But nothing was alright.

Well, maybe it wasn't so bad at first. It turned out that the king's work was not so different from that of the head of the family, so Wolfram learned mainly by practice, helping him. In fact, he was so good at it that it was rare to see that he was still learning, but Yuuri had no intention of falling behind.

They spent a great deal of time together in his office, which Yuuri was delighted about, and although the presence of the little angel/demon (depending on his mood) was distracting at first, every time said angel praised him, Yuuri felt more motivated. Over time, he even began to wonder how he could solve a problem in a way that would impress Wolfram.

Unfortunately, aside from their time together in the office, they had few other opportunities to be alone with each other. Gwendal immediately informed them that there was no way they would sleep in the same bed again, and Wolfram was forbidden to enter his bedroom after sunset (and vice versa). However, he stayed there often during the day, usually with Greta.

For this reason, their dating has been slow - in fact, not once have they been on what could be called a real date. They drank tea together in the garden or took a quick walk around town when they happened to have some time between meetings. But there was always someone around - mostly Conrad - and they had no privacy.

But Wolfram seemed to have no problems with this. In fact, he was quite content and happy. Small gestures, hand-holding, and hugging, were completely enough for him.

And that's why Yuuri felt bad at the very thought of complaining. But he wanted at least a little bit more. Once he even plotted to take Wolfram to Earth without telling anyone, but he forgot that he continued to live with his parents and his nosy older brother. So he let it go after the first outing.

He didn't even complain about it to Conrad. He was too afraid that since Shouri had stated that Yuuri would only be able to think about such things after his death, Wolfram's older brother would also get the idea.

And it's not even that some improper thoughts are going through his head. All he wanted was some time alone. After all, he won't throw himself at him immediately as soon as someone lets him out of sight. Although after so long, he was beginning to doubt himself. In the end, he's still a teenager.

And then, the disturbing news reached the castle.

At first, they were just rumors. Mysterious disappearances, but no one actually knew what was happening or if it was really happening at all. Until bodies started to be found. Always in pieces, often hidden in strange places. Buried in the ground, in barrels of water, on the tops of the tallest buildings, or burned on paths. It wasn't hard to imagine how much panic this caused. And the fact that all the victims had human blood in them led to more rumors.

Gwendal dedicated as many resources as possible to investigate the case, and it was the main topic of their every meeting. On which, however, Wolfram no longer appeared.

It started around the time they got the news that the first body had been found. Yuuri went to his bedroom for a short break and happily met his boyfriend. He stood at the window, gazing at the landscape stretching out in the distance.

However, when Yuuri approached him to say hello, the boy turned suddenly with an expression of horror on his face. For a few moments, Wolfram didn't seem to recognize him and took a few steps back as if Yuuri was about to hurt him.

Only after a while did he blink a few times and look around the room, confused.

Never did he explain what had happened, but situations like this occurred more often. No matter who tried to question him, Wolfram just repeated again and again that it was nothing, and further insistence only caused him to have outbursts of anger and avoid everyone for the rest of the day. Over time, things calmed down, or rather, his reactions, as it was still evident that he was seeing something that others couldn't. He probably got used to it and now just looks at these things dispassionately.

Besides that, his behavior had changed. Without arguing, he allowed Gwendal to remove him from most of his duties. He no longer went on patrols or attended any meetings. He did help from time to time with paperwork, but the only thing Wolfram focused on now was training with his men.

But the worst part was that now they hardly saw each other. Therefore, Yuuri decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity, an extended break, to look for Wolfram to hang out with him.

They told him that he was now in the garden, so maybe with a bit of luck, they would even be alone for a while.

He took the main path but gave up the route when, passing another of the forks in the road, he heard footsteps following him.

It was not the vigorous stride of Wolfram or the soldierly march of Conrad. And definitely not Gwendal's heavy steps. He thought for a moment whether it was Gunter, but the absence of his customary "Your Highness" heard from afar also excluded him from the list.

He had another person in mind who could follow him but decided to hide first and make sure he was right.

The tall hedge on the right provided an excellent hiding place. In addition, tall trees and several equally tall ornamental bushes grew behind it.

