บท 39: The Old Lady Who Preyed on Young Men

Aster sat alone in the pavilion in palace garden. His warm tea quickly warmed the cold winter as he followed the instruction from Rosalie. This morning, Rosalie's maid delivered the food with a note under the soup bowl.

-Cousin, today Lady Merse from House of Thana will be attending Mother Empress' invitation. It wont be long and she will roam around the palace as usual. Mother Empress will leave soon because of the problem between Gamasiel and Claudia. Stay in the palace garden and you will meet Lady Merse. Make a good impression with her, but try to look reluctant when she touched you. But don't be outright rejecting her. Make yourself desirable.

Rosalie-

Aster was unsure about how to be desirable, so he just wore his regular apparel, just with few buttons opened in his chest, revealing his smooth milky skin. This was what those girls did when they try to seduce him in grand duchy, maybe this could work.

The servants and guards who surrounded the garden walked around the pavilion, they tried to hide their glance at the Young Lord of grand duchy. But they couldn't help to stare at his revealed chest. Smooth, milky and looked fragile, it was indeed very tempting. They didn't realize that their faces were getting hotter and they blushed.

Aster himself was unaware of the guards and servant who were looking at his body. He drank the tea to warm himself in this freezing winter and waited for about two hours until he saw a woman walking towards him.

Once that woman drew closer, Aster finally saw her appearance clearly. She was a woman about his mother's age, almost forty. She had a sharp, thin face, and her eyes looked like fox's eyes. She had brown hair with few white strands and wore a blue padded gown. She smiled and her teeth was revealed, it was very yellow.

'Disgusting.' Aster frowned in his heart, but said nothing and smiled back to her.

"Oh my, what does a young man sitting here alone for? May I sit here?" she opened the conversation.

"Ah yes, please do," Aster smiled.

The old lady sat on the chair nearest to Aster and asked one of the nearest servants to serve her tea. The servant immediately nodded and served her a cup of tea.

Aster was surprised. Was this lady powerful enough to order the palace servant? Even he couldn't order them.

"Surprised?" the old lady chuckled. "I'm quite well-known in the palace." She said.

After the servant served her tea, she said to the servant, "The servants and guard have more important thing than just walking around the garden, right?" she said it lightly, but the servant shook and nodded vigorously. Not long after, the whole garden was empty, not even a guard was seen around.

'Who is this woman?' Aster knew that this was Lady Merse, but what kind of power this woman had…

"I'm Merse Thana, Mistress of House of Thana. But my maiden name is Merse Wildbrush," she said. Aster saw her body language, her chest leaned to him and she stared greedily. Aster was very uncomfortable.

'I need to do this, so I can meet my servant again,' Aster steeled his heart and smiled amiably.

"I am Aster Di Arlingdon, from Grand Duchy of Stormhill. It is my pleasure to know Lady Thana." Aster bowed his head a little.

Lady Merse chuckled and moved her hand to Aster's shoulder, "Don't call me Lady Thana. Please call me Lady Merse, so we can be more... personal."

'Disgusting! This is very disgusting!' Aster screamed in his heart.

"Then, pleased to meet you, Lady Merse..."

Lady Merse seemed satisfied and her hand became even braver than before. She put her hand to Aster's cheek, "What is a young man doing here alone? Are you waiting for someone?"

Aster looked reluctant, not because he faked it, he was truly disgusted. "No, I am just spending my free time here. Does Lady Merse have any affair in the palace? It is winter, I doubt milady visit the palace without any reason."

Lady Merse's smiled turned into slight smirk, this was the perfect time, "Yes, in fact, I am meeting my sister, she is the current Empress. Empress Cecilia." Lady Merse announced proudly.

'So, that's why she is very powerful. Just like Empress, her sister is also a filthy monster.' Aster mocked her in his heart, but show an awed expression in front of Lady Merse.

"Ah, this young one pardons his impudence, to sit beside Her Majesty Empress' sister!" Aster tried to stand from the chair, but Lady Merse's hand gripped his wrist.

"Don't worry, I would love for you to sit besides me. We can share the heat, today is very cold, isnt it?" she grinned. She leaned closer to Aster and showed her yellowish teeth and foul smell omitted from her mouth.

'Disgusting! Disgusting!' Aster tried to calm down and act reluctant. He almost lost himself and wanted to slap this filthy monster.

'This is for him. I have to... bear this.'

Lady Merse giggled after seeing Aster closed his eyes and trembled a bit, a fresh, delicate young man like this Aster was her favorite. She wanted to kiss that rosy lips and devour this young boy, but this place wasn't the best.

Thus, Lady Merse only kissed the side of Aster's lips and brushed the edge of her lips to Aster's.

'Teasing an innocent boy like this, this is fun.' Lady Merse was pleased. After she took that kiss, she stood up and said to Aster. "Aster, isn't it? I will meet you again later. If you have any request, please say it to a butler named Riyon. He is my personal butler here, you can ask anything, but I doubt it will be money. Right, Young Lord Aster?"

Lady Merse giggled and left Aster alone in the garden. Aster tried really hard to keep his smile, but once that wretched hag left, he ran to his room.

He rushed to the bathroom and took the cold water. He didn't even care about the freezing temperature. Aster washed his face repeatedly and then brushed his teeth over and over again.

He didn't care about the pain in his gum. He saw the toothbrush was red because he brushed his gum too hard, but he didn't care.

After almost one hour of brushing his teeth, he saw the fresh blood in the basin. It was blood from his gum and lips. Aster's eyes were bloodshot he was angry, disgusted, sad that he didn't know how to react.

One thing that was certain, he needed to kill her.

"I WILL KILL THEM! KILL THEM! THAT WRETCHED HAG AND HER WRETCHED SISTER!" Aster roared. He thrashed everything in the bathroom as he vented his disgust.

After he calmed down, he just laid in the bathroom weakly. He had his eyes focused on the ceiling, and all he could think was his servant, Ramuja. Soon, his tears streamed down from his eyes.

'Why is everyone so disgusting except you? Ramuja...'