Conrad, although he had no children of his own, wasn't completely clueless. He knew that Anissina had been right; it wasn't impossible but still unlikely that the baby was going to arrive within the next few minutes, and he also realized that there were no place for him or any other man in that room. His mother was in good hands. He and the others were probably going to have to wait for awhile; no big deal.

But what were they going to do while waiting? Yuuri and Wolfram were hopefully talking, and Greta… Conrad felt a bit guilty for not thinking about the child when Anissina chased her away and Yuuri walked away from her, but she was hopefully with Gwendal or Günter. Now that he was alone, he wanted to… He didn't know what exactly. There were just so many thoughts running through his head.

Memories from Wolfram's birth were haunting him: Anissina had been too young to take charge of anything, Gisela hadn't been there, but there had been other women, maids and healers, and no one had noticed him. Wolfram's father wasn't even there, and Gwendal was in his room, and Conrad had been hiding under a table in a room next to his mother's. He had heard his mother's cries and after a little while he stopped trying to cover his ears, and then he had heard Wolfram's first cries.

He had crawled out of his hiding place and he opened the door to the adjoining room even though he thought that he shouldn't be there. But his mother had smiled at him through the pain that still marked her face and she had beckoned him closer…

Nothing had ever made him stop loving Wolfram. He had sworn to protect him no matter what, protect him against anything.

That had been an easy promise for a child to make to his baby brother. Keeping it had been challenging at times but he had never truly doubted that he wanted to keep it. But now he had to realize that things were getting complicated beyond his control.

Conrad paced the lawn in a corner of the garden, and he looked at the insects among the flowers. There's a black spot on that butterfly's wings… black like Yuuri's hair… If it leaves that red flower and goes to the yellow one next, then it's a sign that Yuuri won't insist on seeing 'Sara' after all…

The butterfly went from the red flower to a purple one and to a blue one next, and then to another blue one, and Conrad knew that it was childish to look for 'signs' like that anyway…

He had to accept that he couldn't protect Wolfram from having his heart broken. He had to accept that he couldn't keep Yuuri from Saralegui, not if the young king really had made his mind up… The situation was absurd and impossible, but if anyone could make it work, then it was Yuuri…

The butterfly with black spots on its wings it disappeared behind the trees, just like Yuuri was going to disappear, not only to Earth but to Small Shimaron, and there was nothing anybody could do to keep him where he should be, if Gwendal's words hadn't gotten through to him…

Conrad had never been amused by chasing butterflies to put needles through them and put them in glass boxes…

"Um, Conrad?"

The voice behind him caught him by surprise. He spun around quickly and tried to compose himself in the blink of an eye. He was a soldier; he shouldn't be caught off guard… never mind that it was only Günter who was standing there…

"We are all waiting now", Günter said, as if to excuse his presence. When Conrad nodded, Günter continued:

"How long have you known?"

Conrad didn't have to think long about it to know what the other man was referring to. Günter looked paler than usual in the bright sunlight, as if he hadn't gotten enough sleep lately.

"Not very long", Conrad said. "Yozak told Gwendal first, then Beryes came to give the same message, and we all talked about it with the sage. We all agreed not to tell anyone, and Yozak went to retrieve Yuuri immediately."

"You thought it wasn't safe to tell me until shortly before His Majesty's and Yozak's return", Günter said. "You thought I'd be too upset…"

"Well…" Conrad didn't know how to respond to that, because that was the truth, even if admitting it would perhaps be too disrespectful. "Aren't you upset?" he asked.

"But of course!" Günter's eyes sparkled. "His Majesty Yuuri is suffering from an impossible love; how could I not be upset?! Aren't you?"

"To be perfectly honest with you…" Conrad sighed. "Yes, I am. On the other hand; Yuuri isn't completely unamenable to reason. He's going to do the right thing."

"Yes, but…" Günter's went dreamy and troubled. "What is the right thing, in matters of the heart? You know that I love His Majesty; I don't want to lose him to another kingdom and if your brother wanted to fight for him, who knows; I might be on his side… But I also wish for nothing more than my king's happiness so if it came to that I might try to keep Wolfram away from His Majesty – also because I love him. You see what I mean? What am I supposed to think and feel? What if he asks me for advice?!"

