Gardenia of Blooming Desire

Chapter 138: Killing Someone to Protect Young Lord

Irion spurred the horse as fast as he could, he didn't want any of Grand Duchess' guard or shadow guards to catch them. They needed to escape Dionde City as soon as possible.

He could detect that the carriage was being followed by a few shadow guards, but they didn't dare to incapacitate the horse or the carriage because it might hurt Young Lord Aster inside and it would also alert the city folks.

'They will definitely attack me when we are out of the city.' Jain predicted.

Thus, after the carriage left Dionde City, Irion unsheathed his sword in his left hand while his right hand held the horse strap. After they were far from Dionde City and entered the empty road, bolts of arrows directed towards him and the horse.

Clank! Clank!

Irion skillfully deflected the arrows that targeted the horse and used his shield for the ones that directed to him. Irion did it a few times until he could see stacks of logs blocking the road. He forcefully halted the horse.

Irion stepped down from the carriage and guarded the carriage door. His eyes were like a lion ready to pounce anyone who got near him. He readied himself and did his guard stance.

Soon, there were eight shadow guards surrounding the carriage. Knowing that there was no chance to live if he was passive, he put down his shield and yelled, "I will not let you touch my master!"

A shadow guard jumped at Irion with a short sword, Irion easily grabbed his wrist and slammed him to the ground, then he stabbed his stomach with his sword. He looked at the other shadow guards again, "Come! I will kill all of you!"

Three shadow guards attacked him at the same time, he roared and charged forward, he slashed one shadow guard on his chest, and deflected an attack with his sword. The other guard aimed at his neck and Irion immediately kicked him.

Irion was handful with the shadow guards outside, thus, two shadow guards were able to destroy the carriage window and entered the carriage. Inside the spacious carriage, Ramuja was shielding his unconscious master with his body.

One of the shadow guards used a small dagger and attacked Ramuja, Ramuja shielded the attack with his hand, the dagger stabbed his hand, but he didn't feel pain, he grabbed the wrist of the shadow guard and then crushed it with his enormous strength.

The other one was already grabbing Aster's body, Ramuja immediately elbowed his chest and the shadow guard fell on the floor. Ramuja pulled the small dagger that was still stuck in his hand. He swung the small dagger vertically, aiming for that shadow guard's head, but he hesitated.

'II will kill someone with this?'

'But I don't want to hurt anyone'

Without his knowing, the shadow guard got up on his feet and kicked Ramuja's stomach. Ramuja staggered, the shadow guards grabbed Aster together and attempted to escape. Ramuja saw how rough those shadow guards handled Young Lord. One of them grabbed Young Lord's ankle roughly and it actually chafed his skin.

Ramuja's eyes turned red, he roared, "DON'T TOUCH MY LORD!"

He moved fast and grabbed both of the shadow guards' necks, he strangled both guards with one forceful strength and both were dead instantly.

Ramuja let go of those shadow guards. He looked at his palm and it trembled slightly, "I killed two people I really killed two people"

He was scared, because he never hurt anyone since he was a kid. But when those shadow guards hurt his master, he was furious that he lost control. He didn't want anyone to hurt Young Lord, not even an inch of his skin.

Ramuja immediately checked his master's ankle. It was red and chafed. Ramuja became depressed, 'No, Young Lord, I failed to protect you'

Irion had just finished the sixth shadow guards, he looked around and after confirming that all of them had been defeated, he opened the carriage door to check on Young Lord. He was nervous that Young Lord might not be inside, maybe he was already taken away, but what he saw was that slave with watery eyes while looking at Young Lord's chafed ankle.

There were two dead shadow guards on the carriage with their tongue stuck out.

Irion was dumbfounded, he was so scared before, but looking at this, it seemed that this slave had more than met the eyes.

Irion pushed Ramuja aside and kneeled in front of Young Lord, he lowered his head shamefully and said, "Young Lord, this dog is begging for your forgiveness, because I'm unable to protect you."

After saying that, Irion kissed Young Lord's chafed ankle and then fished out a small ointment. He took off his gloves and gently smeared the ointment on Young Lord's ankle.

Now, Ramuja was the one who got dumbfounded with the sight in front of his eyes. A knight with his bloodied armor, kneeled in front of Young Lord and kissed his ankle. He even smeared an ointment on it.

'Who is he really'

Irion's face was still full of blood spots after killing six shadow guards, but he was really gentle towards Young Lord. After he smeared the ointment, Irion got up and stepped outside. He glared at Ramuja and said, "You, protect Young Lord, I will throw all these corpses on the side."

