That Butler, Wailing
I own nothing but my OC.
≤speech in Indian language≥
'thoughts'
"speech"
{setting/stage directions?}
SOUND EFFECTS
An entire sentence like this, without quotes, is narration for dreams or stuff like written letters.
=†=†=†=†= scene shift/time shift
—^—^—^— change of perspective/area of action within one specific time frame/location
Previously:
"That settles it, then," Ciel said. "We have nothing but time until the storm let's up anyhow." Ciel laced his fingers together and rested his chin on his hands with his elbows on the arms of his chair. "So what do you say we hunt down and corner the culprits at our leisure?" he asked with a bright and beautiful smile. "Hmm? Professor?" A bead of sweat slid down the side of the doctor's face as he watched the boy with wide eyes.
[In that manor, through the halls of which a specter called a serial murderer was prowling, he smiled the incredibly innocent smile of a child. I know I shall never forget that smile of his for as long as I live. For like that of a little boy delighting in a game, it was cruel and beautiful, the smile of an imp descended from the Devil himself.]
{In the Phantomhive Drawing Room…}
Ciel had Tanaka fetch a cold compress for Arthur, which he held against his injured face while he listened to the others recount the events so far from their own points of views and took notes. Having just finished the process, Arthur returned the compress to Tanaka.
"Hearing your sides of the story has made everything much clearer, but… what concerns me the most is the whereabouts of the key to the earl's quarters," Arthur said. "As it stands, only Sebastian, who was in possession of the key, could have killed Mister Phelps, but… If the key had passed into the hands of another, that would change matters."
"But now that Sebastian has been killed, can it not be said that if anyone does have the key, that person is the culprit?" Ciel suggested.
"Quite," Arthur agreed.
"Then we first have to check whether or not the butler has the key. If he does have it, consider that theory squashed," Grey said. They would be back to square one.
"You're right. To that point, I think it best that we always conduct ourselves in groups from now on," Arthur said. "I do not wish to have a lady accompany us to the makeshift morgue, so… Miss Irene and Mister Grimsby, if you would please remain here."
"All right," Grimsby agreed, nodding. Irene seemed relieved.
"And… Mister Woodley as well..." Arthur added nervously, glancing cautiously at the other man.
"Hmph," Woodley said, looking less than pleased. He was still holding a cold compress to the side of his head where it hit the floor.
"I'll be fine here, enjoying some tea with Ran-Mao!" Lau said, holding her close. Ran-Mao nodded in agreement.
"I've nothing to do here, so I'll come wiiiith—!" Grey volunteered, raising his hand.
"Earl Phantomhive, I do hate to impose, but would you take us around the manor?" Arthur asked.
"Very well," Ciel agreed. "As the servants are more familiar with the manor below stairs, let's have them lead the way. All right?" he asked Bard and Finni.
"Yes, Young Master," they replied.
"Tanaka, Chêne, and Mei-Rin. Stay here and see to our guests," Ciel told them.
"Yes, Sir," they all answered with a bow.
"Let's be off, then," Ciel said.
=†=†=†=†=†=
The stone steps leading down to the cellar were dark, illuminated only by sparsely placed flickering candlelight and Bard's lantern. They could hear the magnified echo of a small drip somewhere in the darkness, which gave a feeling reminiscent of being in a cave.
"In this setting, I half expect a ghost or the like to pop out at any moment," Arthur remarked warily.
"Hey, cut that ouuut!!" Grey told him anxiously, flinching at the thought. "There's no such thing as ghosts!! 'Cos I only believe in what I can cut with my sword!!" he said with a pale face while clutching Ciel's arm.
"Then can you try your hand at walking without clinging on to me?" Ciel asked dryly. "It's hard for me to walk like this..."
"I figured you might be scared, so I was only taking the trouble of comforting you..." Grey retorted loudly, embarrassed.
"Gentlemen, we're here," Bard announced, stopping in front of a set of double doors. Arthur braced himself for what was waiting on the other side. Grey hid behind Ciel.
CREAK.
Bard opened the doors to reveal a grand, dimly lit cellar well-stocked with bottles and barrels and three bodies under sheets laid out parallel to each other on the floor.
"When handlin' the corpses, please use these gloves, if ya would," Bard said, handing a pair to the doctor.
"Good thinking! Thank you," Arthur said, accepting them.
"…!" Finni paled a little, looking like he wanted to say something.
