Beginning of June, three weeks until the marriage. Claude was pleased with Annabelle's progress on her studies, although her equation solving needed improving. Her voice had improved rather nicely so she was talking again. He lifted his head as Annabelle walked into her bedroom, looking rather daunted.

"Young Mistress?" he said.

"The Duchess…has a friend visiting…" Annabelle murmured softly "One of her rich friends to try and trick her into giving her money."

Annabelle had been rather sneaky stealing money out of the Duchess's savings box in her bedroom. The Duchess hadn't even noticed but Annabelle's father had been rather suspicious about how the village managed to get enough money to repair a few of the houses and smooth out some of the roads.

"Yes?" Claude raised an uninterested eyebrow.

"…It was that Shinigami from when we first met my mother," Annabelle continued.

"Please get to the point, Young Mistress," Claude said patiently.

"Well he was looking for her before," Annabelle played with her fingers nervously "He said something about today being a special day and I can't decide what he means exactly by that."

"Ah," Claude's lips turned into a sly smirk "Your wait is finally over, Young Mistress. Come, it's time to prepare."


"And so I say, don't stand too close or you may drop off," the Duchess tittered with Miss Sutcliff.

"Oh, darling, however do you keep a conversation interesting?" she asked, exposing her wide toothy smile.

"Oh, I get by with having to deal with my husband every day," the Duchess laughed as she leaned back "Twenty years, Grellia, twenty years of being around him and his cigars."

"I suppose you could teach your daughter those kind of things," 'Grellia' simpered.

"Oh, I have no daughter," the Duchess laughed, Grellia joining in shortly after.

A gleam went across Grellia's green eyes when she saw Annabelle enter the room.

"So, who is that young attractive woman I see galloping around the mansion?" she asked as Annabelle pulled her braid taut in her hands.

"Oh, that tramp?" the Duchess snickered "The little bastard, she's only around to be used for business."

The anger flashed in Annabelle's eyes and her lips pulled back into a silent snarl, glowering at the Duchess. Grell's lips turned into a wide smile.

"Oh, I say," he tittered as Annabelle lunged forward and pulled the braid around the Duchess's neck tightly "What a way to talk about someone behind their back."

The Duchess let out a strangled gasp and Annabelle pulled with all her strength. Grell got up with his chainsaw, revving it loudly without much discretion, much to Claude's annoyance from his watching spot. Annabelle held her belly in to narrowly miss getting it cut from the chainsaw that was plunged through the Duchess's writhing body. Blood splattered onto her face as the Duchess tried to scream but found that she couldn't. The scent of blood flooded her senses and Annabelle staggered slightly, her hair getting stained in blood as she continued strangling the now lifeless woman. Her eyes widened when she saw the Cinematic Record being played out before her, seeing the event of murdering her own mother. She let the braid fall from her hands and Claude swiftly stepped in, grabbing Annabelle.

"Now, onto the other one," Grell said as he opened his notebook.

"Other one…?" Annabelle tug her heels into the floor and turned to him "Other what?"

Panic flooded her as Grell placed a discrete hand over his mouth as lots of shouting ensued in the room next door. Claude picked Annabelle up and shot upstairs as Grell greeted the men as they stormed in, jumping out of the window. The world spun around Annabelle as Claude reached her bedroom and threw her into the bathroom. He kept a hold of her dress, looking away as she shot right out of it, they had taken her underwear off beforehand, and landed in the bath with a loud splash.

"Young Mistress!"

Claude carefully folded Annabelle's dress as maids came in and stood to attention.

"The young mistress is washing, is there something the matter?" Claude tilted his head.

"Oh, Claude, it's terrible!" one maid wailed.

"The Duchess, she's been murdered!"

"Strangled!"

"Stabbed!"

"The murderer got away!"

"Oh, it's so terrible!"

Annabelle washed the blood off her face and out of her hair, listening to the conversation in her bedroom. A sense of dread filled her and she slowly undid the braid in her hair and Grell's words echoed in her head. The other what? The other Annabelle? No, Claude would protect her, according to him a Shinigami wouldn't bother with souls that are tied to demons. But the other what? If it was another Duchess, then Annabelle shouldn't be worried about that either. But there was something about Grell's voice that didn't suit Annabelle too well. This sense of unease refused to leave the young girl as she lay in the bath, letting the blood swirl around in the water. She gently raised some blood to her lips to drink it. She scowled in disgust and spat it out.

"Horrible," she commented under her breath "Absolutely horrible…"

How could such foul tasting blood reside in a human? To think Annabelle would believe that that woman was her own flesh and blood?

"The other one…" she repeated slowly "What other one?"

If it wasn't the other Annabelle or the other Duchess then what could it be? It can't be the other 'parent', Annabelle wouldn't feel this sense of foreboding if her father was going to die, she hated him as much as the Duchess.

"Wait…"

Annabelle sat up, her heart beating loudly and her pulse racing.

"The other mother," she whispered with a squeak.

"Young Mistress?" Claude came in as he came in after talking to the maids.

"Claude, I think my real mother is in danger!" Anne exclaimed and stood up.

"Young Mistress, relax, we need to wash away the evidence," Claude soothed as he pushed her back into the bath.

"Claude, she could be in trouble, I can't let her die when I've only known her for a few weeks!"

Claude raised an eyebrow then smirked softly, standing up.

"If the time for her to die has come, there's nothing we can do," he explained gently "She does have cancer after all."

Annabelle stared at him in horror and slapped him.

"Take me to her right now!"