There was really nothing to worry about, right? There are such things as straight nations!

Elizabeta laughed to herself as she started to arrange the clothes on the bed. It was an old habit of her past years, and she found herself enjoying it for some reason. When she was younger, she would always arrange the clothes for young Feliciano to get into every morning (of course, it had to be a dress~). Sometimes, she would lay out clothes for Roderich if he ends up forgetting.

She sighed. There wasn't a happier time than when she was married to that man. Even if their marriage was for the sake of war, she was happily married. But after it was dissolved, she hasn't heard anything from him since. Sure, they still talk from time to time…but not once has he reminisced about their marriage. Did he really loathe that time…something that was sacred to her…and not tell her? But why wouldn't he…?

"Are you all right?"

She looked up and saw Sun Tam looking back at her, a familiar serious look crossing past her face. Elizabeta couldn't help but stand up and chuckle.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"You looked worried about something, that's all." She answered, straightening herself. "Seriously, if you need to talk…"

"No, I'm fine, really." She stood up. "Don't we have a meeting to go to today?"

"…we do, actually. You're still in your PJs, and you're usually in your business uniform at this point, so…"

"Right…whoops."

He would do that sometimes too…a long time ago…

/=+=/

The meeting went as always. And by always, she meant that someone went out the window by Charice's hands and the place was going absolutely nowhere. She really wanted nothing more than to go home and work with her Yaoi fanfic right now, even if she was in a crappy mood.

"Are you all right, Eliza?"

She turned her head and looked at the confused looking Ludwig staring back at her. His eyes appeared to be rather shifty for some reason.

"Yeah, just lack of sleep."

"That's what happens when you have too much fun and forget to sleep."

"But we haven't really done much. We even fell asleep early."

"Still…wait, why do you have a pen and paper?"

"Because…my camera's broken."

"You girls and your cameras…it's almost as if you're hunting down for love…"

She noticed that the corners of his eyes were shifting around, and she looked up to realize that he was looking at Feliciano, talking up to Charice about something (Francis being all right, maybe?), and she sighed. Even if the both of them were in fact gay, she was OK with the both of them. Ludwig had to be gay for Feliciano…

"You like staring over there, aren't you?"

"E-eh?" Ludwig's face turned red. "N-no I'm not staring!"

"Suuuuure you are." She grinned. Making fun of him had to be the most fun she had all day. "You haven't been looking at me for the majority of the conversation~"

"Y-yes I have!"

"Veee~~~Ludwig, come play with us!"

"Yeah, Doitsu-ki! We're going sightseeing today!"

"Charice, really…"

"COME ON, LET'S PARTY!"

Elizabeta watched for a while as the both of them grabbed Ludwig's arms and dragged him out the door, just as Francis came back from what looked like a full recovery. He went to Roderich and started hitting on him, making him extremely uncomfortable. She was about to take care of it when she saw that Roderich was throwing him into a wall…totally unlike him.

So he's taking good care of himself…that's good.

She looked down and found herself rather depressed. Why in the world was she, though? She's having all the fun in the world, making fun of everyone and shipping the others. In the end, she watched as Gilbert came into the process and laughed at what he did, almost sounding like he enjoyed himself. She knew how someone sounded like when they were happily laughing…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"Elizabeta, are you all right?"

She turned her head and saw that she had ran out of the room, standing on the staircase to the next level and Irunya standing a few feet away from her. She looked utterly worried, and that's when she realized that she was crying. One small tear had successfully left her eye, making it all worse.

"…Roderich looked happy today…"

"Oh…" Irunya walked to her side. "You…you still love him, don't you?"

"…"

"Don't try to hide it. Elizabeta must still be in love with him."

"I am, but…I can't say anything about it. It makes me sound clingy, and everyone hates clingy."

"There's a difference between being clingy and still having feelings for someone. But I thought you two are divorced…?"

"The government annulled our marriage; we did not choose to do it ourselves…but then again, Roderich must've agreed to it…"

"Have you asked him about this?"

"Sometimes. Then again, he never gave me a clear answer."

"…maybe you should be more serious? Tell him that you are not joking?"

"He knows when I'm not joking."

"…tell him again. That's all I can tell you."

"Since when did you get so wise in stuff like this?"

"…I've been in your position before."

On that note, Elizabeta heard her walk away until she was alone yet again. She looked down the hallway and could literally imagine herself with him and his duchess when Gilbert was annoying the heck out of him, taking his vital regions and all. She was so determined to protect him even when he couldn't protect himself, and somehow she saved his life. God I was so happy that I did…

Before she knew it, a warm pair of arms wrapping themselves around her shoulders, gentle and soft to the touch. Of course, she couldn't help but panic (it was probably Francis for all she knew), but after a few seconds of struggling, she felt one of her arms being gently stroked. There was only one person that knew what that meant to her…

"…what are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you."

"…don't tell me you've been listening to us the entire time."

"Kiku isn't the only one who can get information without his targets knowing."

"That might be called stalking, you know."

"I know…I'm not worried about it, though. Because I know it's you…and you know me too well."

"Yeah…I really do…"

"You should've told me that you were this worried."

"I did. Didn't you hear me before? You didn't take it seriously."

"…men can't read minds, you know."

"You can read mine."

"Just barely…you completely changed over these years…with your permission, I want to relearn every aspect of you…all right?"

"…permission granted, Roderich…"

/= [10 DAYS LATER] =/

They were in the town, shopping of course, as Roderich watched Elizabeta looking at the windows for something to buy. After a few minutes, he noticed that she was pointing at something in the mirror. It looked like a vest of some kind, with a sale next to it.

"Do you think that will look good on you?"

"M-me?" He blushed. "W-what about you?"

"You need clothes! I have more than enough; girls always do!"

"…I guess…?"

"Ah, Roderich…still clueless about girls…"

He turned his head and gave up for now when he heard his phone ring. Sighing, he turned around and picked it up, taking his greeting and listening to the line. After a few seconds, Elizabeta noticed that he was getting pale, his body stiffening up. His voice was gentle, but she could only hear certain words coming out of his soft lips.

"…w-what about an accident…? W-who was in it…?"