Seeing this fat blob of a woman's come hither look continued to send chills down both Conrad and Shori's spines. Shori hiding behind Conrad he felt that maybe he was safe. Maybe this woman, thing whatever she may be wouldn't touch or bother him too badly with him behind Conrad.

Conrad on the other hand felt that at the very least this woman was obviously after Shori. However he didn't want to get between them or have this behemoth suddenly take a liking to him for standing up and protecting or defending Shori from her. So Conrad did the only thing he could think of at that moment he turned grabbed Shori's hand and they ran for it. They rounded a corner and they quickly ducked and made it down another hallway and into a room. They both cringed hearing "Lord Shori where are you?!" And the thundering sounds of the woman as she went passed the hallway.

"Where did she come from?" Shori asked trying to catch his breath. "She wasn't here last time."

Conrad sighed, "She caught Gwendal at a bad time and he hired her."

"Well now that she's gone, let's finish our discussion. What did you do to my brother!"

"I didn't do anything."

"Liar! You had to have done something! Otherwise he wouldn't have thrown away what he had with Wolfram for you!"

Conrad knew he wasn't going to get out of telling him. "It was a mistake."

"What was a mistake?"

"I was so relived and happy that Yuri was awake after being in that coma…I kissed him." Still taking the full blame for their first kiss.

"You-You KISSED HIM just after waking up! You took advantage of him in his vulnerable state and now thinks he's in love with you!"

At that Conrad looked into Shori's eyes, "Though the kiss may have been a mistake, I should have had a better rein on my feelings, I do love Yuri very much and I do not believe for an instant that Yuri's love for me is not real."

"How can you know that? We both know he's probably never kissed anyone before much less dated or been serious with someone! Not to mention breaking your brother's heart and driving Yuri away from him!"

Suddenly a noise spooked them both, they turned and looked at the window to find to their relief it was only Yozak.

"What are you doing here?" Conrad asked.

"Well, if you must know I heard that mountain of a maid rumble through and spotted you."

"So you came to eaves drop."

Yozak shrugged, "Why not, it looked like something interesting might happen." Then he approached Shori and said, "You should know that though Lord von Bielefeld did love Bochan very much, the feelings were never mutual. You can ask anyone in the castle and they'll all tell you the same thing, Bochan never looked for or at Lord von Bielefeld, no it was always Conrart he sought."

"But why now? Because of one kiss?"

Yozak shrugged, "Who knows? That may have just been the trigger, that finally made him really realize his true feelings."

"What do you know about his true feelings?"

Yozak grinned, "As a matter of fact the two of us had a nice long chat. He admitted that he didn't believe this was a simple crush. I believe him as he went through a lot of effort to get Conrart and then to get him to accept his feelings as real and not mere seeking comfort."

Shori ignored the strange glare Conrad threw Yozak over that statement and said, "And what did he have to say for himself regarding Wolfram?"

Yozak frowned, "Wolfram?"

"Yes, Did coming to this world suddenly turn him into a person with little to no morals? He did, much to my dismay learning of this, propose marriage to Wolfram. Whether I liked it or not they had been engaged for months by the time I found out. So why would he propose to one person and then suddenly throw them away like they meant nothing!"

"Now hold on a minute…" Yozak started but was stopped by Conrad's arm.

"I'm afraid you don't understand Shori."

"What's to understand he obviously loved Wolfram otherwise why would he propose."

Yozak snickered, "Well maybe if Bochan had kept his temper in check they'd have never gotten engaged."

"What the hell does his temper have to do with being engaged?"

Conrad sighed and said, "In this world when a royal proposes to someone you do so by slapping their right cheek. When Yuri first arrived in this world Wolfram insulted your mother and so Yuri slapped him there by sealing their engagement."

Shori blinked, "That's a joke, right. You actually want me to believe you people are that stupid!"

"It's not stupid!" Yozak defended.

"It is stupid!" Shori shot back. "So why not just call it off then if it was all a mistake!"

"I'm afraid only Wolfram could do that and he refused." Conrad told him.