"..." Ciel pulled on a pair as well.
"Then if I may beg your pardon, Sebastian..." Arthur said, lifting the sheet off of him. "!?" he gasped in surprise when he saw water on his face. "He's wet!?"
"I'll bet it's from the rain leakin' in through the roof," Bard said, looking up.
"Poor Mister Sebastian!!" Finni exclaimed anxiously. "C'mon, let's move him!"
"Yes, let's," Arthur agreed. "The water will hasten decay, after all."
"De… cay…" Finni said with wide eyes. Beads of cold sweat formed on his face at the thought of that happening to the image of the man reflected in his eyes.
"Not to mention undressing him in order to investigate will be quite troublesome since rigor mortis has set in," Arthur said. "So let's turn him over and—"
"Stop it!!" Finni shouted, clenching his fists. He ran around Arthur to place himself protectively between the doctor and Sebastian.
"Whoa!" Arthur exclaimed, surprised.
"Please don't treat Mister Sebastian like a thing!!" Finni pleaded earnestly. "Mister Sebastian is our dear—"
"Finni," Ciel said firmly. "If you're going to carry on like this, get out." Finni seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then got up and walked over to stand by Bard. "We can move him later, the keys come first. It… doesn't seem to be on his Albert chain." Bard patted Finni on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.
"Did he maybe wear it 'round his neck?" Grey asked.
"Let's see," Arthur said. It wasn't there either.
No matter where they looked, it wasn't there. They started to strip the butler's body to see if he was hiding inside his clothes or something like that. Finni stood off to the side and watched, while Bard helped. Nothing.
"… It's not here either," Ciel said.
"Would it perhaps not make sense for it to be in his private room?" Arthur suggested as he finished re-buttoning Sebastian's shirt.
"Come along, we'll have a look," Ciel said. "Finni, get Chêne. It's her room, too. Maybe she'll have an idea."
"How do we know she didn't take it?" Grey asked.
"If it's in their room, she hasn't been there since she woke up, and she hasn't had the opportunity to go back since," Bard said. "And she was genuinely shocked to find his body with us."
"Chêne's skill as an actress simply isn't that good," Ciel agreed.
=†=†=†=†=†=
"This is our room," Chêne said, opening the door for them to reveal a spacious, minimally decorated room with a double bed, wardrobe, dresser, and a desk. There was even a small vanity with a mirror and washbasin. And there were two beautiful paintings on the wall and a diptych framed photo on the mantlepiece featuring the photo of Chêne with her family and Lacey and their wedding photo, along with other nice knickknacks one might expect to see in a middle class home.
"It's fairly large, isn't it?" Arthur asked, surprised. Even with two people sharing it, there was still plenty of space.
"They're both upper servants," Bard said. Actually, he and Finni were too, since he was chef, and Finni was the only and therefore highest-ranking gardener.
"Wait, you stay there," Grey told Chêne before she could step into the room too. "That way you can't try to remove anything from the room without our knowing." Chêne glanced at Ciel.
"Very well," she said. Better to remove suspicion than feed it.
"Do you lot have any idea where he might hide a key?" Ciel asked his servants.
"The only times I've ever seen him with it were when he had cause to use it… but there is a loose brick in the back of the fireplace that would make a good hiding place," Chêne said, holding her chin. Bard kneeled down to check.
"sixth brick from the bottom, middle row," Chêne directed him. Bard pulled the brick loose, but there was nothing there.
"No luck," Bard said.
"Is that it?" Ciel asked her.
"That's the only secret place I can think of in this room," she replied. "Unless he taped it to the underside of one of the desk drawers?" Bard proceeded to open and close one drawer after the other.
"Nothing," he reported.
"What about you two?" Ciel asked Finni and Bard. "Any ideas?"
"This's the first time we've been in here, so…" Bard said, scratching the back of his neck. Finni wished he could help somehow.
"I myself have only come into this room twice since I assigned it to him," Ciel said.
"Aww, let's just start with all the places that look like they'd be good for hiding valuables!" Grey said. These guys were useless.
"Sorry, but this means we'll have to go through your clothing and such..." Arthur apologized to Chêne.