Looking out from between the branches, he spotted Rosalinde strolling along the path and looking around. She did not call out for him - she wanted to approach him by surprise, as she always does. Especially when he had some time and managed to find Wolfram.

The fact that they are still not renewed their engagement brings much trouble in such situations. A lot of people think Yuuri will get bored or they will drift apart. And they even say the same about Wolfram. Fortunately, both of them didn't have much time to deal with things like seeing potential romances, but there were still intruders like Rosalinde. They tried to do their best to rob them of even the little bit of time Yuuri managed to find for Wolfram. He really wishes he could just kick them out of the castle. They come here as if it were their own. Some even unannounced.

He gave up returning to the path and walked among the trees to the other side of the garden. It was a good decision because he managed to find Wolfram here.

He got out of the bushes and checked if his clothes were intact – he didn't want to be yelled at for a stray leaf on his shoulder – but even close to him, Wolfram didn't pay attention to the new person approaching him. He was sitting on a low wall surrounding the bed of red flowers, supporting himself with his hands and leaning to the back, observing the sky. Dressed in his blue uniform, his top was clad only in a simple, white shirt, with the jacket trowed on the side. It was too hot even for a fire mazoku.

The blonde hair, illuminated by rays of sunshine, looked like pure gold, and the white skin was shining. It all made a divine picture like from some holy paintings. Yuuri sat next to his boyfriend without saying a word and looked at the sky, hoping he could see what Wolfram had. But there was nothing, only endless blue.

"Free already?" Wolfram asked without looking at him, and Yuuri was surprised that he noticed his presence. He somehow seemed to be always in another world.

"For now."

Wolfram nodded slowly, still looking at the sky, and didn't even move when Yuuri placed his hand on top of his. So even touch will not bring him back.

"There are so much nice views around, and you are looking at the sky?" He tried to joke.

It got him a reaction. Wolfram slowly turned and looked at him, first surprised, and then a smug smile appeared on his lips.

"What view exactly?" He tilted his head, and his eyes caught a glimpse of sunlight, shimmering and shining, making them look like gemstones.

Yuuri couldn't avert his gaze, and it took him seconds to understand the question's meaning. He cleared his throat and showed with his hand the garden around.

The white stone path led from the flower bed, around the fountain further in the garden, and then to the greenhouse. Low flowers along the way moved gently in the warm breeze. The decorative trees on their right bloomed with light pink flowers, and on the left, the rose bushes were turning red.

"A lot of nice flowers starting to bloom."

"Yeah." Wolfram plucked a flower from behind him and turned it slowly in his hand. "Mother brought a lot of new ones from her journey."

"How is this one called?"

"No idea. I didn't ask." He brought the flower closer to his nose. "But I like the smell."

"Figured so. You have placed them in the bedroom's vase every day recently."

"And you don't throw them away, which means you like them too."

"As if I dare to throw away anything you bring."

Wolfram smiled and put away the flower, straightening. He leaned a little to the left, supporting himself on the hand Yuuri was still holding.

"How's work?"

"Bad," Yuuri said and growled. Even remembering this was causing him a headache. Even after a year, when the chaos after letting out the Shoushu was taken care of and all the rebuilding plans made, he thought that he would have a little break, but the world, especially the nobles, didn't give him the pleasure. Because important documents got missed in a fire in some places, he had to deal with many arguments about what was in them. The worst was the ones about ownership of the land. Yuuri didn't know how fierce people could be fighting over a small plot with a wall.

At last, he only had to deal with people from his territory. The ten aristocrats are taking care of their own problems.

When all it started, he would give up a lot to be able to calm the quarreling nobles with one look, as Gwendal was doing. Now, he made his own method of dealing with them, but it only worked in certain cases and in the office. Yuuri still had a problem with people like Rosanlinde's father, who was so persistent that they didn't give him a break even after work.

Rosalinde was at first subtly probing him, then saying how nice it would be for her and her poor family if she were married to royalty, and then started comparing herself to Wolfram. She stopped with it fast when people started laughing at her and the things she was saying, but now she dedicated herself to spoil their time together.

