I hope all of you enjoyed the previous chapter. Thank you for the reviews, the favorites and alerts, once again. It made my day when I saw more and more people being interested in this story.

Someone asked me if this was going to be a CielxOC story. It won't. I think that Lizzie and Ciel are well paired together and I'm not planning to make this a romance story. I'll be just trying to make of this a nice crime/mystery story.

Enjoy chapter 3~

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji in any form or way. Even though I wish I did. But then I'd also need the super imagination of the mangaka and it's drawing skills and...whatever. I don't own it.

Chapter 3: The Grace of not hearing any lies

John Malacoda was the human name he had adopted for this mistress. John, because it was the name she had muttered to him and Malacoda because he had appreciated the book "Dante's Inferno". But only as amusement about how creative but also how cliché and boring humans could be when describing the things they fear the most.

His first intentions weren't to save nor to serve the child he had found after having killed the "summoners", but he just couldn't get enough of the smell of her soul. It was sweet, warm, attractive, sensual in its own way.

No, don't be mistaken, John wasn't interested in children. He'd let the soul mature and experience till it was ripe to perfection. He'd make Grace Wortley grow into a beautiful woman and only take her soul when she was at the peak of her life.

He shivered of pleasure from the thought. It'd be the perfect dinner for him.

Grace Wortley was a small child, of the same age as the Earl Phantomhive. She had carrot colored hair that flowed on her shoulders gracefully and a pair of sharp royal blue eyes even though they were filled with sadness lately. She was a sickly child, suffering of asthma, an illness many children had in London. John hadn't fully grasped her character yet, but already knew that she wasn't the kind to back off or to regret things. And that was something that made her so unique.

He had given her what she had asked him to give her. Not directly of course, but had "pushed" things to go in the direction he wanted them to take. Grace wasn't from nobility and never had anyone to serve her either. Wearing warm clothes, having at least three meals a day, having a roof above her head, were all new to her. Etiquette was something unknown to her, as well as proper language. Luckily for herself, she wasn't much of a talker and the excuse of having gotten bad influence while her kidnapping worked fairly well, since it wasn't a lie either; the people who sacrificed those children were after all bad company in all possible meanings of the term.

Grace Wortley had actually existed and died under mysterious circumstances a year earlier, along with her parents. No witnesses, no rumors and a heirloom that had to be claimed yet. Since the Scotland Yard hadn't found the child's body yet, the Queen had made sure that the heirloom couldn't fall in someone's hands yet, probably waiting to find a good replacement for the name, name that was needed too much in the negotiations in the colonies of England. It wouldn't have been the first noble family that had been eliminated for Her Majesty's wishes. The fact that the orphan was called Grace, had a vague ressemblance with the deceased child and had no memories left from before were a lucky coincidence that helped him to reach the goal he had for his Mistress.

The child had accepted everything without complaints or questions. He gave her what she had asked him to give, so simple were things for her. He didn't lie, he gave her what she needed, he protected her, there wasn't anything else she wanted up till recently.

Grace had been made an "underdog of the Queen", like Ciel Phantomhive. It was only natural for the Countess of the Wortley, since they had been in the underground affairs too, hiding behind a neat facade of ambassadors of equal commerce in China. She wasn't really aware yet of the meaning of the role, reason why the Queen made her live for a while in the Phantomhive manor, wanting Ciel to "introduce" her in her new world.

John Malacoda was supposed to be the butler of the family, that had been hired for her alone and teach her all manners and etiquette and rules she needed to know. The task was heavy, long, difficult, but, if he couldn't handle such a task, then he wouldn't be the butler of the Wortley's, would he?

The child was a fast learner, her brain absorbing knowledge like a sponge. Also, she was interested in most particular domains, especially those of medicine and juridiction. She had to learn everything related to business and commerce too, since she inherited the company of her "parents". The child learned french, german, proper english, latin, greek, learned to play chess, cards, the piano,and the violin. Etiquette, manners, clothing, expression, standing, dancing, sewing, embroidery and what not else a lady of good society was supposed to be able to do.

The human brain fascinated the demon. Ah, it wasn't as perfect, creative and productive as theirs, but, it was still fascinating. It could remember to the slightest details, forget the most important of the picture. It was able to make a person feel, ignore, imagine. It had this ability to assemble pieces of a puzzle to create the being, the soul of the person. Ah, it even came up with ideas to go to the Moon. Why in Hell's name would people want to go to a dead rock? He had already seen it and really, it was more boring than Earth was.

'Aaaah...Well, I'm not going to try to understand humans tastes and interests.' thought the demon after having reflected on his thoughts.

"SEBASTIAN!"

Ara, ara, the little master of the house was sure noisy. With a grin, John was wondering how his fellow demon could cope up with such a master. Grace earned well her name; she was full of grace in manners and in spirit. He totally adored his little mistress without forgetting his place as butler and of course as demon.

Every day, John Malacoda was at her service, ready to execute everything she asked him to do. But she wasn't very demanding, giving him a lot of free time, which he used to help Sebastian when he felt like, play around with the local cats or to read and learn about human manners and needs.

He especially enjoyed the times with the cats and when he brought to bed his Mistress. It was so ironic what she asked every time, to ask such a question to a demon:

"Please, don't ever lie to me."

Ah, why should a demon hide the hell he's preparing for it's victim?

His answer would never waver or change. It'd always be "Yes, My Lady."

"Ciel?"

"Hm?"

The young master seemed annoyed while he was reading some news papers while drinking his cup of red tea. Grace was standing shyly next to his desk, alone for the first time in front of him. Usually she only talked to John and didn't dare to leave his side. But her butler had pushed her gently to the office and told her to play a game of chess alone with Ciel. Sebastian had encouraged the action and showed her the way to the room.

And there she was, trembling on her base and holding tight the chess game. She was wearing a navy blue dress, a color Ciel liked. Her carrot hair was plaited around her head, like a crown and she wore the pearl earrings Elisabeth had given her the famous day they had gone out shopping. Meylyn, Finny and Bard had all three said that she looked cute and John and Sebastian had smiled like always, giving her the last little bit of courage she needed to enter the room.

He hadn't heard her coming in, sadly, forcing her to make the first move.

"Uhm...C-Ciel?"

"What is it?" he asked absentmindedly with a frown.

She swallowed hard, feeling a heavy atmosphere coming from him.

"W-Well, i-if you're not t-too-"

"Stop stammering, I can barely understand you." was the harsh reply she got.

Immediately, she cleared her throat and started again:

"If you're not too busy, would you...like...to...play...chess...with me?" she said with a tone that turned into an almost non understandable whisper.

Ciel looked up from his paper, at the girl and sighed. He posed the newspaper down along with the cup of tea and jumped off his chair.

"It can't be helped, can it? Let's go outside, while the sun is still shining. Sebastian will make us some sweets."

John was glad to see his little Mistress coming out of the room with a smile on her lips. After all, it was true that sad souls didn't taste much in the mouth.