Gardenia of Blooming Desire

Chapter 226: The Burning Love of an Enslaved Prince

King Chandra entered the room after he got the news that the ship from Golden Camellia finally arrived at Sun Kingdom. Usually, it only took them a week to return, but because of the Golden Camellia patrol ships, they had to take another route and it took them almost two weeks until they arrived.

"My King, this is the sixth weakening potion we gave to His Highness Prince Rama, don't you think this is already too much? This is our most potent potion"

"Has he finally regained his sanity?"

"Yes, but he treated all of us with hostility. One time, he broke the chain and killed two guards."

"Then, keep giving him the weakening potion, Prince Rama is still recovering his sanity. Since we don't know who is the identity of his woman yet, this woman is the one that he desired to protect. Unless he met his loved one, he'll still be in this hostile state for a while."

"Then will he recover anytime soon? It has been two weeks, and he is still like this" the guard pointed at a man who was chained on the neck, hands, and legs.

King Chandra took a deep breath, "I think I can bring him back, leave the room, I need to talk with my son."

The guards left the room and the old King Chandra put down his cane. He sat cross legged in front of chained Ramuja and asked, "What is your name?"

Chained Ramuja's eyes were crazed, vigilant, as if everything in front of him was his enemy. But he heard someone asking his name, thus he replied, "Ra mu ja"

King Chandra held his breath, the sharp pain invaded his heart. Ramuja, that name was the alias that he gave to his son, Prince Rama of the Sun. His hand trembled, King Chandra tapped Ramuja's shoulder, "Who is the one in your heart to protect?"

Ramuja was silent for a moment, then he replied, but this time, his voice sounded gentler and soft. As if he held this person as a treasure in his heart, "Master Aster"

"Aster? So that girl's name is Aster," King Chandra hummed, he had thought of something. Traditionally, the destined king of Sun Kingdom would be tampered, so he would have the country and the people in his heart. His raging state would be triggered when his country was invaded.

But for Prince Rama, because of the Queen that wanted him dead, he was sent to his uncle in Lal Coast, the farthest region of the kingdom and lived as a normal civilian until King Chandra could get rid of his queen's power and then took Prince Rama back to the palace.

'And Golden Camellia suddenly invaded the Sun Kingdom, especially around Lal Coast. They destroyed everything, including my son's future'

King Chandra clenched his fist. His anger towards Golden Camellia was immeasurable, it would take years until Sun Kingdom could finally regain its freedom, that was after so much sacrifice.

King Chandra looked at his son pitifully, he stood up and checked the back of Ramuja, 'The Sun Emblem is there'

The Sun Emblem was the true sign of the king in the Sun Kingdom. But it was invisible, until the destined king bathed in the Sacred Pool, or when his desire to protect was triggered.

Desire to protect itself was very complicated, it was a condition where the greatest love of the destined king of Sun Kingdom was threatened, then it would be triggered. When triggered, the destined king would have his raw strength multiplied at immeasurable power. He would be a demigod until his enemy was defeated, but of course, it had a drawback.

It would be hard to return back to normal until the destined king met his pure love again.

That was why, the destined king would be tampered since he was a kid, so the pure love of the destined king would be his country and people. He would recover as he saw the people called and praised his glorious name. It was the default process, but right now, it seemed Prince Rama already had a girl in his heart.

King Chandra blamed his incompetence, but there was nothing he could do to reverse it, 'All I can do now is to find this girl called Aster and bring him back to Sun Kingdom, and make her the next queen.'

King Chandra inspected his son's back and then his whole body. There were so many hideous scars around Prince Rama's body, almost every inch of his skin had been scarred. Whip, stab, slash, all kinds of wounds were present. King Chandra bit his lip as he tried to hold his anger. He dropped his cane and then hugged his son, "I'm sorry for being weak, my son. I'm sorry that I can't save you sooner"

Ramuja was unresponsive, he was still thinking about someone in his head. His mind was like a typing machine that could only type one word, 'Aster'.

When King Chandra hugged him, he reacted wildly, thinking that it was an enemy that would hurt his Milord. But King Chandra hugged him tightly and he said in a gentle voice, "You will meet you Aster soon, you will meet Aster soon. But you need to help me."

Ramuja finally stopped struggling, he asked, his tone was still gentle whenever he mentioned his Milord's name. His tone also started getting a bit excited when King Chandra said that he would meet his Milord soon, "I meet Aster?"

"Yes, you will meet Aster again, but you need to calm down, take a deep breath."

For the first time in ten days, Ramuja finally cooperated with anyone near him. He woke up the next day after he fainted, but he didn't find his Aster anywhere, thus he went crazy. 

Ramuja cooperated and took a deep breath, King Chandra could feel that Ramuja was finally relaxed. King Chandra took a deep breath and then tapped Ramuja's sun emblem on his back.

King Chandra could feel that his hands were getting hotter and hotter, he frowned as he tried to ignore the burning sensation. But soon, he realized that his hand was actually melting.

King Chandra was surprised and he retracted his hand back. He looked at his son in both confusion and horror, "You how deep is your love for Aster?"

"Aster is sun" Ramuja smiled dumbly, whenever he mentioned 'Aster' he would be gentle and sometimes smiled stupidly. But to King Chandra, it was horrible, so horrible.

He was going to erase Ramuja's monstrous state with his own power, and the heat was just a measurement of how much love the destined king had to his pure love.

No king in the history of the Sun Kingdom had this kind of heat. The heat in Ramuja's back was scorching hot, like a burning phoenix that wouldn't be able to be extinguished. King Chandra's hand was actually melting. He looked at his hand and was horrified.

"HHow could you love someone this much? Whatwhat if Aster died in front of you? You might destroy the whole country by yourself," King Chandra said.

Ramuja heard 'Aster' and 'died', he went silent for a moment. And then he pulled his chain and broke all the chains. A scarlet aura started appearing in naked eyes, and King Chandra saw every furniture inside this room was actually melting.

"ASTER WILL NOT DIE!" Ramuja roared. King Chandra knew that he had misspoke. If this continued, Prince Rama would destroy his own country.

"RRelax, Aster is fine. He is healthy, I'm just lying to you" King Chandra tried to pacify his son. But Ramuja was still vigilant.

"II will show you Aster, he is waiting for you," King Chandra said.

In a matter of seconds, the scarlet aura disappeared instantly. Ramuja was still in his crazed state, but he became very meek and soft. Ramuja asked in a very gentle tone, "Aster is fine? Aster must have been scared! I will protect Aster first!"

King Chandra was baffled and horrified at the same time with the duality of his son. Aster seemed to be Prince Rama's switch, he could turn him extremely hostile or extremely docile.

King Chandra held his son's hand and then said, "Let me show you Aster."

Ramuja meekly followed this old man's lead, he was expecting to see his master, but instead, he was led to a deep pool outside the room. Turned out, he was in a temple since his first time here.

"Aster is inside this sacred pool, he is under water, go save"

Without any doubt, Ramuja jumped into the deep pool and the emblem on his back shone brightly, even under the deep blue pool, King Chandra could see it clearly. In a matter of minutes, the air was getting hotter and soon, thick steam came out of the pool.

"My god" King Chandra was shocked that, for the first time in the history of the Sun Kingdom. The Sacred Pool evaporated. The pool was really deep and it would take a year to be filled until it was full again. But Ramuja's burning love for this girl called Aster was so much that it evaporated the whole pool.

Ramuja was sitting at the bottom of the pool, his sun emblem finally disappeared and he looked around with confused eyes. He didn't know where he was, but there was a sense of loss in his heart, "Where is my Aster?"