Into The Rose Garden

Spring was blooming in full-fledge outside. The garden that had been frozen over for some time, now the buds were popping up and the colorful flowers were showing their true colors.

“How about the garden for today?” asked Hugo, who had been forewarned about the guest. Aeroc thought for a moment and decided that the garden was not a good place. Aeroc didn’t want to have a battle of nerves with that man in public.

“I suggest the second floor terrace, which overlooks the garden.”

Hugo, the most elegant and capable butler in the capital or even the empire, suggested the perfect space.

“The terrace?”

Bendyke, who was used to seeing him only in the library or Violet room, tried to determine if there was something hidden in Aeroc’s intentions for the terrace. It was impolite of him to demand an explanation for his host’s hospitality, but Aeroc wasn’t particularly offended, given who he was dealing with. He had too few expectations of the other man’s character to start getting emotional at this point.

“If you don’t like it, we can move indoors.”

“No. I don’t think that’s necessary.”

The man across the table didn’t seem particularly reluctant, his gaze flickering to the garden below. It wasn’t quite the season for rose to bloom yet, but the buds were poking their tiny heads out and beginning to embroider carpets of green foliage. Aeroc reaffirmed how stunning the terrace was.

“You can see the rose garden from here. It gets plenty of sunlight and a nice summer breeze, so it’s the perfect place to enjoy the scent of the roses. My mother was especially fond of it.”

“I know.”

“What do you know, and how do you know it?”

“From my dreams,” Bendyke replied. Aeroc snorted.

“My financial manager is going crazy.”

At that, the corners of Bendyke’s lips curled up.

“Stop treating me as a dumb person. I’m your employer. Well, you wouldn’t listen to me even if I told you that. What kind of spying did you do that you know…… are you acquainted with one of the estate’s staffs?”

“If I were to spy on you, I’d use my other connections, not your staffs.”

“Ah.”

Suddenly, Aeroc remembered that Bendyke was well-connected in Derbyshire, Westport, and even Wolflake. He didn’t really know about other people, but Viscount Derbyshire and Viscountess Westport knew the Count of Teiwind’s history, as well as Aeroc’s own. While they were a bit chatty, they weren’t the type to talk about others for no reason. Perhaps this man was a clever wordsmith and got a lot of things out of them. It wouldn’t be easy to shut the mouths of people who claimed to be Aeroc’s godfather and godmother in place of his late parents.

“Take a seat.”

At that point, Bendyke came to his side, even pulling out a chair for him.

“I’m not an Omega, so you don’t need to do that. Besides, I don’t think even the most generous Omega would want to be flattered by some freaky pervert snooping around.”

“I see.”

Bendyke continued to smile and didn’t give up the goodwill of pulling out Aeroc’s chair. Aeroc couldn’t just give up the master’s seat and sit in another seat. That was even more ego-scratching to him. A devil’s child. That man must be enjoying himself.

This was only their third meeting. Aeroc’s tension was growing, but on the other hand, his guard was decreasing. It was an emotional contradiction. As his fear of the man’s actions grew, his familiarity with the man also grew. Bendyke himself felt familiar. However, Aeroc was afraid of what he might do.

Today was no different than the last two encounters. There was some light conversation, followed by a long silence.

Clatter.

He tipped over the pages. Aeroc picked the easiest book to read. It’s a straightforward novel with some brilliant insights. The kind of book that, once started, he wouldn’t put down until it was finished, but today, every ten pages or so, he found himself glancing at the other man.

Bendyke wasn’t looking this way. His eyes, which seemed ready to hurl a sharp accusation at anyone at any moment, were directed toward the rose garden. Naturally, Aeroc followed that direction. He found the old log cabin. That house had been built during the lifetime of his mother, who longed for the country life, and was inaccessible from the inside of the garden because it was surrounded by tall boxwoods, so many people didn’t even know it was there, but it was visible from this terrace that his mother loved. Neglected since his mother’s death, the house had an air of decay that didn’t seem to fit in with the colorful garden. Aeroc wondered if Bendyke found that odd.

“I’m thinking of fixing it up soon.”

At the mention of it, Bendyke glanced over slowly towards him.

“Or tear it down. It was a house that my mother liked, so I let it stay, but it’s only ruining the view of the garden when it’s that dilapidated.”