"Sure. Go ahead," she said, waving off his worries. "It can't be helped, right? Let's just get it over with." Grey searched the dresser, checking underneath its drawers while he was at it. Finni helped Arthur search under the bed by lifting it up for him. Bard checked the fireplace for more hiding spots. And Ciel checked the rest of the desk. Chêne watched everything from the doorway, feeling a little useless just standing there. Ciel finished with the desk, and the wardrobe caught his eye. He crossed the room and opened it. He was not prepared for what he found.
"!!" he gasped, jumping back.
MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!
Several cats cried as they sprang forth from the wardrobe, flying into the room in a kitty explosion.
"… Eh?" Chêne said, stunned. "What the—!?"
"Uwaah!?" Ciel exclaimed, quickly dodging them.
"What's wronn...—ack! Caaaats!!?" Arthur cried, shocked. Finni and Grey watched the bizarre scene with wide eyes, while Bard's jaw dropped.
"CHÊÊÊNNNE!!?" Ciel yelled furiously, turning to glare at her.
"Don't look at me!" she said, completely stupefied, but she still caught Jasper II when she leaped up into her arms on reflex. "They weren't there the last time I looked!" That meant only one person could be responsible...
"That swine!!" Ciel snapped with a vein throbbing on his forehead, slamming the wardrobe shut. "I did not sanction the housing of these cats!!"
"Awww~! What a cute kitty!" Finni said, picking up a pretty white one.
"Where did he keep them all!?" Arthur wondered, mystified.
"Don't let a single one get out of this room!" Ciel ordered. "Catc… ha… AHCHOO!!" he sneezed hard. Chêne immediately stepped inside and shut the door before a cute little tabby could run out.
"Young Master!" Finni said, concerned, moving closer to him.
"Finni!! Don't get close to me with that thing in your hands!" Ciel yelled. "My allergies—!"
"Young Master, come this way!" Chêne said, gesturing for him to come her way. She put Jasper II down. "You should get out of this room."
"Ye… Haahhhh… chooo!" Ciel sneezed again, maneuvering his way through the cats to get to her so she could open the door just long enough for him to slip through without letting the cats follow. They waited until the cats settled down on the bed before letting Ciel back inside. He should be safe as long as he stayed close to the door with Chêne, who had managed to convince him to let the cats stay until the rain let up. The search resumed.
"Well, anyway… I haven't found any personal effects that look like they might belong to him here," Grey said, playing with a cat toy he had found.
"I gave him that cat toy for Christmas," Chêne said.
"Hmm. You'd think it would've been nice for him to have a few mementos from home here..." Grey mused. She at least had that photograph of her family. "From where did he come to join the service?"
"Dunno… none of the staff knew where he was from… or what he did on his days off," Bard replied. "All we knew was that he was a perfect butler, who was ridiculously capable of doing his job."
"Maybe the Young Master or Missus Chêne could tell you more..." Finni suggested.
"I haven't a clue either," Ciel said, sniffling, keeping his handkerchief held over his mouth and nose because of the cats. "From hence he hailed… what kind of master he served previously, and what he did for said master… were of no interest to me. I couldn't have cared less about such things. At that time, anyone would have done. So long as they were loyal to none but me and did as I wished. Anyone at all."
"At that time?" Grey asked.
"…" Ciel furrowed his brow a little. He had said too much. "Chêne?"
"He didn't discuss his past with me either," she said sadly. "It seemed like he was avoiding the subject, so I decided to wait until he was ready to tell me on his own. I can tell you all about who he is now, but not before..."
"I see. You took quite a gamble tying yourself to such a person," Grey said. He could be a criminal for all they knew.
"It was worth it," Chêne said sadly, looking at their wedding portrait. She looked down and blinked away the tears that threatened to form again.
"If we've not managed to find the key after all this searching, it's likely not here, hm?" Arthur said with a sigh.
"Then does that just leave us with checking everyone's belongings?" Grey said, holding his chin.
"Won't everyone be outright against that idea?" Arthur asked. Thinking of what Woodley's reaction might be made him especially nervous.
"My public authority exceeds that of the Yard, so we can simply force them to show us if they refuse!" Grey said. "C'mon! Off we go! Off we go!"
"..." Ciel and Arthur thought he seemed awfully happy at the prospect of being able to push people around.
=†=†=†=†=†=
"—And so… We would like to look through everyone's rooms and luggage..." Arthur finished explaining back in the drawing room. "The ladies may check one another's things, so you won't have to worry about us men looking through them. What do you say?"
'I wish someone had given me that option,' Chêne thought, sweat-dropping.
