Consequences of the Maou\'s Heart

Chapter 12

Night fell relentlessly on Covenant Castle. News of the dissolution of the royal engagement had spread to every ear within the building and by morning, it would be the talk of the surrounding city. Each day would carry the news further and further, until all of Shin Makoku and many of her allies learned of the events. However, despite knowing all of this, despite knowing all the ugly things that would be said, and despite knowing that his life was literally ending, Wolfram couldn’t bring himself to care. After the disastrous events in his study, he had slipped out as quietly as he was able. For nearly an hour, he had wandered the castle aimlessly. His usual safe retreat now housed smoke damage and a miserable memory. He knew he had seen people as he wandered about; maids, soldiers, and other castle residents passed by him. It was only when the whispered conversations he kept catching bits and pieces of turned towards the relaying of the afternoons events did Wolfram exit the castle for the relative solitude of the gardens.

Now as the last few rays of light slipped beyond the horizon, Wolfram looked around as if only just noticing where he had ended up. Green shoulder height shrubs stood lined up to create walls in the east section of the garden. Shortly after Yuri’s momentous return to Shin Makoku, the Maou had insisted that all castles needs a garden maze. Celi had fallen in love with the idea and nearly forced the garden staff to create such a thing. Wolfram drifted towards the center of the maze, taking in the sight of the stone benches and small fountain as he reached his destination. Four stone bee-bears stood atop the fountain, spitting water in each direction. Gazing at the feature, Wolfram was over come with memories. Despite beginning as his idea, Yuri avoided making any decisions concerning the garden. The gardeners had begun working under Celi’s direction, but before the first plant entered the ground, the flamboyant former Maou took off on another cruise for free love. After hounding Yuri for months on how they should continue, the gardeners turned to Wolfram for direction. Despite his initial hesitation, Wolfram found himself enjoying the process of creating the garden and quickly involved Greta in the project. The two mapped out the paths, picked the plants, and commissioned stone masons to create the centerpieces. When Wolfram and Greta showed the then calf high maze to Yuri the Maou was unimpressed, though he tried to hide it in an attempt to spare their feelings. After having spent so much time creating a space and having it dismissed, Wolfram avoided the garden maze. As childish as he knew the avoidance to be, seeing the place hit a sore spot. The shrubs grew slowly and steadily and the maze became a popular spot to waste away free time. Even Yuri began to enjoy having picnic lunches with Greta in the center. Now as he stood in the middle of the maze, Wolfram inwardly cursed himself a hundred times over. The garden was just another failure in his attempts to make Yuri see him. It was a beautiful place that should have held pleasant memories, but he’d allowed his hurt feelings to blind him to that.

He stared down into the pooling water at the bottom of the fountain. Blinking furiously he couldn’t stop the tears spilling out and marring the smooth surface of the water. A sob escaped past his lips and he shoved the palms of his hands over his eyes. Tremors flowed up and down his spine as Wolfram fought against the force of his emotions even as he slumped to his knees. Breath caught in his throat and he forced himself to stop breathing, hoping foolishly to suffocate the sobs escaping. His lungs burned awfully but he knew if he let go of the breath he was holding he would fall apart.

“Papa?” Greta’s voice came from behind him; air rushed out of his lungs as he stood shakily. He kept his eyes on the fountain, wiping at his face to remove the tears.

“Y… yes?” Wolfram managed to keep his voice mostly steady as he answered Greta’s call.

“Are you ok?” Greta stared at the silhouette of her papa as he slowly turned towards her. His face was dry but she could see the puffiness around his eyes that indicated he’d been crying.

“I’ll be fine honey,” his voice sounded harsh and strained to Greta’s ears.

“Bull shit.” Greta crossed her arms defiantly as she waited for a reaction. For a moment, Wolfram blinked owlishly at her. Then despite his mood seconds ago, he burst out laughing. Greta waited until his laughter petered off before speaking again. “Uncle Ken told me what happened. Half the castle is looking for you; I think the other half is praying they don’t run into you.”

“You know your papa wouldn’t approve of such language coming from you.” He watched her fondly as she walked to stand beside him. His little girl was becoming a woman, if not a lady in the strictest sense.

“Well I guess it’s a good thing he’s not here then. I swear he still thinks I’m eight or something.” She cast a sidelong glance at Wolfram before sitting on the nearest bench. “So what happens now? I don’t care what anybody says you’re my papa just as much as Yuri is!”

