Consequences of the Maou\'s Heart

Chapter 8

Yuri stared dejectedly at the pile of paperwork on his desk. In the years since becoming king he had taken on more of the actual work that came with the title. Making important decisions on the petitions and applications that came across his desk was old hat. However, most of the documents that came to his office had been screened by at least one of his advisers. Usually Gwendal would sort out the types of documents by issue and importance and take out any ridiculous requests. Yet this morning all of the papers were stacked in one neat but huge pile. At first he’d try to deal with them as he normally would, scanning the information from each document one subject at a time, taking note of any suggestions his advisers may have attached and either signing his name in permission or placing them in a box he’d labeled rejected. None of the documents this day had any suggestions attached and they jumped topics sporadically. As he came a few pen stokes short of allowing Anissina to use him as test subject for Brighten-Your-Teeth-Like-The-Sun-kun he groaned, crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on them. He couldn’t figure out what he’d done to make Gwendal so mad at him, he hadn’t even spent that long on Earth this time around. Taking in the sight of a still huge to do pile and a depressingly short stack of processed documents he mused that this was just not his morning.

First he had woken up on the surprisingly cold floor of his bedroom fully prepared to scold the blond Mazoku who had undoubtedly kicked him off the bed only to find that Wolfram had never come to bed. His side of the bed was undisturbed, something that never happened when the blond slept. Yuri, instead of getting the good night’s sleep he’d been looking forward to, had been plagued by haunting but vague nightmares. After dressing haphazardly he’d made his way to the dining room ready to see if he’d missed anything that had happened while he was away that would explain Wolfram’s absence. When he arrived the maids were fluttering around filling drinks for those already seated and preparing the table. Anissina and Greta sat in their usual places talking animatedly. Celi’s chair remained empty as she was currently on another quest for free love and Murata rarely woke up before noon anymore. What surprised the Maou was the absence of not only Wolfram but Gunter, Gisela, Gwendal and Conrart as well. Any one of them missing wouldn’t have raised any alarms but all five of them gone was incredibly rare. He glanced out the window and noted the sun was at it’s usual height during breakfast so he knew he wasn’t earlier than normal.

“Ah… good morning,” Yuri spoke as he neared the table. The maids currently in the room bowed briefly and called out good morning in response.

“Good morning Papa Yuri! Did you sleep well?” Greta bounced slightly in her seat, she’d outgrown her tendency to hug Yuri every time she saw him but she still felt more energetic whenever he was around.

“Mmm not as good as I had hoped I would, I had some very strange dreams. Hopefully you slept better than me.” Yuri smiled at his daughter as he sat down at the table.

“I sure did! Papa Wolfram got me a new blanket while you were on Earth. It’s super warm and soft. It’s made of wool but it feels just like I think a cloud would. I can’t imagine how they made it so soft.” The princess’s eyes sparkled as she talked about her newest favorite thing. Yuri smiled meekly as he tried to take an interest in the discussion.

“So, Heika is having trouble sleeping. Perhaps my Sleep-So-Good-People-Think-You-Are-Dead-kun is in need of use.” Anissina grinned wickedly as Yuri sputtered and baulked waving his hands side to side in front of him as if to ward off some evil spirit.

“Ahahahahahahah thanks for the offer but really it was just one night I’m sure I’ll sleep better tonight.”

“Did Papa Wolfram kick you off the bed again?” Greta’s innocent and concerned question brought a smile to the Maou’s face.

“No he didn’t. Actually he didn’t even come to bed last night. I haven’t seen him since I got back. I was wondering if he was out on assignment or something?”

“Not as far as I know Heika,” Anissina responded.

“I saw him yesterday morning, he almost never leaves the castle while you’re on Earth.” Greta spoke while she watched the maids as they brought Yuri his drink and began serving the food.

“That’s weird, I can’t remember the last time he didn’t see me right after I got back. Heck usually the first thing I hear is him calling me a cheater or something. I wonder what’s up with him. Not that I mind the reprieve or anything ahahah,” Yuri trailed off in a nervous giggle.

“Heika! Is that anyway to talk about your fiance?” Gisela’s words echoed in the room with a touch of her seargent’s voice as she walked toward the table.

“Ack! Oh good morning Gisela. I didn’t hear you come in.” Yuri visibly flinched as he responded to the healer. He couldn’t imagine what he’d done to make her mad at him. Surely she couldn’t be all that angry with him for talking about Wolfram.

“Good morning Heika. I trust you slept well?” Despite the friendly nature of her words the tone in which Gisela uttered them was anything but friendly. Unwilling to further risk her anger Yuri nodded awkwardly. One industrious maid readied a plate of food and placed it in Gisela’s normal place as the healer sat down. While Yuri wracked his mind trying to figure out what he had done, the other’s at the table started to stare at him with a hint of impatience.

“Paaaaapa! Can we eat yet?” Greta whined in order to get Yuri’s attention.

“Oh. Oh! Yes of course.” Yuri blushed and took a quick bite of a green pea like vegetable that strangely tasted like strawberries. Once the king started eating the others at the table did as well. A few minutes passed with nothing but the sound of utensils touching plates and chewing before the princess’s eyes spotted a man in a familiar brown uniform entering the room.

“Conrad! Good morning! Did you sleep late? Did you sleep ok? Papa Yuri had nightmares but I slept great.”

