About twenty minutes had passed since Ciel had been punished by his butler. Ciel laid on his small bed on his side facing away from Sebastian, who was still in the room. Sebastian watched as his young master shifted around trying to find a comfortable position to stick to laying in. Ciel repeatedly wiped his eyes, he couldn't get rid of the emotions that were overcoming him.
"Sebastian…" Ciel whispered, too embarrassed to actual speak.
"Yes, Young master?" Sebastian stood up to address Ciel.
"I'm hungry." Ciel murmured. Sebastian quickly remembered Ciel hadn't gotten a chance to eat his dinner before being sent to the room for punishment.
"Young master, I was told you had to stay in your room for the night. If you can wait I can sneak you something to eat tonight after everyone has retired for bed." Sebastian suggested, he knew his young master was definitely suffering. Though he did think Ciel deserved the punishment for how rude and bratty he was; Sebastian didn't believe Ciel should have been treated so harshly. Though it didn't matter what a mere butler thought.
"This is ridiculous! What does the Queen think I can do in a situation like this?!" Ciel yelled, he was making himself angry just by his own thoughts.
Sebastian quickly shushed the boy, "Young master I understand your frustration but please refrain from yelling. The Queen must have thought you'd fit in with these children to get the information."
"Then I'm supposed to be fine with being humiliated, abused, and embarrassed?! I mean you… you spanked me." Ciel struggled with the concept. "What if that happens again! I can't…" Ciel looked down embarrassed to speak about it. Sebastian took a minute to think of a plan.
"Young master, I know you're against it but speak and try to get information from the children. The faster we learn from the children the faster we can leave. While you're doing that I'll try to make friends with the adults, go to bars, and try to get information that way." Sebastian formed his strategy.
"NO! You can't leave me alone. What if they try to punish me? I can't endure that!" Ciel frantically started to panic until Sebastian grabbed his hand.
"You just call me, and I'll be right there. Though I can't guarantee you won't get a punishment I can assure you I'll negotiate it for you just like this time. I won't let anyone else put their hands on you." Sebastian reassured.
"That means you can still spank me! You didn't do well at negotiating for me this time! You spanked me for a long time and really hard…" Ceils face again turned bright red at the topic of conversation.
"I'd disagree. The original punishment was for you to be publicly whipped like the boy we saw coming to this place." Sebastian reminded him. Ciel's eyes widened at the new information and took a step back.
"No way." Ciel was nervous. He had to make sure to behave.
"Now Young master, I'll stay with you for tonight but early tomorrow I must go back with the adults and you'll have to be with the children. Understand?" Sebastian restated the game plan.
"Yes…" Ciel murmured as he took a seat on his bed and laid down, nervous for the next day to come.
NEXT MORNING:
Ciel was awaken by a loud knock at his door followed by a women's voice shouting for him to wake up for breakfast. Ciel looked around quickly, but Sebastian had already gone. He was nervous, and his stomach felt sick. Ciel put on his clothes and rushed out the door to get in line with the other children for breakfast. The other children were quietly whispering as they were walking in the halls to the dining room but Ciel tried to keep his head down.
"Hi." The tiny blonde-haired blue-eyed girl appears from the side, forcing a smile. Ciel immediately jumped caught off guard. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I just wanted to thank you for yesterday. I hope you didn't get hurt too bad."
Ciel blushed, "I'm fine. How long have you been here?" Ciel asked naturally. The girl looked around making sure no one was around or listening.
"I was born in the town surrounding the palace walls. Most of the children here were. We're born then taken from our mothers at a young age to serve our time in the palace until were adults."
Ciel couldn't help but look surprised at this. He couldn't imagine it. "Isn't that kidnapping?"
The girl looked down with sad eyes, "It's a tradition here. All children are sent to the palace to become good obedient children until we're eighteen. If we're bad children… well, I'm sure you've seen it with your own eyes."
"Have you…" Ciel tried to ask but the little girl already knew the question.
"I have. Multiple times but never publicly whipped in the towns circle. Only in front of the other children and privately with hand and ruler spankings. It's not fair, but it's… tradition." The girl's hands shifted down to her backside as though she was remembering the pain. Ciel could sympathize a small amount since he was just punished.
"Why were those kids bullying you yesterday?" Ciel asked out of his own curiosity. The girl smiled an extremely fake smile, "They were picking on me because I told on them and got them paddled." The girl was telling her story until the children were told to remain quiet since they were entering the dining hall. Ciel was guided to his seat, next to the tiny girl. Ciel looked around looking for Sebastian until he saw him chatting away at the head of the table.