“Whether Yuri and I are together or not you’ll always be my daughter and I’ll always love you. I’m not going to tell you everything will be the same; things will change but that’s the nature of life. Gwendal and Wel… Conrart will, I’m sure, still think of you as a cute little niece, so if there is anything you need you can go to them.”

“… Papa, um what’s going to happen to you?” Greta scraped the toes of her shoes on the ground as she stared downward.

“Well,” Wolfram struggled not to tell her the truth without outright lying, “I’m sure Yuri will want me to stay at the castle, so I’ll be moved into the military barracks. It will be expected for me to resume the life of a soldier, which I don’t mind.”

“So I’ll still get to see you a lot?” Greta turned her head to look at Wolfram as she spoke. With a great sigh, Wolfram moved from his spot near the fountain to stand next to her.

“I… I’ve been thinking it might be a good thing for me to spend a little time away from the castle while things settle down.”

“What! No, I don’t want you to leave!” She stood sharply, leveling an angry glare at her papa.

“I know you don’t and I don’t want to hurt you, but it’s for the best.” Wolfram knew he looked the picture of melancholy and hated that Greta had to witness it.

“It’s gonna be bad isn’t it?” Wolfram nodded in response, “Well I guess it wouldn’t hurt for you to be gone for a little while,” she sat down again, “But you gotta promise to come back.”

“Greta…”

“Yea yea you never promise you’ll come back, soldiers never know what’s gonna happen blah, blah, blah… But you have to at least try.”

“Ok… ok if there is any way for me to get back to you I will. But if anything happens, just know how much I love you.”

“I know,” her eyesight blurred with tears and she threw her arms around Wolfram’s waist. Wolfram wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tucked her head under is chin. They sat there a few moments before Greta pulled back. Her eyes were a bit red but she had a small smile on her face.

“I guess we should get back, it’s getting kinda cold.” Greta stood and held out her hand for Wolfram,

“You go ahead I’m still not quite ready to go back.” The smile on Greta’s face fell slightly as she dropped her hand.

“Are you sure, I can stay if you want?”

“No you go; I’ve got some thinking to do.” Wolfram shook his head gently and offered a small smile.

“Well… ok I’ll see you in the morning?” She looked unsure about leaving but didn’t want to be a bother if Wolfram really wanted to be alone. Wolfram didn’t trust himself to speak, so he just nodded. Greta made her way out of the maze, glancing back at Wolfram until he was out of her sight. Wolfram listened to Greta and waited until he couldn’t hear her footsteps any more. Once he was sure she was gone, he bent over with his head in his hands and finally let go of the sobs he’d been holding in. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he finally stopped, the moon had risen fully and many of the torches in the castle had been doused. Gingerly he stood and stretched out the kinks in his joints. As he readied to exit the garden he had a sudden thought, he didn’t know where to go. On other nights when he had gotten locked out of the royal bedchamber, he had slept in his study. However, the lounge he normally slept on was likely still smoking. With a mirthless laugh, he headed towards the military barracks, sure that they would have an extra bed to sleep in.

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Shortly after the incident in Wolfram’s study, Murata made his way to the Maou’s office. He was sure that Yuri was busy hiding behind his paperwork in an attempt to avoid some very angry brothers. As far as Murata was concerned, any retaliation from the Weller or Voltaire heirs would be well earned. He really liked Yuri as a king and friend, but the man could be such an idiot when matters of love and lust came into play. At least he hadn’t passed his idiocy on to Greta. Despite being a little on the young side, the princess had understood what was going on when Murata explained the situation to her. The girl tended to act years younger around anyone who would let her get away with the behavior, but she had a good head on her shoulders. Once they had finished talking, she scampered off in search of her blond papa. Murata was glad to see someone so eager to comfort Wolfram; however, with the girl’s departure he was left with the unenviable task of fulfilling his promise. On the bright side he’d come up with a plausible reason to get Wolfram out of the castle, of course the blond was likely to hit him once he found out his plans. After all, he had a reputation of being devious to keep up. Chuckling darkly to himself the Sage knocked sharply on the door to Yuri’s office. Seconds later a timid voice called out for him to enter. The look of relief on the Maou’s face upon realizing Murata was entering was nearly comical, especially since the Sage was in a mildly sadistic mood.

“Oh Murata! Phew, I’m glad it’s just you. Um…do you know if anybody found Wolfram yet? I’d be looking for him but you know… I don’t think I’d survive finding him.” Yuri didn’t notice one of Murata’s eyebrows rising at his words.

