A/N: Everything's from Adelbert's limited POV, so the possibility (or impossibility) of the pairings are just his guesses. You can imagine whatever pairings you like at the end. It could even be a twisted sort of Adelbert/Conrad if you squint really hard and look at it sideways.

-----

Fool's Gold

The thing about Julia was that hers was a purity with strength to back it up. She was no wilting flower, no, no… Suzanna Julia had the grace and power of a willow tree. She was the most magnificent woman he had ever met, and although she had stubbornly insisted that she was her own person ("and I will not be your trophy wife, Lord von Grantz,") he had thought maybe some small part of her heart had belonged to him.

They had not grown up together. During their youth, they had only met each other in passing when their noble families had thought to convene at some formal event or other. Their engagement had been political in nature, and there were many other possible suitors for Julia. There were others who loved her, such as her apprentice, Gisela von Kleist, or the von Wincotts' young fencing instructor, Lord Conrart Weller, who looked at her with obvious moon eyes when he thought no one would notice.

Despite all of this, Adelbert von Grantz came to love Suzanna Julia von Wincott far more than he had ever thought was possible. At first he had believed it to be mere fondness, which was necessary in building a tolerable marriage. But these things… these emotions… are hard to see, at least with one's eyes. Julia had seen his love for her, and eventually he had seen it, too. He didn't know when, exactly, that slowly creeping fondness had engulfed his whole heart, but it had, so there was nothing left of him when she died.

With her infinitely large heart, he had only taken part of her, but she had taken all of him. Then it was all gone, by Shinou's machinations. And for what? For nothing! For the pride and vanity of a long-dead king, so arrogant as to play god with his people? It was revolting. The very thought of his Julia, his independent, free-spirited Julia being made a pawn – a slave! – bound by Shinou's shackles, was revolting.

Even more disgusting was how they wept for her and didn't do a damned thing else. She had been quite popular while alive, but nearly sainted after her death. Those who had opposed her views while she was alive pretended to have respected her all along. Those who had criticized her for being unladylike – a noblewoman in a military uniform, wading knee-deep in soldiers' blood, how crass! – said they had admired her as a great healer. They praised her endlessly, but no one questioned why Shinou had sent her to die.

Or almost no one. There was the Weller brat, at least. A prince only in name, he had been mercilessly used as a pawn as well. Barely 80 years old and sent to the front lines with nearly no hope of making it back alive, much less intact, Weller knew a thing or two about bitterness. The woman he loved, dead. His friends, all but one slaughtered on the battlefield like so much meat. Did Shinou stop that cruelty? No.

What a poor mongrel, Adelbert used to think, trailing along after Julia like a lovesick puppy starved for affection. When the boy's master left this world, he had gone completely feral. Lion, they called him. Adelbert had always thought Weller was more of a half-wild guard dog, but he certainly roared like the king of beasts as he slashed practice dummies to pieces. Only her pendant kept him somewhat leashed.

He watched as the Weller boy blunted his sword and purposely worked himself so hard that he tore open fresh stitches during practice sessions. He saw in those eyes the hard glint of resentment and scorn. He heard, hidden in the boy's battle cry, a wail of bottomless despair, anguish, anger, and dark hatred. It was the only time he felt that kind of understanding pass between them.

They had never liked each other and they never would, but here was a kindred soul; here was a brother born from shared loss and rage. But then, while Adelbert was fighting to gain an audience with Shinou, the temple maidens called for Weller instead. He went in with a mocking sneer on his face that mirrored Adelbert's, but came out looking only lost.

The roaring stopped along with the brutal practice sessions. Weller had been given a mission, but he would not speak of it. Weller's rage lessened, but Adelbert's grew day by day. He railed against the injustice of it all. He loved Julia so goddamned much! He deserved to know, straight from Shinou's lips, why. If Weller was in on the plan, certainly her former fiancé had the same right!

