Chapter 152 - A Kiss under the Rain

After the shocking announcement about Gaum declaring himself as the new king and introducing his new lover, Aster di Arlingdon to his ministers. The news spread wide. Most of the citizens were unhappy to have Gaum as the king, because he was not really well known except for his handsome face.

He didn't have any merit in their eyes, while Gamasiel was proven to be a great knight that contributed to the empire for so many battles. However, Gaum seemed to be nonchalant about this, instead he fired all officials that were against his new status as the king of Rhea and reformed the ministry.

Kingdom Rhea, in just two weeks after King Gaum coronation, had a drastic change. They introduced the new program called charity for the people, where all ministers and officials will donate some of their monthly wages to build the rotting infrastructure of Rhea and so on, the one with the highest donation in each district will have their name called to receive honor from the kingdom each year.

It received such great response from the people that most of them instantly forgot about their disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of King Gaum.

"Your idea is working, my dear," Gaum said while pinching Aster's cheek. Aster slapped Gaum's hand immediately and he tried to distance himself from Gaum again.

Aster was reading the doc.u.ments for the regulation and the budgeting of Rhea, he clicked his tongue, "Don't misunderstand, I helped you because I need Rhea to be ready to invade Grand Duchy as soon as possible.'

"So straightforward and harsh, you know you are cute when you frown," Gaum said flirtatiously, he tried to approach Aster again. But Aster immediately stood from the sofa and then looked at Gaum with his sharp eyes. He didn't seem to joke at all.

"Gaum, I tried to tolerate you with all your advances, but I'm just simply not interested with you, just because you told everyone that I am your lover, doesn't mean that it's true," Aster said harshly.

Gaum's flirtatious face turned sour instantly, he grabbed Aster's hand and clenched it.

'You think I can't force you? You think I'm simply a doormat for you to step on when you need me?'

But then, Gaum realized that Aster's golden circle eyes slowly turned black, so he released his hand.

Aster sneered, "I do not hate you for what you are doing, but beware of your position, I am still your superior."

Gaum said nothing, but his eyes were focused on eyes. The more this man wanted to push him away, there seemed to be an undeniable attraction. He knew that playing with Aster is dangerous, simply because how capable Aster was when he was cornered, and how powerful his backings were.

'Just you see, Aster. I remember what you said, I'm more than I look, and I will prove it to you,' Gaum swore in his heart.

Aster left the office and went straight to his room. He had been moved to a more comfortable room on the top of the tower, similar in his grand duchy. Aster sighed and threw his weight to the bed.

He lost his tolerance to Gaum when he shamelessly declared to his ministers that they were lovers. Maybe the intention was good, because Aster did need the support of the ministers and officials to attack Grand Duchy. But he never agreed with it.   

'What to do with Ramuja…'

Aster was especially concerned with Ramuja right now. Because after the declaration, Ramuja said nothing to him until they arrived at his room. Then, Ramuja said.

'Begging Young Lord to give me some time alone, Irion would attend to your needs every day instead of me.'

Instead of asking the reason, Aster just nodded and said, 'Go on.'

After that, Aster never heard of Ramuja again for almost two weeks now. He wanted to see what he was doing, whether he was okay, but whenever he asked Irion, Irion's answer was always the same.

Training.

All Ramuja did was training and training every day.

'Was he mad at me?' That was the thing that repeated in his mind. He knew that Ramuja must've been hurt because of the blatant display of affection in front of the crowds, but he couldn't do anything, because Kingdom Rhea's support was his only clutch to return back in Grand Duchy.

'I… I don't want to have another misunderstanding with him. This is too much, too much for me!'

Knock. Knock.

The door was knocked, Aster tilted his head and said, "Come in."

Irion opened the door and kneeled in front of Aster. His face looked slightly concerned, which was very unlikely of him.

"What happened?" Aster asked. Irion's concerned face made Aster feel slightly nervous.

'Does mother finally discover my hiding? Does Gaum decide to stop the preparation of the invasion? Or… is it about Ramuja?'

"Young Lord, this is about your servant, Ramuja."

Aster immediately got up from his bed, "W—What happened to Ramuja?"

"He has been training alone for the past two weeks without any rest, Young Lord. He only sleeps for one or two hours every day and keeps training. I ordered him to stop, but he didn't want to. At this point… he might die out of exhaustion."

Aster's heartbeat stopped for a second, he immediately grabbed Irion's shoulder and asked, "Where is he? I need to meet him now!"

Irion escorted Aster to the training ground, the ground was wet because of the heavy rain right now. Aster was immediately greeted with a sight of a big muscular man swinging a great sword with extraordinary strength. But after every swing, he would lose his balance and fall to the muddy ground. But he would stand up again and did the same thing over and over.

His c.h.e.s.t palpitated crazily, but he didn't seem to be tired. His face… looked very depressed instead.

When Ramuja got up from the ground and wanted to swing the sword again, Aster ran towards him and hugged him from behind. Aster tried to hold his tear as he begged Ramuja to stop, "Ramuja! Stop this! You will die!"

Ramuja stopped swinging his sword, he dropped his sword to feel the soft hand circled around his waist.

Ramuja said softly, "Young Lord, I need to train, please let go."

"I won't! I order you to stop this!" Aster tightened his arm around Ramuja's waist. "If you are angry with me because of me and Gaum, please forgive me! I never like him! I… I only like you… Ramuja…"

Aster leaned his forehead on Ramuja's broad back, "I… I'm sorry I can't say no there…"

Ramuja smiled bitterly. Of course, he knew that, and he never blamed his Young Lord for it. But it still hurt him, in fact, it hurt more because he was the one who made big trouble for Young Lord.

"Young Lord, I never blamed you, in fact, I am the one who should be blamed," Ramuja said, "I am the one who put you in a bad situation…"

"But… why are you doing this if you don't blame me?" Aster asked, he didn't want to let go of his hug on Ramuja's waist.

Ramuja recalled the moment when Gaum embraced his master, when Charles almost took him and caused deep trauma, and when Gamasiel triggered it. All of those could be avoided if he was strong enough to protect Young Lord. If he could fight against everyone, so his Young Lord wouldn't be pitted in this kind of situation.

"I want to protect you, Young Lord. I will protect you," Ramuja released himself from Aster's tight hug easily and instead turned his back and hugged his Young Lord gently with his bear hug, "Because I am too weak, I can't fully protect you. I can't fight against all of them, that's why…"

"That's why I will train no matter how hard, I will be the strongest, so you don't need to worry anymore. You will attack Grand Duchy soon and I want to be your sword, Young Lord."

"You are as gentle as the morning dew, I don't want anything to hurt you and your purity. I'm sorry for being selfish before and I'm sorry for being too weak."

Ramuja bent down so his eyes were at Aster's level. He had dark eyebags, but his eyes were very deep, yet gentle at the same time to Aster. Ramuja pressed his forehead with Aster's forehead and said, "I will protect you. Because you sacrifice your dignity for me, then I shall sacrifice everything for you. My Young Lord, my savior, my… love."

Ramuja smiled and kissed Aster's lips deep. This was the first time Aster received a full kiss from Ramuja.

Ramuja's words melted him completely as he responded to the kiss, their eyes met and with tacit understanding, they closed their eyes and deepened their kiss. Ramuja invaded Aster's mouth with his tongue, which Aster accepted wholeheartedly. Ramuja gently held the back of Aster's head as his tongue explored his master for the first time. 

Under the heavy rain, two men shared their kiss full of passion and desperation.