Where the Road will Lead, chapter III
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Tomo Takabayashi and various publishers and studios. The poem is "Four Winds" by Sarah Teasdale. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warning: AU from the second season
Pairing: Yuuri/OC, Yuuri/Wolfram eventually
Note: This chapter is my entry for my fanfic100's table, writer's choice. I have tried to edit it, but this chapter is un-beta-ed, so I apologize in advance for any mistake.
Where the Road will Lead
Chapter III
"I don't think another party will be a good idea, Heika," Yozak sighed inwardly. He preferred to break the news to Gwendal or Gunter. Unfortunately, Heika had come in the middle of said conversation and, his curiosity picked, had demanded to be informed as well.
"Why not? I think it is a good one. What's better way to introduce Ryoko to everybody? And it is not only a party, Yozak, it is an open house," Yuuri said, grinning. He was throwing and catching his pen with his hands, and Yozak knew the King sincerely believed that it was a good idea.
Was Heika really that oblivious, or was he only pretending to be clueless? Didn't he know how hard it was to secure the palace when there was that big a crowd and anybody was granted the right to be there? Either way, Yozak decided, brutal honesty was the best way to inform Heika. After all, subtle allusions and hints would only loss to Heika.
"Heika, with all due respect, she is the reason why holding an open house is not a good idea,"
"Yozak! Watch your mouth! This is your queen you are talking about," Gunter said sharply. If a glare could kill, Yozak was sure he would already dead.
Gunter, he had long concluded, thought that Heika was the center of the universe, that Heika couldn't do any wrong.
His queen. It was funny, how all of them could accept that statement so easily. Had they forgotten that even a month ago, they had been so sure that Shin Makoku would have a prince consort instead of a queen? Yozak wanted to ask how they could have conveniently ignored that not a month ago, it was fairly sure that Wolfram was the consort-to-be. But he guessed voicing the question would gain him the dead glares from not only Gunter, but the others as well.
"And she is a human," he said instead.
That statement made the king to put his pen in the table and look at his advisors with disbelieve.
"I am a human," he stated the obvious, as if it would settle all arguments.
Yozak sighed inwardly. That was one fine example of how everybody had spoiled Heika. How many years had it been since Heika arrived in Shin Makoku? He should have understood the difference between his case and that girl's by now.
"Half human, Heika. And you have magic and were chosen by Shinou. No one here will dare to question you."
And you were filling an empty position instead of throwing someone out. But Yozak didn't say that last sentence out loud.
By the look in Heika's eyes, Yozak could say that Heika still didn't understand.
"Heika, what Yozak tried to say is that some Mazokus still think that they are better than human. They maybe won't say it to your face and they won't try to harm her, but it doesn't mean that they will accept her. Especially, since she is not only a human in Mazoku's territory, but also your wife, which made her their ruler," Conrad said.
"Yozak and Conrad have a point, Heika."
"Gwendal…"
Yozak could tell that Gunter was winding himself up for another rant. He snorted, and pretended to cough instead when he saw Gwendal was glaring at him. Of course, in Gunter's opinion, if Heika disagreed with it, then it must be an unworthy opinion.
"Gunter, you know that a lot of people won't believe that a human who knows nothing about our culture and tradition will fit to be Shin Makoku's ruler," Gwendal argued, and when he noticed that Yuuri started to open his mouth, no doubt wanting to argue that he was also clueless when he came there, he added, "She doesn't even have magic, Heika."
Gwendal, Yozak noticed, didn't mention anything about Wolfram. So he added, "And your previous fiancé is not exactly a commoner, Heika."
That statement earned him the glares of everybody in the room. Apparently, Yozak belatedly realized, there was an unspoken agreement between all of them to pretend that the brat was not exist.
"A lot of people love von Bielefeld- kyo. Not to mention, his family is influential," he ploughed forward unrepentantly.
Honestly, couldn't they figure it out between themselves? Two of them, after all, were the brat's own brothers. Didn't they remember that the brat was almost elected to be king before? That the ten aristocrats liked him and his family was quite powerful? Or that in the last twenty years or so, when Heika's visits were arbitrary and short at best, von Bielefeld-kyo had already acted as unofficial prince regent, with the support of practically everybody, aristocrats and commoners alike?
"Got to the point, Yozak," Gunter spat.
"Some will resent the fact that you casted him aside for her," Indeed, Yozak thought, some already did. He had heard the rumors about some nobles who wanted to take arms against Heika or some villages which planned to rebel. Luckily, so far it was nothing but rumors.
That statement made Yuuri stood abruptly and changed his happy-go-luck expression into an annoyed one.
"I was not casting him aside. Our engagement is an accident!"
