Chapter 3:

GRIEF

Yuuri's POV

The next morning, Yuuri had woken up with no injuries, surprising everyone including himself. He was told that Conrad had died while he was asleep by a worried Wolfram, and everyone watched as he broke down on top of the bed, heartbroken by the news. After that, the king lay in bed, giving no response to those who came to him and contemplating what he should do next. Die with him? No, I have a kingdom to run. But he said that he would do that if I were to die... How could I just move on...

Once dinner came around and Gunter coaxed him into doing so, Yuuri finally left his room to join them for dinner. They sat in silence, no one even attempting to console the mourning Maou, until Gunter finally walked into the room with a tall man dressed in... a uniform which looked horribly similar to Conrad's...

"Your majesty", the king's assistant began, cheerfully. "This is your new guard, Archibald Von Streiff. He's-"

"A replacement for Conrad", Yuuri cut in, drawing the eyes and worried expressions of everyone in the room but Gwendal, who only placed his fork onto his plate.

"Yuuri...", Wolfram nearly whispered in that consoling tone of his.

"Your highness", Gwendal growled. "You can't refuse protection because your last guard is dead. Shake it off and move on."

Yuuri grit his teeth and clenched his fists, knowing that the dark-haired demon was right but... still...

"Be seated, you two." After giving that emotionless command, Gwendal returned to his food, signaling to everyone else that they should move on as if the argument hadn't happened.

Archibald sat between Cheri and Gwendal and immediately began eating the food which was brought to him. Everyone seemed at peace... How could they be at peace? Conrad is dead and they're totally fine replacing him? Conrad was there for everyone, especially me. He's Gwendal's brother, yet he doesn't seem to even care that he's dead. Do they have no hearts? Conrad did so much for them... and yet...

The sound of glass breaking ripped him from his thoughts. He realised, then, that he had crushed his cup in his too-tight grip and pieces of glass were sticking out of his palm. A large piece of the cup was still being held while the other part of it was in pieces on the table. As blood began to pour onto the tablecloth, he dropped the larger piece and everyone in the room stopped to stare at him. It took about two seconds before Yuuri continued to squeeze the remaining pieces of glass, clenching his fist and causing all of the shards to dig deeper into his palm. They're heartless...

A pool of blood was beginning to form under his fist releasing everyone from their silent, shocked stares. The entire room was filled with screamed "Your majesty"s and one "Yuuri" before Wolfram, Archibald, and Gunter jumped up to help the bleeding Maou. Cheri and the maids covered their mouths with their hands, Gwendal sat looking more angry than previously, and the king, himself, continued to clench his fist until Wolfram's hand met his shoulder.

Out of pure anger, he stood from his chair, grabbed Wolfram's wrist and squeezed it, causing the blonde-haired demon to cry out in pain and bleed from the shards of glass stabbing through skin and into muscle. Gunter and Archibald stopped about two feet away from the couple, staring with wide eyes.

"Yuuri...", Wolfram barely choked out. "What's wrong?"

Yuuri released his grip and walked to the door, stopping only when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see that the blonde boy was standing just behind him, clenching his own fists and ignoring the blood that dripped onto the carpet.

"Don't follow me", Yuuri commanded with no emotion in his voice.

"Yuuri... you shouldn't be alone, right now."

The Maou was beginning to lose his patience, so he turned entirely and looked at the short-tempered brat. "I'm your king; listen to my orders and don't follow me." He turned toward the door and was about to take a step before turning to look back once more, saying with a pinch, "oh, and stop calling me that."

"But I'm your fiancee..."

The Maou took a deep breath and turned around one more time, readying himself to pour out everything he'd been wanting to say since the accidental proposal. "Wolfram, listen carefully... are you listening?"

"...Yes..."

"You are not my fiancee. I proposed to you entirely by accident and have never harbored even the slightest amount of feelings for you. To put it simply: I do not love you and I never will. Got it?" He turned on his heel and walked out, ignoring the sound of Wolfram dropping to his knees and crying.

(Chapter 4 is coming Sunday and that's going to be the last one unless the comments say otherwise. Although, I don't have anything planned for a chapter 5, so... xD)