Maid of Phantomhive

His Maid, Mysterious

"C-Contract?" the boy stuttered, almost breathlessly, barely having gotten over the initial shock of seeing her state, 'Contract' was a word that grew to be quite triggering for him over the years, when she looked at the young lord to reply, the pain in her eyes lessened, misted by something akin to adoration. Sebastian raised his brow, 

"Why would you honour the contract of a dead employer?" Sebastian asked, not understanding why the woman would go about following his master's late orders when she did not have to, 

"Mine is not the kind you can ignore, even after my master's soul is no longer on this plein," she answered the butler, earning a gasp from himself and the earl at the mention of the late Phatomhive head's soul, 

"Relax little one, it is not that kind of contract, similar, but definitely not that," She commented, with a knowing look on her face as her eyes darted between the boy and his butler. Their eyes widened at her statement, Sebastian's eyes glowed in warning, 

"You know..?" he asked,

"Of course, I know, what kind of Phantomhive maid would I be if I could not put that much together, " She replied, his gaze making its way to Tanaka. Who had shrunk back to his mini-form and was drinking tea while looking at the garden,

"Ho ho ho,"

"The old man will never let on to how much he knows, do not bother even asking," she said smirking, looking at the child that she raised. He had grown taller and leaner, and even though he was only fifteen, she could see the qualities that surely made all the girls his age swoon.

"Why would you keep to a contract that did not exist anymore? You are employed elsewhere," Sebastian asked, stepping forward, clearly suspicious of the woman who knew too much,

"Well that in itself was also part of my contract, there were many out to get the house of the Queen's Guard Dog. Therefore many of the staff accepted that constantly being in danger was an occupational hazard," her eyes, went to Vincent Phantomhive's gravestone, 

"And because of my very close relationship with my master's child, I requested that if anything were to happen to me, the little lord was to be told that I went to go work elsewhere, I did not want him to hurt too long over me," she explained, as the wind blew her tattered dress, which somehow made it look elegant,

Sebastian watched as the woman's gaze went over his master's form. Her eyes told him that she adored his master, but seemed hesitant to approach him as if he was fragile.

"So we were just supposed to just be okay that you left us? Was I supposed to just accept it and move on? How could you leave me?!" he exclaimed, hurt evident in his voice, as a stray tear went down his, 

"Of course not, little one," She moved a little, closer and stood in front of him so that she could wipe away the tear. He winced at her every movement watching her broken arm that she did not seem to mind. He welcomed the familiar caress against his better judgement, as it stilled his provoked nerves. He could not understand why he was so willing,  

"I knew it would hurt, but if I were not to return, if I were to die an unjust death, I would rather have you look for me a couple of times and eventually have some peace that I found someplace else, instead of being riddled with the pain of my passing, harboring hatred and seeking out revenge on whoever took me away from you," She concluded, the boy looked taken aback by her statement.

"Hm, Young Master, she seems to know you well," Sebastian said raising an eyebrow. He was really intrigued at how she could predict his master's thought train so easily, given that he was already in a very similar situation,

"Then w-what actually happened to you?" the boy asked, looking at her arm.

       "Well, at the time, I was kind of taken, 'kidnapped', if you will," she replied,