Truthfully, he didn’t really mean to tear it down. He loved his mother too much to destroy the few memories of her he had left, However, he loved her so much that his heart would hurt if he set foot in that place. The reason he said that was because Bendyke looked at that place with a strange gaze. Aeroc didn’t want to show any flaw in front of that man. He must not use this terrace in future.

“If I ask you not to destroy it, what will you do?”

It was another unexpected reaction. Aeroc couldn’t fathom his intentions, and he wondered what kind of research the man had done on Aeroc that he was always caught off guard. Aeroc narrowed his eyes and faced the other.

“Pain lurks within the rose vines, it is more perfect to be left as it is.”

“It’s not pain, but sorrow. I’m surprised that Mr. Bendyke, who has money instead of blood in his veins, would quote lyric poetry.”

Aeroc was genuinely impressed. Aeroc couldn’t be blamed for the sarcasm. It was more strange if there was nothing but pure goodwill in the conversation between them.

“A heart that flows with money sometimes knows how to beat for someone else, just as a beautiful angel’s heart can hold a cold piece of ice.”

The other person’s tone was cold, as if he was condemning someone. It was as if that person was Aeroc. But he wasn’t an angel, and he wasn’t holding a cold ice cube. Instead, his anger at the crude man who had spoken such unintelligible accusations was fanned into a flame that radiated a subtle heat.

“I suppose you’re right, seeing as how the pieces that make up your steel vault are as squishy as a rotten pumpkin.”

“Is that why you’re offended?”

“I don’t want to have to answer for something so trivial that doesn’t need to consume my emotions.”

With that, Aeroc turned back to his book. It was his way of saying he was tired of this conversation. After forcing himself to read a page, he picked up his teacup. Naturally, he looked up to see Bendyke glaring at him with searing eyes. Even as he glared, his cruel mouth twitched upward as if he were amused. It was as if the man enjoyed his anger.

“It must be a pity that you are seized by that trivial man.”

“I know that better than anyone, so you don’t need to emphasize it.”

Aeroc snapped and dropped his gaze back to his book. But Bendyke’s prying eyes bothered him, and he couldn’t concentrate anymore. This man was really an odd one.

The great light of the world was singing a sweet chorus after a powerful solo. The moon, praying for the bright sun’s departure, came with the night and its secrets. Hugo appeared quietly to light candles and lanterns on the terrace. He prepared another pot of hot tea and then disappeared.

It was hard to read in the open air. From the start, his company was not exactly helping him to be emotionally stable. Grateful that the silent torture was finally over, Aeroc closed his book.

Bendyke, whose gaze had been fixed on the rose garden all afternoon, still seemed unwilling to stand. With his arms casually draped over the armrests and his legs crossed, he seemed as if he would stay there forever, like a statue. Despite the red sunset, he looked as pale as marble. Aeroc wondered if he really had become a statue.

Aeroc had already brewed a fresh pot of tea three times. As the sunset dyed the horizon a deep red, he became nervous about the other, who didn’t move an inch. The man was behaving very strangely. Was he going to stay up even later today? Then, perhaps would they?

“It’s become very late.”

“The time for mature gentlemen has only just begun.”

At the mention of mature gentlemen, Aeroc snorted and laughed nervously.

“I didn’t expect you would call yourself a gentleman.”

Aeroc tilted his head and flashed a thin sneer at his opponent before Bendyke’s hand reached out. A large grip closed around Aeroc’s chin.

“That gaze, that tone, that distinguished laugh.”

The tip of a long index finger tapped lightly against the spot just below his ear that led to his jaw, making the hairs on his back stand on end. Aeroc tried to shake it off, but Bendyke interrupted him with a deft move.

“You really haven’t changed at all.”

The tone suggested he’d known Aeroc from long before. Aeroc had given up trying to understand Bendyke, but that tone always bothered him. Aeroc wanted to shoot back that he didn’t want to be judged by a man like him, but Aeroc missed the timing.

Rising from his seat, Bendyke approached, both hands gripping the armrests of Aeroc’s chair. The shadow cast by his large frame with his back to the setting sun blocked his view. The red rays of the sun touched those alpha-male features. Then the chiseled bridge of his nose glowed ominously, like a soul-slicing blade.

