Chapter 98 - Trust

"I see that you are looking for death."

Jain stared at this filthy slave with obvious disgust and strong murderous intent. Never in his life, he saw someone so filthy both inside and outside. There was even a slight hesitation in him because he didn't even want his knife to touch this filthy creature.

But this creature, this animal, dared betraying his beloved master. Jain took out his small knife and prepared to strike.

Ramuja was startled and took few steps back. However, Jain was really fast that Ramuja barely avoided the knife and scratched his neck.

"Hmph! Even I missed because of hesitation," Jain retorted, "I didn't want to dirty my knife with your filthy blood, mindless creature."

Jain stroke for the second time and Ramuja ducked to avoid it, but he lost his balance and fell backwards.

"And you said you want to protect Young Lord? You can't even defend against a knife attack."

"W—We can talk about this!" Ramuja said.

"What did I tell you before? Don't you dare hurting my master!" Jain's eyes were filled with rage as he lunged his knife to Ramuja's abdomen, Ramuja rolled to the side and his arm was scratched deep.

"Argh!" Ramuja screamed. Jain lunged his knife few times only to make few non-fatal wounds on Ramuja.

Jain's hand trembled, he was still hesitating, he thought with few deep thrusts, he would be able to end this disgusting slave's life. But his hesitation grew stronger and he was unable to kill this slave.

'F.u.c.k! What went wrong? Why am I hesitating?' Jain cursed in his heart. He was sworn to be bound with his master for his whole life. He was tasked to eliminate any threat, but he wasn't trained to eliminate emotional threat to his Young Lord.

Ramuja gasped few times, "P—Please reconsider Young Lord's feeling, if I died…"

'Young Lord will be sad if this slave died…'

"Why did you become his golden circle!" Jain punched the wooden floor until there was a crack there. He didn't know what to do with this. He really wanted to just eliminate this bug, so Young Lord could focus. But it seemed that he was too late, since this slave had become his master's golden circle.

"G—Golden circle?" Ramuja stared dumbly.

Jain didn't answer him and sneered, "Then, I will kill your woman, that filthy woman called Merry!" Jain took his knife and was about to leave before Ramuja held his leg tight.

"I beg you! Don't kill her!"

"You dare begging to me? Young Lord would be devastated if he knows!"

Ramuja knew what he did was wrong, but he wouldn't let an innocent girl die, "G—Give me time! Please don't tell Young Lord, and please don't kill Merry!" Ramuja tried to convince him one more time, "I—I could tell Young Lord that you are harming his friend!"

"You!"

Jain stared down at this slave who had muscular body, but begging like a filthy animal. He felt that his leg was itchy because this slave hugged his t.h.i.g.h tightly. He kicked this slave as hard as he can until he fell backward.

"I will give you time, but once Young Lord found out, I will be the one who kill you immediately, filthy animal!" Jain spitted at him and left the room immediately. He was furious at this slave, but he couldn't do anything. Golden circle was once in a lifetime experience for the golden bloods. They would be extremely devastated, or even died out of grief if they lost their golden circle.

And Jain wouldn't want his master to die out of grief, especially over a disgusting slave like this.

He tried to control his breathing, because Young Lord might be suspicious if he was too worked out. He went to his room, fished out his handkerchief and wiped his glasses, combed his hair back, tidying up his suit and took a deep breath. Young Lord said that he would wait, but he shouldn't let Young Lord wait for too long.

Jain disappeared from his room and not long after, he was standing in front of his master.

"Young Lord, this subordinate has the report."

Aster was sitting silently in the balcony, reading a book with his shoes off, thus, showing his slender heels. Jain glanced at those beautiful heels and lowered his gaze immediately.

Aster put down his book and glanced at Jain, "What is your report?"

Jain clenched his hand, but dared not showing his anger, "Ramuja and Merry do not have any romantic relationship, Young Lord. Ramuja always treats Merry as his sister, and Merry seems to treat him as dependable big brother. There is no indication that they have any affair."

After telling his false report, Jain looked up to see his master's eyes. The golden circle shrank and his blue pupil slowly turned black, but it stopped there and slowly returned back normal, with deep blue pupil and golden circle around his pupils.

'Young Lord, pardon this servant for lying, but Crown Prince might take advantage of the situation if you are severely weakened if you know the real news,' Jain clenched his teeth silently.

Aster didn't reply for a while until he nodded and smiled, "I see, it seemed it was only in my imagination."

"Young Lord, may this subordinate know what was in your imagination?"

"Hmm… when I saw Merry's eyes kept glancing at Ramuja even though we were talking, there was a hope inside her eyes. I thought it was because she saw me, because many people had that eyes whenever they saw me, but no, it was to Ramuja," Aster's gaze sharpened, he gazed at the beautiful garden under his balcony, "I do not have any grudge to her, in fact, I like her a lot."

"Back then, my dad brought me to his logging business because of some political tension happening between my duchy and the royal family. I didn't have any friends, and the serfs and slaves didn't even dare to talk to me. They just… immediately kneeled in front of five-years-old me whenever I called them, including the kids."

Aster's eyes softened and looked up, as if he was trying to remember many things.

"I didn't like the way they treated me, because they never see me as a human. So I told my servant to accompany me to flower meadow near my dad's business every morning, because I could only stay outside at night and early morning," Aster chuckled, "In that place, I saw Merry who liked to sing and picked the flowers, and she always had that beautiful voice."

"I went to that flower meadow every day just to see her, because she was the only one who talked to me, maybe because she didn't realize my identity, that was when I picked up the habit of going to flower meadow or garden every morning. To see someone who would talk to me, it becomes… a beautiful solitude for me."

Jain saw his master smiled sincerely and his blood boiled. His master had a beautiful and innocent heart, but these two people whom he trusted and liked dared to have an affair behind him.

'Young Lord, I will protect you. I may have been absent for most of your life until now, but I never forget about my oath to you when you were just a baby.'

Aster glanced at Jain and he smiled, "Well, I'm glad they don't have any romantic relationship, because I trust them."

"Yes… Young Lord," Jain replied softly.

Aster put his palm on Jain's head and rubbed his head gently, "I trust you too, Jain. I may only know you for two years, but it seems I had known you my whole life."

Jain didn't reply, but he nodded solemnly. He blamed himself for being incompetent even though his master trusted him. He tried to hold back his tears, it was improper for a trained assassin like him to cry.

"Jain? Did you cry?" Aster asked, puzzled.

"This subordinate is just… happy, Young Lord…"