I hesitate to ever bring up a certain theory where Kuroshitsuji is concerned. We can call it “CTT” for the moment. It’s invariably an irresistible lure to manga readers to start spoiling like crazy. But there are times when Toboso-sensei rubs it in our faces so hard it’s impossible to ignore. Getting a big-name seiyuu (Sawashiro Miyuki) to be that first “T” certainly throws gasoline on the fire. The eyes are a lit match. But it’s all still a theory for now, and there are still other explanations I can conjure which fit the evidence (at least at a stretch).

Before that, though, there’s the matter of Sebastian and Snake and those stairs. I conjured all sorts of notions about what they might be (a staircase to Hell?), though in reality they lead to a chamber where Sieglinde works her biggest magic. Wolfram interrupts (there’s a talismanic alarm system on the door) before Sebastian can find out anything, but he manages to communicate to Snake to have one of his friends slither through the still-open door and wait it out.

Back on the surface Team Phantomhive can do nothing for the nonce but wait it out, with Ciel fully incapacitated by blindness and terror. Sebastian proposes another shock to set the boy right; Tanaka-san (in a rare assertive moment) forbids it. A werewolf attacked while Sebastian and Snake are occupied, forcing Finnian to take a nasty blow for him. This left Ciel even more shell-shocked and withdrawn, leading to that most thought-provoking encounter on the chessboard.

At this point we have to conclude that in Ciel’s mind at least there are two Ciels. There’s evidence scattered across four seasons of anime that the truth is more than that, but that evidence is still circumstantial. But Ciel’s earlier flashback was much more realistic than this one at the very least. The other boy he sees here notably has two untainted blue eyes. He tells Ciel that he’s a conjuration based on Ciel’s shame about what he’s done – presumably making his deal with Sebastian. But what this other Ciel is we just can’t say. He invites the one we know to stay behind in the safe space of their shared imagination, but that Ciel has too much spine to take him up on that offer when it’s all said and done.

Back home in Blighty Queen Victoria is starting to get extremely antsy over what’s happening in her homeland. Ciel has managed to send a report back, accompanied by a plant (which is presumably in some fashion at the heart of all these events). And this report has Vic even more unhinged. She’s gets talked back off the ledge by “Albert” (courtesy her butler, John Brown), and pens a note to Ciel with instructions to put an end to the problem via whatever means necessary (a message Brown will get to Sebastian by the end of the episode).

Armed with the information Oscar has gathered, Sebby takes one more shot at exploring the underworld while Wolfram and the Emerald Witch are in the village, where the anger over the outsiders is boiling over. He clearly recognizes the Theban writing in the magic circle he finds there, which invites some interesting speculation. Oscar buys him some time (while the rest of the staff are panicking) and in the process, confirms that one of the serving maids “smells like werewolf”. Between the anger in the village and Victoria’s “burn it down” order things are seemingly coming to a head in a big way. The question is whether Ciel will return in time to influence what happens next.