Lying Lessons: The Biggest Lie

Pairings: For now, hints of Yuuri x OC (don't worry, she won't be getting much screentime) in the future there will be someone x Wolfram, but I'm not going to say who! ^_~

Characters in this chapter: Gwendal, Wolfram, Yuuri, Conrad

Chapter 1/?

Wolfram had never been a good liar, but he'd been doing it more and more since Yuuri had arrived at the castle.

Wolfram had always been ruled more by his emotions than his head. If something pissed him off, he let everyone know. If he disagreed with a course of action, his opposition wasn't hidden behind platitudes; it was made loudly and often insultingly clear. It was no surprise then that when Wolfram started lying about his relationship with Yuuri, it wasn't a calculated decision he made to save face in front of others, but a desperate attempt to hide the truth from his own heart.

Eager to catch up to Yuuri, who had suddenly decided to go visit a nearby village to oversee the erection of a new school, Wolfram hurried toward the courtyard. He was surprised when Gwendal grabbed his elbow as he walked past, stopping him, and his response came automatically.

"Let me go, Yuuri's waiting for me." But as soon as the words left his mouth, both Wolfram and Gwendal knew the lie for what it was.

Gwendal was a hardworking mazoku. He was often called intimidating or cold because he knew from experience that it was much easier and much faster to accomplish some things when pretense was abandoned. It was this characteristic that caused him to stop his baby brother from making an escape.

"Stop, Wolfram. I have something important to tell you about Heika and I believe you would prefer to learn about it in private."

Wolfram hesitated, he had a bad feeling about this, whatever this was, and he felt reluctant to leave Yuuri to his own devices for very long. He peered into his brother's eyes. They were insistent, but not in the usual, commanding way.

Wolfram huffed, annoyed, "Very well Big Brother. I can spare a few minutes."

Gwendal grunted in response and the two walked toward his office, the younger filled with a growing sense of foreboding. When they arrived, Wolfram immediately sat down on Gwendal's desk and crossed his arms, half-glaring at his brother as he closed the door, knowing for certain now that whatever Gwendal had to tell him was going to be unpleasant.

Perhaps feeling Wolfram's gaze on him, Gwendal turned around and locked eyes with his brother once more. The frown lines on his forehead became more defined as he prepared himself to deliver news that would surely enrage the blond.

"Heika has requested that the engagement be formally annulled."

Wolfram watched the world go red, for a moment, there was nothing solid to hold on to, and then he became aware of his hands clenching Gwendal's desk so hard that his nails were digging into the wood. "Why?"

"He did not give me a reason, but he did say that he would like to remain friends." Gwendal managed to keep his tone even, as though he was telling his brother about some temporary inconvenience, but his left eyebrow was twitching.

Wolfram broke eye contact and was silent for several moments, his lips pressed together so tightly they were white.

"I see. Did he ask you to tell me?" Wolfram's gaze was back, burning with the fire he had restrained himself from manifesting.

"Yes." The curt answer needed no elaboration, Wolfram had expected as much. After all, Yuuri was a wimp.

"Is he breaking our engagement because he thinks he's fallen in love with someone else?" Wolfram spit the question out like something foul.

"Heika has not said anything about…" Gwendal was cut off by his seething little brother.

"I did not ask what the wimp said! Gwendal, is he seeing someone else?" The volume of Wolfram's voice increased with every word in the last sentence and Gwendal decided that a quick answer would be a good idea.

"He has recently been spending more and more time in the company of a human noble from Caloria, but they have not done anything obviously inappropriate." Gwendal readied himself, hopefully Wolfram would be able to restrain himself, but he was prepared to incapacitate his little brother to keep him from doing anything foolish.

Wolfram's face, which had paled considerably earlier in the conversation, now became a deep scarlet. "Nothing inappropriate! Nothing inappropriate!! We've been engaged for almost four years and the wimp didn't even have the guts to tell me himself!"

Abruptly, Wolfram surged to his feet. His legs, the traitors, were shaking beneath him, but luckily they managed to support him as he walked toward the only viable exit. Gwendal, who had remained in front of the door made no sign of budging as Wolfram approached.

"Move." The word was steely, said in a tone that told Gwendal that Wolfram wasn't going to accept the word no as an answer.

"I cannot. Not until I know that you aren't about to go do something you'll regret later." Allowing Wolfram to roast their current ruler was something Gwendal could not let happen, no matter how much he might be in favor of doing so at the moment.

Wolfram raised a disdainful eyebrow at his brother and sneered, but somehow, the expression looked more broken than scornful. "I need to remove my belongings from Heika's room and then go burn something. Don't worry, it won't be someone, but if you try to keep me in here, with all of these deliciously flammable and very important documents…"

Not exactly satisfied, but willing to trust in his brother's control, Gwendal moved out of the way. As Wolfram walked past, Gwendal grabbed his shoulder, uncertain how any interference on his part would be seen by his little brother. "The room beside the old kitchen should be empty except for a few rotted crates."

Wolfram gave a sharp jerk of his head that Gwendal took as acknowledgement. "Please tell Greta that I'll be busy for the next few hours. Would you mind asking Gisela if she can keep up with her until supper?"

"I'll inform them that you're indisposed." Gwendal said, he had already taken care of that, but Wolfram couldn't have known he'd already rearranged his schedule to have a discussion with Greta about the upcoming annulment.

"Gwendal… thank you." And with that, Wolfram hurried to the room he had been sharing with his fiancée, not at all worried that he'd run into the double-black. Since Yuuri wimped out of telling him about the annulment, Wolfram was certain he had made himself scarce. Focusing on his anger and disappointment with his fia, no, former fiancé kept Wolfram's thoughts occupied until he reached what had been their room. It wasn't until he had almost unconsciously leaned down and opened one of his drawers to grab his nightgown that Wolfram noticed he was crying.

~~~~~~~Meanwhile, safely away from Blood Pledge Castle

Yuuri was riding beside Conrad, fiddling unconsciously with a worn spot on his horse's reins.

"Are you okay, Heika?" asked his ever present and ever attentive godfather.

"Yes, but call me Yuuri, after all, you named me." The words were automatic, something he said without really paying any attention to them. Conrad didn't know about what was going to happen today and Yuuri wasn't really sure he wanted to tell him.

Today, he would be freed from his jealous, scary, ubiquitous fiancé and while he was relieved that he wouldn't be there when Gwendal broke the news to Wolfram, he really wasn't looking forward to dealing with the fiery (and he meant that literally) aftermath of his decision. Hopefully, the blond would cool down enough by the end of the day that they could talk, even though Yuuri knew that things would be tense for a while. As explosive as Wolfram's initial reaction was likely to be, Yuuri had discovered long ago that his anger quickly burnt itself out and this time, he was counting on it. After all, the blond was one his best friends!

The engagement had gone on for far too long. It hadn't been a real problem before, even though Wolfram's constant reminders had gotten a little annoying, but now that he had found someone he really, truly might be falling for, he couldn't afford to let Wolfram pretend they were something they weren't. No matter how mad Wolfram might be that their engagement was over, Yuuri was confident that he would be forgiven fairly quickly.

What Yuuri wasn't aware of was that while Wolfram was very quick to get over being angry, he wasn't very good at getting over heartache. And why should he be? He didn't have nearly as much practice.