"But you didn't dissolve it, Heika," Yozak couldn't stop his mouth from pointing that out. He liked Heika, but this denial attitude had just gone too far in his opinion.
Apparently, he was the only one with that opinion, because the glares he received from the others had positively turned into murderous after he said that.
"Okay, okay, I'll shut up," he said, lifting his head in a gesture of surrender.
"Back to our topic, we can make another party, Heika. We can invite our human allies and Shin Makoku's nobles. It will be easier to secure the parameter that way. Those people won't dare to do anything," stepping forward, Conrad tried to diffuse the tension.
"No. We'll host the open house."
There was some hard edge in Heika's eyes and voice, Yozak noticed. As if he couldn't stand that there was any allegation against his wife, any bad rumor about her. As if he wanted to proof that his wife was worth the queen position. Something he never had done for Wolfram.
This was not going unnoticed by the others, Yozak observed. There were looks being thrown around. Gunter was worried and a bit surprised, he concluded. There was something like pain in Conrad's face, was that for his brother or for his king? Gwendal, well, Gwendal was unreadable like usual.
Then Conrad, seemingly the appointed peacemaker, said, "Heika…"
"Look, I understand your concern, really. But what's better way to show them that Ryoko is a suitable queen rather than by introducing her to them? I want everybody, not only the nobles but also the people of Shin Makoku, to meet her. I am sure once they knew her, they will like her. Besides, an open house sounds nicer and more approachable than a party," Heika's voice was back to his normal, happy-go-luck tone. Still, Yozak knew that Heika had already made up his mind.
Gwendal apparently had come to the same conclusion for his next words were, "As you wish, Heika."
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It was true, Gwendal supposed, that you could only saw the truth when it was too late. It was also, unfortunately, equally true, that you would always want what you couldn't get.
He used to complain that Wolfram was too emotional, that Wolfram acted first before he thought. Yet lately, he missed that Wolfram. The cold, distance Wolfram made him feel uneasy.
He drank his wine.
He was praised as a child prodigy, so smart and so capable. But emotion, he knew, was a foreign territory for him. He had heard people talked behind his back that he was too rigid and too stern and he agreed to their conclusion. He was a practical man. He couldn't see the benefit of denial.
Facts were, he was good at strategy and brilliant at managing a country, but he couldn't manage to confess his feeling to the girl he liked, nor could he comfortably hugged his own brother.
In his defense, thought, it wasn't entirely his fault. He had been forced to grow up too quickly, first by people's expectations towards the queen's son, and later by the war.
Gwendal sighed. He put down the glass on the table and looked down at his hands. He had hit his baby brother.
He wouldn't blame Wolfram if Wolfram couldn't forgive him. He knew he was out of line.
But what else could he have done? He was, after all, a soldier. He was taught that the king and Shin Makoku were the most important things. To even consider otherwise was a treachery. It was their duties to protect the king, and by extension, his family.
And there was also an underlying fear, that Wolfram would do something rash like trying to kill Yuuri or his wife. His Wolfram would be branded a traitor then and there was nothing Gwendal could do to help him.
So he slapped him and spoke harshly to him, hoping that it would bring sense back to Wolfram. Sympathy, he had thought, would only prolong the grief and the sulk. Wolfram was better off if he could quickly realize Yuuri's and his places in the kingdom: the king and his soldier. There was no use to indulge in hurt. The faster Wolfram rebounded from the broken engagement, the faster he could start anew.
Unfortunately, all he had accomplished was helping to replace his brother with the stranger wearing Wolfram's face.
He was blinded, he knew. He thought that since he had practically acted as Wolfram's father, he knew Wolfram. He had been so sure that pride was the only reason Wolfram insisted on continuing the charade called his engagement. He had assumed that the arrival of the new queen would hit Wolfram's pride, but not his heart, and that Wolfram would have sulked and thrown some tantrums and then redirected his attention to something else.
He should have known better. He should have realized that while he was busy and hadn't spent a lot of time with Wolfram, his baby brother had grown up and changed.
It took Wolfram combusted on the middle of the party to make him realized the truth.
Gwendal poured more wine to his glass and gulped it down. He was the strategist and the regent of Shin Makoku. He could make grown mazoku quiver with a single glance.
Yet, at that moment, he felt loss.
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"I don't understand Wolfram," Yuuri complained petulantly, while trying to hit the ball with his bat. He missed it.
It was a nice evening. The sun was out but the sky was cloudy, with a gust of wind now and then. Better yet, he finally could escape his prison, also known as his office, and the never ending paperwork.
"He is the one who made a spectacle on the party and now he gives me the cold shoulder," he missed another ball.
"You brought back a wife. None of us was expecting that," Conrad said, throwing the next ball to him.
