Into The Rose Garden

***

“Hello, Count Teiwind.”

Rayfiel, coming across Aelock at Viscount Derbyshire’s tea party, greeted him with a bright smile. Truthfully, Aelock didn’t want to act like he knew him, but Klopp was standing one step behind the happy omega, looking at him, so he forced himself to reply with a polite smile.

“Hello, Rayfiel. The weather is very nice today.”

“I wish it was always like this.”

Even though it was a simple reply, Rayfiel intentionally clapped in an exaggerated manner and giggled. Aelock was deeply displeased by the fake laugh hitting his ears, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he smiled brightly at the alpha, who was standing behind the omega with a stiff expression and greeted him with a nod. All that came back was a slight nod. Grumpiness arose.

You do not have to be this cold.

Aelock looked down at the omega standing in front of his eyes again, raising the corners of his mouth that had already been raised considerably. White bands were wrapped around Rayfiel’s fingers as he put his hands together in front of his mouth to look cute.

“You seem to have hurt your fingers.”

“Oh, I was practicing cooking a while ago.”

“Cooking?”

“I learned how to trim fish. But I cut myself due to my own clumsiness.”

Aelock frowned slightly at those words. As future hostesses of aristocratic families, there were those who learned to bake sweets, and bread, or take lessons on tea ceremonies. However, it was too much to use a kitchen knife to trim a fish. When he looked closer, Rayfiel’s hands had minor scars everywhere in addition to the bands, and the back of his hand, which should have been soft and smooth, looked a little rough.

“Is Viscount Westport facing such financial difficulties? To the point where he is making the eldest son cook?”

Rayfiel, who was showing his hands without knowing it was embarrassing, blushed belatedly and lowered his hands to hide them behind his waist. After all, no matter how distant the relations were, he was a cousin of the Teiwind Family. In addition, because of their similar appearance, there had been frequent talks about the connection between the two families recently. In such a situation, if rumors about Rayfiel cutting his fingers while trimming a fish spread among noble families, Aelock will be treated as a horrible miser who does not take care of his relatives even though he has amassed an enormous fortune, or as a fool who doesn’t even know the difficulties of his relatives.

He thought he had an aristocratic eye for things because he was dressed in modest clothes of good quality but understated embellishments, but even that seemed to be his own misunderstanding. No matter how much he didn’t like Rayfiel, helping a relative was one of the obligations of nobles. Aelock spoke in a tone that was careful not to reveal his annoyance as much as possible.

“I will inform my butler to send a suitable cook. All the expenses, along with the ingredients, are borne by me. You will not have to touch anything like fish in the future. I apologize for not noticing earlier.”

“That is not the case.”

Rayfiel tried to refuse with a flustered expression. Then, he glanced at Klopp standing behind him as if he was perplexed. Maybe he didn’t want this to be discovered in front of the person he was dating. If so, then he shouldn’t have come out with the bands wrapped around his fingers.

When Aelock looked at him with knitted brows, Rayfiel couldn’t meet his gaze and lowered his eyes. Even if he had to suffer from poverty, he didn’t like accepting it servilely, so when he told him to raise his head, Klopp stepped forward from behind and stood by Rayfiel’s side. He lowered his big hand, held the bandage-wrapped hand tightly, and stared coldly at Aelock, who was surprised at his display of affection in front of others. Soon an unpleasant voice flew in.

“There is no need for that, Rayfiel. You have done nothing wrong, so do not lower your head as if you are guilty. If anyone is at fault, then it is mine for not being competent enough to not let my future spouse go through such hardships.”

Upon hearing that, Aelock was taken aback. He only thought that Rayfiel was embarrassing himself, but he didn’t expect Klopp to come forward like that. In fact, in the literal sense, Klopp’s position had little to say.

Even if you’re not rich, you cannot have your aristocratic fiancé handle the fish himself. What would he do if the engagement ring with a barely visible gem emanated a fishy smell? If it’s that difficult, secretly ask for help and at least buy a glove and give it as a gift.

Even though it was a shabby appearance that Aelock couldn’t easily overlook, Klopp didn’t seem to think so. He proudly defend Rayfiel, whose face had turned red.

“Excuse us.”

After a short salutation, the two left.

That evening, while waiting for the coach, Klopp took care of his fiancé’s hands as much he could, lest he gets hurt.

* * *

Aelock, standing at the table, caressed the cold surface a little with his fingertips, feeling a slight pulsation. Then he raised his hand and brought it to his lips. He thought it wouldn’t hurt this way, but it didn’t make much of a difference. Maybe it’s because it was not his kiss. That day, Rayfiel didn’t really seem to be in pain.

