Despite the late hour, Sebastian and Lilliana wanted to go over some things with the servants before morning arrived. Sebastian was tasked with speaking to Baldroy about the menu for the next three days and Finny about cleaning up the fireplaces. Meanwhile Lilliana was tasked with a special project for Mey-Rin. Especially noting her feelings about being flirted on by Siemens, they figured that it would be unwise to have him go to her room at this hour. It would be scandalous in her eyes. When she arrived at the lady's servants quarters, she knocked on the door to wake her. Luckily, none of the servants were heavy sleepers and she awoke fairly quickly. "H-Hello?" she answered as she opened the door and rubbed her eyes.
"Sorry to disturb you, but there's something Sebastian and I need you to do first thing in the morning," she said as she lifted the cage with a white owl inside. "Please let this bird free as soon as the sun rises. There's a letter attached to its leg. Understood?"
"Y-Yes," she said with a bit of confusion in her tone. Without another word, Lilliana left her side and Mey-Rin closed the door to go back to sleep.
After a while, she quickly met Sebastian in front of Ciel and Arthur's room. He was carrying a pillow in front of his chest and a lit candelabrum in a free hand. However, her eyes turned red and said, "You really need to take care of that."
"I will once we take care of our chores," he said as he was about to open the door, but she stopped him.
"Maybe you shouldn't have that lit. You might disturb them," she hinted. He nodded and blew out the fire and they entered the room in complete darkness. They were about to wake the young master, but they noticed that Arthur was already awake, or at least was having trouble sleeping, and was admiring Ciel.
"He looks so cute when he sleeps. He looks more like Ciel than an earl, almost like my younger brothers," he said quietly to himself.
However, Lilliana wanted to mess with him and said, "Doesn't he, though? That all changes the moment his eyes open."
Arthur was frightened for multiple reasons. Not only did she enter the room magically without a sound, but she heard what he said so quietly under his breath. "You—What—How did you get in here?!" he managed to yell quietly so he wouldn't disturb the sleeping child.
"I didn't mean to startle you. Sebastian and I came to give the young lord his pillow as promised," she said with a soft voice, but not too caring about volume.
"S-Sebastian is with you as well?!"
"I did warn her not to wake you, but she decided to do so anyway," he said in the same volume as her.
"But he was already awake. It's not my fault," she said playfully.
"It's about time you two showed up," Ciel said in a normal voice, surprising Arthur more.
"Ah, sorry, my lord. I didn't realize—," Arthur said in a frantic.
"Give me my pillow this instant," Ciel said as he practically pulled the pillow from Sebastian's hands and gave the old one to him.
"A pillow?"
"Not just any pillow. You could call it a security blanket of sorts," Sebastian teased.
"No, I'd call it just a comfortable pillow," Ciel said with an annoyed tone.
"Is there anything else you need? A soothing lullaby, perhaps?" Lilliana teased as well.
"Hush, you. I've never asked either of you to sing to me once. Stop fooling around and return to your rooms," Ciel barked as he tried to fall back to sleep.
"Our apologies, my lord. We shall return to our duties immediately," Sebastian said as started to leave the room. However, Lilliana wanted to stay behind to say something to Arthur.
"Doctor, you have been terribly inconvenienced. I am very sorry for that."
"No worries. The poor earl; he's truly only thirteen? It must terrify him to be mixed up in all this."
"Oh, so you don't believe he is the murderer despite what everyone else is saying?"
"Not at all. I can't imagine him doing something so cold blooded."
She smiled in the darkness as she said, "I'm glad to hear it. We shall leave him in your hands. I'm sure you will look after him even when others will try to tear him down."
"O-Of course," he said before he heard her close the door. The room was quiet, but he feared that it was possible she could still be in here, waiting to startle him. For now, all he could was sleep and hope all this would be over tomorrow.
"Doctor, Doctor," Ciel's voice said as he tried to wake the sleeping Arthur. Slowly, he did and Ciel continued, "Please, I need you to wake up now."
