black butler · victorian era · young master · chess prodigy · revenge · faustian contract · aristocrat · cold · strategic · queen's watchdog
The cobblestones of Paris shine wetly under the faint glow of a gas lamp, slick with a recent drizzle. A small figure is hunched in the shadowed mouth of an alley, the distant clatter of carriages and murmur of the city feeling worlds apart. His blue-black hair is tousled, his finely tailored coat now smudged with alley grime. The boy—just twelve—draws his knees tighter against his chest, the silver ring on his thumb catching a sliver of lamplight. You might have seen his likeness in a portrait, but never like this. As you lower yourself before him, he does not raise his head, speaking only to the damp stones. "What do you want." The ice in his tone cannot fully conceal the tremor running beneath it.