Chapter 14

Silence hung between them as Ciel watched his servant blinked dumbly at him. He could not help but felt amused at her reaction to his declaration, it was kind of cute.

He paused with eyes slightly widened.

Wait, did I just….. Cute?

What's wrong with him?

Shaking off his absurd thoughts with a feeling of disgust, he reached out to his tea cup. Taking a long sip, the silent girl finally spoke.

"As a male?" She asked in bewilderment.

Letting out a grunt, Ciel took another sip from his cup. Expecting an immediate rejection from her, he nearly spitted out his tea when Estella answered not only in tone of approval but also with amazement. "Wow…That's actually a pretty good idea coming from you." She eyed him thoughtfully.

Sebastian at the side chuckled to himself in amusement at her comment as he eyed Estella with a glint of approval in his red eyes. Standing unmoving, he continued to watch their interaction keenly like an eagle.

Gulping the tea in his mouth that Ciel almost send spitting at the girl opposite which he wish he did, he threw the girl an insulted look. "What do you mean by coming from me, Blancbaston?" Ciel snapped in annoyance.

"Nothing." She shrugged before leaning forward to lean her arms on his desk. As if she didn't notice the annoyed glare on Ciel's face, Estella asked with nonchalance. "So…As a male, huh? Okaayyy…. So, anything else for the mission…?"

Letting out a sigh in response, his furrowed eyebrows relaxed, having his frown to fall away. Taking in a deep breath, he got back into an all-business attitude. "Right."

Not waiting for a response, Ciel turned his head towards his silent butler. "Sebastian, have you gathered the names?"

Estella threw a puzzled look at the boy at this.

"Yes, of course. Just like you ordered, Young Master." Sebastian immediately slid out a rolled parchment out of his suit and handed it over to Ciel with both gloved hands. Rolling it open the instant it reaches his hands, Ciel gave the list of names a quick glance before flicking up again and fixed his eye on the first name of what he observed, a list which contained five names.

"Young Master."

Ciel snapped his head up over to Sebastian. "What?"

"I'll head off now to prepare lunch."

"Then get going." He said, waving his hand towards the door, turning his attention back to the parchment.

With a curt nod at his master, Sebastian strode across the room and disappeared behind the door, exiting the room.

Giving the list of names another scan, he cleared his throat.

"Alright, I need you to tell me the descriptions of the few people as I list them out to you, some of these people might some that you know. "Ciel glanced at the girl from behind the parchment before turning back to the list. "Okay, here goes."

"Roger Eddington." He read out.

A moment of silence was the only Ciel had in return. Frowning when no answer came, he lowered the parchment down to see Estella blinking dumbly at him. Ciel sighed. "Do you know-"

He abruptly paused when the girl suddenly shot upright from her slouched sitting posture, her eyes slowly widening at something which he secretly hoped was from a remembrance.

"Roger Eddington…?" He watched the girl with concealed anticipation as she continued mumbling that name to herself. He was about to pick up his cup for a sip when Estella gasped. "Oh, Roger Eddington!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "So you know this person..?"

"Well…" Estella hesitated. "Not really. The only person I know that bears this name was from SIGMA so the person I'm talking about might not be same as the one in that list." She jutted her chin at the parchment in his hands.

"No, it is." Ciel placed his cup back down on its saucer after a sip before glancing up with a look of indifference. "That 'Roger Eddington' is SIGMA'S Roger Eddington."

"Huh…?" She questioned dubiously with an incredulous look. "What- Why would you say that?"

"Because all these people I'm going read out are from…" Ciel paused to shoot her a knowing look. "…SIGMA."

When the girl didn't respond, he spoke again. "From what the Queen has informed me, this Van Rayden family has been associated with them ever since the formation of that organization." He placed his elbows against his desk, resting his chin on his intertwined hands. "So I suspected that SIGMA might be there too. And like I suspected, it looks like they are." He concluded. An eyebrow rose up when there was still no response from the girl.

…..

Her heart nearly stopped at the news. Mix emotions stirred with her upon hearing it; fear, dread, anger and disbelief was all in the mix.

Estella shot upright with widened eyes. "I-It is really t-true..? They are still a-alive…?" She asked shakily.

Noticing how her hands were trembling, his eyebrows furrowed the instant he caught that. With his eyebrows furrowing even deeper, His eyes narrowed when he also noticed how her eyes were pleading with him. Fear and some other emotions was what he could see in those sea of ice blue and he really dislike them. Anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach. Feelings of disgust, annoyance and anger just seem to grow stronger and stronger the longer his eye stayed on those eyes.

Weakness.

He had enough, it sickens him.

