Ulrike had heard all about this idea and though she didn't approve and most certainly didn't want it to be held at the temple, she didn't want to oppose Geika and Heika who were doing this and Shinou-Heika who appeared to have no objections at it being held at the temple. He was only arguing over the reasoning behind it and appeared to be overseeing the progress. In front of these three most powerful persons in the entire kingdom and one of the most powerful people in the entire world, Ulrike felt powerless. The only thing she was able to do was get them to move to the inner chamber after the ceremony had been completed.

Shinou kept Wolfram in a small conversation while Yuri talked quietly to Murata.

Murata leaned over and whispered to Yuri, "You know I was just thinking that, perhaps, if we could have found a way to bring Sir Weller here, we might have been able to do a switch/swap."

Yuri was sure that he didn't want to know but still, he asked, "What's a switch/swap?"

"Well, I would take Lord von Belfield on as my fiancé and you would have had to kiss Sir Weller at the same time, and the two of you would have been engaged as well."

"But Murata", Yuri whined. "Shinou said that the two of you are married now. Is that true? Did you know that could happen? And if we had done what you're suggesting, would that have meant that I'd have been instantly married to Conrad as well?"

It wasn't that Yuri was appalled at the idea of being instantly engaged or married to Conrad, but he didn't want to force that on the other man without his consent. As it was, they were already forcing the marriage onto Wolfram, and though he didn't like it, he wasn't going to try to reverse it either.

Murata sighed, "Unfortunately, it's true. There's always a risk involved when it comes to switching. So, there was a chance of this happening but it was a risk that I was willing to take. Also, if Sir Weller had been here and you had kissed him, you wouldn't have been instantly married unless you or he drew blood. Under normal circumstances, it has no meaning, but during a ritual such as this it can have a number of implications."

"How would kissing him draw blood?"

Murata shook his head and sighed, "I keep forgetting that Sir Weller got your first kiss."

At that Yuri blushed darkly, "What has that got anything to do with it? Wait…no…how did you know that?"

"Shibuya, you've had no luck with girls. When would you have kissed one? That's plain logic." Murata said.

Yuri couldn't argue but still it was a bit irritating that how he seemed to know everything.

"As for how you'd draw blood, that's easy." Murata stopped him and said in a lower voice, "You do that by biting your lip or his, or he yours."

Yuri wasn't sure his blush could get any deeper. To try and get back to the subject at hand, he asked, "Does that mean if something went wrong, I could have ended up married to Wolfram instead of you to him?"

"Ah…ha, yeah, there was a slight chance of that happening. If you had helped him to get up instead of me and he had still cut his hand, then it was possible."

Yuri shivered at the thought. That was what he'd been afraid of. Murata's never entirely reliable. He never warned him about that happening before-hand.

It seemed that all this time, Wolfram was living in shock; however, he recovered finally and screamed out loud, seeking his answers, "What hell is going on here? What's the big fuss? What's this about marriage? Are you telling me that Yuri and I are now married?" Yuri winced at that. "If that's what this was all about, then what's the big deal? Only Hahaue, won't be happy as she had all kinds of plans for the wedding, but she can still do the reception."

To clear everything, Murata stepped forward and said, "I'm afraid you still don't understand Lord Von Bielefeld, you are no longer engaged to Shibuya and you're not married to him either." After a brief pause, he finally dropped the bomb, "You're married to me."

Saying that he was very shocked was a very mild way to put Wolfram's reaction because he flat out screamed at the top of his lungs, at a frequency sufficient to even break glass, "What the hell do you mean 'I'm married to you'? That's impossible. The only way that could happen is if we had done a switching ceremony and something went wrong." Wolfram was livid.

At that Shinou spoke from where he was sitting on top of one of the three forbidden boxes, "Although this particular form is a little used and little known method, the items you stepped on when you entered were part of the switching ceremony. The glass of water that you broke and subsequently slipped on was placed in a circle and star shape made up of spoons and forks, which made the core of the ceremony platform. And when you accepted the spoon from my Great Sage, you accepted him as your fiancé. However, you unexpectedly cut your hand as well leading it to bleed and then took the sage's hand when he offered it to you. By doing this, even ignorantly, you made a blood bond with him."

