The Butler, Released (その執事、解放, Sono Shitsuji, Kaihō) is Chapter 208 of the Kuroshitsuji manga.
Summary[]
With a heavy heart, Finnian apologizes to Snake and escapes, leaving him to bleed out slowly in Doll's arms. While Doll cries over him and his snakes gather around him, Snake wonders how things could turn out as they did and why Doll or Ciel helped him and his snakes out if they supposedly only "tricked" him.
Snake then does not only think of his two families—Noah's Ark Circus and the Phantomhive household—but also recalls the time before he met either of them. At that time, he was encaged and showcased by the owners of a freak show. If viewers came to gape at him, the "half-man, half-snake freak," a member of the freak show would sell them dead mice which they could feed to Snake. The freak show member would also claim that Snake's mother was a human, whereas his father was a snake, particularly one of the large ones they kept on display as well. This was, however, a lie, and Snake never knew his true background nor how he came to be imprisoned. Whenever he was fed a mouse, Snake would simply pretend to chew it and spit it out when everyone was gone, giving the mouse to one of the snakes in the cages.
During that time, Snake had only his snakes to keep him company and no one to call family—this changed when the circus members rescued him one day. They took him in, and Joker gave him the name "Snake," as he had previously been unnamed. Dagger did not like the suggestion at all because Joker was only "describing" Snake and had a bad naming sense in general. Joker thought the name to be very fitting though.
They brought them to the Noah's Ark Circus. Sometime later, Doll wanted to know whether he would rather eat pork or chicken, but Snake did not say a word. Jumbo then stepped in and asked instead what his friends, his snakes, would like to eat because they would like to feed them (and Snake); unfortunately, they do not know anything about snakes though. Snake proceed to translate for a snake, saying that she is a girl and would like chicken. Jumbo and Doll were overjoyed to hear him speak.
Afterward, Jumbo apologized to the "lady" and inquired about her name. When Snake shook his head and signalled that none of his snakes have names, Jumbo offered to name them for him, thinking it would be easier if they could call them something. Snake accepted, and Jumbo named the female snake "Emily" after Emily Brontë, the author of Wuthering Heights. Emily was so pleased that she had received a name, the other snakes quickly gathered around Jumbo to be bestowed one too. Considering the abundance of them, Jumbo feared to run out of names.
Snake liked his time at the circus as everyone there treated him like a person and friend. For the first time in his life, he had a family, and he was happy until the day Ciel and Sebastian joined the circus.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
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