"G-Good morning, my lord. How did you—," he tried to say in a cheery morning voice, but was stopped.
"Something's wrong. It's long past time for Sebastian to wake me, or even Lilliana if he was caught up with a task, but neither of them came. That's unheard of." Arthur was confused, but looked at the clock and it was almost 10 o'clock. The morning is practically over and no servant has come to wake him? This WAS unusual.
Soon, they heard a knock on the door and heard an old voice from the other side. "May we come in, master?" Tanaka asked. Without an answer, he opened the door and they saw Tanaka, collected, but sullen, and Lilliana, who looked like she was crying. They looked concerned, especially Ciel, who rarely saw her cry. "I apologize. My tardiness is inexcusable," he said with a bow.
"Tanaka, why are you here? Where's Sebastian? Why is Lilliana like that?" Ciel asked in worry.
"I'm still the head maid and will perform my tasks and more, even in times of grief," she said with a raspy voice and a few sniffles. Without asking another question, the two ran out of the room and down the hall. "Young master!" she yelled and Tanaka ran as fast as an old man could down the hall to catch them. She, however, took her time until they eventually reached Siemens' room, where they found the worst possible sight: Sebastian lying dead on the floor with a fire poker lodged in his chest and surrounded by his own blood. The other guests were already there, surrounding the body and when they saw Ciel enter, they didn't know how he would react.
Ciel tried to walk closer to him, but Mey-Rin stopped him with a hug. "Young master, you don't want to go any further, I promise—,"
"Unhand me!" Ciel ordered as he tried to wiggle free.
"Just listen to her, sir!" Finny said as he tried to help.
"I give the orders around here! Let me go!" Ciel yelled before he managed to wiggle free, or maybe the servants let him go. Soon, he walked to the body, even stepping in blood with his bare feet as he said in a cold tone, "That's quite enough. Quit this playacting. I can't imagine you're very comfortable lying there like that. You've had enough fun for one day, but the charade is over." Everyone around him was surprised by his cruel way of handling Sebastian's death that it was somewhat hard to watch, especially the servants. Lilliana covered her mouth as tears began falling down her cheek. It seemed that she was taking it the hardest, especially since the two of them were so close. "Just stop this. I know you can hear me! I'm telling you to wake up," he practically yelled, but still got no response from the lifeless body on the floor. He got mad and forcefully pulled out the fire poker from his body and knelt down to his body. "Damn it!"
"My lord, please—," Arthur tried to say, but Ciel wasn't willing to listen.
He began to abuse Sebastian's corpse by slapping his face repeatedly as he continued very angrily, "This is an order! You will wake up immediately! You think you can ignore my orders? Who gave you permission to die? I won't allow it! Wake up at once!"
At this point, Lilliana seemed to be audible crying, but it was muffled with her hand. Everyone had a hard time watching the abuse, but no one had the courage to stop him, except for one. Bard held back Ciel's hand as he said in a defeated voice, "Young master, please stop. It's time to leave him be. He's gone now. Sebastian is dead."
"Impossible . . . It can't be . . . You're not dead, are you, Sebastian?" he finally said in a sad tone as the realization started to hit him. "You can't be dead. I simply won't accept it. You're supposed to be with me until they very end." He threw himself onto Sebastian's body so that his mouth was close to his ear.
"His body will start to decay if we leave him here. Perhaps we should move him sooner than later," Charles said as things slowly seemed to calm down. Even Ciel had nothing more to say or do than just let the servant take care of him in this grieving hour.
"My how the plot thickens. It would be imposible for our young lord to commit this murder since he was chained to Arthur last night," Lau pointed out, not really minding the sensitive situation.
Arthur, Bard, And Lilliana took a a closer look at Sebastian's body to perhaps find some clues about who did it. "Seems to me that he suffered a blow in the back of the head. It's possible someone stuck him down from behind while he was tending the fire," Arthur pointed out.
"And when that didn't work, they stabbed him in the chest with that poker to make sure the deed was done," Lilliana said in a voice slowly gaining composure.
