Disclaimer: I don't own Kyou Kara Maou.

The Queen Mother

It was a curious thing indeed when, on a beautiful sunny day like this, His Majesty King Yuuri Shibuya, the 27th king of Shin Makoku, heard shouting from the drawing room next to his study chamber where the king was sitting alone behind a desk that contained a mountain of history and etiquette books that his tutor left behind for him to read. It became an even more curious fact when the king realized that the shouting was done by not just one but three people whom the king recognized as being his predecessor Lady Cecilie Von Spitzberg and her two sons, the eldest son Lord Gwendal von Voltaire and the youngest Lord Wolfram von Bielefeld.

The king knew it was not in the former demon queen's nature to be shouting so fiercely at anyone, especially her sons. She was an independent and confident woman with a surprisingly strong personality despite presenting a convincing façade of an airhead most of the time. But she never raised her voice to her sons. To stupid people who dared call her 'gaudy', perhaps, but definitely not to her sons. This was why the shouting pricked the king's interest and intrigued him enough to leave his homework behind and approach the locked door on the wall that separated his study chamber and the room next door.

By the time Yuuri approached the door, the shouting stopped. After a moment of silence, he heard the loud banging sound of a door being slammed to a close. Yuuri flinched at the sound. He hurried to his own door to take a peek of who had made the sound. Through the narrow gap between the panel and the frame, Yuuri peered at the hallway outside. He saw the green-clad Gwendal stalking away, whose usually impassive face was contorted in anger. Gwendal then stopped just a few feet away from Yuuri's door, prompting Yuuri to step aside and hide himself complete behind the doorframe so that Gwendal could see him.

He should not have any need to hide, however, as Gwendal had not stopped because he saw someone witnessing his anger. He had stopped because his middle brother, Lord Conrad Weller, had also arrived in the hallway. For the longest time, the two half-brothers stared at each other intensely. And for some reason, Yuuri felt the need to hold his breath, as he was feeling somewhat nervous at the silence that transpired in the hallway. Several moments later, Gwendal was the first one to break the eye contact and he walked away without saying a word.

Yuuri heard Conrad sigh so he hurried back to his initial spot so he could see Conrad's face. How surprised he was to see his face just as angry as his brother's was. His cold and hard expression sent chills down Yuuri's spine. He wasn't used to of seeing Conrad with that kind of face. He thought of going out there to ask him just what the matter was when suddenly Wolfram appeared in front of Conrad.

"Conrad," Wolfram addressed his brother in a trembling voice that indicated just how extremely hard he was holding back his anger, an applause-worthy feat considering how temperamental the blond prince was.

"Please… please talk to her." The sound of the plea that broke out from Wolfram's lips once again stunned Yuuri. He definitely had not heard Wolfram say that word to the man whom he didn't want to acknowledge as his own brother.

"Haven't you and Gwendal tried?" Conrad replied flatly.

Wolfram's jaws visibly clenched. "We have," he said through gritted teeth. "But we both failed. It's your turn now." Wolfram then started to walk away, just like Gwendal did, past the older man and without looking back. He didn't notice even Yuuri despite passing right in front of the slightly open door that revealed a small part of Yuuri's face and body. He was too distraught to notice anything, it seemed.

Now Yuuri watched as Conrad take a deep breath and proceed to the door of the drawing room. Wolfram was right. It was his turn… his turn to convince their mother to call off her crazed intentions.

A beautiful woman with luxurious long blond hair holding a single rose in her hand wearing a revealing yet elegant black dress sitting by the window in a room decorated in gold and blue made a very fascinating picture. The three men who married her and gave her son had all fallen in love at first sight with her in the past when they happened to see her in this position. They swore their eternal love for her, only to leave her behind all alone for another lover or following a thirst for adventure that could not be quenched several years after they married her. Three men, three sons, and three heartbreaks in her lifetime; it must be some kind of a record.

