The Scourge of the Demon Hunters—Act 25

Later that day, Louisa relaxed in the bath that Mey-Rin had prepared for her. While she would rather be wrapped in Sebastian’s arms, the water was soothing and helped to remove the last of the aches from the morning. Mey-Rin entered the room, ready to wash Louisa’s hair. When she moved behind Louisa, she noted the maid’s sudden intake of breath.

“What is it, Mey-Rin?”

“It’s gone, M’lady, yes, it has.”

“Yes, Mey-Rin, it was removed this morning.” Heading off further questions, she continued, “you do not want to know how, trust me.”

“Yes, M’lady. It is good that it is gone, yes it is.”

“On that, we can agree.”

Mey-Rin resumed her duties and helped Louisa out of the bath when she was finished.

“So, Mey-Rin, which are we tackling first, the hair or the corset?” Louisa asked as they returned to the bedroom.

“I believe I can help there,” said Sebastian from the doorway.

“You shouldn’t be here, what will Ciel say?” Said Louisa, worried that they had already pushed Ciel’s compassion to its limits for one day.

“The young master is currently occupied with his correspondence, and I have time before I need to prepare him for this evening, I thought I might be of some assistance.” A sly grin crept over Sebastian’s face as he spoke.

Louisa smiled; she wanted nothing more than for him to be there. She was considering what errand she could send Mey-Rin on when the young maid spoke up.

“M’lady, I think I’ve left something important downstairs, yes, I have. I’ll go fetch it now, yes, I will.” Without looking at either of them, Mey-Rin headed for the door.

Sebastian looked at Louisa quizzically, unclear what had just happened. Louisa laughed, “she knows; she worked it out for herself, which is no surprise when she dresses me every morning.”

“I suppose not,” Answered Sebastian, making a note to ensure he spoke to the staff about the importance of keeping Phantomhive secrets safely within the house. His contemplation was interrupted by the sound of Louisa’s towel falling to the floor. He looked up to see her naked form before him.

“Now, that is not playing fair,” he said, “I do not have that much free time.”

Louisa smiled, “I never said I played fair,” she said as she walked towards him, “and how are you going to get my corset on me if I’m still covered in a towel.”

Sebastian’s grin widened, and he pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her deeply, wishing that he could lose himself in her forever. Louisa’s arms snaked around him under his tailcoat. As she moved closer against him, she could feel his excitement. Sebastian moaned as she pressed against him. Pulling out of the kiss, he trailed his tongue down the side of her neck, “I will need to think up a creative punishment for all this teasing, my beautiful one.”

“It will give you something to occupy your mind while I am fulfilling my duties as Lady Phantomhive this evening,” She said with a sigh. “Damn, Elizabeth, for this.”

“Soon we will be free of it all, my love. For now, focus on the task at hand, we may yet discover something that aids in our task.”

As he leant in to kiss her, a bell rang in the house, and the sound of Mey-Rin’s hurried footsteps alerted them to her imminent presence. Sebastian held her for a moment longer, “be careful tonight, do not put yourself in any danger. I will be close by always.” With that, he kissed her forehead, released her from the embrace and left to tend to Ciel.

Louisa did not have time to contemplate his hurried departure; Mey-Rin appeared at her door immediately after, and begun to fuss that she would catch her death stood there with no clothes on. Louisa sighed, took one look at the pink monstrosity that hung on the wardrobe door and wondered if that would be preferable to the torture of wearing that dress.

With Mey-Rin’s newfound confidence around Louisa, it took very little time to tighten the corset and fix her hair in place. Louisa was frightened to move, even to turn her head for fear that one of the thousands of pins would fall and ruin Mey-Rin’s creation. She moved gingerly over to where Mey-Rin held the dress for her to step into. As the pinkness with its frills and ruffles slid up over her body, Louisa steeled herself for the events of the evening. Nothing she had ever been taught had prepared her for this; dancing and polite conversation with a roomful of people who would have little interest in her, except for her connection to Ciel. The horror of it made her shudder.

She was so lost in thought that she missed Mey-Rin speaking to her.

“M’lady, M’lady, are you ok?”

“Sorry, Mey-Rin, I was lost in thought, what were you saying?”

“The dress, it’s on, M’lady, yes it is.”

“How bad does it look?”

“M’lady, I couldn’t say, it’s not my place, no it’s not.”

“Please, be honest, how bad?”

Mey-Rin took a deep breath, “I think you need to see for yourself, M’lady.”

Louisa turned towards the mirror. She hardly recognised herself. She would not have looked out of place in a children’s fairy tale.

“When this is over, I am going to burn this dress until nothing is left but ashes,” She looked over at Mey-Rin, who was doing her utmost not to laugh.

“If you do not wait until I have left the room before you start laughing, I will tell Sebastian,” she said with a devilish grin.

Mey-Rin clamped her hand over her mouth and stayed very quiet until Louisa had swayed out of the room. As Louisa closed the door, she heard Mey-Rin burst.

Louisa walked to the stairs, as she began to descend, she saw Ciel and Sebastian waiting. They turned as they heard her approach, and the look on each of their faces said everything she needed to know. Walking down towards them, she said, “if either of you laughs, or even sniggers, I will go straight back upstairs and refuse to go.”

As they stood there trying to maintain their composure, it was Sebastian who managed to speak first.

“While the dress is as hideous as expected, you, my dear, are as beautiful as always.”

“Thank you, and cousin, you have nothing to say?”

Ciel did not trust himself to open his mouth, but the night was too important to start it off on the wrong foot.

Taking a deep breath, he said, “I can add nothing to what Sebastian has already expressed.”

“Well then, let us get this over with, shall we.” She descended the last few stairs and walked past them both, only turning as she heard sniggering, and saw them both standing with their heads down like two naughty schoolboys outside the headmaster’s office.

Putting on her sternest face, she said, “I am glad this is amusing you both so greatly. Let us see if it is so amusing when you are faced with Elizabeth later shall we Ciel? And, as for you Sebastian, maybe we should see what you look like in pink? I’m sure my darling cousin would do anything to get himself out of trouble right now!”

Sebastian stared at her and then at Ciel, who was still attempting to keep a straight face, “you wouldn’t?”

Seeing the look of horror on his face, Louisa laughed, “are you sure? What is it you say about tempting demons?”

And with that, she headed out to the waiting coach followed sheepishly by Ciel and Sebastian.