Conrad watches Yuuri grow from a young, woefully inexperienced boy into a slightly more confident, slightly more experienced and slightly taller King. The transformation is slow but steady; it's in the way Yuuri begins to hold himself and even walk differently, and in the way he accepts help more when he has to, and less when he only wants to. Conrad stands back and lets Yuuri do his growing, because some things are better enjoyed watching from afar than up close, and after all he doesn't wish to interfere - he knows that the best way for someone to become their own person is to allow them to make mistakes, after all, and learn from them.

But he can't help enquiring after Yuuri, when the Maou returns to Shin Makoku one afternoon, coughing up a little water and rather red-faced. Conrad is quite certain (although he politely asks anyway), that Yuuri is not red-faced simply from holding his breath on the way back from Earth.

"Is everything alright, Heika?"

"It's Yuuri", the Maou replies with no real heat - in fact, he looks rather distracted, and the words are said more out of habit than anything else. He looks down at his feet and almost falls back into the pool before Conrad catches his hand to help steady him. "And I'm fine." As Yuuri looks away as he says it and avoids eye contact, Conrad isn't buying a word of it (and however much Yuuri grows, deception is one thing that Conrad is sure Yuuri will never get much better at).

"Are you quite sure?" Conrad prods, just in case Yuuri might secretly want some encouragement. But apparently Yuuri doesn't - or at least, not now - because Günter chooses this moment to appear around the corner, holding a towel and looking positively overjoyed to see Yuuri again. When at any other time Yuuri would be looking for a way out of Günter's over-enthusiastic greeting, he now looks almost glad of the excuse to get away from Conrad's concerned gaze. He allows Günter to lead him away, looking back at Conrad only to make an apologetic face. "Later", he mouths, before he is pulled into the castle.

Conrad gives it two hours before he heads in the direction of what is now more or less Yuuri's official office, since it is now getting dark and he is sure that, whatever Yuuri's embarrassment over whatever-it-was earlier, he will be itching to get away from the seemingly endless stacks of papers that need to be signed.

"My hand is getting sore, Günter, I'm sure some of these could wait until tomorrow-" Yuuri breaks off when he sees Conrad enter the room, and a smile breaks out on his face. "See, and I promised Conrad I'd see him about... you know, that really important thing I promised I'd... right, Conrad?"

"Oh yes, of course", Conrad agrees quickly, seeing Yuuri's rather comical desperate looks and thinking that it wasn't entirely a lie anyway. I'm sure His Majesty will have plenty of time to sign more papers tomorrow-" Yuuri rushes out at the excuse, dragging Conrad with him and leaving a distraught Günter in his wake.

He doesn't stop until he's outside, taking a huge gulp of fresh air as if he'd been locked up in a cell for days. Then he sits with a groan of relief, and Conrad sits on the grass by the fountain with him, quiet. His experience tells him that if Yuuri wants to talk, silence will be the best form of encouragement. Sure enough, Yuuri shuffles his feet nervously and clears his throat.

"You know, Conrad... my Mum's a pretty weird person."

Conrad can't help but smile at his own memories of Yuuri's Mother, who reminds him of his own Mother more than a little at certain times. "I can see how that might come across", he agrees as solemnly as possible.

"Yes, well, so... she likes to just say and do whatever pops up in her mind I guess. Do you know she used to dress me up in girl's clothes when I was little? With pigtails and everything! I swear, she's not really all there sometimes..."

"Mothers can be quite... original sometimes", Conrad replies, wondering where this is going.

Yuuri clears his throat again. "Yeah, so... the other day she was cleaning my room and... well, she kinda snoops sometimes, maybe without actually meaning too. And she found some stuff in my room, and... ah, she wouldn't shut up about it after she did, offering me all kinds of advise and not letting me get a word in edgeways, you know what she's like."

"Oh? What did she find in your room?" Conrad figures that he may as well be direct with his questions, since Yuuri opted to tell him anyway. A lot of things run through his mind - after all, Yuuri is a teenage boy who is in the process of a lot of things, thus there are quite a few possibilities (admittedly most of them of a sexual nature), that occur to him.

"A book."

That surprises Conrad, who is not usually surprised so easily. Out of all the things he might have expected Yuuri to say, 'a book' is not one of them.

"A book, Hei- Yuuri?"

Yuuri nods miserably. "It had... stuff, in it."

"Ah", says Conrad. "Something like a diary or journal, then?"

"Not exactly", Yuuri replies, now looking decidedly uncomfortable. "More like... different writing. You know, like poems and stuff. That I wrote, I mean."

Conrad thinks about this for a moment. There's not any particularly delicate way to phrase the next inevitable question. "What sort of poems?"

"Kindoflikelovepoems", Yuuri mumbles.