“You’ll always be the one who made me like this.”

The man’s voice rang out, a thick, raspy sound that seemed to dissipate into smoke. Forgetting to breathe naturally, Aeroc sucked in air in ragged gulps. His half-obscured vision went black, as if he had drunk poison. He felt dizzy.

The hand clutching his chin strained, and at the same time his other arm was grabbed. It was difficult to escape. The pride he had learned since his earliest days of self-realization stopped his head from going down. Rather than cower before a coward who used unfair means to intimidate him, Aeroc chose to keep his head upright.

At a close range, the other person’s breath brushed his lips. Aeroc’s breathing slowed of its own accord. Shallow breaths followed. Firm flesh touched his lips. A shockwave, like the explosion of a buried bomb, shook him to his core. His clenched teeth snapped open.

A tongue slipped through the gap, and the naked contact with the warmth of another human body sent waves of sensation like he’d never experienced before. With careful grazing of his teeth, the slick flesh advanced, gently tapping sensitive sensory organ he had never used for anything other than speaking and tasting. He hadn’t known a human body temperature to be hot or cold. The intimate waves of sensation that came with the contact, reaching into unfamiliar territory, shattered Aeroc’s anxiousness. His back loosened and his legs wobbled. His half-closed eyelids fluttered and the large male form through them rippled.

“Mmm.”

The lips parted for a moment, then angled back to make contact. With his mouth naturally open, Bendyke marched in like an occupying army, and as he did, Aeroc’s inner defences of hard core slowly crumbled from below.

His head naturally tilted back as the tongue plunged deeper and deeper. Aeroc’s spine gently curved along his cervical spine. His opponent’s grip had now reached her waist. Hard arm muscles pressed against Aeroc’s recessed waist.

Bendyke captured Aeroc’s tongue, flicking it gently, then sucking it back in hard. It was promiscuous and lustful. Only when Aeroc’s tongue began to tingle did the other man allow him to breathe a little.

“Haaa.”

Even as he exhaled, Bendyke nibbled on Aeroc’s lower lip and skimmed the corners of his mouth. As if that weren’t enough, he teased Aeroc’s jaw with the tip of his tongue. At one point, Aeroc’s grip on his shoulders tightened.

He was surprised that kissing could be so shameful. The sex education manuals he’d read voraciously in preparation for this moment made no mention of this incredible whirlwind of sensations. Even the smutty books with sizzling illustrations were as salacious as this.

The arm around his waist kept Aeroc half-hugged by Bendyke. In those black, swampy eyes, always bubbling with anger, a new kind of desire emerged, lust. The moment he met those eyes, Aeroc felt naked on the spot. If kissing was this vulgar, how crude and indecent would…… sex be. A faint shiver of fear ran down his spine. Aeroc let out a shuddering sigh.

“I just can’t resist it when you look at me with such expectant eyes.”

Bendyke whispered, his voice slurred with lust.

“Why should you resist it?”

“Don’t encourage me. I’m only saying it because I don’t want to hurt you.”

Aeroc’s taut nerves couldn’t take it anymore. He had enough of this back-and-forth. He didn’t want to endure the tension any longer. It was time to come clean with everything.

“Think about how much it hurts my pride to be rejected every time.”

Perhaps those words came as a surprise, Bendyke couldn’t hide his baffled expression.

“It’s not rejection, I’m just waiting for a better time.”

“Waiting itself is a rejection.”

“You’re not ready yet.”

“I’ll take care of my own readiness. How far do you want me to feel anxious? You can stroke your ego, but not too much. I’m really starting to feel like crying now.”

Bendyke looked at Aeroc with eyes of genuine surprise.

“You want to cry?”

“Why, do I really have to shed a tear?”

As Aeroc laughed nervously and talked back, Bendyke shook his head vigorously.

“No. Don’t. If you cry, I’ll…… probably die on the spot.”

Spouting nonsensical stuff like a fool in desperate love, he stamped a burn mark on Aeroc’s forehead. His patronising demeanor was rather comical.

“I’m going back for the night. A private room would be nicer next time.”

Shortly after he left, the fourth batch of brewed tea cooled untouched.

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