Gardenia of Blooming Desire - Chapter 179: Charles and His Darling Little Cousin

The sound of carriages entering the Lantern Palace took the servants by storm. Never were in their dreams, that Emperor Leopold would visit the Lantern Palace. He was a controversial king, but there were some people who still worshipped him, just like they worshipped every golden blood.

Camille was standing in the main hall, holding Aster’s hand. Aster innocently stared at many carriages who parked under the lush dome. The carriages were lavish with real gold ornaments and when the guard opened the door, a man around his fifty came out with a boy older than Aster.

They approached Camille and Aster and then hugged Camille, “My daughter, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Camille froze at this moment, because she didn’t expect his ever powerful father to suddenly hug her and apologized. She didn’t even know what he was apologizing for.

‘Is it for his ignorance during my childhood? For letting his dead wife torture me? Or for other things?’ Camille guessed in her heart. But she stayed silent until she responded by hugging him back.

“I’m sorry for everything, Camille,” Emperor Leopold said. He said truthfully. He was already stripped from all his power by his son, Ludwig. He was dethroned and shamed in front of the court, but what hurt him the most was when Ludwig said something in front of everyone.

“The biggest sin you did was abandoning a little girl in front of hundreds of thousands of angry mobs, and then returning without a sliver of regret. Scum.”

He knew that his son was referring to what he did to Camille when she was a kid. After the war, there was an uprising and he left Golden Camellia without Camille because of pressure from his late wife.

He felt guilty indeed, but at that time, he still didn’t have this deep love for his daughter. Until he realized that it was too late.

It was fortunate that Camille was able to survive without any wound.

Camille was stupefied, but she still couldn’t feel any warmth from him. In fact, she felt nothing. As if his heartfelt apology was insignificant in her eyes.

‘I can’t forgive you for what you did to my mom, but I will play along.’

“I forgive you… dad.”

The Emperor kissed his daughter’s forehead and then said, “I can’t bring Rosalie, but I bring Charles with me, he is already seven years old. He should be able to take care of Aster.”

The Emperor crouched to Aster level and then said, “Aster, this is grandpa, Grandpa Leo.”

Aster stared at the golden circle eyes, the same eyes he and his mother had, “Grandpa Leo…”

Camille clenched her fist. He really wanted to hide Aster inside his room because it was too disgusting to hear, ‘Aster, you have no grandpa!’ Camille said in her heart. But she kept her silence.

“This is Charles, your cousin,” Emperor Leopold pulled Charles in front of Aster. For the first time, Aster saw a kid older than him, he was quite tall for a kid, at least compared to him. He had brown hair and his facial features were really similar to Uncle Ludwig who visited him a few months ago.

“Cousin…” Aster mumbled, he held Charles’ hand and continued, “Cousin hum… I am Aster.”

Charles never liked to be touched, thus he brushed his hand off. But he accidentally pushed Aster.

Aster was shocked, because he never got this kind of treatment from anyone. His eyes started getting teary and he cried.

“Aster!” Camille panicked, he picked Aster up and glared at Charles. Emperor Leopold was a bit weirded by his daughter’s reaction to a little kid.

“It’s okay, Camille. Charles didn’t mean it in a bad way, he is raised to be the next Emperor in line. The court never let anyone to touch him, because there was an assassination attempt once…”

Charles didn’t seem to care about his aunt’s glare. He was more interested in Aster. Because Aster was so fragile. He didn’t even push him hard, but Aster fell to the ground and cried.

In fact, he was a bit pleased.

‘He is like a cute kitten, I love a cute kitten.’

Camille was unsure, but seeing Aster stopped crying and wanted to stand on the ground again. When she put him down, Aster did the same thing again. He held Charles’ hand and said, “Cousin… it hurt. Please be kind to Aster.”

This time, Charles didn’t push him. He let this three year old hold his hand gently, ‘Interesting…’

Camille was seriously disgusted with it, she really wanted to wash Aster’s hand with soap, because she just touched a dirty thing. But this was not the right time. Especially when her father was here.

“Well, Charles and Aster need to familiarize with each other, let them be. I want to talk to you about something important,” Emperor Leopold said.

Camille couldn’t stop staring at her son and nephew. She started panicking, afraid that something bad would happen to Aster, she called Sir Douglass and whispered, ‘Bring them to Aster’s play room, but assign all shadow guards to watch over him. Don’t let him get hurt.’

