each other, a perplexed emotion spreading between them.

"Surely that wouldn't be…" Ciel started.

Sebastian cut him off briskly, "Should we go and see for ourselves?"

Following the signs and various maps posted around, Ciel and Sebastian entered into the Palace of Wonders. There were various glass cases with exotic artefacts in them, arranged in no particular order. The map given to them did not have any specific exhibit labelled, so they had to wander around the entire building. Eventually, they spotted a large around of people gathering near one case and Ciel came closer to inspect it.

Numerous voices murmured surprise, mockery and even a few giggles at how funny this stuffed angel looked.

"What, it's just a monkey? What a disappointment."

While Ciel said that, he felt a bit of relief. The monkey sat there with its mouth agape, swan wings opened behind its back. It was another fake, he reasoned. Faux animals were often comprised of two animals cut and sewn together. Earlier in the month, there had been a widespread gossip on a preserved mermaid being found, but after a little research, it had just been a shaven monkey torso attached to a large fish. Certainly this was just another of those strange taxidermist hobbies.

"Oh? I think it looks quite accurate." Sebastian said dryly.

They prepared to leave to seek other wonders, but a shrill scream and the sound of glass crashing caught them off guard. Without missing a beat, Sebastian pulled his master's head down as the flying monkey screeched and flew over their heads. People were panicking as the monkey swooped down along the lights, breaking them and plunging the building into darkness. The light that still filtered from the windows made the monkey stand out in the darkness as it kept flying around erratically. Ciel, too, started to feel anxious at this strange event, but Sebastian calmed him down, urging him to head towards the exit.

"Please, evacuate and leave this place to me." Sebastian suggested.

Ciel complied, running towards the exit. While a million thoughts raced his head and a pang of doubt poked at him, he kept racing for the light that led to the outside world, away from the darkness. Meanwhile, Sebastian set to work on analyzing the flying monkey. Giving thanks to the darkness, he figured that he could easily take care of the thing before it caused anymore trouble. Leaping onto a tall pillar, he used his superb jump skills to catch the monkey mid-flight, tackling it and landing with a roll onto the balcony above. The people below clamoured and headed for the exit, not noticing the black shadow zipping around to take care of the animal. Sebastian successfully pinned the animal down and slowly suffocated it until it fell limp and unmoving.

Having a closer look, he noticed the quality of the snow-white feathers. Surely none of those came from a swan. The feathers themselves looked disarranged on the wing, so Sebastian held them out at wingspan. With a crack, the wings dislocated and. As he had thought, it had a wooden framework with feathers simply glued to it. Morbidly, there was some blood on the tips of where the ends of the feathers were glued to the frame. Touching a tongue to the blood stains, he instantly recognized who it came from. Not that he particularly cared, but his curiosity had been sated. Sebastian turned the animal over and revealed a black seal under the neck of the beast. Although he was not certain how long it had been there, Sebastian knew that the seal meant that the body belonged to some demon. Finally walking out of the dark Palace, he whispered to himself.

"Such poor taste…"

What kind of stupid demon would make a contract with a monkey in mechanical wings? Well, now that the thing was dead, he was sure that the stupid demon would come to take the soul soon. He dumped it in a nearby trashcan, where it truly belonged. Looking up, he spotted a white feather floating down. He caught it and examined it. Although it was a slightly paler colour than the ones on the monkey, Sebastian could say with certainty that it still did not belong to a swan. Looking upwards, his eyes searched for where it could have come from. They finally landed on the tallest object in the area: the Eiffel Tower.

At the highest floor of the Eiffel Tower, the Queen was humming a tune to herself while Ciel straggled behind. After a strange conversation in the elevator, Ciel wasn't quite sure what to make of this Queen. Although he had only received letters as a form of communication between the two nobles, he was quite sure that the voice sounded younger than what the Queen was supposed to sound like. In his heart, he feared the worst: an impostor. Still, she had the mannerisms and speech patterns as a Queen should have. Thinking back on the case of the Bercham estate, as well as his recent findings on his own parents, this was the case he wished for.

"Might I ask you something?" Ciel interrupted, not realizing the redundancy of his question.

The Queen responded, "What is it?"

"You didn't just kill them; you made it beastly…Why?"

The horror of his memory came back to him, although he kept his face as blank as possible. The Queen turned to fully face him.

"Mind your language, Ciel." She tutted, "I cleansed them."

"That's what you call 'cleansing'? Demeaning the dead?!"

"D-Demeaning…? I merely wanted to pay what tribute I could to the Phamtomhives…"

A strong gust of wind blew, taking the Queen's veil and Ciel's hat with it. When the Queen showed her tear-streaked face, Ciel had to take a step back. There was no way that this was the Queen. Her face was too young. At first, he might have thought that she was aging and thus her shorter stature, but the person in front of him looked young and pale. He heard chuckling behind him and he turned around to face Ashe. He sat on the fence, as if he was always there.

"Surprised? She is all but aglow with youth, isn't she?"

He leapt down and slowly walked towards them, carefree in his gait. He presented and waves his arms around in a flamboyant and dramatic way.

"The loss of her beloved husband ended Her Majesty's days of happiness. In her grief over his death, she once tried to end her own life. I joined his body with her own, so that she might live with the man she loved forever."

"His body…?" Ciel repeated, feeling unease in his stomach.

The Queen also joined in, giving her own testimony.

"The joy of truly becoming one with the one you love… I felt that if I gave the Phantomhives that same joy, it would not be a ghastly death at all. This kind of love…only Ashe can bring it to me."

"The Queen and her husband firmly intend to guide England to a world of perfect light." Ashe recited, "That aim has purged them of their own impurities, transforming Her Majesty into the chaste girl you see before you. What a lofty aim! She is a worthy master for an angel."

He held a hand over his heart, as if he was feeling sentimental.

"Her Majesty is selfless in that she wants to bring this happiness to all of England. To purge all evil for her country and unite everyone."

Ciel had a cold sweat seeping into his clothes and he took a step back. The Queen held a hand up to stop Ashe and took a step forward.

"The Phantomhive house has always been carrying out my orders. However, in the end they could not stop the dirt that was slowly infesting their souls. That's why… instead of continuing on like this…I had to employ the services of others too. Do you understand, Ciel?"

"W-What are you talking about?" Ciel stammered.

"I found an easier way to clean up my country. Why use your most valuable asset where there could be a more disposable resource? That's why I had Ashe create the Rouge-Gorges. It's much easier cleaning up if you can just throw the broom away when you're done. When they're done ridding the places of their darkness, it's easy to get rid of them, isn't it, Ashe?"

Ashe, beside her, laughed.

"S-So then…that was your doing!" Ciel muttered.

"Ashe," commanded the Queen, "at least let Ciel fall to your blade."

Ciel, who was overwhelmed with contradictory thoughts, couldn't bear to hear anymore. He stood there, unable to move or make any decisions. Ashe, on the contrary, brought out his sword and flourished it. He launched a charge, aimed right at Ciel's heart. Ciel closed his eyes, and suddenly he felt himself lifted up and carried away to a safer spot. When he opened his eye, Sebastian was there, armed with his silver knives.