Love Me and Me Only

By: Asagi Tsuki

Summary: Ephraim consults Conrad about his problem again, and someone unexpected overheard

Ah… so here I am, writing yet another chapter of this series. I'm very sorry this takes a long time. I've got a writer's block, so yeah… anyway, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kyou Kara Maou

Chapter Nine

After the arrival of the Great Sage, Blood Pledge castle was getting more crowded, and definitely noisier, as the Great Sage is very talkative, and has a rather good sense of humor, if not strange.

Yuuri wasn't protesting or something, because he is his friend in both worlds, but sometimes, when Murata teased him, he couldn't help but feel annoyed and irritated, though he knew that whatever Murata said is true.

Also, Wolfram was started to lessen his distancing away from Yuuri, though he still stuck by Ephraim's side most of the time, even during practices because they were on the equal level, so it was a good practice for both of them. Yuuri wasn't that trained in wielding weapons, so Wolfram couldn't ask him to be a spar buddy or something of the sort.

"And that's the report for now," Conrad said as he bowed dutifully to Cheri who nodded her head approvingly at him. "It's been a week since Ephraim's arrival. The time we have left is not much, and we have to do something," he said with a sense of urgency that Cheri couldn't help but be serious as well.

"I know," Cheri nodded her head again, but now grimly. "If this continues on, Wolfie will feel betrayed and left twice, and he will surely break down," Cheri contemplated. "But, if we forbid him from being close to Ephraim, it would be unfair for the both of them," she added.

"And that's exactly the dilemma I'm facing right now," Conrad said with a sigh, and let his head drop a bit. "I don't know what to do, but I think it will be wiser to stay back."

"You mean, stay back and let them decide what they want?" Cheri asked, thinking over it for a minute. "But if they don't get the right push, they'd end up being hurt. All of them," she said with a trace of seriousness Conrad didn't know his mother could have, seeing that she's usually very carefree.

"Well, I'll always be there whenever they need an advice or something," Conrad said, leaning back on his armchair and thinking about it for a moment. "For now, the ones who have talked to me about their problems are Wolfram and Ephraim. I'll just have to wait before His Majesty do the same."

"Well, aren't I glad to have a son like you," Cheri said, smiling happily at him. "If you find out anything about the three of them, please, do tell me right away."

"Gladly," Conrad answered with a smile. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go to the training grounds to check on things," he said, and got out of the room.

"Hm," Cheri leaned back on the royal armchair she was sitting on, looking at the ceiling in the dim lit room, and wondered. "I wonder if I will be of any use to them…" she thought to herself, and let a bitter laugh. "Probably not as much as Conrad," she said sadly. "But I will always be there when they do need me."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Weller-kyo," Wolfram greeted as he nodded his head when he saw Conrad approaching. He was currently taking a break from practice spars with Ephraim, while Ephraim had gone to get something to drink for the both of them. "What brings you here?" he asked.

"Ah, so to be expected from my little brother," Conrad said calmly, his smile never leaving his face. "If I say I only want to take a walk, will you believe it?" he asked.

"No," Wolfram said flatly. "Why would you take a walk on the training grounds? That's something only sick people do," he added.

Conrad looked at him, and paused. "So you're saying Ephraim is sick?"

"He takes a walk on the training grounds?" Wolfram asked back incredulously. "I knew he is kind of a training freak, but I don't think it's that bad."

"Hey, sometimes training grounds has this soothing feel to it, alright?" Ephraim protested as he walked back towards them with two glasses of water, and handed one to Wolfram who nodded his head in gratitude. "People who take a walk on training grounds are not always sick."

"Whatever," Wolfram countered nonchalantly, and Ephraim looked at him, pursing his lips. "Anyway, are we going to continue the practice spar or not?" he asked, cutting Ephraim from saying whatever he was meaning to say. "It's still around three o'clock, I presume."

Ephraim looked at the sun, and shook his head. "I think it's enough practice for now. Go take a rest or a bath, whichever suits you better," he said dismissively. "I'll catch up later. I have something I need to do," he said as he smiled reassuringly at Wolfram, and motioned him to go first.

"Fine," Wolfram huffed, and walked away, going into the castle, and probably Ephraim's room.