"But nobody else has tried to burn the palace! He scared Ryoko off. She is away from home, from everything that is familiar to her. She came to a strange, foreign country, and that's the welcome she received," Yuuri argued. He threw the bat to the grass without even trying to hit the latest ball and walked towards the shaded area, abandoning the effort to play altogether.
He didn't understand why everybody just let Wolfram threw the temper tantrum. To be honest, the silent treatment reminded him too much of a child that refused to talk to his parents because they didn't buy him the toy he wanted.
Conrad sighed and come to sit beside him.
"Do you know that she cried all night long that night? And I have promised to make her happy and turned out I can do nothing," Yuuri said, absently pulling at the grass beside him.
He remembered how he had felt when he first came to Shin Makoku, a stranger in a strange world. Why couldn't they understand how Ryoko felt?
"She's afraid. She asked me the other day whether everybody hates her. Wolfram hates her. Why can't Wolfram give her a chance? She has never done any wrong to him."
Ryoko was the nicest, kindest woman he had ever met. She was soft spoken and considerate.
"Heika…" Conrad was trying to say something, but at that moment, Yuuri was too worked up in his rant to stop it.
The thing had haunted hid mind and irritated him. Ryoko was too polite to complain but he knew she was unhappy. And he couldn't bear the thought that he had failed her somehow. He knew she was lonely.
"And he avoids me like a plague. I tried to talk to him, to explain. I mean, okay, I am married, but we are friends, right? And yes, there's the engagement thing, but I already explained it to him so many times that it is an accident. I mean, if I knew it would be like this, I would punch him instead of slapping him. Geez, and it is not fair of him to take it out on Ryoko, you know."
And Wolfram had professed his loyalty to him so many time, had promised to protect him. How could he do this to Shin Makoku's Queen, moreover to the person that was important to Yuuri?
"Heika," Conrad voice become stronger, louder, but again, Yuuri was incapable of stopping the flood of words that was pouring out of his mouth.
"I know that if Wolfram can act reasonable, the others will warm up to Ryoko as well. Why can't people give Ryoko a chance?"
"I don't want to be the one who is telling you this, but I don't think anybody else will. You are a good person and a good king, Heika, but sometimes you are just too blind to see what's right in front of your eyes!"
Conrad raised voice broke his rant.
"Huh? Conrad?" Yuuri lifted his head and realized that Conrad had stood up. His Godfather was angry, he could tell. Conrad's usual calm demeanor had disappeared and his normally calm eyes were shining somewhat eerily.
"Ryoko this and Ryoko that, all you are thinking about is that girl. Do you know that Wolfram was faithfully waiting for you for years? Does it even important for you? He was counting the days of your being back here, and then you came back with a wife!"
How could Conrad say that? He had after all made clear that the engagement was an accident since the start. Was it his fault that Wolfram was too stubborn and willfully ignored that fact?
"But the engagement…" He was trying to protest, to remind Conrad about that, but again, Conrad cut his sentence.
"I know the engagement is an accident, Heika. But you never broke it either. You gave him hope," he said, before walking away, leaving Yuuri alone with his thoughts.
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"Here you are, Wolphie. It's so hard to find you these days," Cheri said, pasting her best smile on her face.
"Mother. How can I help you?" the tone was cold and detached and it made her sad inside.
"My, my, Wolphie, don't be so formal," she said instead, acting like nothing had changed and hugging her youngest tightly.
Wolfram didn't struggle to escape like he usually would. In the other hand, he also didn't embrace her back. He just stood there and accepted it passively.
After a few moments, Cheri let him go. Wolfram nodded, and walked away.
"Excuse me, then. I have a report for Gwendal that have to be finished this afternoon."
The words were so formal, so unlike Wolfram and they were spreading dread in her heart. Was she losing him?
She had tried, after her confession to Conrad, to explain it to her youngest. But it was getting harder and harder to find Wolfram, as if he was avoiding his own family.
"I am sorry," she whispered.
Wolfram stopped and turned around. Cheri cheered a little inside. At least he stopped running away from her.
"Pardon?"
"You are angry with me, aren't you? I understand. I am sorry. I should have been angry on your behalf. I should have thought about your position more."
So many should have been, she thought. She should have been there when he grew up. She should have tucked him into bed and checked on his lessons' progress instead of being absorbed by politics and parties. She should have paid more attention to what she had, her sons, rather than running after an elusive love.
"Thing is, you look so much like me that sometimes I forgot that you are not me."
And it was not only their looks. He was passionate, just like her, and prideful, just like her.
"I am not a good mother. I went away too often, was pursuing my own desires too many times. I didn't spend enough time with you," the confession coming in a rush. The truth, she realized, was painful and she was to blame for it. Still, she couldn't help but wishing for him to understand. She wasn't perfect. It didn't mean she didn't love him.