Sir Douglass had long known about his mistress’ overprotective behaviour, thus, he nodded and brought Charles and Aster to the playroom, while Camille and Emperor Leopold were discussing something in the office.

***

This was the first time Charles entered a playroom for a kid. His entire life since he was a baby was filled with tutoring, tutoring, and another tutoring. He was surrounded by books, wooden and steel swords, a geographical map with many pins in it, talking about the political and economic system of Golden Camellia.

It wasn’t hellish to him, but it was boring, really boring. Because Charles excelled to everything easily that he had gone bored with the same shocked expression of his tutors. Then they would praise him to the moon and back, saying that Golden Camellia would prosper under his rule, he would be the greatest emperor and blahblahblah.

Aster started running around, collecting all his toys and presenting it in front of Charles, he said, “Cousin! These are my toys!” Little Aster said proudly. There were many toys Charles never knew about in his life.

He chuckled, “Please tell me which toys do you like to play the most.”

Aster was in deep thought for a moment, then he innocently said, “I like them all, but I like it better when I have someone to play with. Usually, I play with my dog, or with my nannies.”

“Then, you want me to play with you?”

Aster nodded excitedly. He gave Charles a canvas and a set of paint. He asked, “Cousin, can you draw? My mother is a good painter! But I cannot do it…”

“I can.”

“Then, please draw me and my dog, Fleur!” Aster picked Fleur who ran towards him as soon as he called. He gave a big smile and stayed in that position, waiting for Charles to paint him.

Charles was amused, he started mixing the paints and started painting. He was a prodigy in painting as well, simply because it was part of his royal training. But he was so proficient in it for his age, that his tutor just gave up and praised him.

After a while, Aster couldn’t hold Fleur for so long and he asked, “Are you finished? I can’t hold on for so long…”

“Yes, I just finished it.”

Aster approached Charles and checked the painting. He was stunned with the painting, because it was really good. Although it wasn’t as mesmerizing as his mother’s paintings, it was already godlike.

“Uwaaa! Cousin is really good!”

“It’s easy.”

When Charles said that it was easy, Aster was slightly downcast. “But it’s not easy for me, I want to paint mama and papa, I want to paint Fleur too. Cousin Charles can teach me painting?”

“… yes.”

“Really?!” Aster’s eyes were big and clear. His eyes were slightly different from any golden bloods Charles had encountered before. Aster’s eyes were extremely mesmerizing, the more he stared at his eyes, the more he wanted to dive into it.

“I will teach you anytime,” Charles said.

Aster jumped at Charles and threw his weight to him. Charles was surprised, but he caught Aster in his embrace, both of them fell on the velvet carpet. Aster nuzzled his cheek with Charles’ and then giggled happily.

“W—What is wrong with you?” Charles asked, as he was uncomfortable with this intimate contact.

“Cousin is really good! Aster loves Cousin Charles!”

“…. Love? Why?”

“Um… no reason, I just loved Cousin Charles when I saw you!” Aster was excited. Maybe because he never had a friend here, only nannies and his dog, that his cousin’s presence made him really happy.

“You… love me?”

“Yes, yes!”

“Aster, do you know, that saying love is not something you should say easily.”

“Eh?” Aster finally stopped nuzzling and tilted his head, “Why? Mama always said that she loves me, papa too! Why can’t I love Cousin Charles?”

“Because…”

It seems Aster was too young to understand. Or maybe because he was taught about everything at the very young age that his view about this was different. Charles was silent for a while, and then asked, “Aster, if I am not your cousin, will you still love me?”

“I do! I love Cousin Charles!”

“Someone in love should be married in the future.”

“Then I will marry Cousin Charles! So Cousin Charles can teach me every day!” Aster said innocently.

“Don’t call me cousin,” Charles gently patted Aster’s head, “Call me Charles.”

“Okay, I love you Charles, I will also marry Charles!” Aster said excitedly. He nuzzled his cheek with Charles again and giggled.

Charles only patted Aster’s head, but there was something weird in his mind, ‘Love and marriage, huh? You don’t even know the meaning of it. You are so naïve, Aster. But I don’t mind. I find you… very interesting.’

Slowly, Charles’ golden eyes flickered, and a small dot of golden tint appeared in his eyes.