Gardenia of Blooming Desire

Aster woke up from his first night in royal palace. He shivered because there was no heating in the room, no fireplace, and only thin blanket covered his body. He was not bothered with cold usually, but this room was small, damp, and cold. He could smell the stench of the sewer close to this room. It was unbearable.

"Guards!" he called the guard who was waiting outside, but no one replied back. He called a few times, however, all he got was silence. He walked to the door. Before he opened the door, there was someone knocking, "Young Lord, this servant brought you a warm basin."

"Come in," Aster replied.

A maid entered the door with a warm basin for his feet and two warm towels, one for his face and one for his hand.

"Why is the room cold and damp? I requested a change of room," Aster said to the servant. The servant shook her head helplessly.

"Young Lord, the room was personally assigned by Empress Cecilia and approved by Emperor Audric, you cannot change your room."

"Then why do I get this room?"

"That… this servant doesn't know either," she replied. The maid excused herself after handing the warmers. However, before she left, she said: "Young Lord, for this matter, it is best not to tell anyone. This warm basin was ordered by the Golden Princess, Her Highness would get into trouble if you told the Emperor or Empress."

'Rosalie?'

Aster thought his uncle and aunt ordered the warm basin for him. But it was ordered by his cousin who was the new Golden Princess.

Golden Princess was the title given to the royal princess with certain characteristics and manners. She must be golden haired with a golden circle around her pupils, trademark of royal blood. She must be a virgin, an only princess, thus, if she has sisters, they were deemed invalid. Lastly, she needed to have proper manners and be able to carry out many topics. She must be proficient in arts to promote the beauty of Golden Camellia to the neighboring countries.

His Mother, Camille Anna Camellia was the previous Golden Princess. Before she was married and was replaced by the new daughter of the Emperor and Empress, Rosalie Anna Camellia.

Rosalie was indeed befitting for such title. She was as popular as the Grand Duchess, as beautiful and as smart.

But she was always lukewarm in front of him. Aster and Rosalie were closely related, but they were neither distant nor close, even though they were of the similar age, just Rosalie was one year older. They knew each other and kept their distance, mostly because Charles was very clingy when they were kids.

'What is happening here? Why did I get such nasty room?'

'And why does Rosalie need to hide these kinds of trivial things from uncle and aunt?'

Aster had many questions in his head, but he decided to dress up and prepare for breakfast. There was no servant that prepared his apparel. Considering how Uncle Emperor treated him yesterday and the room he got, Aster realized that he was not well received here.

Aster left the room in a hurry, there was a butler who waited for him in front of the door.

"Young Lord, this servant will escort you to the dining hall," he said politely. Aster observed this servant and realized that he was not the same butler who was prepared by his uncle before.

"Are you the Golden Princess' servant?" Aster asked cautiously.

The servant did not reply and immediately guided Aster to the dining hall. He was surprised when he walked on a different route to the dining hall, and saw Rosalie sitting alone, eating her breakfast slowly.

Aster approached the dining table and sat besides her.

"Good morning, Rosalie," Aster greeted her. Rosalie replied with a smile before finishing her plate.

"Good morning, Aster," Rosalie replied.

"About the warm--"

"It is better for you not to talk about it here," she immediately stepped before Aster spilled it.

Aster was taken aback, he didn't realize that it was such a secretive matter.

Half whispering, Rosalie said, "Emperor and Empress' people are everywhere, we might get into trouble just for a warmer."

Aster nodded. He had realized that he was not well received. Even his mother kept warning him to follow all the order of the Uncle Emperor. But he couldn't fathom the fact that he was not even allowed to get a warmer.

"Empress will arrive soon. The Emperor rarely joins breakfast and lunch with us, you should be glad," Rosalie said, "She has a plan to punish you by making you tardy for breakfast, so I had my servant escorted you earlier to this personal dining hall of our family."

"Rosalie, what is happening here?" Aster asked, half whispering. He realized that the servants shouldn't hear this matter.

"I wanted to tell you, but you might not believe me until you experienced it yourself. But I need to warn you, never trust anyone here."

"Rosalie, You scared me…" Aster said.

"You should be scared, fear will keep your neck clean," Rosalie replied while giving a slight smile, "Take this pin and keep it safe, if you want to meet me, show this to the servant who will give you warmer tomorrow morning."

Rosalie handed a golden pin shaped like a lovebird embedded with a small pearl in the middle, the signature pin of Rosalie.

"R--Rosalie, I don't understand, what is really happening here?"

