Chapter 235 - Two Sides of the War

It took almost a month for Ramuja's ship to finally enter the Golden Camellia's sea border. Ramuja saw the familiar Golden Camellia's flag, sh.i.p.s with blue, white and red horizontal flags with a golden star in the middle of the flag surrounded his ship immediately. He took a deep breath and then said to his men, "Disperse, this is the moment we should separate, no matter how, hide near the coast. If you get found out, immediately drink your death pill, so they can't extract any information about our plan. I will give you further instruction later on."

His men were unsure, because they didn't want to leave Prince Rama alone in this ship. Prince Rama only brought limited ship crews who were also soldiers, he brought plenty of shadow assassins with him, but that was it. He also only came with one ship, even though King Chandra already prepared dozens of naval fleets for him.

The ship crews had already escaped through a small boat, while the soldiers followed with another boat. When the shadow assassins dispersed, they would escape from this boat also, leaving Prince Rama alone in this ship, probably going to be surrounded by Golden Camellia's soldiers.

"My Prince, why don't you escape with us? We are already near the Miriam Coast of Vassal Kingdom Rhea," one of his men said. Ramuja shook his head;

"If I escaped with all of you, Emperor Charles will destroy the entire Miriam Coast and probably the ruin the whole Kingdom Rhea only to find me, I don't want to shed the blood of innocent lives in here," Ramuja's eyes darted at the blue white red flag, "Besides, I have someone that need to be notified immediately about my presence, now, disperse."

'I have planned this with Arjun, but I need the time to be precise, we cannot lose the momentum.'

"Yes, My Prince!" The shadow assassins disappeared from the sh.i.p.s, leaving Ramuja alone in this ship. Soon after, the ship was surrounded by Golden Camellia's navies with their swords drawn out. They knew that this ship was that of Sun Kingdom's. And Sun Kingdom was once a colony that was able to fight for their freedom, in short, Sun Kingdom was not a country to be scoffed at.

The navies looked around the empty ship, with only a tall, muscular man standing near the captain deck, "Hands up!" they yelled at Ramuja.

Ramuja raised his hands, he was calm when the soldiers rushed to him and pinned him down. Honestly, they couldn't really pin him down because of his strength, it was Ramuja who voluntarily got down to the floor.

"You are under arrest for trespassing Golden Camellia's border!"

***

Charles heard about the news of the Sun Kingdom's ship appearing at his border, it was positive that Ramuja had come to Golden Camellia. However, rather than smiling and laughing happily because he finally caught Ramuja, he frowned instead.

'He surrendered easily, without any men in his ship at all. He also only bring one ship…��� Charles was not stupid, that slave must've been planning something. He had a deep thought about it, he circled around his Royal Chamber and then came to a conclusion after he saw Aster's supposed seat, the Queen throne.

"Do you want me to execute you in front of everyone, so you can notify Aster and Irion about your presence in Golden Camellia? Well, I will not play with your tune, I will not be played by a slave," Charles grinned, he called his minister and commanded, "Put that fugitive Ramuja to the Golden Palace's prison, don't let anyone know about the news of his capture, I will deal with him personally."

"Understood, Your Majesty."      

Charles grinned from ear to ear, "That slave already knew that he would be used to bait Aster, so he wants me to do a public execution for him, but I know how to bait Aster without notifying his allies in Golden Camellia."

"As long as Aster is by my side, then I can finally be at ease," Charles said. He walked to his throne again and then drank the pill that had been prescribed by the doctor. After Aster's departure, he passed the whole winter and spring without the presence of Aster at all, Charles was trying to control himself, but this emptiness got him mad.

Sometimes, he went through a series of manic-depression alone in his room, thinking about Aster. Sometimes, he could feel that his sanity was slipping every day. He just wanted to meet Aster again, to chain him by his side, so he could end his mental torture.

'Aster, don't you feel pity for me? Your disappearance tortured me physically and mentally, I am tired of this pain, please return to me. I will end everything as long as you are with me.'