A slam on the desk had Estella snapping her head up in shock to see him standing with a furious look on his face. "Phantom-"

"Pathetic." Ciel spat. "You said that you wanted to take revenge on them but why are you cowering when you realize that they are still here!" He shook his head in disgust at her. "Take this chance to strike at them! Make them pay for what the things they took away from you!"

His voice then lowered down to a brief silence.

His visible eye flashed darkly at her. "I do not take pathetic cowards as my bodyguard." He hissed, the heavy coldness in his voice was impossible to miss.

Not responding to that, Estella continued to gape at the fuming male, still stunned by his outburst. It took her a moment before her eyes widened. "Yeah….You're right, that was pathetic of me." She muttered breathlessly as her face fell into a withering one. "Sorry…." She tore her eyes away from the male, utterly ashamed of herself.

A heavy sigh breathed out from his nose as he settled back down on his chair. The clanking sound when he picked up his cup was the only sound before the room fall into a complete silence.

"Phantomhive." An utter broke through the heavy blanket of silence.

Ciel glanced from behind his cup at the girl to find her staring back at him with a glazed look. "I'm neither pathetic nor a coward." She blurt out bluntly. "I-I…..Pardon me for that moment of stupidity."

With his cup hovering in midair, he merely raised an eyebrow at her. His eye followed as the slightly chapped, pinkish lips of hers slid across her face into a smirk before flicking back up to her face.

Fierce determination shone in her eyes as she spoke with the newly formed smirk. "Let's do this." Estella confided. Leaning forward eagerly, she snatched up the parchment he left lying on his desk, causing Ciel to shoot forward at that. "What are you do-"

Estella swiftly cut him off in mid-sentence, looking him straight in the eye with a deadpanned look. "Do you want me to describe them or not?"

"Tch." Ciel let out a sigh and leaned forward to rest his arms on his desk. "Do it then." He said, jutting his chin at the parchment in her hands.

And so, the male adolescence sat with a fixed expression plastered on his face as he listened as the female one started to drone on, getting on with her appointed task.

...

Training with Sebastian and dancing lessons with Ciel were all she has been doing for the mission. Thankfully for Estella, as a preparation for the mission, Sebastian decided to head into training her in martial arts instead of those crazy run. However, taking on training, dancing and her chores for the past few days, she was completely burned out.

Ever since that day the Phantomhive male discussed with her about the mission, all she has been doing was training, dancing and her boring chores. And today was the fourth day of this interminable routine.

Somewhere on the carpeted floor of the library in the Phantomhive manor, Estella sat sprawled against a pillar with a weary look on her face as she added another newly dusted book to the small pile of books on her right before moving on to the next one. It was a torturous bore. As she continued wiping the book cover at a snail pace, her eyelids drooped lower and lower as time passed. The hand moving the cloth repeatedly across the book cover then gradually slowed down into a stop. As that hand slid down limply to her side, her eyelids slowly dropped shut, allowing sleep to take her to a world of darkness. There she was, slouched against the pillar like the dead.

...

Rays of the sun shone through the windows of the Phantomhive manor, bathing its hallways in blazing orange as the celestial ball slowly exit from the evening sky into its horizon. The young master of the Phantomhive household stalked through hallways, glancing around with a frustrated frown on his face.

Kitchen….not there. Her room….empty. Training room...empty. She's not in any of these rooms.

Where is she?

Continuing his way down the hallway, an annoyed sigh emitted from his lips as they met with each other to form a frown line. With fists balled out loosely at his sides, Ciel turned to a corner and finally skidded to a stop in front of a huge door. Giving it a push, he stepped into the library to be met with the familiar sight of shelves and books.

It was empty.

"Not here either." He hissed intolerably. "Where is she-"He stopped mid-sentence when his eye landed on a foot sticking out from behind a shelf at the far end of the library. "There you are." His eye narrowed at it in annoyance. Stalking his way past shelves, he reached the last shelf.

His eyebrows furrowed into an annoyed frown. "Hey, Blancbas-" Ciel came to an abrupt stop the moment he moved past the shelf and had his eye to instantly flicked down to the floor to see the said girl slouching against a pillar with her eyes closed. With soft whistling which he assumed as snores could be heard from her as she slouched with her legs stretched out.

"My, my. Sleeping on the job, eh….?" He shot an eyebrow at the sleeping girl. His leg that stretched out towards her in attempt of nudging her awake, abruptly stopped a few inch away from her stretched-out leg. Slowly withdrawing his leg, Ciel studied her face thoughtfully, he let out a sigh of resignation. Seeing how tired she looked, he figured that ordering her to wake up pointless because if she tires herself any further, her performance during the mission would be affected. He wouldn't want that.

Looks like I'll have to discuss that when she's up.

Watching as her chest gently heaved up and down; he debated whether to leave her here or bring her back up to her room and finally decided.