And there was that recent thing Yuuri didn't even want to think about.

"And how's with yours?"

"I'm already off. I don't have any patrols recently, so we only do training. Mostly maryoku, so they get tired quickly."

"You would always find a way to torment your people."

"They not going to learn anything if they don't get tired."

"I hope that, at last, the training is going good."

"It is!" Wolfram suddenly sounded excited and proceeded to talk about it. But he didn't want to explain any details. Yuuri asked, what they were doing, but every time got an answer that he would see it in action. That it would be cool (not Wolfram's words, but it's how Yuuri interpreted them) and that he didn't hear about other fire users managing to do this. Truth be told, he was a little scared that it would end up with a fire. But it was nice to see him energetic, just how he should be, so Yuuri was asking only to keep him talking.

The big green eyes became even bigger and greener, looking like fire was set behind them. He started gesticulating with the other hand, the left one still under Yuuri's palm. And was smiling so brightly he looked like a sun. So even if Wolfram's men are worked up daily, they probably didn't complain.

"Good to know that you have fun at work." Yuuri sighed, remembering again the things he had to deal with. Especially the most upsetting one.

"Did something happen?"

"It's nothing."

Wolfram had probably been kept in the dark, and Yuuri felt bad about it. His boyfriend was always straightforward in explaining things to him, but it was a different situation. He didn't need to know.

"You should still work on your layin skill."

"Do you think so?" Yuuri laughed nervously, placing a hand on the back of his head. "By the way, I always thought you liked the blue color." He attempted to change the subject.

Wolfram side-glanced at him and took the flower back in his hand, paying with it again in his fingers.

Yuuri observed the movement. At first glance, Wolfram's fingers looked like the ones of a musician, but when you took them in hand and traced down the underside of the palm, from the tip along the finger, you could feel the calluses. There were from sword fighting and even some from holding the brush. But still, his hand wasn't rough to touch, the skin well cared for and soft.

"So does this mean that your favorite color is black?"

"What?" Yuuri asked, not knowing where it came from.

"I wear blue uniforms, and you thought I like blue. So it means that you like black because you always wear it."

"It's not like I'm doing it of my own will."

"And you think I have a saying in my territory color?"

"Well, you have a point."

"Do you know it's from sea snails?"

"What?"

"The dye. There are plenty of them near our shore. Some even say it should be in our crest, as much of our income comes from that dye. But snail isn't quite a glorious sign."

"Have you gays thought about using, I don't know, crushed stone as a dye? Why does it have to be always something with a strange animal?"

There was that smile indicating that Wolfram wanted to tell him more about strange dyes, and Yuuri was desperately trying to come up with another change of subject.

"What is it then? Color, I mean. Your favorite."

Wolfram stopped playing with the flower and extended his hand toward him, turning the flower slowly in front of his eyes.

"Red?"

"I like it. It resembled fire. But somehow, I don't feel like wearing clothes in this color." He turned away his gaze, taking the flower from Yuuri's face.

"Bad memories about setting himself on fire?"

"Nice for you to talk. But let's just wait until you don't drown yourself accidentally. A wimp like you won't be able to recognize air from water."

"You would be surprised at how much I can do now."

"You can come then to our next training and show me."

"I really would want to..."

A loud "You Majesty!" sounded from afar. It was definitely Gunter. He ran through the stone path as if knowing where exactly to look for him and appeared before the flower bed soon after. Labored breathing made him unable to compose meaningful words, and it looked disturbing when he tried to say something, panting and sweating.

"Did something happen? I'm sure there is still plenty of time until the next meeting." Yuuri asked when Gunter finally composed himself.

"Ah, Your Majesty. We have a sudden guest. He was talking to Gwendal, but now he demands to see you."

"Again? Can't they announce their visit instead of coming when they like?"

Did everyone think he didn't have anything to do and would respond to their every whim? There's a waiting list, but nobody even bothers to use it.

"No, it is…." He looked significantly at Wolfram, who titled his head in confusion. "Well, it would be better for Your Majesty to see him now."

