Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every second and fourth Saturday!

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Sebastian cautiously braced himself for a fight as he and Edward frowned at each other.

To his surprise, Lord Midford chose to dispel the tension with a statement more shocking than any swing of the sword or fist, "...I've come to request that you please be more discreet about your liaisons with Lady Midford, Mr. Michaelis."

Sebastian blinked.

For a moment, he stared at Edward in bewilderment before he hesitantly asked, "...I beg your pardon, Lord Midford?"

Edward let out a heavy sigh as if it exhausted him to stand there in the foyer and chat with Sebastian about Ciel's obvious infidelity.

Lord Midford explained in a disinterested voice, "I truly thank you for doing my husbandly duty for me. I'll publicly accept the child as my own, all I ask in return is that you keep your affair with Lady Midford as concealed from common knowledge as possible. I don't wish to be known as a fool."

Sebastian frowned as he spoke, "Lord Midford, if the accusations you've brought against me this morning are true, are you not angered?...Are you not enraged? Has the mere thought not prepared you to fight for your bride's honor?"

A bitter smile cracked across Lord Midford's lips as he looked into Sebastian's face and scoffed, "...Enraged, sir? Perhaps it hasn't been made plain to you, Mr. Michaelis, but I am not a man who married for love. I wed purely out of social custom to follow the dictations that came with my bloodline and status, nothing more. I doubt very seriously that Lady Midford has had many pleasant things to say about me, or our match. The child in her belly serves as laughable proof of the love that we share."

Sebastian's heart filled with sympathy for Ciel as he stood there and looked at her husband, who had come not to visit, but to thoughtlessly consign her into the arms of another man.

"I've noticed that your letters have slowed in frequency, Lord Midford." Sebastian commented.

"I have little reason to send them now." Edward shrugged, "Lady Midford has you, which mercifully decreases her need for me."

"...And what of Lady Elizabeth?" Sebastian frowned.

He should have been joyful that Edward was willing to leave him and Ciel undisturbed, but Lord Midford's nonchalant attitude regarding the current situation irritated Sebastian beyond measure.

Betas were nowhere near as protective, dominant, or possessive as alphas, but Sebastian could not wrap his mind around the fact that anyone could callously toss beautiful Ciel and lovely little Elizabeth aside.

"...What of her?" Edward asked numbly, "I'm sure her mother will train her to be a fine lady. There's few ways that a father can assist a daughter besides providing funding…..a task which I already perform. If Ciel had borne a son for me, perhaps my indifference would be less."

Sebastian's gloved hand balled into a fist as he resisted the gnawing urge to strike Lord Midford.

"...But she is your daughter, sir." Sebastian pressed as politely as he could through his grit teeth.

"True." Lord Midford nodded, "I don't expect a man of……your….class to understand such a notion, Mr. Michaelis, but a daughter has little value to a noble."

Sebastian bit his tongue as Edward stepped closer to him and added, "When the time comes one day, Elizabeth will marry a suitable gentleman. Perhaps his breeding and wealth will improve my own standing, however, her worth is limited and defined by that possibility."

Sebastian's dark eyes were threateningly frigid as Edward nodded, "Give my regards to Lady Midford and Elizabeth, Mr. Michaelis. I'm not certain when I'll return to this estate."

Edward turned and walked out of the manor without another word.

Sebastian closed the door behind him before he watched from the window while Edward's carriage pulled away.

A scowl marred his handsome face as anguish overcame him.

He knew that Ciel would be unbothered, although he felt that Edward could have at least shown his wife the decency of having a discussion about the matter with her face to face.

……….But what about Lord and Lady Midford's daughter?

Elizabeth called for Sebastian, yet he understood that he could never fully replace her father, nor could he ever completely heal the wounds in her tiny heart that Edward seemed so determined to create.

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To spare his ladies from what misery he possibly could, Sebastian said nothing about Edward's brief visit to Ciel or Elizabeth that afternoon.

He decided that what his smallest charge didn't know wouldn't cause her any needless suffering.

Sebastian watched with a smile as tiny Elizabeth completed her lessons and afterwards, played through the day's remaining hours, blissfully ignorant of her father's neglectful cruelty.

After dinner had concluded that evening, Mey-Rin led Elizabeth to her room and tucked her into bed.

Sebastian sat beside Ciel in her study while she signed a couple of documents before retiring for the night.

