The hall the young boy leads me through is a long and complicated one, filled with many doors on both sides of me. The floor is covered with a velvety red carpet, and I wonder what it would feel like to run through it bare feet. The wall of each hall is beautifully decorated with designs. The only light source are flames from what I assume are gas lights hanging from the wall, but the bright orange and red that illuminate from them seem to give the mansion a more welcoming feeling. Sebastian follows closely behind me, trailing after me like a bodyguard.

"If I may ask," I begin, remembering to fake an English accent. My voice comes out soft and quiet, as the entire walk so far has been nothing but silent. The little boy walking gracefully in front of me turns his head to look at me, but Sebastian does not bother to ask if I were talking to him or not. I notice that it is assumed that when someone is talking, they are talking to the boy. Because of this, it's obvious that the little boy's position is higher than the man dressed in black. "Is Sebastian your –"

"Butler? Yes." The boy replies. He stops walking in front of a door and looks up at me. He gestures towards it. "Here we are, please go on in."

Before I can even touch the door to open it, a gloved hand is pushing it open for me instead. I jump a little bit in shock and look back to see Sebastian smiling at me, his head way too close to mine for comfort.

Someone clears their throat and I turn around to the turquoise-haired boy. "Do ignore Sebastian. He is only here to help. Please, go in."

Awkwardly, I nod, forcing my feet to step through the door frame and into the other room. This room, like the rest of the house, exceeds my expectations. I would say that my sisters and I are quite wealthy, and we live in a pretty nice house ourselves, but it's nowhere as big as this. Is this mansion only for a boy and his butler?

A dark coffee table sits in the center of the room and surrounding it, are two loveseats and one armchair. The room itself is decorated to perfection. It makes me wonder how a single butler can keep such a big mansion in tip top shape all by himself.

Assuming that the tiny master is going to be sitting in the large armchair, I maneuver myself to one of the loveseats located across from him. The boy walks over to the armchair and sits himself down while casually leaning his walking stick on the chair. I'm tempted to ask if he really needs one, but decide that it's best if I don't. I should try not to offend him if I'm trying to gain something out of him.

As soon as he's seated, I hear Sebastian's voice overhead. "I'll go prepare some tea, master. Would the Lady like anything to eat?"

It takes me a second to realise that he was talking to me. "Hm? Oh, no, it's fine. Thank you."

"Very well, then." With both hands held to his sides, he bows down at us before walking out the door. I watch his back as he exits, silently admiring how elegant he looks while doing that. He is quite the attractive fella.

"So, I guess we shall get down to business."

"Hm?" My attention snaps back to the turquoise-haired boy who is looking at me with a questioning expression. I feel a rush of embarrassment fly through me as I realise that I've been staring at his butler for quite the time. "Yes, I guess we should. Uhm, Mister…" I trail off, waiting for him to fill in the blank.

The little boy laughs slightly in his seat. "Oh, that's right. We never did properly introduce ourselves. My apologies. I am head of house, Ciel Phantomhive, and who may you be?"

My eyes widen at this info. This little boy is the head of house? He looks so young, though. The responsibilities that he must be given at such a young age… "Oh, well, hello..." I rack my brain, trying to remember what they would call someone in his position at this time. "Earl… Phantomhive…?" When he doesn't seem to disagree with what I called him, I continue, silently patting myself on the back for doing such a great job at guessing his title. "My name is Valentina Caverly, but you just have to call me Vale. My full name is really a mouthful."

"I will have to disagree. Do you not like your name?"

"No, no. I think its a nice name."

"Then I will call you that. Is that alright?"

I can't help but feel shocked at how he talks. How old is he really? He speaks so maturely, and he really is quite the charmer. Looking at him once again, I realise that he does look incredibly adorable from up close. "Yes."

"But of course." Ciel crosses one leg over the other. The way he's sitting – perfect posture, kind look on his face, head held adorably high – makes me realise just how bad my posture is. Subtly, I try to mimic his position. "Now, let's get down to business. You say you woke up in my garden?"

A knock on the door shuts me up before I even speak. The door gushes open and in comes a metal cart rolling on wheels and Sebastian follows shortly after. Ciel immediately sits up towards the back of his chair as he waits for Sebastian to serve him.

The butler takes the tea pot placed on the cart. With delicate fingers, he pours the liquid from the pot into two small teacups. He then places each up on a tiny plate and proceeds to serve us the drink.

Ciel takes his cup from Sebastian without a second though. I wonder how long this man has been serving this little boy. It sure is an odd sight. Sebastian then hands me my serving and I promptly take the cup from his hands and into my own.

"Today's desert for the evening is La Tarte aux Pommes avec le crème glacée, or, simply called apple pie served with ice cream. The ice cream was something I added myself, as I know how much the young master enjoys his sweets."

As Sebastian cuts a little piece from the pie he baked, I decide to take a sip of the tea. Upon tasting it, I cringe a little. The taste is so strong. I look up to see Ciel taking another drink as Sebastian places a piece of the pie in front of him.

So Lord Phantomhive enjoys strong tasting tea. Noted.

Ciel cuts a little bit of the pie with his fork. I watch him as he tastes the desert. He and Sebastian both look so incredibly comfortable with the situation. Are they not aware that a stranger is in their house? "Valentina. Are you sure you don't want anything to eat? Sebastian's quite a chef."

