Episode 23 Finale - He's Not Dead
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“This one could’ve been anyone,” Madam Savage said then, and I was now sitting in a dining room chair numbly, a blanket wrapped around me as Cammie sat at my side.
She gently rubbed my back, making me feel a little better, but not enough.
Never enough.
“Master…” Cammie said gently, “would you like me to wash your pillow?”
I gazed over at her in question. “Why?”
“Well… I found a blood stain on the underside, so I was just curious. That’s all.”
I blinked. “A blood stain?”
She nodded.
I just itched my forehead. “I guess I do have bloody noses at night, don’t I?”
“According to the only doctor on this ship,” Savage continued, gazing over at the crowd as I listened now. “Madam Beth. She states that Sebastian died not even ten minutes before we found him. So that would make only me, Lord Phantomhive, Sir Jeffery, and her three servants innocent. Of course, Madam Beth, Madam Beham, and Lady Jamison were chained in their rooms, but there was no one else to watch them. Everyone else was also in their rooms, alone, despite Lord Phantomhive’s orders to stay together. So basically… anyone could be the culprit.”
“That makes things easier,” Maddox said sarcastically.
I felt my grandmother watch me with dark eyes. I half-expected her to be glaring at me or giving me a stern look of disappointment, but in reality, she looked… depressed. She looked sad for me.
It was a servant who was killed, and she’s not scolding me for grieving so much?
I just closed my eyes tightly and gazed up. “It’s time we up our game.”
Everyone gazed up then, brows drawing together.
“Sebastian’s death was merely a sign of power,” I said then, standing up and pulling off the blanket. “This—alone—makes things harder for me because I’m down two servants now.”
And two body-guards.
“Has anyone noticed something, though…?” Madam Claudia said then. “This odd thing keeps popping up in my head. Everyone who’s been killed recently… has been somewhat close to Lord Phanomhive… a protector. It seems as if someone’s trying to rid of Master Yumi’s safety net.”
“Well, that would explain Scarlet and Sebastian’s death, but what of Madam Deneise and Sir Denver?”
My lashes lowered.
Sir Denver was more seemed like a scare, and Scarlet was more personal.
Although… Deneise was murdered because she found the truth, and Sebastian was murdered to rid of my main bodyguard.
My lashes lowered.
She might not have been wrong.
“But the murders suddenly changed…” Sir Jeffery said then, shaking his head. “The first two looked premediated, used the same weapon, and were aimed directly to the heart. And the murder weapon wasn’t found at the scene. Whereas with Deneise, suddenly it was as if the murderer grew impulsive… used a vase as a weapon instead. And Sebastian? He was killed with a wooden steak. Doesn’t anyone find it odd that the killer is suddenly using tools found at the scene to kill?”
“Yes, that does seem odd,” Madam Savage said then. “That’s very curious.”
“Maybe there are two murders, after all,” Sir Jeffery said then.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, thinking through this strongly.
It was so much harder without Sebastian, though. Did I really use him as a crutch that much? Jesus… I was helpless.
But I saw a shadow move to my right, and I glanced over, finding nothing there.
I then looked forward.
“I disagree,” I said then, making everyone look over to me in question. “Three of us have been suspects but with some murders that happened, they weren’t and no one else was, either. I think it might be possible we have a shadow hiding in the walls.”
Everyone looked over to me then, eyes wide.
“A person not in this group?” Jeffery said then. “That seems so obvious! Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Who could this person be?” Savage said, shaking her head. “Has anyone seen shadows lurking around anywhere?”
“No, as a matter of fact, I haven’t,” I said then.
Everyone else shook their heads in response.
“There was this man, though…” Claudia said then, brows drawing together as she recalled the memory, “he was on the ship when we departed. I haven’t seen him since.”
I gazed up.
She saw him, too?
“He had black hair…” she continued, “wearing an odd trench coat… and had odd eyes.”
My lashes lowered immediately, but I remained silent.
Cammie suddenly patted my wrist, and I glanced over at her.
She just slid me a note, and glanced down at me. “Sebastian told me to give this to you,” she whispered quietly.
I blinked and gazed down at the note, lightly taking it.
Why would he have done this…?
But—since no one was looking—I opened the note and gazed down at the text:
Hello, my young lord.
Yes, I know this may be confusing to you, but I have an explanation.
I think it’s safe to assume that someone’s planning my demise, and I think it better to be safer than sorry. You are fast asleep right now and I don’t want to wake you.”
My lashes immediately lowered.
He planned this… he planned his murder.
That is very unusual of him, I must say. Something tells me this isn’t over.
He planned this. I knew something was off about this situation.
He knew he was going to die… and he didn’t see fit to say goodbye?
I shoved away the pain growing inside and kept reading anyway:
“You asked me who the man in the trench coat was, and if I knew him.
I do know him. You do, too.
I am honestly surprised you didn’t recognize him. You need to be more alert master.
Anyway, I will say his name. But my knowledge of him being the murderer remains unknown.
The name of the man in the shadows.
“Edward”.
My eyes widened immediately, and I clutched the paper tighter.
“You need not to worry, master. You have a savior following you.
I promise, you’re safe. He will not hurt you.
Ever.
- Sebastian.”
I stared down at the paper in question, the letter rattling with my tremors.
A savior…?
Who?
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