Hello! Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji
Infinity minus One, Chapter Four~A bet after the Moonlit seduction
I had slipped out discreetly onto the grass hill behind the vegetable gardens.
It was about the height of the mansion, and covered with wild flowers. As I climbed up the hill, I had to pluck some and smell them.
Everything looked silver under the moonlight, equal. The flowers that were white struck a striking resemblance to the ones in my strapless night gown, white as well. I made it out of the cloth I found under a bed in a guest room, the material was too fine to waste.
That very material now sifted under me as I sat down on the bright green grass, took out a book and began to read.
Not very long after that, a red rose flashed in front of my face.
I looked up, and there he was. The invisible black butler, holding a red rose. "Hi."
We both stood in a comfortable sort of silence. Then, he twirled the rose in his fingers and it turned a dark, deep purple. And offered it to me.
"A token of apology?" He asked. I took it, and sat down again. He followed suit. I made sure I was speaking clearly, before I said, "You're only apologising because by not doing otherwise Ciel would find out."
The rose still smelt sweet but now had a lacing of his scent. Something told me this one would never fade. How coincidental. Like the Enchantress's rose...
He looked at me for a while. Then, his mouth opened slightly and he laughed. "You do surprise me, Evangeline." I however, was not at the least amused. 'Well, you can't get angry at a demon for being a demon.'
I turned my head back to the book in my hands. As I did so my hair fell in my face. He saw, and looked for a moment at it.
I blushed, and asked, "What is so interesting about my hair?" He 'smiled' again, and said, "It was brown before this, in the sunlight…"
I too comprehended that fact. It was brown, a sunny gold. Now it was black, silk and dark.
I shrugged. He took some of my hair in his fingertips, gently, and lifted it to his face to smell it. I swear I heard him mummer, "Lovely, almost like the rose." But I was blushing too hard again to clarify.
"May I see what you are reading?" He looked at the book from my open hands.
" La Belle et la Bête." The French words tumbled off his lips easier than butter, and he looked at me with questioning eyes.
"What?" More curiosity. I feel indignant. "It's the best fairytale there is! How the Beautiful girl fell for the Beast, a Tale as old as time…" My voice carries away as I clasp the book to my heart, eyes shining.
She looks really faraway, her eyes shining like that. I can hear her voice and it's dreamlike quality. I laughed.
"Most people prefer Snow White, or Cinderella." I received a fiery comment for such a simple suggestion, once again.
"Those are absolutely stupid! To be swept up by a prince you don't even know or fall in love with him after one dance, please! How it is to fall in love with an ugly beast that was so beautiful inside, only Belle will know. And the rose did not wither, nor did our unusual heroine tether…" Her eyes shone more again, and she stopped, and read again.
I really felt something for this girl I couldn't place. So unusual, out-of-place. Idolizing a bookworm brunette heroine, instead of the blonde beautiful housekeeping fickle-minded regulars.
"Well, you do resemble Belle in more ways than one. You're a beautiful brunette bookworm that can dare to associate with such a beast as myself." The night air blew, and her hair flew out of her face. And the scent of the flowers settled in the air.
She looked at me, eyes sparkling. "I take that first part as a compliment. Furthermore, you're no monster. Well, you're a much more elegant beast than the original. I don't believe in categories."
"Oh?" The rose I gave her laid untouched in her basket. She looked at it once or twice.
"In that case I don't think you and I will get along well because much as I admire your open-minded thinking, I have an inability to see good in humankind and the like, not even in myself." She looks surprised, then once again the looks of an independent woman faces me.
"Just because there is more despair in a human does not mean there is absolutely no good. You can't just ignore a field of flowers for a couple of blooming weeds. And although those beautiful ones might turn out to be stupid, it does not mean they don't know anything at all, Sebastian." I froze. I never thought of it that way, shockingly. I then nodded at her.
"Point taken." We sit in silence a little more with her busy reading me looking at her reading. She looks stunning tonight, even in the material I was forced to hide under the bed to prevent May-Lene from ripping it again.
This time, I start the conversation. "Can you tell me, Evangeline, whether the Divine Angel Division was really planning for investigating a loophole in the Faustian contract?" I move closer to her, and the air is thick with heat. I am really intrigued to know, as the investigation has affected even the Shinigami for a few decades now.
She...she laughed. And smoothened her hair back, book in basket now. "I'm sorry but that classified angel information and since I'm a demon now I'm not sure which side to turn on." She looked at me wisely, like she knew already which side she chose.
"Best to turn on your current side, yes? And you can tell me anything, right, Evangeline?"I moved even closer, until I was close enough and lowered my face dangerously intimate to hers. I could smell her breath, cool and flower scented like the night air. My hands were already elsewhere, on her lap.
She took in a deep breath. I smirked inside, here it goes. All females are the same, giving themselves up as soon as a 'handsome' demon turns his head to their direction. Tonight, the girl would give in, like that worthless perverted nun and that circus trainer so ignorant but in need...
"I'll consider telling you, Sebastian, only because you might be a nice person underneath. And not because*She pushes herself up and away from me* you are practically seducing me." She looks angry, a little sad even.
I'm not ready to give up yet. Females are predictable, even to the very extent I can guess their actions, but sometimes playing hard-to-get would satisfy these strange creatures.
