The sleeping ash. Black Butler various x reader

In the afternoon: The Butler, Confining

*3rd pov*

"H—He's dead...!" Arthur tells them.

"What!?" Woodley is shocked.

"No..." Grimby and Irene are in horror.

Charles Grey, Alois, and Claude don't say anything.

Sebastian, (Y/n), Mey-Rin, Lau, and Ran-Mao just stare.

"What was with that voice jus... Whoa!" Bard, Finny, Pluto, Joker, and Dagger all rush in. "I-Is this man dead!?" Finny questions. "Yes..." Arthur confirms. "The haemorrhage from the chest wound was most likely fatal. I can't be certain because of how dark it is, but–" Arthur tries to explain. "Hey. Ain't this room kinda hot?" Bard swipes his forehead. "Yes, it is. I had heated up the room in advance, but... ...Perhaps he felt a chill." Sebastian explains.

"I say, what on earth is the meaning of all this racket?" Ciel walks in with Tanaka. "Young master." Sebastian turns to him. "!! Lord Siemens...!" Both Sebastian and Ciel make eye contact. "I–In any case, let's just leave things untouched as they are until the yard gets here—" Grimsby said. "No. We should move the corpse right away." Bard tells them. "Eh?" Finny and Dagger look confused. "I don't wanna put it like this, but flesh rots faster than you might think. Even if we douse the fire now, the corpse'll so right off if it's kept by the hearth." Bard explains to them.

"Flesh... Rots, you say..." Irene looks like she's about to faint. "Irene!" Grimsby quickly goes to her side. "He's right. I also believe that we should place the corpse in a cool, dark place until the experts can examine it." Arthur agrees with Bard. "Then let us relocate him to the cellar until the gentlemen of the yard arrive. Finny, bring us a cot." Finny runs to fetch the cot.

Joker and Dagger carry Von Siemens out. "But that won't be anytime soon, now will it?" Lau tells them. Alois goes to the window and moves the curtain. "The storm won't light up anytime soon." Alois said. "...But that means we can't leave this place either, doesn't it!?" Woodley realized. "You're stupid if you just realized this." Alois insults him. "Anyway, it's fine. We all planned to stay the night anyway." Lau shrugs. "It's far from fine!! A murder was just committed here–"

"–Indeed. Right now, this manor is truly an isolated island in the middle of nowhere." Lau informs. "Therefore, it's highly likely that the murderer is still inside the manor or within the grounds. Or perhaps I should say... ...Thinking it through logically, the murderer is one of us?" Charles Grey says. "Wha–!?" The guests are shocked.

"Why must it be one of us!? What kind of sick joke is that!?" Grimsby shouts. "Y–Yes, that's right!" Woodley joins in. "First off, the majority of us have just met one another, and..." Arthur said. "Ah!" Irene shouts. "Miss Diaz?" Sebastian calls out. "When we arrived at the door to this room, it was locked, wasn't it?" Irene asked them. "Now that you mention it, you're right, Miss. It was." Mey-Rin agrees. "Then someone could have entered the room from a window, and after locking the door to stall for time, escaped the same way they came, couldn't they?" Irene questions.

"But wouldn't you expect there to be footprints if someone came in from out of this down-pour? And let's not forget, this room is on the second floor." Charles Grey goes to the window. "The window's locked too." Charles Grey touches the window. "Then somebody locked the door from the corridor and then ran off after all..." Grimsby guesses. "That is impossible." They all turn to Sebastian. "The keys in this manor all belong to warded locks from when the manor was first built. The keys themselves are of very complicated make, so without a master was first built. The keys themselves are of very complicated make, so without a master locksmith on hand, duplicating is implausible. Moreover, the keys are stored in a locked storage cabinet, over which I, the butler, stand guard, so no one can take the keys out as they please. In addition to the warded lock, the doors are also fitted with a latch on the inside for convenience's sake, so they may be locked from within. In a situation where the keys cannot be removed from the cabinet, it is only possible to lock the doors from inside." Sebastian explains to them.