Into The Rose Garden

“What did I do wrong to you in the first place, why…… are you doing this to me…….”

Tears of despair flowed from the eyes of the broken man. Even as he was dying, this damned demon had hurt him more than he could bear. Yet he couldn’t even curse him. He could only hold the dying body and shed tears uncontrollably. Cold tears fell on his fair cheeks and rolled down. Aelock’s eyes shook as he saw him. His wounded lips trembled slightly.

“…I’m sorry.”

“After all these times, don’t tell me such a lie.”

“I’m sorry. For everything. I now understand the pain that Rayfiel must have felt. I was just trying to die quietly. And for making you recall your wounds again…”

“Shut your mouth!”

Klopp screamed at the top of his lungs, feeling like he was about to go insane. He reached out to strangle the demon, eager to end his life as quickly as possible in a moment of intense hatred. However, as his hands clenched as his hands clenched around its slender neck, he froze up. The glassy blue eyes, that always confronted people, were full of tears.

Ah.

As Klopp’s grip loosened, clear tear drops rolled down his golden eyelashes, wetting them.

“At first, I thought I would have to take the suffering. Because that’s how I should pay for my sins. I’d just have to stay still, like before. But I couldn’t do that when my child was getting in danger. So I rebelled…and got beaten.”

It wasn’t just a simple beating that he had suffered. His arm was dislocated, his ankle was broken, and his entire body was abused. And yet, without a single curse, Aylock’s narrative was stoic. It was as if he didn’t even realize that he was crying.

“Rayfiel would probably have done the same. Because he wanted to protect the child. Because it was his child with his beloved person.”

Klopp wanted to say how dare he say such words, but he couldn’t say anything because his throat was too tight to speak. Aelock smiled as he looked at him. Tears streamed down endlessly. He had lost so much blood, Klopp couldn’t understand from where did those tears come. It was like the dam that had been clogged finally collapsed and everything he had gathered in his life was pouring out.

“My eyes feel strangely hot. Ah, I’m… I’m now… crying, aren’t I?”

The corner of Aelock’s mouth slightly curled up, as if he were pleased. His drooping fingers were struggling to move as if he wanted to feel his tears, so Klopp wiped away his tears with his thumb instead. Looking at his soaking wet and large hand, Aelock closed his mouth and swallowed, feeling choked up.

“Will you believe me now? I have feelings too, and I can get hurt. Even though I committed an unforgivable sin that cannot be washed away.”

After a moment of trembling voice, Klopp nodded his head. His wet blue eyes grew a little bigger and then softened.

“I was going to ask forgiveness from you and Rayfiel… but now that I have experienced it, it’s not something that I can ask for forgiveness. He will be in heaven and I won’t, so I probably won’t even be able to meet him.”

He smiled and blinked his eyes. Tears that had been welling up in his eyes fell down.

Turning his head away from Aelock’s view, Klopp sobbed under his breath. Tears flowed down his cheeks and chin, not really knowing what those tears meant to him. The tears that rolled down his cheeks and chin got mixed with the tears running down Aylok’s white face. Aelock, as usual, didn’t avoid his gaze and spoke with a faint smile.

“I apologize for all the trouble I’ve caused you. Someday, I hope to be reborn and repay you. And at that time, I won’t go anywhere near your lover.”

“…Is that all you have to say to me?”

Klopp could only respond with a hollow laugh to Aelock’s aristocratic sarcasm in even his last words.

You cruel demon.

Klopp took Aelock’s hands with both of his and pressed his forehead against them. He didn’t know what to say.

Goodbye? Leaving him in this wretched world and continuing to live a cursed life forever? This damned bastard. Then he heard a fading voice.

“I love you.”

At first, he thought he misheard it, and Klopp raised his head and stupidly asked, “What?” Aelock smiled and repeated himself.

“I’ve always loved you.”

Klopp didn’t know what to say. With a blank expression, he denied him, “What you did wasn’t love.” Aelock looked a bit dejected at his words and then awkwardly smiled.