"You will understand soon, Aster. I knew Father Emperor gave you the new name, humble trash, yesterday," Rosalie replied, "I believe you will need me to survive."

Rosalie stood from her chair and left the dining table. Aster was left stunned. Rosalie was always a gentle girl. It was a bit shocking to hear her speaking about such thing in a calm manner. As if it was natural for her.

'She even knew that the Emperor just gave me a new name here.'

'What kind of royal training is this?'

Aster had not been served any breakfast and he was not in the mood for one. About fifteen minutes later, Aunt Empress showed up in the dining hall. She wore a yellow dress with her hair tied up high and even in the morning, she already had so much powder on her face. Aster was disturbed, as he was used to seeing his mother, Grand Duchess with no powder until noon.

Aster stood up and bowed his head, "This nephew greeted Aunt Empress, may Golden Camellia prosper until the last eternal petal falls."

Aster heard no reply from Aunt Empress. He raised his head to peek, but found Aunt Empress already sat down on her table, treating him like air. Her face was unsightly, seeing him arrive in time.

Aster stood in silence because the Empress hadn't let him sit down. Until finally Aunt Empress opened her mouth while eating her breakfast.

"You may sit."

"Yes, thanking Aunt Empress," Aster said. But before he could sit on the table, Aunt Empress stopped him.

"I believe my husband has bestowed you the title as 'humble trash'?" Aunt Empress asked. Aster clenched his fist, but calmed down and replied with a yes.

"Then, no trash should be on the table, go sit on the floor."

"P--pardon?" Aster asked again. He gulped, as he knew this was just another humiliation.

"Trash, go sit on the floor, do not dirty the table, chair or the carpet."

"Ah…" Aster was speechless, he gritted his teeth, "This humble trash understands."

Aster slowly walked to the floor and sat on the cold hard floor. There were servants and guards watching him, but none dared to stare for too long.

"Servant! Give this trash some food on his special plate," Aunt Empress ordered.

The servants hurriedly went to the kitchen and came back with a dog bowl filled with only cold bread and salt.

"Aunt Empress… this…"

"That is naturally your breakfast."

"But this is slave food…" Aster said.

Aunt Empress chuckled and her powdered face cracked a bit, showing some of her wrinkles, "I could count on how much slave I have, but I couldn't even count on how much trash I had to dispose everyday. Your position here is trash, as announced by the Emperor this morning to the court. Everyone in the court shall now call you trash."

Aster trembled in shock when he heard the court. He thought only Uncle Emperor, Aunt Empress and Rosalie knew about that humiliating title. Turns out, every minister and officials knew his new title already. Aster knew plenty of them, because they often bootlicked in order to gain support from Grand Duchy.

'I… am the trash now?'

Aster was dazed. He was overwhelmed by rage and humiliation. But he had nowhere to vent his anger.

Aster looked at the cold bread that was suddenly wet, drip-by-drip. He realized that he had cried. He immediately wiped his tears with his sleeve.

He ate the cold bread without complaining. He had always eaten tender food, thus, the first time he tasted the cold hard bread, he almost couldn't swallow it. He couldn't hear anything but Aunt Empress who chuckled periodically.

'This humiliation… this!'

Aster who was dazed felt someone kicking his feet. He looked up and saw Aunt Empress's powdered face. In this angle, all he saw was a wretched hag looking down on him.

"As expected, like mother like son, your face is very similar to that ugly woman. I'm going to enjoy this."

Aunt Empress walked out of the dining hall with satisfied look.

Aster sat silently. Not knowing how to respond to that insult.

***

Aster hadn't met Uncle Emperor for the whole day. He got the same food for lunch and dinner, and sat in the same position with Empress insulting him. Rosalie had vanished since morning and Charles was still on his campaign.

At night, Aster took the pin given by Rosalie. He gritted his teeth. He still hadn't understood the meaning of all this humiliation. But he knew for sure that the next day would not be kind. Since the first day already hit this hard, it would only worsen each day.

Aster wiped the pool of tears that was about to fall and shook his head.

'No, I said to my mother that I would be okay.'

'And I promised to prove my capability to him…'

Aster remembered that slave of his. He suddenly felt grateful his slave did not follow him here. Because he will lose his head the first day they entered the palace.

"Maybe he really made the right decision to leave me…"

"Sure thing, it all comes down to power. This powerless version of myself…"

Aster smiled bitterly. First, what he needed to do was to understand everything in order to survive.