Comforting Darkness

Chapter 25: The Tutor, Misunderstood

The rest of July was uneventful, peaceful and quiet. Sebastian's days were filled with household chores or executing various of his master's orders, preventing the three imbeciles from destroying everything... and listening to what Selina said or did, since that was the only way he was allowed to feel close to her.

That bitterness and coldness he sensed from her the day Miranda left was still there, still strong. She had suddenly turned too formal towards him, constantly slipping away when he attempted to stand close to her, touch her casually or even kiss her lightly when he felt the need to. Actually, that last part confused and frustrated him mostly, because he was always cautious enough to be just the two of them, when he teasingly cornered her on some wall and leaned in search of her honeyed lips, but still... She always turned her face away and managed to escape him in an ever so polite and gracious way and avoided crossing eyes with him, unless it had something to do with chores or the young master. Sebastian was always pleased with Selina's professionalism, but now he was bothered, since she used it as an excuse to cover her cold formality towards him personally.

He could not figure out the reason and thus, he was left with listening into Selina's discussions with the other servants or with master, in case she revealed anything. But to his disappointment, the only thing he deduced was that she was determined to hide from everyone what happened between them in St. Ives, by insisting that the small bruises and red spots on her neckline were due to mosquito bites, when asked by a certain nosy chef, a giggling maid and a seemingly indifferent footman along his hissing snakes. Whenever he entered the master's study to bring him some tea, interrupting his studies with Selina, he always saw her fidgeting and shuddering at suddenly hearing his voice. When Sebastian left, young master always asked her if she was all right and if Sebastian had harassed her somehow during the St. Ives' case - as the ever observing boy he was, he could easily detect the differences that occurred in his servants. Selina was always quick to deny even the possibility of Sebastian harming her in any way, her voice was always steady and seemed to satisfy the boy, at least for now, but confused the eavesdropping butler even more.

In short, Selina seemed not to have regretted what happened in the resort but, for some reason, was equally determined not to let anyone find out or allow it continue once they were back in the manor; Sebastian would swear the reason was not her fear of being seen by the others or by master himself, as she claimed. The demon was certain during their trip he had made a progress with her – the resort's bed was a reliable witness of that – but now saw they were back to when she thought his advances were a calculation on his part. Miranda had not given him any hint about what was going on in Selina's mind, concerning the new nature of their relationship, but Sebastian was certain it somehow connected to her current behaviour towards him; he was more than surprised to find he really needed to know the answer and the woman's thoughts.

{~}

August came along with Queen's letter asking Ciel to go to Germany and investigate some strange deaths, where perfectly healthy people suddenly became deformed and soon expired. Needless to say, the young Earl was not pleased at all by having to travel to another country, without having any further information; therefore, he ordered Sebastian to find Mr. Claus, - a friend of his predecessor - ask him to pay a visit to a certain person in Germany and come back with details on this strange case.

Mr. Claus did not manage to talk with the German person as he was supposed to, because he was brushed off, but the obviously competent middle aged man did a little investigation on his own, and found the area the deaths occurred was literally in the middle of nowhere. There was no hint of a contagious virus or something in the surrounding villages, but when people were asked about the cause of deaths, every last one of them responded it was "The Witch's curse that killed them".