After leaving Waltorana and Wolfram, Waltorana's aid 'Taka' headed for the kitchen and upon finding it empty began to prepare the tea the way his Master liked it. His Master was very particular about how his tea was prepared.

Just as he finished, Lasagna walked in, "Excuse me sir, but who are you? What are you doing in here?" She looked alarmed.

"Oh! Excuse me. My name is Taka Urashima. I am Master Waltorana von Bielefeld's aid. If you would, please, be so kind as to deliver this to his room? I must inform Lord von Voltaire of his arrival."

"Of course." Lasagna said, taking the tea and leaving.

After leaving the kitchen, Taka went straight to Gwendal's office and knocked.

Gwendal looked up from the important documents lying at his desk at the knock. Figuring it to be one of the maids with tea or something, he responded casually, "Enter."

"Lord von Voltaire."

Gwendal looked up and was surprised to see a young man standing there. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes. My name is Taka Urashima. I am Lord Waltorana von Bielefeld's aid. I came here to officially announce that he has arrived."

"What do you mean he has arrived? I wasn't informed of this."

"I'm sorry your guards didn't feel the need to inform you, sir. We arrived about 20 minutes ago. I would have been here sooner but no one was in the kitchen and I had to prepare my Master's tea. Thankfully, one of the maids came by and took it back to him for me, giving me the time to come and see you."

Gwendal insides burned with a suppressed rage. So, now that man's tea was more important than informing him. How dare that arrogant man treat him in such a worthless manner? He was in charge of Blood Pledge Castle, for heaven's sake. Gwendal made a mental note to teach him a lesson later on, but for now he just nodded indicating his understanding, which he wasn't feeling at all if he be honest with himself. He had always loathed Waltorna for his giant-sized ego.

"Where is he now?" Gwendal asked, assuming that he would be in the parlor or something.

"Ah! Well, Lord Wolfram met us outside and showed my Master to the room prepared for him. You might want to wait for a while before making your greetings, sir. My master seemed to want some quite time alone with his nephew."

What? Gwendal was shocked at the insolent words that spilled out of Taka's mind. "Don't overstep your boundaries, servant." Gwendal roared. "What I should do or not, is not for you to decide."

A staring match ensued between Gwendal and Taka, before Taka yielded. He lowered his gaze and apologized in an appropriate tone. "I am sorry, my lord. Please, forgive me. I shouldn't have suggested that."

Gwendal continued to burn holes into Taka's head for a few moments more, before turning his thoughts to Waltorna. Considering what he knew about him, Gwendal suspected that he was doing a bit more than having a nice friendly chat with Wolfram. It must be something along the lines of a harsh lecture and a screaming match, seconded by Wolfram himself, over the lost royal engagement and Yuri's subsequent dating of Conrad. Although, his sympathy went out to his younger brother, his mind thinking of what Wolfram might be going through; he still didn't want to be there in the midst of that conversation. He sighed, rubbing his temple.

"Please extend my regards to your master and tell him that the lunch will be served sometime around noon. We'll send for him then." With this he dismissed Taka.

"Yes, thank you. I will convey the message." Taka replied bowing and then left quickly.

x-x-x-x-x

Lasagna knocked on the beautifully carved oak wood door.

"Enter." Came the terse response. Clearly, not pleased for the interruption.

Lasagna walked in with the tea-tray. "Your aid asked me to deliver this too you, my lord."

"Thank you." Waltorna replied, without even bothering to look at her. "I appreciate it."

"No problem sir. Is there anything else I can get for you?"

"No." But after a moment's thought, he added, "On the other hand, you can inform Yuri-Heika that I am here and wish to speak with him soon."

"I'm sorry sir but I'm afraid that Yuri-Heika is unavailable today." She replied.

"What do you mean he's not available?" Waltorna bellowed. "Are you saying that he's not here?" Waltorna wasn't pleased. After all, he had wasted his precious time for this trip and that bloody kid didn't even had the gall to be present to receive him. 'Just like the coward he is.' Waltorna thought. 'He breaks Wolfram's heart...stomps on it, and then goes running back to that world of his.' Waltorna snarled bitterly.

"No sir. He was in the castle this morning as far as I am aware of. But Sir Weller issued orders that they were not to be disturbed today for any reason short of an emergency."

'So the whore's pet is keeping him all to himself.' "Where are they now?" Waltorna demanded.

