"What?" My eyes widen in surprise. "H-how? I-is she okay? Wait no. That's a stupid question. She fainted. Of course she's not okay."

"Well, we're not too sure ourselves." Bardroy shrugs. "I mean, it was going pretty well until she – well, yeah."

"So, what?" I stick a thumb out to the direction of the crowd. "She's just lying in the middle people there? They could be suffocating her! Is she alone?"

"The young master is there, too…"

I almost roll my eyes. The young master is twelve, I want to say, how can he possibly be helping? Still, I bite my tongue, knowing that saying something like that can get me as much as kicked out. 'Well, I'll go check anyways."

The crowd of people does not bother to acknowledge the strange girl trying to squeeze her way to the front. The strange girl being me, by the way. I look at them in annoyance. Most of them aren't even curious for the wellbeing of Elizabeth. They're just in this giant circle to talk with their friends.

Finally reaching the front of the crowd, I see the unconscious Elizabeth. She's lying on the ground, her cheeks flushed, and her hair splattering on the marble tiles. Her green dress is messily surrounding her. Not so surprising, Ciel is there too, kneeling right above her.

I take a step towards the two, ready to help. However, I'm stopped shortly in my tracks when I feel a hand tug on my arm, pulling me back. I stumble a little in surprise and look up to see who pulled me back. Of course, it was no other than the most capable butler of the world. He always comes at the most perfect moments, doesn't he?

"The young master is taking care of the situation for now." He lowers his head so his mouth is next to my ear. I can feel his breath with every word he speaks. "It'd be best to not disturb him now."

Sebastian being so close to me temporarily erases all thought from my head for a second, and all I do is nob. He's so closed to me I feel his sadistic smile against my skin.

Ciel first places his ear on Lizzy's chest, and then over her nose. He then flattens his hand against her forehead, and then to his. He repeats his procedure around three times before seeming to come to conclusion. "Sebastian."

Sebastian's hand doesn't move from my body. Nonetheless, he replies. "Yes, master?"

"Take Lizzy back to her room for now. Take care of her until I arrive."

In almost a second Sebastian is no longer behind me, and is instead beside Ciel. Gently, he carries Lizzy up bridal style and then bows to Ciel with her still in his hands. "Yes, my Lord."

Ciel nods at Sebastian and turns to the rest of the crowd just as his butler is walking away. The boy puts a charming look on his face. "Please do not worry about her. She was a little bit sick before the party even started. To compensate for the trouble, we will be serving extra refreshments prepared specially by my butler."

Sebastian's retreating form freezes momentarily as his back visibly tenses. I stop myself from a giggle. Something tells me that the extra refreshments idea is not something that the two agreed on.

The crowd begins to dispatch as everyone gets back to what they were doing before. "Wait, Ciel." I say and his attention turns to me. "Can I also help with Lizzy?"

The little boy hesitates. "You are a guest –"

"Yeah, I know. But surely Sebastian can use a woman's hand?"

Ciel sighs. "It doesn't affect me. You may do as you please, then."

Finding Lizzy's room is hard, but with the help of Ciel's instructions, I am able to do so. I probably spent ten more minutes than what it usually takes from my wandering around though. When I enter the room, Sebastian is there, standing over and looking down at Lizzy's body. She's currently lying on the gigantic bed placed at the top left of the room. Her chest is rising up and down with every breath that she takes. She has a towel over her head. From the bin of water that's also on her nightstand, the towel is probably wet.

Upon hearing me enter, Sebastian's head snap towards the door. "Ms. Caverly?"

"I, uh, the party was boring anyways." I say, for some reason feeling like that I need to explain myself. "How's Lizzy doing?"

"I've put a cloth on her to cool down her temperature for now. I can't do anything more without the young master's orders though."

"We'll I'm here to help." I walk to right beside Sebastian. "Any reasons to why she would suddenly faint?"

Sebastian shakes his head. "Not particularly. Such a thing like this has never happened to Ms. Elizabeth before." The two of us stands in silence for a while before he speaks again. "Since you are here you might as well just take care of Ms. Elizabeth while I go. That is, if you don't mind of course."

The way he talks sounds like he's challenging me. "Of course I don't mind." Sebastian takes the water bin from the night stand and proceeds to exit the room. Right when he's at the door, I ask him something. "Where are you going?"

Sebastian turns around. "To prepare some refreshments, of course." An ironic smile appears on his face. "It is what my master wanted, after all."

