Consequences of the Maou\'s Heart

Rated M for foul language, alcohol usage, dark themes, and homosexual sex. If you are not mature enough to deal with these please turn back now.

Chapter 16

If asked what he thought about his newest “assignment”, Yozak would have to say it was almost amusing as it was annoying. Conrart had, none to subtly, hinted that someone should keep an eye on Heika, and the ever prepared spy readily took up the task. So far he’d watched Yuri pout in his study, mope through the gardens, sulk in Greta’s room, and he was currently brooding in the library. Yozak was beginning to wonder just who dumped whom. It really was pathetic watching the monarch of the most powerful nation on the planet acting like a kicked puppy all because he couldn’t find the man he’d broken up with the day before. It hadn’t taken long for the spy to realize that Yuri’s odd wandering was an attempt to locate Wolfram, without really trying to find him.

If he was the betting sort, Yozak would have put money on Yuri wanting to try some half assed attempt at apologizing to the blond. Of course betting wasn’t his thing, he much preferred stacking the odds. Who would have thought Gunter would have taken his little rumor so seriously. It was just a bit of speculation from the maid who’d been left with the task of cleaning Wolfram’s study, an unlikely bit of gossip to ever leave the castle grounds. Yozak couldn’t help but grin wickedly as Yuri left the library in a huff, sometimes it was good being a spy. And sometimes being a well trained spy was the only thing that stopped him from screaming like a girl at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder; this was one of those times.

“I thought you were a spy not a stalker.” Wolfram muttered softly before stepping away from Yozak. He found a measure of entertainment in startling the usually aware man.

“Well ya know, the two are a lot alike, and how do you know I haven’t taken an interest in literature?” Yozak knew he’d been caught, but there was no fun in simply giving up.

“… You do realize what types of books are kept in this area right?”

“Um… Yea.” Yozak was sure that no matter what part of the library he was in, the books couldn’t hold any information as embarrassing or horrifying as the expression on Wolfram’s face alluded to; or at least not embarrassing or horrifying to a man of his varied talents and interests.

“Really,” Wolfram causally reached over to grab one of the near by books, “I’m surprised Mother’s personal collection would hold any interest for you. I mean really it surprised me the first time I stumbled upon it myself.” He thumbed thought the book without looking at the pages.

“Well they say you can’t judge a book by its cover.” Admittedly, Yozak was becoming a bit interested at what could surprise the bratty prince in Celi’s books, maybe some sort of perverse sexual manuals? Instead of responding immediately, Wolfram arched one eyebrow and continued to turn the pages. The moment stretched on longer than was comfortable and Yozak was just about to make up some excuse to leave when Wolfram spoke.

“It’s easy to forget that Mother is anything other than a flighty noble woman looking for love,” Wolfram glanced down at the book and shuddered noticeably, “She’s a capable fighter, a decent strategist, and when the mood strikes a talented artist. Some of these books are filled with fighting techniques and dissections of battles.”

“Well see that’s a book topic I can get behind.” Yozak quickly stated, hoping that Wolfram would let it be at that.

“Of course,” Wolfram continued on as if Yozak hadn’t spoke, “The great majority of them are her personal sketch books.” Once more Wolfram’s eyes drifted to a page of the book and nearly caused Yozak to flee at the look of unholy mirth that filled those pretty green eyes, “I know she gets most of her inspiration from her imagination, but I have to wonder are you really that flexible?” Wolfram turned the book so that the page he’d been looking at was on display for Yozak to take in.

Color drained from the spy’s face at he stared at the disturbingly realistic drawing. Perverse sexual manual indeed. Celi had drawn him bend in half under the weight of a lover, shockingly hairless legs locked around the man’s shoulders. The position was difficult, but he’d managed it before and it wasn’t anything all that shocking by it’s self. The true horror came from the partner Celi had chosen for Yozak. Really, Yozak wondered why Celi would draw her own brother in such a way; he’d never get rid of the image of Stoffel buried inside of him with that look of strain on his face. Wolfram smirked at the look on Yozak’s face and closed the book. He pressed it into Yozak’s numb hands and turned to leave.

