Consequences of the Maou\'s Heart

Chapter 5

Yuri Interlude

The sounds of footsteps filled the hall outside of the royal bedchamber, each one echoing on top of the other till it sounded as though they were the product of some strange race; or at least that was how it seemed to the current demon king who was the originator of said footsteps. Yuri paced nervously in front of the door to his room. The guards outside his room had long since stopped looking at their king as though he’d lost his mind, if Yuri Heika wanted to wear a hole in the stone corridor they would make sure no one attacked him while he was at it. It was past eleven at night and Wolfram was sure to be inside waiting for him or maybe thrashing about on the bed in his sleep. He now knew how to permanently evict the blond from his bed, but the method he would have to employ sent shivers down his spine. Really what kind of messed up kingdom did he rule! You slap someone to propose and kiss them to dissolve the engagement; the whole idea was madness. Yet somehow he had to work up the courage to do it, the other options were simply too unimaginable. He may be a grown man but going out and finding someone to sleep with only to break it off with Wolfram was just distasteful, especially for a king! Plus he might not live long enough to enjoy being single. If Wolfram didn’t kill him his brothers would, Gwendal and Conrart could be very scary when someone they care for gets hurt. As far as using prolonged separation to end the engagement, well Yuri may not want to marry Wolfram but he still considered them good friends and he didn’t want to be away from his friend for so long. Still kissing Wolfram was more than enough to send the young Maou into a fright; boys just didn’t go around kissing other boys. At least not outside of his mother’s yaoi manga collection, he still remembered the trauma of discovering them as a child, perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t asked some kids in his class about what they were. As he paced he couldn’t help but call himself an idiot. Most of the things Gunter had told him this afternoon were things he was sure the rather enthusiastic man had told him before, but Yuri had drowned out most of Gunter’s longer speeches when he first became Maou.

-Flashback to a few hours earlier-

“I HAVE TO DO WHAT!?” Yuri continued to gape much akin to a large fish.

“It is a horrible thought! Heika’s sacred lips touching that selfish brat’s face, it gives me hives.” As if to illustrate his disgust at the idea Gunter began to shake and clutch his arms around his stomach. Images of a devil horned Wolfram laying in wait for Yuri Heika floated past his mind, turning his cheeks a bit green.

“Why the heck do I have to kiss him to break the engagement!? That’s so backwards, shouldn’t you kiss someone if you want to stay with them not the other way around?” Yuri whined pathetically at his advisor. It took nearly a full minute for his words to bypass the images plaguing Gunter’s mind. Really the man was starting to frighten him; usually he had problems getting Gunter to stop talking not start.

“I… suppose it could be seen in that light, but the meaning behind the kiss is simply that the engagement is being ended with, as Heika would say, no hard feelings. It also slows down the processes involved in breaking an engagement, so that neither party feels any drastic recoil. Though I imagine Lord Bielefeld and yourself may still notice some side effects,” Gunter answered his king as the color slowly returned to his face. Reciting the history and traditions of his beloved Shin Makoku always had a calming effect on lavender haired noble, facts rarely required him to feel many emotions.

“Uh…. Recoil, side effects? Gunter you’re not making any sense again. How can there be side effects to deciding not to marry someone? I’m not going to have to wrestle a Goala because I broke the engagement am I?!” Yuri looked nervously at Gunter. Some of the things he’d had to do according to the traditions of Shin Makoku really should have been mentioned before he got in the situation that led up to them, who dropped a knife to instigate a duel.

“Ah surely Heika is testing me to see if I still remember material from previous lessons without referring to my books!” Caught up in his passion for the Maou Gunter never noticed the bead of sweat that rolled down Yuri’s head as he smiled nervously.

“Um… Yea, just what you said I’m testing you.” Yuri silently vowed that he wouldn’t daydream or attempt to escape during Gunter’s lectures, and this time he really was going to stick to it. The other dozen times didn’t count in the long run.

“Well as Heika knows,” he winked meaningfully at Yuri, “a marriage between two Mazoku bonds them in three ways, mind, body, and spirit. In a successful marriage all three must blend together so that the couple becomes a single unit that is more that the sum of each person. The engagement process is a sort of test run to see if the couple is able to blend well. To mix there minds they begin to share their problems, worries, joys and sorrows. If one or both cannot bear the weight of the other or if they cannot let go enough to share then the marriage is doomed and the engagement is broken. As far as blending the body goes… well to a certain degree physical compatibility does come into play. However, the main idea is the willingness to nurture, protect and rejoice in the physical being of one’s partner. Again any failure in this aspect is grounds for breaking an engagement. I may be overstepping my bounds but I believe this would be the reason you are ending your own engagement?” Gunter paused to look quizzically at the Maou.