There was no longer a jeweled crown on her head. No more glistening tiaras made of diamonds. She had chosen for herself to give up that status that allowed her to put on any royal decoration on her head. And after the young new king's coronation, there was no way she – a former demon queen without no real accomplishments during her reign – would be allowed to wear any of it anyway. Even if she were allowed, she wouldn't. She didn't deserve it. After all, what was she compared to her impressive successor?

She admired and respected the incumbent ruler of her kingdom, all right. He was kind-hearted and pleasant, if somewhat naïve and, as her youngest son would put it, a little flaky. None of his shortcomings was a hindrance to his reputation as a king, though. The present king had brought peace in all the lands in this world and that fact alone was reason enough to have everyone place him high regard. If there was a king in this Great Demon Kingdom who was worthy of being regarded as being Shinou's equal, it was this king, King Yuuri. And there was just no way she could compete with that.

But the fact that her king was a benevolent young man who was kind to everyone could not ease her worries. Right now, the king was inexperienced. He needed the help of the people around him – the help of her sons – to adjust to life as a king in a new world. At the present time, he could not help but depend on them. He would be nothing without them. Her three sons were essential to the king's existence… for now.

In a few years' time, however, he would not need them any longer. He would grow up into an independent young man. Hadn't her sons told her about his relationship with his brother, the Earth's Demon King? He used to seek his brother's protection when he was young. Now, he refused to have any of it. He wanted to stand on his own two feet. Because within him lies a great power that would enable him to become strong on his own.

And if her sons would not even be needed by the king in the future, how could she be allowed to stay either? She who was a failure…

So she had devised a plan. Her eldest called her 'mad' when he found out. Her youngest said she was 'out of her mind'. She could only imagine what her middle son – the one who was supposed to be the most patient and reasonable – would say about her. He was the only one who usually refrained from criticizing her actions although surely it must have burdened him to have a mother like her.

"Mother," called said second son who had just entered the room.

"So you have finally come too," she replied without looking away from the window.

"I had no choice but to come," he said. And without giving his mother to respond to that, he said immediately, "I will not let you do this, Mother."

"I will give you a chance to convince me otherwise."

"You will break the king's heart."

"Better us breaking his heart than him breaking ours."

He stared at his mother in disbelief. "How could you say that? He cares about you! Don't you care about how he feels?"

"He cares about us now!" she lashed out, "But will he still care in the future? Five years from now? Ten years from now? Twenty years from now? When he can run the country without help? When he can wield a sword better than you do? When he finds a woman to marry? Sooner or later, he would stand on his two feet firmly on the ground. I am not saying we are betraying him. We are simply leaving to accelerate the process."

He clenched his fists and crunched his eyebrows, trying to fend off the strange throbbing in his head that had started to threat his sanity. "Mother," he began again, attempting so hard to hang on to his patience, "This is unreasonable. I will not let you do this."

"We have no place here," she said resolutely. "I have no place here."

"Mother!"

She finally had enough. She threw aside the single rose that she had been toying with all along and rose from her seat in anger. She started shouting to her second son, as she had done with her firstborn and their brother. "I thought you would understand me! I thought you at least would support me! You have always been the one who could understand me better than others! Why are you opposing me as well?!"

"Because what you are trying to do is crazy!" he retaliated. He, too, resorted to shouting.

"How can you call this crazy?! I have all of your best interests in my heart! I will not let you three suffer because Yuuri would one day leave you all behind like your fathers did! And when he leaves you, he will leave me too!"

Without pausing for a breather, she launched yet another tirade. "Don't be arrogant, Conrad. You probably want nothing more but to stay by his side because his soul is the soul of the woman you once cared for. But he is not that woman! He will not forever feel the same way about you! There will come a time when he doesn't want your protection anymore! There will be a time when your sword is not needed anymore! When that time comes, you will be heartbroken! Just like I was!"

Her son opened his mouth to argue but she continued, "And your brother… Wolfram is harboring false hope! He himself knows it! He knows that the king will not marry him! The day will come when Yuuri breaks off his engagement with him! He will then surely die out of heartbreak. And I will never let him suffer like that! I will never allow my son to suffer the way I did!"

