Gardenia of Blooming Desire

Chapter 237: The Monster with Dark Scarlet Aura

"Impossible" the guards who were tasked to torture this slave called Ramuja was sweating as they tried to do as many torture methods with various torture devices, but none of these devices pierced the skin of this slave.

Especially since they could clearly see a thin scarlet hue around this slave's body with their naked eyes. It was almost similar to Emperor Audric V, Emperor Charles' golden aura. However, Emperor Charles' aura gave them overwhelming pressure that could make them obey his command, Emperor Charles' aura was that of a majestic lion aura. Pressuring, yet inspiring for the people that followed him.

However, this slave's aura it was dark scarlet, like a thick blood. This slave looked handsome and calm, but he emanated the aura that was simply frightening. The slave was silent the whole time, even though he had been subjected to many kinds of tortures, he didn't budge at all.

But, every minute passed, the dark scarlet aura around him started thickening slowly, and it gave them an unknown fright. 

'It's like I'm facing a monster that could wake up anytime soon'

The barbed whip lashed on Ramuja's back once more, but he was left unscathed, whenever he got hit by anything, the sun emblem on his back would show a dim light and then his skin would came out smooth, as if the wounds on his skin would magically be healed.

"SSir, this this is illogical," one of the guards said. He was the one who held the barbed whip, his hands trembled when the scarlet aura around this slave started thickening again.

The head guard was also sweating, he had trouble breathing, not because of the underground prison's air. But because the scarlet aura emanated by this slave made him nervous. He clenched his fist to fight this imminent fear inside of him.

"His Majesty said that we cannot kill him, he will be publicly executed tomorrow, do whatever possible, but don't report this anomaly to the Emperor, or else, we will be killed for being unable to do our job," the head guard said. Even though this slave has a frightening aura, nothing was more frightening than a guillotine in their head, Emperor Charles was a lot more ruthless than his late father, although he had that perfect gentleman demeanor in front of the aristocrats.

"Yes, sir!" The guards continued torturing Ramuja although Ramuja was still unscathed no matter what they did.

Ramuja himself, he was not inside the underground prison. He couldn't physically feel anything because his mind flew off somewhere. He had been worrying about the truth that Charles said just now.

'Did I cause that much pain in Milord? But he seems fine every day.'

'No maybe he is not fine' Ramuja remembered how many times Milord's face would turn even paler than the usual, how his back looked really fragile and lonely sometimes, how he would smile faintly and then locked his room for hours.

'Maybe he has never been fine since the moment I entered his life'

'I thought everything was alright, because I thought Milord was simply a sickly child who grew up into a sickly adult. Maybe he is just tired, so, I didn't pay much attention to that, if... if I am the one who caused his pain then I I don't deserve to be with him'

The scarlet aura around Ramuja started thickening, the guards who surrounded Ramuja to torture him suddenly lost control of their mind as they ran away, leaving all the tools inside the prison, "Sir! II can't do this! He is too frightening!" one of the guards said to his captain, then he ran away himself.

The head guard was shocked when he peeked inside the open wide jail, he saw the scarlet aura around the slave had thickened that his naked eyes could see the dark red aura blurred his eyesight. He could barely see a figure curled at the corner, the torture tools were scattered around him, the figure at the corner muttered about the same thing over and over, "I don't deserve him, I don't deserve him, I don't deserve him"

The head guard knew that he couldn't disturb this man, his instinct said that he would face death once he was stupid enough to stand in front of this guy. Thus, he silently closed the jail bar and locked it, he gulped and said to himself, "It's okay, this guy will return back normal tomorrow"

***

"Your Majesty, the execution has been announced, we followed your order to hold the public execution the day after tomorrow, so it could be attended by as many people as possible," the minister said.

"Perfect," Emperor Charles said, "Make sure that every single living thing in Golden Camellia knows about this."

"Yes, Your Majesty," The minister nodded and left the Emperor Chamber.

'Aster, I wonder how you will react to this. As long as he is dead, I don't care if you become a soulless doll. As long as that soulless doll is mine, I will keep you forever, you forced me to do this, but I will take care of you well'

***

The day of the execution, the guards who ran away two days ago finally entered the underground prison once more, he thought this slave would have returned normal, especially since he hadn't eaten for two days. But to their aghast, when they opened the jail again, the same scarlet aura still surrounded Ramuja's jail and it only thickened.

The guards gulped, they approached Ramuja, as they wanted to unlock the chain and reprimand him, so he wouldn't fight back. When a guard was going to touch his hand, the captain immediately stopped him, "Don't touch him!"

The guards were frightened by their captain's warning. They stepped back and looked at their captain, the captain had the feeling that this slave was the same monster who massacred countless soldiers in Lantern Palace.

He caught a passing rat and then threw it to Ramuja, Ramuja instinctively reacted and caught the rat, but instead of catching it gently, the rat exploded in his hand, leaving only its blood and crumbs of bone.

Ramuja noticed what just happened and he only said, "I didn't mean it"

The guard almost fainted, this person was definitely a monster. They didn't know what triggered this person, but they didn't dare to approach him at all.

The head guard took a deep breath and then said, "Follow me, if you want to meet your master."

Ramuja stood immediately, "Master, I'm sorry"

Ramuja broke all the steel chains effortlessly, when he walked to follow the head guard, the chains just broke as if they were made out of paper.

The head guard led Ramuja slowly, his men screamed to everyone that they should give some space or else they would die. The civilians who waited for the public execution ran away immediately when they saw Ramuja.

The dark scarlet aura around this bear-like handsome man gave them the unspeakable horror. He looked calm, rather nonchalant to his surroundings. He just kept following the head guard who said that he would lead him to his master.

