A/N: It has been a while, and I do apologize for that! I'm slowly making my way toward actually having somewhat of a schedule when it comes to writing, so... let's cross our fingers that I actually get these chapters out with uh... less time in between them!
Thank you so much to everyone who is supporting this story so far! I'm enjoying it a lot. This chapter is a long one with a lot of ends being tied up! Hopefully this all makes sense o.o
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Ciel entered the dining room with his chin tilted up in confidence. The breakfast along with the tea Sebastian and Bard (though mainly Sebastian) had prepared was cold by now, standing forgotten after the body of Miss Irene had been found. Almost everyone was gathered there, but not to continue eating.
The four daughters were stood huddled together, Mr Thompson next to them. Despite his daughters looking scared by the tension in the room, Mr Thompson paid them no attention. Instead, Mey-Rin and Finnian had moved over to gently place their hands on the girls' shoulders, in the way that normally Eleanora would do – it was their best attempt to give the children some reassurance.
"What is going on?" grumbled Mr Thompson, eyes narrowed at Ciel.
"I think our little game needs to end now before someone in my household gets hurt too."
Mr Thompson remained silently watching Ciel.
"I was asked to investigate your family by the Queen herself."
Mr Thompson's eyes widened. "I beg your pardon?"
"You do remember your late wife, lady Jocelyn? She was the queen's second cousin, giving you quite the status." Mr Thompson's gritted teeth was enough of an answer for Ciel, who continued to speak calmly, having the upper hand in this situation but not showing it just yet. "Her highness was evidently worried that she had not heard anything from her relative for quite some time. Apparently, she had not heard anything for over a year. When you arrived with a wife that was not lady Jocelyn, a wife who was, as well, heavily pregnant, I understood immediately that something was wrong."
"Why would the queen ask you to investigate for her? You are a child!"
"I am the queen's guard dog. I keep the underworld in check. I do what the queen cannot do for legal and publicity reasons." Ciel gave Mr Thompson an icy cold glare with his one eye. "So, if I were you… I would respect me a bit more than you currently are."
Whilst Mr Thompson snarled at the young boy in front of him, leaning on his little cane as though he was more important than the Earl Thompson – the plump earl remained quiet.
"So I investigated. I had my butler look into your marital situation, and I found out no priest actually knows of any other wife but a lady Matilda. Any and all legal papers are falsified, even the one made with lady Jocelyn. Sebastian did, however, recover lady Jocelyn's body." One of the younger girls whimpered and hugged Rose tightly at the words. Finny gently hushed her. "Surely, Earl Thompson, you could have hid the bodies better than in your backyard?"
"I don't…"
"You killed your wife, along with four previous ones which, on top of murder, you also lied to and falsely married, something the church most likely will not be pleased to hear about," said Ciel simply, raising an eyebrow.
In response, which shocked everyone in the room more than Ciel, Mr Thompson began to laugh. "I killed no one."
"And, if I may, what evidence do you have to support that? I know what excuse you have, but you see, I know better than anyone else that you can't use whatever... binds and promises you have attached to yourself as an excuse. Not when it comes to the police."
Mr Thompson quietened down, but continued to glare.
"Now… Luckily, I found this out quite early on. And I sent word to the yard." These words made Mr Thompson's eyes widen. On cue, three police men appeared from behind the long dining table, guns pointed at Mr Thompson, having waited patiently to hear what they needed to hear in order to go ahead on legal terms.
"Do not resist! Mr Thompson, you are under arrest for the murder of lady Jocelyn, lady Hilda, and lady Matilda."
Ciel smirked at the earl's surprised look.
"No…" With cautious steps, the three police men approached Mr Thompson before quickly grabbing his wrists, pinning them together behind his back and cuffing him. "That's… That's impossible! I didn't do any of that!"
"Oh," Ciel glanced at the police men. "You might as well add the late Mrs Celine Thompson, her infant daughter, and Miss Irene to that list. I think you'll find there's evidence pointing at him for those cases as well."