***

A few days later, Ramuja was brought to the underground prison of Golden Palace. He was put to the deepest part of the prison, with his hands and feet chained with strong steel chains, Ramuja tried to pull the chain, 'This is ten times stronger than the chain in Lantern Palace's underground prison. Charles doesn't play around this time.'

Ramuja sat on the floor silently, he had the hunch that Charles would not meet him before he 'roughed' him up first. Ramuja was prepared for any kind of torture that he would face. He didn't care about pain at all at this point. There was only acc.u.mulating anger in his heart, because his Milord must've been suffering somewhere. His master was a fragile man physically, now that he was stripped from his power, he had no one to protect him by his side, no comfortable bedding, and no servants to cater for his needs.

'No matter what, I want the public execution to happen soon, I want Irion and Milord to be notified about my presence here, then I can finally run my plan.'

Ramuja heard a step from the prison corridor, the one who walked to his prison must've been rushing. After a minute, a man appeared in front of his jail, he was wearing all black and he was scared as he looked around.

"I—I am a shadow guard under Sir Irion's order, he already knows about your presence," the shadow guard said.

Ramuja was startled, "Irion already knows? Where is he? Where is Milord Aster?!"

"Sssh! Calm down," the shadow guard fished out something from his pocket and then threw it near Ramuja's chained hands, "Although Sir Irion already knows about your presence in Golden Camellia, he still wants you to bear through the torture until the public execution has been ordered. That is a crystal ball that produces a deafening sound when shattered. He said that he knew you can break free easily during your execution, once you break free in front of everyone, please crush the crystal ball."

Ramuja took the crystal ball and hid it inside his coat, he nodded without much question, "I will do it."

The shadow guard nodded, "Under the Order of Ethereal Gardenia, Sir Irion guarantees that you will not die."

"Order of Ethereal Gardenia?" Ramuja asked.

The shadow guard shook his head, "There is not much time, please take care." With that, the shadow guard disappeared from his sight. Although Ramuja could still spot his presence near in the corridor, he smiled faintly, 'Irion should've trained that kid better, he is still not as proficient as himself or Jain.'

Ramuja could feel the small crystal ball inside his coat pocket. This crystal was definitely strong enough, he doubted that smashing it to the ground would shatter the crystal ball, 'I don't know what Irion is planning, but this Order of Ethereal Gardenia… I know that he is also a fugitive here.'

'Is he… planning for rebellion? But where is Milord?'

Merry rushed to Golden Palace's underground prison as soon as she was notified that Ramuja had been captured. When she arrived at the end of the prison corridor, she saw one prison had been locked, she saw Ramuja was chained with many strong chains around his hands and ankle.

"Ramuja!" Merry called her loved one, "Ramuja, are you okay?!"

Ramuja raised his head, he saw this girl that had been lying to his father and entire Sun Kingdom that she was Milord Aster. This was also the same girl that had created the rift between him and Milord Aster. This girl… this girl was also the same girl that indirectly caused the Winter Feast Massacre in Dionde City.

Ramuja gritted his teeth, his body almost reacted by breaking all the chains with his strength, but he tried to hold back, "What are you doing here, Merry?"

***

Aster was sitting under a gazebo near the pond with Mariette. Mariette finally returned back to Great Arctyr Palace after she spent the whole spring she spent with her future in law's castle.

They talked about many things, as Mariette tried not to make Aster sad about his mysterious blindness. But Aster immediately stopped talking as soon as he felt something in his heart.

"Aster, what's wrong?" Mariette asked.

Aster shook his head gently, "It's nothing."

Mariette sighed and then said, "You know, I can't be in peace while you are here in the Great Palace alone, I don't want you to get hurt by Tuskan's enemies. The ministers in Great Arctyr are vicious."

"I know, that's why I don't leave my room much," Aster replied.

Mariette sighed, her finger circled around her teacup and then she said, "I wonder if this is a good idea, but… have you considered having an engagement with Tuskan?"