She was outraged but he was even more so. He could not believe his ears. How could his own mother – his strong mother – spout so much insecurity? It made him angry to think that his mother would believe all that nonsense.

"Mother, sit down and listen to me," he ordered.

She was ready to deny him but the look in his eyes cautioned her that it was better to obey. So she threw herself back on the chair and looked away from him. The window and the scenery outside became her best friend once again.

Undeterred by his mother's attempt at ignoring him, he said sternly, "Gwendal, Wolfram and I will cancel your purchase of the former Von Müller family's castle. We will get whatever you paid Lord Von Müller's scheming bastard son back. You will not spend a single dime for or move to that rundown castle in that godforsaken land in the southern border. We will head out to Von Müller's holding this afternoon with Gunter because he was a friend to Von Müller and he knows how to negotiate with the son. You will stay here and calm yourself down while we're gone. Don't try and do anything rash anymore, Mother. Yozak and Geigenhuber will see to your and the king's protection, Mother. Please refrain from doing anything rash again."

It was useless to argue now. She knew that perfectly. But she was not going down without one last fight. So she said quietly, "You can't stop me from leaving, Conrad. It's fine if you don't want to come with me but I will leave."

Her son did not hesitate as he countered, "No, you won't. We would never let you."

He walked to the door and opened it. Before he walked out, however, he turned around and saw his mother's lonely back and suddenly felt sorry for having shouted at her mother. To ease the tension between them, he decided to encourage her.

"Mother," he said, "It wasn't your fault that our fathers left you. We all love you and would never abandon you." Softly, he added at the end of his speech, "And, trust me, Yuuri loves you just as much. He would be the last person to leave you behind. Have faith."

With those last words, Conrad left Cecilie in the room alone to cry. And she did.

The sky was dark and the hour was late when Cecilie woke up from her nap. She had fallen asleep after she cried for the whole afternoon. Once the last ounce of tears had left her eyes, she fell asleep on the chair that she had been sitting in since noon today. Now, however, she found herself not on that chair anymore. She was still inside the same room but now she was instead lying down on the long settee instead. Either she had sleepwalked to the sofa or someone moved her.

She had yet to find the explanation for that when she suddenly realized that she was not alone in the room. She became aware of the young man sitting across her in the room. Yuuri smiled at her as the sleep and disorientation disappeared from her eyes. The king got up from his chair and approached his predecessor.

"Good evening, Lady Celi," Yuuri greeted.

"Your Majesty," she quickly replied and switched to a sitting position. "Please forgive me from sleeping in your presence…"

"Oh, don't worry," Yuuri replied. He added, "Oh and please don't call me 'Your Majesty'. Just Yuuri is enough."

Cecilie smiled wryly. "I thought you only order Conrad to do that. He is, after all, your godfather."

"True but actually I want to implement that to all of you. To you, to Gwendal, to Gunter, to Anissina, to Yozak, to Wolf–" He paused and then corrected himself, "Ah, Wolfram doesn't count. His preferred nickname for me is 'wimp'. Not that I like it but I have to say that is very creative of him."

Cecilie chuckled. "Please forgive my son's insolence."

Yuuri grinned. Cecilie looked into his eyes and asked, "Your Majesty, did you move me to this chair?"

"Yozak helped," Yuuri confessed with a sheepish smile. "Your son is apparently right. I am a wimp and I could not lift you all by myself. So I called Yozak to help me. He laughed at me, of course. He teases me all the time whenever Conrad is not around."

Cecilie's eyes flickered oddly but Yuuri ignored it. He continued to talk. "Would you like to have dinner with me, Lady Celi? It's very late now but Doria, Lasagna and Sangria said all we need to do is call them if we want to have our meal. We can also have it here. They made a special dish for us tonight. Unfortunately, Gwendal, Conrad, Wolfram and Gunter left this afternoon to take care of some business and they won't be back until a few days from now, so it's just the two of us. If you prefer a larger company, I can get Greta and Anissina away from the workshop and Gisela from the clinic to dine with us."