"YYes!" Ramuja nodded. Irion dragged the corpses one by one and threw it on the nearest swamp. Then, he washed his face and took off his armor. He put his armor inside the carriage luggage. He wore a regular tunic and hopped back on the horse.

It was already night and the carriage resumed the journey. After few hours, they stopped on a meadow and Irion started a bonfire for him to rest. He opened the carriage door. He said nothing and covered Aster with a blanket. He glared at Ramuja again and said, "Go outside."

Ramuja glanced at Young Lord and he was still sleeping, he was sweating from time to time, so Ramuja carefully wiped Young Lord's sweat with his handkerchief.

Knowing that everything was alright now, Ramuja stepped outside the carriage and sat in front of the bonfire with Irion on his opposite. It was almost the end of autumn season, and the temperature was dropping.

However, Ramuja was used to the cold during his two years of working and Irion was a highly trained knight, this kind of cold was negligible to him. Thus, both of them were sitting in silence, until Ramuja decided to ask something.

"Sir may this trainee ask something?" Ramuja said hesitatingly.

"Ask."

"Who are you?" Ramuja asked.

Jain stared at this slave with his hawk eyes, probing his intention. But once he noticed something in the slave's chest pocket, he sighed.

"I'm Irion Swordheart, from House of Swordheart. I was a royal knight until I resigned and worked as guard trainer for the time being," Irion said.

"No, sir, what I mean is who are you to Young Lord?"

"I am his guard medal subordinate."

"Guard medal subordinate?" Ramuja never heard that term before, maybe it was a code for the royal knight.

"Jain and I are Young Lord Aster's guard medal subordinates. Only high aristocrats have the guard medal and they could recruit three people each. And guard medal subordinate is supposed to be a lifetime secret."

"JJain too?!"

"Yes, he is actually a highly trained assassin, he even had few disciples under him. He was one of the best, but of course, even the best cannot fight against a horde of guards alone."

There was a trace of sadness in Irion's face, he was staring at the bonfire. Ramuja always thought that Jain did not care about Young Lord, he even suspected that Jain was one of Grand Duchess' underlings.

But after seeing his sacrifice, Ramuja lowered his head shamefully.

'Turns out, compared to them, I'm still nothing'

Irion shifted his attention to the thing inside the slave's pocket and said, "You, check your chest pocket."

Ramuja frowned, he remembered he didn't bring anything except two letters from Jain that were still in his pants pocket. He checked his chest pocket and found something weird. A gold medal shaped like a shield.

Before Ramuja could ask, Irion explained, "That is Jain's guard medal, similar to mine."

Irion took his guard medal and kissed it. He showed it to Ramuja and both of them were the exact same medal.

"Jain? But why is it in my pocket?"

Irion knew exactly what was in Jain's mind when he put his medal in Ramuja's pocket, but somehow, he still couldn't accept this man. Because he was the source of all this mess.

"I will ask you a question," Irion said, "What is Young Lord to you?"

Ramuja tilted his head slightly, wondering about the sudden question. His eyes looked up, he saw stars on the night sky and he took a deep relieved breath.

"Without him, I wouldn't be able to see the night sky, I wouldn't be able to know what warmth of a human being is. I might be dead already if he didn't buy me back then," Ramuja chuckled lightly, "Well, not only that, even if I meet him in another situation, I will always follow him. He is the sun and the moon for me."

Irion saw the sincerity in Ramuja's eyes and said, "Jain put his medal inside your pocket, he is passing the torch to you."

Ramuja stared at the gold medal, he caressed it, "Passing the torch? So, he wants me to be the new guard medal subordinate for Young Lord?"

"Yes, but that depends whether Young Lord would accept you or not," Jain's countenance turned grim again, "Let's just hope that Young Lord still remembers you once he wakes up."

Ramuja's breath shortened, "Young Lord will forget me once he wakes up? But what happened to Young Lord? Why does he fainted and fell into deep slumber suddenly?"

Irion didn't want to answer that, because it was the secret of the golden royal blood. It was dangerous to leak the golden blood secret. Thus, Irion only said, "You will know it later."

With that, both Irion and Ramuja fell into silence while gazing on the fire. There was something that bugged Ramuja's mind.

'Young Lord will forget me? What about our moments and promises?'

Thinking of it made Ramuja feel weak, he decided to gaze at the fire and hope the fire would burn his anxiety away.