Kuroshitsuji: The Contract from Birth [Ciel Phantomhive]

[24] Her Butler, Traumatized

Triumphantly, I slapped down the ace card I had hidden in my hand on the table with a loud slap and proud grin, giggling as Ciel stared in absolute shock.

"You cheated." He finally declared after a few moments, throwing his own hand of cards down in frustration. "...Again!"

Lau chuckled as he too set down his cards, shrugging in indifference.

"What a player you are, my Lady." He praised as Ciel continued to protest my win with flabbergasted stutters.

"Y-You can't just... this is a ga-- third time in a row--!"

Despite the circumstance of being so vexed with my servants, I smiled. Beating him in a simple game of cards certain you had lifted my spirits; but it even more so lifted them when I won by cheating and he hadn't noticed until the end.

"I'm rather disappointed in your card expertise." I snickered with an innocent wave of my hand, hiding my giggles as he turned a light shade of red.

Before I could continue with my fun of bothering the Earl, there was a light rapping at the library door and my contentment melted away in an instant, being replaced by the fury that was once there hours ago.

"Countess?"

Erin's faint voice made my eyes soften and I relaxed my tense shoulders as she opened the door with the rest of the servants in tow.

Rotten bunch; Of course they would use her to ease my anger. I could never scold Erin, she was the most amiable of the five.

"The curry you requested has been made," Rodric's voice announced, walking in with a large pot that emitted hot steam everywhere. "You'll be pleased to know, my Lady, that we believe your idea may have been the solution."

My scowl returned and I stuck my nose in the air, waiting for Sebastian to serve the dish as Rodric and Yuki continued to speak whilst Salvador held a bag of ice against forehead with mild groans here and there.

Stricken, I waved Mey-Rin, Finnian and Baldroy over.

"Take care of him, please?" I asked in the sweetest voice possible, to which they saluted with what seemed to be the biggest smile I had ever seen them make.

"Yes, my Countess!"

Not giving him a chance to stand for himself, Salvador was once again whisked away from the room in their arms and I smiled at their blatantly clear enthusiasm to serve.

"Do you really trust them?" Ciel asked me as Sebastian finished serving the curry into his bowl, head on his hand.

"I do," I said, shrugging. "They are your servants after all."

"And that's that supposed to mean?" Ciel interrogated with his eyes now narrowed.

Naturally, I rolled my eyes at his childish nature.

"I trust you, and therefore said trust is transferred to them." I explained easily, picking up my utensil to begin digging into the curry, "I suspect you chose them because you trust them, no?"

Stomping footsteps caught our attention just as Ciel was about to respond, and immediately Prince Soma sprinted into view, skidding into the library and across the rug, crashing into the side of the table with a loud bang. The silverware was jostles as he crashed into the floor, and I peeked over to make sure he was alright when he himself shot up without missing a beat, scaring the bloody hell out of me.

"YOU FOUND A WAY TO PERFECT THE CURRY IN ONE AFTERNOON?!"

Eren tackled the Prince to the ground and placed his hand over his mouth to silence his shouts, obviously just as annoyed as we all were.