Kuroshitsuji: The Contract from Birth [Ciel Phantomhive]

[12] Her Butler, Entertained

By that afternoon, I was confident enough to say that Prince Soma had finally reached the end of Ciel's nerves. You see, Agni and him had pestered the Prideful Lord throughout each of his lessons: commanding Mey-Rin and Erin to strip for the morning drawing lesson, introducing a rather immature idea for Ciel's company to produce at the afternoon Funtum Corporation work hour, and even daring to join him during his fencing lesson.

"What are you even doing?" Soma asked from the floor beside me, resting his chin on his palm.

"Soma, be quiet," I warned, seeing Ciel's face begin to turn a shade of red, "You'll end up being thrown out on your face again."

"Ciiiieeeellll!" Prince Soma whined again, brushing me off, "Heeyy--"

"AAARRRGHH! SHUT UP!!! I CAN'T CONCENTRATE!!" Ciel suddenly shouted with abhor, turning around from the match him and Sebastian were in the middle in. He huffed in loathing and I gently placed a hand over my lips to hide my growing smirk.

"You don't have to get so angry," Soma pointed out, and I let out a small laugh, shaking my head at his ridiculousness. Shaking with fury, Ciel went over and snatched Sebastian's foil from his gloved hand, making the demon widen his eyes in surprise.

"Alright." he said through his teeth, tossing it to Prince Soma. "Let's settle this."

It whizzed through the air and the Indian Prince caught it, flipping it forward in interest. It seemed like he was finally going to play with Ciel after all.

"Since you're so desperate for attention, be my opponent."

Agni stood behind me, watching nervously. The Phantomhive servants and my own were currently under order to keep Lau away from Ciel, seeing as he already had enough annoying visitors to deal with. Rodric stayed with me and was leaning against the fireplace, watching the turn of events from the corner of his eye.

"So if I win in this..." Soma said, raising the foil, "you will play with me, right?"

Ciel adjusted his stance and aimed his own at the Prince. "If you can win, that is. If you lose, behave yourself and stay out of my way!"

"And you'll accept that we aren't married!" I added quickly, raising my finger.

Prince Soma pouted at this but miraculously agreed with a nod. "If I lose, then we shall wait to be wed until you're older."

"That's not what I said!" I snapped, standing up. I stepped between the two and pointed to each of them, stamping my foot down.

"Five rounds, three minutes each." I stated, "The fencer with the most points wins."

I signaled for Rodric to come over and referee the games, and I walked up to Ciel, whispering closely to his ear.

"For your sake, I suggest you win."

Turning on my heel, I went to sit back down so I could watch from a safe distance. Rodric stood in the middle and lifted his arm with a smile, bowing. "Begin."

Instantly, Soma dashed forward, lifting his arm to swing down at Ciel, foolishly confident. I scoffed. You never swing during fencing. The entire ordeal is about jabbing forward. Ciel seemed to realize Soma's blatantly clear mistake as well, because he stood still, waiting for him to make the illegal hit.

"You're mine!" Soma cried out, but his expression instantly fell when the foil bent at Ciel's leg.

"The leg is not a valid point in fencing." I sang, clapping at the Prince's mistake.

"Too bad!!" Ciel exclaimed, thrusting forward at Soma's open chest area. Just narrowly, Soma dodged the attack and danced side to side, trying his hardest to avoid being hit, utterly confused.