Gardenia of Blooming Desire

Chapter 222: The Last Winter Feast IV

Aster couldn't maintain his consciousness any longer and he finally fainted. Charles agilely caught Aster in his hands and put him on the throne gently. He checked his breathing, his breathing was uneven, which was normal for a Golden Blood that went through trauma like this.

Charles kissed Aster's lips gently and said, "It's okay, darling. Sleep well, you'll forget about that slave after this, and you will devote yourself to our childhood promise. Just like I said, I will never abandon our promise, if you forgot, then I will make you remember." 

The situation inside the Grand Ballroom was tense as Charles' men swarmed the aristocrats, and when they saw Grand Duke Aster fainted, panic aroused around the guests. Grand Duke Aster was the man in charge, once he was incapacitated, the duchy and all his men were bound to scatter.

The scream of the peasants outside the Grand Ballroom scared the nobles, the kids started crying. But none of them dared to challenge Charles right now. Because the majority of them had been bribed to keep their silence, some were just too scared to fight him.

Lady Merse herself kept staring at unconscious Aster, she was extremely worried about his condition. But once Charles noticed Lady Merse's line of sight, he blocked Aster with his body, "Aunt Merse may have to prioritize your safety first, since your legendary soldiers are busy helping the peasants," Charles said.

Lady Merse sneered, "You are such a hypocrite, Charles. You loved him, but you destroyed him and all he has, do you think he will love you after he recovers?"

Charles smirked, his smirk turned into a malicious grin, "I will help him with that. I will tell him that we are in love and we are going to marry because of our promise, I will whisper to him every day in his sleep."

"You are going to manipulate his mind?!" Lady Merse was speechless, her lips trembled as her anger rose, "YOU ARE BREAKING HIM!"

"I am going to be his only memory, his only love. Old wretch, you need to shut up," Charles said coldly. He turned his back and went to Aster again, "You need a better place to rest, right?"

Charles wanted to carry Aster again, but before his hand touched Aster, a sharp dagger was thrown directly to his head. He evaded swiftly and his ink black eyes darted at the man with gold-plated armor, Irion unsheathed his sword, "You will not touch my master!"

Charles chuckled, "Another rat trying to interfere, I thought Aunt Duchess is capable enough to eliminate all rats around Aster."

Charles unsheathed his sword and then charged at Irion.

CLASH! CLANK!

Their swords clashed against each other, both Irion and Charles went offensive and could not careless about any potentially fatal wound. But Charles was extremely skillful, as Irion attacked, he used his elbow to hit Irion's side chest and then kicked him hard on the back.

"Argh!" Irion fell down on his arm first, his left arm got dislocated and Charles laughed, "You are even weaker than that slave! You think you can fight me just because you have that gold-plated armor? You are a waste of time!"

Charles swung his sword as he was about to slash Irion's neck.

Clank!

Charles' sword was deflected by a great sword. Emperor Ludwig sighed as he held the Great Sword with one hand, "I'm fine with you usurping my throne, but you are indeed too far, my son."

Emperor Ludwig glanced at Aster and then Irion, he said, "Take Aster away."

Irion nodded and he swiftly went towards his master and grabbed his body with one hand.

"WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO!?" Charles dashed towards Irion with his sword, but again, Emperor Ludwig deflected his sword with the great sword.

Emperor Ludwig swept his sword towards his son's body, so Charles had to take a few steps back to evade it. Irion glanced at Emperor Ludwig for a few seconds, and then nodded. He disappeared with Aster.

"ASTER!" Charles's ink black eyes condensed even more. He wanted to jump and chase Aster and Irion, but Emperor Ludwig jumped and swept his great sword at Charles again, "I am your target, Charles."

"I WILL KILL YOU LATER, ASTER ISASTER IS!!"

"I will not let you," Emperor Ludwig said solemnly. He saw the pure black, crazed eyes of Charles and finally realized that Charles was unbeatable in his current state.

Charles soon couldn't detect Aster and Irion's whereabouts anymore, he glared at his father, he said in a low, grunting voice, "If you want to die badly, then I shall help you."

Charles lunged at Emperor Ludwig, their swords clashed. Emperor Ludwig used his big sword to protect himself and swept the great sword to the air, Charles jumped back and then thrusted his sword to the front.

He was very agile and skilful, that Emperor Ludwig was forced to take defensive stance, he shielded himself with his great sword again. The great sword was undoubtedly stronger than Charles' regular sword, but it was much slower.

Charles sidestepped and thrusted his sword to Emperor Ludwig's stomach. Knowing he couldn't escape this without leaving his sword behind, Emperor Ludwig finally left his sword and jumped back.

"You have no sword, surrender!"

