Chapter 109 - Another Departure

When Aster finally left the room, all the joy in Grand Duchess' face disappeared instantly. She bit her lip, this was the first time she actually got trapped by her son's innocence.

'That butler must've influenced him! Despicable!'

The maids were surprised seeing their master went awry for the first time. She was always calm and collected, well informed about the game she was playing, and usually got the upper hand. But this time, her face frowned, and that frown seemed to get deeper and deeper.

All that was caused by her own son revealing a trump card directly in front of her and shamelessly asked for her protection.

'That butler is far smarter than what I expected.'

'But… I still have a way to control this.'

Grand Duchess took a deep breath.

"Come out now," she ordered calmly. A tall shadow guard appeared in front of her, he wore full black with only his eyes revealed. He looked tense, but dared not to say anything and kneeled instantly.

The atmosphere was frightening, Grand Duchess was always ruthless, but who knew what would happen if someone disturbed her right now. Grand Duchess scoffed, "Do you know what trouble I have to go through because of your incompetence?"

"Yes, Milady," the shadow guard prostrated on the ground.

"Well, you caused this prolonged case. With my son and his butler asked for my protection, his butler gained immunity. We couldn't hurt him at all, unless you are able to kill him instantly," Grand Duchess chuckled mockingly, "Hah! You couldn't even kill a man who is half dead!"

The shadow guard felt really guilty, thus he smashed his head to the ground until his forehead was bleeding, "This subordinate has failed his mission, begging Milady to give this subordinate a quick death!"

"A quick death? That is too kind for a failure," Grand Duchess ordered the maid to bring her a dull dagger.

Grand duchess unsheathed the dull dagger and threw it on the ground, "Take that dull dagger and slice your stomach slowly." Grand Duchess said nonchalantly.

Her eyes were pure black, the maid realized that Grand Duchess was really furious this time. Thus, they tried to made themselves almost invisible and held their breath.

The shadow guard looked at that dull dagger in horror. He was ready for death, but he wasn't ready for such unbearable torture, he pleaded to Grand Duchess, "M—Milady, this subordinate still have uses! I… I can be stationed in other places!"

Grand Duchess was even more furious that this thing dared to plead for his life after his failure, "You think you are a special shadow guard because I appointed you for this mission? I have hundreds of shadow guards eager to replace you with similar skill, maybe better. Don't worry, since you did one job right, I will bury you. I'm not so cruel to feed you to the dog, treat this as my last mercy."

Grand Duchess smiled, but that smile creeped the shadow guard. He was cornered, thus, when he saw Grand Duchess sitting leisurely in front of him, he jumped forward and directed his own dagger to Grand Duchess' throat.

Before his dagger touched Grand Duchess' skin, his stomach was stabbed by two other shadow guards who appeared behind Grand Duchess instantly. Grand Duchess, still with her cold eyes, chuckled, "See? Your reaction is a second slower than them, you are unfitting."

"Don't worry, they did not stab your vital parts. I make sure that you are still alive, so you can feel your stomach sliced open with a dull dagger."

"HELP--!!" the maids who were silent the whole time jumped in and stuffed a pill to his mouth. Soon, the shadow guard couldn't make a sound from his mouth, he was… mute.

"It's a pill that will make you mute forever. I can't afford my son to notice that someone is going to get gutted slowly, it is also to protect your last dignity," Grand Duchess chuckled and sipped her tea leisurely, "I'm giving you the best death you can get."

The shadow guard was pinned to the ground by four people and he could only look in horror as his stomach was slowly gutted by a dull dagger. The last thing he saw was Grand Duchess' nonchalant scoff as she rolled her eyes.

***

Aster already prepared all his belonging last night, his carriage will be ready in few hours, but Aster were somehow drawn in this garden once more. He sighed, he knew the exact reason why would he return to this place.

'It is because of you…'

'I want to see you, even when I know nothing good will come out of it.'

'But I still want to see you…'

Aster paced around the garden until he heard rustle in one bush behind him. He knew it was Ramuja, but decided to ignore him.

Ramuja was waiting for his Young Lord since before dawn because he wanted to ask something. When Young Lord finally sat on a bench, Ramuja hurried and approached him. He kneeled in front of Young Lord and said, "T—This slave is ready here to accompany Young Lord."

"I don't remember asking for a companion," Aster replied condescendingly. But he silently glance to his servant and smiled lightly.

Ramuja gulped, but he braced himself and daringly asked his master, "Young Lord… may this slave know if Young Lord is going somewhere? This slave saw the servants were busy preparing for your departure."

"Yes, I'm going to inspect Clearwater Academy for one month, what is it?"

Ramuja rose from his kneel and said, "T—This slave will prepare immediately!"

"You don't need to." Aster replied short.

Ramuja frowned, "But… this slave still has to—"

"You are not going with me, you will stay here and help other servants," Aster replied nonchalantly. He rose from the bench and walked to the exit gate. Ramuja tailed him, "Young Lord, but this slave is…"

"I don't need your help in Clearwater Academy. It's full of highly competent and intelligent students. You will have little to no use there," Aster sighed.

Ramuja stopped tailing Aster, but he stood stupefied and his eyes turned red because he tried to hold his tear, "Young Lord… did you…. Disown this slave?"

Aster turned his head, he almost softened when he saw Ramuja who cried pitifully. But he shook his head and firmly said, "I did not disown you, but I don't need a slave who tried to hide something from his master."

"My work consists of many important businesses which can only be surrounded with people I trust," Aster rolled his eyes and said, "You are far from that trust."

***

Aster was sitting in the carriage while the servants were preparing for his luggage, he was gazing blankly until he noticed someone stood quite far from his carriage. His eyes looked a little lost.

Aster bit his lip. There was an urge to open the carriage door and invited that person in. But Aster steeled his heart again.

'No, I can't let him stomp my dignity.'

Aster slide the carriage window and told the guard outside, "Take him away from my sight, I don't want to see him right now."

"Yes, Young Lord," the guard moved immediately and seized Ramuja and pulled him away. Aster winced, because the sight of Ramuja getting forced made him angry. But it should be done.

'I'm not… your toy.'