Adelbert soon came to the conclusion that an answer would not be forthcoming, no matter how many nights he spent pacing outside the temple, shouting his questions to the cold walls. Even Weller had betrayed Julia's memory. He had no more allies in this battle, so he left the capital. At first he retreated to his family's lands, but then, as the mere sight of the Mazoku and their blind faith in that monstrous god began to sicken him at every turn, he left Shin Makoku itself. He had no plan at the time except that he would get away from them all… and come back for revenge one day.

Land of the Mazoku's pride, land of meaningless bloodshed and sacrifice, farewell.

-----

It's been years. Twenty-two years since the last war broke out. Twenty years since Weller had left on his mission and Adelbert had left Shin Makoku, his homeland no more. Seventeen years since the birth of the new Maou, who was Julia and not Julia.

It's been two years since Yuuri dropped out of the sky and into his life. If Adelbert had still had his heart then, he would have been kinder to the confused boy, dripping wet as he was, shivering with cold and uncertain fear. But he hadn't, and all through that dark year he had stewed in misguided anger as the Maou mockingly pranced around wearing Julia's pendant, that pathetic Weller following stupidly, unquestioningly, behind his new owner. How dare he treat Julia's favor so lightly? How dare he replace her so easily with this -- this ignorant child!

What stung the most was that Weller had looked at him with pity when they crossed swords, or as much pity as a man as hard and vicious a killer as Weller could have, as if to say it was Adelbert who was blind. It was Adelbert who was the mad beast, hunting down the scent of a lover twenty years dead and buried.

"Where is the man I respected?" that gaze seemed to say. "Where is the gruff, friendly man with the booming laugh, who always put a smile on Julia's face? Where is the man I acknowledged and never challenged for Julia's hand because I knew him to be worthy of her love where I was not?"

How the mighty had fallen, to be pitied by the mongrel prince – the very one he himself had pitied in the past. He nursed the stinging barb that Weller had cast into him; he told himself that it was Weller who was blind. It had always been that pitiful half-breed second son who was blind to the fact that Julia, and now his precious Maou, would never return his feelings. No matter what Lord Weller had to say, the clumsy new Maou was not Julia.

It was only when the Maou gave him the undeserved gifts of forgiveness and redemption that he admitted to himself how wrong he had been to commit those grief-driven cruelties. It was then that he really started to see the remnants of Julia in the boy from another world. In hindsight, he had known her soul from the very first time they had met, but the angry kind of hurt had been so much easier to cling to than this.

This… Just looking at him hurt. He was so like Julia and so unlike Julia. He didn't have her beauty, her grace, or her sweet laugh, but he had her kindness and her strength of will. Yuuri had half the things he had fallen in love with all those years ago, and the other half was quite charming… in an innocent, excitable way unique to Yuuri.

In this past year, Adelbert had gone to visit Shin Makoku only twice, even though Yuuri kept saying he was welcome to stay for good. It's dangerous. He was aware that his newfound heart was weak, as was his old one; it would be crushed if he lost another love. That was why he repeated to himself each time he saw the young sovereign, "I will not allow this fondness to blossom."

Weller, on the other hand, had proven himself to be a tough bastard. How he could stand to love both Julia and Yuuri so hopelessly, so desperately like a badly kept secret, and all the while carry within him the knowledge that he could never have them, Adelbert could not comprehend. Yet the soldier continued to stay by Yuuri's side, and would do so even when the third son finally managed to pin down his fiancé. Even past total heartbreak, Weller would be there, the loyal guard dog to the end.

Julia did not choose him. Yuuri will not choose him. Weller is a fool to allow himself to be hurt in this way, by this futile love that will only win him that soul's friendship at best. He will get nothing more, yet still beg for table scraps? For his little brother's leftovers? He is a fool.

As am I, he realized. Adelbert saddled his horse and prepared to ride back into Shin Makoku for the third time this year. Regardless of his plans to distance himself from Yuuri, he kept. Going. Back. Julia did choose him, but she was gone. Yuuri… If he was honest with himself, he had even less of a chance than Weller. That is to say, none. Adelbert chuckled at his own irrationality.

As he rode past the plains, the outline of a border town appeared at the horizon and he whispered into the setting sun, "You and I, Weller? We are both fools. Let us love him with the courage of fools."