Once a Duchess (Sebastian Michaelis X Reader)

Rebellious Young Lady

All right! A new story! Who's excited? I know I am. This one is for the winner of the previous contest, Alise-chan. Your beautiful fanfic is finally here! So sorry it took so long. ;-; Forgive me! I really an just a slacker. Bluh. ._.
Anyway, as you can tell, this is a Sebastian X Reader! Black Butler FTW. :v
Enjoy, everyone!

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[F/n] [L/n] was a lady known for miles. She was no less than a duchess, known personally by the Queen of England herself. It was rumored that the two were even friends on a first-name basis. The young girl was rich, beautiful, talented; she was everything that young ladies should aspire to be.

And it bored her. Oh, how her soul eroded with each tug of her corset strings; oh, how her patience fell away with each bat of her long, full eyelashes. [F/n] was so very tired of being the perfect Duchess of Cambridge. She thought of escape her whole life. Publicly renouncing her position could not only ruin the reputation she had been made to uphold, but it could get her executed as well. Though she thought execution would almost be mercy if the alternative was public humiliation.

So, when the time came that she had finally had enough of being freedom-starved and held to near-impossible standards, The Duchess [F/n] of Cambridge decided on a rebellious course of action. Discreet, of course, and temporary, but she would take any sort of break in the life she was having to live now.

With no guilt in her mind or in her heart, she carried out the act.

It was simple. It was clean. And it was ingenious.

*****\\\\\*****

Midnight. It was finally time. [F/n]'s heart felt like it was in her throat. It was finally time.

She would run away tonight.

She was hardly of age, barely eighteen years old, and mature beyond her days. There was, logically, nothing that was flawed with the plan itself. All she had to worry about was the possibility of it being thwarted by another party.

She was wearing the most modest dress she owned. If it was possible in this castle and beyond it for a ways, she wanted to avoid being recognized as best she could. Her hair was down, plain. Much different from the elaborate up-do it normally flaunted. Maybe, she thought, she could pass for one of the servant girls on her way out.

Her door, thankfully, did not creak on the way out, as it did normally. Her footsteps were trained and light, not so much as a light patter echoing down the hallway. The hallway to her chambers was clear; not so much as an evening maid scuttling around. Well, she had a great start so far. 

She crept down the hallway slowly as possible, keeping an eye and an ear out for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing presented itself until the very first floor, twenty-nine floors down from her quarters. The servants were being fed in the Great Hall, and she expected that she was going to have to blend in somehow. Trying to avoid being caught, she walked right into a swarm of servant girls finishing their rounds. "Here, let me take that," she said sweetly, taking a basket of clean laundry out of a young lady's arms. Before the girl could protest, she smiled. "Go eat," she coaxed, turning and walking away with the load of clothes. The girl hadn't seemed to recognize her. She had only been shocked that another servant would be so kind to her. They were usually at each other's throats, attempting to get out of work, dumping it on the smaller or weaker, fighting over who would have which chore. There wasn't much outside regulation of anything of that sort. 

[F/n] took it as far as the Main Hall before dropping it inconspicuously in a dark corner, then speed-walking for the door.

"Where do you think you're going, girl?" Asked a voice from behind her, just as she grasped the handles of the Main Doors. "Haven't you eaten? You must eat before you get to go back to Quarters." Despite the words, the voice was not friendly. It was sinister, demeaning. Hands grabbed her by the hair before she could turn around to face the source of the voice. She yelped, but made sure to keep her head as low and her gaze as wandering as possible. This must be the Head of the servants. And, apparently, she wasn't too sweet, as the Heads of the Household believed her to be. 

"I-I was just-"

"You were just tryin' to sneak off without checkin' in!" Howled the woman. "You know what? I don't care. You'll get trouble. To bed with no food!"

Pretending to be crestfallen, [F/n] trudged away, out the front doors, and make a break for the servants' quarters. She could hear the woman yelling at her from the Main Doors, but she didn't care. She'd be free now. 

She crept slowly from the safety of the shadows. The only threat left were the night guards. 

They stood loyally at their posts near the Main Gates. One she recognized from a long time ago, the other she did not. She remembered the first being kind to her, so maybe he would understand. She didn't want to risk it, though.

She waited a few hours, still in the shelter of a well-trimmed hedge, before one of them so much as moved. He sat on the ground, nodded at the other, and fell asleep. 

Now was her chance! One guard was much easier than two. . .

"Hey!"

The remaining guard was headed straight for her. Oh, no.

She wedged herself as far as she could between the wall and the hedge, hoping that. . .

"Hey! You there!" Her eyes squeezed shut.

"Come here!" The voice was upon her. 

"Get back!" It had passed her now. 

What? She opened her eyes. There was a servant boy running away from the guard. She watched as he took a running leap and grabbed a ledge, swinging his leg over the top of the brick fence and disappearing without a trace.

Someone had been waiting for the same opportunity she had. And he'd given her an escape route.

While the guard was distracted, she ran off past the gates, and into the cold, dark night beyond.

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It's rather short for a first chapter, but I enjoyed writing it. Comment, vote, and share. Follow as well, if you so desire. :3 

Tell me what you think! Good night everyone!

~Gutterfly