That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Scandalous 2

{The Phantomhive Townhouse}

"Ciel!! You went off for two whole days without a word to me!! Just a little longer, and I would've asked the police to send out a search party!!"  Soma shouted sternly, scolding them the moment they returned for  worrying him, while Agni calmly greeted them with a pleasant smile  behind his back, glad to see they had returned safely.

'I could've  sworn I left a note telling them not to worry...' Chêne thought,  sweat-dropping. It was nice to know they cared, though.

"It's none  of your business," Ciel told the anxious prince shortly, slightly  chagrined. That would have been extremely problematic if they had raised  such a fuss. "Koff! Koff! Koff!"

"Oh, dear. I'd better  get you some tea," Chêne said, immediately heading for the kitchen. Her  family had an old herbal tea recipe that was good for colds and sore  throats.

"Ugh..." Ciel couldn't help but grimace slightly when he  realized what she was up to. That remedy of hers had worked wonders the  last time he was ill, but the taste... he shuddered at the memory.

"What's wrong with you?" Soma asked, concerned when he noticed his friend's poor condition. "You look pale."

"Koff!  It's nothing. Leave me alone," Ciel said calmly, trying not to cough  too much in front of them. The last thing he needed was for these two to  start sticking their nose into things.

"It's not nothing! You've  definitely got a cold!" Soma retorted, knowing a sick person when he saw  one. "Don't you have a fever—"

"No! My temperature's fine!" Ciel  insisted stubbornly as Sebastian began carrying him up the stairs to his  room. Why did this stupid prince have to be so sharp now of all times!?

"You're lying!!" Soma shouted, outraged that Ciel would try to hide something so important. You should never underestimate a cold!

"No, I'm not. Koff!" Ciel calmly denied the accusation as they reached his room.

"Ciel!!" Soma shouted after him, but the door slammed shut behind them before he could follow them inside.

"What's  wrong?" Chêne asked upon seeing a worried Agni. She had decided to poke  her head out of the kitchen for a moment after she thought she heard a  door slam.

"Oh, um—" Agni said, fidgeting nervously as he turned  to tell her the distressing events that had just transpired, but his  prince beat him to it.

"—It's Ciel!" Soma huffed, pouting moodily at the top of the stairs. "He won't admit he's sick—which he definitely is! I'm worried he'll try to push himself too much."

"...  In that case..." Chêne said thoughtfully, considering what they had just  told her. "I'm still working on a special medicinal, but in the  meantime... Feel free to do whatever's necessary in order to stop him,"  she told them, smiling brightly. Special mission from the queen or not,  she was not letting Ciel go back out in the cold again so soon  after his asthma attack, not while he had a cold on top of it and was  still coughing like that!

Soma grinned, glad to have found another ally. He knew just what to do...

=†=†=†=†=

"Haaah..."  Ciel sighed in relief when Sebastian laid him down on his wonderfully  large and luxuriously soft bed. Oh, how he had missed it...

"Young  Master does lie quite a lot and keep many secrets, indeed," Sebastian  remarked as he picked up the water pitcher and basin normally used for  washing one's face in the morning. "Even I was not aware that the Young  Master has had a chronic illness from childhood. Why did you not tell  me?" he asked as he poured hot water from the previously empty pitcher  into the clean wash basin.