The Final Curtain (Kuroshitsuji)

Chapter Seventeen: Disclosing Not His Lover

The night of the party arrived more swiftly than they expected. With the addition of the servants, their party had grown considerably. It was decided that Bryony would stay at the manor and help Tanaka care for Ephraim, and since Snake had no interest in attending a fancy ball, he took on the task of looking after the ballerina.  The others would all go as one: Ciel, Elizabeth, Prince Soma, Lau, Ran Mao, Sebastian, Paula, Agni, Bardroy, Mei Rin, Finny, Matilda, and to Matilda's great surprise and joy, Undertaker himself.

"You'll really attend?" she exclaimed happily when he ventured to the manor to tell her the news.

"Of course dearie," he chuckled. "I might not be one to frequent these parties myself, but as your husband and escort, I ought to go and keep watch, oughtn't I?

Matilda rushed to embrace the mortician gleefully, then looked up at him through his bangs. "What about Grell, is she coming?"

Undertaker stroked Matilda's hair, which she had taken to wearing tied back these days rather than letting her curls explode like she ordinarily did. "I think William stuck her with some paperwork. Besides," he added dolefully. "I don't think she enjoys these as much anymore, partly because she remembers Madam Red, and partly because she can't wear dresses the way she wants to."

"I've been working on something that may help her!" the maid grinned, cupping her husband's face. He smiled down at her, full of admiration. "Tell her to just hold on!"

~

Paula helped Lady Elizabeth into her favorite crimson dress, adding a white mask with tiny red roses around the eyes. "Oh, Paula, don't forget," the young lady reminded her maid, who smiled coyly at her before reaching for Lady Elizabeth's secret weapon to hide it in the back of her dress.

"I'm so happy to see you finally putting all that training to use," Paula gushed as she tied all of Lady Elizabeth's many fastenings. "It's been torturous to watch you pushed aside all this time, milady, simply torturous."

Elizabeth smiled at her faithful Paula, trying to shake away her nervousness.

Meanwhile in another room, Ciel glowered at his reflection as Sebastian dressed him. Viscount Druitt's party was not so much a costume ball as it was a masquerade ball, so instead of wearing a full costume the earl merely donned fine evening clothing with a black lace mask over the top half of his face.

"Frankly, it's a relief to have this off from time to time," he said as he undid the string of his eyepatch. "I may as well leave it off when I'm at home, now that everybody knows. At any rate, this mask covers my eyes well enough so nobody can tell."

Sebastian, having finished dressing the earl, bowed and headed downstairs to don his red mask and cloak. Before reaching his room, he spotted Mei Rin sitting on her bed and puzzling over her eyeglasses. Tentatively, he knocked on the door. "Is everything alright?"

Mei Rin glanced up momentarily at the knock, then returned to what she was doing. "I'm torn," she admitted. "These were a gift from the young master. They helped me hide my ability. But... they created lots of problems, didn't they?"

Sebastian, to his own surprise, smiled fondly as he remembered Mei Rin's numerous housekeeping blunders. "We did offer to get your prescription changed, more than once," he reminded her.

She gave a soft laugh, but not out of humor. Then, without warning, she broke the glass out of the lenses, sending shards scattering onto the floor. Sebastian's jaw fell open, unsure what to do until he saw the blood on the maid's fingers, which she seemed not to have noticed herself. Stepping into the room, he brought the water basin from the dresser to the bed and gently placed her hands in it, taking care to delicately search for any pieces of glass that may have stuck in her fingers.