The sleeping ash. Black Butler various x reader

At midnight: The Butler, Contemplative

*3rd pov*

“Th–This is the killer…?”
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Tanaka knocks on the door and opens the door. “Excuse me. We have succeeded in apprehending the culprit. I have informed their party that young master and the other guests are hiding here in Mister Woodley’s room, so they should be arriving presently.” Tanaka informes them.

The door knocks and Arthur opens the door. “We’ve taken the culprit into custody.” Charles Grey points behind him. “Kyah…” Irene and Grimsby were shocked. “Here is your killer.” Jeremy said. “A… A snake!?” Ciel is shocked as they see Claude hold the knotted snake while (Y/n) looks at the snake on top of Claude’s head. “How is that even possible…!!?”

“It may be hard to believe, but it really did come after the young lady by virtue of her simply wearing the earl’s clothes.” Arthur explains. “As weak as a snake’s vision may be, its sense of smell and hearing are highly evolved in compensation. Thus it can search out creatures in the black of night by their smells and the sounds of their hearts. To put it plainly… The perpetrator must have trained the snake by rewarding it with prey whenever it was made to smell Earl Phantomhive’s scent. If a snake is the murder weapon, keys and alibis no longer hold weight. This is a ‘Black Mamba,’ which inhabits Southern Africa. Its venom contains exceedingly potent neurotoxins. Those who receive its bite are sure to die within an hour. As for unique traits, it is the fastest land snake in the world and excels at climbing trees. A perfect snake for any assassination plot. –But a snake is still just a snake, after all. It had no way of knowing whether or not its victim was Earl Phantomhive.” Jeremy explains.

“Now I get it…The Earl not sleeping in his own room was an unexpected development for the one behind all this!” Arthur checks his notebook. “And that night, my bedroom was being used by…” Ciel said. “Patrick Phelps!”

“Surmising that it would definitely make another appearance once it got hungry again, we stuck around, and sure enough it did just that. What a relief she was able to put on your clothes and was willing to stand in for you, my lord. If that hadn’t been the case, Lord Earl wouldn’t have been able to dodge the awful snake, right?”

“Isn’t that so, Ran-Mao? And if he’d gone and died on us, we would be in a right pinch!” Lau said. “You are safe. I am glad.” Ran-Mao hugs Ciel. “Ciel! Score!” Alois grins. “Wah! Hey… At least put on a pair of pants or something!!” Ciel moves away from Ran-Mao. “To get back to the subject…! You had me wear the butler’s coat to disguise my smell, then?”

“It was convenient since it was able to hide all of what little there is of you.” Jeremy teases which made Alois laugh and (Y/n) to hold back her laugh. “You truly are a man of one too many words, Vicar…” Ciel has tick marks on his head. “However, trading vessels are forbidden from importing poisonous snakes. Having worked as a ship’s surgeon on an African route, I can tell you all cargo is thoroughly examined exception.” Arthur said. “The means it was smuggled in, hm? The most efficient approach in that case would be to bribe a privately operated freighter, I’d say.” Lau wonders. “Yes. But that would require close connections to businesses in Africa.” Ciel said. “But what kind of bribe would it be?” Alois wonders. “And when speaking of African imports, gold and diamonds come first to mind…”

They all turn to Woodley. “Y-You’ve got it all wrong! It wasn’t me! If you want to talk trade, ‘Kong Rong’ is involved in it as well!” Woodley points at Lau. “Nnn, sorry! ☆ We don’t work with any African companies, see?” Lau informs him. “Still, assuming he’s guilty just ‘cos he deals with Africa is a bit brutal of us, don’t you think?” Charles Grey questions. “H-He’s right! What about the time of Siemens’s death!? I have an alibi!!” Woodley shouts. “That alibi may not be much of one to begin with.” Jeremy said. “Eh…!?” Woodley looks at Jeremy.