Everyone was looking at them, Yuri was vaguely aware. He looked around once more and noticed several attendants were newly positioned all around their table in an obvious as well as inconspicuous manner. Several of them, just to see to the needs of their Maoh it seems. An image of a perfect host, although everyone looked a bit uncomfortable due to the awkward atmosphere hanging over their table.

'Oh my god! Even the waiters and waitresses are looking and so is everyone else. What am I going to do? They must be thinking of this as a date.' Some of them had even gone as far as to stop their work, just to have their hearts fill of their Maoh and his date.

'Date? Conrad!' It was as if all of a sudden he woke up with a start. The seriousness of the situation began to dawn upon him. It WAS a date. Yozak and Wolfram had hooked them up on a date. And they'd purposely chosen a public place so that none of them could escape. They, both, were supposed to look like a happy couple on a date. Or at the very least, clear the air surrounding their relationship. Yuri felt kicked awake and all of a sudden, his mouth went dry.

Conrad had told him the very same observation the moment they met, but he was too preoccupied and confused to be able to put two and two together. Hell, he was even having a hard time taking his eyes off Conrad's lips let alone to decipher his words.

He took a sip of water that the attendant had placed on their table a little while ago. He was getting unnecessarily nervous and jittery. He played with the water in the crystal goblet, holding it with its stem. Murmurings were going round the place. Occasionally, some of the wayward whispers, unintended for the royal ears, would reach Yuri making him feel even lower.

"You see them. They look so good together. Oh! I'm falling in love with them both. *Sigh*"

"But look how they're just sitting there without uttering a word. I wonder if something's wrong." Somebody said.

"Maybe one of them is going to propose."

Someone else would say, "No. Maybe it's not a date, but some sort of rejection. Just look at the gloominess on their faces."

"But they look too dressed up for that kind of occasion. Maybe, one of them IS going to propose."

"It must be the nervousness before the proposal."

"Wow. A fairytale."

"You never know how nobles do their things."

"No. Maybe, they're just breaking up."

"WHAT!"

"Aww. But they look prefect together."

"Hey! Isn't that man sitting with the king is his personal bodyguard. He's a half-breed you know." Someone said.

"Oh! Lord Weller. I've heard of him and his valor as well. I feel so nice to be able to see him finally. I must say that he's very handsome and a very good catch." came a reply.

"What are you talking about? He might be good but not good enough to be Shin Makoku's king or consort or whatever. He's a half-breed you hear." Previous man said.

"Don't talk that way. Besides, nobody cares if he's a half-breed or not. Haven't you learned at least that much about the king by now?" A woman countered.

"Don't take me wrong. I've no qualms against half-breeds but I still believe that the king should be a full-mazoku who'd be able to protect the kingdom." The same previous man countered.

"His current majesty is a half-blood." Someone else retorted.

"Yes. But he's very powerful, highly efficient in magic and quite a good king." The man earlier defended.

"I really don't think that having a powerful mazoku is a necessity to make a good king. Even several human kings are extra-ordinary." Someone else replied.

Yuri couldn't believe the debate he was hearing. Huh! At least he was glad that most of his people weren't bothered by half-breeds anymore. That was an achievement that Yuri was personally proud of. He smiled slightly.

However, in order to avoid the uninvited intruders, Yuri decided to once again face his partner.

A look at Conrad's face let him to see a number of emotions passing through his eyes. Conrad must be too deep into his thoughts that he didn't noticed Yuri examining him. Yuri couldn't even begin to guess what was going on inside Conrad. The emotions kept changing too quickly to be certain. There was grief, misery, helplessness and… Was that anger? Rage? Blind Fury?

At that instant, Yuri's mind froze. The look on Conrad's face was not that of the Conrad he knew but that of a warrior, of the Lion of Ruttenburg. To say it in simpler words, Yuri was terrified. His entire body was shivering and he was stunned. Quickly, he controlled his nerves and looked away. His mind was wandering.