Charles saw Ramuja had been led without anyone near him, the chains around his hands and feet were still dangling, a sign that nobody had touched the chain to free him. Charles could see the thick dark scarlet aura around Ramuja, and somehow, it became even thicker than before. Charles gulped subconsciously, somehow, he could feel a bad omen was near. 

Nobody said anything, they saw Ramuja standing on the small wooden stage with a guillotine ready to cut his head. Before Charles could say anything, Ramuja asked the head guard first, "Where is Milord?" he asked calmly.

"You need to lay under the guillotine first, then you can meet your master."

"I'm willing die," Ramuja said, he stared at the guillotine and continued, "I will die, but I want to see Milord first."

"YYou will see your master once you die," the head guard lied, honestly, he was already scared enough that he couldn't even feel his own body. It felt like his body just froze on the spot. No civilians dared to watch the execution near, they were all watching from afar, something just scared them about this guy.

Ramuja closed his eyes for a second, and then said in a more agitated tone, "Milord is not dead, are you lying to me?"

"II'm not"

SMASH!

Ramuja smacked the head guard's head and his head flew off the stage. Everyone was too shocked to react, the dark scarlet aura around Ramuja started thickening again, and he screamed, "THERE IS NO MILORD HERE! WHERE IS HE?!"

Ramuja walked off the small stage and he walked aimlessly. The other guards unsheathed their sword, but once any of them charged their sword at Ramuja, Ramuja would deflect their sword with the back of his hand and then pushed the soldier out of his way. However, Ramuja's push was so strong that the guard would be pushed far away and their ribs would be broken.

The civilians finally panicked, they ran away from Ramuja and the situation soon turned into chaos. Emperor Charles saw how many of his guards were trying to attack Ramuja, but would soon suffer the same fate as the other previous guards, they would die, some of them died gruesomely.

"ALL OF YOU LIED TO ME! WHERE IS MILORD! I WANT TO SEE MY MASTER!'' The sun emblem on Ramuja's back shone really bright this time, and somehow, Charles started sweating out of nervousness himself. He pulled his sword, but his ministers immediately grabbed his hands.

"Your Majesty, that guy is too dangerous! We need to run away now!"

"I can fight him! I can stop him here before he kills everyone!" Charles insisted.

"No! Your Majesty, let the soldiers handle this, your safety is the priority! You will not see Empress Aster if you died fighting against a monster like that!" the minister was panicked, Ramuja started approaching the main stage. Charles looked down at Ramuja whose figure seemed to be blacked out and the dark scarlet aura was making many people faint out of fear.

Charles gulped, 'What is he?'

"Fine then, I will leave," Charles said. He sheathed his sword and then fled with his ministers.

Meanwhile, Ramuja was still wreaking havoc in Roagelt City Center. There were not many civilian casualties, but there were already so many guards that died gruesomely. Some died with their head crushed, some died with their ribs crushed and others died being stomped by Ramuja's enormous strength.

"RUN! HE IS A MONSTER! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" the scream of terror soon filled Roagelt City Center. People were running aimlessly, trying to escape Ramuja. But many building entrances were locked from inside, probably because everybody inside their buildings were too scared.

Ramuja still walked aimlessly, his mind was hazy, there was only anger and disappointment in his heart. He really thought he could meet his master, 'I will ask for his forgiveness, because I did him wrong, I neglected him I am undeserving'

Amidst the chaos, a hooded man walked across the corpses of the guards, soldiers and some civilians, he approached Ramuja at a safe distance. He saw many corpses around him and had guessed that the one behind the crazy massacre in Lantern Palace must be Ramuja. Somehow, he had the hunch that Ramuja was not simple at all.

He opened his hood and the handsome face of one of the fugitives in Golden Camellia appeared in front of everyone, "Ramuja, do you want to meet Milord?"

Ramuja's was grunting, it became distinct and it didn't sound like Ramuja at all, "I do." Ramuja replied.

"Alright," Irion took Milord's handkerchief and then sprayed it with Milord's perfume, 'God, I hope this crazy trick works, if Ramuja really wants to meet Milord, then he needs to have a hint of Milord's sweetness. Crazy idea for crazy guy!'

Irion prayed in his heart, and then he jumped on top of Ramuja's back. Ramuja's hand swiftly caught Irion's leg, but before Ramuja slammed Irion to the ground, Irion covered Ramuja's mouth and nose with Milord Aster's handkerchief.

Magically, Ramuja stopped moving, he grabbed the handkerchief and sniffed it deeply. Tears started falling and Ramuja sobbed, "Milord Aster Aster I'm sorry"

Ramuja became unresponsive for a moment, and then fainted, still holding Aster's handkerchief tightly. The guards saw the monster finally fainted and rushed to attack Irion and Ramuja.

Irion wiped the sweat off his face, then he took the small crystal ball that his disciple had given to Ramuja. Everything had defied far from his original plan, but at least, the main objective could be reached, he could escape safely with Ramuja while still giving terror to Golden Camellia.

"I know you are always unreliable, Ramuja, you owe me this time," Irion said. Irion covered his ears with cotton and then smashed the crystal ball to the ground. A deafening sound suddenly echoed and hurt everyone's ears. They covered their ears instantly, because the sound was piercing their ears.

Aster's shadow guards finally appeared and they carried Ramuja together. In a matter of seconds, they disappeared from the Roagelt City Center, leaving the bloody mess behind. 

As Irion jumped from one tree to another, one of his disciples asked, "Sir, should we contact Milord Aster about this?"

Irion glanced at unconscious Ramuja, and he nodded, "Yes, contact Milord, but be careful, this is our first time contacting Milord after Winter Feast."