Gardenia of Blooming Desire

Aster regretted his fight with Ramuja a while ago. He never thought that his pride and willfulness would lead him to be captured by mercenaries and got him into this current situation.

Aster looked around, trying to find escape, but Merry already calculated everything. She didn't want her prey to run away again this time. Yeah, Aster was now in the Bellleresse Castle, owned by Lady Merry Belleresse. He was tied to a chair with a steel chain and he was placed inside a big, plain room on the third floor, presumably a guest room.

This Belleresse Castle was just an old castle that was empty, because the last Countess of Belleresse died old, childless, without any relatives. She donated all her wealth to the charity and this castle was left deserted under the care of the empire.

Until on that fateful day, Merry sang a song signaling the Emperor soldiers to start attacking innocent civilians in Dionde city, and then she got the castle, including servants, and money from the Emperor. She shot up from a regular peasant singer to the honorable Countess of Belleresse in just one month.

She was infamous for her nefarious deed, but she didn't seem to regret anything.

"Merry, we can talk this out," Aster said nervously. Merry had just entered the room, she wore a thick gown and fox fur because this winter was indeed cold. Merry who had just entered the room raised her brows and scoffed, "In less than five minutes, you want to escape already? Bitch, I know you are weak and stupid, but you should use your brain more, not your ass."

Aster observed Merry's temperament and countenance, her face was indeed beautiful. She has that girl next door face and she was pretty cute, but her temperament showed a bitter girl that seemingly could mentally break, burst into tears, or throw a huge rage with a knife on her hands in a matter of seconds. Aster dared not to provoke her right now.

And her countenance? Aster didn't know why, but looking at Merry right now reminded him of the evil witch from the children 's story book. Her face was beautiful indeed, but her gaze was malicious and her smirk made him shudder.

Merry approached Aster slowly, and then she looked down on him and asked, "Do you know your fault?"

Before Aster could answer, Merry answered the question herself, "Your fault is because you are born lucky."

"You are lucky to be born as a high noble, from two good looking parents. Your parents dotted you a lot and you live lavishly. You never know how to work hard and you never know what suffering truly is. You are also born incredibly beautiful, so you easily snatched everyone's attention, including Tuskan, Charles, and… Ramuja."

"You've had Emperor Charles who loves you wholeheartedly, but you still dare to give your ass to Tuskan and Ramuja. Tell me, how many times did you get fucked by three of them? Are you letting them fuck you everywhere like a slutty bitch?"

Merry's vulgar words made Aster really uncomfortable, because he was not used to talk with such vulgar person, he frowned and rebuked, "I never let Charles and Tuskan touch me, I am yet to consummate my marriage with Ramuja wholly, you are making things up without evidence at all."

Merry laughed suddenly, as if what he said was so funny, "Oh, Aster. Do you think I'm stupid? Hah!" she kicked Aster's shin with her heel. Aster winced in pain but didn't let any sound come out of his mouth.

"I know what men truly want! I've worked in that filthy city for almost three years to know that all men only want sex! They want to have fun, to screw around! They flirt with me, giving me tips generously and attended my singing because they want to fuck me! Do you think I'm just a pure maiden that can be fooled?!"

Aster shook his head, "Not every man acts like that…"

Merry's laugh was even more hysterical and then she said, "Yeah, there is one man that is really good and kind hearted. He works hard and he has not yet to be tainted by the lust of men. Although he had a terrible past, I know that he is a good guy deep down. That's why I fell in love with him," Merry said. Her eyes looked up and she smiled, as if she reminisced about something beautiful in the past.

Then, her eyes looked at Aster and she glared instantly, "Until he meets you! You slutty Lord, you use your body to tempt my Ramuja! Ramuja will not leave me if you didn't use your body!"

"I never—"

"SHUT UP!" Merry screamed unreasonably, "I am tired of a slut trying to reason! A slut is a slut! To you, Ramuja is just another man you can play with, but to me, Ramuja is my first love! He is mine!" Merry proclaimed.

Merry's claim somehow stimulated Aster, he rebuked angrily, "NO! Ramuja is never another man! He is my first and only love!" Aster's golden eyes glinted with a trace of hostility, "Ramuja is mine! He is wholeheartedly mine! He said that he is mine!" Aster's golden eyes finally shone bright, which shocked Merry.