"No, I would wager there were two separate attacks," Arthur hypothesized. "Even if we assumed that a blow to the back of the head wasn't enough to kill him, it's quite a switch to stab him in the front instead. Which is why I think there were two killers instead of one."
"One killer or two, we can say this much: the attack shows no sign of hesitation or mercy and whoever could kill that butler must have known a thing or two about—," Lau said before being interrupted.
"He ain't even cold!" Finny shouted, surprising everyone. "And don't talk like that with the master right here! He don't need to be listening to that rubbish!"
"Finny," Mey-Rin said to stop him. "Sorry, he didn't mean no harm."
"But he does have a point though," Lilliana said. "We should move Sebastian's body. We can talk this over a nice meal."
"Yes, I always think better on a full stomach. You servants clear that ghastly thing away. And when that's done, so to it to breakfast, won't you?" Charles said rather coldly.
However, all the servants could say was, "Right, sir."
"Take Sebastian to the cellar," Ciel finally said in a defeated tone. "I apologize for losing control."
"We don't blame you, not at all," Lilliana said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "After all, you saw me in a miserable sight earlier. My apologized for that, sir."
He nodded before heading toward Tanaka. "Sebastian won't be coming back. I shall need you to take his place as my butler. I leave management of the estate and servants in your hands. Take this pin. I'm returning it to you." As he said this, Ciel presented a small pin with a special engraving on it.
"The majordomo's pin; it brings back memories, but are you sure I'm qualified, sir? I'm no young buck anymore," Tanaka said.
"It's only until I find a replacement."
"As you wish, my lord. I humbly accept this responsibility," Tanaka said as he took the pin from Ciel's hand and put it on.
"Lilliana, please aid Tanaka as you would Sebastian. I'm sure he needs all the help he can get at this trying hour."
"Of course, my young lord," she said with a bow. Soon, the servants started to pick up Sebastian's body, but could overhear Lilliana give some strange advice to the grieving young lord. "An earl of the Phantomhive estate should not allow himself to be rattled by the death of a mere servant, even one as good as Sebastian," she said in almost a motherly tone as she even quickly hugged Ciel before joining the other servants in their task.
"We're most fortunate Sebastian finished all the preparations in advance," Ciel said as all the guests arrived to the dining table to have breakfast as the servants patiently waited in the sidelines for them to finish. They had to make sure that they pleased their guests before having breakfast themselves.
"Yes, my stomach agrees with you," Charles said happily with a knife and fork ready in his hands. "Let's dig in, shall we?"
"Wait a moment, please. Who are we missing?" Arthur said. People were confused, but soon realized that there was one empty chair with a full plate of food in front of it, waiting for someone to eat it.
"But I thought we were all present," Irene said. "Who hasn't joined us?" . . . Oh! Mr. Phelps is absent."
"He's so quiet that it's easy not to notice," Grimbsy said.
"Indulged a little too much last night, did he?" Woodley joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Maybe not," Arthur said as he got up. "I just think, with what's happened so far, we should check his room." Soon, the group got up and they all headed toward Ciel's quarters, where Phelps was staying since he didn't want to be next to Siemen's room. Once they arrived, they immediately knocked on the door with haste. "Mr. Phelps! If you're in there, please answer!" When they received no reply, they tried turning the knob, but it was locked. "We'll need the key. Who has it?"
"Well, as butler, Sebastian was in charge of the key. I do borrow it from time to time, including last night, but I returned it to him before he was murdered. Only he knew where he kept it," Lilliana said.
"Stand aside," Charles said as he, with little warning, began to slice the door down with his lance. Luckily, it broke into pieces, but despite the amazement and fear in everyone's expression, he was far from pleased. "Do you think we could hurry this up a bit? I'm still waiting on dessert." They all rushed in and kept calling for Phelps, but once they reached the bed, they witnessed another horrifying sight: Phelps's body laid on the floor, as if he was trying to escape something with a terrified expression still planted on his face.