Her condition had forced her to begin the daily routine of taking an afternoon nap for an hour after lunch.

Sebastian had been delighted that his mate procured the rest her body required, but Ciel had become annoyed with the new process.

To Lady Midford, an hour spent asleep meant an hour of work left unattended and undone.

Ciel yawned as she finished her last signature and finally placed her quill back into the ink bottle.

"Feeling fatigued, my lady?" Sebastian asked with the hint of a smile as he watched Ciel place a hand on her middle.

"...I'm always fatigued lately." She yawned again as she rubbed her eyes, "Come, Sebastian, I'm ready to lie down."

Eager to obey his darling mate's command, Sebastian walked over and carefully scooped Ciel into his arms.

He smirked as he marveled at how cooperative his lover seemed as he held her close.

It made Sebastian want to purr, the knowledge that he had become Ciel's world.

Despite her cold exterior, she completely depended on him for comfort, love, support, assistance…...everything.

"And are you otherwise well this evening, my lady?" Sebastian asked as he carried Ciel up the stairs and down the hallway to her bedchamber.

"I am." Ciel answered with a tired pout, "Can you say the same, Sebastian?" She asked as her sapphire eyes flickered to his face.

Sebastian made it to Ciel's bedroom and closed the door behind them.

He carried her over the threshold, walked across the room, and sat her down on her bed as he replied, "I'm perfectly fine, my lady. You don't need to concern yourself with my well-being."

Ciel watched as Sebastian lit an oil lamp on her bedside table.

"There's something you want to say, though…..." Ciel surmised as Sebastian began to undress her.

"...And how do you know that?" He asked with a wicked grin.

"I can see it in your face." Ciel frowned, "Tell me immediately or I'll become upset."

"We can't have that happening now, can we, my lady?" Sebastian asked as he stripped the last of Ciel's garments away to expose her bare form.

His dark eyes encountered the difficult dilemma of choosing whether to linger on her heavy breasts or the adorable roundness of her abdomen as he gazed at his mate in the lamp's soft light.

"Sebastian……" Ciel whispered warningly.

"Lord Midford came by the manor this morning." Sebastian informed his lover as he pulled his white gloves off with his teeth.

Sebastian saw the tension that instantly manifested on Ciel's face as she asked, "...Oh?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that his visit was quite brief, but the outcome was pleasant." Sebastian explained while he placed his bare hands on Ciel's naked belly, "He's no threat to us."

"What do you mean?" She asked worriedly.

Sebastian spoke quickly when he saw the urgent nervousness in her eyes, yet his hands never left her swollen womb, "Lord Midford gave his permission for us to continue our……..entanglement….my lady, as long as we keep our bond hidden from the world."

Ciel frowned as Sebastian nodded and added, "I suppose this means that we can stay here without issue, in this house, in this way, if you would prefer."

Lady Phantomhive hastily recovered from her devastation as she sniffed and placed a hand over Sebastian's while she replied, "I'm not particularly surprised. Edward and I are married in name only."

"I'm sorry, my lady." Sebastian frowned.

"For what, Sebastian?" Ciel asked with a scowl as she lifted her gaze to meet his stare, "I've led a gilded life and a good one, I can begrudge little besides a nagging bit of loneliness and a brief flash of rejection."

"I'm sorry that I wasn't born into Lord Midford's family." Sebastian whispered.

He broke them both with that single statement, that undeniably true acknowledgement that if Sebastian had entered the world as a noble, then Ciel could have easily become his wife instead.

They could have had a happy, healthy, large family that all of the world knew about…...

"Oh, Sebastian!" Ciel gasped as tears gathered in her blue eyes.

He frowned at his little lover as she lifted her hands, cupped his cheeks, and cried, "I have you now! That's all that I need!"

Sebastian purred as Ciel's hormones pushed her to rush forward and capture his lips in a deep kiss.

He closed his eyes as he tasted his darling while he gently crawled onto the bed to hover over her as she laid back on the mound of soft pillows.

Ciel whimpered as Sebastian took her heavy breasts into his hands and stared down at her in admiration of the way that she already submitted to him unconditionally.

As Sebastian bent to take one of Ciel's plump nipples into his mouth, he vowed to bring her such pleasure that she would fall into a deep sleep of dreamless bliss afterwards.

In that void of comfort and love, Sebastian would make sure that Lady Phantomhive wasn't troubled by any unsettling thoughts about her husband.