Although Murata had told him that if Yuri proposed to Conrad, they wouldn't have to worry about them breaking up. Shinou, however, didn't feel the same; he felt that Yuri should understand the consequences. So, he further said, "By bonding with him through blood, you made sure that only a Blood and Fire Ceremony, which I'm sure you're well versed on, can reverse it, switch it or get you out of this marriage. Unless that is done and accomplished successfully, I'm afraid this arrangement is permanent."

Wolfram looked as if Shinou had grown a thousand heads and was dancing nude in public. He, however, regained his senses and nodded feebly as he, finally, understood the depth of it all, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it. Needless to say, he felt powerless and didn't take it well. But just as Shinou had pointed out, there was no turning back.

He turned slowly to leave. But before disappearing, he said these last few words to his ex-fiancé, "Don't think that I'm going to take this laying down, you Wimp. There has to be a way to reverse this and I'm not going to rest until I find a way. And when I do, I'll be free and you'll pay." With that, he stormed off without uttering another word, presumably to find Gunter. Yuri shivered at the threat.

Yuri wanted to stop Wolfram and apologize, however, that was not possible as Wolfram had already left. Also, it wouldn't do him any good to do so at this point, so he refrained. Yuri, however, was totally confused about one thing that Shinou had said earlier, so to divert his mind and satisfy his curiosity, he asked, "What's a 'Blood and Fire Ceremony'?"

"Shinou…" Murata warned. He didn't want Yuri to know about that.

Shinou, however, thought otherwise and ignored him. "When a couple is engaged or married and it's locked in the relation permanently, as in this case, the only way to get out of it is through a special method or ceremony. Both the partners have to cut their hand over a raging fire, while chanting a special chant. This chant will call upon the ancient spirits of the past. Most of who are usually the former Maohs. If they deem that both the partners are truly unworthy of each other, only then they shall release you from your engagement or marriage. This is known as 'The Blood and Fire Ceremony'. However, it must be kept in mind that it is an extremely dangerous ceremony and a very few people have actually survived it."

Yuri was afraid from the explanation. So, he asked, "Why? Does that mean that they would have rejected me, had I asked?"

"I'm afraid, Shibuya, that you can't do the spell alone." Murata explained. "The parties from both sides must be present there, both must want to do this and there shouldn't be another way out of the arrangement before you try this ceremony. Otherwise, the results would have been extremely unpleasant. In your case, Lord Von Bielefeld could have annulled the engagement at anytime."

Yuri then turned to Shinou, "But I don't understand, everyone talks about you and you alone. Why couldn't they just come and ask you? Why do they have to call the ancient spirits and stuff?"

"Ah", Shinou started the explanation. "Well, it all began with the 13th Maoh. He didn't believe that I existed. He was elected as the person whom the counsel of nobles felt would do the job best. He kept the fact that he didn't believe in me a closely guarded secret which only a few knew. He didn't want the 10 nobles to find out and kick him out of office. Well, from time to time during his reign, people would flock to him demanding that he annul their engagement or marriage, while others would demand that they be granted an audience with the Genshi Miko to allow them to see me and let me to do it. Seeing as to how he didn't believe in me, he came up with a brilliant solution. He hired the best majutsu users from around the kingdom to create a ceremony in which the Mazokus could summon the past Maohs to pass judgment on those wishing for the annulment of their relationships. However, the dead Maohs of the past didn't appreciate being awoken for something trivial like this. And so, a lot of people attempting this ceremony were killed. The 15th Maoh came up with the switching ceremony as you did today. He felt that if they truly wanted to simply switch, then they'd have to work for it, but he also fixed it to be a onetime only and permanent phenomenon, so that people wouldn't be doing it again and again, and thus, making a jest out of it. It wasn't till the 16th & 17th Maohs started coming up with simpler and also permanent solutions, that people stopped using those ancient methods and started using more modern ones. Everyone, eventually, forgot all about them, leading us to where we are."

Yuri was totally absorbed in the explanation. It was too fascinating for him. But even so, he couldn't help but sigh at the complexity of it all. He was just glad that he didn't have to tackle with the unwanted complex and fatal ceremony. But then, Wolfram's visage flashed in his mind's eye and his threat echoed inside his head. Suddenly, the color drained out of his face. He dreaded what his future held.

"Are you alright, Shibuya?" Murata asked concerned.

Yuri shuddered in response.

"Y-Ye-Yeah." Yuri replied. "I guess, I'm ok." 'Yet…' he thought internally.