“Everyone’s fair game for her, feel free to look through them. …She loves it when you tell her what you think about them.” With that parting shot over his shoulder, Wolfram strolled out of the library. Yozak was left alternating staring at the book in his hands and the library doors. Two thoughts warred in his mind: what all was in these books and how irritated would Conrart be when he found out Yozak lost track of the Maou.

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Truthfully, Wolfram had been shocked to find anyone skulking about in one of his best hiding places, let alone Yozak using it to watch Yuri. More shocking was the fact that Yuri seemed to be following him. The double black had even interrupted his visit with Greta; luckily the princess was more than happy to distract Yuri so that Wolfram could slip out unnoticed. It was ludicrous, Wolfram couldn’t figure out why Yuri would be following him. Yet even as the blond found a moment of peace in the library, Yuri came creeping into the vast room looking about anxiously. He’d managed to get out of the Maou’s line of sight, but hadn’t made it to any of the best hiding spots in the area. It galled Wolfram to admit he hadn’t heard or seen Yozak enter the library, but he took solace in teasing the spy once he’d found him. Celi’s collection was hardly a secret, but almost no one wanted to talk about it. Telling someone about those books was tantamount to shooting one’s self in the foot. Sure, there were some disturbingly interesting images of others in them, but there were likely some horrifically embarrassing pictures of one’s self in there as well. And Celi, had a near psychic knowledge of when any book or page of a book went missing. It didn’t surprise Wolfram that Yozak hadn’t known what lay in that part of the library; the spy wasn’t a fan of sitting still and reading when he could be out and active. It felt good to let his mildly sadistic side out when talking to Yozak, usually the man gave as good as he got. Wolfram had spent years trying to balance his normal personality with his need to act properly for a royal companion. Now the only people that his behavior would reflect on didn’t really care if he acted properly, and didn’t death make everyone hate to remember the bad things?

In whatever time he had left, Wolfram resolved to act how he wanted to and ignore those whom didn’t like it. New resolution aside, now that he had left the library he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. If Yuri was somehow following him, he couldn’t very well let himself get caught by the Maou, some part of his mind still desperate to survive would want to tell Yuri everything if given the chance. Wolfram couldn’t give himself that chance. However, that meant he couldn’t adhere to his usual schedule, not that anyone would expect him to after such a break up. His men could handle their own training and he’d already visited Greta. Perhaps he could gain a bit of sympathy out of the kitchen staff, and by sympathy he meant sweets. That thought in mind turned towards the kitchen at a brisk pace. As he turned a corner sharply, he nearly tripped over his own feet whilst stopping to avoid the person who appeared in his way. It was stupidly ironic that the one person the entire castle he didn’t want to see would be the one standing aimlessly in the hall.

Yuri heard a noise behind him and turned to figure out what it was and promptly fell on his ass at the sight of Wolfram standing awfully close to him. An unmanly squeak worked its way out of the Maou’s mouth at he stared up at the blond prince. The corner of Wolfram’s mouth turned downward in an annoyed scowl. When it became clear that Yuri had no intention of speaking or otherwise breaking up the impromptu staring contest, Wolfram addressed his king.

“Are you in need of assistance Heika?” If the coldness of words could form ice, Yuri would fear frostbite from that simple sentence.

“Ah…haha, um… no?”

“Very well, I’ll take my leave then.” Again Wolfram’s tone was painfully formal as he moved to walk around Yuri.

“Wait! Wolf.” Yuri stared down at the hand grabbing a handful of Wolfram’s blue uniform, scarcely able to believe that it was his own. The glare the blond aimed at said hand nearly made Yuri let go but he summoned his courage and held on. “Wolf, I know I don’t have any right to ask anything of you after… yesterday. But I… we need to talk.”

