Chapter 3: What in the world is he thinking?

It had been two days since Greta's wedding and some sort of romantic air was still flowing around the castle. The maids and guards were still talking about how beautiful she was, how the flowers scent hadn't yet left the castle, how they wished to find love too, and some other rather corny issues.

Gwendal was in his office, knitting something that looked a lot like a rodent, just enjoying the simple pleasure of having Annisina out of the castle for a few days. She, along with Cheri, had gone off to do only-the-Great-One-knows-what, concerning some sort of women liberation mission, inspired by Greta. Everyone in the castle wondered if it had been the right thing to do, raising the little girl with those two as feminine role models.

He could only shiver to the idea of his mother coming back with some new poor idiot fallen head over heels for her, and Anissina's inspiration for her so called demonic devices recharged. But for now there was peace, he only hoped the little royal couple would let him enjoy it a bit longer, before doing something idiotic. Because he knew, they had both matured a lot in the past few years, but still, they were bound to do something to rile him up, sooner or later.

Günter was currently explaining to Yuuri some important event that had happened in the era of Shinou's reign. He had gotten used to the long sessions of studying a bunch of things he never really cared about, but after ten years of boring lessons, it was understandable that the young king's mind would wander off every once in awhile. Especially when he was being taught some stories that seemed, outrightly, just a bunch of personal facts about Shinou, that clearly had been grossly exaggerated.

Today his mind wandered off to Wolfram, the Maou was worried for him, no one had felt the departure of Greta like the blond had. He felt sad saying goodbye to his daughter, but he could tell that Wolfram's heart had simply just broken, seeing her go.

Yuuri had learned to read Wolfram pretty well, he could tell when he was faking a tantrum just to hide how he really felt, he was the first one in the castle to notice when the former prince was getting sick, or if he had gotten injured in the slightest way while training. There were many things about Wolfram, who he was and how he acted, that Yuuri came to find out over time, much to the dislike of the blond at first.

Yuuri knew that knowledge made Wolfram feel exposed and weak, as if being vulnerable would make Yuuri walk away from him; but those things, those details and flaws, along with everything that made Wolfram who he was, had been the things that brought them closer, to the point when they didn't need to speak to know what the other was thinking, or to recognise the other by just the sound of their footsteps or the rhythm of their breathing.

Yuuri was too lost on his thoughts to realize how time had passed by, and suddenly his lesson was over, leaving him with that sensation again, like he was overlooking something. He found himself walking towards the place where Wolfram was training his troops. He sat on the shadow of a tree, looking at how his fiancé shouted orders from here to there, not noticing his presence at all.

Normally, at this hour, he would be drinking tea with Greta somewhere near there and looking at the blond from afar, but those days were over now. Their daughter was gone and he had no excuse anymore, but still, for some reason he wished things wouldn't change. Suddenly he felt his head grow heavier and his eyes slowly starting to close. He decided to just let the calm fresh air carry him into sleep listening to the sound of Wolfram's voice.

Wolfram was finished for the day with training and was heading to his office to clear some of the paperwork, regarding a new recruit on his unit, when he saw the Maou's sleeping figure under a tree close by. He looked so peaceful it took the blond's breath away for a moment, he had one leg resting fully on the ground while the other was bent closer to his chest, his right has was resting on his knee and, in the other hand, he was holding some old scrolls he must have been supposed to read as an assignment from Günter. The wind softly rocked his ebony bangs over his relaxed closed eyes, as his chest went slightly up and down with every breath. Wolfram sat next to his fiancé, as if he had been bewitched and had completely lost the ability to do anything else. He let a small smile take over his lips, and rested his head on Yuuri's shoulder, it wasn't long before he was peacefully sleeping too.

Yuuri felt himself waking up at the sound of something falling from a window somewhere nearby, he wasn't really awake though, not fully. The sun on his eyes suddenly reminded him of where he was and what he was doing there, but only after realizing the extra weight in one of his shoulders did he fully wake up. Wolfram was sleeping soundly by his side.

He looked down, at the former prince's golden eyelashes, and then at his blue uniform, that had some fallen leaves on it, they must have been there for quite a while then. He carefully removed the leaves and ran his fingers through the blond locks a couple of times before resting his head on the tree behind him, and letting himself fall back into sleep.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.o.O.o.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Now seriously, how can two people be so damn slow?" said the Sage with a frustrated tone. Ken and Shinou were looking at the sleeping pair, from one of the windows on the second floor and had accidentally dropped a book a few moments ago.

"It is, indeed, almost painful to watch" answered the Original King quoting the words of his Sage, who just sighed wearily.

"Well, at least we can be sure the feeling is mutual between them, although I honestly don't think Shibuya has or will ever realize it on his own" that was a good thing, it meant things would be a bit easier and all the more fun for him. He wasn't still quite sure of exactly what Shinou was going to do, but he had a pretty good idea. Things were about to get interesting, for the first time in years.

