#ch206

Doll goes in for an attack on Mabel, but Snake rushes to Mabel, too.... (Aside: I hate Susan now, if I didn't quite hate her before, because she looks so eager here for Doll to harm these kids.)

Snake's memories of Doll begin to shatter....

...as Snake gets a big gash to his neck.

The cut is so deep that blood is spilling out of his mouth. This is probably a fatal wound for him, since there's most likely no one there who can give him emergency care. There's no Ada here. 😞

Idk what Snake says, but Doll is truly horrified by what she has just done.

Damn. I was worried Snake might not make it.

And it reminds me of that scene I mentioned before, back in volume 11. The cover art for ch204 suggests Snake might be sacrificed in some way (the symbolism of the snake on his head/hat), and the Roman numeral XI in Finny's hair could be a reference to this scene in volume 11. That's when Sebastian cuts the head off a fish while saying to Baldo that he would do away with any Phantomhive servant who turned against their master. Snake's gash is so deep that it parallels what happens to that fish.

...and says they are imitations that can never surpass the real thing/originals. She's aiming for Mabel, and we see reactions from Finny, Oliver, Susan -- I officially hate her now -- and Snake. Snake looks like he might rush to Mabel's aide.

As he moves to help Mabel, Snake is thinking about his circus family, and how he can't believe they would really kidnap kids and harm them (or put them in harm's way).

I've rearranged these next two panels, just so you can see them in the original layout. Doll strikes out with the broken glass, but instead of hitting Mabel, the blow lands on the left side of Snake's neck.

This gash must be very deep, because it's spurting blood out, not just oozing. Also, blood quickly starts to spill out of his mouth, suggesting not only has the carotid probably been cut, but so has his windpipe and/or esophagus. He still seems to be in disbelief that she would lash out against a child like that, but he can barely get the words out.

When Doll realizes what she's done, she freaks out in a panic, because he's the one person there she would never wish to harm.

But would she do anything necessary to try to save him? Is there anyone there who has the skills to help him at all? If the top students and Finny could band together and combine their knowledge and skills to help him, would Doll agree to a truce to let them? Would she force Susan and other staff to stand down and stay out of the way... or even help? Too many questions here... and I think it'll be too late for Snake by the time anyone can figure out what to do.

We haven't seen a reaper in this assignment, that we know of. But this doesn't mean Snake will live. There could have been one there the whole time, but they stayed in hiding, unlike Ronald at the sanatorium, etc. Sometimes the reaper organization gets alerts of unexpected deaths, too... when they happen, right? It would be nice to get a shinigami pass, but I can't expect it to happen for him.

Since I'm now expecting Snake to die from this wound, we might get some backstory for him, either as memories before he dies, or as cinematic records when a reaper shows up. Since we know how he joined the Phantomhive household, we might just get earlier memories, like more details from before/when he joined the circus.

Take note that not once this chapter has Snake spoken for his snakes; it's all been for himself. I should think that his flashbacks or memories would be speaking for himself, or perhaps for himself and the snakes.

Simply put, Jumbo and the others were sneaking into the manor to kill their master, the queen's watchdog.

Of course, Finny and the others didn't really kill everyone in the circus, just the kidnappers in the first string.

He probably doesn't know the details, particularly what happened at Kelvin's manor, but he knows they kidnapped children, and he might have been given some very basic information about those children's fates. That they "suffered horribly".

When Snake asks Doll if it's true, she can't deny it, so she just doesn't speak.

He had already been told about the kidnappings by our earl, but I guess he wasn't going to believe it until it was confirmed, and Doll's silence confirms it. Now he also knows his own master had his found family killed, because they were kidnapping kids.

Then Finny and Doll argue for Snake to choose between them, claiming the other is the enemy.