"Very well," Irene agreed, and Grimsby nodded.
"Do what you want!" Woodley huffed.
"Go right ahead!" said Lau.
'Oh? Everyone agreed without so much as a word of dissent,' Arthur thought, surprised by how easy it had been.
'Which means they're either completely innocent or completely confident that they won't get found out...' Chêne thought.
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Lau's room…}
"Hrrrn," Arthur said as he, Ciel, and Lau all peered inside of a fancy incense burner. In the background Bard was examining a stuffed panda bear doll, trying to decide if it was supposed to be a cat or a dog.
"Find something?" Lau asked them.
"No..." Arthur admitted with a sigh.
"We've gone through all of the men," Ciel said. "Now let's wait for the ladies to finish."
"Right," Arthur agreed.
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Irene's room…}
Irene stood in the middle of the room, watching Ran-Mao play with her hats, while Chêne and Mei-Rin searched the room and her belongings. Chêne searched the wardrobe, and Mei-Rin checked the dresser. There was a triptych photo frame on top of the dresser, and the first photo in it was an image of Irene and Grimsby.
"Oh no! I'm such a scatterbrain for leaving that out..." Irene said, looking a little worried but blushing.
"I think he already gave it away yesterday," Chêne said with a kind smile, thinking back to how Grimsby had attacked Siemens for harassing her.
"I had not heard that you two were lovers, so I was surprised yesterday, I was!" Mei-Rin said.
"Oh, do forgive me!" Irene said. "We haven't been very open about it, you see. Grimsby and I are twelve years apart, so it embarrasses me to tell people about us..."
"Twelve!? You look nothing of the sort, you know!?" Mei-Rin exclaimed, beyond shocked.
"Yes, I thought you were around the same age," Chêne said. 'She's just like PomPom...'
"Oh! ️ You are too kind," Irene told them, blushing at their praise. "Thank you so much."
'I wonder if it's genetic or…?" Chêne thought, thinking of the women in her family.
'The anti-aging regimen of an actress is nothing to scoff at, not at all...' Mei-Rin thought. 'What do you have to eat to stay looking like that…?' She noticed that Irene's suitcase had been left open, so while Chêne moved on to the fireplace, she decided to take care of that real quick. 'Goodness, Miss Ran-Mao. You must make sure to close what you open!' When she moved to close the lid, she noticed something peeking out at her from the corner. 'Nn? What is this bottle here?' She carefully pulled it out of its hiding place in the suitcase. 'Eh!?' she thought when she saw its contents through the clear glass. 'A dark red liquid…!?' She suddenly recalled what was said about the bite marks on Phelps's neck.
Bite marks on the neck… brings to mind Carmilla, doesn't it?
By that, are you referring to Le Fanu's vampiric Carmilla?
'No… is it blood?' Mei wondered, paling at the thought.
"Kyaah!! You must not wear that on your head!!" Irene cried when Ran-Mao started wearing her drawers like a hat.
"Hey! Miss Ran-Mao!" Mei-Rin shouted, scrambling back to her feet to stop her. "Oh my word! What do you think you are doiiing!?" She abandoned the bottle of suspicious liquid, forgetting all about it.
"Now, now," Chêne said, trying to get them to calm down. "Wouldn't you rather try this on instead?" she asked Ran-Mao, holding up a lovely hat that she hadn't worn yet. The drawers flopped around as Ran-Mao nodded her head, and she traded the underwear for the hat. Irene and Mei-Rin breathed sighs of relief.
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Back to the Drawing Room…}
"So in the end it was nowhere to be found..." Arthur said, sighing.
"At this point, we can only assume that Sebastian had already hidden it elsewhere..." Ciel said, also sighing.
"Or that he threw it out the window," Lau said. "I mean a key's a small thing, so if it were swept away or buried because of the storm, we'd have no hope of finding it."
"Excuse me!" Finni said, getting everyone's attention. "I'll go look for it outside!"
"I'll go look for it outside as well, I will!" Mei-Rin volunteered. Ciel stared at them in surprise.
"While it's true that finding it would give us a hint or two about the murderer, there's no need to go out of your way to..." Ciel said.
"I—! I want to get to the bottom of this!!" Finni said anxiously. "I'm not very smart, so I can't find the killer by thinking it through like you and Missus Chêne, Young Master! But I could find a key! If that key will help you solve the case even a little, I'd like to try finding it!" He looked at Mei-Rin and they both nodded at each other with determination before dashing out of the room.
