I huffed as I watched Ciel capture my king. We have been playing chess for two hours now, and Ciel has beaten me twice. This made a third. "I surrender. You are the master of chess." I smiled wryly as he sighed. Clearly I was not that worthy of an opponent.

The door behind us opened and Sebastian and Caerilyn walked in with tea and treats for elevenses.

"Good afternoon young master andlady. Today we have Darjeeling tea coupled with jam scones and fresh berries."

He served each of us a plate and a cup, adding two sugars to my had been about two weeks since I had come to the manor, and I was getting used to the demon being everywhere and doing everything. He didn't seem to be an immediate threat, and if he wanted to hurt me he would have done so already, so I had decided to tolerate him for now.

Caerilyn, however, was quite the opposite. It was clear that she hated Sebastian and despised his very existence. I sighed and looked at Ciel. He nodded almost imperceptible and drank his tea. He was getting frustrated with it as well. Just yesterday the two had almost gotten into blows over Sebastian adjusting my hair bow. It was surprising to see someone as cool and collected as Sebastian getting angry, but he did. At the moment, however, he was ignoring her, which was in everyone's best interest.

"My lord, a letter has arrived from her Majesty the Queen." Sebastian handed him a letter. He opened it and read through. "It appears that there is a strange case of nobles returning from India who are being attacked. They're being hung upside-down in town.

I nodded. "That's right. I've forgotten you are now the Queen's Watchdog." A pang of sadness went through me as I remembered the tragic events that gave him that title.

Ciel stood up. "Sebastian, ready a carriage. We will be going to see this for ourselves."

I looked up at them. "May I come?" As grateful as I was for him taking me in, I was beginning to get sick of staying indoors all of the time. This sounded incredibly exciting.

"No," he said curtly. "You will risk being recognized."

I pouted and looked at Caerilyn in the hopes that she would plead my case. But she only shook her head. "No, my lady."

I frowned. "Then why don't you go? Please? For me?" I batted my eyelashes, hoping she would succumb. And succumb she did. "Fine," she sighed and went with Sebastian and Ciel. "But you stay at the manor. Find one of the other servants to keep you company while I'm gone."

I nodded and waved them goodbye. As the carriage disappeared down the road, I went to go see Finnian, who was busy cleaning snow from the pathways. I smiled and tapped him on the shoulder.

The blonde jumped about a foot in the air and turned to me. "Ah! Y-your highness!"

I smiled and sat on the steps. "Please Finnian. I've given up that title. I'm just Rosemary."

He blushed. "O-okay. Miss Rosemary."

I chuckled and watched him work. "Ciel took Sebastian and Caerilyn to investigate a string of attacks. So I have to stay with one of the servants until they get back. I thought you would be good company. Is that alright?"

He nodded vigorously. "Yes! Of course!"

I smiled as we chatted idly for a while. He worked, I watched. Eventually a thought came to mind."I don't mean to offend, but why does Ciel employ you if Sebastian does half the gardening?"

He frowned but couldn't deny the truth in my question. Instead of retorting, he smiled and puffed his chest. "Because I'm super strong!" To demonstrate, he ran over to the edge of the forest and uprooted a large oak tree. My eyes widened as he tossed it further into the woods and ran back. "See?" He yelled back at me.

I nodded and shut my gaping mouth. "Ah, yes. So you are. That's amazing." I smiled as he returned.

He nodded, my reaction to his demonstration clearly instilling pride in him. "And Bard is good at figuring out plans and Mey Rin is really good with guns! And Mr. Tanaka looks sweet but actually knows jujitsu! We are all here to protect this place."

I wrapped my arms around myself. "Well that's good. If I'm going to live here, then I need all the protection this place has to offer."

I felt his green eyes on me. "Why did you leave in the first place?" He asked softly. "If you're a princess, didn't you live in a fancy castle and have pretty dresses and jewels and stuff? Why would you not want to be there?"

I almost started to tell him, but I just shut my mouth and smiled. "That's another story for another time." I stood up. "I should really get back inside. Sebastian had prepared treats for us, so I need to finish it. Besides, it's a bit cold out here."

He seemed a bit sad but nodded and waved as I left him to his duties. As I returned to the study, I couldn't help but smile to myself as I thought of the sweet blonde boy outside.

Okay so that chapter is pretty short. I'm sorry about that, but I wanted to get an update in before school started. The next chapter will be posted in the next few days, and it should be longer.