To Turn the Other Cheek

Wolfram was still clinging to the last remnants of sleep when firm lips met his in an urgent and passionate kiss. For a moment, he didn’t dare open his eyes. Senses still numb, he could pretend he didn’t taste the liquor on his breath and let his dream of Yuri linger for a few moments into reality. The kiss ended, though, and his eyes fluttered open. Of course it was Frederick who leaned over him on his bed, not some drunkard who had climbed in from the balcony. No one else would have dared to kiss him like that and with that familiar flavor. But in his bedroom? Perhaps boldness was a trait most Ackarts possessed.

A thought nagged in the corner of his mind for a minute, something telling him this was bad, a survival instinct that couldn’t get past the need for more sleep. This was Frederick’s home, though. Kissing him awake in the early morning seemed odd but nothing detrimental.

Except to the mission.

Wolfram gawked, feeling the morning air on his thighs that said there was no blanket there to hide behind. “Frederick?” There were a few things he was bound to notice and at this point it seemed nothing was there to help hide them.

“I know.” Lord Ackart said, his arms pulling him up to lean against his chest. “It doesn’t matter to me. I love the strength of your heart and your fiery personality. It makes no difference to me if you’re a man or a woman. I love you.”

Wolfram opened his mouth to respond but found Frederick’s tongue had taken the place of his words. It ran along his mouth, enticing shivers down his spine. Wolfram thought he heard voices bickering in the distance, but it ceased with the sounded of a door being closed. Servants, he thought. He pushed at Frederick’s chest and pulled his face away, needing to breath quite deeply while his mind still processed the mornings events.

“What’s going on?” he asked. It was the simplest of the many questions he had.

Frederick let him go and sat down on the bed beside him. “I’m very sorry, I’ve been rude. I was just so relieved to hear the news.”

“Relieved?”

“Yes. This is what was holding you back, was it not? Having to keep up all these lies? Darling, none of that matters to me. Your happiness is everything.”

This was all too much for a mind still clouded with sleep to comprehend.

Frederick took his hands and held them to his face, nuzzling them and kissing the backs of them. “I’ve told them to go back. Hopefully they will depart before noon. That is the last you need ever see of the Maou. Even if you still love him, I promise you, I will wait until such feelings subside before asking for your hand. I can help you move past him and we can start a new life together.”

Wolfram pulled his hands from him and sat up, adjusting his nightgown for modesty’s sake. “Frederick, you don’t even know me. How can you love me? I’ve been deceiving you this whole time, so you can’t trust me very much. There’s nothing to base any relationship on.” He turned his head a bit, ashamed of his next words. “Besides which, you’re human.”

“I know more about you than you may think, Wolfram.”

It was the first time he’d been addressed by his name in that rich, mellow voice. Wolfram continued to look away. He was too old to allow himself to get caught up in silly sentimental things like that.

“I know you love the Maou, even though he broke your heart and spirit. You either have a great deal of love to give or a great emptiness inside to fill.”

“I will not speak on this with you, Frederick.” Wolfram spoke with a warning tone, his green eyes darkening in anger.

Lord Ackart hung his head, fists clutching at the sheets. “What can he offer you that I can’t? Is it power you really want? A position of great stature?”

“Will it make it easier for you to hate me if I say that it is?”

Frederick shook his head. “I could never hate you.”

“You should.” Wolfram got up from the bed and crossed to the dressing screen. In a bag behind it he knew the clothing he had worn on the carriage ride was inside. He pulled the nightgown off over his head and began dressing. Wearing pants again felt wonderful, as did getting to leave the flour sack on the floor for once when putting on a shirt. He tucked the ends of his pants down into the boots as he pulled them on and grabbed his jacket last. It was wrinkled worse than the other pieces folded up together and he hated the idea of wearing it before having it pressed. With it tossed over his shoulder he walked back around the screen and stood for Frederick as the man he was. “I’m going to help them ready the horses if you want us gone by noon.”

“You really are going to leave with them?” He stood, his voice sounding somewhat desperate. “There’s nothing there for you anymore. Here you would have a purpose.”

Wolfram looked down at his feet, fighting off the sting of his words. “Frederick, you are a simple, pleasant man in a quiet little world all your own. But I cannot be satisfied with standing here on the outskirts of everything, watching things change all around me. Yuri is making a new, better world. I must be a part of that change.”