It touched Cecilie, and pained her at the same time, that Yuuri was that thoughtful of her well-being. "Thank you, Your Majesty. But I am not that hungry. If you want to eat, however, please do."

Yuuri's face fell and a dark expression clouded his youthful face. Cecilie was alarmed. "Your Majesty, are you all right?" she asked.

"Lady Celi, I have something to ask you," Yuuri blurted out all of a sudden.

"Y-yes? What is it, Your Majesty?" she replied, taken aback at his outburst.

"Why do you want to leave the castle?" Yuuri asked.

His question took her by surprise. She didn't expect the king to know anything about it. She urged herself to find a suitable, preferably euphemistic, answer to that sensitive question. But Yuuri had already carried on to explain his point.

"I overheard your conversation with Conrad earlier," Yuuri said, looking downcast and troubled. "I know I shouldn't have but I did anyway. I heard everything. I didn't get the whole story but from what I've heard I understand that you've bought a land in the south border of Shin Makoku that used to belong to a former noble family and you're planning to move there and you'll be taking your sons with you. Is that true?"

Cecilie thought of lying but she knew Yuuri was not going to be happy being lied to. Wasn't it the king himself who said that he wanted to hear everything from his advisors, both the good and the bad? Cecilie resolved to tell him everything.

"Yes, that's true, Your Majesty."

A glint of distress flashed in Yuuri's black eyes. Cecilie was almost sorry to have confessed but she thought it was all for the best. When Yuuri asked his next question, Cecilie was sorry to have to tell him the truth again for she knew he was going to become even more hurt by her explanation. But she was determined to get through with it. Hopefully, by talking to the king, she would gain his blessing and approval for the action that she was about to take. If the king did that, her sons would then surely follow her… no matter what.

"Why?" Yuuri had asked her.

Cecilie answered him coldly, "Because, Your Majesty, I refuse to be hurt and I refuse to let you hurt my sons."

Yuuri's eyes widened at that statement. He was stunned and, at the same time, appalled by that statement. Yuuri looked up to her and, with a hard gaze that seemingly thrust into her soul, he snapped, "Do you seriously think I would do that?"

Yuuri didn't apologize for his harsh tone although he knew he was being disrespectful to an elder. But some things needed to be straightened out, such as facts regarding his feelings for the former demon queen and her sons.

"Lady Von Spitzberg," he addressed her formally. "Let me make this clear to you. Your son Gwendal is my prime minister and main representative for state affairs. Your son Conrad is my personal guard and my protector. And they will remain those things even when I finally find the conscience to start signing documents on my own free will and when I finally learn how to properly use Morgif."

Yuuri paused for a breather. A short moment later, his expression grew even more solemn and he stated in a loud, clear voice, "As for your son Wolfram… I have made my feelings clear to him. I will never break my engagement to him. One day we will be united."

Yuuri rose from his seat and took to pacing around the table in front of the sofas. "So, Lady Von Spitzberg, it is obvious that you, despite being a kind person to me so far, don't share their sentiments and sense of trust for me. It hurts me, to know that you – someone I think highly of – would have these negative opinions on me. I don't know why you thought I would abandon you and your sons when they have been nothing but loyal and supportive to me."

Cecilie was now embarrassed from the confrontation. Why did she have such bad opinions on him? She had sworn her loyalty to him and yet… she still managed to harbor doubts and distrust for this innocent man who had done nothing but good deeds for their kingdom and the people in it. It shamed her now that she had allowed her insecurities to overrule her common sense and her loyalty for the king.

"Is it because of my argument with Wolfram yesterday?" Yuuri mused to both himself and her. "But that argument had nothing to do with anyone else but us…"

The young king continued, "Or is it… is it what I said last week about thinking of leaving Shin Makoku to Earth for a long while so I could concentrate on my high school exams?"

That was not quite it. Yuuri turned his brain upside down to search among his memories of past events. What happened that triggered Lady Cecilie's insecurity?

