Two Steps From Hell | Sebastian Michaelis

Her Butler, In Disguise

On the outside, Ana still played the role of a woman grieving the loss of her lover. But on the inside, she was absolutely livid. She knew Sebastian was alive. Only he would save stray cats from the rain and hide them in the wardrobe. Cats were his weakness. And she also linked it to his face being wet when they went to search his clothes. She continued with her act because she knew he must have had a reasonably good explanation for pretending to be dead. However, she was still vexed that he never told her. She truly thought that he was gone and as happy as she was that he was actually alive, she was upset that she was left in the dark about it. But she knew how she was going to get her own back.

They were still in the process of checking his belongings. Ana was so angry at him that she didn't care if they went through his stuff, which he didn't really have much of anyway. However, she sat on the bed and pretended to mourn in silence.

"I haven't come across a single personal item in here," Charles Grey said as he checked Sebastian's drawers. "So, where is he originally from anyway?"
Bard turned to him. "Dunno. He wasn't exactly the kinda guy you got chummy with. All I knew he was better at his job than anyone I had ever seen. The perfect butler in every way you could think of."
Finny lowered his head. "I don't know nothing either. I suppose the young master might know."
"No, I don't actually," Ciel said. I'm as much in the dark as any of you. I don't know where he came from, what he'd done or who he'd served."
Charles turned to Ana. "What about you? Surely he must have told you about his past."
"Yes..." she answered quietly as she wiped away her fake tears. "But I can't... I can't talk about it right now."

She covered her mouth with her hand and pretended to sob. She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeves.

"I'm s-sorry..."
"Don't be," Arthur said. He stood after searching the last of the drawers and sighed. "I think it's about time to admit defeat. We're not going to find it in here."
Charles shrugged. "The tour continues. Where to next?"

They made their way back to the living room where the others sat quietly.

"Pardon me, everyone," Arthur spoke. "We've been searching for the key to the Earl's chamber as you know. I would like your permission to go through your rooms and belongings. Would that be alright? Naturally the ladies would check each others things, so proprietary won't be an issue."
"That sounds suitable. I don't object," said Irene.
"Go right ahead," Lau smiled.
"Just do as you like," Karl said in an annoyed tone.

The women separated off to check each others things. None of them felt right in checking Ana's possessions since she had just lost Sebastian, however, she did still offer them to take a look. Still, they refused. Mey-Rin found a bottle of red liquid in Irene's bag and showed Ana. But she simply shrugged before their attention was taken away because Ran Mao was putting Irene's underwear on her head.

With no evidence found, everyone returned to the living room. The rain was still coming down incredibly heavy, showing no signs of lightening up any time soon.

Arthur sighed. "Well, that was an exercise in futility."
"We may have to assume Sebastian hid it some place other than the manor," Ciel said.
"Yes, that would be," Lau spoke. "Or maybe the murderer just threw it out the window. Given its small size in this storm, it's a fair bet we'll never find it."

Suddenly, Finny volunteered to look for it outside in the rain. Even Mey-Rin wanted to go. When Ciel was about to refuse, not wanting them to get soaked, Finny became quite emotional.

'Oh, Finny... You sweet soul,' Ana thought, his desire to help for Sebastian's sake touching her heart. 'Where are you, Malphas? Why are you doing this?'

Finny and Mey-Rin ran off to search for the key before Bard went after them. Ana closed her eyes and breathed out, annoyed at him for not telling her what was going on.