"I thought it's just your pride preventing you from letting him go."
For a moment, there was something in Wolfram's eyes that gave her hope that he would forgive her. Then, the moment went away and the cold, indifferent look that was so wrong in Wolfram's face was back.
"It's fine. Now, can you excuse me, please, Mother?"
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Ryoko knew there was a saying about how people who was spying on others' conversation would rarely hear anything nice about themselves. But honestly, she didn't mean to spy on the maids' conversation.
Dinner that night had been uneasy at best. The previous Queen was absent, claiming a headache. And the conversation was stalled and abrupt, consisted mostly of please-pass-the-so-and-so. Yuuri was fuming, she could tell. Conrad excused himself before dessert was served, claiming some training or other. And von Voltaire was more sullen than usual.
Maybe it was the hostile atmosphere, but Ryoko found that she couldn't eat. The menu - although she couldn't pronounce the name - was excellent and the dessert was her favorite cake, which she knew was made upon Yuuri's request. Still, she spent almost the entire dinner time picking on the food.
So it was not a surprise, really, that she was awoken by hunger. She had debated whether or not she should just ignore it and went back to sleep, but her stomach refused to be pacified. In the other hand, Yuuri was sleeping soundly and she hated to wake him up just so he could accompany her to the kitchen. In the end, she decided that she was familiar enough with that part of the castle to reach the kitchen without getting lost and went to fetch a glass of milk.
It was a little past midnight, but to her surprise, the door to the kitchen was slightly opened and there was light coming through it.
At first, she took it as a good sign, since she didn't know where the maids had kept the milk or the leftover dinner and if they were still awoke, she could ask them. But just as she reached out for the door handle, she heard one of the maids spoke, "Still, it must be awful for von Bielefeld-kyo."
She was not sure whether it was the tone or the topic of the conversation that stopped her from opening the door. Instead, she hid herself beside it and waited for further conversation.
Yuuri had refused to admit that there was anything wrong. She knew he must have realized the tense atmosphere in the Castle, but for some reasons he had pretended that all was well.
She knew what she did was not polite, but she desperately wanted to know the reason why they act so cold towards her. Was it something she did? Was it simply because she was human? And the fire at the welcoming party, no one said anything about that afterwards. It looked like everybody was just too happy to pretend that it was never happened.
So when she heard von Bielefeld's name was mentioned, she simply couldn't help herself. After all, everybody had acted so strange around her, so secretive. That could be her only chance of getting an answer.
"Yup, to see Heika coming back with a bride and all. They are talking about him behind his back that he is not good enough so Heika discarded him and he is always so prideful." the second voice, that she vaguely recognized as belong to one of the maid, replied.
A bride? That must be her. But Yuuri discarded someone? Yuuri had someone else before her? He never told her anything about that. Ryoko sighed. It would be nice if Yuuri had warned her first before he brought her there.
And she must have heard it wrong, because from what the girl said, Yuuri had been engaged to von Bielefeld. Yuuri was not even gay!
Thought it did explain the spectacle at the party and why he had been so cold towards her. He must have been unable to accept the breaking of their relationship.
Still, she was quite sure, even if Yuuri had a boyfriend beforehand, they must have parted nicely. Yuuri was too kind to do what the maid implied he had done. It must have been rumors and nothing more. After all, Yuuri was the king, so it was no wonder that people would make a big deal of him breaking up a relationship.
"He shouldn't have hoped so much at the first place, though. I mean, Heika has practically screaming out that their engagement is a mistake every time. Surely he knew that Heika doesn't see them as couple."
Engagement? They were not simply lovers? Ryoko felt like her world was flipped upside down.
And Yuuri had told the other person - von Bielefeld from what the maids said - that it was a mistake. No, surely there was a misunderstanding. Yuuri was not a cruel person, and Ryoko knew that saying it was a mistake to be engaged, especially screaming it out loud enough for other people to hear, was not the most considerate way of breaking up with one's fiancé.
Yes, it must be a misunderstanding. After all, Yuuri didn't think that they were engaged, which mean that there must have been some miscommunication somewhere. Ryoko refused to believe that Yuuri could toy with someone affection like that. Pretending to love someone enough to get engage to them and then treating them that badly.
Maybe they weren't really engage. Perhaps von Bielefeld was the delusional one, seeing things that were not there.
"Still, coming back a married man and all… you know, I don't think anybody in the palace even knew that Heika has a girlfriend."
The words surprised Ryoko. She had believed that everybody had known about her beforehand. In the other hand, it explained why von Bielefeld had reacted that badly upon seeing her.
