Gardenia of Blooming Desire

The day after Emperor Charles left Golden Camellia, a small uprising broke out in Viete Region. Starting with a heavy snowfall on the first day of winter, a small uprising consisting of some peasants rallied and protested in front of Velvet Castle, demanding Marquis Florentino to give them food to survive the winter.

At first, nobody cared about it, even the commander who was tasked by the Emperor to guard the Viete region laughed at it. But soon, more and more peasants rallied and they demanded the same thing, soon, Velvet Castle was surrounded by angry mobs. They hadn't broken through the gate of the castle yet, but they were all ready to do it.

The commander was surprised with the sudden wave of angry mobs, because they were too many, he ordered his soldiers to surround the angry mobs and guard Velvet Castle.

"Sir, this is unnatural…" one soldier said to the commander, "I don't think the people of Viete would rally this fast, Marquis Florentino is not a popular lord, but he has enough money to feed the people during this harsh winter."

"Indeed, this is really strange," the commander stroked his long beard, "Marquis Florentino cherishes Velvet Castle so much because of the inherited history, he would definitely try to defend his castle no matter what. But it doesn't seem that he will come out soon to calm these people."

Seeing the gate was getting crowded, another soldier reported anxiously, "Sir, the people are getting ready to break Velvet Castle and loot! Marquis Florentino is inside the castle!"

The commander who only observed carefully finally couldn't control his anxiety. If Velvet Castle fell to the people, then he would definitely be executed by Emperor Audric V. Since the Golden Princess married Marquis Florentino in this castle, Velvet Castle has been marked as an important place by the minister. It would bring the country to shame if a small uprising was able to break through the gate and looted everything inside.

"Have you contacted Marquis Florentino?" The commander asked.

"Yes, sir. He said that he will not give these people more food, also, he… he threatened us by saying that he would report this to the court if we, Emperor's soldiers cannot protect Velvet Castle from a small uprising!"

The commander's eyes widened, he didn't expect Marquis Florentino to throw them under the bus. He indirectly threatened them to protect Velvet Castle or all of them would be executed once the Emperor returned.

The commander gritted his teeth and commanded, "Fine then! Dispatch all soldiers to protect Velvet Castle!"

The soldiers finally moved and sieged the crowd of protestants, they thought that there were only women and old men who would rally in this protest, since most of the able men were drafted to war. To their surprise, there were plenty of obviously young and able men who rallied in this protest.

"Sir, there are many young and able men who joined in this protest!" the soldier reported. The commander started getting more and more anxious, "Where do they come from?! Almost all able men have been drafted to war!"

The commander saw that more and more people showed up in this protest and soon, he predicted that he needed help from other commanders who protected neighboring regions.

Floren was watching the rally from the third floor of the castle, he slid the curtain slightly to observe the situation, seeing that more and more soldiers were trying to contain the masses, he turned his head, his eyes darted to a man who had been waiting for his order, "Go tell Irion that Duchy of Arion should be ready to siege these soldiers. In about five hours, I predict that the commander here would request the help of the commander from Fulk Region." 

"Yes, sir!" the messenger nodded and disappeared. Floren frowned at the crowd who rallied out of hunger, "Aster… he is really smart, yet ruthless, just like his mother. To starve the people like this…"

Floren got the instruction from Aster to hold all the food distribution during the war, because only the people of Dionde who wanted to cooperate voluntarily in this uprising. In order for the people to move and initiate and uprising themselves, they needed stimulation, and the best stimulation was of course, hunger.

It was superbly effective, and the people of Viete didn't even realize that there had been many foreign faces that joined their rally. In fact, they got even more fired up once they saw how many people were joining, Aster was playing with the herd mentality.

Where did these foreign able men who joined the rally came from? Of course Rosalie helped by commanding all the servants and shadow guards that were owned by many smaller houses under her to join the rally.

Floren's hand clenched the curtain, he remembered that Rosalie was still in Golden Palace and was in her late stage of pregnancy, they were separated for this war. Although he did say that he didn't like Rosalie at all, when his child was in her stomach, he was bound to be concerned.

'I just hope that he will fulfil his promise and give me my freedom.'

***

Irion got the news three hours later, he was in Duchy of Arion, he nodded and commanded the legendary soldiers. He counted and found that there were around fifty legendary soldiers. The amount might sound meager, but each of them have the capability of ten up to twenty regular soldiers at the same time.

The legendary soldiers didn't have a leader, they only took orders from their mistress or general, in which there would be a mandate from the previous leader about the change. Thus, Lady Merse appointed Aster as the new leader of the legendary soldiers. Irion clapped his hand once to gather the attention, "Alright, I am Irion Swordheart. As you know, your commander, Milord Aster Di Arlingdon is on his way to Golden Camellia. I will be acting as your temporary commander. The uprising in Viete is now getting more intense, get ready, because we are going to rally through three regions and finally helped the uprising in Dionde City!"

"YES SIR!"

Irion nodded as he mapped the route for the legendary soldiers, 'Alright then, from Arion, to Viete, Mynes, and then Dionde City. We should be able to reach Dionde after killing three region commanders within only four days. To confuse the commanders more, Swordheart soldiers should start the uprising in Fulk soon.'

Irion had stationed his soldiers in Fulk Region, the neighboring region of Viete and Arion. Right now, the commander in Viete should've already requested reinforcement from Fulk. Milord told him to start the uprising in Fulk right after, so the commanders were forced to send the reinforcements from neighboring Arion and Mynes because the uprising in Viete and Fulk were getting out of control. By that time, legendary soldiers could sweep the commanders in four regions easily because they were confused and couldn't gather their troops.

Irion smiled as he could finally guess Milord's complete plan. At first, Irion thought by sending all the troops to Dionde City, it would be enough, but with this structured rebellion, it would also raise the dissatisfaction of the people. Because their life was much worse after Aster disappeared from Golden Camellia.

'Milord wants to make sure that the people remembered him as a competent minister of economy, and he wants to slander Emperor Charles as much as possible, so Charles will gradually lose his foothold in his own Empire. He is not a saint, but he is indeed competent.'

***

Grand Duke Harion got the news from his messenger that all Diondians were ready for revenge. They were already preparing their weapon to attack the soldiers. But they were still waiting for Grand Duke's order.

Grand Duke Harion himself didn't have any initiative in this war, he had completely given all the authority to Aster. He got the list of what he should do in this war from his son. And he knew that the uprising in the Viete region was getting more and more out of control, and the Fulk region would start soon.

As for Dionde City? Aster told him to hold on for two days and then give the soldiers a cup of tea during the heavy snowfall. 

-- Dear Father, on the third day of winter, Charles' soldiers must've been cold and tired due to heavy winter, seeing that nothing has happened in Dionde City, they will feel dispirited. At this moment, please give all of them a loaf of warm bread and a cup of tea for each soldier, although they are not allowed to take anything from us, I am sure they will accept it due to hunger.

Don't forget to put a small dose of poison in each tea and bread, a small dose is enough so it won't raise suspicion between the soldiers. Make sure that they feel really weak and feverish on the fourth day, and victory… is ours.' –

Aster Di Arlingdon.