Alice of Human Sacrifice || ✔

~Chapter Seven, One: A Day of Zipped Lips, Pasts, and Wits; Day Three~

It was the next day, the third day since the last letter was sent. I have at least four days left to determine who the killer is.

And I'm just here in the dining room, eating my breakfast calmly.

Running into problems headfirst would be a problem in itself; I have to stay calm. Besides, Sebastian won't let me die, he would have to get the payment of his services first: my soul.

I wonder... What would happen to the servants once I'm gone? Would they look for me? Cry? Grieve for me? Tanaka would be the most affected, since he had known me since I was a child.

Never mind that, I went back to my study once I was done, working on my paperwork. Alice was the one to bring me my snacks today, two and a half hours after I ate breakfast.

"Master Ciel, we have apple and raisin dip pie for today's snack, as well as Earl Grey tea. Please enjoy." Alice said as she placed the plates on my desk. I moved my papers aside, and she helped me even if I didn't ask her to. I refused to snap at her.

... I needed the help anyway. But of course I wouldn't tell her that.

"Alice."

"Yes, Master Ciel?"

"You can call me 'Ciel', we are of the same age anyway."

"But--"

"It is not an order, more like a favour, Alice. Really, I want you to call me 'Ciel'... Only Elizabeth -- Lizzy -- calls me that, as I am sick of hearing formalities, to be honest. Formalities only comes with the adults, but as much as I want to be seen as an adult, I am still a child." And I won't live long anyway. Besides, I just... feel like it. I gave her a pained smile. She stopped her movements, but then placed the papers on my desk with care.

"Of course... Ciel."

That's for her to start trusting me.

I wonder what she has hidden deep within her mind that could help me with my case. I'm sure if she has her memories back, she'll be able to determine who is the killer. Probably.

Though I don't want that to be a probable for long. I want it to be a certainty.

"Alice, have you remembered more of your childhood?" I took the plate with the pie on it and ate.

This is Sebastian's work, for sure. Where is he anyway?

"I..." She paused, looking up with a finger on her chin, thinking with pursed lips, her expression grim. "Yes, a little."

"Will you tell me about it?"

"... About my parents... They died - murdered - and after that, I lost everything that my parents left for me. Then I started roaming where my feet would bring me. I was taken in by a good man working under the Queen, that is how she had known of me. Then the good man died, and the Queen took me in, since I don't know anyone and the Queen is a good woman." She provided. "That was all I could remember..."

"I see." I chewed on the pie. "How old were you when you lost your parents?"

"I... I was about eleven. You see, my parents were hunted, as I gathered, so they can only hide for those eleven years before they were found." She looked down on the desk. "But the time I had spent with them was so precious. They loved me, gave me everything I wanted, protected me. I had friends... But those were taken from me within a night."

Those were taken from me within a night.

I stopped eating, her words echoing through me, forcing a memory -- that I have tried to forget -- to resurface. I grit my teeth and forced myself to calm down, trying to think of an other subject other than myself. I sipped on the tea as another way to to calm me down.