Gardenia of Blooming Desire

Emperor's soldiers around Viete and Fulk finally got divided into two, they were trying to contain the growing masses who soon turned violent. Once the uprising in Mynes region broke, they were unable to gather a central power. Seeing that the legendary soldiers in Duchy Arion didn't move at all, they assumed that they didn't have any order to rebel. Thus, the commander sent half of the soldiers in Duchy Arion to aid the soldiers in other regions.

Although the masses got more violent, they were still strong enough to handle the masses until an earth-shattering war cry was heard in the Arion Region. A man with his shining armor led the cavalry full of legendary soldiers with their weapon ready. The commander in Duchy Arion was shocked, he tried to defend against the sudden aggression, but since he had sent half of his soldiers to another region, his soldiers soon got massacred and a legendary soldier slashed his neck clean with his sword.

Irion saw the severed head of the commander and nodded, "HEAD TO VIETE REGION, OUR GOAL IS DIONDE CITY! FOR MILORD ASTER!"

"FOR MILORD ASTER!" The cry of the legendary soldiers echoed across the Golden Camellia, soon, Emperor's soldiers in Viete were crushed by the legendary soldiers. When Marquis Floren saw that the legendary soldiers only attacked the Emperor's soldiers, he was relieved. The uprising had disappeared instantly, because they were afraid of getting killed by the legendary soldiers, 'Now, I can finally go to Golden Palace to see Rosalie, the baby may be born anytime soon.

After Irion stabbed the commander, he led the soldiers to Fulk and cleared it easily. Then, Irion led the legendary soldiers to Mynes. Because the distance between Fulk and Mynes was quite far, it took them five hours to finally arrive in Mynes.

The commander was already anxious because of the growing uprising in Mynes, but once he saw the legendary soldiers charging at them with full force, he could only take a deep breath and resigned to his fate.

After the legendary soldiers killed the commander in Mynes. He told the soldiers, "Alright, we've cleared Mynes!" Irion counted at the number of legendary soldiers, seeing that the amount had only decreased by two, he nodded satisfiedly, "We will rest for the day, we will attack Dionde City tomorrow!"

The head of the legendary soldier was surprised, "Sir, why don't we attack them now? We are not yet tired," he said.

Irion shook his head, "Milord said that we should attack on the fourth day, trust Milord Aster, I know that he has a plan."

The legendary soldiers could only look at each other and then nodded. Milord Aster was their new leader, and he had been generous enough to maintain their wellbeing after Lady Merse's death. In fact, Milord Aster specifically ordered Sir Irion to build a good barrack for all of them, complete with all the necessary equipment for training and living. Even though Milord Aster had disappeared, he didn't forget about his responsibility at all, that was why the legendary soldiers banded together to follow their new master.

***

"Grand Duke, the remaining soldiers who survived from Mynes have reported to the commander in Dionde City about the invasion from legendary soldiers. The legendary soldiers already defeated Emperor's soldiers in Arion, Viete, Fulk, and Mynes. The commander already issued reinforcements from all regions near Dionde City," the messenger said to Grand Duke Harion.

Grand Duke Harion called Sir Douglass immediately and ordered, "When the reinforcement comes, go give them all two loaf of bread and a cup of tea for each soldier, poison the first bread and the tea, a small dose is enough. As long as they will be weaker the next day."

"Yes, sir," Sir Douglass bowed his head and immediately ordered all servants to prepare everything, once the servants completed all the orders, the wave after wave of reinforcement surrounded Dionde City. The amount of soldiers who got stationed outside Dionde City was simply astonishing, it would be impossible even for legendary soldiers to defeat them because of the amount.

Grand Duke Harion saw this and ordered, "Go give all of them the best hospitality of Grand Duchy Stormhill, ignore the protest of the people, they will be angered because we give the soldiers food and drink. In fact, the more protest there is, the better it gets. Because it will eliminate suspicion from the Emperor's soldiers."

Sir Douglass followed the order and the hundreds of wagons full of freshly baked bread were dispatched during the middle of cold winter night. The wagons traveled across the empty Dionde City street western and eastern gate of Dionde City. Emperor's soldiers were alerted once the wagons arrived at them, "Stop, what is inside?" the commander asked Sir Douglass who led the wagon.

Sir Douglass bowed his head and replied, "Grand Duke Harion ordered us to supply the soldiers with food and drink. We have two loaves of bread and a cup of warm tea for each soldier. The battle will be arduous tomorrow, please accept this goodwill."

The commander didn't agree immediately, he knew that Grand Duchy must've had something in their mind, knowing that Milord Aster was going to be forcefully taken back to Golden Camellia.

"You, go eat one first," the commander said to one of his men. The soldier reluctantly approached one wagon and ate the warm bread. They were waiting for almost an hour and knowing that the soldier didn't get poisoned, the commander was getting doubtful.

'Grand Duke Harion is really giving us some food? This is simply weird…'

'But the bread isn't poisoned anyway,' the commander looked at his soldiers, and all of them were starving and cold. Although they had supply and money, the supply quickly depleted and the money couldn't be spent, because nobody in Dionde City would sell them any food.

"Alright then, go distribute the food to the soldiers," the commander said.

Sir Douglass watched in silence as the soldiers got two loaves of bread and a cup of warm tea each, a faint smile was pasted on his face, although nobody could see during this cold winter night.

***

Aster stepped down from the Sun Kingdom's royal ship. His eyes observed around the Miriam Coast of Vassal Kingdom Rhea. It was pretty vacant, as he expected, but it was surprisingly more vacant around the villages too. As if, the previously popular Miriam Coast had been deserted.

But there was Nate who had waited for his arrival today. When Nate saw Milord Aster and Crown Prince Rama, he immediately jumped and appeared in front of them, "This shadow guard greets Milord Aster and Crown Prince Rama."

Aster frowned, "Has Miriam Coast been abandoned by people? This place is the heart of Rhea's economy."

"No, Milord. But the people are all joined within the riot in front of Rhea Palace. Gaum Cresthold, King of Rhea had made a terrible mistake and accepted an economic treaty with a neighboring state. It ultimately destroyed Rhea's economy in only a few months. Also, Gamasiel's death had sparked their anger, because the people thought that King Gaum was ruthless enough to kill his own brother for power," Nate explained.

Aster smiled brightly, he pulled Ramuja's hand and walked towards the carriage that had been prepared for them, "Where do you want to go? Didn't you say that we are going to rest for a day here?" Ramuja asked, seemingly puzzled with Aster's sudden excitement.

"I'm not tired yet," Aster replied, "Why don't we go to Gaum first? I really want to see his terrified face, he dares to kill my people during the massacre, so I will let him taste blood in his own palace."

Aster said it lightly, but it was a threat real enough to scare Nate and many soldiers who were standing nearby.

Ramuja gazed lovingly at his wife, "I will follow you, do you want me to crush his head?"

"No, no. Don't, just let him get killed by his own people," Aster's smile bloomed even more beautifully. In which, it completely enamoured Ramuja who was enticed with Aster's beautiful smile.

He nodded obediently, "Fine then, I will break the gate and let the people kill Gaum by themselves. Do you want me to bring soldiers with us?"

"No need~" Aster giggled, "I want to have a short walk with you to Rhea Palace, let's go."

Sun Kingdom soldiers could only hear this conversation in both shock and awe, 'Are they really going to fight the soldiers in Rhea Palace alone?'