#Let's not forget that in the flashback carriage exchange with Vicent

[fwippysays]

I normally reply instead of reblogging (and it certainly isn’t my intent to be confrontational here), but this is going to be way too long for replies, and the reading many people have that “the scene where R!Ciel scolds Sebastian is meant to indicate to us that he holds servants in disregard” has always really bothered me, since I really don’t think this interpretation is consistent with what we see from him in the text.  He’s absolutely a shitty little asshole, make no mistake, but I do think anon may be onto something here as to why this scene with Sebastian is significant: First off, we don’t need to speculate as to how R!Ciel might respond if one of the other servants spoke out of turn to him, because it’s happened in the manga already.  Remember, in chapter 129 Finny (a back-of-house servant who, based on etiquette of the time, shouldn’t be speaking directly to a member of the nobility at all) calls R!Ciel an impostor directly to his face, but Finny isn’t chastised for his impertinence.  Instead, R!Ciel merely uses that as an opportunity to smugly reveal himself as “the real Ciel Phantomhive.” (Plus he also just stands there and lets Tanaka waltz onto the scene and rattle off the history of the Phantomhive twins unbidden, so there’s that too.)  This is his debut chapter, so if Yana wanted to send a clear message to us readers how differently R!Ciel treats servants compared with his brother, she passed up a great opportunity to do so. Additionally, even in situations where being harsh to a servant would be warranted, Yana hasn’t written him to be as stupid as to let his personal distaste bleed into his behavior.  In chapter 169 Polaris is shrieking at R!Ciel that he has no right to be OK with the destruction of the Heathfield facility, all while violently ripping apart his bedroom and causing a scene.  Yet instead of barking at Polaris to stop acting like a lunatic or scolding him for destroying his master’s property (and lbr, he wouldn’t be entirely out of line for doing so), R!Ciel calmly deescalates the situation.  This doesn’t mean that R!Ciel is secretly “a nice person” or that he likes Polaris (he isn’t; he doesn’t), but rather this demonstrates how he’s extremely manipulative and quite good at steering the topic of a conversation to his advantage.  (And Yana has him do this consistently: remember in chapter 151 when Francis is probing him as to what O!Ciel’s motives could have been- i.e. getting too close to exposing the truth about the demonic sacrifice- he expertly redirects that line of inquiry to instead focus on him becoming the Watchdog.) Finally, there are the larger circumstances of the exchange with Sebastian.  The demon is specifically asking about why UT is so obsessed with the Phantomhive family, getting towards the likely truth of UT=Cedric.  From how R!Ciel treats UT, I don’t even think he knows the answer to that question, so it’s somewhat understandable that he’d be irritated with this interloping demon asking after sensitive private matters.  There’s also the issue that R!Ciel’s characterization of Sebastian is…not entirely incorrect.  In a case of “worst person you know just made a good point, ” it is true that throughout the series, Sebastian consistently oversteps his bounds as a butler, whether it be disobeying orders to coerce information out of Beast or accusing his master of letting his aunt get killed.  And Tanaka, as a supervisory steward who likely realizes that Sebastian isn’t all that he seems, does bear some responsibility for allowing this improper behavior to persist.  Sure, O!Ciel insults Sebastian from time to time, but it’s always an ineffectual “I’ll kill you” in private, or a childish “drink this spiked lemonade;” he never actually hits the demon where it hurts- in his pride as a butler.  I think it is intentional on Yana’s part that no one has ever spoken to Sebastian like this in front of his coworkers- but UT has said similar things to him in their prior confrontations.  Does any of this mean that R!Ciel is actually a good person?  No, absolutely not!  Let me be clear that he’s written to be a piece of shit who’s laser-focused on his brother to the detriment of everything and everyone else, that’s for certain. Ultimately, as I see it, Yana is trying to tell us that this really is A Sebastian Thing, rather than putting focus on R!Ciel’s thoughts towards servants as a whole.  After all, he also says to Sebastian during the skirmish with UT and Grelle in chapter 142 that the demon “isn’t actually been a part of the Phantomhive household,” and “will be made to leave soon”- which echoes Blavat’s offer to help remove the demon from O!Ciel’s side at the beginning of the Blue Cult arc.  I think Yana’s making it as obvious as she can what’s really going on here, and how formidable an opponent R!Ciel is to his brother, while also clearly demonstrating how he’s an indefensible dirtbag who is doing Quite Literally Everything Wrong.

in the twins' confirmation scene, when RCiel tells Sebastian to be quiet, there is a panel of servants' shocked faces, but Why do they put on those looks? Aren't they used to seeing Sebastian getting belittled? I mean, they've seen his humiliation before, right? Even being in public can't stop Frances from pulling his hair and yelling at him. RCiel did nothing compared to that. Or did he? (・_・ヾ

Hey! Nah, the scene you mention...

...mostly serves to prove that real!Ciel is overall less tolerant and kind than our!Ciel, which explains why Tanaka has a rather sad look on his face. 

Our!Ciel sometimes mocks Seb for sure (because of the contract) and he insists that his orders are followed if the servants question them, but he never talked down servants simply for being servants, like real!Ciel is doing here. 

In other words, if Finny, Mey, Bard or Snake had opened their mouths instead of Seb in that scene, they would have most likely received the exact same demeaning comment. That’s why they’re a bit shocked. 

BTW, since you mentioned Frances, she also never talked down a servant for being a servant. She harps about Seb’s haircut (which is horrendous, let’s be clear) and messes him around with him because she’s suspicious of him, but never talks him down by reminding him of his condition, so that’s a big difference with real!Ciel’s attitude here.

TL;DR real!Ciel is way harsher and less tolerant than his younger brother, but we been knew. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Have a good day Anon.