Chapter 11

The dark sky brightened up as the celestial ball of light peeked out of its horizon. Leaves rustled to the flow of the light morning breeze, dancing in air across the land where the Phantomhive manor stood on. The water in the fountain at the front of the manor's porch reflected a glimmer of the morning sun as it continued pouring down from the fountain chute. There on the large piece of land was a quiet Phantomhive manor which stood majestically in the shine of the morning sunlight. Somewhere in the manor, a man padded silently along a hallway.

Pausing, he took out his pocket watch from the inner pocket of his tailcoat before flipping it open to glance down at its face.

7.24am….

Snapping it back close, he slipped it back into his tailcoat. Looking up to glance down at the remaining stretch of the hallway, he frowned.

Didn't I already tell her to meet me out here at 7.20am sharp yesterday…?

Sighing softly in annoyance, he stepped forward to continue his way down the hallway and paused again when he reached a door. Raising a gloved hand, he gave a knock on its wooden surface.

He then frowned when there was no response. He then knocked again, this time, louder.

….

The lump under the soft cover of the bed stirred to the sound of a knock emitted from the door. Groaning groggily, she shifted to face away from source of the knock, lifting the cover over her head in attempt to block out the noise. Sighing in relief when there was silence once again, she snuggled her head into the pillow before settling down in comfort to go back to sleep again. Then a louder knock came while she was in the midst of drifting off to sleep. With closed eyes, she frowned in irritation.

"What….?" She drawled sleepily in annoyance, shifting again to rest on her other side.

A male voice then replied back in a firm tone. "Estella. It's past 7.20 already. Now, wake up."

Sighing exasperatedly, the said girl sat up and answered groggily. "Alright, alright….I'm up."

The male voice replied back. "Get yourself ready. I'll give you twenty minutes to prepare yourself. When I'm back, I want to see that you are already waiting outside here, understood?"

Rolling her eyes at that, Estella cleared her throat and spoke. "No problem, Sebastian. I'll definitely already be out there in no time!"

"Then see you in twenty minutes."

Sighing softly in annoyance, she spoke. "No problem!"

She was only met with silence.

Shrugging, Estella listened as the sound of footsteps grew fainter and fainter. Snorting when the hallway outside went into complete silence; she dropped back down onto the bed. Pulling the bed cover up to her chin, she turned to face away from the door, letting out a sigh.

She then scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Closing her eyes, Estella snuggled into her pillow and started to drift off to sleep again.

….

Narrowing his eyes was his instant reaction the moment they landed on a certain portion of the hallway ahead. Reaching into the inner pocket of his tailcoat, Sebastian slipped his pocket watch before expertly flicking it open. Glancing down at the face of it, he frowned at the answer of his unspoken question.

Wasted too much time.

Snapping the watch close, Sebastian slipped it back into his tailcoat. Sighing in annoyance, he glanced up at the remaining stretch of hallway ahead before quickening his pace to get to the room which was further down. Slowing down when he was nearing a door, he paused outside and knocked against its wooden surface.

Silence was the only thing he had from the other side of the door in response. Frowning, Sebastian gave it another knock. Silence was once again what he had as a response. A surge of annoyance came at him.

Don't tell me…

Reaching to its handle, he yanked it down and pushed the door opened. What the door opened to reveal verified his suspicion.

….

"Sebastian, why the need to wake up this early…?"

The said butler glanced down at his subordinate. "Needing to wake up early should be something that you should expect, you will get used to it."

Estella stared up at him for a moment before letting out a sigh of resignation. "Right….Then where are we going now?"

"I need to get you assigned to your chores."

Nodding knowingly to herself at this, Estella looked up at Sebastian again when he spoke.

"Let's hurry. We have wasted enough time already."

At this, the duo quickened their pace to their destination.

….

Stepping into the kitchen when its doors swung opened, her eyes instantly flicked to over to her humming female co-worker. There in front of a cupboard was a humming Meirin sliding out plates from the furniture one by one to polish, frowned in concentration while at it, obviously unaware of their presence.

A small smile breaking across her face at this, Estella rose up a hand in greeting.

Eyes widening slightly at this, Sebastian was about to open his mouth to stop her from what he thought she was going to do. But before he could even speak, she called out.

"Good morning, Meirin!"

Startled by that sudden outcry, Meirin released the unfortunate plate in her hands as her instant reaction, shattering the moment it hit the floor.