"No!" Mr Thompson finally came to grip with what was going on as he started struggling against the confines around his wrists. Luckily, his noble lifestyle had left him with more fat than muscles, and although he could try to use his weight to his advantage, there were three, muscular, police men holding onto him.
He was caught, and he couldn't get away.
Ciel and Sebastian had made sure of that.
"With the queen's anger directed at you, earl Thompson… I believe you'll find that the inside of a prison cell will be the only thing that you will ever know from now on. That is, if she shows mercy." Ciel smirked as the villain was led away by the police. "Goodbye, Mr Thompson…"
The four daughters lined up over by the servants watched their father be led away. Their father didn't look back at them even once, and meanwhile, the daughters shared neither a tear nor made a move toward him.
Rose, the oldest, shifted to grasp onto her younger siblings. And unless Ciel was mistaken, he saw a smile on her lips. The young earl, however, did not point this out, nor do anything about it. But he had to admit that, although he himself was not a saint either, this girl was starting to creep him out a bit.
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The servants had gotten the order to take the four children to their room. Ciel had already sent a letter to their aunt a long time ago, telling them that these children would most likely need some new permanent lodgings. She had been kind enough to open her doors to them, and so the children needed to go pack.
Ciel had to admit that it felt odd to think of this as the children losing their father, considering he never seemed to have actually been a father to them.
Left alone in the dining room, the young lord moved over to the table, still messy with the uneaten breakfast. Tea, by now cold, was still in a puddle on the floor from where it had been dropped earlier, the ceramic pieces scattered all about.
He had truly never seen Sebastian react in such a way… it still haunted him a little. But he had no time to investigate that now. Instead he turned to a side door:
"You can come out now."
Upon his words, the door opened to reveal Sebastian leading Eleanora inside. The boy turned to watch them, and he curiously tilted his head when he saw Eleanora was limping ever so slightly.
"You put it all on Mr Thompson…" breathed Eleanora. She let go of Sebastian, the butler shifting over to stand beside his master.
Eleanora had never been allowed to stand beside any of her masters the way Sebastian was. Her life had always brought her to those that somehow, one way or another, undermined her. And even when she had attempted to become her own being and live off her own hunts, Eleanora still was undermined. The thought made her fall to her knees. "Why were you so kind…"
"Well, I couldn't very well have written to the queen that a demon was behind the death of her dear relative." Ciel scowled down at her, his chin held high. "So we improvised. It wasn't very difficult. He had killed the other wives. And he poisoned his wife and the baby."
Eleanora remained quiet. The only thing that showed to Ciel that she found this information curious was the slight twitch of one of her eyebrows.
"Sebastian smelled it on the corpse of Mrs Thompson. He smelled it on the infant too that day she passed away." Eleanora listened, remembering indeed how Sebastian had leaned in close both to Mrs Thompson and the little infant on both separate occasions.
"Miss Irene smelled of it too," added Sebastian. "I went over to the Thompson estate and did some digging. Literally. The backyard is full with surprises, is it not? Did he get rid of any and all maids who might figure out the truth?"
Eleanora swallowed thickly, keeping her gaze down to the floor. Her reaction made Ciel once more tilt his head curiously.
"Well then… They weren't all lies." Ciel looked a little proud at this when Eleanora glanced up at him. The boy was clearly used to winning, to coming out on top. She had no doubt that once in his life, things had been the complete opposite, which was why none of these victories seemed to be going to his head. The look in his eye told her that much. There was no victory present, there was simply sympathy for those lives lost.
Nevertheless, he still looked like a child who had won a game of chess rather than a child who had solved a murder mystery.
Although her knees were a little shaky, she stood. And Sebastian, ever the overprotective devil, took a step forwards and placed a hand on Ciel's chest, prepared to push his master aside in case of danger.
Eleanora's eyes flashed purple. "What a shame you're all wrong."
Sebastian's face didn't change. A part of Eleanora wondered whether he had already figured it out a long time ago but simply not told Ciel yet – maybe Ciel had not asked either.
"What?" asked Ciel, frowning.