It has been quite a while since I last ate, and the pie does look really good. "Well, if you don't mind…"

"It won't be a problem at all. Sebastian?"

Sebastian obeys in an instant, cutting out another small piece and handing it to me. I take my own taste of the desert, making sure that I don't look like a slob when I'm eating it, which is how I would usually eat at home.

The taste is fantastic. There is a perfect blend of sweetness along with the softness of the crust. Penelope makes all the food we eat at home, and I consider her a pretty good cook, but what she makes is nothing compared to what I taste now.

"Valentina." I look up from the piece of heaven on my plate. "Shall we discuss now? It seems we have been interrupted a few times."

"Yes," I reply, averting my attention from the pie. If I can convince Ciel to let me stay here, I would probably be eating stuff like this all the time. "You see, it's just that I'm so lost right now, and I really am not sure where I am. I just need a place to rest until I get everything sorted out."

"A place to rest, huh?"

"Yes. Please, my Lord, you must understand."

The little boy eats another piece of his desert, completely ignoring my request for a while. When he answers me, it's not one that I like to hear. "I understand that you appear to be quite disoriented right now and me welcoming you as a guest would probably be the most beneficial thing towards you." I open my mouth to reply but he continues speaking before I'm able to say anything. "However, it is not my responsibility as the head of this house, nor as the Earl of Phantomhive to accept people in need. I run a toy company, not a charity home."

Toy Company? That explains the little models of figurines lying throughout the place.

I feel my blood run cold at his response. Yes, it might not be his responsibility but I figured that a little boy like this can't possibly be so cynical to not accept a damsel in distress.

"However, this does not mean that I will not attempt to help. This is the Phantomhive after all, and we aim to please our visitors. You say you're injured? Sebastian will help you with your wounds and then we will take you to a nearby motel. You look to be around here, I'm sure your husband will eventually find you and bring you home."

"I'm… not wed yet." If he insists on not letting me stay, I can start begging. Maybe he'll accept me from how pathetic I look.

"Then I'm sure you'll find your way home by yourself. I will even provide you with some extra clothing for your trip."

Right. My clothes. They're probably too revealing. I feel tears starting to crowd my eyes. In honesty, I'm scared. If a little boy is this cold to me, how will everyone else act?

"Please," I say, trying one more time. "You must understand. There's more than what meets the eye. I… I…" Come on, Valentina, think of a good lie. An idea passes through me and I decide that it's better than nothing. "I was kidnapped, tortured, for years. I just barely escaped yesterday. That's why I'm wearing clothes like this. I must've passed out in your garden as I ran. Please," I allow the tears to surface my eyes as I continue to fib. "You must help. I can't go back without anyone to help me."

Something I said must have stroke a chord in Ciel. He freezes momentarily, and though he recovered shortly after, it's not something that went by unnoticed by me. "You were kidnapped and tortured?" He sounds as if he wants to say something more.

"Yes." I kind of feel guilty for doing this.

"For how long?"

How long seems believable? "Years."

The young master seems to be thinking. His eyes stare out blankly at nothing. When he speaks, his voice sounds a little less friendly than before. "The world isn't a fair place, Valentina, and sometimes we will fall without ever getting up. I do admire your ambition in trying to get on your feet again after you've fallen. Few people are able to do that."

"T-thank you?" What is this kid on?

"Alright. The Phantomhive welcomes you as a guest here if that is what you have been through and you are not telling me lies."

"I'm not." I feel my insides jumping around in excitement. I can't believe that worked. I try to hide my feelings by putting the most convincing face I can manage.

"Sebastian." I almost forgot that the butler is even here. He's standing in the corner, and he's so quiet that his presence is hardly noticeable. However, when he takes a step forward into the room, all my attention is drawn on to him.

"Young Master?"

"Take Valentina to the guest room. Give her a fresh change of clothing, too."

The butler smiles mischievously as his eyes land on me. However, I have a feeling that the expression he gives me is anything but from a friendly intent. "Of course, My Lord."

so much to say in the authors note that no one probably reads

yayy for dark philosophical Ciel that happens every time you bring up his past. I just watched the latest of book of circus so haha and it's the weekend so I wrote moreeee

sebastian and ciel are both such hard characters to write simply because Sebastian can go from risking ciels life with snakes to trying his best to cover up ciels slave mark without being ordered to and ciel goes from treating the writer in the house murder arc with kindness and smiles to screaming and insulting at lau and agni. It's hard to imagine what triggers and causes what type of reaction to both of them. Perhaps it's just bc I'm new at fanfic :p

that may also be why the ciel may seem kinda bipolar cause I'm still so confused on how to write them. I think when I get used to them I'll get better

But yeah I don't really know how I feel about this chapter bc it went in the direction I wanted it to go sure but the conversations, especially the one between oc and Ciel feels too forced and dragged out to me, and also too repetitive and unrealistic. But I felt that Ciel would not just accept a random girl in his house so I mean I guess this was more in character than him just letting her stay?

oh and my first review thank you so much ^_^ I would think that most are pretty in character, but they're more in character with anime!ciel than manga!ciel which are almost two different characters imo I'm going to try to write with manga!ciel and Sebastian so I'be been reading on everything ciel and Sebastian for the past week or so xD

anyways wow I wrote a lot. this type of authors note won't happen often I swear I'm just really excited

review if you want it will please me :p I will reply

sebastian scene in next chapter yayyyyyyyyy I'm so excited to write it

adios~~~~~~~~