Grinning to herself sheepishly, Estella shot her co-worker who was now gaping down at the shattered mess at her feet in horror, an apologetic look.

"Oops….?"

The butler beside her sighed heavily at what happened.

"Meirin."

The said maid instantly shot upright at this before turning to Sebastian with a nervous smile. "Y-Yes?"

"Just clean that up later. Now, come here. I need to speak to you."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Gingerly taking a step forward, Meirin obligingly strolled over to them. Stopping when she has done so, Estella spoke. "Sorry, Meirin. I shouldn't have startled you."

Meirin glanced over at her with a smile. "It's okay. Oh and… Good morning to you too!"

Shooting back a smile, Estella turned to Sebastian when he spoke.

"Estella. You will share this chore of polishing the plates in that cupboard with Meirin. This will be what you shall always do as your first chore of the day before moving on to your other chores. I'll leave it to you two to settle on how this chore is going to be split among yourselves. "

He then turned to Meirin. "I trust you to guide her through this."

Meirin saluted to him in agreement. "Of course!"

Nodding at this, Sebastian spoke. "Alright…Meirin. We're done here. Get that mess cleaned." He jutted his chin towards the scattered pieces of porcelain which lay across the floor near the cupboard.

"Of course." Meirin nodded before turning to Estella with a smile. "Later."

Nodding in return, Estella watched the female walked back to the cupboard before turning to Sebastian. "So now…Where are we heading to…?"

"You will see when we reach there."

With that, Sebastian spun on his heels and stalked towards the doors.

Eyeing him with narrowed eyes, Estella shrugged indifferently to herself before moving to follow.

….

"You've got to be kidding!"

Estella exclaimed, shooting a look of bewilderment up at the butler. Snapping her head to face the reason for her outcry, she stood at the mouth of the doors, eyeing the rows of tall shelves in the room with the same bewildered look. She then turned back to Sebastian when he spoke.

"I'm afraid to tell you that I do not joke." Sebastian stared stonily down at her.

The bewildered look was then replaced by one with a hopeful smile.

"Meirin is sharing this chore with me too, right…?" She asked hopefully.

"No. This chore is for you alone."

The smile on her face drooped down at this into a gape as Estella stared up at him with a dumbfounded look. "Alone….? Dust all the books in this library alone…?"

When Sebastian nodded in confirmation, she let out a groan. "What the hell…? Seriously…?"

"Yes. And mind your language." He spoke firmly in reply.

Estella then threw him an incredulous look. "Right…..Do I really have to dust all the books…?"

"Yes. And the shelves too."

"Shelves too…? Do I have to this everyday…?" She stared pointedly at the shelves.

"No. Fortunately for you, just thrice a week."

Estella groaned. "Thrice…?

"Yes." Sebastian said firmly.

Snapping her head over to throw a frown at the rows of shelves, Estella sighed in resignation. "Alright…. So, is there anything else I need to do…?"

Sebastian tapped an index finger against his chin in a rhythmic manner at her question before looking down at her again. "Yes. You have to dust the books in the Young Master's study too."

"WHAT?... More books?" She stared up at the butler in disbelief.

"I afraid so."

Eyebrows moving down to form a glare, Estella glared at him in annoyance. "It will be your fault if I start having nightmares about books!"

Ignoring the glare, the butler then took out his pocket watch before flicking it open to glance at its face. Shutting it close and slipping it back to his tailcoat, he glanced over to the fuming girl

"I shall entrust you with those duties, do them well."

Folding her arms across her chest, Estella snorted at this before speaking to reply. "Yeah, yeah…"

Sebastian nodded to himself at this and spoke.

"That's all for you. Just all these. Now that we are done, I want you to prepare yourself for our training later. We will start the training in one hour. Now, go and have your breakfast. Take an extremely light one."

When Estella responded with a curt nod, he continued.

"I'll meet you at the entrance hall in one hour."

With that, Sebastian spun away from her and strolled down the hallway to get to his next task.

….

"Ciel! ~"

The said boy looked up from his work at this to see Elizabeth skipping into his study. The instant she stopped in front of his desk, she chirped out a greeting. "Good morning~"

Ciel nodded back in response. "You too."

Elizabeth pouted at his curt answer before moving across the room to get the chair which sat at a corner of the study. Coming back with the chair, she set it down at the opposite Ciel and settled down on it.

Ciel raised an eyebrow in response at this.

"What are you doing..?"