She had seen the same golden eyes from Emperor Charles. And she felt the same pressure. Her legs went weak immediately, Aster then commanded her, "Release me now or you will face death."

Merry shook her head many times. He felt that Aster's golden eyes hypnotized her into submission. She gritted her teeth, 'I don't want to be submissive to a slut! He is a slut, not a golden blood! His blood is no longer pure, his blood also contains the semen of all the men he seduced! He is a slut, A SLUT!'

Aster was shocked when he saw Merry got up even after Aster commanded her. Her disheveled hair, wide smirk and bloodshot eyes created an image of a ghost, a banshee. Merry then laughed, "Your cheap trick doesn't work here, slut. Let's get this over with."

Merry took off her gloves and showed her razor-sharp nails, the nails still have blood on the tip and Merry said proudly, "I had just killed my mother after she kept nagging me about my sanity. I am perfectly fine, but she is not. She said she would rather live in our previous small wooden house, as long as we are together. What a load of bullshit."

Merry pointed her fingers at Aster and said, "I will ruin your face first, so Ramuja will never look at you again."

***

Ramuja's horse stopped in front of the Belleresse Castle. There were not many guards, but the small number of guards seemed to have expected his arrival and prepared their weapon in advance.

Ramuja was sure that Aster was inside, 'Milord, Milord, Milord, Milord!'

Ramuja didn't have time to bother with these guards. He ordered his soldier to fight them and charged forward. He passed through the guards, but was stopped right in the main courtyard with ten mercenaries with their axes.

"Who is this guy? He looks really strong," one mercenary said.

"Not sure, but I guess he is coming for Milord Aster," the other replied.

"Oh, Milord Aster is really beautiful, I touched his waist for a mome—"

SMASH! SPURT!

The mercenary who had just talked fell to the ground with his head smashed into pieces. Ramuja punched his face until his face exploded.

Ramuja looked at them like they were a dead meat, the sun emblem behind his back shone brightly and the dark crimson aura around him was already suffocating enough, "I don't have time for useless humans," he said coldly.

The other mercenaries were stunned, and then terrified at the next moment. They never saw someone could blow a head with only a punch. The mercenary leader however, he stood on his ground and unsheathed his sword, "I am the leader, I will fight you head on, I am the one who brings Aster—"

The mercenary leader couldn't speak at all when Ramuja flashed in front of him like he teleported from thin air, Ramuja's dark crimson aura was scorching hot, and when his hand held the leader's sword, the sword melted.

"Go away," Ramuja said coldly.

The leader and his underlings saw this monstrous feat, they couldn't control their fear and they scattered, trying to run away from the monster, "MONSTER! A MONSTER!"

The mercenary leader was rooted on his feet, not because he was brave. But because he was too scared to move, he even pissed himself.

Ramuja asked him, "Did you touch my wife, Aster?"

The mercenary leader didn't answer, but the monster in front of him didn't seem to need an answer at all.

"Your hands touched my wife," Ramuja said. He gripped the leader's arm and then pulled it gently, "AAAAAAHH!!!" the mercenary leader screamed in agony, because this monster ripped his arm with only one gentle pull.

Ramuja didn't stop, he pulled the other hand and ripped it too. The mercenary leader finally fell to the ground, he didn't know whether he was dead or not, because he was sure that the man in front of him was a grim reaper.

"Mer…cy…" the leader begged.

Ramuja looked down on the guy who fell to the ground, his expression didn't change at all. The dark crimson aura around Ramuja turned color into blood scarlet immediately, "You touched my wife, my sun."

Ramuja stepped on the man's heart gently and he crushed the man's heart like this. It left a huge hole on his chest.

Ramuja didn't care about the small ants. He entered the castle. Ramuja's blood scarlet aura made all the servants who were inside the castle fainted immediately, and the old maids and butler died of heart attack on the spot.

However, Ramuja himself didn't seem to mind at all. He just mindlessly stepped from one floor to another, he only chanted the same thing over and over;

'Aster, Aster, Aster, Aster, Aster.'