“Good morning to you princess,” chuckling lightly to himself Conrart responded, “I slept fine I just had a few errands to take care of this morning. Good morning Heika, Gisela, Anissina.” The two Mazoku women nodded at Conrart.

“Good morning Conrad and for the last time..” Yuri started

“don’t call me Heika, it’s Yuri to you after all you named me,” Greta and Anissina finished in unison.

“See even they know it,” Yuri flushed despite the bravado in his words, “So where is everybody else. I haven’t seen Wolfram or Gwendal since I got back and Gunter didn’t even try to wake me up this morning.” Conrart sat down as the Maou asked the question. A maid scurried to bring a plate to the second son, she was both annoyed and excited by the odd flow of people into the dinning room and kept her ears open for any hint of gossip.

“Well I know Gunter and Gwendal had some things they needed to take care of this morning, as for Wolfram I haven’t seen him myself.” Everyone at the table save the double black noticed the way Conrart’s eyes darkened as he spoke his younger brother’s name.

“I saw him this morning, he wasn’t feeling very well.” Gisela spoke as she caught Conrart’s gaze. She may have made an oath not to tell anyone about the poisen but everything else was still fair game.

“Oh,” a worried line worked it’s way on to Conrart’s forehead, “What was wrong?”

“Just a touch of over indulgence this time.” Gisela smirked internally as she saw Conrart become even more worried, when motivated Conrart could be quite the investigator.

“Humm maybe I should go check on him,” glancing down at his nearly empty empty plate Yuri remembered his self made promise to spend the day with Wolfram. The Maou stood up and waved cheerfully at the dining room occupants before attempting to leave. However instead of walking though the empty air he expected to find in the hall he ran head first into a green clad chest.

“Ack!!” Yuri bounced backwards and landed on his ass, “What the… oh Gwendal I didn’t see you there.”

“Hmph I can see that Heika, I trust you were on your way to your office?” The older man’s stern tone left the king stuttering like a mischievous school boy caught red handed.

“….I .. Well ya see I ahahah,” he trailed off placing he hand behind his head sheepishly.

“Surely you weren’t planing on shirking your duties?”

“No! Of course not but..”

“Well then I’ll see you to your office so you aren’t disturbed.” Gwendal turned quickly and headed towards the Maou’s office. If anyone had been in the hall they might have noticed the mildly sadistic expression on the administrator’s face as he lead Yuri to the office. Little did Yuri know of the mountain of paperwork that Gwendal had ready for him or the two guards posted outside the office doors to make sure the Maou wasn’t disturbed. Yuri had very little chance of escaping his work this day, which fit into his advisors’ plans just perfectly.

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Conrart watched Yuri leave the dining room and was sure that Gwendal had intercepted the king as was the plan they had laid out the night before. The three Mazoku knew that once Yuri made up his mind about a course of action he tended to work quickly to accomplish it. They had to make sure that Yuri wasn’t planning to end the engagement in a manner likely to end up with half the castle burning. On top of coaching Yuri in tactfully ending the engagement they needed to be sure no one found out about Yuri’s intentions before Wolfram. The destruction the blond might be capable of should he find out through castle gossip was a frightening possibility. He couldn’t stop berating himself for not being there to wake the Maou, if he’d worked up the courage to end the engagement during the night it could have been a disaster. They had been unable to locate Wolfram till late the night before and had been relived that he’d been in his study since the Maou’s return. Hopefully the fear of being made to model for a painting had kept the castle staff from informing Wolfram of Yuri’s return. Conrart had made sure the maid who was supposedly cleaning outside the study would inform him when Wolfram left. The stout woman had caught up to him shortly before breakfast to tell him that the blond did not leave his study till sunrise and hadn’t been headed to the royal bedchamber. He had been mildly glad that Yuri hadn’t had a chance to to see Wolfram.

However, the knowledge that Wolfram still hadn’t greeted Yuri and had drunk enough to need to see Gisela so early in the morning was wearing on Conrart’s mind. Wolfram may indulge in a glass of wine if it went well with the meal or a night cap if he had trouble sleeping but getting drunk was nearly unheard of for him. Conrart hoped his youngest brother hadn’t somehow already heard the news. Hopefully any nosey maids had the survival instincts to kept any inflammatory information far away from Wolfram’s ears. As much as Conrart wanted to run off to find his brother the well fare of the kingdom came first. He ate quickly, trying to maintain a calm face to the others at the table. Most seemed to not notice anything different about his demeanor. Gisela shot him pointed looks, but that was expected since she had made sure to tell him about Wolfram’s drunkenness. The healer had always had an interesting relationship with Wolfram. They were fairly close in age and had relatives that wanted to protect them a bit more than was normal. They fussed and fought but always stuck together. Celi had hoped the two would wed, claiming they would have the most beautiful children, however the two Mazoku never had any romantic feelings toward each other. Conrart couldn’t help wonder if life would have been easier had they married as Celi hoped. Shaking his head slightly he excused himself from the table and went to rescue Yuri from the evils of paperwork. The Maou was always more likely to listen if he felt grateful to the person talking. Conrart felt somewhat guilty about manipulating Yuri, but it was in the king’s best interest. Standing outside Yuri’s office he prayed to anyone listening that the situation would work out for the best.

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AN: Behold a chapter and a bit. I really have my hate on for this chapter, it didn't want to come out. Conrart isn’t my favorite character but he’s the best choice if you want to talk some sense into Yuri not that he usually listens.