Ken was a loyal friend, by his way of seeing things, this little prank would be almost the same as a favor for Yuuri, and, to be completely honest, he was just sick and tired of the non-existing, and somehow still annoying, romantic relationship between the Maou and his fiancé, and he was sure he wasn't the only one who saw it that way.

So, in the end, all they were doing was providing the entire kingdom with what they had been expecting for years, probably saving Gwendal from a massive set of headaches yet to come, allowing the castle maids to finally settle the bet they had made almost nine years ago, and putting both his idiotic friend and lord brat out of their misery.

He had seen how Yuuri's feeling towards the blond had slowly changed, transforming into a very sweet, honest love, he just couldn't see it! Ken had seen first hand, from his position as best friend, the struggle he had been through, to get to that point, going against everything he was ever told was the right thing to do, everything his culture, as a simple Japanese boy, had taught him.

And now, that the feeling had been allowed to grow on its own, his friend was just stupid enough to not realize what it was. And to make things ever worse, if it was even possible, Ken was quite sure his friend didn't think Wolfram's love for him was of the romantic kind either.

He had also seen the unjustified jealousy in Wolfram eyes fading away over the past six years, it wasn't as much throwing tantrums anymore, as it was putting up a wall, for people not to notice how he had truly fallen in love with Yuuri, and just how much it really hurt him to know his fiancé didn't return those feelings.

In Ken's eyes, it was plain obvious that last statement wasn't true, and he couldn't believe how, even though those two knew each other better than they knew themselves, they were both failing to see what was right in front of them. He had to respect Wolfram though, for staying by Yuuri's side all those years, when he was sure - even if it wasn't true - his love was completely one-sided.

Ken felt a pair of blue eyes behind him, scanning him, trying, and succeeding, to read his mind. "No, Shinou, don't even..." he was suddenly interrupted by a strong laugh. Shinou had, indeed, read him completely.

"Is that the real reason for your concern my friend? Is it that you don't want them to end up like us?" the Original King asked in a playful tone, but a bit of concern could be seen in his eyes, as he approached his Sage and placed his hand on both his shoulders.

"I can't say that I have any complains about how things are right now" the Sage said after a while, trying to hide a small tremor in his voice and focusing his eyes on the still sleeping couple under the tree, before adding "...do you?"

Shinou slightly tightened his grip on Ken's shoulders and took a deep breath, it wasn't like he didn't know what to answer, but it took him a long time to gather his strengths, to face that topic between them, that hadn't once been addressed directly.

"No, I cannot say that I do. But still, four thousand years of waiting..." Ken turned around and faced those blue eyes, that had regret written all over them. He had the memories of entire lifetimes worth of waiting for Shinou to come back to him somehow, but then again, his memories were different, Shinou was here, he had no resentment towards him, but he had felt his guilt and had been waiting for the moment the matter would come up.

"Yeah... but I've lived only twenty five of those, ya know?" everything was said in those few words. They both just stood there, smiling sincerely to each other, it was time to let go of the past, for good this time. They were there for what seemed like only a few moments, but the sudden realization of the maids running around, preparing for dinner, snapped them out of their fantasy world. It was time for the Sage to make his first move.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.o.O.o.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Wolfram was the one who woke up this time, he felt something warm on his back and side, Yuuri had wrapped his arm around him in his sleep. Yuuri would do that kind of thing a lot, he had been doing it for quite some time now. Wolfram would just gently get out of the embrace and wake up Yuuri, knowing that his fiancé would probably freak out, if he ever woke up hugging him.

But this time he just stayed there, feeling the soft breeze and the warmth of the day, that would soon be coming to an end, for how the sun seemed to be tainting the world in orange. That last thought made him realize how long they had been there, soon they'd be serving dinner, he had to come out of his dream and wake up the sleeping man by his side. But when he removed his head from the comfort of Yuuri's shoulder, to look up to him, he found the surprise of a set of black eyes looking back at him.

"So you're awake Wolf" the Maou said with a smile. Wolfram's eyes widened, Yuuri was awake, had been for who knows how long and his arm hadn't moved. Wolfram's heart and mind started racing, did that mean anything? Why wasn't Yuuri freaking out? Hadn't he noticed?

Also, Yuuri was asleep when he sat next to him, why didn't Yuuri find it strange to wake up by his side? and so on, until the poor blond's mind just short circuited temporarily.

"Come on, let's go to the dining room, your brothers must be wondering where we are" Yuuri stood up and offered his hand to help Wolfram stand up. He had spoken as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, so Wolfram just nodded, he was speechless, his whole body felt numb, just what the hell had just happened?

As Yuuri had anticipated, Conrart was about to go fetch them, and Gwendal had a look on his face that indicated his patient was running out, he quickly took Wolfram's hand to make him speed up, since the blond looked like he still hadn't fully woken up, and they took their seats. Yuuri heard a small chuckle, Ken was sitting next to Günter and had a grin on his face, that warned the Maou's subconscious that probably something was going to happen soon.

