Consequences of the Maou\'s Heart

Chapter 2

Wine glass still in hand Wolfram lifted his head to glare at the rising sun visible from his study’s many windows, every ray a painful reminder of why drinking away one’s problems were far from a smart idea. Still it was better than surviving the night alone and fully aware of his surroundings, and now he had at least a vague idea of exactly what he needed to do. Yuri simply could not be made aware of the full ramifications of terminating the engagement; in fact no one needed to know. Unfortunately there were a few people with enough information to quickly discover the consequences; he needed to speak with them immediately. Gisela was first on the list, the fact that she was likely to have a remedy for his growing headache was a pleasant side-note.

A quick glance at his rather wrinkled uniform and mildly puffy eyes told him that no one would believe he’d slept that night, and discreetly fetching a fresh uniform without the nosy maids finding him was highly unlikely. Slipping on one of his most paint stained smocks and berets he smeared a streak of vivid green paint across his right cheek, fully prepared to blame his disheveled looks on a night of artistic inspiration he set off to the castle hospital. Schooling his features in to a haughty mask he brushed past a few of the maids cleaning suspiciously near the entrance to his study. It seemed his absence from the royal bedchamber had been noticed and was already fair game for gossip. Absentmindedly, Wolfram wondered how it would affect the betting pool. Ironically the castle residents always seemed to inflate the odds for his winning of the king whenever the two were separated by Wolfram’s choice. Of course soon the whole pool would be thrown upside down. As he approached Gisela’s domain he could hear Dakoskos whimpering as Gisela berated him for not putting the new medical supplies in the correct order. It was a familiar moment that brought a small smile to the blond Mazoku’s face as he pushed open the door.

“Honestly Dakoskos what were you thinking, putting the bandages under the main sterilizing station. One leak and I’ve got a pile of wet, unusable cloth!” Gisela’s eye twitched in irritation even as she fought a grin from her lips.

“Yes Sergent! I’m sorry Ma’am! It won’t happen again!” sweat rolled down Dakoskos’s gleaming head as his spine did a rather impressive imitation of a ruler.

“Fine, fine I do believe Sangria may find more use in your help today, I hear she’s planing to make a batch of her special recipe fruit tarts.” She turned her back to the solider in order to hide the smile that had won it’s place on her countenance.

“Yes Ma’am!” Dakoskos yelled out as made a hasty retreat from the room. Wolfram chuckled lightly as the door slammed shut behind him.

“Really Gisela, are you trying to make Adelbert jealous playing with him like that?” The blush that graced the healer’s cheeks even as her laughter rang out was a rare but beautiful sight none the less.

“And I’m sure a brat like you would know something about being jealous,” she replied after she caught her breath.

“As a sadist such as yourself would know a thing or two about causing it,” he retorted, sticking his nose in the air with a hint of mirth in his eyes.

“As much fun as it is trading insults, what brings you here so early this morning?” She turned to finish setting up the infirmary for the day, thankfully she’d had no overnight patients. It was simply amazing how many of her patients complained about the computability of the beds, the peace in Shin Makoku was nice but it seemed that people had grown soft with out threats toward their safety.

“That would be one formerly full bottle of Caloriaian blackberry wine,” Wolfram groaned out as Gisela pulled back the drapes that had been blocking out the majority of the morning sun.

“Wolfram!” Gisela shouted whirling to face the blond, “that stuff is notoriously strong, what on earth were you thinking. Surely you haven’t forgotten the last time a certain someone downed a bottle.” The image of a drunken Gwendal attempting to cuddle what he thought was a large purple and white kitten flashed in the minds of both Mazoku.

“Eeeh so loud. No I haven’t forgotten but I had some things I needed to think about that I really didn’t want to think about.” His eyes followed Gisela as she puttered around the room gathering a few herbs and a small vial of some sort of green liquid.

“And what could could trouble your blond head enough to get you in this state?” Her words were tossed over her shoulder as her hands swiftly ground the herbs together and mixed the resulting power into the liquid with a skill born of making far more critical mixtures on the battlefield.

“Well… I.. I’m not really sure how to say it. It’s almost as if I say it out loud the whole thing will be more …real.” Wolfram crossed the room to sit at the table Gisela was working at. She transferred the now muddy brown paste to a glass and topped it off with water before stirring swiftly.

“Is it really something so terrible?” she asked. Her face scrunched up in concern as she set the glass down in front of Wolfram and sat down across from him.

“Mm yeah,” he mumbled before taking a wary sip of the remedy.

“I’m guessing it might have something to do with the reason there are three maids attempting to rub hole in the floor outside the door at the moment.” A soft crash from the hall followed the healer’s words. “Though I’m sure I could find something else to occupy their time, the stable hands could always use a hand in shoveling out the stalls.” The second crash was followed by the sound of hurried footsteps retreating from the hall

“Ha, it seems your Sergent voice is still one of the most powerful forces in the castle.” Wolfram pinched the bridge of his nose and gulped down the rest of the glass. Setting the glass on the table he glanced up into Gisela’s eyes before quickly looking down at his hands.

“Wolfram tell me what’s going on already.” She reached out and gently clasped Wolfram’s hands as they clinched together on the table’s surface.

“Well,” Wolfram breathed in deeply and let the air slowly work it’s way out of his lungs, “yesterday I went to greet Yuri when I found out that he had returned from Earth. I heard voices coming from inside his office, he was talking to your father. He… Yuri… He was asking Gunter how to break an engagement.” The blond Mazoku’s voice shook, lacking all traces of his usual confidence and bravado.

“Oh Wolf,” her hands tightened unconsciously over his as she took in the news, “That ass! Where does he get off thinking he can play with people’s hearts like that, Maou or not!” She would have continued her criticism of the king had she not felt Wolfram’s hands jerk violently before going perfectly still. He had every right to be yelling at the top of his lungs, cursing Yuri and threatening to roast his more masculine parts on a spit in Covenant Castle’s entry way. Instead he just sat there staring straight ahead but seeing nothing with at lost expression on his face. She rose from her seat to stand next to him, turning his head to face her she attempted to gain his attention.

“Wolf… Wolfram… hey are you still with me?” His eyes, though pointed directly at her, seemed to be looking past her, past the room at something only he could see.

“The engagement… he’s breaking… it’s over… you don’t… I’m…” Words began flowing from Wolfram’s mouth, each half mumbled not one really making much sense.

“Yea he’s breaking the engagement, but it’s going to be ok. You’re going to be…,” the healer’s eyes bulged as she attempted to comfort her friend, “Oh Dear God! No! No no no no no no… Oh God. He doesn’t know. We can fix this. We can fix this. We can fix this!” Gisela managed one stride toward the door before she noticed the pale hand wrapped desperately around her wrist, preventing her from leaving.

“NO!” Wolfram’s voice reverberated thought out the room, the fire back in his eyes if somewhat diminished. “No he can’t know about this, I won’t let him know about this.”

“But Wolfram you’re”

“Dieing? Not yet but …soon.”

AN: Forgot to mention spoilers last time, vague spoilers up to a few episodes for season 3. Thanks to reviewers!! Sorry about any spelling mistakes, my word program is flaking out on spell check and internet ones aren't always reliable.