I can't help the cynical chuckle that comes out of me, along with the just as bad remark. "Oh, right. Prepare something extra for me, will you?"

The door slams shut behind him.

Ciel makes his entrance in the room around thirty minutes before the party officially ended. Apparently he had to cut it short because the birthday girl - the person whom this party is thrown for - is not present. Out of the corner of my eye I see that Lau had follow him here, too, but because he doesn't make as big of an entrance as Ciel I don't pay much attention to him.

Ciel walks over to Lizzy's side in quick, small steps. He looks down at her with his one eye and then to Sebastian. And then me. "Well?" He says. "How is she?"

"She's the same as before." I reply. "Her temperature has gone up, though, and she seems to have trouble breathing."

"Well that's obvious. She's still in the dress she insists on wearing." Ciel says. "Are you guys idiots? It must be making it hard to breathe. Please, for the love of god take it off of her."

Immediately I jump up from my seat. "Wait!" I exclaim. I want the best for the little girl passed out on the bed, sure, but what Ciel requested can't possibly be something that she would approve of. While people might be thinking for Lizzy, they're not thinking with Lizzy. "Lizzy would absolutely be miserable if she found out that you saw her while she was indecent. Perhaps there's something else that we could do?"

Ciel looks at me like I just grew another head. "Are you kidding me? Elizabeth can most possibly be on her death bed right now. Do you think I really care for something as insignificant as that?"

"But -" I start and then promptly shut my mouth. Ciel's right. That was incredibly selfish. "I'm sorry, you're right. Please." I say, gesturing towards her.

Ciel sighs in annoyance while also averting his gaze from Elizabeth. "I won't look, however. You and Mey-Rin can take the dress off of her. Give it to Sebastian afterwards so it can be washed."

I smile a little. Even after that Ciel still takes what I said into consideration. It's incredibly moving. "Of course." I say.

"Sebastian." Ciel says and the butler who's been standing behind my armchair turns his attention to Ciel. "Have you found out the reason for why Lizzy suddenly fainted yet?"

"I'm afraid not, master, you have not given me instructions yet to do so."

"Do you really need instructions?" Ciel sneers. I realise that I've viewing a different side to him that's not just fake smiles and politeness. "As the butler of the Phantomhive household this should've been the most obvious action to take."

I feel Sebastian tense behind me. "Of course, young master, my sincerest apologies. I'll invite a doctor to come right away."

Sebastian doesn't make his return until around forty five minutes after. By then, Lizzy's already awoken. Her fever seems to have gone down but she doesn't look to be any better. Ciel sits by her side, helping her with every request. It's quite sweet actually.

When Sebastian enters, Ciel stands. He looks behind his butler expectantly. "Well, where is the doctor? I know it's late but surely it wouldn't take him this long."

Sebastian closes the door behind him, and I realise he's holding Lizzy's dress. That's weird. "I did not call one."

"What?" Ciel exclaims. "Sebastian it was an ord -"

"I'm afraid I've already discovered the source of the problem."

This causes Ciel to become less tense and he sits back down in his seat. "What is it, then?"

Sebastian walks closer to Ciel and I, and he takes the dress he's holding behind him out. "I believe the reason Ms. Elizabeth fainted is because of this dress."

"What's wrong with it?" I chip in.

"While taking the dress to be washed, carefully by myself of course, I realise that the inside of it seems to have been sewed together quite unprofessionally. This is quite strange to me as the outside does not seem to have the same problem. Such a messily made dress can sure cause an uncomfortable wearing."

The pieces click in my head. "That's why she was itching so much! You say this was on purpose? Did Abigail make a mistake?"

Sebastian shakes his head. "Abigail is one of the most hired seamstress in England. She's very well known. This problem does not seem to occur in the other dress that she designed for Ms. Elizabeth."

"Continue, Sebastian." Ciel says.

Sebastian obeys. "Naturally I decide to inspect the dress further. To my surprise," Sebastian ruthlessly tears the dress in two. I hear a gasp of surprise from Lizzy and myself. Sebastian shows us the inside of the dress. "It seem that the dress has been dipped in Emerald Arsenic."

That's poison, I immediately think, but don't say aloud for some reason.

"So what?" Ciel says.

"Why, you don't know, young master?" Sebastian replies challengingly, earning him a glare from Ciel. "Emerald Arsenic has been quite a popular dye in dresses and paintings. It was only until recently that it has been revealed that the chemical is indeed a poisonous one. Of course, upon hearing that news, all usage of the dye seized almost immediately. The fact that someone, a professional seamstress I may add, is still using it is quite strange. Any usage of the chemical will indeed make a dress that is - 'laced with poison.'"