"I don't know, sir. Sir Weller kept where they'd be staying a secret." Lasagna lied cleverly. She knew where they were due to two facts. First, because Conrad had asked her and the others to clean the room in which they would be staying. And second, he had ordered enough food for the entire day to be delivered and set up as he had specified in the same room.

Lasagna, however, had lied because she suspected that if Waltorana finds where the couple was, he'd go immediately and spoil their evening. Everyone in the castle knew of Yuri's depression in the past week and that somehow it had related to Conrad. Now that Conrad was taking Yuri somewhere private for an entire day, it meant that they had, somehow, made up; and she wasn't going to let Waltorna ruin it, just like everyone else in the castle would do, she was sure. After all, everyone loved their Maoh and Lord Weller dearly in their own different ways and was extremely loyal to them.

"But they are somewhere here in the castle, yes?" Waltorna inquired impatiently.

"I wouldn't know sir. I, personally, never saw them leaving but they could have." It was a blatant lie. Or partial lie because it was true that she never saw them leave the castle grounds (if they had she'd have heard about it) and she very much doubted that they'd have gone back to Yuri's world, especially after all the food Sir Weller ordered and the trouble he went through in order to get that room made up special just for Yuri. Anyways, it was no reason to let Waltorna know her thoughts or doubts.

Waltorana suspected that she was lying but he couldn't prove it. And if he tried to force the truth out of her, it could cause some serious repercussions. He didn't want to make the whole castle his enemy even before he gets a chance to destroy Yuri. So, he was forced for now to pretend to believe her.

"Very well then. You're dismissed."

Lasagna courteously bowed and then left quickly. As she left, she realized something. The castle was soon going to be turned into a battle ground. After all, the loathing aura radiating out of Waltorna as he spoke of Yuri was not lost to her. And she had enough experience with the court to understand what such symptoms hinted to.

x-x-x-x-x

Wolfram was still upset about what had happened during his talk with his uncle. But his uncle had given him a new insight into his problem. Despite the fact that the rain had picked up again, he raced to the Shinou's temple. The guards allowed him in as he was now officially married to Murata and they hadn't been given any instructions suggesting that he should not be allowed inside.

Wolfram ran in and started screaming "Ken! Ken, where are you?"

Murata walked out and was surprised, "Lord von Bielefeld, what are you doing here?" Wolfram had for reasons unknown to Murata started calling him by his first name. He himself remained formal as he didn't feel right calling Wolfram by his first name without his permission.

Wolfram walked right up to him and said, "I demand you tell me right now how to break this marriage."

"You already know the answer to that. A Blood and Fire…" But Murata was interrupted midway.

"No. Not that. You mentioned that the only way to survive that ceremony is with some kind of crystals that most likely don't exist anymore. There has to be another way."

"I'm telling you there is not." Murata replied.

"Then bring me those crystals so that we can perform the ceremony safely."

"How do you expect me to find those crystals...almost extinct crystals, all by myself?" Murata demanded.

"You probably have some stashed away somewhere."

"Look. I don't know where you or Shinou got the idea. But I'm telling you just as I told him, I don't have any and don't know how to get any either. The only method would be by thoroughly searching the entire lands that they come from. I may have all my memories from past lives retained but that's a far cry from predicting the future. Why would I ever dream of getting into a situation like this? As you well know that the switching ceremony we used is rare. And although others might have ways to get out of them with a ceremony other than a blood and fire ceremony, this particular one is one of the few that don't. Besides, I wasn't even present in this land when that tradition was started. So, why would I bother to obtain the crystals to counteract it and then hide them, save them, hoping that they might come in handy in a future life just in case? No chance. Do you think I am an idiot?"

Murata was starting to get angry at Wolfram's accusations. 'Why do they always expect every solution from me and then blame me of holding information back when I can't answer?'

It was one of the sore points in Murata's life...in all of Murata's lives so far. And it hurt. It hurt badly. All he wanted was faith...faith and trust, at least from those whom he could call his friends. It was something that had always been denied to him just because he'd been the Great Sage at a point in time. Wolfram's accusations struck a chord in his heart and evoked some previous bitter memories. Some of his thoughts reflected on his face for a moment, showing the centuries' old misery and burden that he carried alone.

Wolfram's heart clenched at the sight, making him feel extremely guilty of having committed a serious crime. His head bowed in shame, not knowing what to say or do.

"I'm sorry."