"He's been dead for some time, but he doesn't have any visible wounds like the others," Arthur said as he examined the body, but upon further inspection on his neck, he found something. "These look like puncture marks, maybe from a needle? This must be a poisoning. . . . Though, it was quite possible that these marks could be made by teeth."
"A bite mark on his neck! Could it be a vampire?" Irene asked genuinely.
"Are you seriously considering he was killed by a vampire? Preposterous! This is the 19th century! Something so unscientific can't possibly exist!" Woodley exclaimed.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but I think we should put our attention to that clock over there," Lilliana pointed out. They all listened and noticed a clock lying on the ground with small glass shards around it. With a closer look, they could see that the glass was cracked and it was stuck at a certain time. "It reads 2:38. Mr. Phelps most likely broke it before he died. That must be approximately when he died."
"Yes. I think we all need to sit down together and sort some things out, like the order in which these men were killed and who could have been responsible," Arthur said.
Everyone gathered to the drawing room as Arthur quickly wrote down some notes in his mini notepad. "Gathering from everything that we know, we can say Herr von Siemens was killed first. That much is clear. The time of death was approximately 1:10. The second victim was Mr. Phelps, at approximately 2:38. Which leaves Sebastian as the final victim."
"The butler was the last to go? How can you be so sure?" Lau asked.
"It was confirmed by us," Finny spoke up with the other servants, including Lilliana, by his side. "Bard and I saw him last night, right around 2:50."
"And I spoke to Mey-Rin on his behalf at the same time," Lilliana said.
"What could he possibly have wanted at that hour?" Ciel asked,
"He wanted to go over menus with Baldroy, asked Finny to see the fireplaces stayed stoked, and instructed Mey-Rin to release a carrier owl this morning."
"What did the letter say, then?" Charles asked,
"I didn't read it. It wasn't my place to," Mey-Rin answered.
"It's possible that he was writing to the police about the murder. Since the phones are not working, Sebastian had to get around the issue. Though, a pigeon can't make it in this weather, he cleverly used an owl that could withstand it," Arthur said.
"He never overlooked anything even until the very end," Baldroy said.
"Now, Lilliana, were you the last to see him alive?" Arthur asked.
"I believe I was. We handled some last minute chores before he went to clean out the fireplace in Herr von Siemens's room. I went straight to bed right after we parted," she said.
"All right, with everyone's alibis, or lack thereof, I'll create a timeline on the information we have." After some time, he presented the chart to everyone. "Here. The only person who could have killed Herr von Siemens was Lord Phantomhive. Since Sebastian was the only one who had the key to the Earl's chamber, only he could have killed Mr. Phelps. As for Sebastian, other than the earl and myself, basically anybody could have killed him. In other words, this proves it was imposible for one person to have committed all the murders,"
"Now hold on a moment, something doesn't seem right to me," Charles said. "You said only Sebastian had the key to the young earl's chambers, but if I remember correctly, it wasn't him who guided him to the room. It was Lilliana."
Everyone looked at her, who was genuinely shocked by the accusation. "Now that you mention it, you're right. Sebastian didn't accompany her, meaning he must have lent her the key. Did you return it?" Lau asked.
"Yes, I gave it to him just before I left his side," she said with arms crossed.
"After 2:50, I assume?" Lau said in a slightly intimidating voice.
Everyone started muttering to each other, but Lilliana had to defend herself. "You can't possibly believe that I would do something so cruel to an innocent man?"
"We are not accusing; we are just asking questions and point out what we see. However, judging by your response, I see adding a little pressure seemed to trigger a defensive response." She gritted her teeth, but decided to not say anything else that could incriminate her.
"So she was the last person to see both Mr. Phelps and Sebastian alive and she had the key to be able to commit the murder. Her only alibi for Phelps' murder was Sebastian, but he's dead too, unfortunately. If I had to guess what happened, she went to kill Phelps for whatever motive, but when Sebastian found out and tried to confront her about it, she used a fire poker to hit him from behind the head and confirmed the kill by stabbing him." Charles hypothesized.
