Aster was dazed. He had a conversation with his mother last night. His mother went to his room with tea tray personally carried by herself. Which meant that his mother wanted to talk privately.

            Aster and Grand Duchess Camille sat face to face in the balcony, the autumn leaves scattered around the palace and Grand Duchess sighed before sipping her tea. She looked concerned, “My son, tell me your problem, I’m really worried about your wellbeing.”

            “I’m okay, mom.” Aster replied short.

            “What do you mean okay?” Grand Duchess frowned, “You ate less for three days straight, you made a lot of mistakes in Grand Duchy’s administration, you are also dazed so many times! Aster, your mom is really worried!”

            “I…” Aster hesitated. He had wanted to ask for his mother’s advice, but knowing how ruthless his mother against slaves was, he kept it himself. Because he might indirectly harm Ramuja by telling his mother. Who knew whether Ramuja would still be alive or buried in some unknown land by his mother after she knew that the whole problem was caused by a mere slave?

             Thus, Aster tried to take roundabout way, “Mom, to what extend shall we have compassion to slaves? They are technically still a human.”

            “Compassion? To a slave?” Grand Duchess asked, as if what she just heard was ridiculous. “What compassion do you think those slaves deserve?”

            “I mean, if a slave committed a mistake, should I not spare him?”

            Grand Duchess sighed, “If that slave is important for you, you can spare him as long as he will not do the same mistake again.”

            Grand Duchess smile amiably, for few seconds, Aster thought that his mother was really like an angel, gentle and beautiful. But her gentle smile turned stiff and she continued, “But if he didn’t know how to be grateful and committed the same mistake again, then you should punish him. Slaves are easily replaceable, they are not worth your time.”

            “But… what if he really didn’t mean to…”

            “Well, if he is a sane person, he wouldn’t. Because his life is in your hand,” Grand Duchess sighed, she puts down her cup and patted Aster’s had gently, “Aster, mom loves you so much, I don’t want you to know the ugly truth of human. But, you should know that even though slave is a livestock by birth, but they still have human brain. They can deceive you, does various tricks in order to gain your attention or pity. Once you fell into their trap, they will ruin you…”

            Grand Duchess showed a grave expression, “My son, your fate is much bigger than just thinking about useless stuff like this.”

            Aster zipped his mouth and lowered his head. There was something hitting his conscience, his mother’s words really made him feel guilty as a son.

            ‘She is right, but I—"

            After some silence, Grand Duchess stood and walked to the door, “Remember, mom just wants you to be a proper ruler for our duchy,” she said and then she closed the door.

            Aster stared at the door and decided to relieve his stress with early rest.

***

            Aster woke up earlier and went to his garden for his morning stroll. Aster ordered Ramuja to help other servants for the time being. It had been four days since their last conversation that went awry. Aster walked around, directionless, as his mind also wandered aimlessly. He was still disturbed over the fact that his trusted servant and love hid something from him. No matter what was the intention, he just couldn’t accept it.

            ‘Yet… I still don’t want to punish him.’

            ‘Stupid…’

            He sat on the nearest bench and fiddled with some dahlia. The autumn had just started and his mood was in terrible state already. He sighed. The autumn’s wind was cold, so he could take more time until the sun rose and his skin would start to itch.

            Aster closed his eyes, he let the cold wind caressed his body. He naturally had lower temperature than average human, thus, he was never bothered by it. He took a deep breath and his mind went blank.

            Not long after, there were flashes of memories that invaded his brain repeatedly. The moment he left the duchy, his struggle and humiliation in Golden Palace, his return to the duchy, autumn banquet, and then Charles went inside his room and…

            Aster bit his lip. He trembled, not because of the cold, but the memories were so painful. That moment, he realized that he wasn’t just insignificant in the eyes of Golden Camellia’s aristocrats. He was even less than that, he was just… a doll for people to admire. The humiliation shattered his pride as Young Lord of Grand Duchy Stormhill.  