“Of course Heika, what ever you wish.” The words were polite, respectful even, but Yuri had no illusions that Wolfram actually wanted anything to do with him.

“Um… let’s go to my office. I… well I don’t want any eavesdroppers.”

“As you command, Heika.” The mood of the walk to Yuri’s office would have been more suited to a funeral procession or war march. Once the two were secluded away from the nosey inhabitants of the castle Yuri turned to face his former fiancé. Wolfram stood ram-rod straight, somehow not even so much as a hair lay out of place. Yet to anyone who knew the blond, Wolfram looked like shit. Normally perfectly pale skin bore faint shadows under his eyes and no energy emanated from his every movement as usual. Wisely, Yuri kept such thoughts to himself.

“Wolfram I…,” Yuri noticed a grimace pass over Wolfram’s face and could practically hear the blond calling him a wimp, so he set his shoulders and decided to face this like a man. “I don’t regret breaking our engagement,” Yuri swallowed the guilt he felt at the flash of pain in Wolfram’s eyes, “but I will always regret that I did it in such a cruel manner. Whether you believe me or not, I do consider you one of the most important people in my life. I’m sorry that I couldn’t b…be with you like you wanted me to. But this is a chance for you to find happiness,” the cold fury leaking out of Wolfram’s eyes caused Yuri to pause before continuing, “I know the castle won’t be the most pleasant place for you to be till things settle down a bit and you’ve been personally requested for an exploratory mission. So if you’re ok with it I thought you might like to go on it?”

“Of course Heika, how kind of you. Are the mission details ready to go?” Yuri began to wonder if this arctic creature speaking to him really was Wolfram.

“Ah… no they aren’t, um finalized yet. I didn’t want to consider it too much until I knew if you’d even want to get away for awhile. I’ll get them to you as soon as they’re ready.”

“Very well Heika. If that’s all?” Yuri nodded bemusedly, “Then I’ll be on my way.” Yuri watched as Wolfram opened the door and couldn’t stop himself from calling out again.

“Wolfram?” Wolfram paused without looking back.

“Yes Heika?”

“I’m sorry Wolf.”

“… Good day Heika,” with those words Wolfram slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

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Paper rustled ominously in a poorly lit corner of the library. Before that day, Yozak hadn’t been aware that paper could sound so evil when you moved it. However, with every page he turned the damned pages managed to extrude an aura of pure malevolence unlike any he had known. Sure a lot of the images weren’t horrifying, some were even cute but every time he was sure he’d seen the worst Celi could come up with a new even more sickening image would appear. Unable to look away, Yozak continued to flip through Celi’s books.

“Ah I see you finally found Mother’s books.” The words rang out in the library, startling Yozak into shoving the book in his hands behind his back. He hadn’t heard anyone enter the library, so engrossed was he in the book’s pages.

“Captain!” Yozak knew his face was lightly flushed, both from being caught and the after effects of the erotic art. Conrart on the other hand looked as calm and peaceful as usual. “Um it’s not what it looks like?”

“Don’t worry Yozak, I haven’t met anyone yet who’s been able to turn away from them upon first finding them.” A hint of a smirk passed across Conrart’s face, “Just a word of caution, don’t take any book or part of a book out of the library. The results are less than pleasant.”

“Wait wait wait… You knew about these and never told me? Why?” Yozak stared at his captain and long time friend and found it hard to believe that the books had just slipped his mind.

“Same reason no one else talks about them.” Conrart shot Yozak a pointed but amused look as the spy digested that thought. Images from the book he’d been flipping though flashed in Yozak’s head, including the disturbing ways Celi had depicted her own sons, and he knew why Conrart never mentioned the books. Once Conrart was sure the spy knew his reasoning he continued, “I’m just surprised you found them today, it’s not like you to just start reading a book while you’re supposed to be following someone.”

“Well it wasn’t really my idea. Little Lord Br… I mean Lord Bielefeld decided I needed to know what was in the books I was hiding next to.”