The days passed peacefully and sometimes a little boring. On the contrary, Aelock’s heart only grew more and more excited. As each day passed, he couldn’t calm down as if the promised date was approaching. He didn’t know when he would appear, but he was sure that he would come at least once. This time, he didn’t go to sleep until late at night so as not to miss him.

In order to conserve the lamp’s light, he sat in bed at night with his forehead resting on his knees and waited tirelessly. If he heard anything outside, he quickly turned on the lamp. And he looked out the window. After looking around for a long time, the day of waiting continued with the lamp turned off after covering himself with a blanket. He couldn’t sleep well, so he fell asleep in the middle of the night involuntarily, and was startled by the chirping of birds passing by. He calmed his pounding heart and called out, “Klopp?” but, as expected, only the leaves that brushed against the wind answered back.

Waiting was always rewarded. It was one late afternoon, just as he was about to take off his clothes that were soiled with charcoal stains to wash them. The thread of the cloth flowed from the old, ripped buttonhole and twined around the button. He couldn’t take it off properly because of that. At first, he tried to carefully unravel the thread little by little, but he got agitated since his fingertips hadn’t healed yet. Even if it was, it was uncomfortable since it was so small, so Aelock was taking off his clothes almost as if he were tearing them off in an unusually aggressive manner.

Rattle.

The door opened. To begin with, there was no lock, but the door, which did not move unless Aelock touched it, opened wide and a tall man entered. Aelock, holding the half-torn garment in his hand and twisting off the button with the thread that had just been caught around his neck, stopped.

“Klopp?”

Klopp, wearing a coat, hat, and even gloves, looked at him with a slightly serious expression as usual. Seeing Aelock staring at him in surprise with nothing on his upper body, the sneering alpha immediately cast his gaze at the rags in his skinny hands. The corner of the man’s mouth, which had been drawing a confident arc, stiffened into a straight line and trembled slightly.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, these damn clothes are so nasty.”

Aelock was embarrassed because he couldn’t even get dressed properly due to the sudden intrusion, and ended up using harsh words, blaming them for nothing. Even after saying that, he felt like a vulgar person, so Aelock lowered his eyes a little. There was no need to drop the level of his innate nature to that of the bottom. It seems that it was inevitable to be affected by the environment, in spite of his efforts not to. He was a little worried about the clever sarcastic remarks that would be thrown at him.

After a moment of silence, Klopp took off his black silk hat, set it on the table, and strode towards him. Then, he snatched the clothes from Aelock’s hands. A somewhat startled Aelock looked up at him, who took off his black leather glove, raised his hand, and slapped his thin cheek.

Slap.

Aelock’s head sharply turned to the side. Stars splattered in front of his eyes, and before Aelock came to his senses, a hand as strong as steel grabbed his thin chin, turned it around, and slapped him on the cheek again. The body that had been released from the first shock could not stand it this time and collapsed. Aelock fell to the floor and spat out what was pooling in his mouth. A little blood flowed. Before he could understand what had happened or why he had to be hit, Klopp took off his other glove and this time his coat as well, put them on a nearby chair, looked down at Aelock with a cold expression, and unbuttoned his cuffs.

“Why?”

“Why, you ask? You still dare not know your purpose.”

He had absolutely no idea what he did wrong. When he felt the heat on his already swollen cheeks, Klopp grabbed Aelock by the hair and hit him several more times. Aelock’s mouth burst open and he tasted something stingy and salty, and he coughed reflexively as the saliva and blood that flowed mixed with each other were about to pass down his panting throat. At that moment, something hot flowed from his nostrils. Aelock’s brain was shaken from being hit in the head, and his vision was blurry so it was hard to come to his senses. He thought it would be better to get hit on the thigh or back.

“…… Klo……?

“Do you remember now? You should have. It was left behind by someone who died in dreadful horror because of you. I gave these to you so you could always remember the sins you committed, so how dare you soil and tear them up? How dare you say that with this hideous body?”

The enraged alpha’s voice was terrifying enough to give him goosebumps, and at the same time, the pain was so intense that his heart froze.

Aelock thought it was small because he simply brought him some random old clothes. The slightly old-fashioned and plain clothes had a soft texture of good quality, so it was vaguely assumed by him that they were old clothes of some noble that was thrown away. But they weren’t.

These were Rayfiel’s clothes.

Even if he didn’t know, he still tore them up in front of Klopp. It was a mistake not to be made. But regardless, he did it. Aelock should have recognized the clothes, which sent Klopp into a fit of rage and exercise uncharacteristic violence once again. But, as always, Aelock’s realization came late.

He did what he deserved in the face of his sins. Aelock silently accepted Klopp’s violence.

T/N: yes, this has been dropped here but also picked up by a lovely translator on another site. please search this novel on NU for further details. thank you for reading thus far.