"You honestly believe that someone who knew about Phelps's murder would carelessly approach the killer? Not only that, but Sebastian is not the type to lose in a fight, even if taken by surprise," Baldroy defended. "There's no way Lilliana could have done something like that to a fellow servant. We're a family and we won't ever kill each other."
"Thanks Bard," she said softly.
"Why are we only pointing fingers toward her? You heard the professor: anyone of us could have at least killed Sebastian," Grimsby said.
"Well, she seems to have all the evidence pointing toward her. It's not our fault for being suspicious," Woodley said. "But if we are able to point things out, since the killer is not working alone, then obviously the most likely suspects are the people who arrived as a pair."
"Trapped here with murderers and then branded as criminal ourselves?! Unacceptable," Grimbsy yelled as he stood from his seat.
"Please, we must calm ourselves. When I made the claim, I didn't imply that the killers were a duo—," Arthur tried to say, but was interrupted with more yelling.
"I've had enough!" Woodley yelled. "I refuse to be held here!"
"And where exactly will you go? Given the situation, I cannot allow you to go wandering about. Even if you lock yourself in your room until the storm passes, you'll be our first suspect if another murder should occur," Ciel said.
"Lord Phantomhive! This entire mess is your doing. Yes, I know who you are. That's it, you had this planned from the beginning. You're to do away with us all as the Queen's mongrel."
"Woodley, there is no need to begin frothing at the mouth. Now be a good boy and sit."
He got mad and raised his fist, ready to punch the brat, as he yelled, "You presume to give me orders?" However, before Woodley could even get close to him, Tanaka directed his punch downwards and made him fall on his back. Everyone looked in shock, even Lilliana and the servants, who haven't seen him be this active in a while. This was the same man who always sat calmly, drinking his tea, and now he was subduing a wildly guest with the same ease as Sebastian. Though, if he wasn't there, they would have done the same, if not in a more violent way.
"You're clearly in some discomfort. I'm very sorry, but on the estate, we are not in the habit of allowing people to strike our young master. Your station does not matter to us, nor your birth, nor your age. I hope you'll keep it in mind," Tanaka said in both an intimidating and gentle tone.
"What's wrong with this bloody manor?" Woodley said in a defeated tone.
"But how did he do that? I didn't even see him move," Arthur said, still amazed by what he witnessed.
"Oh that? It's the Japanese art of baritsu, I believe," Lau explained.
"Baritsu? Tell me more! This is such excellent material," Arthur said as he got his notebook and pen out almost as fast as Tanaka moved and approached Lau. Lilliana couldn't help, but chuckle a little bit.
"That will do. Thank you for your assistance," Ciel said to Tanaka. With a nod, he let go of Woodley, but the lecture wasn't over. "And as for you, may I safely assume that there will be no further defiance on your part?" He gritted his teeth, but got up without saying another word. "Now then, back to business. The only person we're certain is innocent is Dr. Arthur. Therefore, I believe the safest and fairest way to proceed is to allow him to determine our course of action."
"Me, really? Are you sure?" Arthur asked, not expecting this great honor and responsibility.
"I'm quite sure. Does everyone find that to be agreeable?" Ciel asked. Everyone nodded and agreed, noting his trustworthiness and reliability. "Well, that's decided. I don't think we need to worry about this storm letting up anytime soon. So let's make sure our investigation is thorough. Don't you agree, Doctor?"Ciel said with an unusually innocent smile, as if he was acting like his age and wanting to play a game. However, Arthur couldn't help, but feel like soemthing was off about that smile. This child couldn't have committed a murder, could he?
"Now, what shall we do, Doctor? We are awaiting your orders," Lilliana said with the same innocent smile Ciel had. Everyone was quick to point fingers at her, yet she was able to keep a smile. It was admirable in a way, but it could also be seen as suspicious.
"Um, well, to begin with, I'd like to take a look at the cellar, if that's all right. The young lord said that Sebastian was the only one who had a key to your chambers and Lilliana said she returned it to him. I would like to see if I can locate it."
