"What on earth is going on in this manor!?" Grimsby demanded, holding onto a crying Irene. "Three people have been murdered in the space of one night!"

Arthur stared at the young earl, who was still holding onto the lifeless red head, with a grim expression. The other guests shared a look of pity at the young teenager.

"A-And they were killed in such a…" Irene trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"Tell me about it. Runnin' him through with a fireplace poker and how young the little lady…was just too much, man." Bard, who had recently returned, muttered as he covered his face with one hand.

Arthur kneeled in front of Ciel, inspecting Red. His eyes widened when noticing something. Moving her hair away from part of her head, he revealed a small wound.

"There are signs of trauma to the head, she may have been facing away the moment something had hit her… her wrist shows signs of the cuff from the chain the previous night had been forcefully pulled off, hence the bruise…and the cut from yesterday evening from when she was slapped was opened up again." Arthur elaborated as he picked up the bottle that was to the side and inspected it. "No labels or scent…I don't see any other injuries on the body, maybe she was poisoned? Let's check the butler's body."

Everyone trailed out of the room except for Ciel and Tanaka. Arthur looked back at the two in question before the young lord spoke up.

"Is…is it all right if I stay here at the moment with her? Tanaka here can keep watch."

Looking between the two, Arthur nodded in understanding and left, following everyone else to Sebastian's body.

"Tanaka." Ciel spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"Yes, sir."

"Sebastian is dead. You are my butler from this day forth. I entrust you with the management of the manor and the supervision of the servants…and this pin too…I return to your keeping."

Holding out his hand, Ciel showed the older man the pin that was on Sebastian's tailcoat. A tiny smile surfaced its way onto Tanaka's face.

"The pin of head butler…this does bring back memories. Will an old man like me be equal to the duties, I wonder?"

"You need only do it until a replacement arrives."

"As you wish, sir. I shall by all means accept it."

Gently, he took the pin and placed it in the same spot of his coat just like Sebastian had then bowed to his master before heading towards the door. Once opening it, he stopped and looked at his master with a solemn expression.

"I know how much that girl meant to you, sir. It was just like how your father looked at your mother…despite what many would say about him, he thought he would have never found another woman like her. I believe you are the same. Do take care. Once you are finished here, do head back to the previous room you were in and get changed. You will catch cold if you're dressed like that."

Giving a slight fake smile, Ciel responded with, "You are strict as usual, old man."

He nodded his head and exited the room, closing the door behind him. Ciel looked down at the lifeless body of his friend that he was still holding onto, her necklace in his hand. A small grim expression took over his features as he whispered.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way…"

He kissed her gently before picking her up and carrying her out of the room. Finny saw his master on the other side of the hallway with Red in his arms. Walking over to him with the same sad expression, he took the girl out of his master's arms and walked away to where the other two bodies were kept. Ciel stared after the two, his hand clutching her necklace as he watched them disappear around the corner.

The meal for breakfast was silent, everyone stared at their plate. The events from that morning still fresh in their mind.

"It's a great help that he took care of the meals in advance." Ciel said as everyone was silent, Arthur staring at the young boy in worry.

"Smells yummy! Let's eat!" Grey exclaimed with a too happy expression on his face. "I didn't eat this morning, so I'm famished."

And with that, everyone began to eat. Well…almost everyone. Irene was playing around with her food with a sad expression rather than eating. Noticing her behavior, Grimsby spoke up.

"What's wrong, Irene? You've barely touched your plate!"

"I'm sorry." She started, covering her mouth with her napkin. "I don't have much of an appetite…"

Grey perked up at this and pointed his fork at her.

"Hey, if that's gonna go to waste, can I help myself to it?"

"Yes. Here yo…" Irene started before being interrupted by Grey.

"Not yours…but the one next to you."

"Eh?" she then turned to the seat beside her, which was empty. "Oh… you are right. There is an extra place here. Did the chef prepare one too many?"

"The one who prepared breakfast was Sebastian. He would never get the number of place settings wrong." Ciel stated.

"Eh? Then whose is it?"

"Everyone is present and-oh! Mister Phelps is missing." Lau spoke up.

"You're right. I failed to notice because he doesn't have much of a presence." Woodley chuckled. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him all morning. It seems he's really sleeping in!"

Arthur had another grim expression on his face as he stared at the empty chair. He then stood up so quickly, the tableware clattered.

"If I may!" he spoke urgently. "What do you say…we go look…in the earl's bedroom?"

Everyone had a serious look as some of the guests murmured. Ciel then stood up, placing his napkin to the side.

"I'll show you the way." He nodded.

Everyone rushed out of the dining room and up the stairs, going down one of the hallways.

"Turn right there!" Ciel shouted to Arthur.

A pair of doors came up as everyone caught up to Arthur.

"Mister Phelps! Mister Phelps, please respond if you're there!" Arthur spoke in a panicked tone as he banged on the door. When he stopped, he was met with only the sound of silence. Alarmed, he tried opening the door, only to find it locked. "The lock, it's-! My lord! Where is the key?"

"I don't know." Ciel shook his head.

"Eh!?"

"Sebastian is the keeper of the key to my room, and only he knows where it is stored. Now that he's dead, even I couldn't tell you where to find it…"

"Please stand back, young master! I'll-!" Finny started but was interrupted by an annoyed voice.

"Move."

In a flurry of motion, Finny shielded his master as both he and Arthur ducked down. The door being split open by a sword. Finny and Arthur had terrified looks on their face, Ciel's was turning blue due to Finny's strength cutting off any air for him.

"Let's take care of this quick, okay?" the same annoyed voice spoke, turning out to be Grey with a plate in one hand and a fork in his mouth. "I haven't had my dessert yet."

Everyone rushed into the room and headed to the door that led to the bedroom itself. Arthur slammed it open, still in a panicked state.

"Mister Phelps!" he shouted before feeling something coming into contact with his foot. Looking down, he saw a hand clutching onto a blanket. Following the hand to the body, he saw the lifeless body of Patrick Phelps. The horrified and pained expression still on the corpse's face, drool coming out of the mouth. (Ew.)

"Mister Phelps!" Arthur yelled.

The rain came down harder on the window as a white owl soared away from the Phantomhive manor, letting out a screech into the night as some of its feathers fell off of its wings and fell towards the earth into a puddle next to muddy footprints.