Maybe, she thought, it was time for her to have a talk with von Bielefeld.
Warning: AU from the second season
Pairing: Yuuri/OC, Yuuri/Wolfram eventually
Note: This chapter is my entry for my fanfic100's table, writer's choice. I have tried to edit it, but this chapter is un-beta-ed, so I apologize in advance for any mistake.
Where the Road will Lead
Chapter III
"I don't think another party will be a good idea, Heika," Yozak sighed inwardly. He preferred to break the news to Gwendal or Gunter. Unfortunately, Heika had come in the middle of said conversation and, his curiosity picked, had demanded to be informed as well.
"Why not? I think it is a good one. What's better way to introduce Ryoko to everybody? And it is not only a party, Yozak, it is an open house," Yuuri said, grinning. He was throwing and catching his pen with his hands, and Yozak knew the King sincerely believed that it was a good idea.
Was Heika really that oblivious, or was he only pretending to be clueless? Didn't he know how hard it was to secure the palace when there was that big a crowd and anybody was granted the right to be there? Either way, Yozak decided, brutal honesty was the best way to inform Heika. After all, subtle allusions and hints would only loss to Heika.
"Heika, with all due respect, she is the reason why holding an open house is not a good idea,"
"Yozak! Watch your mouth! This is your queen you are talking about," Gunter said sharply. If a glare could kill, Yozak was sure he would already dead.
Gunter, he had long concluded, thought that Heika was the center of the universe, that Heika couldn't do any wrong.
His queen. It was funny, how all of them could accept that statement so easily. Had they forgotten that even a month ago, they had been so sure that Shin Makoku would have a prince consort instead of a queen? Yozak wanted to ask how they could have conveniently ignored that not a month ago, it was fairly sure that Wolfram was the consort-to-be. But he guessed voicing the question would gain him the dead glares from not only Gunter, but the others as well.
"And she is a human," he said instead.
That statement made the king to put his pen in the table and look at his advisors with disbelieve.
"I am a human," he stated the obvious, as if it would settle all arguments.
Yozak sighed inwardly. That was one fine example of how everybody had spoiled Heika. How many years had it been since Heika arrived in Shin Makoku? He should have understood the difference between his case and that girl's by now.
"Half human, Heika. And you have magic and were chosen by Shinou. No one here will dare to question you."
And you were filling an empty position instead of throwing someone out. But Yozak didn't say that last sentence out loud.
By the look in Heika's eyes, Yozak could say that Heika still didn't understand.
"Heika, what Yozak tried to say is that some Mazokus still think that they are better than human. They maybe won't say it to your face and they won't try to harm her, but it doesn't mean that they will accept her. Especially, since she is not only a human in Mazoku's territory, but also your wife, which made her their ruler," Conrad said.
"Yozak and Conrad have a point, Heika."
"Gwendal…"
Yozak could tell that Gunter was winding himself up for another rant. He snorted, and pretended to cough instead when he saw Gwendal was glaring at him. Of course, in Gunter's opinion, if Heika disagreed with it, then it must be an unworthy opinion.
"Gunter, you know that a lot of people won't believe that a human who knows nothing about our culture and tradition will fit to be Shin Makoku's ruler," Gwendal argued, and when he noticed that Yuuri started to open his mouth, no doubt wanting to argue that he was also clueless when he came there, he added, "She doesn't even have magic, Heika."
Gwendal, Yozak noticed, didn't mention anything about Wolfram. So he added, "And your previous fiancé is not exactly a commoner, Heika."
That statement earned him the glares of everybody in the room. Apparently, Yozak belatedly realized, there was an unspoken agreement between all of them to pretend that the brat was not exist.
"A lot of people love von Bielefeld- kyo. Not to mention, his family is influential," he ploughed forward unrepentantly.
Honestly, couldn't they figure it out between themselves? Two of them, after all, were the brat's own brothers. Didn't they remember that the brat was almost elected to be king before? That the ten aristocrats liked him and his family was quite powerful? Or that in the last twenty years or so, when Heika's visits were arbitrary and short at best, von Bielefeld-kyo had already acted as unofficial prince regent, with the support of practically everybody, aristocrats and commoners alike?
"Got to the point, Yozak," Gunter spat.
"Some will resent the fact that you casted him aside for her," Indeed, Yozak thought, some already did. He had heard the rumors about some nobles who wanted to take arms against Heika or some villages which planned to rebel. Luckily, so far it was nothing but rumors.
That statement made Yuuri stood abruptly and changed his happy-go-luck expression into an annoyed one.
"I was not casting him aside. Our engagement is an accident!"
"But you didn't dissolve it, Heika," Yozak couldn't stop his mouth from pointing that out. He liked Heika, but this denial attitude had just gone too far in his opinion.