After a eerie trip walk down to the cellar, a small group of people, including Arthur, Ciel, Charles, and the servants minus Mey-Rin, who was told to care for the remaining guests, opened the door to the room that contained the bodies hidden underneath sheets. "Sorry, I must look closer," Arthur said as he put on some gloves and walked toward Sebastian's body. He removed the sheet, but was surprised to see moisture on Sebastian's face. "Huh? His face is wet."
"Guess there must have been a leak up there. Not too surprising, really," Baldroy said.
"Let's move him somewhere dry," Finny said.
"Right. Moisture will speed up the decay process. In the meantime, it'll be a job taking his clothes off. Let's turn him over—,"Arthur said before he was interrupted.
"He's not some thing! He's a person, even if he's dead! And he deserves better! He was important to us—," Finny exclaimed.
"Finny," Lilliana said calmly, but still trying to get his attention. "If you're going to behave like a child, you can leave." Finny was surprised to hear her say that, but she sighed. "I know it sounds harsh, but we need to do this. I can bet that none of us want to do this, but the sooner we learn who committed these awful murders, the sooner we can put Sebastian to rest." He seemed to understand and backed away.
"We can relocate him later. For now, the key is our top priority," Ciel said. Arthur checked the pockets, but could not find anything.
"Maybe he wore it around his neck," Charles suggested.
"I'll check," Lilliana said as she knelt down and was about to unbutton Sebastian's shirt, but she sensed uncomfortable eyes around her. "What?"
"You seem a bit too eager to undress him," Arthur said with a bit of red on his cheeks.
"I don't see the issue. I'm used to doing—," she said, but stopped herself from finishing her sentence. The young lord isn't supposed to know about their relationship, much less the other guests. With the uncomfortable stares started to bother her, she sighed and said as she got up, "I suppose it's not proper for a woman to undress a man, even after death. Pardon me."
"R-Right. Ch-Charles, help me undress the body."
"Fine," he said as the two of them undressed his upper body, hoping to find the key around his neck, but had no luck.
However, Lilliana seemed to remember something and said, "If you please, I should help Mey-Rin entertain the other guests just in case something else goes wrong. I'm sure you'll be able to continue the investigation without me."
"You're excused. If we don't find the key, we will inform you of our next move," Ciel said.
"Thank you, my lord," she said with a bow before leaving their side. When she was a far enough distance from the cellar, she said to herself, "I should have thought of this earlier. I'm not giving myself much time."
Back in the cellar, they concluded that the key was not on Sebastian and figured that he had hidden it in his room. Once they redressed him, they headed there, but we're surprised to find his room open and even more surprising was to see Lilliana searching around for something. When she heard them, she was startled. "Oh, h-hello. I guess you didn't find the key?"
"Correct, but what are you doing here, going through Sebastian's things?" Ciel said with concern.
"My my, your maid is becoming more scandalous by the minute," Charles joked, but no one seemed to be amused, especially Lilliana.
"Well, I figured that if it wasn't in his pockets, then it must have been in his room. After I checked-in with Mey-Rin, I figured that I would find the key in his room. Though, now I think about it, if I did find it, it might look bad for me. After all, I'm the prime suspect for two murders."
"I'm sure if you explained yourself, it could relieve any suspicion," Arthur said with a nervous smile. "But next time, ask someone to join you so they can speak on your behalf."
"I'll remember that, Doctor," she said with a small bow and a smile.
"Now, let's get to searching," Charles said.
"It's quite a spacious room," Arthur said as everyone walked in.
"Well, he might have been a servant, but he was a high-ranking one," Baldroy said. "As the head maid, Lilliana should have one like this as well."
