Chapter 1: Gossip

Two maids diligently worked their way down the hallway as they cleaned everything in sight. With small smiles on their faces, one of them looked over their shoulder to make sure no one was around before turning to the other; they had both been friends for decades.

They had just stopped to the right of one of the mahogany doors that lined their way. "Hey, did you hear? Lady Gremory is pregnant once again; it has only been 2 years since the birth of their second son!" The maid could barely hold her glee at the news, their lords happiness was their own.

Her partner in crime also looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was around before she replied, in a hushed whisper. "I heard right after the birth of their second son, Lord Gremory was so happy with his demonic output they've been going at it every night since, to see if they could produce another strong heir." The maid let out a small giggle as she watched her friend's eyes widen.

"How envious…" The maid trailed off as she realized what she just said, but her friend just nodded in understanding. Most of the maids that worked in the Gremory mansion had fantasies about lord Gremory, sometimes Lady Gremory, or both if the moment took them.

Both of their faces flushed red as their minds began to wonder, their cleaning slowing. Realising that they were falling behind the one that just spoke quickly changed the conversation. "Speaking of the second Master, I've heard rumours that his talent was so high at birth that the Lord and Lady have been training and looking after him personally, that's why no one has ever seen him before. No one even knows which room he occupies in the mansion for threat of assassinations."

Her friend just shook her head. "No, that rumour was false…well the looking after him personally bit. I've got a friend who works down in the kitchen area that prepares the meals for the second master. Surprisingly I hear he eats rather sparingly, not a lavish diner at all, they always prepare him simple meals…" The maid trailed off for a second at the thought before continuing.

"But that's not the point, a specific maid always comes down to the kitchen at the same time to grab his meals and deliver them. I've heard she's been sworn to secrecy in her duties concerning the Second Master." The other maid nodded her head in understanding.

"Ah. So someone did have the honour of serving the second master and his parents aren't doing it themselves? But they still train him personally right?" her friend lightly lifted one of the vases and cleaned under it for a second before turning back.

"I don't know, I've heard of the Second masters unnatural talents, but he is still young, like you said he is only about to reach 2 years old. For them to start training so early must denote his extraordinary potential." The maid gained a slight blush as she thought on the words, a few words slipping out before she could stop them.

"If he is so talented, and has the genes of Maou Lucifer and Lord Gremory, won't he be handsome in the future?" Her friend stopped for a second before her own face turned red in embarrassment her mind wandering.

The two continued to giggle to their fantasies for a solid minute before they snapped out of it and looked at the time. "Damn, we're already so far behind, we'll need to pick up our pace if we want to finish, but no slacking!" Her friend nodded her head before pumping herself up.

The two maids hurried to do their duties as they left the corridor they were just cleaning, behind the door they had been standing close to, a young boy sat quietly and listened to their conversation. He didn't say a word as they moved off and had to resist a shiver as he slowly made his way back to his bed.

The boy's body still had baby fat on it from his young age, but it was clear that the boy was also malnourished, with a sickly pale skin colour and brown hair; he was the Second Master the maids had just been talking about, Eric Gremory.

His body shivered once more as he pulled himself under the sheets with a little difficulty and tried to gain something. He wasn't sure what it was, but ever since he could remember his body would shiver, as if it were cold, as if it were looking for something.

He was not allowed to leave his room, he wasn't sure why, it was just one of the rules that made up his life. He had tried to leave shortly after learning to walk, a painful process that involved many falls and trips.

The pain would go away after a while, but there seemed to be a dull throb that never left him after each fall. But alas his attempt had led to failure. All he got for trying was less food for a few days, keeping him bed ridden for a while.

But around the same time he began to walk, he was finally able to listen to the conversations that went on outside his room, they would come and go, but for the boy it was the most interesting thing ever.

He didn't understand them at all, he had never properly been taught the devil language, but his latent devil genes made it possible for him to begin to understand, albeit brokenly. No the reason it was the most interesting thing for the child was because it was someone else.

Eric didn't get to see other people; not really, the only ones that ever came to see him were the 2 with the red hair, the red haired man with cold in his eyes and the woman that couldn't look at him. Eric if asks would say he was afraid of the man with red hair, his eyes were cold and always sent a shiver down his spine when they would look at each other. He wasn't sure why the man's eyes were so cold but he knew that he was the cause of it.

Though the cold look always made Eric feel worse, they were the only ones that ever went to see him, so even if he was afraid he liked their visits. Though he wished the woman would look him in the eye, there was some small primal part of him that craved for her to look him, even just once, face to face. Her eyes would go everywhere but him when she was in the room, and she would never speak to him, just look down at the ground with an emotions that the young Eric could not identify.

But there was one other person that came to visit young Eric, though she wasn't much better than the other two, the cold woman who delivered his meals. He had tried to talk to her before, but she would just set the meals down and leave. She would also return to wash him and give him clothes, but she would never talk.

*Cough* *Cough* Eric's lungs spasmed again as he turned his small body over in the ridiculously large bed that was his home. The darkness of the room seemed to encroach on his little body and the shiver returned as he closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

Since young it had been the same way, as it would get later in the night Eric's hands would slowly but surely wrap around his body, gripping it tight as he continued to shiver, searching desperately for something he had never felt before, but wanted desperately.

What he wanted, what he searched for, something he had never felt.

Warmth.