            His tears started falling, however, before he could let all his tears dry. He felt someone approached him hurriedly. He opened his eyes, and saw a man with bronze skin kneeled in front of him. From this angle, the man who kneeled was very handsome, he had that masculine charm that was different from Charles. Charles had unrealistically sculpted appearance, the trademark of golden family.

            But this man in front of him, he had a masculine handsomeness of a southeastern man, with sharp nose, thin lips and big, bronze body. But this man’s eyes showed tenderness that unfortunately, made Aster weak to his gaze.

            He looked worried, but dared not to look up. He raised his hand and offered a clean handkerchief with the letter ‘A’ in the edge.

            “Y—Young Lord, please don’t cry,” he said timidly. “This slave will be sad too…”

            Aster looked down. He didn’t take the handkerchief, instead, he wiped his tears with his sleeve. He asked coldly, “Who gave you the right to enter my garden?”

            Ramuja jolted, he lowered his head even more and didn’t dare to reply. Because the truth was, he tailed Young Lord around for four days. He finished all the servant tasks earlier and hid inside the garden since two in the morning every day, thus, the guards outside the garden didn’t notice him.

            He knew what he did was wrong. But he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want Young Lord to know the truth about him and Merry, even though Young Lord might’ve guessed it. But, as long as he could get all the time for himself to be close to Young Lord before everything was revealed, he was happy.

            He intended to just silently watch Young Lord from behind the bushes every day. But he instinctively rushed to Young Lord before his brain could react when he saw Young Lord trembled and cried.

            By the time he realized what he just did, Ramuja was kneeling in front of his Young Lord and offered Aster’s personal handkerchief that he cleaned daily. The handkerchief was given by Young Lord, and he had been treasuring it since.

            He was dumbfounded by his own action.

            However, he was already in front of Young Lord, thus, he could only silently wait for his death.

            Aster snorted, “If you cannot answer me, then I assume that you have been following me.”

            Again, no answer came from Ramuja’s mouth. However, he lowered his posture pitifully. It didn’t fit his big stature, but he obediently lowered his head until it almost touched the ground, but with his hand still rose up with handkerchief on his palm.

            Aster’s heart quivered.

            ‘Why are you doing this?’

            ‘I sent you away because I don’t want to hurt you.’

            ‘But you keep coming back again and again, do you know how foolish you are?’

             ‘Ramuja, you always do this whenever I got angry… the same old trick…’

            ‘Did you… also do the same trick to another person?’

            Aster froze immediately. He recalled his moments back then, Whenever Ramuja made a mistake, he was always trying to show up in front of Aster, offering something and his heart would soften immediately.

            This repeated behavior was almost similar to a trick. A trick that had been done many times in order to gain pity. Then, Aster recalled what his mother said last night.

            ‘They can deceive you, does various tricks in order to gain your attention or pity. Once you fell into their trap, they will ruin you....’

            ‘They can deceive you…’

            All what Ramuja did was just an old trick that softened him. Made him look silly.

            ‘So, you… tricked me?’

            ‘You… tricked… me?’

            Aster’s stare turned into fierce glare. He saw Ramuja still lowered his head, but this time, he steeled his heart and raised his leg and stomped Ramuja’s palm.

            “ARGH!” Ramuja reacted instantly. He tried to pull his hand, but it was stuck because Young Lord’s boots stomped it rough. It wasn’t the pain that hurt Ramuja, but because Young Lord stomped the palm with his handkerchief on it.

            “Young Lord! Your handkerchief! Handkerchief!” Ramuja reacted wildly. He teared up when he saw the handkerchief that he treasured so much was stomped by his own master.

            “Young Lord! I beg you! This—this handkerchief!”

            Ramuja raised his head and look up to Aster, but what he saw astonished him.

            Aster was crying in despair, but refused to make any noise. His tears fell to Ramuja’s face. His pupils were completely golden, but it looked unbearably sad.

            “Young Lord, what… happened to you?”