“Hah, that sounds like him. It’s good to know he is feeling well enough to torment others. Of course usually he only does that to people he likes. Perhaps he was feeling magnanimous.”

“Hey! I’m perfectly likeable!” Yozak refused to blush at the look Conrart gave him at his outburst, “Well I guess he might not like me very much, but still.”

“Yes Yozak, you are absolutely likeable,” Conrart intentionally made his voice as bland as possible, “Now what did you observe before Wolfram… distracted you?” Yozak looked down, not surprised that his captain chose a subtle type of admonishment.

“Ah, Heika has been wandering around, presumably looking for Lord Bielefeld. He seems to be unexpectedly distraught; my guess is that he wishes to apologize to his former fiancé.” A dark look flashed over Conrart’s face as Yozak spoke, it was clear to the spy that his captain was less than happy with the young Maou.

“I see. Find him and reestablish surveillance, report to me once Heika retires for the day. If you feel it necessary, run interference in the event he finds Lord Bielefeld. Dismissed.”

“Yes sir.” Yozak started hurriedly towards the door, glad to escape the emergence of his captain’s darker side.

“Yozak.” Conrart’s voice stopped Yozak in his tracks and the spy slowly turned to face his captain. Conrart had one hand extended expectantly towards Yozak. It took a moment for the spy to comprehend what the other man wanted, but eventually he realized he was still holding the stupid book. He turned it over without further ado and quickly left the library. Conrart shook his head at Yozak’s antics before carefully replacing the book in its rightful place.

Noon hadn’t yet even come to pass but the day already seemed long and never ending to Conrart. He had sent several of his best information gathers out in the castle town to get a feel for how the general public was taking the news of the Maou’s new single status. The information he was getting back wasn’t encouraging. Already several of the women who had become infatuated with socially approachable Maou were discussing writing letters to attract Yuri’s attention. Some of them might truly want Yuri for Yuri, but Conrart knew at least three of those women had eyes on the prestige and power that being Yuri’s wife would mean. Wolfram’s social enemies were using it as a means of discrediting both the blond and the House of Bielefeld. One enterprising man was readying a petition to have Wolfram removed from his military position. As the petition would have to go through the Maou’s office there was no chance it would pass but still it would put ideas in the heads of those who heard about it.

The whole thing was a political nightmare, not to mention the damage Wolfram’s reputation was taking. His little brother was being called everything from an adulterous slut to a useless eunuch. There were a few who were defending the blond’s honor, but most were content to see him as the villain in the situation. Conrart could only hope that the commotion died down quickly, and that Yuri wouldn’t be conned into marriage by the first pretty woman to flirt with him.

Conrart stared at the row of books in front of him till his eyes lit upon a tome that was significantly duster than the rest. He recognized the book immediately and pulled it off the shelf reverently. Not all of Celi’s art was blatantly erotic, and this book held the largest collection of clean work. Conrart flipped through the pages of innocent drawings till he came to a page that tugged at his heart. On the page Celi had captured images of her sons in their happiest states. Gwendal lay relaxed on his bed, hands caught mid knitting, calico kitten curled up on his lap, and an unfinished long haired figure at his side. Conrart sat with his back resting on a tree in one of the boarder cities, half a dozen laughing vague individuals gathered around him, while Yozak stood beside him hands rose animatedly in the midst of some story. Wolfram stood smiling brightly, nothing around him to indicate what made him so happy, it seemed not even Celi could figure out what would make her youngest son so joyous. His fingers trailed lightly over Wolfram’s likeness as Conrart tried to remember the last time he’d seen Wolfram crack more than a sardonic grin let alone a real smile. Silently Conrart vowed that he’d see Wolfram smile again, no matter what it took.

*****

AN: Momentarily digs free of mounds of fabric. Phew. And now a bad joke, Conrart style. “Do you know the name of Celi’s yacht?” “Why yes it’s the SS Crackship” Groan, yeah that wouldn’t leave my head so now you all get to experience it.