"Right. I haven't really entered this room to know where Sebastian hid it," Lilliana lied. In reality, they shared this room since it was so big and her assigned room hadn't been touched since she "moved in" when their relationship started. That is, until now. "I've searched through the more obvious spots to hide a key, but feel free to look around." The men nodded and started searching every corner of the room, from dressers to under the bed and every nook and cranny in between, but weren't lucky. The unluckiest of all was Ciel, who was about to open the closet. Lilliana saw this and exclaimed, "Wait, young master—!" However, her response was too late and several cats jumped out of the closet and ran all over the room. Everyone was absolutely frightened by the sight and didn't know what to do. However, some, like Finny, got over the sudden rush of fear and started petting the furry creatures. Lilliana could only facepalm.
"Damn him! I did not sanction the housing of these cats!" Ciel yelled.
"Wow! Look at this one! I think he like me," Finny said as he picked up a cat, but Ciel started to sneeze uncontrollably. "My lord?"
"Get it away from me! My allergies . . . ," he said with a stuffy nose as he continued to sneeze.
"I should have said this earlier, but I heard noises in there and was afraid to open it," she said as she tried to shoo the feline creatures away from her master. "He must have kept them there so they would be safe from the rain. I'm so sorry for his behavior."
"Just get them away from me. Take them outside for all I care." Ciel said.
"In this storm? Surely you can't be so cruel," Finny said.
"Well, from the looks of it, none of us have found the key, so we can leave them in here. We'll release them back outside once the storm clears," she said. "Unless any of the guests are willing to adopt feral cats."
"I highly doubt it," Charles said. "But the key isn't here. Where do we head to next?"
Arthur thought about it for a while, but decided it was time to go back to the drawing room and announce to the rest of the guests, "Pardon me, everyone. We were unable to find the key to the earl's chamber. I would like to get everyone's permission to search through your rooms and belongings. Would that be all right? O-Of course, the ladies will check each other's things so propriety wont be an issue." Luckily, no one objected and the two groups proceeded to check all the rooms.
Lilliana, naturally, stayed with the ladies, hoping that she can escape the watchful eyes of the men that accused her. Though, she wasn't sure if the women didn't think the same as well, but didn't want to say anything in fear they'd be accused as well. They checked Irene's room first and didn't find the key, but they did find a suspicious bottle with red liquid inside. After learning that Irene was twelve years older than Grimsby and they were a couple, Mey-Rin was almost convinced that she was a vampire. Knowing that Phelps was killed with two puncture wounds in the neck, it wasn't too far out of reach.
They checked Lilliana's room last, thinking if anyone had the key, it would be her. She stood by the doorway with her arms crossed so the girls could search without her interfering. "Wow, this room is spotless!" Mey-Rin said.
"Well, as a maid, I have to keep every room clean, including my own. Don't you do the same?" she said nonchalantly. Mey-Rin face distorted for a bit, knowing that she doesn't keep the maid quarters this clean. Even though it would be a group effort if they hired another maid, it was her sole responsibility as of now since the head servants had their own room. However, the truth is that the room is so clean because she had to make it look like she stayed here since she was hired, meaning the room had to be cleaned. When she first chose this room, it wasn't too dirty, but it was definitely abandoned for a while. Luckily, since she has a high standard for cleaning, it wasn't too suspicious that the room was too clean.
"I can't find the key. How about you two?" Irene asked.
"Nothing," Mey-Rin said. Ran-Mao made a noise indicating she hasn't. Lilliana felt relieved, thankful that no one tried to pin the key on her knowing she was the most suspicious. Still, the fact that the key was still missing meant that anyone could have it and pin the crimes on her at any time.
When the investigations were done, everyone returned to the drawing room, hoping the other group found it with no luck. "It seems that Sebastian must have hidden the key outside the manor," Ciel said in an annoyed tone.
"Perhaps, my lord, or maybe the murderer threw it out the window. Given it's small size and this storm, it's a fair bet we'll never find it," Lau said with his usual cocky grin. Hard to believe that he is probably the least suspicious character here, especially with Ran-Mao to confirm his alibi.
"I'll look for it. Please, let me go out and look for it," Finny said out of the blue.
"I'll be happy to go looking for it too," Mey-Rin said.
"At this point, we need any clue we can lay our hands on, but I can't allow you—," Ciel tried to say, but was interrupted.
