Having successfully infiltrated the Noah's Ark Circus as the stage personas Smile and Black, Earl Ciel Phantomhive and his consummate butler, Sebastian, set about gathering clues backstage as to the whereabouts of the missing children Queen Victoria wishes them to recover. But between the duties required of them as the newest members of the troupe and their death-defying performances, even this most efficient master and servant find themselves short on time! And with the availability of both information and opportunity equally wanting, Sebastian resorts to using his devilish wiles on one of the more vulnerable members of the troupe, while Ciel is forced to do some snooping of his own. As the paths of their investigations converge, they find themselves standing on the doorstep of the tragedy visited upon Ciel all those years ago...