Noticing that the Maou's eyes were set on the Sage, Günter explained "Geika is going to be staying with us for a couple of days" Yuuri thought it was strange, being that his friend hadn't been to the castle in quite a while - not that he knew anyway -, in fact, now that he thought about it, there had been no sign of Shinou around the castle either in months. Yuuri would usually feel his presence near him every now and then. Not that it bothered him much, but it was hard enough trying to run a nation, without its founder breathing over his shoulder.

"So it's time for the annual cleaning in Shinou's temple and you're just running away from work, uh?" Yuuri said raising an eyebrow and glancing at Ken, everyone in the table instantly bursted into laughter, while Ken scratched the back of his head. The food was served soon after and a light conversation took place. Wolfram was still too lost in his thoughts to be fully aware of his surroundings, so he was the only one who didn't rose his head at the sound of the dinning room twin doors opening slowly, making a loud squeaking noise.

Suddenly, the image of a well known blond crossing the threshold was clear to everyone. It was Shinou himself who stood there, with an evil smile plastered on his face. Everyone was surprised and speechless, even Ken couldn't hide his astonishment; he knew Shinou was going to make an appearance sooner or later, but he didn't imagine it was going to be that same night. So when Yuuri looked at him, looking for an answer, he answered with a sincere look of I have NO idea.

Shinou slowly started walking towards the table, not one muscle was moved by all the diners. They were all thinking different things, but with something in common: they weren't surprised by the sight of the Original King, they all knew he was sort-of-alive, but whenever the Original King chose to show himself so openly it meant trouble of some sort.

Wolfram then noticed the looks on everyone's faces, and directed his eyes on the direction they were looking at. Shinou was walking toward them, no, he was walking to him. The blond rapidly stood up from his seat and faced the Great One, who was only a step away from him. He didn't have time to think of anything, when he felt a gentle but firm slap on his left cheek. His eyes almost came out of its sockets, what the fuck was that just then?

"What is the meaning of this, Shinou!" Yuuri said in a tone that meant he wasn't kidding, he was really mad.

"Well, Yuuri Heika, I think it is quite obvious that I've asked for Lord Von Bielefeld's hand. You have shown no intention to marry him and I have grown quite drawn to him... and since I haven't heard him reject me..." All the eyes were on Wolfram, he had yet to understand what had happened, the Great One had actually just slapped him? He knew he had to do something, say something, to stop whatever the hell it was that was going on, but his voice had abandoned him, he opened his mouth trying to say something, anything, but it was useless, only air came out of his lips.

"So, if you do not reject me then it is official, is it not, Yuuri Heika?" he dragged those two last words, making Yuuri clench his fists. Ken was thinking about whether he should step in, and do something, or not. He knew Shinou would try to make Shibuya jealous somehow, but this was too much. If his friend didn't say anything, all hopes would be gone and Shinou would actually have to go through with this engagement. He also had the feeling the Original King had something to do with the former princes suddenly losing his voice.

But when he was about to speak, the Maou stood, up looking down in such a way that his bangs were hiding his eyes. "I'm gonna ask you one more time, what are you trying to do, Shinou!?" his deep voice echoed in the room, he let a few seconds pass by, as he clenched his teeth together, and then looked up, confronting the Original King with a defiant and furious look, but all he got as a response was a soft sneer and a set of blue eyes that challenged him back.

In an outburst of pure anger, the Yuuri got a hold of the table cloak with one fist, while clenching the other by his side, burying his nails in it so strongly that a trickle of blood started dripping into the floor. In a single movement, he removed the fabric from the table, throwing everything on it up, and then into the ground. Günter and Gwendal barely dodged the bread basket heading their way, while Conrart protected Ken with his body from a glass thrown on his.

Wolfram looked at Yuuri, not being able to recognize him, or if all of this was even happening, and then the sight of Shinou bending over and picking up something made him understand just how serious this what getting. The Original King had a knife in one hand and a three-pronged fork in the other, and was pointing both of them at the Maou.(1)

"Shinou Heika! Does this mean...?" It was Günter's voice that had just broken the silence. All ayes moved from the Original King to the Maou, several times, as if they were watching a tennis match. That included all the maids that had gone out of the kitchen and into the dining room, hearing the loud noises.

Both Kings just stood there, staring at each other for a few minutes. No one dared to interrupt again, it was a titan's fight right there in front of them. Although Ken felt as if he was watching a he who blink first loses competition, and it was just plain stupid in his opinion; but they both seemed really serious, so he just stood there, looking down and covering his eyes with the light reflecting on his glasses.

"I will be back in one month, little king, be prepared to settle this by then" having said that, the Original King turned around and left the room, as suddenly as he had entered it, leaving behind a room full of confusion, a silent Wolfram, and a furious Yuuri.

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(1) For those who don't remember, this is an old mazoku custom that appears in chapter 45, while picking up a knife means accepting a duel, picking up both the knife and the three-pronged spoon/fork, and pointing them at your opponent, means you accept the duel and also declare to have stolen the other person's lover.