Chapter 1

Love leads to growth. That's why they have become much more mature... as time goes by.

Flames were spreading fiercely in an enormous iron tray. He somehow found it soothing while watching something burn. Maybe it's a thing in his blood, his nature. The fire eased the negative emotions that were constantly haunting him.

Indulging yourself to rage or jealousy whenever you feel makes you weak.

A certain someone told him a long time ago

I'm not asking you to suppress them. What you need is to control. You want strength, don't you?

Yes, I do.

Why don't you do it, then?

I…tried, but I just can't..

Because you're too small.

Her lips curled as she commented

Don't call me small!

He put the last pile of stale documents inside. It almost became ash instantly once it contact the tip of the flame. He smiled with satisfaction. His fire had grown to be stronger.

It appeared that she was right.

And he wondered where she was as he made a small gesture with his finger. The fire went off in a blink.

The job which no one in the castle (except him) wanted to take was done. Fine, everyone was happy.

Control, he pondered, looking at his right palm and closed his hand.

I 'll be back someday, I promise

Ignoring the voice echoing at the back of his mind, he slowly walked towards the backdoor of the castle.

There were lots of things that he regretted in his entire life, no, it should be in his life till now. Only eighteen years had passed after he was born. Making his signature a eight-word one instead of a four-word one is on the top three of his "regret list". He could have written a thousand characters fewer if he hadn't done such a thing just to make his signature longer and as a result looked more "powerful".

Sometimes he wondered how his mind worked when he was fifteen. He had to admit he had made loads of silly decisions in these three years but at the same time he had learnt from mistakes. Three years wasn't really a long period of time but for humans, or half humans, that's enough for an adolescent to turn into his early adulthood.

He had changed. Lots of people would give the same comment as they observed.

He no longer complained when he had to work with piles of paper or train his skills of swords. He even started making notes and asking questions during his lessons with the often dramatically crying or nose-bleeding teacher.

The number of winkles on Gwendal's forehead seemed to decrease. Gunter shed his tears and blew into his handkerchief (as usual). Conrad gave him an approving smile like he always did.

The change certainly pleased many people.

One third of the documents were records of trade or land selling. Sometimes there were suspicious contracts that required further inspections before they were approved by the king.

This is another strange contract. Why would a landlord use so much money to buy such a tiny piece of infertile land in that remote place?

With a slight sigh, he wrote "further inspection needed" and put it in a separate wooden box.

Moving his head a little, his neck bone gave a small cracking noise. He had lost trace of time again. The sky outside was turning dark. He planned to continue his work for a bit longer before dinner but a soft cough caught his attention.

He looked up and found his three advisers standing in front of his desk. All of them wearing a stern look.

This was not a good sign but he was sure that he hadn't done anything wrong...

To be more prudent, he was eighty five percent sure about that.

"Hi everyone, "he said, putting the parchment down on the desk and waited.

The three of them exchanged a look among themselves, sending signals to urge one another to speak first. Finally, Gwendal, who was standing in the middle, frowned and spoke with his low voice " It's been three years already."

Three years? Yes, he had been here on and off for three years already. Why did they bring this up out of the blue? It must be about anything else besides this.

He sat back and considered for a while. The answer was not difficult to guess.

"Are you talking about our engagement?"

The atmosphere lightened a bit. They were relieved as they did not have to bring up the topic themselves.

"Yes, your majesty," Gunter replied, with an appreciative expression on his face, of course.

If it was one or two years ago, he would just wave them off and ask them not to mention about it again. But now, he wouldn't. He knew that he had to deal with this eventually. And the "eventually" appeared to be now.

"What about it?"

"Your majesty..."

"Call me Yuuri."

"Yuuri," Conrad started again "the expiration of your engagement with Wolfram is approaching."

Actually, he knew.

"If..."

"…there is no announcement of a wedding within three years of the engagement, it will be cancelled automatically. Am I right?" the young king stated quietly before his godfather had the chance to elaborate he point.

And he nodded.

"When is the exact date?" he asked.

" It would be next week."

" I see."

"So, what is your decision, your majesty?" the dark hair adviser asked, sounded slightly annoyed.

He wanted to be frank and say he didn't know. It didn't mean that he hadn't thought about the issue. He was thinking about it whenever he had time, when he was having a break from work, when he had the chance to space out during meals and…

When he was staring at the back of the person sleeping beside him in the dark.

What was Wolfram and him? Friends? Companions? Brothers? Fiancé? Lovers?

He wouldn't describe themselves as brothers, no. They were not exactly friends either. Try to compare Wolfram with Murata, his relationship with the former was nothing similar to the one with the latter. He wouldn't first think of Murata when he encountered problems that he couldn't deal with. He wouldn't want to share any secrets with Murata. He wouldn't smile just because he was thinking of Murata. Even the thought disgusted him.

Wolfram had been a very special person to him. He was the person who was closest to him both physically and mentally. The blond was always by his side and somehow always knew what he was thinking. The double black was so used to his company that he didn't even mind sharing the same bed with the Mazoku a long time ago (though he would still complain about being kicked out of his own bed occasionally). The blond had crossed the border that he wouldn't allow anyone to long before he realized it. It was natural for them to share any food or drinks, to argue and then made up afterwards, to hug each other when they were extremely happy, to miss each other when he went back to Earth or Wolfram left the castle for a mission...

Yuuri wouldn't lie and told himself that they were only friends. He's dense but not stupid. Obviously the way they treated each other was too different from the normal standard of "friends".

But, were they lovers?

No, but the reason was not the "we are both guys" cliché anymore. Even if Wolfram were a girl, he would say the same thing.

Did he like Wolfram? Yes, he did.

Did he love Wolfram? He didn't know...

In the first place, what was love?

It took him too long to space out and consider his answer for Gwendal's question. His focus wasn't there until his lavender hair adviser addressed him with a worried voice.

"I think I'll talk to Wolfram first," he said calmly as he stood up " I shouldn't be the only one who make the decision."

Then, he left the office.

To be continued