Gardenia Of Blooming D.e.s.i.r.e

Aster took off the head cover that had been hanging loose on his head for a while. His cape draped and he unbuttoned it. The temperature had become slightly warmer since it was about to reach spring soon.

"This cover does nothing to me," Aster clicked his tongue in annoyance. He tried to stay hidden during this festival, but it only attracted so many attentions. Especially from young maidens and also plenty of men.

Thus, he decided to just walk without the cape because he was using a warm apparel anyway.

"That is because Young Lord chose a worn-out cape as a disguise, Young Lord's unmatched beauty makes it obvious that you are a high noble trying to disguise as a peasant," a servant walked behind him, following him attentively since the beginning. The servant held his giggle because he was afraid that his master might get mad.

"You don't need to ruin my mood now," Aster sulked. He walked few steps faster, then glanced at his servant behind, "Y—You are here with me as my companion, not my servant. You should walk besides me!"

"But, Young Lord, that is…"

"Just this once! Didn't you say that you will follow all my instruction!" Aster implored. His face turned slightly red because he felt like a kid throwing tantrum in the public.

"This servant obeys…" he nodded and walked side to side with his master.

Aster had always wanted to visit this festival, but he never had the time. Today was fourteen February, it was the national day of love in Golden Camellia, and there was always a festival in few cities in the country to celebrate it, including in Dionde City.

There was a sign in front of the gate to the festival.

'Sweet Aster Festival'

Aster giggled when he saw his name used as a sign of a festival every fourteen February in Golden Camellia. Sweet Aster Festival was a festival filled with young couples or single man or woman trying to find a date. There were plenty of couple themed games, food stalls, and many more. But the most important one was the Aster garden. A garden filled with Aster and people were freely to pick one each, or they'd need to pay in order to get more.

These Aster flowers were sweet scented and said to have been blessed by the love gods.

Aster never believed in such myth, but nonetheless, it was a good opportunity to experience the festival for the first time. He never had any chance since he was holed up in the Grand Duchy mansion and then golden palace for ten years. This was his first time going to 'Sweet Aster festival'.

For Ramuja however, he accompanied Merry few times to the nearest Sweet Aster festival when he was living with Wood family. It was nothing much but a place for couple to have a date and everything was crazy expensive. But Ramuja couldn't help but imagining his master that accompanied him to this festival, not Merry.

"Now it comes true…" Ramuja mumbled.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Aster tilted his head to Ramuja's direction.

"Nothing, Young Lord," Ramuja shook his head, but kept the smile on his face.

"You are weird," Aster suspiciously leering at his servant. But Ramuja just chuckled.

"Young Lord, you said you want to try many foods here," Ramuja reminded him. Aster's brows loosened and he showed his excited expression again. He scurried to the nearest food stall and ordered the couple candy, a big, heart-shaped candy that was supposed to be eaten by two people until they reached the middle. In the middle, there was a fortune telling about their love.

Aster held the candy with his hand and glanced at Ramuja few times. Then, he blushed and scurried away to another stall, "W—We need to try as many foods as possible!" Aster spoke panicky.

In the end, Aster bought almost all the food and souvenirs in all the stores. People were staring at this weird couple that was buying everything in the festival even though everything here was double or triple of the standard price.

The shorter one had smooth, unmatched beauty that just demanded the spotlight whenever he stepped in even though he was clearly a man, it made other men who brought their girlfriends stopped and stared. Which made many couples got into arguments because one of or both of them caught staring at this man endlessly.

And his boyfriend was tall, muscular man with bronze skin and looked vigorous and handsome. They looked odd, but somehow, they exuded harmony. The tall man was always looked at the short one attentively, his eyes was very gentle and was obviously in love.

The short and beautiful one was blushing continuously and glanced at his boyfriend sheepishly. He looked like he was very nervous, but nevertheless, enjoyed the moment.

After Aster had visited all the stores, and Ramuja carried so many bags with him, Aster decided to stop and took a breath.

"I think we should take a rest," Aster said.

"Yes, Young Lord," Ramuja nodded.

Aster saw that his servant really brought so many things, all of them were his unnecessary spending today.

'Well, it's just a quarter of today's pocket money, but it's still unnecessary.' Aster chided himself in his heart.

"Do you want me to help you?" Aster offered.

"No, Young Lord, this servant doesn't feel burdened at all!" Ramuja replied happily.

"Well, I have to find a place for us to rest." Aster and Ramuja walked around until they saw an old lady carrying a sign.

'A private pavilion only for five gold coins.'

"Huh, that is cheap for a private pavilion," Aster said. Ramuja gulped when Aster approached this old lady, because it was clearly a scam. There was no way a private pavilion could cost five gold coins, it should be way less. But Young Lord was extremely rich that he didn't realize it was very expensive.

And he couldn't warn him too, because he was afraid that Young Lord would be suspicious about his activity when they got separated for two years.

Aster and the old lady talked a bit and they reached agreement. The old lady guided Aster and Ramuja to a yard behind her house with only one pavilion decorated with white-pink silky curtain. There was a pond in front of it and it looked very romantic.

The old lady guided them to the pavilion and served a drink, before she left, she laughed heartily and tapped Ramuja shoulder, "What a lucky man you are! You got a beautiful man as a date, I feel like I haven't seen anyone more gorgeous than this, too bad that I'm an old lady already!"

Ramuja smiled gently and said nothing. The old lady shifted her attention to Aster who was stricken by such statement, "You are very gorgeous! But you should know that men aren't only attracted with your face. Since you are also a man, you should know this, right?" The old lady chuckled, "Your date looks very vigorous and strong, be sure to not overdo it or you might get hurt! You have five hours here, you can do anything and I will not disturb you, hee-hee…"

"W—Wait, you are mis—" the old lady already turned her back and walked away before Aster could finish his sentence.

Aster saw Ramuja in the corner of his eyes and his heartbeat quickened.

'T—This is not my intention, I swear.'