Disclaimer: Conrad isn't mine and most certainly is Kyou Kara Maou not mine either :-D No profit, and simply for fun – this is your typical disclaimer... nya!
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Dismal Harmony
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It was winter once again, the year was coming to a close and the whole of Shinma was at peace once more. For how long this peace would last, Conrad couldn't be sure, but he was glad to know that for once their young King hadn't been summoned to their world for something dire. He let out a tiny sigh and then smiled in spite of himself; it was just like him to look back at all the negative things that had happened in the light of all the good things happening now.
Twirling his pen idly in his hand, he stared at the single report on his desk and shook his head. Peace, indeed – he mused – even the soldiers didn't have much to report about. That was good, he told himself. It definitely had to be good. He stopped then and relaxed into his chair with a deep sigh. He was a warrior at heart. Not a diplomat, a general, like Gwendal, or Gunter now. He had always been in the battlefield with his people and scarcely had he been asked to give orders of his own. He always worked under someone and peace, for a warrior so scarred by many years of battle was, sadly, unsettling. It wasn't that he liked bloodlust but it was just peace often equated to the calm before a storm for him. And storms; they took away loved ones from him, regardless of who they were or where they were. Or how much they loved and cared for him back.
"Julia." He found himself whispering wistfully, the name bittersweet on his tongue. For a long time, after being sent to a mission to Earth, he had wondered about her. Her soul had been bright like the sun, pure white and void of any form of blemish. A soul like that belonged to one who had come to the end of his life without any remorse or guilt, he had been told. It had hurt. Hurt; because he had felt like there was something between them, something unrequited at most, maybe, but after hearing that, he realized he may have been reading too much into the shy smiles she gifted in his presence. He had been in an illusion; an illusion that a woman tied down in the woes of an arranged marriage could fall in love with him.
"Yuuri! Come back her—ARRGH! WIMP!"
"He-hey, I was justAH, Wo—"
The muffled sound of his half-brother and his King's loud cries was a welcome distraction and he smiled, finding both reason and strength to fight the urge to indulge in self-pitying. He rose from his seat and walked towards the windows behind his desk, sure enough that the two most active occupants of the castle were just outside, most likely playing in the snow. The glass windowpanes were frosted white and moisture clung to them, providing a thin screen that partially hid the world outside from him. Still, even with this, Conrad made no move to wipe some of that moisture away, content with the moving blurs of black and blue outside.
"That hurt Yuuri! Is that how you treat your fianc—""Who's my fia—ahh!"
Conrad chuckled as he guessed what the pair was up to from the muffled sounds of laughter and footsteps coming from the outside. Looking back, he would have never thought about the possibility of Wolfram becoming in very good terms with their King, much less becoming the King's willing fiancé. The young Beifield Lord had always held humans in low regard, despising their very existence and associating them with every low thing possible. He had been subjected to the younger demon's prejudice so he knew and had worried about Wolfram disliking Yuuri. But it seemed, Yuuri's charms did wonders, after all, this was the boy who tamed dragons and other demonic creatures with a single innocent smile.
Charm, indeed.
He lifted a hand and wiped his hand across the windowpane, allowing himself a clearer picture of what was happening outside, and smiled at the sight of his little brother down on the snow looking absolutely defeated with bits of snow stuck to his coat and hair. Their King, Yuuri, the dark-haired boy in his teens, stood before Wolfram, bending as he clutched at his stomach whiled he laughed and pointed at the blonde.
Yuuri would never know what it was like to be hated by Wolfram, to be viciously ostracized by the boy. The thought itself brought him a measure of comfort as well as, maybe, jealousy as he watched the two of them. He could only act indifferently about his position in their family so much. To say that Conrad didn't adore his younger brother would be a lie, after all, he had been there, helping, on the day of his birth. Conrad loved Wolfram, cared for him like every older brother would. There was a time when he wanted to be by his brother's side at all times, maintaining a sort of physical contact always. To be awarded such animosity and disregard after giving so much love and care was, to say the least, wounding.
But he was glad, truly, that Wolfram had had a change of heart, even if it was for Yuuri, and Yuuri alone. Yuuri would have never been able to shoulder such hatred. Conrad couldn't imagine Julia, after all, suffering under that situation. And Julia was Yuuri, in essence.
He knitted his eyebrows and smiled. It all came down to Julia, it seemed. Conrad watched as Yuuri balled up a lump of snow in his gloved hands and then poised to throw it into his younger brother's direction. A baseball pitch followed that and Conrad found himself with a stray, definitely, forbidden thought of wanting. If he wanted Julia so much, wouldn't it be safe to assume that he wanted Yuuri as much, afterall?
He smiled inwardly and spun around, heading towards the direction of the door with an intention of joining them outside. He would be lying if he told himself he wasn't a bit attracted to Yuuri but, he laughed to himself, he had an uncanny knack for falling in love with engaged people, it seemed.
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