"What is it that you want to talk about?" Conrad asked as he turned to face Ephraim as soon as Wolfram was out of his sight. "Something troubles you?"

"Yes," Ephraim sighed, nodding his head grimly. "I'm thinking about Wolf. He's still attached to me, and I'm fearing that he might break down or something."

"Yeah, I'm guessing the same thing," Conrad said, also nodding his head grimly. "But what can we do to make him change his mind in three weeks?"

"Two and a half," Ephraim corrected.

"What?" Conrad asked, as if not believing what he heard.

"I said, two and a half weeks," Ephraim repeated. "Surely you don't expect me to teleport from the place I was resurrected at to here, right? The trip took me three days," he explained. He then sat on the big rock Wolfram was sitting on earlier. "So it's two and a half weeks left. What can we do?"

"That's exactly the same dilemma I'm facing right now," Conrad said, and sighed a bit. He didn't think he would have to repeat the same sentence in the same day, and it wasn't even an hour since he last said that sentence.

Coincidence could be ridiculous sometimes.

"Yeah, so our last hope is His Majesty himself," Ephraim said. "We'll need him to convince Wolf that they're great together," he said solemnly.

"Look, Ephraim, I know you're not that happy about letting Wolfram go as soon as you meet him," Conrad sighed. "I won't be happy as well, if it helps," he added quickly, "But that's what's needed to be done."

"I know," Ephraim said. "And because I know, I feel a bit unwilling," he added, laughing bitterly at himself. "Still, I want to enjoy whatever little time I have with Wolfram before I go back to the Underworld," he added, staring longingly at the patch of grass in front of him.

"Two weeks and a half," Conrad sighed. "That's pretty little time, if I might say so," he commented, "But, if you die before he thinks of you as a friend only, then I don't know what will happen to him."

Ephraim looked at Conrad intently. "Are you implying something?" he asked, looking seriously at Conrad. "We both know that he will surely break down if that happens, but from your way of speaking, I'm pretty sure you have something else as a reason behind this," he said conclusively. "Now, do tell me what it is."

Conrad looked at Ephraim, at the castle—the general direction of Ephraim's room, and back to Ephraim. "I guess there's no use in hiding this from you," he said as he sighed softly. "When you died during the war several years ago," he started, "Wolfram tried to commit suicide."

"What!" Ephraim exclaimed in shock as he jumped up in surprise. "Is that true!" he demanded, holding onto Conrad's arms, shaking him nearly vigorously.

Conrad held Ephraim's arms back, forcing him to calm down a little.

"It is true," Conrad said regretfully. "He slit his own wrist, and we were lucky we found him on time, or he'd be a goner," he said, reflecting on the past event.

Ephraim slumped on the rock, covering his face with both of his hands. "I'm stupid," he said, his voice strained because he was fighting the urge to cry. "Why did I have to come back?"

Conrad looked at the man in pity. Wolfram had started feeling better after Yuuri came, and he was ecstatic when he saw Ephraim again, but there was no telling of what would happen if he was left by Ephraim for the second time. He could try something worse than slitting his wrist.

Conrad patted Ephraim's hand sympathetically, and offered a smile of apology. "Well, for now, all we have to do is convince him to love His Majesty truly."

Ephraim nodded wordlessly. It was all he could do.

Conrad was about to comfort him further, when suddenly Murata jumped out of a berry bush excitedly. "Alright! From now on, operation Get Wolfram to Love Yuuri is officially started!"

And the two men could only stare. There went the air of seriousness, disappearing behind the berry bush, or more exactly, behind the bouncing Sage.

End of Chapter Nine

There is a lot of serious talking in this chapter. Well, actually, I was going to make Yuuri overhear the conversation, and decided to let Ephraim have his fun with Wolfram while he still can, while Ephraim is determined to get Wolfram together with Yuuri. But, I decided to change the eavesdropping person to Murata.

I don't want the story to be so angsty, anyway, so sorry if you guys prefer the Yuuri-overhearing-the-conversation one.

Anyway, if you enjoy this, please do leave a review. And don't kill me. It took me less than thirty minutes to finish this chapter