"Master, just let me do whatever I can to help. I'm not real bright, so I can't use my head to solve the murders, but I can do other things! And if finding the key will help even a little bit, well then, I want the chance to try!" Finny said in a loud, but still respectful, voice before he and Mey-Rin ran off to search for the key.
"You lot can't just run off—," Bard tried to intervene, but were too far ahead to hear him. "Sorry, my lord, please excuse me." Baldroy soon ran off to chase them, amusing Ciel for a bit.
"You better help them out before they catch a cold in this storm," he said to Lilliana, who bowed and followed the order. However, unlike the servants, she went to get a couple of umbrellas. However, she was surprised to see Tanaka grabbing an umbrella as well, which she oddly found comforting, especially during this chaotic environment. The two of them rushed outside, hoping that the servants didn't go too far, and luckily, Baldroy stopped them before the other two could. She didn't know what he said to them or even if he said anything, but they were all crying about Sebastian's death, which made sense. If it wasn't for him, none of them would have the lives they had now. It wasn't just their jobs, but he provided a family and a place to call home to people that once didn't have anything. The same went for Lilliana, who was only a beginner soul collector that was still heavily supervised by the Association. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have found an escape from them. If she were a human, she would probably feel the same as they did, but she was a Reaper. Emotions can't get in the way of her work.
"Al right, you two, listen up," Baldroy said, getting their attention. "What did Sebastian hire us for? We guard the house and the master; those are our primary duties. Don't forget that. Remember when they first brought us here? We were a lot different then. We didn't know how to do anything but kill. Sebastian and eventually Lilliana could have done everything on their own. In the beginning, he didn't need our help taking care of the manor, so why do you think that he spent his time teaching a bunch of gits like us? It was so that if something happened to him, the master would still have people around who could take care of things. We can't always rely on Lilliana to do the things he once did forever. There's just one place we should be right now and it's not out in the rain."
"Indeed, well spoken," Tanaka said as he put an umbrella over Baldroy and Lilliana did the same for Mey-Rin and Finny.
"And do you know what Sebastian would say if he were here right now. It would probably be something like that a Phantomhive servant who can't handle a minor crisis like a triple murder isn't worth their salt," Lilliana said with a small smile. The soaking servants nodded and they finally headed inside. As soon as they entered, Lilliana quickly found towels and gave them to the servants. "I should be heading back to the guests to make sure they're being taken care of. I leave them in your care, Tanaka," she said with a sight bow and he returned it.
As she walked down the hallway, she wondered what the day still had yet to bring. As a Reaper, she should know the outcome of this murder mystery, but now that Sebastian was dead, anything could happen. Sure enough, Baldroy and Finny ran down the hallway at top speed, passing her and heading to the drawing room. What could possibly have them acting like this? However, as she turned around, she saw Tanaka and Mey-Rin pushing an unknown man toward the room. "What the hell is going on? Who is that?"
"We have apprehended a suspect!" Mey-Rin exclaimed as she too passed her. Lilliana could only follow them as al the servants reached the drawing room with the stranger. All of the guests were shocked that there was a thirteenth person lurking around the manor.
"Who is this man?!" Woodley said in utter shock.
"I believe the earl can tell you that," the man said and all eyes went to Ciel.
"Been a while, Jeremy. How are you?" Ciel quite casually, surprising the room.
"Another surprise, you know this old fellow, my lord?" Lau asked.
"Indeed I do. This man is the vicar Jeremy Rathbone. A beloved counselor in his local church, he's become rather well-known for his good deeds."
"Do call me Jeremy. No need to stand on ceremony with me," he said with a warm smile. However, he turned to Lilliana and said, "I couldn't tell at first since I was hastily pushed in here, but I thought I recognized my niece in her little maid outfit." Everyone was even more surprised by what he said, but no one was more surprised than Lilliana. The fuck was he talking about?
How will the investigation go without Sebastian? How can Lilliana prove her innocence? How can a maid be a vicar's niece? Reviews are appreciated!