Suddenly everything fell into place. Yuuri remembered it now. Right after he had proposed the plan to remain on Earth until his high school exams were finished and be absent from this world for a time that would approximately equal five years of Shin Makoku's time, Gwendal argued fiercely against his proposal. He had shot at Yuuri, saying that there was no way possible that the kingdom's present state of peace would persist without the king's presence for five years. He reminded everyone at the dining table, where the discussion occurred, that Stoffel Von Spitzberg or some other dimwitted fool from human countries would try to stir up trouble once again. He reminded Yuuri about that terrible war that broke out over than two decades ago.

It was the talks of the war that troubled Cecilie's peace of mind. She still felt responsible for that war because, although it was all her brother's doing, she failed to prevent it from spreading. She agreed with Gwendal that, without the king, Shin Makoku and this world would probably return to the state that it was during the days where she was queen. And that meant she would become a failure once again. She was ashamed and guilty, especially when Yuuri then said the war "disgusted" him and that he would rather struggle with studying on Earth while being king in Shin Makoku and risk being submitted to a hospital for severe exhaustion than to see another war in this world. She was truly, very truly ashamed.

Having realized this and then seeing the tears that had started to flow from her eyes once again, Yuuri immediately came to her. He kneeled before her and took the former queen's hands in his. Cecilie choked back a sob as she stared at a solemn Yuuri.

"Lady Celi," Yuuri said, "I remembered what happened. I made some careless statements that hurt you, didn't I? I reminded you of that awful time, didn't I? I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you because of it."

Cecilie could not answer as she was fighting hard to hold back the tears. Yuuri then said, "But please believe me when I say that I wasn't blaming you for what happened. That war disgusted me, yes, that's true. But that's not your fault. I know you blame yourself for not being able to control Stoffel and taking your own course of action. But you don't have to feel that way. You were a great queen. Your reign was an amazing one. Forget about the war. During your time as queen, you gave birth to three sons who are now among the people I cherish the most in this world. That alone earns you the right to be here with all of us."

Yuuri smiled and squeezed her hands tighter. "I would never throw Gwendal and Conrad away even when I no longer need them because they are they're my best friends now. And even if Wolfram breaks his promise and stops loving me, I would never leave his side and I would never let him leave me. And, above all, I would never abandon you or ask you to leave."

"And," Yuuri added solemnly, "You are my mother in this world too. Help me. Guide me. I beg for and will cherish you for your loyalty. You will help me in building and maintaining peace in this land. I could never do it without you."

Lady Cecilie's face was wet from unshed tears. To have a king so kind… so generous… so humble… In her long, long years of existence in this world, Cecilie von Spitzberg had never met a person like her king, Shin Makoku's 27th king, His Majesty King Yuuri Shibuya.

So, casting off her doubts and insecurities, the demon queen finally nodded and smiled. "Yes, Your Majesty. Forever."

Five years since that day where she gave her king her promise, she stood behind her leader and her son at the altar of the Temple of the Great One while the High Priestess gave the official blessing to the union of the king and her son.

Her two other sons, now legitimately the brothers-in-law of the king, stood on either side of her slightly behind her. The teacher who had given all of them knowledge and taught them all they needed to know about this world was also there, completing the formation.

The guests were duly impressed by this close-knit family and how they had all come a long way but finally arrived here… at this turning point of their lives. Together. They were always together for everything. Right now, it was for this wedding ceremony. But most of the time they were always together in their fight to make this world a better place.

The king, the prince consort, the noble brothers, the teacher and the queen mother. They would always be together. Forever.

END

Notes:

I've always wanted to make a story about the relationship between Yuuri and Cecilie in their roles as current and former leaders of Shin Makoku because they both ruled the kingdom in very different ways from one another. In the series Cecilie was portrayed as having regrets for not doing anything during her time as demon queen. I wished to elaborate on that and include Yuuri's perspectives on her situation. At the same time, I want to try to portray the way Cecilie and Yuuri relate to each other through Yuuri's friendship and romance with her sons. I hope I managed to convey these things in the story.