"I killed lady Jocelyn in accordance with the covenant that I created with Mr Thompson. I found woman after woman for Mr Thompson to try and produce an heir. Sometimes things didn't work naturally, so I would intervene and use the soul of the wife to create a life… Celine's infant girl was born this way. Each time I intervened… I screwed over the man by using the wife's soul for the life created. He wanted an heir and that was his command – to create one. And so I did. But he never specified the gender to me." Eleanora smirked when Ciel let out a breath of amusement. "But Celine was not supposed to give birth early. And the infant was not supposed to die. I lost control… I lost control because of my second covenant."
"Rose," said Ciel with a nod of his head. "But she's a child. What could she have asked of you?"
"She asked me to make her father love her, and to be there for her and her siblings no matter what."
Ciel pushed Sebastian's hand off his chest and took a few steps forwards past his demon. Sebastian's eyes flashed red, but he did not move to follow. Something about Eleanora's stature made him think this was not a situation where she would attack. "Are you saying Rose was your first covenant? Are you saying that little girl managed to get you across to our world?" Thinking back to how he acquired Sebastian, no matter how accidental or not it had been, Ciel couldn't fathom someone so much younger than Ciel to do such a thing – especially not on purpose...
Eleanora nodded her head, eyes cast down. "She killed my baby…" breathed the devil.
Sebastian's lips parted. Once more, Eleanora wasn't sure of whether this was because of his shock to her words, the grief she was showing, the human emotions – or whether this was because he hadn't known. He was impossible to read to her, just like Ciel, and she had to admit, it was a little thrilling to her.
"But whoever killed the infant… used the same poison on Miss Irene and Mrs Thompson!" exclaimed Ciel, eyes wide.
"And the mice the servants have been finding around the manor," added Sebastian calmly. He took a few steps towards Eleanora. "What did you get yourself into?"
"I don't understand humans." Tears began to flow down Eleanora's cheeks. "They kill. They murder. They go numb to their loved ones… At least demons, devils, evil things have a reason. At least we do it for a cause. Humans just… enjoy it."
"Do not pretend you lot don't either," added Ciel with a cold tone to his voice.
"We do. But we still have an aim. Rose…" Eleanora took a moment to breathe. "Rose doesn't have a motive. She just likes it. She is seven. What kind of… What kind of human is she!?"
Sebastian did something Ciel had never seen him do unless there was a gain to it; unless he was trying to extract information from someone under orders of his master – Sebastian placed a hand on Eleanora's shoulder, gloved fingers gripping her tightly. The two shared a glance momentarily before Eleanora shook her head and looked away.
Sebastian didn't let go.
"Then…" Ciel furrowed his brow as he contemplated everything that he had just been told. "Then Rose is the one that killed Mrs Thompson, the infant, and Miss Irene?"
Eleanora nodded. Sebastian, still standing there with a hand on her shoulder, watched silently. "She wanted her father to love her. And so, I tried my best. I even tried to make him see how amazing it is to have a baby. I tried… but he wouldn't… He was blind to what he had. And Rose continued to try and get his attention, never once asking me to help her in any of those attempts." Eleanora let out a sigh, closing her eyes. "And now, I don't know what to do-"
Sebastian reacted for the first time in a while. His gloved hand whipped up towards her face, catching her chin between his fingers and forcing her to look up at him. "Do not be absurd. You wanted to be a strong woman. Then be one instead of just acting like one. Take control. You already cheated the humans once, why stop now? You know exactly what to do in order to fix this. So do it."
There was an intense moment of anticipation. Sebastian's words had been harsh, but not untrue. Nevertheless, Eleanora's fists had clenched in preparation to defend herself against the devil, eyes burning with an intense anger at the truth Sebastian had spoken.
Eventually though, Eleanora stepped down, lowering her gaze. Only then did Sebastian let go of her and step back to his master. The she-devil started to move away, a newfound determination in her eyes. "You are limping." Ciel's words stopped her in her tracks. "I thought nothing could harm a devil, and yet both of you have been… affected by something today. What is it?"
Eleanora paused and turned back to Ciel…
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