“Maybe. I’ve never been in love with anyone else… but you… so I might not know what love really is….”

With those words, Aelock let out a deep sigh. Unlike before, he barely managed to continue speaking without breaks.

“Still… even if it’s… a lie… it’s okay, won’t you… just tell me once… that you love me?”

But Klopp couldn’t bring himself to say such words. It was okay even if it was a lie, those common words were nothing to him, but still, he couldn’t just say it. Aelock didn’t say anything more, leaving behind a bitter smile. The blue eyes met the flickering dark brown eyes for a moment, unmoving, before they slowly disappeared into his eyelids.

“Aelock!”

At the urgent call, the eyelids that were just fluttering open slightly, dropped back down and closed completely. No matter how much Klopp shook and called out, Aelock didn’t open his eyes again.

He didn’t die immediately. That quack of a doctor had barely managed to stop the bleeding, and in that state of unconsciousness, Aelock managed to hold on for three days. He slept in Klopp’s arms in a clean and tidy bed, and on the third day, he quietly took his last breath on a sunny morning.

In those three days, Klopp didn’t understand why he held his despised enemy in his arms and kissed him on the forehead until the very last breath. He just couldn’t bring himself to leave the slowly cooling body alone. Klopp never took a step out of the room until the weak breath had completely stopped. Sometimes, he would give a little water to the pale, unconscious omega’s lips. Their parched and chapped lips touched, and a faint breath escaped.

As Aelock drifted into an everlasting sleep, he occasionally moved his lips and shed tears, dreaming of something. Then, Klopp would hold him close and brush his lips over the corner of his eye.

Strangely enough, it turned out that tears had a flavor. It should just be saltwater, but it had a very deceptive and indescribable taste. It wasn’t bitter or salty, but rather a sweet taste that made his tongue numb. He wondered if he had finally gone insane.

But he soon realized it. Aelock was having one of his last very happy dreams, and that’s why his happiness overflowed and his tears tasted sweet. To anyone else, they would be mere salt water, but to Klopp, who had been wrapped in Aelock’s scent for years until their scents mingled together, the tears tasted like drugs as he licked them while holding the cold body and gently stroking his back. The weak body gradually stiffened.

Occasionally, while holding Aelock’s hands and kissing his forehead, Klopp would call out “Aelock?” But Aelock never woke up from his happy dream. When his heart, which had been beating slowly, finally stopped, Klopp drank the last tear that Aelock shed and gave him a short kiss on his dry lips. Wrapped in white sheets, Aelock looked incredibly peaceful as if he was drifting towards his dreams.

Now, there was no one left in this living hell but himself. He couldn’t afford to take his own life like Aelock did. Because there were their children. Their gem-like children who came to life because Klopp raped Aelock and made him sacrifice what was left in his life. In return, Klopp was left with a torn soul that would never heal and forced to live alone in this terrifying hell forever. From now on, he would eternally be alone.

Unlike Rayfiel, who was buried in the family cemetery, Aelock was buried in a sunny spot near the cabin. His tombstone was simple, with only his name and the years of his birth and death. There were no epitaphs inscribed on it. He didn’t bring any flowers to the tombstone, but instead, the colorful and beautiful flowers that he had tended so diligently in his lifetime bloomed vividly and decorated the lonely tombstone. Until the end, he was a shining light unto himself.

Sometimes, when he took their growing children near the cabin, Klopp would stand in front of the tombstone for a long time. His regrets overcame him late.

He should have told him what he wanted to hear then, even if it was a lie.

As he ran his fingers over the tombstone, he tried to say those words belatedly, but he couldn’t bring himself to say them in the end.

After a while, Klopp turned towards the children calling out to him in the distance.

And that marks the final chapter of Volume 1! There will still be a short epilogue to this volume and a preview to the next volume before we move on to Volume 2!

From now on, I will be updating the chapters separately every 3-4 days (3rd/6th/9th)! Please look forward to the continuation of the story!

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