"How about now?" I pushed her against the tree trunk gently, and put my head to her shoulder, kissing it quickly. With both hands on either side of her head, I slowly leaned in for the kill... She turned away.
"No."She flatly refused, and turned still as a stone statue under my grasp.
She sat back down. I don't know what to think now...except for the fact that she's remarkably emotionless, and that I have a weird acquaintanceship with her.
I could not believe this, his nerve! I glared at him behind the pages of the book. He seemed emotionless as usual.
Then, my feelings turned sorrowful. I hate him so much and yet...
"I'm sorry for that. It will not reoccur, Evangeline." He looked at me, and although he portrayed the emotions a little too perfectly, he was sincere this time.
"You need work on you sincere face. But nevertheless, I accept." I shrugged.
"Thank you. And I believe it is getting a little early, so shall we return to the manor?" He held out his arm, and I took it gladly. "With pleasure." As we gracefully adjourned down the hill, there was something there that wasn't there before. I really felt happy to walk down with him.
And warm. As we arrived at the foot of the hill, I told him, "This is the first time in my life I feel..respected, as myself. Thank you."
He looked at me without any regret in his eyes. Before I knew it, he kissed me ever so lightly on my cheek. I scowled, and he looked at me as if admiring something, which was weird since I'm so plain...
"I've never told you that I'm essentially a selfish creature?" We laughed, and again that warming feeling of respecting each other arose. Then, Ciel awoke, and we rose to our duties as butler and maid.
"And just why are you here again, Lau?" Ciel tapped the table impatiently, legs crossed in annoyance.
"Ah, Earl, I believe it was you who asked to see the shipping districts of raw freshly-slaughtered exotic animal meat to a company called O.S."
Lau wrinkles his nose as he talk about the shipped parts, as if something disgusting slipped his mouth, and his arms draw tighter around Lan-Mao, who is expressionless as usual. Ciel opens his mouth for a retort but gets interrupted.
"Excuse my interruption. Today's meal will be pan-seared codfish in lemongrass sauce and purple oolong tea ." Sebastian held a silver platter in one hand and kept the door open with the other.
Evangeline greeted Ciel and Lau in the softest tone imaginable. She felt shy as well when she served Lau his lunch and Sebastian served Ciel his.
"Ah? Who's the cute maid, Earl? Is she new? Come over here, you cutie." Lau motioned to Evangeline with a bent finger, and Lan Mao sat on his chair's sidearm, as if to make more room.
Evangeline hesitantly looked at Ciel, who nodded his approval, and a quick glance at Sebastian who smiled, eyes curved. She hissed under her gritted teeth at his appearance but fixed it before Lau noticed.
She walked slowly over to his side, head down. Lau surveyed her from tip to toe, like a man appraising a horse of an unknown breed, but beautiful all the same. And all in a summer green dress with elbow length sleeves and it fell all the way to her knees. With an elegant pattern of a white rose that she designed herself.
But, as Sebastian carried the dessert in, he noticed her blush. It reminded him of the cuteness of a cat.
"Like an unearthly being, like the butler, only so much more different..." Whispered Lau to Lan Mao.
And for a second Ciel felt fear for Evangeline, something he had not felt, like that for a loved one, for a long time. Until Lau asked, "So, who are you?" And Ciel sweatdropped.
As she bowed low, she said, "My name is Evangeline Kinsella, Lau-san. I hope to make my humble acquaintance to you as a Phantomhive servant."
"Kawaii ne, kono maido, Lan Mao?" Evangeline smiled a little shyly, and excused herself from the room.
Once she exited, she blew a short breath. That was really close, thought Evangeline. She was shy, and she had a mild panic attack of meeting someone she was supposed to get along with.
Little did she notice the black butler watching from the dark shadows, and he entered to room silently as not to frighten her.
As he cleaned up the room after his master's meal with Lau-san, whom were still chatting animatedly(Lau only), he reflected on Lau's comment.
Cute. Ah, yes, she was cute, much like an innocent kitten, but also so much more different. A combination of beauty and brains, one of the rare women in the country, and individuality as well, how queer.
She reminded him much of Irene Adler, a fictional character in Sherlock Holmes. A femme fatale.
"Earl, it seems like your butler can do everything you command him to. And you want the information about the shipping to O.S so badly...Well then, what do you say to a bet?" Lau twirled Lan Mao's hair lazily in his hand. Ciel grimly cocked his head up. 'A chess piece who challenges me? Interesting.'
"I'll take that as a yes! I shall take it that your butler is also capable of true love, not sexual fantasies. Taking your new cute maid into use, I propose that the black butler make her under his charm starting from Monday, as for preparation. The deadline is a week away from now. So? Mr Butler can you take it on? Your master's Queen's happiness is at stake." Lau looked extremely confident of himself.
Ciel glanced at Sebastian, and for one moment, he thought about Evangeline. The thought was gone as soon as it appeared. "Sebastian, this is an order. Win the bet."
Sebastian bowed, and said "Yes, My Lord."
Suddenly, they hear five gunshots from the grand ballroom. Where Evangeline and May Lene were supposed to be. And the resounding noise...was silence. Save a scream. A very loud scream.
Review, onegaishimas! Thanx~
