This time through the mansion, Sebastian walks in front of me as he leads me to the guest room. We've left Ciel in the previous room, where he said that he will be managing a few papers for his company. The amount of work he does at such a young age still surprises me. I figure that this time would be the perfect time to ask Sebastian a little about this place, especially since it's so awkwardly silent.

I run a few steps to catch up with Sebastian who's currently ahead of me. "Sebastian. May I call you Sebastian?"

The butler only spares a tiny glance at me. "You may call me whatever you please. As of now, you are a guest of the Phantomhive." Yeah, and you don't seem too pleased about that fact, either, Sebastian.

"Well, what do all the other guests call you by?"

"Whatever they wish to call me."

I let out a deep sigh at how obnoxious he's being. I get that it's polite, but it's so overly done that it feels like too much. For some reason I think he understands how annoying he's being, and he's trying to be so purposely. "I'll just call you Sebastian. Is that okay?"

"Of course. That is my name, after all."

"Perfect. So Sebastian," I pause, trying to think of a good way to phrase my question. "Isn't Cie- uh, Lord Phantomhive a little too young to be, well, an Earl?"

Sebastian doesn't even bother to look at me when he speaks. "I believe that the young master is of perfect age."

"Really?" I reply with raised eyebrows. "So how old is he, anyways?"

"Is this information important for the Lady to know?"

I shrug. "Well, of course it's not important. I'm merely curious."

Sebastian's pair of red eyes land on me. He studies my expression. "Well, if that were the case, then I may tell you that The Lord is of twelve as of now."

Twelve? My eyes widen. Even in this century, twelve has still got to be a premature age for becoming an Earl. I decide not to voice my opinion as if may be offensive. Speaking of centuries, though, "Also, if I may ask, what, uh, what century are we currently in?"

"You don't know what century we're in, My Lady?"

Well excuse me for living in the 21st century only to come to this place, where everything seems so Victorian Era that I doubt my sanity. Nonetheless, I try to find an excuse for my question. "Yes, ah, you see... I was locked away for so many years that right now, I'm unsure of what year we're in." Oh, please. Even I don't believe that.

"Yes, I do recall you telling the young master of your kidnapping tale." Sebastian frowns, as if dissatisfied with something. "If you must know, we are currently in the 19th century. I don't imagine anything has changed that much during the few years that you were, well, kidnapped."

Well, to me, everything has changed. However, that's not what I'm focused on. I knit my eyebrows. Was the device really a time machine? I feel as if I'm in a huge reality TV show prank. This must be a prank... right?

Sebastian must have noticed the discomfort on my face. "Is something the matter?"

"Hm?" I shake my head as I look away. "No, nothing."

"Are you perhaps afraid that we're going to kidnap you as well? I can assure you that the young master is not that unrealistic."

Unrealistic? I look at Sebastian to see a small, cynical smile dancing on his lips. My jaw almost drops at what he's implying. "You think my kidnapping story is a joke!"

Sebastian expression turns into one of worry, as if he's offended by what I said. "Oh dear, my Lady, pardon me, but that is not what I said."

"You implied it!" I should have known when he called my kidnapping story a "tale."

"I would never. That would be improper for a butler to do."

I glare at this man, anger flowing through me. Who the hell does he think he is? He does everything that a butler should do, sure, but his attitude and his way of speaking is absolutely rude.

I decide to stay a few steps behind Sebastian as I'm no longer interested in keeping a conversation with him. We enter though many curves and turns through the path we're taking. When we pass the main hall, the giant picture on the wall that I saw when I entered this house greets me again. This time, because I'm able to move more freely, I walk to right beside the painting to get a close up on how it looks.

The painting's details are exquisite and once again, something in this house takes my breath away. I notice that Sebastian has walked a bit further and I take a few steps, catching up to him so that I'm the same number of steps behind him as I were before.

"Wow." I mutter under my breath to myself. "I would kill for a place like this."

Sebastian stops for a millisecond. He turns his head around to look at me with a raised eyebrow. "Pardon me?"

Oh crap. In a situation like this, saying that I would murder someone for their house is not the best idea. Even if it is just an expression. He definitely heard what I said, although he's pretending like he's not."No, it's a -"

"Also, my Lady, where did your English accent go?"

I freeze, suddenly remembering again that I need one. Now that he brings it up to me, I find myself scanning the past few minutes to see when I subconsciously dropped my fake accent. "What I said before... It's an expression."

Sebastian does not respond and suddenly, the quiet that was between us is back again. Usually, I would be okay with this, as I'm not a fan with conversing with strangers either. I don't understand why this type of silence is bothering me so much.

Soon we come to a stop and Sebastian stands himself next to a door. "We are here, my Lady."

