Although Sharia was the king's beloved, she was a lower-ranked noble. The noble faction lobbied the king to marry a higher-ranked noble, which meant he had to take Ellia as queen consort. Ellia schemed for more power, so she got her people to poison Sharia.
It didn't help the king was incredibly overprotective of Sharia and isolated her away to protect her from palace politics, but ended up alienating her further. As a result, Alfred is pretty resentful of palace life and the king.
cute and inspiring but...SHE STILL GONNA FUCKING DIE OR SOMETHING!, like i get it but cant she hold on till the whole thing is over? she keeps thinking he sees her in a bad light but hes deadass trying to save her, ugh this is annoying
@sdarkpaladin: After getting almost murdered by Lyre and Dida in that practice match (and being surprised at how these strong people are serving the 'villain' Iris) + the scolding from his parents, he started to ponder if his decision was right.
I think soon after he stopped hanging around Yuri, though the story didn't mention what he was doing specifically.