Chapter Text
Three months into our honeymoon, and I’m being violently sick.
“Wolf…”
I glare at my newlywed husband, and he shirks away like a frightened mouse. “This is all your fault! If you weren’t so stubborn about—Urgh!”
The remains of my already meager breakfast disappear into the sea.
“I’m sorry, Wolf…” He looks so sincerely miserable that I almost forgive him. Almost. “If I had known… But I thought that with Giesela here…”
A familiar warmth presses against my back as he wraps his arms around me from behind. I can feel his heart pounding steadily through his chest, and its rhythm soothes my suffering just a little.
I sigh. “All right, all right. It’s my fault that I get seasick so easily.”
But really, even I had no idea that my seasickness could get this bad—so bad that even Giesela’s special new medicine stopped working after a few weeks. And Yuuri had made extra care to find a cure before suggesting we tour around the neighboring countries for our honeymoon, too. Sure, as the 27th Demon King and his new Prince Consort, we had to exchange formalities for every country we stopped in, but in exchange for some diplomatic niceties, Yuuri convinced Gwendal to lengthen our vacation.
Although it seems like the holiday has to be cut short now.
“Where’s Conrad?” Yuuri asks worriedly. “Maybe he knows what to do…”
“He doesn’t. If he did, I wouldn’t be puking my guts out now, would I?” I try to keep my voice level and patient. There was a reason I specifically allocated Conrad and Yozak a single cabin, and no matter how much I love him, I’m not going to let my husband ruin my brother’s already difficult love life.
“Well, if you ever feel tired--”
“Your Majesty!” Whatever he meant to say is drowned out in the panicked shrieks of a soldier. I recover enough to frown at him, and spend just one second resenting the way he destroyed the romance of the moment. Then I’m all business. I don’t need to see the cold white fear to know that whatever news he’s bringing, it’s not good.
“Calm down,” Yuuri says soothingly, even patting his back when the man puts his hands on his knees, panting hard. “Take your time, breathe…”
I don’t even have the time to roll my eyes before the soldier presents a crumpled letter, his hand and voice trembling.
“Y-Your Majesty—There’s been a rebellion in the country!”
Yuuri’s smile fades. There’s a prick of fear in those black eyes, not for himself, but for his people. A few years ago, he would probably have freaked out as well, grabbing the nearest person frantically for advice. But now he keeps his composure, the gears in his head already in motion. I have to admit, I’m proud.
So why do I have such a bad feeling?
The world spins around me, and I try to grab the railing for support. But my eyes deceive me, and my fingers wrap around Yuuri’s arm instead, with more force than I intended.
“Wolf, are you--”
I shake my head at him. This is an important obstacle for him as king. I can’t let myself distract him.
“Who dares disrupt the peace of our fair kingdom?” I demand of the soldier, but my voice comes out shockingly weak. Yuuri must be looking positively alarmed now… If only the world would stop blurring enough for me to see him properly…
The soldier hesitates, and when he speaks his voice is even smaller than mine was. Yet, his words reverberate through my mind as though he screamed them into my ears.
“It’s Lord von Bielefelt, Your Highness. Lord Waltrana von Bielefelt.”
Whump. My head rings, the final few strands of my consciousness blown away, and the last thing I hear before falling completely into that deep, dark abyss is Yuuri’s voice, finally panicked—
“Wolf!”
…Wimp. And just when I was thinking how good a king you’ve become.
I don’t know when exactly I fell in love with Yuuri Shibuya.
It’s not as early as most people think it is… or at least, I don’t think it is. Anyone who says that I was captivated from the moment those black eyes looked up at me from the palace porch is an idiot. I didn’t know him well enough to say I hated him, but I definitely had no good impression of the half-breed that stole my eldest brother’s throne.
Although I agree with everyone that he is exceptionally cute, the type that overthrows every idea you had of cuteness before you met him*.
It definitely wasn’t when he ‘proposed’ to me, either. Honestly, how can anyone take that seriously? He obviously had no idea what he was doing. More than anything else, I was deeply offended, and I thought I made it clear with my actions. His beating me at the duel was probably the moment I accepted him as an acceptable king. But certainly not as my fiancé.
It irks me to no end, but he was right when he confided in me on the night of our wedding, saying how he suspected that my previous possessiveness and jealousy were all out of pride. As far as I was concerned, I was protecting my good name, and fulfilling my duty as a minister to the Demon King. So maybe my reactions were a tad exaggerated. I’ve never been one to hide my thoughts behind a mask of falsities. So maybe I was taking it a bit personally. This was my pride at stake here.
So maybe I was being a bit overprotective. He was my king. My friend.
So maybe…
So maybe I’ve been in love with him the whole time.
“…Wolfram? Don’t scare me, Wolf, don’t do this to me…”
My eyes flicker open, and I wonder, not for the first time, how humans can find a color as comforting and reassuring as his pure black ominous. “Are you crying? You really are such a--”
He cuts me off with a kiss. It tastes salty.
I want to close my eyes and savor it, but a gagging reflex at the back of my throat forces me to push him away and swing my face over the bed. There’s nothing left in my stomach for me to hurl, not even acid, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.
“Wolf…!”
A soothing light envelops me, one I recognize as Gielsela’s healing magic. The brunette* is smiling at me gently, and at times like this it’s easy to pretend that her ‘Sergeant’ mode is something akin to Yuuri’s ‘General’* state—totally out of control, to be treated as a separate entity altogether. Only it isn’t. “Does this help, Your Highness?”
I nod mutely, not trusting myself to open my mouth.
“Giesela, what’s wrong with him?” Yuuri asks hastily. Once I can talk again, I’d better tell him to train up his kingly poker face. The way he looks right now, he’s practically announcing to the world how important I am to him.
I won’t say I don’t like it, but still.
Giesela pauses, and that horrible feeling is back. I just know that whatever she’s going to say won’t be good—In fact, by now I have a pretty good idea what it is. But I can’t stop her from telling him, not only because Yuuri’s our king, but also because he’s my most important person. And I never want to hide anything from him.
“I’m not sure if I should say congratulations, Your Majesty… but it seems that His Highness is pregnant.”
I thought so.