“It won’t make him love you.”

“No. It won’t. Sometimes you do things so you can love yourself, though.” Wolfram walked over to his host and kissed his cheek softly. “Please hate me. It’s better if you do.”

The hand that came down on his left cheek hit him so hard he nearly fell to the floor; the sound of it reverberating in the space between them while the sting of it burned his face. Wolfram was glad he had arrived with nothing but the bags of clothing he would never need again. He turned his back and left the room, closing the door behind him to drown out the sobs in his wake.

Yozak seemed to be waiting for him, though he was still in his purple maid’s uniform. He smiled at him and poked at the large red mark on his left side. “Everything going alright?”

Wolfram smacked his hand away. “Just fine. You should change out of that get up. We’re leaving in less than six hours.”

“Much sooner than that I would imagine. Gunter wants His Majesty to leave first before anything happens, which means Gunter and myself are sticking behind to make sure the rest of the entourage heads out while Conrad escorts you and Yuri home.” Yozak winked and poked his face again. “That is, if you can tear yourself away.”

Wolfram glared at him and smacked his hand away once more.

Another door opened and shut and Wolfram turned to be sure it was not Lord Ackart. If he had it his way, he would never look upon him again. Instead, it was Yuri, alongside Conrad, ready with their necessities packed for the long trip home.

Yuri looked positively dreadful. His face was pale and his eyes were droopy and dull. He looked only at the floor as he walked and nearly passed Wolfram altogether without showing any signs of recognition. When he did stop and look at him, his eyes became larger, frightened. He placed his hand upon the red sting mark of the slap, his bottom lip suddenly quivering.

Wolfram took Yuri’s hand from his face and dropped it to his side. “Let’s go home, Yuri.”

The king paused for a moment. “You too?”

Wolfram nodded.

“What about your bags?”

“Let’s just go.”

Yuri offered no argument. With Conrad walking behind them, the three marched down to the front of the manor. The carriage was waiting, thankfully stripped of all the finery it had born on the way down. Gunter stood beside it, addressing the driver who held the door open for them.

“I’m very sorry to rush you out of here, Your Majesty,” he explained. “I do not believe there is any potential for violent actions, but I believe acting with caution is best, given the delicate nature of the situation.”

“No, it’s alright, Gunter. Please....” Yuri’s voice cracked a bit but he cleared his throat and tried again. “Please tell Emily that...I’m sorry.”

Gunter bowed, accepting the honor. “Of course I will, Your Majesty.” He helped him into the carriage then turned to Wolfram to assist him as well. He paused. though as he looked at his face, recognizing as everyone else had the mark of proposal on his cheek. “Wolfram, have you--”

“I’m going home, Gunter,” was all he was willing to say. He turned down the assistance and entered the carriage on his own, sitting down on the bench seat next to Yuri.

The driver closed the door once Conrad had taken his seat, then mounted the front, cracking the reins and shouting at the horses to begin.

As they pulled away, Wolfram felt as though someone were watching them. Even though he told himself he did not want to, he found himself looking up to the second story windows. There he saw them both standing and staring; the Lady Emily and Lord Frederick Ackart. With his arms around her and her face half hidden in his chest, they stood like dolls pressed against the glass viewing the carriage as it took those they had come to feel for away.

“Wolfram?”

The blonde looked to his king, who sat beside him and smiled slightly at his worried look. “I’m alright. You?”

Yuri nodded his head, though they both remained melancholy.

Wolfram sighed. He was very tired, in more ways than one. It was over though, at least in that he should have been able to find some solace. Sitting in the bumpy carriage, back on the road home, there should have been some ray of light to lift his spirits and take him out of the dark place he felt he’d fallen. But there was nothing, just an emptiness in the pit of his stomach that grew with very step the horse pulled them along.

He felt Yuri take his hand and hold it and squeezed his hand in return.

They sat in silence for the duration of the trip, sometimes napping against each other on the bumpy roads. Conrad let them be, offering neither council nor comfort as they waited out the journey. All the while, the two held hands, both trying to sooth away a pain that was unlike any other.

This was what it felt like to be the bad guys.