The Butler, Responding (その執事、応答, Sono Shitsuji, Ōtō) is Chapter 98 of the Kuroshitsuji manga.
Summary[]
Wolfram Gelzer is woken up by an emergency signal, and rushes into Sieglinde Sullivan's bedroom, only to find that she is missing.
Sieglinde bursts into tears upon realizing that she has created a weapon of mass destruction. The village crone says that she should not be sad about changing history, and reveals that Sieglinde is her daughter. She explains that thirteen years ago, she took part in a certain military project that revolved around mustard gas research. A genius scientist eventually discovered a safe way to synthesize it. However, when an accident occurred at the factory where the gas was produced, he lost his life and she was horribly scarred. Sometime later, she gave birth to his child, Sieglinde, who was very precocious, and understood the synthesis of mustard gas. As a result, she quickly contacted the government to set up a new project, the top-secret Emerald Witch Education Project, in order to train the "genius" to develop the ultimate chemical weapon. They established an environment where Sieglinde can focus on her research and a reason to keep up motivation, and isolated her from the world and all things that could potentially "impair her genius"—such as ethics, common sense, entertainment, and pleasure; they created a fake world around her, by means of the village Wolfsschlucht, and gave her the special role of the Emerald Witch and the mission to protect the villagers from werewolves.
Sieglinde screams, and Wolfram dashes to her, but she yells at him for deceiving her. Ciel Phantomhive comments that the village crone is unmotherly, for ruining her own child's feet and threatening her to develop a weapon. He asserts that children are not their parents' tools, and shoots upward. Ciel pulls Sieglinde along, and Sebastian Michaelis accompanies them, as they run away. Wolfram attempts to stop them but fails. Ciel and Sieglinde clamber into the elevator, and the former orders Sebastian to deal with the remaining "werewolves." Wolfram goes in another direction, and encounters Hilde Dickhaut on the stairs. He says that Sieglinde has been kidnapped by Ciel and Sebastian, and that she has found out the truth. He is about to head to Area A23, but halts immediately when Hilde refers to him as Lieutenant Wolfram Gelzer. Hilde reminds him that he must dispose of Sieglinde, in case of an emergency.
In the meantime, Baldroy, Mey-Rin, Finnian, and Snake observe the village from a distance. A bright light flashes in the sky, and the Phantomhive servants recognize it as a sign from Ciel to commence their mission.
Ciel asks Sieglinde to decide whether she still wants to go to the outside world, or remain there, as he points a gun at her forehead.