"Argh, okay, I got it. I'm going to talk to whoever it is." He squeezed Wolfram's hand one last time before standing up, which he earned a look of surprise from him, and followed Gunter to the castle.

The meeting was set in a simple guest room on the first floor, which made Yuuri a little at ease. This guest wasn't angry enough to need to be pleased with a rich, decorative room. The normal ones were where he always held most meetings with nobles unless Gunter told him it was a bad idea.

Gwendal and Conrad were already in the room, sitting by the table by which was another, unknown to him, man. He stood up when Yuuri walked closer.

„Youw Majesty, this is Lord von Bielefeld Adelhard." Gunter introduced the man to him.

Lord Adelhard was nearly as tall as Gwendal, with blond hair – a little darker than Wolfram's – and light blue eyes, which looked like a frozen lake. And feeling their stare was as if he was freezing. Judging by the last name, he was Wolfram's relative, but there wasn't much resemblance between them – well, his boyfriend was entirely Celi's son.

"This is the one that intended to marry my son?" Come out a deep voice that made Yuuri shiver.

"Yes, Your Excellency. His Majesty had asked for Wolfram's hand. Although it was annulled, they still…"

Yuuri looked between Gunter and the man. Did he say, my son? Wolfram?

"You're Wolfram's father?" He said louder than he intended, interrupting Gunter from explaining their current relationship.

"Do you want to marry someone without even knowing their family?"

"No, I just…." Yuuri took a step back and looked and Conrad and Gwendal, hoping for their help. But they didn't even look at him; Conrad's face turned, so he couldn't see it.

Wolfram's father looked down on him, his grimace the same as his son's the first time they met. Yuuri was sure he was going to question him being a king and call him unworthy of Wolfram.

"It's hard to imagine my son would agree to something like this. He must hit his head." Lord Adelhard started. "I thought that it was someone either brave or stupid to propose on the first day. Turns out it's the second. You can't even defend yourself properly."

But he wanted to defend himself, to say something, but his head was just empty. Yuuri felt like being scolded by the teacher in school, the scariest one. And one that evidently didn't like him. How do you talk to your future husband's father? He didn't even know anything about him. Who was he, what was he doing now, why had he appeared here so suddenly? And why Wolfram didn't mention anything about him. Are they on bad terms? Did he do something bad? The other two brother's didn't even want to look at him, so there must be something.

So, he was just staring. But not like a scared student. With a challenging, determined stare more suited to the Demon King.

Corners of Lord Adelhard's month lifted slightly, and his eyes melted a little, but Yuuri couldn't determine if he was mocking him or if his attempt worked. Still, there was nothing in his mind he might say in this situation.

The sound of opening doors saved him from it as they both looked at the person entering the room.

Wolfram looked surprised to see his father, but he wasn't angry or uncomfortable. He looked around the room, furrowing his eyebrows when staring at his brothers.

"And from when you two are in it?" He asked accusatorially, placing both hands on his hips.

"There's nothing to be mad about, Wolfram. It was just a little play." Conrad's face turned with a smile. He looked like he was still preventing himself from laughing.

"I can't believe that you are still doing it. It stopped being fun." Now Wolfram turned to his father.

When Yuuri turned to the man again, a different person stood there. He looked the same, but his expression and posture were that of a favorite teacher in the school. Or, better said, a doting father, as he was looking at Wolfram with a gentle smile.

"Everybody has to come through a test. There are no exceptions for a king."

"You just like to bully people."

"Are you mad that someone besides you are doing it?"

Wolfram's cheek turned slightly red, and he took a step back. It seems like he is also losing this. There's no helping it; his father had more experience.

"Anyway." Wolfram had now crossed his arms on his chest. "What are you doing here? And why I had to learn about it from guards?"

Lord Adelhard looked at Yuuri at then at Gwendal.

"I asked him to come." Said the older brother.

"Why for?" Wolfram calmed down, being now only curious.

"Let's talk about it later. We are in the middle of greeting the king." Lord Adelhard said and indicated with a hand to Wolfram to come to him and sit on the chair.