Chapter Four: As A Gentleman, He Wonders

A few days have passed since Edward accepted and heard the mysterious call. Whenever he and Annalise went outside for any reason, he takes great caution and observes everything around him in a defensive manner. He was getting anxious as to what the actual details of his mission entailed and of course, those around him would take notice of his sudden change in behavior.

"Are you alright, Lord Edward?" Annalise leaned in a bit to catch a glimpse of the young knight. This sudden action made him flinch out of his thoughts as he stopped in his tracks. It appears that they have been walking for quite a while now since Edward realized that they arrived in the middle of town where all the shops, parlors, and other various kinds of edifice stood. Annalise then walked a few more steps to come face to face with the knight, awaiting his answer.

With calmed heart beats and a soft smile, he answered a few seconds later, easing his eyes on her. "Yes, my lady."

"What is this, Edward? Are you courting her?"

With his guard down, he jumped. "W-Who are you?" he added as he turned around to face the voice.

"Oh my, you really are not alright," Annalise commented. "I was talking to him just now. Were you not listening?"

The man in front of them shook his head, "Oho, a knight who does not listen. My, my."

Edward blinked a few times then cleared his throat as he extended a hand. "Judging by your looks, I believe you must be the prince the Earl of Phantomhive told us about. I am Edward Midford. A pleasure to meet you."

"Prince Soma Asman Kadar." The prince gladly shook his hand with a wide smile. "And this over here is Agni, my right hand man." The taller man bowed down and greeted the knight. "Also, I guess I was right since you did not deny my statement a few seconds ago?" He teased with a smirk, nudging Agni who in turn tried to calm down the prince.

"O-of course not!" Edward belatedly responded. "How could I do such a thing?" He folded his arms and looked away.

All three of them blinked and looked at Edward's bashful reaction followed by instinctively eyeing each other. A few seconds later, Lady Annalise placed her hand near her mouth and gave a chuckle while Soma gave another teasing smile. Agni, on the other hand, was taken aback and gave a small blush.

"My Prince, is this…!"

"It is, it is! No doubt about it!"

Confused, Edward faced them and uncrossed his arms. He then gave them a questioning look. "No doubt about what? What are you talking about?"

A pause came from all three of them as they again eyed Edward. The same reaction from a few seconds ago ensued which made Edward all the more confused as to what the three individuals in front of him were having fun with.

"And he is also…!" Agni chimed again.

"He has quite a cute side to him as well it seems," Annalise smiled.

Soma gave a haughty laugh. "Yes, he is indeed! And it seems so, Lady Annalise!"

Having had enough of the teasing, Edward walked past them (after he turned red from Lady Annalise's comment, that is). "Let us go back, Lady Annalise."

"Wait!" the prince tried to stifle his laugh as he stopped Edward. "As I was saying to Lady Annalise a while ago, I am having a party and you are both invited. Agni, you have the invitations, right?"

The moment Edward faced Agni, two envelopes were in his hand. Edward opened one of the envelopes as Annalise took the other with a small 'thank you'.

"Baron Hiddleston's mansion?"

"Ciel suddenly contacted me and said that I will be hosting a party there for some reason. Now that I think about it, this is a weird, is it not? Agni, do you know anything about this?"

"Well, Master Ciel and Sebastian told me that it is a secret but he wanted the both of you, Lord Edward and Lady Annalise, to be there, most definitely." Agni beamed as he placed a hand on his chest.

Before Edward could inquire more about the suspicious answer and series of events, the Indian prince gave him a pat on the back. "So there you have it! Make sure to prepare well for the party tomorrow night, okay? Ciel also said that a carriage has been arranged for you, so do not worry."

"Did he also tell you that I am on a mission?" Edward whispered just enough for all four of them to hear. "I cannot just–"

"Nonsense!" Soma interrupted. "Ciel was the one who wanted the both of you to come, so of course he has thought of your circumstances. He even had your suit and Lady Annalise's dress specially tailored for the occasion!"

"What?"

The excited prince gently gave Edward a push to the direction of their temporary vacation home. "You will see them once you get to Baron Hiddleston's mansion to change. For now, off you go back home! The sun is about to set."

Unable to utter another word, Edward and Annalise left Soma and Agni standing on the sidewalk as the latter two smiled and happily waved to the retreating backs.

Once both were out of sight, Soma sighed then mischievously rubbed both of his hands as his mouth formed into a playful grin. Both men began to walk towards the other direction as they as well headed home. "That young knight is a fun one to tease! No wonder Ciel was having fun when he mentioned him to me." The young prince then put his hands up in the air as if proclaiming some good news to the whole world. "He does not even know that he is–"

"My prince, your voice is getting loud. Please be mindful of your actions," Agni interrupted and warned as he side glanced towards the towns people around them. Indeed, everyone was whispering amongst themselves, questioning if they were circus performers.

Well, this definitely made it his turn to turn red in embarrassment as Agni merely gave his usual smile thinking that his prince still has a lot to learn, as usual.

The next evening, Edward and Annalise were busy preparing themselves for Baron Hiddleston's night party in their respective rooms.