Elizabeth shot him a smile. "Just want to spend some time with you."

His already raised eyebrow shot even higher at this. He then spoke, tapping his pen onto the piece of paper on the desk in front of him. "I'm busy…"

His fiance pouted. "Come on, Ciel! Just a little while~"

Staring at her for a moment, Ciel sighed in resignation before releasing the pen in his hand. Leaning back on his chair, he propped an elbow onto its, resting his head on it. "Fine…Just a while."

"Great!" Elizabeth chirped. Leaning forward to rest her arms on the desk, she questioned. "So…did you sleep well?"

"Aa." Ciel nodded.

Eyebrows moving down to a small frown, Elizabeth gingerly nodded at his response.

I have to ask him…

Ciel rose an eyebrow when he noticed how his fiancé kept flicking her eyes up at him before flicking them down to the pen which she is fiddling with, in a repetitive manner.

"Elizabeth."

Startled, the said girl instantly flicked her now-widened eyes up at him. "Yes…?"

Ciel leaned forward to rest his arms on the furniture in front. "What do you need to tell me…?"

Elizabeth stared at her fiancé for a moment before speaking. "Nothing much. It's just that I want to ask you some questions…"

"What is it…?"

Still fiddling with the pen, Elizabeth nibbled on her bottom lip in thought before turning her attention back to her waiting fiancé. "Erm…Yesterday night…I was on my way to the bathroom and so when I went passed Estella's room, I saw you in there. So I was wondering… Is everything okay…?"

With both eyebrows rose up, his eye widened in surprise at this. Leaning back onto his chair, Ciel replied nonchalantly. "Everything is fine. It's just that I had to wake that girl up before her scream wakes the whole manor up."

Elizabeth tilted her head at him in puzzlement. "Scream..? Why is she screaming?"

"Nightmares."

Eyes widening at this, Elizabeth could not help but feel relieved. She then frowned worriedly at the new-found knowledge about how the servant, who she has newly acquainted with and she had grown to like, had suffered a bad night.

Glancing up at her fiancé with the worried frown, she questioned. "Oh dear…Poor Estella. Is she alright...?"

"Aa."

Glancing at the grandfather clock at the side, Elizabeth noted the time on its face before turning to Ciel with a smile. "I think I better get going! Paula should be reaching soon!"

Getting up before skipping over to her fiancé, she pulled Ciel into her usual bone-crushing hug.

Wincing at how tight was Elizabeth hugging him; Ciel patted her back in response. "S-See you, Elizabeth."

Releasing him from the hug, Elizabeth glanced down at her seated fiancé and pouted. "It's Lizzy! Didn't I already ask you to call me 'Lizzy'…?"

Sighing, Ciel spoke. "Alright. See you…Lizzy."

"That's better! Then I'll be off then!... Bye Ciel! ~" With that, Elizabeth skipped off out of the study and disappeared into the hallway.

Watching after her, Ciel sighed heavily before picking up his pen to resume his work.

….

Glancing around at the room, Estella studied the details in it. There was her and Sebastian standing in a big room that looked about eight times bigger than her room. Whistling lowly to herself in awe, her eyes continued sweeping through the rows of weapons which were hung up on the surrounding walls of the room. Sunlight shone into the room through a row of ceiling-to-floor windows at the wall behind her, bathed the room in brightness.

With her bare feet padding across the thinly-carpeted gray floor to get to Sebastian who was waiting in the middle of the room, Estella flicked her eyes back to the butler ahead. When she got closer, she spoke. "Whoa….Never knew that this manor would have this kind of room. Pretty cool, huh…"

Nodding her head to herself as her eyes flicked across the room to take in all its details once again, Estella turned her attention back to Sebastian when he spoke.

"Alright. This room will be used for our training. We shall have our trainings every alternate day at 10. So make sure to meet me here every alternate day at this time, I expect punctuality from you, understood?"

"Roger." Estella nodded in agreement.

At that, Sebastian retreated a few steps away from the girl before speaking again. "Now, a test like I said. So Estella…. Come, come at me with the intent to kill. Show me what you have."

Eyes widening in surprise at this before reverting to eyes with a gleam of determination which can be seen in them, a smirk crept across Estella's face. Tightening the knotted belt of her Japanese V-neck martial arts uniform, she positioned herself into a fighting stance.

She then bends forward to ready herself to sprint towards the waiting butler.

With the smirk on her face widened, she spoke.

"With pleasure."