"I will never surrender," Emperor Ludwig said solemnly, "I still have my body, and I will protect him, my sister's blood."

"What a load of bullshit!"

Charles lunged his sword directly at his Father Emperor's chest, he laughed, "Father Emperor, you've grown senile!"

Emperor Ludwig coughed up blood, "I am, that's why I let you scheme behind me without doing anything. My light has faded, my sister"

"Then join her," Charles grinned, "Isn't it very novel of our family? My grandfather killed his father, you killed your father, so do I, I killed my father too."

Emperor Ludwig felt that his consciousness started to drift away, he closed his eyes and smiled, 'Big Sis, just like what you said in your letter, I have to save Aster no matter what after your death. This is the best I can do for him, I hope you won't be mad once we meet again, soon'

Emperor Ludwig finally died in Charles' hand. Charles looked at his father coldly and pulled his sword mercilessly, he cut his father's head and showed it to the nobles inside the Grand Ballroom, "THIS IS THE HEAD OF YOUR EMPEROR, I SHALL BE YOUR NEW EMPEROR, KNEEL BEFORE ME, EMPEROR AUDRIC V"

The soldiers immediately kneeled to Charles, and then the nobles who saw the horrible massacre and the death of their Emperor immediately kneeled out of fear, "Long live Emperor Audric V, Long live Golden Camellia!"

Everybody kneeled except one woman who stood straight, not budging at all, "You guys are all cowards," she said curtly.

"Aunt Merse is not going to kneel before me?" Charles asked, but his tone sounded more like a threat.

"I do not kneel to a monster, I would rather die than kneeling to someone like you, disgusting."

"Then you shall die as a warning for everybody else!" Charles pointed the tip of his sword at Lady Merse. Lady Merse only chuckled in response to that threat, "You don't need to kill me with your bloody sword, I am the Mistress of Thana, the Mistress of Legendary Soldiers, I do not kneel to a tyrant!"

Lady Merse looked around, she chuckled, "For all of you, cowards, you hide under your noble name, while nothing about you here is noble. I will not die a shame!"

Lady Merse walked out of the circle and then walked in front, directly facing Charles. She was still not budging even though the tip of the bloody sword was touching her throat, "He shall return, he is a better ruler than you."

Charles didn't stab Lady Merse's throat, he waited what she would do next. Instead of running away, Lady Merse walked to Aster's throne and sat, she could see the confused eyes of the people, how some of them were staring at her with hostility, and Charles was standing near her with his extremely pressuring aura. At some point, she forgot to breathe because Charles aura choked her.

'It must've been painful for you, right, Aster?'

'Seeing everyone from this seat, judging you, waiting for your fall. And you have to see everything crumble in front of your eyes.'

'I'm sorry, Aster. I couldn't do much, but I entrusted my soldiers, my house, my wealth for you. I hope it is enough.'

'Aster, if it's possible, I want you to call me mom, just once. Because you are the son that I've always been longing for. So, please, take the words of the mother that loves you from the bottom of my heart'

'Stay safe, my son.'

Lady Merse took the pill under her sleeve and swallowed it immediately. She coughed up blood plenty of times and after a few minutes, on her last breath, she slumped on the throne.

Charles glanced uninterestedly at the corpse of his aunt and said to the nobles, "This is what will happen to you if you dare to rebel against me, understand?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Charles finally called all his shadow guards, then he said, "Find Aster! No matter what, find him! He and his servant must've not been too far from here!"

"Yes, sir!"

Charles looked at the bloody mess that he made and the kneeling nobles in front of him, he took a deep breath, 'Still not enough, without you, all of these are worthless. I will not be satisfied before you become my empress, Aster.'

***

Irion winced in pain as he appeared on a ship that was about to sail. The Great King immediately helped Irion and carried Aster to the bed gently.

"Thank you for your help, My King."

Tuskan checked Aster's breath, it was still unsteady, he asked worriedly, "How long will he stay unconscious?"

Irion was silent for a moment, and replied, "I am unsure about it, this is his third time of trauma phase. In fact, I'm not sure what would happen next but I entrusted him to you, I have to go now."

"You are not going with me to Great Arctyr?"

"No, My King, Milord Aster entrusted me with everything in Golden Camellia. He will return someday, I believe in him," Irion bowed his head respectfully, "Thank you for your help."

Irion disappeared from his room. Tuskan immediately checked on Aster's condition, he had high fever, and his breathing was unsteady. Tuskan wiped Aster's sweat with his handkerchief, "Aster I will protect you, Great Arctyr is also your home."

Irion jumped from the harbor to the forest, he had to take a roundabout road to return back to Lantern Palace, 'Ramuja! You must be safe, you must survive, or Milord will die brokenhearted!'