In the lady's room, a soft humming voice filled the area while she combed her long, honey-colored hair as she sat in front of the large table mirror on one side of the room. Her light purple gown lay on the bed behind her, reflecting marvelously from her mirror.

The thought of going to a night ball gave her much excitement as it would be her first time especially when it comes to getting escorted by a handsome, young knight such as the Lord Edward Midford. Getting reminded of his bashful appearances from the days that they shared, a smile found its way on her lips which made her chuckle lightly with a hint of red painting her cheeks.

Noticing her elated behavior, she turned to face the mirror and gave a sad smile. "I am definitely going to miss this life once this ends."

Without another thought, she stood up and took a few steps to stand in front of her lifeless dress. Her back view from the mirror showed hints of mystery and loneliness. Shaking her head a few times to get rid of her thoughts, Annalise started to get ready for the night with a small smile now plastered on her face.

In the knight's room, Edward just finished showering as the sound of the closing of the faucet was heard followed by the motion of wrapping a bathrobe around him. A few moments later, he stood in front of his bed and was contemplating deeply with one hand under his chin and the other supporting his elbow. One would think that he was making a huge life-turning decision. But in fact, it was of a small matter.

"Light green or light purple?" he said to himself. In front of him were two colors of bowties with matching top hats that had the same colors tied around them. "I guess I will go with the light purple since I recently wore the green one."

Grabbing the bowtie, he positioned himself in front of the mirror and tied it neatly under his collared dress shirt. Finishing with the top hat, he gave one last look in front of the mirror then started to head downstairs to wait.

Coming down the steps, a chime from the main door made Edward quicken his pace. Once he opened the door, a familiar face greeted him with two horse carriages lined at the bottom of the steps. With the moonlight gracing the man's back, he placed his hand on his chest, giving a slight bow.

"Lord Edward, are you ready?"

"Butler? What about Ciel? Is he here too?"

"No," he gave his trademark cat grin. "The young master has already arrived at Baron Hiddleston's mansion and is awaiting the both of you to arrive."

Just then, Annalise was heading towards the two men by the door. "Oh? Sebastian?"

Sebastian gave another bow with his hand on his chest. "Good evening, Lady Annalise. I see that the two of you are quite matched tonight."

Edward had been quiet (and frozen in place) since the moment he heard Annalise's voice. He watched as the two exchanged greetings, eyeing and thinking how lovely the lady beside him looked. The only moment he snapped back to reality was when he heard Sebastian clear his throat.

"Now then," Sebastian continued. "There are carriages for each of you as per the Baron's request. Lady Annalise will ride the first one as Mally, the woman standing beside the carriage, will accompany you. I will personally accompany Lord Midford in the next carriage. Since the both of you are ready, we shall leave at once."

And so, the three of them went down the steps and entered their respective carriages.

A few moments later, in Edward's carriage, the whole ride was filled with silence. Edward looked out of the window from time to time while Sebastian just sat silently on the opposite side. The carriage suddenly took a turn and entered the forest which made the ride rougher than usual due to the uneven ground. Edward peeked outside his window to check on Annalise's carriage as a precautionary measure.

At that moment, he saw a shadowy figure jump onto the carriage in front of him making it lean to the side for a moment to support the sudden added weight. A scream was heard a few seconds later followed by another shadowy figure being thrown overboard with a thud and a loud cry of pain. The carriage in front then sped up, creating a wider gap from the other behind them, as the horses' neigh echoed into the night.

Startled, Edward instinctively leaned his upper body outside of the window to catch a better glimpse of the unexpected event unfolding right in front of him. At that moment, he could only scream one word as his face was filled with both anger and worry.

"Annalise!"

Author's Note: Hello! It has been a while and I'm sorry for the delay. I was out of town during Christmas so I was not able to update within the 6-month period as promised. I kept on getting emails of reviews and follows so I decided to work on it during my lunch break at the least. I really thank those who reviewed, followed, and fave'd this story!

Also, this story was originally meant to be a short story so don't be surprised if I say now that the end is near. It will probably have at most one more chapter (another 4 pages in MS Word) and an epilogue (as planned). Until then, please look forward to the next chapter!

alexc1209: Hi there! Sorry for the late update. I added some bits of hidden developments in this chapter for both parties. It's quite subtle but it works, aha. As for Snake, we'll see if he manages to make another appearance. If you've seen the third season of the Kuroshitsuji anime, you'll probably notice that I used another character on here from there. Guess who~?

Catarina Persephone: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Latariya: Aw, thank you very much! I try, I try. Hope you enjoyed this one as well!

Rusty14: Updated, my friend! Thanks for your interest in this story!

AquamarineLove: He does need more love (and appearances from the manga itself too)! I'm glad he appeared in this current arc (Blue Cult arc, as they call it). ^^

guinevere29: Updated the next chapter! Please look forward to the next one as well!

DMCP: I am aware of the lack of updates and I am sorry. I do not abandon things without a trace though so if I do decide to discontinue something, I will tell you guys in an update. Thank you for your interest and I hope you look forward to the next chapter as well! Also, thanks for the review since I got an email about it which made me continue to write bits and pieces of this story again during my lunch breaks. ^^