Ramuja watched his master rode the horse around the meadow together with Crown Prince. They looked really intimate, sometimes, Crown Prince kissed Young Lord’s nape, at least that was what it looked like from afar.

            Ramuja knew that Crown Prince was probably the best bachelor for Young Lord. With him, Young Lord would be safe, he didn’t need to work nonstop to maintain the grand duchy, Crown Prince could maintain everything for him. He was by all means, the most powerful man in this empire next to Emperor Audric IV.

            But seeing them in the meadow, riding a horse while Young Lord being embraced gently by Crown Prince, made his heart burn in jealousy.

            “No, we can’t let Young Lord being harassed by him!” Ramuja protested.

            Jain was still pissed with this hypocrite who acted like he cared about Young Lord the most, but was having an affair with somebody else.

            “Silence!” Jain warned him. They were currently in the woods near the meadow, watching their master’s seemingly romantic affair with Crown Prince.

            “But…”

            “You see the rustling bushes in our left?” Jain pointed to the rustling bushes across their hiding spot, “There were two assassins under Crown Prince who was watching us the whole time.”

            Of course, Ramuja couldn’t see anything, but he nodded unwillingly while his eyes burned seeing the affair in the meadow.

            Not long after, Crown Prince forcefully dismounted Young Lord from the horse and said something. Then, Young Lord tried to ran away from Crown Prince as fast as he could. Ramuja could see the frightened expression in Young Lord’s face.

            “H—He is in danger! Young Lord!” Ramuja

            “No!” Jain tried to hold him, he gripped Ramuja’s hand, but Ramuja pushed Jain forcefully, “Let go!”

            With one push, Jain rolled off the ground until his body hit the tree. He groaned and winced in pain, “How could he have monstrous strength so suddenly? He was nowhere near that powerful.”

            Jain saw Ramuja took a heavy log with only one hand and ran towards Crown Prince who was now embracing Young Lord. Crown Prince’s assassins ambushed him together, but Ramuja just swing the log one handed and the two assassins were thrown across the woods like him.

            Ramuja ran really fast while carrying that heavy log with one hand. Jain remembered that incident during spring festival ceremony, when Young Lord staged a scene that he was going to be ‘assassinated’ when he became the spring goddess and did the ceremony across Roagelt. Jain was attentively watching his master, as he was ready to jump in if the execution didn’t go according to plan.

            But he saw someone dashed really fast that Jain didn’t even notice it until a second later. Then he realized that was Ramuja who protected Young Lord from the ‘assassin’. That time, Jain didn’t know who this man was, thus, he thought it was part of Young Lord’s plan.

            But that man was no doubt, a slightly younger Ramuja. He must’ve been really weak before, but he still had the same quick reflect whenever Young Lord was in danger.

            ‘Is this… his instinct? His desire to protect Young Lord?’

            Jain was astounded, ‘He wouldn’t be able to beat golden blood like Crown Prince, because he is untrained. But if he is trained…’  

            Jain’s line of thoughts dispersed when he saw the assassins went after Ramuja gain. Jain took his weapon and gritted his teeth, “Just this time, I’m going to help him.’

            Ramuja saw Young Lord already resigned to his fate, he closed his eyes painfully and let Crown Prince did anything to him. Ramuja swung the log as hard as he could to Crown Prince back, but that man didn’t even budge.

            Crown Prince put Young Lord down gently, stared at him and scoffed, “Oh? Just a mere slave and he dare to face me like this? You are dead!”

            He unsheathed his sword, but Ramuja saw Young Lord who was frightened and right now, he wouldn’t back down.

            ‘I will protect you, Young Lord!’

            But what he saw next crumbled all his courage and hit his heart hard.

            Young Lord kissed Crown Prince deeply.

***

            ‘My first kiss…’

            Charles was dumbfounded. His black eyes turned golden and shone instantly. He dropped his sword and instinctively hugged Aster and deepened the kiss. Aster tried to back off, trying to break free after he was trapped in Charles’ embrace, but Charles immediately held the back of his head and pressed it forward to deepen the kiss even further.

            “Charles— Mmph!” Aster struggled, but he was kissed again by Charles. He used his tongue to probe in Aster’s mouth. Aster pushed Charles’ tongue with his, but it only burned Charles’ desire even more. Two tongues twined and pushed against each other until Aster was finally out of breath. He let Charles tasted his mouth.

            His tongue tasted every inch inside Aster’s mouth, he bit Aster’s lip hard until it bled, then licked and sucked the blood. Aster was dazed, he blanked out for a moment. Then he heard someone called him.

            “Young Lord…”

            Aster heard a low voice that called him, he glanced and saw Ramuja trembled out of shock, his face was aghast and the heavy log he carried dropped. He said nothing after that, but he watched how his Young Lord looked weak and dazed while Crown Prince kissed him.

            Aster regained his consciousness and pushed Charles as hard as he could. Charles finally released Aster after he took Aster’s first kiss.

            Charles smirked and said, “Your face is so red, so you enjoyed it as well.”

            “No!” Aster said decisively. But Charles only chuckled in response.

            “You kissed me first, used your tongue, and responding to my kiss. Do you think you can fool me?” Charles extended his hand, wanting to touch Aster’s lips, but Aster stepped back.

            “Why are you shy? Is this because this slave is watching us? Fine, I will kill him, then we can continue,” Charles said. Aster reacted immediately by saying, “Don’t hurt him!”

            “Why?”

            “B—because…” Aster glanced Ramuja whose face was still in aghast, after he realized his master glanced at him, Ramuja lowered his head.

            Aster saw nothing but pain in Ramuja’s eyes. It was like a kid whose dream was shattered in front of his eyes. He trembled, clenched his fist, but still said nothing.

            Aster could feel something hurting in his heart, but the most important thing right now was to protect Ramuja’s life. He braced himself and smiled in front of Charles.

            “No, it’s just… I don’t want you to kill someone in front of me, you know,” Aster said calmly, “I—I’m also not ready to go further… I already gave you my first kiss, was that not enough for now?”

            Charles expected Aster to reject him as usual, because he knew that Aster was in love with him, but he was also very shy and reserved, thus, he often rejected him because he couldn’t hide his embarrassment.

            ‘So cute, he is so embarrassed.’ Charles licked his lips, but he decided to toughen his self-control and replied, “Fine, I’m more than satisfied anyway. With this, we are already officially a couple, right?” Charles put pressure in his tone when he declared it. Aster gulped and nodded.

            “W—We are couple now…” Aster said unwillingly.

            Aster chuckled gleefully, he took Aster’s hand and kissed it gently, “I shall escort you back to your carriage.”

            Charles put Aster back on the horse saddle, Aster glanced at Ramuja who stood still with his head lowered, the sun was almost set, it created a deserted image of a heartbroken man.

            ‘It is my desire to protect you... Ramuja.’

            Aster lowered his head and said, “Please take me back.”

            With that, they left Ramuja alone in this dark meadow.