'Why is he so angry? Is he so repulsed to be around me?' Yuri thought miserably. His eyes stung with unshed tears. He couldn't take it anymore. All this was hurting. It was hurting too much. 'Damn you Yozak, Wolfram. Where have you led me to?'

He tried to occupy his mind elsewhere. Slowly, the ongoing murmurings of the adjacent crowd reached his ears once again.

"Oh Please! Put that aside. What I am wondering is that how long has his majesty had Lord Weller as his secret lover?"

What was that? Yuri's ears perked up.

"I don't know about the two being lovers but I could guess that his majesty must be maturing. He must've gotten curious. Maybe he's just entertaining himself."

"I wonder how far they had gone."

"Yeah! Lord Weller is, after all, very close to him and very handsome. A right match for his majesty. They're always seen together whenever they're visiting the city. I've seen them once."

"Maybe they even meet for secret rendezvous."

"Ooooh!" A few gasps were heard.

"Maybe his majesty got fed up with the soldier and is here to break the bad news."

"You don't think that, maybe, Lord Weller failed to satisfy his majesty and that's why he's breaking up?"

"Maybe, Lord Weller knows of his majesty's decision already. That'll explain the gloomy looks on both their faces."

"But why so publically. Especially when they never announced in the first place and..."

Yuri tuned the rest out. If he hadn't been particularly tuned into this conversation than he might have missed it.

Yuri's eyes widened with horrors of the implications. His face fumed with indignity. How dare these good-for-nothing people assume things and insult his Conrad, throwing profanities at him. He wouldn't tolerate it. A look at Conrad's face told him that he was unaware of the entire discussion, lost, too deep in his own world.

Well, that was the first good thing that happened today. Yuri was grateful. He just didn't want to deal with an even lower self-esteemed and embarrassed Conrad in case he'd heard anything.

Nevertheless, it wasn't something that Yuri was going to overlook. If only he'd known who exactly said that. So, he did the best that he could in such a scenario. He glared his hardest in the general direction of the voice. Maybe, someone or everyone saw him and took the hint because the next moment, the entire place was shrouded in an entirely hushed silence whereas everyone pretended to mind their own business.

"This can't go on." Yuri thought. "Everyone's thinking that we're on some kind of a date. I better start a talk or else they're gonna think wrongly. Heck, they already started speculating and came to very wrong conclusions. I couldn't let Conrad be subjected to such indignity."

Mustering enough courage, Yuri decided to shove his own troubles behind and take matter in his own hands. Very confidently, he identified and signaled the manager of the establishment to come over, who, just like the rest of the people, was examining Yuri's every move discreetly. The said man reached over and bowed courteously, all the while thinking what was wrong?

The manager was monitoring them for quite some time. The sudden resolved look on Yuri's face and his beckoning to him set off alarms in his mind. And with all the gossip brewing around…sigh. Instinctively, he knew that he was in for some unwanted discussion.

xxxxx

Yuri looked calmly towards the approaching man. He had the strangest shade of sickly green hair…honestly…and deep burgundy eyes. 'Wow. He almost look like a freaking vampire.' Yuri thought but left it unsaid. Otherwise, the man was dressed quite primly and had an air of decorum about him. His every movement and posture screamed 'Etiquette' at the top of its lungs.

As Yuri started thinking about all that he'd heard and what he'd planned to talk to this man about he started to glow slightly and his hair started to lengthen and his eyes turned to slits, indicating he was going into Maoh mode. However Yuri managed to keep enough control so as the Maoh didn't fully take over and possibly destroy the place by writing judgment somewhere.

The man strolled confidently to their table and bowed reverently in front of them both.
"May I help you with something, Heika?"

x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x x-x-x-x

Chapter written by is_sm. I hope you like it.

Next chapter will also be written by is_sm.

9-23 It's my birthday! Well was it's a day late.