Into The Rose Garden

Finding the ring was a relief, but Klopp didn’t expect to meet someone who would cause him to feel such inner turmoil and conflict. He had barely managed to suppress the turmoil he felt earlier, but now it had intensified. It had been an exhausting and challenging day, and he didn’t feel like he could fall asleep in this chaotic state of mind. Since he was already out, he thought it would be better to take a walk. He placed the lamp on the nearby stone steps and put the ring back in his pocket. Then, he walked along the pale moonlit gravel path.

The burning fire within his ribcage and the freezing ice coiled together, causing him great distress. It would have been better if one of them devoured the other, either burning everything or freezing it all. His swollen hands hurt, and his mind was complicated. With the proposal going awry, he had to think about how to please Rayfiel, but for some reason, all he could think about was the person he had just met.

An intense thirst arose, one that was deeply unsatisfying and unpleasant. Whether he was present or not, irritability and anger surged within him. What made it even more unbearable was that just the thought of his disheveled blond hair and blue eyes was enough to ignite an uncontrollable desire. He acknowledged that the reason for him beating those guys earlier wasn’t just because he was interrupted and angry. The burning fire and freezing ice within him intensified. Klopp took a cold breath in and exhaled a hot one, taking step after step. It seemed like this walk was going to be a long one.

The serene night garden, reflected in the blue moonlight, seemed like a world standing on the vague boundary. As the night wore on, the wind blew considerably chillier, but it actually cooled his head. Unlike the burning back of his hands, his fingertips quickly turned cold. Klopp walked through the garden, slowly embracing the coldness that had been building up.

Lost in his thoughts, he found himself in a secluded corner where cedar trees stood in a row, the same ones when he first came to this estate and lost his way to the rose garden.

The path shimmered gracefully, completely different from his memory. Back then, the breaking sunlight sparkled intensely, as if curtains made of light were fluttering. But now, it was completely different. The pale moonlight did not drive away the shadows but rather dyed the edges it touched with darkness. The great, soundless pillars did little more than split the light that seeped in like mist, obscuring the pitiful celestial bodies that could not shine themselves. Only the pebbles hidden in the deep shadows cried out with small screams under the weight of someone’s heavy steps.

How do I get back from here? Maybe I should turn right, toward the estate in the distance.

Guessing the directions, Klopp walked along the path, illuminated by the barely-there moonlight. The cobblestones glinted in the reflection, resembling stars in the deep night sky.

As he passed through the shadows of the towering trees, something caught his eye up ahead. Between the repeating silhouette of the cedar trees, like a broken kaleidoscope, there was someone standing in the shadows. Unconsciously, he quickened his strides and approached. Standing there absentmindedly, without a single lamp, was Aelock. It seemed he hadn’t returned to the estate earlier. The moment Klopp saw him, the fragile balance maintained inside him was instantly shattered, replaced by a rampage of something he couldn’t quite name yet.

Why is he wandering around at night without a lamp? Of course, Klopp himself was guilty of the same, but he was a person having troubling events on his plate. He couldn’t understand what had happened to that guy to make him act so pitifully as if he had borne all the sorrow and suffering of the world since the concert.

It was getting on his nerves to see Aelock standing beneath the moonlight, staring vacantly at the moon. At the same time, Klopp had no desire to approach him, strike up a conversation, or pretend to notice him. Since their first encounter, every meeting with Aelock managed to unsettle him, turning him into a poem, constructed with artistic devices in a space-time realm, merely listing facts without rhetorical ploys. It was better to pass by quietly.

He took a few more steps, then stopped and reconsidered. It would be better to turn back than to continue forward. As he swiftly turned his body, a chilly wind blew, carrying a strangely provocative scent. It was an odd smell, smelling neither like alpha nor omega.

No, it smells quite like an omega. He wondered if there was a newlywed couple nearby, but it was a silly idea. Apart from himself, there was only Aelock in this vast garden.

As usual, just like how his body had often reacted to it before, Klopp couldn’t help but grow increasingly turned on by the scent. It was extremely embarrassing, but since there was no one to see him here except for Aelock, the only alpha present on this dark night, he didn’t consider it a problem. Aelock wasn’t a person who would blatantly stare at that spot so intently to notice his small problem on this dark night. More than that, just when had Aelock been involved with an omega to the point where their scents became a jumbled mess.

Lewd bastard. It seemed like he hadn’t even had the time to get a room for himself. It was a waste of the moon, the garden, the wind, and the shadows. To waste such beautiful scenery by indulging in the afterglow of a love affair. What an utter idiot… or not.

He quickly felt unpleasant again. He was so disgusted by his arousal in response to Aelock’s lingering scent of his affair that he decided to turn back immediately. However, he stopped once again on the way. In this current state of irritation, he might as well say what he had planned to say since early evening.

This guy paid enough expense to buy a whole house just for a soirée, and if he was going to sleep with someone like that until his body scent was filthy, there was a good chance he was going to cause a serious financial crisis with all his presents. He needed to give him a warning right away. This guy could lose a house overnight, so there was no time to lose.

His turned-on body and anger at Aelock’s unknown partner were irrelevant. He was merely giving professional advice as an investment agent and asset manager. The matter was so urgent that Klopp briskly walked and stood behind Aelock in a single stride.

Aelock was so engrossed in himself, that he was unaware of Klopp approaching him until Klopp rested his hands on his shoulders.

“Hey, you.”

Calling out with a slightly angry voice, Aelock was startled. He jumped and swiftly turned around, forcefully slapping Klopp’s arm away as he did. Due to turning too quickly, he lost his balance and stumbled backward. It seemed like he was about to fall.

“Ah!”

“Oh, my.”

Klopp reflexively reached out an arm to support Aelock’s slightly skinny back. Although Aelock wasn’t particularly large, but he was a fit alpha, so Klopp wobbled as he tried to support him. After a struggle, they both regained their balance. Unintentionally, Klopp naturally wrapped his arm around Aelock’s waist and pulled him closer. Aelock grabbed the vest of the person who had held onto him with both hands and let out a deep sigh, lifting his head. Their gazes intertwined, and for a moment, the awkwardness of their close proximity gave Klopp a great shock.

In the moonlight, clear tears streamed down Aelock’s wet blue eyes.

“Aelock?”

“Ah…”

At the sound of his name, Aelock, who had unwittingly come to his senses, grimaced in embarrassment and quickly pulled away from Klopp. Then, he roughly wiped the corners of his eyes with the palm of his hand. Aelock’s faint mask was shattered, he looked incredibly sad and pained. The emptiness in his arms, which had felt so satisfying just a brief moment ago, made him become angry once again, and at the same time… right, he felt extremely sorry. It was enough to realize that it hurt his heart. Why was he crying? Who made him cry? The omega who he had an affair with? That was most likely it.

“Did you have a heartbreak?”

The words that came out of nowhere sounded sarcastic even to his own ears. While Klopp was inwardly flustered, Aelock lowered the hand that was rubbing his eyes and raised the corner of his mouth, smiling. Turning his head slightly, he glanced in this direction with trembling lips.

“I can get hurt too.”

Klopp couldn’t make sense of that absurd response.

What’s with him? Did he really have a heartbreak, or is there something else going on with him?

Klopp remained silent and stared into his wet blue eyes. He couldn’t look away from him. The shock was too much. No matter how much Aelock wiped away his tears, they continued to fall, soon smearing his face and dampening the back of his hand. For him to cry this much, he must have loved someone so deeply and had a falling out with them. He didn’t expect the arrogant aristocrat could cry that pitifully.

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