Apparently, he was the only one with that opinion, because the glares he received from the others had positively turned into murderous after he said that.
"Okay, okay, I'll shut up," he said, lifting his head in a gesture of surrender.
"Back to our topic, we can make another party, Heika. We can invite our human allies and Shin Makoku's nobles. It will be easier to secure the parameter that way. Those people won't dare to do anything," stepping forward, Conrad tried to diffuse the tension.
"No. We'll host the open house."
There was some hard edge in Heika's eyes and voice, Yozak noticed. As if he couldn't stand that there was any allegation against his wife, any bad rumor about her. As if he wanted to proof that his wife was worth the queen position. Something he never had done for Wolfram.
This was not going unnoticed by the others, Yozak observed. There were looks being thrown around. Gunter was worried and a bit surprised, he concluded. There was something like pain in Conrad's face, was that for his brother or for his king? Gwendal, well, Gwendal was unreadable like usual.
Then Conrad, seemingly the appointed peacemaker, said, "Heika…"
"Look, I understand your concern, really. But what's better way to show them that Ryoko is a suitable queen rather than by introducing her to them? I want everybody, not only the nobles but also the people of Shin Makoku, to meet her. I am sure once they knew her, they will like her. Besides, an open house sounds nicer and more approachable than a party," Heika's voice was back to his normal, happy-go-luck tone. Still, Yozak knew that Heika had already made up his mind.
Gwendal apparently had come to the same conclusion for his next words were, "As you wish, Heika."
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It was true, Gwendal supposed, that you could only saw the truth when it was too late. It was also, unfortunately, equally true, that you would always want what you couldn't get.
He used to complain that Wolfram was too emotional, that Wolfram acted first before he thought. Yet lately, he missed that Wolfram. The cold, distance Wolfram made him feel uneasy.
He drank his wine.
He was praised as a child prodigy, so smart and so capable. But emotion, he knew, was a foreign territory for him. He had heard people talked behind his back that he was too rigid and too stern and he agreed to their conclusion. He was a practical man. He couldn't see the benefit of denial.
Facts were, he was good at strategy and brilliant at managing a country, but he couldn't manage to confess his feeling to the girl he liked, nor could he comfortably hugged his own brother.
In his defense, thought, it wasn't entirely his fault. He had been forced to grow up too quickly, first by people's expectations towards the queen's son, and later by the war.
Gwendal sighed. He put down the glass on the table and looked down at his hands. He had hit his baby brother.
He wouldn't blame Wolfram if Wolfram couldn't forgive him. He knew he was out of line.
But what else could he have done? He was, after all, a soldier. He was taught that the king and Shin Makoku were the most important things. To even consider otherwise was a treachery. It was their duties to protect the king, and by extension, his family.
And there was also an underlying fear, that Wolfram would do something rash like trying to kill Yuuri or his wife. His Wolfram would be branded a traitor then and there was nothing Gwendal could do to help him.
So he slapped him and spoke harshly to him, hoping that it would bring sense back to Wolfram. Sympathy, he had thought, would only prolong the grief and the sulk. Wolfram was better off if he could quickly realize Yuuri's and his places in the kingdom: the king and his soldier. There was no use to indulge in hurt. The faster Wolfram rebounded from the broken engagement, the faster he could start anew.
Unfortunately, all he had accomplished was helping to replace his brother with the stranger wearing Wolfram's face.
He was blinded, he knew. He thought that since he had practically acted as Wolfram's father, he knew Wolfram. He had been so sure that pride was the only reason Wolfram insisted on continuing the charade called his engagement. He had assumed that the arrival of the new queen would hit Wolfram's pride, but not his heart, and that Wolfram would have sulked and thrown some tantrums and then redirected his attention to something else.
He should have known better. He should have realized that while he was busy and hadn't spent a lot of time with Wolfram, his baby brother had grown up and changed.
It took Wolfram combusted on the middle of the party to make him realized the truth.
Gwendal poured more wine to his glass and gulped it down. He was the strategist and the regent of Shin Makoku. He could make grown mazoku quiver with a single glance.
Yet, at that moment, he felt loss.
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"I don't understand Wolfram," Yuuri complained petulantly, while trying to hit the ball with his bat. He missed it.
It was a nice evening. The sun was out but the sky was cloudy, with a gust of wind now and then. Better yet, he finally could escape his prison, also known as his office, and the never ending paperwork.
"He is the one who made a spectacle on the party and now he gives me the cold shoulder," he missed another ball.
"You brought back a wife. None of us was expecting that," Conrad said, throwing the next ball to him.