"So." I choke out, looking back to Elizabeth. "Abigail did this to her?"

"Most probably not." He replies. "The inside is quite messily dyed, not a work that would've been done intentionally by a professional. It's probably someone who has no experience being a seamstress. In fact, I believe we would have the most luck looking for the last person who's had the dress before Ms. Elizabeth's worn it the longest."

"My, my." A voice pops up. Lau, who's been silent the entire time finally decides to speak. "Valentina, didn't you so humbly offer the dress to Ms. Elizabeth right before the party started?"

I feel my ears turning red as soon as I realise what he's suggesting. The nerve of him, really. He doesn't talk for the entire time and chooses to speak now with an accusation against me. "Are you saying I'm the one who poisoned her dress?"

Lau shakes his head as he snuggles closer to Ran-Mao. "Now, now. No need to get defensive. I am just making an observation."

"You were against taking off Lizzy's dress." Ciel sits higher in his seat now, his interest obviously perked. "Could this be because of...?"

"I did but -" I promptly shut my mouth as I feel my heartbeat kicking up. I can practically feel each thump in my ear. I look around frantically. "It wasn't me. You can't believe it was me."

"You are just a strange girl who's requested to stay at the Phantomhive." Lau says casually. "What do we know about what you can possibly be hiding?"

"Shut up." I say in an immediate response, and then realise how terrible of a situation I've put myself in because I said it. Mentally, I scold myself. Now is not the time to be rude.

"Ciel. Ciel." Lizzy nudges Ciel's arm gently and we all turn to look at the sick girl. "It can't be Valentina. She helped me. I just wanted to look cute for you, and she helped."

Thank you, Elizabeth, I want to say, thank you so much.

"Well if it's not Valentina who can it be?" Lau says. "All the signs seem to be pointing to her."

I find myself wanting to cry. Yes, the signs may be pointing to me but I would never do anything like that. I look to Ciel with a pleading look in my eyes. He's got to believe me.

Ciel breaks eye contact with me, turning back to Elizabeth. His voice is quiet when he speaks. "Perhaps you should make your way back to your room, Ms. Caverly."

I feel my heart sink. He doesn't believe me. Or at least, he's suspicious of me. Somehow the events turned so that I made a little boy believe that I tried to kill his fiancée. Instead of arguing though, I just nod instead. Reluctantly I get up from my seat.

"Sebastian. Escort Ms. Caverly to her room."

If I didn't feel like shit before, I do now. Not only is Ciel suspicious of me, he is essentially sending a bodyguard to monitor me to my room. I take a deep breath, choking back a few tears. How this happened to me so quickly I've got no idea.

The walk back to my room is awkward, tense, and silent. Sebastian doesn't say anything. Multiple times I look up at him to see what he thinks of the situation, but his face hardly says anything. It's blank the entire time.

He takes me to my room, my heart thumping the entire time. My head running like crazy. How do I fix this? How do I fix this? Nothing I can say will make them know I'm innocent. What evidence do I possibly have? Someone's got to believe me, someone's got to.

"Sebastian." I say in a panic, turning around and grabbing his suit. He flinches a bit in surprise. "Sebastian, please, please you must believe me I didn't do it. I didn't do it!" I absolutely hate how pathetic my voice sounds. How pathetic my begging sounds.

Sebastian doesn't speak. He places his hands on my waist. For a second there I thought he might be on my side. That he might be hugging me in comfort. Instead, with one swift tug, he pulls me away from him and onto the bed that's behind me.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Caverly. I'm afraid that's not my decision to make."

I look up at his tall form, the way he towers over me. "Sebastian..."

"Have a good rest, Ms. Caverly. Before you do anything please remember that the Phantomhive household is packed with servants and of course - me."

I gulp.

so cocidentally, ive also been really really sick so i havent been able to write. ahhh i feel like shit. my writing is shit. ahhh. im having trouble imagining what in love sebastian would do because the most obvious is that he wouldnt like to admit it but like he really loves cats? and he treats those like his own baby so i dont know xD

im going to go really soon cause i feel like shit but okay okay:

CeruleanCat: you have got to be my favorite person so far. thank you so much for the compliments :3 it urged me to look at your fanfic but unfortunately, you only have one chapter :( it'll be great if you post more :)

okay thats it think

adios ~~~~