Chapter 21: His Folly

                                    

                                          
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His Folly
                          
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There was none she liked from the enormous collection of books in front of her; being really boring books were not much of a help making her chore any more pleasant. A wipe of the wet cloth across its cover, Estella slid the book back to the shelf with a contented sigh before turning away from it to once again be met with the familiar sight of the study. She turned to the silent male at his desk to find him staring very intently at a paper which was held in a hand.
                          
"I'm done."
                          
His eye flicked up from the paper and to her at that. He nodded. "Move on to the next one then." He waved dismissively at her, turning back to the paper.
                          
Estella snorted with an incredulous frown on her face. "Can you have some sympathy for me?" Ciel glanced up at her with a raised eyebrow. "My back is breaking from cleaning your stupid damn boooooooring books for like almost two hours. It always these books. Isn't there anything that's actually interesting to read from these shelves or even this manor?"
                          
"It's your job to clean, not to read." Ciel stated dryly, eye still fixated on the paper.
                          
She let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, at least-"
                          
The doors swinging opened had them both turning to see Elizabeth skipping in.
                          
Ciel straightened up in surprise at her unexpected arrival. "Elizabeth!"
                          
"Ciel! Ciel! Let's have a Winter Ball on Friday night!" She chirped, skipping her way towards him.
                          
"What?" An incredulous frown at her, he shook his head. "No."
                          
"Please?" She pouted. "It'll be so fun!"
                          
Estella sighed when the male gave Elizabeth another stubborn 'no'.
                          
She rolled her eyes at him. He seriously needs to get a life.
                          
"Just let her do it." Elizabeth turned to her in surprise, finally aware of her presence. "Besides...Your birthday is nearing, isn't it?"
                          
"Like what she said! Let me do it! This ball can be an early birthday celebration for you too! Just gets this ball going and over, I promise that there won't be any ball on your birthday!" Elizabeth said, nodding at him. "Please...?"
                          
Ciel raised an eyebrow. "Really? There will be none on my birthday if I allow this ball to take place?"
                          
"Promise!"
                          
He let out a resigned sigh. "Fine."
                          
"Thank you, Ciel!" Elizabeth ran around the desk to him and pulled him into a hug.
                          
Estella strolled forward. "Lady Elizabeth."
                          
The said female glanced over at her with a questioning look at that, releasing Ciel.
                          
"I can help you with the preparation if you want." Estella offered with a shrug.
                          
"Oh! That's great!" Elizabeth clapped her hands in delight.
                          
Ciel glanced over at his fiance at that. "There's no need, Elizabeth." He said, letting the pen in his hand drop. "Just tell Sebastian how you want the manor to be and he will get the job done."
                          
"I better head over to him now!" She nodded at him and waltzed over to the door but abruptly stopped when she was only four steps away from it. She turned to Estella with an excited smile. "You can invite your friends along too! "
                          
Ciel raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't bother, Elizabeth. She doesn't have any." He said flatly.
                          
"Oh..." Elizabeth's face fell at that but went unnoticed by Estella who was staring at the male with an annoyed look.