"But nobody else has tried to burn the palace! He scared Ryoko off. She is away from home, from everything that is familiar to her. She came to a strange, foreign country, and that's the welcome she received," Yuuri argued. He threw the bat to the grass without even trying to hit the latest ball and walked towards the shaded area, abandoning the effort to play altogether.
He didn't understand why everybody just let Wolfram threw the temper tantrum. To be honest, the silent treatment reminded him too much of a child that refused to talk to his parents because they didn't buy him the toy he wanted.
Conrad sighed and come to sit beside him.
"Do you know that she cried all night long that night? And I have promised to make her happy and turned out I can do nothing," Yuuri said, absently pulling at the grass beside him.
He remembered how he had felt when he first came to Shin Makoku, a stranger in a strange world. Why couldn't they understand how Ryoko felt?
"She's afraid. She asked me the other day whether everybody hates her. Wolfram hates her. Why can't Wolfram give her a chance? She has never done any wrong to him."
Ryoko was the nicest, kindest woman he had ever met. She was soft spoken and considerate.
"Heika…" Conrad was trying to say something, but at that moment, Yuuri was too worked up in his rant to stop it.
The thing had haunted hid mind and irritated him. Ryoko was too polite to complain but he knew she was unhappy. And he couldn't bear the thought that he had failed her somehow. He knew she was lonely.
"And he avoids me like a plague. I tried to talk to him, to explain. I mean, okay, I am married, but we are friends, right? And yes, there's the engagement thing, but I already explained it to him so many times that it is an accident. I mean, if I knew it would be like this, I would punch him instead of slapping him. Geez, and it is not fair of him to take it out on Ryoko, you know."
And Wolfram had professed his loyalty to him so many time, had promised to protect him. How could he do this to Shin Makoku's Queen, moreover to the person that was important to Yuuri?
"Heika," Conrad voice become stronger, louder, but again, Yuuri was incapable of stopping the flood of words that was pouring out of his mouth.
"I know that if Wolfram can act reasonable, the others will warm up to Ryoko as well. Why can't people give Ryoko a chance?"
"I don't want to be the one who is telling you this, but I don't think anybody else will. You are a good person and a good king, Heika, but sometimes you are just too blind to see what's right in front of your eyes!"
Conrad raised voice broke his rant.
"Huh? Conrad?" Yuuri lifted his head and realized that Conrad had stood up. His Godfather was angry, he could tell. Conrad's usual calm demeanor had disappeared and his normally calm eyes were shining somewhat eerily.
"Ryoko this and Ryoko that, all you are thinking about is that girl. Do you know that Wolfram was faithfully waiting for you for years? Does it even important for you? He was counting the days of your being back here, and then you came back with a wife!"
How could Conrad say that? He had after all made clear that the engagement was an accident since the start. Was it his fault that Wolfram was too stubborn and willfully ignored that fact?
"But the engagement…" He was trying to protest, to remind Conrad about that, but again, Conrad cut his sentence.
"I know the engagement is an accident, Heika. But you never broke it either. You gave him hope," he said, before walking away, leaving Yuuri alone with his thoughts.
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"Here you are, Wolphie. It's so hard to find you these days," Cheri said, pasting her best smile on her face.
"Mother. How can I help you?" the tone was cold and detached and it made her sad inside.
"My, my, Wolphie, don't be so formal," she said instead, acting like nothing had changed and hugging her youngest tightly.
Wolfram didn't struggle to escape like he usually would. In the other hand, he also didn't embrace her back. He just stood there and accepted it passively.
After a few moments, Cheri let him go. Wolfram nodded, and walked away.
"Excuse me, then. I have a report for Gwendal that have to be finished this afternoon."
The words were so formal, so unlike Wolfram and they were spreading dread in her heart. Was she losing him?
She had tried, after her confession to Conrad, to explain it to her youngest. But it was getting harder and harder to find Wolfram, as if he was avoiding his own family.
"I am sorry," she whispered.
Wolfram stopped and turned around. Cheri cheered a little inside. At least he stopped running away from her.
"Pardon?"
"You are angry with me, aren't you? I understand. I am sorry. I should have been angry on your behalf. I should have thought about your position more."
So many should have been, she thought. She should have been there when he grew up. She should have tucked him into bed and checked on his lessons' progress instead of being absorbed by politics and parties. She should have paid more attention to what she had, her sons, rather than running after an elusive love.
"Thing is, you look so much like me that sometimes I forgot that you are not me."
And it was not only their looks. He was passionate, just like her, and prideful, just like her.
"I am not a good mother. I went away too often, was pursuing my own desires too many times. I didn't spend enough time with you," the confession coming in a rush. The truth, she realized, was painful and she was to blame for it. Still, she couldn't help but wishing for him to understand. She wasn't perfect. It didn't mean she didn't love him.