I walk the few steps up to in front of the door too. I wait a while, expecting him to open the door for me as he's done before. "Are you not going to...?" When he doesn't seem to be making an attempt to move, I decide to just open it myself.

Before I can even slightly push the door open, Sebastian's gloved hand suddenly latches out to grab my arm. I jump slightly at the contact. Lifting my gaze to look at Sebastian's face, I feel myself stepping back a little at how menacing he looks.

It's not his expression that's scary though. In fact - he looks perfectly polite. His eyes are curved in a smile and his lips are slightly tilted upwards too. However, it's just the way that he's smiling. It feels too ironic, forced, and for some reason I think that he's well aware of the fact this smile of his is probably the scariest expression I've seen on a human.

"S-Sebas-"

"Ms. Caverly." This slightly surprises me. Is he even allowed to interrupt other people? "As the butler of the Phantomhive I believe that it is my responsibility to give you a proper warning. The young master might have believed your story but I myself am not quite convinced. It would be in your best interest to watch what you say and do around me or the young master." His happy expression turns into a serious one. Sebastian looks down at me, the top of his face shadowed. "Are we clear on this matter?"

I nod stiffly, hearing his words but not quite understanding them. All I can register is how fucking intimidated I currently feel. He being a few inches taller than me is not helping the situation either. The smile comes back on his face as he continues talking. "Good. Well then, Ms. Caverly." He opens the door like I expected him to earlier. "Please go on in. There is a fresh change of clothes in the drawers."

I open my mouth to speak, but then decide that it's best that I don't. Is Sebastian bipolar or something? Nodding again, I step into the room. "Here, my Lady, please take this candle for light. Have a good night, Ms. Caverly. I do hope you that you won't move around after this."

I almost forgot that the light source in this place doesn't come from a switch on the wall. I take the candle from Sebastian, muttering a thank you. He leaves, and the door closes behind. him. I hear his footsteps walk away, I take the time to think about exactly what just happened and also to inspect the room. It's not as nice as the room I was previously in, sure, but it's still pretty big. A giant bed sits in the center, and beside it is a wooden end table. I walk over and place the candle that Sebastian gave me on it.

Like Sebastian said, there is a pretty nice dresser on the other end of the room, next to a full body mirror. Going through the dresser, I frown at the choices presented to me. The piece of clothing I believe to be sleepwear is a long, plain dress, covering my arms and legs. I'm not used to wearing something that covers so much skin to sleep. Nonetheless, what I'm wearing now is too dirty to wear to bed.

The bed is not only big but extremely comfortable. As soon as I sit down on it, the mattress sinks easily under my weight. It's decorated with a lot of pillows, which I'm fond of, because I can arrange them in a fort-like shape around me.

Finally lying down, I can take the time to think back to what Sebastian said to me. He sure was threatening. God, I squeeze the pillow next to me, how can someone that cute be that scary. I shake my head. Why did I even let him bully me so easily? I'm usually stronger than this.

"Ms. Caverly. As the butler of the Phantomhive I - blegh." I mimic his voice, putting on the most fake English accent I can do and making his voice sound like a snotty woman's. I let out a huge sigh, flipping around on the bed.

Suddenly, I freeze as a thought passes through me. How in the world did Sebastian know what my last name was? I scan through what happened earlier today. I only introduced my last name to Ciel when Sebastian was out of the room. Not to mention, Ciel only called me Valentina when Sebastian was with us.

Still, Sebastian didn't address me by my last name until he was threatening me, or welcoming me to my room.

I freeze again.

I was wondering what Sebastian meant when he said "I do hope that you don't move around after this." The sly smile on his face when he said it made it look like he had an inside joke that he was not sharing with me. Now I think I understand.

He said the phrase after wishing me good night, so I assumed he was telling me that he wishes I don't move around a lot in my sleep. I'm sure that's what he wanted me to hear, but it wasn't what he meant at all.

The two phrases don't relate to each other.

I do hope that you don't move around after this.

He hopes that I don't move at all. Like a corpse.

I stuff my face into a pillow, muting a loud groan of frustration.

Sebastian basically told me he wishes that I were dead.

The butler of the house that I am staying at wishes that I were dead.

Great job, Valentina.

yayyy my first seb/oc scene along with sebastian being weirdly bipolar :P dont worry not all of them will have them be this cruel and mean and weird. i mean, it is sebastian so the whole romantic build up between the two is probably going to be slow simply because he's a class-a asshole

uhmmmm yeah i said i wouldnt have a lot to type this time around. just i think one to two more introductory chapters and then imma start the first arc so yayyy im really excited

okay that's it ^-^

review if you want to. it will make me happy.

adios~~~~~~~~