"I see." Conrad blinks, a little confused. He can see why this might be a source for some embarrassment, but compared to what Yuuri's Mother might have found or what might have been written in the book, love poems don't sound like something to get especially worked up over. But then, knowing Yuuri's Mother- "So she assumed there was someone you liked, and decided to give you some advice on the matter?" Conrad surmised.

Yuuri gives another dejected nod. "'Some' is putting it lightly. She started speaking and didn't stop until Shori came home, and then of course she had to tell him all about it, and then he wouldn't shut up about it and demanded to know who it was and... and how far I have gone... his words, not mine", Yuuri shudders. "It was mess! I had to escape by jumping into the bathtub!"

It's all so typical of Yuuri's family that Conrad has to hide a smile. It makes more sense now, though. Yuuri is, after all, growing up, and it is certainly a time in Yuuri's life for things like curiosity and exploration to take an active part. So Conrad nods understandingly and takes care not to laugh. "It's only natural at this point in time, Yuuri", he says. "Everyone goes through the same things - it doesn't matter if you're Human, Demon, or something in-between - everyone experiences the same sort of thing. I did."

Yuuri looks a little startled at this, like maybe he can't quite imagine Conrad going through the awkward-teenage stage of life. "Are you sure about that?" he asks a little skeptically.

"Quite sure", says Conrad firmly. "I still remember the first encounter I had with someone I liked. She was Human, too, and I remember thinking that I'd never feel the same about anybody else as I did about her. She had long brown hair and freckles across her nose... I even wrote a little poetry to her. Oh yes", he adds as he sees Yuuri's look of disbelief. "I don't know how it is on Earth, but in Shin Makoku it's considered a standard part of courtship to write poetry for someone you like."

"Er... well, even so", Yuuri says, now looking intently down at the ground again, "it's still not exactly the same.

Conrad tries to reassure Yuuri that the situation can't be so bad. "I'm sure that things will work themselves out between you and the one you like, Yuuri. And I'm sure that your lady friend will like the poems you've written her, too."

Yuuri blanches. "Um... yes, you see, it's not quite... it's just not the same that", he stutters.

"You'll see", says Conrad, warming to the subject and quite proud that Yuuri is becoming less and less childlike every day. "These things do have a way of working themselves out. If you like, I'm sure that Günter would be happy to talk to you about other customs that are appropriate for this type of situation, especially as I don't believe that our customs differ so much from those of Earth."

"It's not that I'm unsure of what to do, exactly", Yuuri hedges. "It's just... writing poems isn't what I'm best at - I'm a boy, you know? So I don't know if poems... and everything else I've though of is just so... awkward."

"What about flowers?" Conrad suggests. "We have a flower garden that Mother planted years ago, but which still grows beautiful flowers even now that it's growing cooler. As I'm sure you're aware, many women would appreciate a gift of flowers as a sign of a male's affection."

"But how will I know- I mean, maybe it's too soon? Even if I do use poetry or flowers as a way, maybe it's just too fast and I'll wreck the whole thing, or make it seem like-"

Yuuri sounds like he's starting to panic slightly at the mere thought of it, so Conrad stops him with the firmest tone he can manage. "If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that feelings like these should be acted upon before it is too late to do so", he says quietly, ignoring the fact that he is being hypocritical in saying so. "Any woman would be lucky to have you as their admirer."

Yuuri doesn't say anything this time. The silence draws out until Yuuri finally looks up at Conrad again, with a more determined look in his eyes. "I guess I need to think about it for a bit", he says, and Conrad is glad that Yuuri seems to have resigned himself to some sort of decision. "Thanks for the advice, Conrad."

"You're very welcome, Yuuri." Soon it will be dark outside, so Conrad escorts Yuuri back inside the castle, where the smells of cooking waft over them both and draw them to the main communal area where people are starting to gather before dinner.

And later, much later, when Conrad finishes his soldiers duties for the night and when he has put the conversation with Yuuri more or less from his mind after hearing the usual reports from Josak and others who he is responsible for, Conrad is finally able to retire to his room. He has only just entered and closed the door behind him when he realises that things are not as they ought to be. Meticulous and detail-orientated by nature, he notices even from across the room that someone has been in here and carefully rearranged things. It is not much, but Conrad nonetheless notices immediately that his pillow by the head of the bed has been moved slightly, and that there is something poking out from beneath it. All else seems untouched.

Conrad silently crosses the floor to his bed, more curious than anything as he is confident after a sweeping gaze that nothing has been touched but this. He moves the pillow further down the bed and stares for a moment at two objects: the first, a scrap of paper with a few scrawled lines of writing in black ink which Conrad has to scan over twice to be sure of what he is actually reading. The second: a single vivid blue flower, still fresh from where it has been picked from the garden.

It occurs to Conrad at this point that there has been, on his part, a rather momentous misunderstanding. Things click into place rapidly then, and Conrad realises that there might just be time, if he hurries, to find Yuuri before he retires to bed. It is high time he took his own advice.