"So this whole switching ceremony thingy you were talking about…" Shori started.

Conrad nodded and said, "Yes, it was the only way Yuri could get out of his engagement to Wolfram who wouldn't have let him out otherwise."

Shori glared at Conrad, "I still don't approve! You are his godfather! You're way too old for him!"

"Hey, wait a minute what does age really matter? I made sure that Bochan's feelings for Conrart were as genuine and..." He shot a glance at Conrad and said, "and not just a child with a crush and seeking comfort with kisses. Besides their both consenting adults you seem to be the only one protesting."

Shori was turning red, "What hell do you mean both consenting adults! Have you forgotten that Yuri is only 16! And my parents don't even know they may object as well! And who hell seeks comfort with kisses beyond maybe small children, although Yuri never did, girls might. But that's not the point!"

Conrad glared at Yozak for the seeking comfort comment.

Yozak grinned and looked back at Shori and said, "I'm aware of his age, he's a legal adult. And from what I've heard your mother really seems to like Conrart already so I'm sure she and your father will eventually come around and give their approval for the marriage."

Conrad sighed, "Yozak you don't understand, on Earth one not deemed an adult until they are 18. And my dating Yuri would be considered a crime since there he is still considered underage."

"What? Seriously? Well it's not exactly like your getting married or doing anything yet."

You could see the steam rising up from Shori's head at the yet comment. Conrad also glared at him for somehow he obviously knows nothing has happened between them yet. Yozak must have either guessed or spied on them somehow.

Deciding that if anyone was to kill Yozak it would be him, so to try to calm Shori a little he said, "I promise Shori I will do everything in my power and more to protect Yuri and to protect his heart."

Shori didn't like it, not at all. But he had no choice in the matter as Yuri basically shut him down when he'd tried to discuss it earlier and he didn't much care for Conrad's answers either. He decided he'd wait till later and try to talk to Yuri again alone and try to find out what's going on in that head of his. "Fine, we'll discuss this more later." He said leaving.

"So you think he might cause trouble? Should I keep an eye on him?"

Conrad shook his head, "No, I completely understand his feelings. He's only looking out for his little brother. He wants what is best for him. I suppose had Wolfram brought home that behemoth of a maid and claimed he was going to marry her we'd have all had a similar reaction."

Yozak shuddered; he still remembered when Conrad forced him to carry her back to her room. He almost dropped her more than once. He was no slouch when it came to carrying heavy things but that was almost more than even he could handle. "Don't even JOKE about such a thing! There's a BIG difference between Bochan wanting you and comparing anything to that thing!"

Conrad couldn't help but laugh.

x-x-x-x

On their way to the next town Wolfram slowed and rode beside Murata and said, "Ken, what were those strange objects you gave to that man? You shouldn't go around waving strange and potentially valuable objects at people! And giving away so many freely!"

Murata sighed, and said, "It's United States currency it's no big deal really."

"United States…" Why did that name sound vaguely familiar.

"It's where Bob's headquarters are."

Oh right the Maoh of Earth. Now he knew why that name sounded familiar.

"Few Japanese coins have faces on them and I thought the fact there were faces on the US ones would be more appealing." He had them left over from his last trip to America and just hadn't gotten then exchanged yet.

"Well don't give them all away yet we still have a long journey and we may need then to bargain with in the future!"

x-x-x-x

They approached what appeared to be a giant cave. They had asked around in town about any caves and were told about the destruction of most in order to make a new route between their town of Sesshome Rin and neighboring village of Inu Kage village. They got out some torches they had bought in town and lit them.

"This must have been too big to destroy completely so they simply made tunnels out of them." Murata said.

"Fine let's get to looking…uh what where we looking for again?"

Murata sighed, "Jakcor Crystals, there are two types a clear and a dark blue. We want the dark blue."

"And the clear ones?" Wolfram asked.

They turn orange when exposed to sunlight or any form of light for a short time and are useless for anything except appeasing the land spirits or if you have a thief problem you expose it to sun long enough it will explode. Anything other than sunlight once exposed they may or may not explode unless you left it under like the torches for five minutes."