“Yea. I mean it’s not like I don’t like Wolfram but he’s a guy and I just can’t imagine being with a guy…you know… in bed,” Yuri’s face turned a worrisome shade of red as he squeaked out the last of his sentence.

“Oh? I was under the impression that Heika and Lord Bielefeld have shared a bed quite often? Gunter questioned with a hint of mischief in his voice, to his eyes Heika was quite cute when flustered.

“Ah jeez! Do you have to say it like that?! I mean like you know… sex and stuff. I just can’t… Ah forget it! So how does the whole spirit thing come into play?” Yuri huffed, clearly not happy with having to explain his meaning.

“Hum… Ah yes the melding of the spirit. This little tidbit is one of the original reasons it was considered wrong for a Mazoku and a Human to marry, of course both sides found many more reasons over the years. You see when two Mazoku come together their Maryoku starts to mix. In an ideal marriage the two different energies work to fill in gaps. For example if one has difficulty maintaining control of his or her element for an extended period of time and the other has great endurance then the first will gain greater control as they become engaged. Of course the effect heightens once the couple is actually married. One can also gain access to different types of Maryoku if his or her intended can access it. In fact several of the spouses of some of our most notable healers were reported to not have so much as a cold after their marriages. Now in a bad situation instead of both partners sharing and balancing Maryoku one partner becomes something of a black hole and the other may become ill or worse. That’s why some people believed that humans and Mazoku shouldn’t mix as the human had no Maryoku to share and the union would eventually kill the Mazoku. Of course this has been proven to be an unmerited fear.”

“Ick that sounds pretty bad, but you said there would be side effects once I ki… break the engagement what where you talking about?” Yuri seemed proud of himself, he’d listened to Gunter and even had a good question to ask, he was defiantly going to stick to his vow.

“Well in your case Heika the side effects shouldn’t be too bad. You both have access to rather astounding amounts of Maryoku. Of course Heika has more than anyone! Lord Bielefeld has always been known for having an amazing amount of control over his Maryoku, if anything you may note that manipulating your elements may become slightly more difficult or you may become tired more quickly. On the other hand you are better known for your ability to wield many different forces and your talent at using Maryoku with little or no conscious intent. Lord Bielefeld will likely begin to reject different types of Maryoku as is common with fire wielders. I can still hear Gisela complaining about having to heal them on the battlefield. We can also hope that after the engagement is over he will stop burning things in his sleep. Really it is such a bother replacing burnt tapestries!” Gunter fumed as he recalled a maid informing him that Wolfram had charred the corner of an original tapestry that had depicted Shinou Heika’s victory whilst sleep-walking one night.

“So you mean that Wolfram’s energy has been helping me with my control this whole time?” Yuri seemed somewhat amazed by this fact, come to think of it he’d never actually used his Maryoku before he’d become engaged.

“Perhaps, at the least it hasn’t hindered your Maryoku. Now quite some time ago when your predecessor, the 15th Maou, was choosing a spouse he had quite an unfortunate event occur. You see his fiancé was a rather emotional earth wielder and once his power began to mix with hers the walls of the castle would shake and crack when she got mad. In fact there is still a crack in the west wall, many,” Gunter was interrupted as Yuri stood up sharply and started heading for the door.

“Wow Gunter that sounds fascinating but I think I hear Gwendal calling my name, must be something really important. See ya!” As Yuri sprinted from the room he told the voice in his head reminding him of his earlier vow that as said vow was never spoken aloud it really shouldn’t count.

“Hum… but I was sure I was due to meet Gwendal to discuss a few financial matters soon,” Gunter muttered to himself as Yuri made his escape.

-Flashback end-

After having spent a good hour or too pacing in front of his own door, Yuri decided to just bite the bullet and get it over with. He didn’t even have to break the engagement that night. In fact he’d spend the day with Wolfram tomorrow, that way he wouldn’t think Yuri was doing it because he hated Wolfram. Surely they could be friends afterward, after all as strange as it seemed Greta had really started to view Wolfram as a second father. He vaguely wondered if they would have something like joint custody of his daughter. Finally having made a decision, he creaked open the heavy wooden door. Surprisingly the bed seemed unoccupied.

“Wolfram,” Yuri whispered as he entered and closed the door behind him. Silence was the only thing that answered him. It struck him as odd that not only had he not been greeted by the fiery blond upon his return to Shin Makoku, but now he was absent from the bed as well. Maybe Wolfram was away from the castle at the moment, though surely someone would have mentioned that. Shrugging it off as good luck on his part Yuri finished his last preparations for bed. Yet as he settled in under the covers he couldn’t help but notice that the bed seemed unusually large and cold without another occupant. He really should remember to find out what Wolfram was up to that would keep him away.

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AN: Hopefully this chapter cleared up a few questions as to why the engagement would have anything at all to do with Wolfram’s health. The next will hopefully make everything crystal clear.