"Ah! Hey, you guys..." Bard said, almost losing his cigarette in his surprise. "Sorry! Excuse us!!" He ran after them before Ciel could say another word.
"..." Ciel stared after them with his hand still reaching out to stop them. He sighed and rested his head on his hand. "..." He smiled slightly.
—^—^—^—
SHAAAA.
The freezing rain pelted Mei-Rin and Finni from head to toe, leaving every part of them soaked.
"I'll go look in the garden!" Mei-Rin said, taking off her glasses.
"Okay, I'll go look over there!" Finni said, pointing in another direction.
"Wait, wait, you two!!" Bard shouted, stepping out into the rain with them. "You can't do nothin' in this storm!! Retreat!!"
"The rain might wash away the key. We've got to look for it now…!" Finni said.
"We don't even know if it's here!!" Bard yelled.
"But it could be!!" Mei-Rin shouted back.
SHAAAA.
The rain continued to pour down in an unrelenting deluge.
"Turn back!" Bard told them. "It's still March. You're gonna freeze to death."
"Well, but… If not for Mister Sebastian, we would never have been able to come here to the manor..." Finni said, his tears mingling with the rain. "I'd never have been able to go outside or… feel the rain on my skin like this." Mei-Rin clutched her glasses. "We had nothing. No home to return to." Mei-Rin remembered the night they caught her and spared her life. "No friends." Bard remembered how Sebastian had found him on the battlefield holding a dead comrade. "No freedom." Finni would never forget how they found him and let him see the moon for the first time. "All that we have now… every last thing… was given to us by the young master, Mister Sebastian, and Missus Chêne. But still… Mister Sebastian… Mister Sebastian was—! Uuu…!"
"Finni! Don't you cry now, don't cry!" Mei-Rin yold him. "Crying won't bring Mister Sebastian—!" She couldn't help it. Warm tears formed in her eyes too. "…!" They streamed down her face along with the cold rain.
"Uuh… Uuuh…!" Finni cried.
"Uuuh-huuuh!" Mei-Rin sobbed.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WAAAAAAAH!" they wailed together, falling to their knees on the wet ground.
"Hear me out, you guys," Bard said.
"Uwaaaaaaah!" Mei-Rin cried.
"Aaaaaahn!" Finni sobbed.
"Listen to me!!" Bard roared.
"!" They were both startled into silence.
"Look, okay? I'm the same as you," Bard said, kneeling down to talk to them. "I wouldn't be here if it hadn'a been for the young master and that guy and Chêne."
"Then why—"
"That's exactly why!" Bard said, determined. "We can't be actin' crazy at a time like this!" He placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "What's our job here? To protect this house! To protect the Young Master! You with me or what? Think back to right after we were scrounged up and brought here. We couldn't do anything except kill folks. But now, Mei-Rin can do the washing without tearin' stuff up. Finni can tell a weed from an herb. And I, who couldn't cook a thing, can at least manage to fry an egg. So why d'ya think that superman, who could do everythin' by himself… went and taught us useless lumps all kinds of things with such intense patience and perseverance? He did it so we could help Chêne protect this manor and the young master if the day ever came when he wasn't around anymore." Mei-Rin and Finni stared at him with tears in their eyes. They knew he was right. "… So there's only one thing we oughta be doin' right now, yeah?"
"Just so," Tanaka said as a shadow fell over Bard and the rain stopped hitting him. They all looked up to find Tanaka standing over them, holding two umbrellas, with the second held out to protect them. "Come inside. Missus Chêne has put the kettle on and has dry towels waiting for you. And we also seem to have a bit of a problem."
"Eh?" the three stooges said, wondering what it could be. They got up and followed Tanaka around to the kitchen, squeezed together under the umbrella. When they got there, Chêne greeted them with a warm smile full of gratitude for their efforts to help find Sebastian's killer.
"Come inside before you catch a cold," she told them. They stepped inside and she handed them dry towels and poured the tea. Once everyone had a chance to towel off and have some hot tea, Chêne made a grim announcement. "We're running out of food."
"It seems highly unlikely that the food Sebastian prepared will last three days. Especially considering Lord Grey's exceptionally hearty appetite..." Tanaka said.
"He even ate the curry we had in reserve for dinner, saying he was 'a bit peckish'," Chêne added, sweat-dropping.