"I thought it's just your pride preventing you from letting him go."
For a moment, there was something in Wolfram's eyes that gave her hope that he would forgive her. Then, the moment went away and the cold, indifferent look that was so wrong in Wolfram's face was back.
"It's fine. Now, can you excuse me, please, Mother?"
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Ryoko knew there was a saying about how people who was spying on others' conversation would rarely hear anything nice about themselves. But honestly, she didn't mean to spy on the maids' conversation.
Dinner that night had been uneasy at best. The previous Queen was absent, claiming a headache. And the conversation was stalled and abrupt, consisted mostly of please-pass-the-so-and-so. Yuuri was fuming, she could tell. Conrad excused himself before dessert was served, claiming some training or other. And von Voltaire was more sullen than usual.
Maybe it was the hostile atmosphere, but Ryoko found that she couldn't eat. The menu - although she couldn't pronounce the name - was excellent and the dessert was her favorite cake, which she knew was made upon Yuuri's request. Still, she spent almost the entire dinner time picking on the food.
So it was not a surprise, really, that she was awoken by hunger. She had debated whether or not she should just ignore it and went back to sleep, but her stomach refused to be pacified. In the other hand, Yuuri was sleeping soundly and she hated to wake him up just so he could accompany her to the kitchen. In the end, she decided that she was familiar enough with that part of the castle to reach the kitchen without getting lost and went to fetch a glass of milk.
It was a little past midnight, but to her surprise, the door to the kitchen was slightly opened and there was light coming through it.
At first, she took it as a good sign, since she didn't know where the maids had kept the milk or the leftover dinner and if they were still awoke, she could ask them. But just as she reached out for the door handle, she heard one of the maids spoke, "Still, it must be awful for von Bielefeld-kyo."
She was not sure whether it was the tone or the topic of the conversation that stopped her from opening the door. Instead, she hid herself beside it and waited for further conversation.
Yuuri had refused to admit that there was anything wrong. She knew he must have realized the tense atmosphere in the Castle, but for some reasons he had pretended that all was well.
She knew what she did was not polite, but she desperately wanted to know the reason why they act so cold towards her. Was it something she did? Was it simply because she was human? And the fire at the welcoming party, no one said anything about that afterwards. It looked like everybody was just too happy to pretend that it was never happened.
So when she heard von Bielefeld's name was mentioned, she simply couldn't help herself. After all, everybody had acted so strange around her, so secretive. That could be her only chance of getting an answer.
"Yup, to see Heika coming back with a bride and all. They are talking about him behind his back that he is not good enough so Heika discarded him and he is always so prideful." the second voice, that she vaguely recognized as belong to one of the maid, replied.
A bride? That must be her. But Yuuri discarded someone? Yuuri had someone else before her? He never told her anything about that. Ryoko sighed. It would be nice if Yuuri had warned her first before he brought her there.
And she must have heard it wrong, because from what the girl said, Yuuri had been engaged to von Bielefeld. Yuuri was not even gay!
Thought it did explain the spectacle at the party and why he had been so cold towards her. He must have been unable to accept the breaking of their relationship.
Still, she was quite sure, even if Yuuri had a boyfriend beforehand, they must have parted nicely. Yuuri was too kind to do what the maid implied he had done. It must have been rumors and nothing more. After all, Yuuri was the king, so it was no wonder that people would make a big deal of him breaking up a relationship.
"He shouldn't have hoped so much at the first place, though. I mean, Heika has practically screaming out that their engagement is a mistake every time. Surely he knew that Heika doesn't see them as couple."
Engagement? They were not simply lovers? Ryoko felt like her world was flipped upside down.
And Yuuri had told the other person - von Bielefeld from what the maids said - that it was a mistake. No, surely there was a misunderstanding. Yuuri was not a cruel person, and Ryoko knew that saying it was a mistake to be engaged, especially screaming it out loud enough for other people to hear, was not the most considerate way of breaking up with one's fiancé.
Yes, it must be a misunderstanding. After all, Yuuri didn't think that they were engaged, which mean that there must have been some miscommunication somewhere. Ryoko refused to believe that Yuuri could toy with someone affection like that. Pretending to love someone enough to get engage to them and then treating them that badly.
Maybe they weren't really engage. Perhaps von Bielefeld was the delusional one, seeing things that were not there.
"Still, coming back a married man and all… you know, I don't think anybody in the palace even knew that Heika has a girlfriend."
The words surprised Ryoko. She had believed that everybody had known about her beforehand. In the other hand, it explained why von Bielefeld had reacted that badly upon seeing her.
Maybe, she thought, it was time for her to have a talk with von Bielefeld.