Gardenia of Blooming Desire - Chapter 243: Uniting II

“My Prince, I’m glad that you are safe. We are at your command,” the man in front of him said. Ramuja stared down at this guy, somehow, he couldn’t recall the guy’s name, but he knew that this guy was one of his soldiers, ‘Wha… I really don’t have Milord’s intelligence, he can remember every shadow guard and soldiers that work under him.’

Ramuja coughed lightly and then replied, “Where are the others?”

“They are still scattered outside Grand Duchy Stormhill, it is only me who attend this event, we do this to avoid the Emperor’s suspicion. Prince Arjun also heard about your condition and he already sent more shadow assassins and rations for us, we don’t need to worry about our food, My Prince,” the man explained. Ramuja nodded and then he walked to the darkest area of the alleyway. The man followed him and then they stopped at a completely dark alley.

Ramuja said in a low voice, “Listen to me well, because I will not repeat this command twice,” Ramuja warned. The man was all ears, if Prince Rama didn’t want to repeat the command, then this was extremely important.

“Gather your men to the abandoned Swordheart mansion, the mansion is located far east from the main gate of Dionde City, I will dispatch one Irion’s subordinate to give you the direction later on, we will discuss our next plan there. Also, do any of you have an experience in espionage?”

“Yes, My Prince, we have one man who is a veteran spy,” the guy said, Ramuja nodded, “That man will be my priority, bring him first to Swordheart mansion. I want him to go to another country.”

“Another country? My Prince, I thought we would fight here…”

“Yes, but I need him to watch over someone in another country, I want him to give me detailed information of what happened to someone in that country,” Ramuja was resolute, and the man seemed to have noticed how the air in the dark alleyway started getting bleak. He shuddered and agreed immediately;

“Certainly, My Prince! I will move him as the top priority!”

“Good, now go,” Ramuja commanded. The man left the dark alley, leaving Ramuja standing in silence. Whenever he saw someone passing by, he masked his presence, although he could barely do it, since he was not trained as a stealth-user by Irion. He had been trained like what Milord ordered Irion to do, Ramuja had been trained as a fierce warrior.

‘Milord, I know that you are fine there, but I cannot relax my guard. Wherever you are, I will be protecting you. Milord, I will save you soon.’

***

Meanwhile, Irion disguised as a regular citizen who was enjoying the feasting, but he was secretly eyeing every noble in this public party. Milord said in his letter that there were plenty of nobles who sided with him, but they were too scared to show their support in the public, because Emperor Charles would butcher them, however they already made a secret sign that they were part of Grand Duke Aster’s alliance.

They would use a blue and yellow somewhere around their body as an accessory. The first one that Irion noticed was the Second Princess of Kingdom North Fort, Esther Yvette.

Esther wore two hairpins, one blue and one yellow. She looked pretty with the hairpins, Irion grinned and then approached Esther. He tapped Esther’s back of the hand three times and then walked away.

Esther immediately noticed it, she glanced to her left and saw a man had just turned left from a building. Esther acted normal and walked around before she turned left on the same building. Irion had been waiting for her while still acting like a normal civilian.

Esther fished out a small paper from her glove and then put it on a chair and then walked away. Irion grabbed it immediately and then went inside a building. He read the note from Esther.

‘I know all of our allies, but I need reassurance that you are trustworthy enough. Go meet me near the 34th street of East Dionde, inside a barbershop. Tell the barber that you want Aster’s haircut.’

Irion immediately understood what this girl meant about ‘Aster’s haircut’. Milord’s medium length, wavy haircut was popular because Milord was already treated as a celebrity in Dionde City. But nobody named it as ‘Aster’s haircut’, they simply said Grand Duke’s hair.

Irion went to the designated 34th street of East Dionde, he found the barbershop easily and when he entered, the barber was an old man with sharp eyes, he asked, “What kind of haircut do you want, sir?”

“I want Aster’s haircut,” Irion said lightly, as if it was nothing different.

The barber nodded and smiled, “This way, sir.”

He led Irion to the back of the barbershop and then, Irion saw the same girl, Esther Yvette, already sitting on a chair, drinking a fresh cocktail. When she saw Irion, she smiled and said, “Sir Irion Swordheart, the Guard Medal Subordinate of Milord Aster, and also the top fugitive in Golden Camellia, my name is Esther Yvette, pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, it seems I don’t need to introduce myself,” Irion grinned, “I followed Miss Esther because you said that you know about the list of Milord’s allies. Mind to tell me who they are?”

“Sir, I will not blatantly tell a secret list full of important people, their life will be in danger if I deliver it to the wrong person. I need reassurance,” Esther said firmly. Irion was amused, this girl looked like a regular noble girl, she was pretty, but not stunning, she didn’t dress flashy either.

But she was very careful and talked in a lukewarm manner, her tone made everything sound like a mundane topic, which was great as a secret keeper, ‘Milord is really right to pick this girl, she is talented.’

“I will give you my guard medal subordinate, look at the engraving, Milord already carved something special behind,” Irion fished out his guard medal subordinate and gave it to Esther.

Esther checked the guard medal subordinate, and there was an engraving at the back of the medal, ‘To Irion Swordheart, my trustworthy subordinate. The bearer of my secrets.’

Esther finally showed a relieved smile, this was the same code that Aster had said to her once, that his subordinate will have the same code engraved on the back of his guard medal.

“Fine then, I will tell you all of them, but you have to make sure that you can remember all of it, because I will not write it down,” Esther took a deep breath, “Esther Yvette, Second Princess of North Fort Kingdom, she is also allied with the barbarians, we are waiting for Milord’s order. Florentino Viete, Marquis of Viete, the Late Merse Thana, Duchess of Arion. Duchy of Arion is still controlled by the minister, but they are waiting for Milord.”

“Great King Tuskan and Great Princess Mariette, the Great Arctyr is secretly colluding with Milord. Based on my deduction, Milord must’ve been hiding there, correct?”

“Indeed,��� Irion said firmly. This girl was too skilled for him to lie. Esther smirked, “I know that you already know all of them, but you wouldn’t even guess this last ally of Aster.”

Irion frowned. Indeed, he already knew about the people that Esther had mentioned, but he didn’t know that Milord had more connections than these people, “Who?”

Esther stood from the chair and whispered, ‘Golden Princess Rosalie and all the houses that are following her, including the barons and baronesses, counts and countesses, and even some earls. The deal had been sealed a few months before the Winter Feast. Sir Irion, she betrayed her mother, and now she also betrayed her brother. Milord knows this, he said to me once, in this game of chess, you kill anything that could turn white and black easily after they have no more use. Please use this knowledge wisely.’

***

Emperor Charles was in a very bad mood today, he had killed three slaves that he just captured from a new conquered land. But his mood didn’t seem to improve at all, in fact, he became even more angry.

He wiped the blood from the severed head in front of him, “I still don’t get that satisfied feeling, maybe it’s true that I should be hunting that slave before I could be satisfied.”

Charles sat on the throne and called the servants to clean the corpses. He was annoyed because he couldn’t interfere with the charity event at all, he knew that this charity event was just a farce to hide the fact that Aster’s allies must’ve been gathering there.

All he could do was just watch over and deploy as many guards as possible, but Aster’s allies were not just some random houses, they were all skilled houses that could survive hundred years of conflicts in Golden Camellia.

However, Charles also had this relieved feeling, ‘I already have such an amazing Empress, with him, we can conquer the world and become the legendary lovers in history, like the one in the fairy tale.’