Tearing his eye away from the sleeping body, he strolled towards the wide opened doors, mumbling his butler's name repeatedly under his breath. "Sebastian…."

Poking his head out to take a glance at either side of the hallway outside, he called out. "Sebastian!"

Leaning against the frame of the door, he waited for the said butler to appear. But as minute past, his eyebrow furrowed into an impatient frown when Sebastian didn't appear.

Where is that demon? How-

Then it clicked. Eye widening slightly in realization, he turned to face the library again before strolling his way back to the girl.

Oh yeah…I forgot. He thought, shaking his head. He went off for investigation…

Ruffling his hair in frustration, he eyed the sleeping girl, deciding on what to do with her. It will be bad if she get any aches and affect the mission, why didn't she just head upstairs to sleep..? A sigh emitted from between his lips. Troublesome and annoying.

Taking hesitant steps towards her, he knelled on one knee before reaching his arms out to her. Making sure to keep as still as possible, he slid his arms around her in attempt of carrying her in bridal style. Lucky for him, she was light enough for him to do so.

Letting out a soft relieved sigh when he succeeded doing without even causing her to stir, he swallowed the lump forming in his throat. Slowly getting up to stand, he made his way towards the doors, passing shelf after shelf as he advanced towards it. He just couldn't figure out why having her in his arms was giving him unsettling feelings. Her in his arms didn't make him prickle with discomfort or any unpleasant feelings but instead he actually kind of.…like it.

Ciel nearly dropped her when the girl in his arms suddenly snuggled up against him. Frowning at that, he could feel a blush working its way up and he could feel her warm breath against his chest, it was giving him weird tinglings. Damn it, this is annoying. Why the hell is he blushing? Seriously, what is wrong with him?

Trying to ignore all these nerve-wrecking sensations, he silently reassured himself. Okay…This is for the mission. He thought, taking a deep breath.

It took a lot of focus for him to be okay with the contact to finally move out of the library and to his destination.

…...

The day of the mission has finally arrived. As evening falls, the Phantomhive household got busied with the final preparation for the mission lay in the night ahead.

"Ah, done!" Meirin took a step back to admire the puff tie she had just tied around Estella's neck. Its color of light purple was matched nicely with the expensive-looking tailored forest green long coat which clung onto her, the maid had purposely picked a puff tie which will do the job of covering her SIGMA tattoo the moment she knew of it.

Estella shot her a questioning raised eyebrow when she noticed that the maid was gaping at her. "What, Meirin…?"

The maid eagerly pushed up her glasses and spoke with amazement apparent in the tone of her voice. "Wow, Estella…I think I will probably mistake you as a boy if I didn't know you're a girl..!"

"Really…?" Estella tilted her head at Meirin in disbelief. Strolling over to open the door of her cupboard for a view of herself through the mirror on the other side of its door, her eyes widened in surprise to see that what the maid said was true. "I….I look like a pretty boy….Yuck." She grimaced in disgust.

"Well, it doesn't matter; at least, you still managed to actually look kind of like a male!" Meirin retorted.

"Yeah, you're right…" The younger female nodded as she studied her reflection. The red wig which length was about the same as the Phantomhive male's, sat securely on her head, hiding her long hair underneath it. With an outfit of a long coat and her legs clad in black shorts with long black stockings, she looked passable as a male. And thanks to the high-heeled black boots, she stood at a new height that made her look almost as tall as the Phantomhive male, helped her to be even more passable as a male. Giving herself a head-to-toes glance, she nodded satisfyingly at her reflection.

….

Estella pulled herself up into the empty carriage which stood waiting at the entrance of the Phantomhive manor before closing the door behind her. Settling down on the seat at the other end of the tiny room, she glance out of the window next to her seat, waiting for Ciel and Sebastian in silence.

A feeling of fear and at the same time, anticipation were what she felt as she continued staring out of the window blankly. He was going to be there. That hateful leader of the sickening organization, namely, Victor Blair, was going to be there. The moment her eyes landed on his name when she scanning through the list of names that day, she knew she got to do it whether it is dangerous or not. This very night will be the first stepping stone for her revenge. Trained in martial arts and dancing by Sebastian, she was ready for the mission ahead. Almost ready. All she needs to do now was to muster all her everything for this, to get rid of the fear within her. Taking on this deadly mission with a calm head will be what she needs for success.

Her eyes closed for a moment before opening again. Confidence shone from her newly opened eyes, she's ready.

Snapping her head over to the door when it swung opened to see Ciel stepping into the carriage, a grin stretched across her face.

Tonight, a cousin of Ciel, 'Adrian Blackwell', was who she was going to be.

"Are you ready, my dear cousin…?"