[ That makes his brow furrow deeply, because there's no small part of him that knows what she's saying is right. He's no fool—Even if he had to learn the lessons in the harshest way possible, Ciel had always prided himself on being careful and prudent to a fault. He had to be with Sebastian always waiting for him to falter and give up, so why... Why did he trust a stupid looking thing like Crocs? ]

I—

[ But when he tries to think about why he trusts what Crocs says so much, it's just not there. There's a reason, he knows it, but why does he know that? Ciel hesitates, but trying to grasp at those straws is frustrating, so he continues on. ]

It was... It was a surgery, I think? I don't remember— I don't remember drawing that at all. Crocs said that if I did that, then Mabel... Mabel wouldn't have to kill anyone.

[ Because even now, when it's just the two of them, Ciel is determined to keep to his ideal of keeping Mabel's hands as free of blood as possible. He shakes his head, placing a hand over that wound that they all had now. ]

If Oz woke up first, then we could save everyone, but... I wouldn't. I wouldn't do that, and I wouldn't listen to a damned animal. But— [ There's still hesitation in his voice quite clearly. ]