Conrad didn't reply. He and his friend and ex teacher walked well together. It didn't feel like either of them had to adapt his pace to the other; they found a rhythm and kept walking, as if they were going to find the answer they were looking for somewhere in that corner of the garden, together.

It was a pretty corner of the garden. The flowers were bright and their scent was rich; it was the vibrant peak of the summer when everything seemed to be bursting with colors simply because it was too hot to keep anything bottled up. Just like his mother felt that her time had come, the flowers felt that they had to give their everything to the world. Conrad supposed that Yuuri's attraction to Saralegui was just as irresistible as the flowers' longing to display their deepest colors, and in theory, such feelings were something to be happy about…

"Of course, I always knew that His Majesty never truly loved Wolfram…"

It felt like an eternity of silence had passed, and at the same time, nothing was different. The topic on their mind was still the same.

"Because", Conrad replied and couldn't help teasing Günter a little, "you are so infatuated with him that you didn't want him to love Wolfram!"

"Not true!" Günter blushed. "I object to that. I do not love His Majesty in an adulterous way; I wouldn't… um, I mean, that is…"

Conrad laughed a little. In a way, that probably was true and in another way, perhaps not… but Günter was not and would never be Saralegui; his adoration of the young king was not a secret and yet even Wolfram didn't care that much about it.

"I understand you perfectly", Conrad reassured him. "Your feelings for your king are entirely noble and appropriate… most of the time."

He smiled, but Günter snapped:

"Well, what about you?! Can you honestly say that you have never been the least bit jealous of your younger brother?"

Conrad flinched and found himself momentarily lost for word. He hadn't expected Günter to take his teasing so seriously, but now that he thought about it, he realized that he had probably chosen the wrong way to lighten up the mood.

When he thought about it some more, he realized that he hadn't really been trying to lighten up the mood at all. He just wanted to… he just wanted to… to talk about it. It was an unexpected need, sudden and a bit worrying, but there it was.

"Honestly, Günter…" he said. "Honestly, until recently I thought the answer to that question was 'yes'. So I guess, up until now, I haven't been aware of any feeling of jealousy I might have felt. Maybe I've just been lying to myself…"

"That's what I thought", Günter said. "But you have been lying to yourself, for Wolfram's sake. We all just want what's best for the ones we care about, isn't that right?"

"Right", Conrad said. "And Yuuri is so young… The engagement was too sudden, that's true, but Wolfram did fall in love with him. Yuuri could have fallen in love with him, too, eventually… that's what I believed. Or, maybe…"

"Or maybe they would have just broken up quietly in mutual understanding and friendship", Günter added. "And then he would have stayed with us. That would have been the right thing to do."

"Yuuri means well", Conrad said, "but he's young. You can't expect a very young person to always have the best judgement. You even said yourself that you don't know what to think about all this."

"Oh, be quiet!" Günter showed his temper again. He stopped and the comfortable pacing in perfect unison was no more. "You can be so annoying sometimes, Conrad. Well, forgive me for saying so, but I just can't stand that shrewd King Saralegui!"

For added emphasis, he finished with an uncharacteristically coarse oath, and stomped away from Conrad.

So, he was alone on the sundrenched lawn. What was he doing there? What was he supposed to do with all his half-baked thoughts?

He plopped down on the grass with a heavy sigh. There was nothing he could do, except to keep doing his job: his job as a brother, and his job as a soldier/godfather… Nothing has changed, he decided, not really – whatever Yuuri decides to do, Wolfram will get over it and I'll stay by their sides!

Then, suddenly, a chill went down Conrad's spine, never mind the sun was still unclouded and the trees unmoved by the wind.

What if Yuuri went to live with Saralegui and decided that Beryes could protect both of them? What if he decided that he didn't need Wolfram or his brother anymore?

And whatever Yuuri decided in the end, one problem remained…

How am I going to support Yuuri without making Wolfram seriously hate me this time?