Disclaimer: Don't own Shadow Hearts!
**
An early dinner was served as some cold meat and fruit, along with a bit of wine. I started on it, hearing whispers in the pantry as the utensils gossiped. My name was mentioned a few times. It didn't bother me; it was natural for them to be curious about the only human that they knew of in the castle, and with the events of the day, they must have been wondering about Death Emperor as well.
Yuria soon came out of the pantry to join the other wineglass. Noting it was empty, she asked, "Need a refill?" Before I could answer she had jumped back to the pantry and was enjoining them for a spot more. She returned filled nearly to the brim and I chuckled. It was a nice gesture, though unnecessary.
She had a curious expression on her delicate glass features. There was a question of some sort. "Yes?" The glass's eyes widened, as if surprised. "What is it?"
"Oh…oh…nothing." But after I took a small sip of her contents, she blurted out, "You and the master—you had a row, did you?"
"I wouldn't call it that."
"What would you call it then? Margarete told Michelle, and Nina overheard of course and told it to us—oh, you haven't met her yet, she's a little pincushion, so adorable—but anyway, if you didn't have a row, what happened? It sounds like the master was quite upset."
"I—I called him a name." There was no use trying to lie, and so I didn't. Instead I kept the truth as vague as possible. It would be too difficult to explain; I didn't even completely understand what had happened myself.
She frowned. "It wasn't 'devil' again, was it?"
I looked down at her, surprised. "So you've heard about that too?"
"Oh, yes, between 'devil' and whatever else you've called him, you've had her in a fit all day." As I picked her up again, she said as if an afterthought, "And he got terribly upset too. He knows what he looks like; doesn't like being reminded of it though."
"Does Margarete fancy him?" I asked.
"Fancy isn't the right word. They used to be in love. Or at least, they seemed to be."
"Seemed to?"
"Well, they couldn't have been, or the encha—"
"Yuria!"
The wineglass jumped, spilling wine on my arm and hastily apologizing in the same second. Koudelka, the teapot, had just returned from the pantry, and she had a stern expression as she watched us.
"Are you even thinking, or are you drunk again?!" she yelled, outraged. The utensils and a teacup were watching from the pantry door, clearly wanting to not get involved.
"I'm sorry, it just slipped out…"
"Encha…Enchantment?" I asked, guessing at what the wineglass had meant to say. "You mean the enchantment on you?"
"That's enough," Koudelka said firmly. "Yuria, empty your wine before you get completely drunk."
Yuria pouted but dragged herself over to the sink and bent down until the wine was pouring out. Koudelka hopped over to me with an odd gait that came from being awkwardly top-heavy. Why didn't she want me to know anything? Did she serve the demon, or had she simply been faithfully serving one of her 'master's' orders? What did she know?
"What is it about this enchantment?" I asked her.
She shook from the base up, an empathetic no. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. Master Yuri has ordered us not to."
"Master Yuri?" I echoed. "Is that his name?"
"Yes," she said, sounding both startled and curious. "Didn't he introduce himself?" I shook my head. "Idiot," she muttered. "He seems to have forgotten all his manners."
No he hasn't, I thought, Yuri was perfectly polite in the West Wing. But the problem was Koudelka was referring to the Death Emperor posing as Yuri. Did no one know the difference? But maybe there was a chance I could show her how she was wrong.
"Was he well-mannered before?" I asked.
She had a hesitant expression, but finally answered. "He was always polite as a child. His mother's influence, I guess. Even after…he always had a sense of manners until his enchantment." From the spout came a small 'hmph' noise. "But who can blame him? Being changed into a demon is not exactly a pleasant experience."
I almost laughed and changed it into a cough hastily, covering my mouth. The devil didn't even need an excuse for the disparities in his and Yuri's attitudes, the servants had already given him one!
Really, it was quite sad when I sobered and thought of the matter seriously. It would be hard to persuade the servants that they had the wrong master—unless I showed them Yuri, but I had a feeling Death Emperor would not allow that. So, I had to prove Death Emperor was not Yuri. This might be very difficult.
The door to the kitchens opened, and a disgusted Margarete did not so much as look at me as she told Koudelka,
"Master wants a dinner with the girl tomorrow evening. Says he wants to apologize to her. She should probably brush up on her own manners," she said, her voice dripping with venom.
"Margarete…" Koudelka said, exasperated. The feather duster had left already and the teapot sighed. "I knew this wouldn't work. She's being self-centered, she already knows it's impossible for her."
I didn't understand exactly what Koudelka was saying. I was more concentrated on the news the feather duster had brought. A dinner with a devil. What fun, I thought unhappily. But maybe, would it give me a chance to prove him false?
Maybe I should wait a while. I didn't seem to be trusted by all the servants, least of all Margarete. I knew Keith and Zhuzhen would hear me out, but what if I couldn't even convince them? Then Death Emperor would know that I'd been to the West Wing and I'd be in hot water.
So for now I should just bide my time and wait, I supposed. Try not to offend Death Emperor too much, so the feather duster would at least listen to me. If she was in love with the real Yuri, wouldn't it be easiest to convince her that this was not her true master?
…Why hadn't she seen the demon's deception?
**
Author's Note: Um…think of this as a mini-chapter. I didn't have a good idea for a lengthy chapter, and I'm not exactly sure where to go right now, but I didn't feel like keeping people waiting for another month or more again. Hopefully within a week I'll have a decent-sized chapter.
**
Reviewers:
Greyfriars: Death Emperor with puppy eyes? Oh, that is sweet ^^…
Enchanted Christmas was a Disney sequel, and Disney sequels are not really too well known. They don't seem to get a lot of advertising.
Margarete is a nice duster, but mean too. ^^
Kitty: I updated within a month! Yay! ^^;;;
MikoNoNyte: Actually, when I asked if Alice was ooc I meant the remark I had made about her being capricious. This is kind of based on what I think her personality was like before her father's death, but I was wondering if people thought I was too off. I guess I'm fine then.
Yes, she exhibits instant trust to the prisoner/prince. Ain't it sweet? ^^
Eh, I've already let the studies slide. I keep forgetting things. I got a 20.5/30 this week for a quiz in AP Chem, which was kind of depressing. I think I might be lowered to a B now. -.- Winter blues always plays havoc with my grades right about this time…