"Fine Guards, search near the entrance of the caves and stay alert for anyone coming."

"Yes, sir!"

Murata sighed, this was not how he had hoped this journey would go. He had hoped that by now Wolfram would have warmed up to him if only a little.

He picked up a crystal and sighed, he still didn't know if any of the crystals they gathered from the Venus Waterfalls were really Aphrodite Crystals. It had taken them two days to get here but whenever they'd break for camp he'd ask about the crystals but...

"Lord von Bielefeld, can I have a look at those pink crystals to find out if any of them are real?"

Wolfram looked at him and glared and said, "Do I look stupid to you! You smashed those blue crystals that for all I know could have played a very big part of the ceremony. Now you're wanting me to trust you with these others! No chance! Gunter will look them over and verify their authenticity when we get back."

"When we get back? But then if none of them are real then we'll just have to set back out and try again."

Wolfram shrugged, "So be it."

Murata growled and stood up and said, "I'm telling you the truth those crystals were NOT in any way associated with this or any other ceremony except to summon a water spirit to bless your river or fountain."

"Yeah and I'm suppose to believe that!"

Murata was shocked, then he stormed off.

Since then Wolfram had kept the satchel with the crystals close to him at all times. Even now he had those in one satchel and putting more in a second.

'How am I going to ever gain his trust at this rate? I've never lied to him when he's asked me a question.'

He was still searching when he looked and saw that Wolfram had not trusted him when he told him the truth about those white crystals being useless, as he was stuffing several into his bag. If that didn't tell him they'd never make it nothing else would.

Then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, he looked and then bent down and picked up a dark blue crystal. He held it up to the torch and realized it was the real thing. His hands shook 'With this I could get out of this shame marriage.' Then he looked over at Wolfram again, 'Only I don't want it to be a sham and I want it to work.' Then he felt the crystal slip from his fingers he realized he could probably still catch it if he tried but instead he let it drop. And shatter into pieces.

Wolfram turned around eyes full of rage, "What hell do you think you're doing smashing more crystals!"

"Ah, ha, yeah sorry about that I was just about to call you over to show you when it slipped out of my hands."

Wolfram glared at him and Murata could clearly see he didn't believe a word he said. "Don't let it happen again."

Well Murata did find more crystals and was almost certain they were real but he couldn't smash them without Wolfram hearing it. So instead when he was sure Wolfram wasn't looking hid them in darker areas of the cave and covered them with dirt and rocks. He found other crystals that held no value in terms of ceremonies but collector of gems and jewelers often paid pretty good money for stuff like this. So he decided to give them to Wolfram and to see what he did. Then since Wolfram seemed to have a thing for the white crystals obviously not believing him when he came on this trip being honest about everything asked of them. So to test how much Wolfram really trusted him he held a couple of White crystals up to the light of the torch. Not long enough to make them hot enough to explode really just make them slightly unstable. Now that they had turned orange, the real test began, would Wolfram remember what he said and believe what he had been told or ignore what he had been told and put the crystals in his pack.

"I couldn't find any more blue ones." Murata lied, "All I could find were these crystal gems and these orange gems." Now to see if Wolfram remembered or even believed him about the orange crystals.

Without stopping to think about it Wolfram turned around and opened his pouch. "Fine put them all in here we'll deal with it more later."

"What? But I…"

Wolfram looked at him annoyed, "Is there a problem?"

Murata simply did as he was told and turned away saying, "No, never mind it was nothing."

Wolfram looked at Murata's retreating back and thought he saw sadness and well as a faint underline of anger. 'What's his problem? I gave him a bag to put stuff in, why was he insisting on giving them all to me?' Wolfram sighed and went back to searching. 'Yuri was basically an open book, this guy is too confusing. He wants trust after destroying those crystals. Sure he says they're not part of the ceremony but until Gunter analyses them how can I trust him. He's not exactly been trustworthy in the past.'

Then a guard yelled out, 'Someone's coming.'

Wolfram sighed, "Fine let's get out of here and see if the guards managed to find any."