Title: Never Let Go
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Summary: Everyone was sure that by the end of the first meeting, the Maou would be firmly under the control of the Ten Nobles. No one ever knew that the Maou was already under someone else's control and Sir Conrart Weller was unlikely to relinquish his grasp.
Note: ConYuu 50 Prompts, Prompt 33: Grip
If the King was not careful, he could be controlled by his court. The Ten Nobles were unlikely to allow a boy King who had only just reached his majority to rule on his own power, so when the first meeting of the Round Table was convened in the reign of the Twenty-seventh Maou, many people were sure that despite the best efforts of Gwendal von Voltaire and Gunter von Kleist, the meeting would end with the young King as a puppet. To many people's surprise, Shibuya Yuuri emerged from the meeting as his own man, and continued to rule as King in his own right after multiple such meetings, and by the time he had entirely depleted his Maryoku to suppress a rampaging golem created by the Queen of Seisakoku, it was clear that the Ten Nobles had fallen under the same enchantment as the residents of Blood Pledge Castle and the Capital City. Those who expected a puppet King were now the puppets, and they refused to protest when their boy King was doing so well despite his naiveté.
Years later, it would become apparent that even if the Twenty-seventh Maou was not influenced by his Court, there had always another influence working on him, in the form of warm eyes and a gentle smile. Sir Conrart Weller walked with his King at all times, always on the left and three steps behind his King. But even when Yuur began dropping hints that over time became less and less subtle and the young King was all but shouting his feelings from the highest tower, it took-of all people-the First Maou Shinou to bring Conrart to realize the truth. The world, including Conrart and the mysterious and often irritating Saralegui and the fanatical Alazon, were all wrapped around Yuuri's pinkie finger, but Yuuri was held and guided, not by posturing, veiled threats, near outright abuse, loud oaths of eternal devotion, or subtle manipulations, but rather the constant protective presence of a man clad in tans and browns and the oath, "I promised you my arm, my chest, and my life. If you so wished, I would bear you up and carry you away." The King couldn't be manipulated, because he was already held firmly in the grasp of his Godfather, the famed Lion of Ruttenburg, his own Knight Protector.
The Maou may belong to his people, but Shibuya Yuuri belonged, heart and soul, to Sir Conrart Weller. Once the King's Knight Protector realized this truth, Conrart set out never to loose his grip on this wonderful, innocent being with whom he'd fallen in love with from the very first. He might be a soldier loving above his station, but nothing short of death could cause him to relinquish his grasp from the young King. He would be very surprised to know that Yuuri felt the same. The Lion of Ruttenburg might be revered and even feared by the people, but the famed lion was a harmless kitten in his hands, and Conrart would never be allowed to escape.
Owari