“Oh buck up Shibuya. I really doubt he’d kill you. Burn off your hair, sure. Beat you to a bloody pulp, maybe. Heck maybe he’d get creative and tie you up naked outside the castle,” with every suggestion Yuri’s face paled even more, “Of course he could go with the old stand by for jilted lovers and just cut off your…” Murata trailed off, glancing down pointedly at Yuri’s groin. With a girl-y squeak, Yuri’s hands flew to cover himself, as though he expected Wolfram to jump out of nowhere and unman him.

“Hell Murata! Don’t even joke like that!” With a nervous laugh Yuri let his hands fall away from protecting his crotch, “You don’t… I mean he wouldn’t do that. I’m the Maou right?” One more pointed look from Murata had Yuri’s hands twitching to cover himself again.

“Hummm… I suppose you’re right Bielefeld isn’t likely to commit treason, but I doubt he’s going to make your life easy after you disgraced him so… thoroughly.” Murata casually perched on the edge of Yuri’s desk.

“Ah you make it sound like I planned it that way!” Yuri whined as he ran his fingers through his hair.

“Oh good you didn’t plan it that way… So when are you going to re-propose to him?”

“Murata!” Yuri started to complain but a sharp look from Murata made him change his choice of words, “Ok so I planned to end the engagement but I didn’t want it to end like that!”

“Well Shibuya that’s how it ended. Question is what are you gonna do now? You could live in fear of his retaliation, take your punishment like a man even if it means you aren’t exactly a man afterwards, or… Well there aren’t really many other options are there?”

“Come on you gotta know something I can do to make this whole mess less… messy.” Had Murata not seen a good deal of dejected faces in his life times the one Yuri was wearing might have out done him.

“Sorry Shibuya you’re just gonna have to deal with it… Unless,” Murata fought down a smirk at the hope blossoming in Yuri’s eyes, “Unless you give him some time to cool off.”

“Sounds like a great plan! But… ah… How do I do that?” Yuri stood up triumphantly before slumping back into his seat.

“Simple, surely there is a town out there in need of a knight in shining armor. Send him off to do a little adventuring.”

“Hey now Murata that’s sort of a jerk thing to do, plus he’s still my friend. I don’t want him gone.”

“You act like I’m telling you to send him away forever, just a few months, a year tops. He gets the time he needs to cool off and you keep your dangly bits.” Murata could practically see Yuri coming around to the idea.

“Still that’s gonna start some more bad rumors. First I dump him and then I send him off, sounds bad even to me.”

“True… But how to go about getting him out of the castle for awhile without making it look bad,” he almost felt bad seeing Yuri look so captivated by his words, “Hummm… Oh, here’s an idea! Who has almost as much authority as a double black Maou?”

“Um… Gwendal?” Yuri whispered his advisors name in a tone usually reserved for children talking about a boogieman.

“Ah… close,” Murata felt a bead of sweat roll down his face at Yuri’s naivety, “A double black Great Sage of course!” Yuri continued to stare somewhat blankly at Murata. With a put upon sigh Murata continued, “If I request his accompaniment on a journey of my own it might look a little less dodgy.”

“Ok, but where exactly are you going to journey to? It’s not like you haven’t been around long enough to see pretty much all of this world.”

“Things change Shibuya. I’ve spent way too many lifetimes focused solely on my goal but now I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’d like to see what’s happened to this world that I spent so much time trying to save.” The dark tone in Murata’s voice kept Yuri from speaking before he let his thoughts gather.

“Ok, so you and Wolfram set out to explore the world a bit, then you guys come back and everything is ok again right?” Murata pushed off of Yuri’s desk as the Maou spoke and walked to the door before answering him.

“Sure Shibuya everything will be A-Ok,” with those words Murata walked out the door shutting it behind him.

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AN: Ok two short chapters in one. Yes, yes I know Yuri is being an ass but really, he means well. Believe it or not, I like Yuri as a character; he just needs a shift kick in the head to knock some sense loose. Is just me or does Murata always sound so condescending in the show when he says Shibuya?

AFF AN: Wow you guys are really sweet with the reviews! And in response to the questions about my KKM merchandise, between the small bee-bear army, boys in maid outfits, posters, wallsrolls, figurines, keychains, pencil boards, stationary, stickers, bookmarks, postcards, PUPPETS, trading cards, fan, not to mention the heavy box of Dojins and cosplay costumes, yeah I really do have that much KKM stuff.