"Say wha—!?" Bard exclaimed, grabbing the large pot to examine it for himself. "Hell, the stock pot's completely empty!! This is way past 'peckish' if ya ask me!"
"Well then… whatever shall we do?" Tanaka asked. "We also cannot say for certain when the storm will calm down..."
"At this rate. The food will all be gone before the day is out, never mind tomorrow," Mei-Rin said.
"And the old peddler won't be able to make it out here in this weather..." Finni added.
"As it is, I'd probably have to swim to the market to get there… but I doubt anyone is open for business anyway," Chêne said with a sigh.
"So we're holed up in the manor with no supply corps comin' to our aid… I don't think this could get any worse."
"You shouldn't say that, Bard," Chêne told him. "It can always get worse."
"How?" he asked her.
"I don't want to tempt fate by answering," she replied, perfectly serious.
"If only Mister Sebastian were here at a time like this..." Mei-Rin said.
"We'll just have to think of something ourselves," Chêne said, clenching her fists with determination.
"Yes. He is no longer with us. You must not depend on him forever," Tanaka said calmly. "Why do you not recall that turn of phrase of which he was so very fond? It goes without saying that a servant of the Phantomhive house can overcome a crisis such as this."
"Yes, sir!!" Mei-Rin, Finni and Bard responded strongly. Tanaka and Chêne smiled as they watched them immediately dive into a discussion on how they could fix the problem.
"Well, we must find some way to add volume to the food…" Mei-Rin said.
"How 'bout we chop it up?" Bard suggested.
"Perhaps we should start by taking stock of everything in the kitchen?" Chêne said. "We may be out of the food Sebastian made for us, but surely there must be something left that we can cook. And what about the garden Finni? Anything edible growing in there?"
"Just some herbs," Finni replied, while Bard and Mei-Rin got started on checking the larder and so on. Chêne, Tanaka, and Finni joined them, and they searched in every nook and cranny they could find when they ran out of obvious places.
"All we've managed to find is some beans and flour..." Bard said, scratching his head. "All that's good for is maybe bean soup. But if we serve that as the main dish, the young master'd completely lose face."
"… What kind of beans are they?" Chêne asked.
"Soy," Bard replied. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized what that meant.
"That could work!" she said.
"How!?" Mei-Rin and Finni asked.
"Did you guys know it's possible to make faux meat with soy?" Chêne asked them.
"You're kiddin'!" said Bard.
"No, really. And if you do it right, it can be indistinguishable from the real thing!" Chêne said. "The problem is… how can we minimize Lord Grey's monstrous appetite so we don't run out?"
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Drawing Room…}
"—Say. Sitting here in utter silence is stifling in itself," Grimsby said. "How about we play a game of cards or something? I brought along a deck of cards, so I'll go to my room and get it." He stood up to leave.
"Please wait," Arthur said. "If you're going, we should all go."
"I'll be right back," Grimsby assured him.
"As long as we do not know who is behind these murders, the soundest course of action is to move as a group to avoid having any more victims," Arthur said.
"True, that's best if one of us is the guilty party!" Lau said, taking a puff on his pipe. "If it is one of us, that is."
"—What do you mean?" Grimsby asked, furrowing his brow.
"There's nothing to it!" said Lau. "I meany exactly what I just said."
"If the murderer isn't here among us, where are you saying he is?" Grey asked.
"For instance, he arrived before the storm and is hiding outside… —Something like that?" Irene suggested.
"Even so, would it not be impossible for him to enter a locked room or come in out of the storm to wander about the manor without leaving footprints?" Ciel pointed out.
"What if there exists a fourteenth person who can make the impossible possible?" Lau asked.
"Rubbish!! That could never be!" Woodley said dismissively.
"Never, you say? In this world, it's the absolutes like 'never' that can never be," Lau said mysteriously. "If someone who negates that absolute is lurking in this castle… and is waiting for the ideal moment in which to target our lives… He may already be closer than we think."
=†=†=†=†=†=
BANG! BANG!
Someone beat on the kitchen door so hard that the whole thing shook and it made Bard and Chêne jump.
"!?" all of the servants gasped and looked at the door as it shook again.
BANG! BANG!
Who on earth could it be!?
=†=†=†=†=†=
"That fourteenth guest who ought not to exist—" Lau said, opening his eyes.
=†=†=†=†=†=
BANG!