"Psst... Don't stare at the adults you'll get in trouble." The girl warned. Ciel turned his head away and onto his plate to eat his meal. He was starving. He took a bite, almost gagging to keep it down, wishing he had Sebastian's cooking. After the meal the children were given free time to spend in their assigned rooms.
Ciel sat alone for a couple hours staring at the ceiling before the tiny girl snuck into the room quickly closing the door behind her. Ciel jumped up.
"HI! I wanted to see you." The girl whispered. Ciel's heart dropped knowing she wasn't allowed to leave her room.
"Wont we get in trouble if we get caught? Ciel asked worried. The girl thought for a moment.
"Yeah but only a small hand spanking. AND that's if we get caught!" the girl quietly laughed. Then stopped studying Ciel's face realizing he was still frightened.
"Have you never been punished before? Where are you from?" The girl started asking questions.
"Not really" Ciel thought for a moment, "only a few times by my parents… and one other time"
"Yeah I heard you last night. It sounded painful." The girl admitted. Ciel's face turned bright red. Both of the children's heads flipped around as the door flung upon. The girl rushed to hide behind the door of the closet and Ciel remained standing. Sebastian walked in surprised.
"Sebastian." Ciel stammered.
"Please leave and don't let anyone see you." Sebastian harshly spoke, and the girl rushed out of the room back into her own, whispering sorry as she left. "Young master" Sebastian spoke as he shut the door, "what are you doing?"
"I was gathering information. What have you found out today?" Ciel asked hoping they could leave quickly.
"Well Young masters, from observing alone it seems as though more and more children are being imported to the castle every day from all ages." Sebastian informed. Ciel quickly informed Sebastian of what the small girl had told him earlier.
"Hmm, that would make sense." Sebastian commented.
"Can we leave now? Our mission was to find out what was happening and to leave unnoticed." Ciel was excited.
"Yes, we'll leave first thing in the morning. I'll leave you to sleep, young master."
Ciel woke up to loud cries and shouts from across the hallway. He looked over to his beat-up clock. 5:45a.m. Ciel tried to cover his ears but the cries were shriek like. After five minutes the screams stopped and Ciel finally could try to sleep again. But before he knew it he was being yanked out of bed by a woman and smacked across the face. Ciel fell to the ground. "Sebastian" Ciel whispered unsure of what was happening.
Almost immediately after Sebastian barged into the room and stood in front of Ciel to calm the lady down.
"What seems to be the matter?" Sebastian asked calmly.
"This boy let a girl enter his room. The camera's say she was in here for forty-five minutes! That's outrageous, its against the rules!
After a moment of talking the woman handed Sebastian a small hand paddle and left without another word. Ciel looked at Sebastian with big puppy like eyes, already knowing what was bound to happen.
"Sebastian we can just leave now!" Ciel tried to negotiate or slide out of the current situation.
"Young master, I hadn't called the carriage yet. They don't usually come this early. This is unfortunate." Sebastian spoke as he grabbed his young master's hand causing his to freak out.
"NO! I'm not letting you do this again!"
"Young master, I don't want to force you, but I will if I have to. Now please bend over the bed." Sebastian tried to keep his master as calm as he could. Ciel walked over to the bed trembling. "Could you lower your trousers, or would you like me to do it?" Sebastian again tried to remain polite. Ciel slowly unbuckled his buttons with his shaky hands and slowly lowered his bottoms to his ankles. Ciel bit his lip trying not to cry from embarrassing.
Sebastian pressed on Ciel's back to bend him over the bed. Sebastian held him with one hand while raising the other up and smacking it against Ciel's bottom. Ciel jumped from the pain. It stung. SMACK! SMACK!
"It hurts!" Ciel was already done after ten smacks. "Let me go now please!"
Sebastian ignored his young master. Ciel knew it wasn't truly up to Sebastian when the punishment was to end. It was negotiated already.
SMACK! Tears started to fall down Ciel's cheeks. SMACK! "oww!" Ciel screamed and panicked when he realized Sebastian was holding him down. SMACK! "I'm sorry! I'm sorry please stop!" Ciel was openly crying and his bottom was dark red already.
"Don't apologize to me, young master. You've done nothing truly wrong." Sebastian reassured Ciel then gave him his last few spanks. Sebastian slowly moved his hand from Ciel's back and helped him stand up. Ciel's arms were covering his face as he cried.
"Young master…?" Sebastian asked worried.
"Can we go home now…?" Ciel spoke in between his hiccups.
"I'll work on a ride now. We'll be gone before breakfast. Get a few more hours of rest." Sebastian spoke before embracing Ciel to offer comfort, making sure to rub his back. "I'm sorry we couldn't have left before this, young master" Sebastian whispered in his ear before leaving the room to prepare for their departure.
TO BE CONTINUED…