Noblewoman | Black Butler

| 14 |

( chapter fourteen ! )

"Hey. What're you doin' there?"

A chill runs through the air as Doll's voice cuts through the silence. Beneath her, Leah and Ciel stare up with wide, alert eyes, knowing they have been caught and their cover is most likely blown. Wind swims through their hair as they stare silently, no one having the courage to break the silence.

Diving to cover their mouths, Doll shares a similar look and forces the teens to press against each other. "Don't move," she whispers eerily.

The quiet of the night is still, rustling leaves filling their ears but fails to calm to unnerving atmosphere.

"Hey, Doll~" Dagger calls out, staring at the girl standing over the boxes. "Doll, what are ya doing?"

Ciel's face flushes under Doll's hand, twitching lightly with small beads of sweat dripping down his face. Now behind him, Leah keeps a hand firmly gripped around her cheeks, preventing herself from making any noise.

"Snake!" yells Doll, ignoring Ciel's noise of protest. "A venomous snake was slithering about. Didn't I tell you not to let them loose outside? You'd better put 'em away in your room properly now."

The betrothed teens peer from behind the boxes, watching Dagger scream at the reptile that Doll holds tightly in her hand. Snake, however, seems to have little reaction upon knowing a snake fully capable of killing a person was freely roaming the circus grounds.

Snake is initially silent as he lets the snake wrap around his shoulder before looking off to the side. "I'm sorry for my carelessness that could have sent you to the next world," he states, turning around to walk towards his tent.

Agreeing with Doll about keeping the snakes away, Dagger also walks off and sighs a breath of relief. Watching the two men disperse, Doll turns back around and hops over the boxes. She grabs ahold of Ciel and Leah's wrists and begins to drag them away from the scene.

"This way. Hurry," she says. Doll leads the nobles past the first-string tents, stealthily moving past objects like the rope dictating the area they should not be in. "Don't touch that rope."

Traveling a bit further, their movement comes to a stop as Doll checks around the corner. Huffing and trying to get air inside of him, Ciel lets out an occasional cough and accepts small pats on the back from Leah who overall appears fine except for a couple of passing shaky breaths.

"It should be fine now since we came so far." Doll continues to look out for any signs of people.

Coughs sound from the blue-haired boy and a visible patch of air leaves his mouth in the cold air, hand on his thigh as he looks at the back of Doll's head with a flushed face. "Why did you help us.."