INTO THE ROSE GARDEN

Vol. 5 ITRG Volume 5 Chapter 19.1

It was very late in the night, so the streets were eerily quiet. The oil in the street lamps, which were switched on and off manually, had almost run out. Aeroc stood in front of the door of the house he’d visited twice before and slammed the brass knocker three times. He struck with moderate force, but the sound rang out like a cannonball in the dawn. There was no response from inside, though. He took a step back and looked upstairs. A faint light shone in the window. Aeroc knocked again, but there was still no sign of movement. In frustration, he unconsciously grabbed the doorknob before turning it, and the door swung open. The street was safe, but it didn’t seem peaceful enough to leave the front door open. Aeroc stepped inside and locked the front door carefully.

“Bendyke?”

He cleared his throat and called for the owner of the house. The living room was chilly. There was strangely no sign of human or life. Perhaps the housekeeper had been given extended leave. Aeroc speculated on his own as he went upstairs.

This floor was dark as an abyss. Of the doors that faced the corridor, a faint light leaked from one of the lower cracks. As he stood before it, he heard a gasping breath. There was a distant stirring, accompanied by a lustful groan. Suddenly, Aeroc wondered what he had been thinking for him to come here.

“I’ve gone crazy, barging into someone’s house at this hour of the dawn, excited about a painting gift I’ve always wanted.”

Even in his moment of regret, he heard a groan from inside the door. A low, hoarse voice, accompanied by wet breathing. The sound came from Bendyke, and Aeroc wondered if he was still ill, or if his neuroses had taken over. Aeroc opened the door a crack, worried about the rattling. Something unexpected wafted through the crack. It was the pheromone of an Alpha in heat. It was so thick and intense that even as an alpha, Aeroc felt suffocated.

“Shhh… don’t cry. It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

He could hear Bendyke’s voice, frantic, mumbling unintelligible syllables. The voice was too small to make out who he was calling, but it was probably the name of his current partner. Aeroc was puzzled, and he didn’t know what to do.

Bendyke was a fine man, physically impeccable if somewhat disqualifying in character. It would not be surprising if he had a partner, and if they happened to be in a passionate love today. Aeroc’s logic told him so. But his emotions did not. A sense of inexplicable betrayal and shock washed over Aeroc.

So the relationship that they had was merely a contract. Bendyke had initiated it. But even if it was a misunderstanding, Aeroc had been the one to initiate their sexual connotations. Bendyke had retreated back at every opportunity. And what if that was because Bendyke already had someone else?

“Oh.”

Aeroc finally understood the reason for his strange behaviour. Bendyke had someone else. That was the reason he got angry at Viscount Derbyshire for matching him with Rapiel and felt perplexed by Aeroc’s flirting. Flirting. What he did was flirting.

“Oh, dear.”

Aeroc covered his mouth with his hand. He paced in place, breathless. The prickling sensation rising from his tailbone was one of intense self-loathing. His ears exploded and his cheeks melted. Bendyke’s request for his time and place must have been due to his need for the Count of Teiwind’s title. He was, as the Viscount Derbyshire had said, an ambitious man who rushed towards his goal, he even had the guts to take on the unsuspecting Wolflake. To him, Aeroc was merely a stepping stone to success, or perhaps he approached him as a way to avenge the terrible insult he had inflicted on him. No, that should have been expected!

Aeroc’s interpretation of Bendyke’s obsession with him was the result of a complete misunderstanding. In truth, it was only an illusion created by his infatuation with Bendyke. He wanted to throw himself out of the window if he could, but the only thing that kept him from doing so was the last bit of pride he had in not showing any more scandalous behaviour to someone who was enjoying a passionate act behind this one door. The corners of Aeroc’s eyes grew hot. Emotions of any kind, when they come in unbearable waves, often bring a person to tears. But that didn’t apply to Aeroc. The heat from his unbridled self-loathing burned his eyeballs, but there were no tears in sight. His vision was blurry and dizzy as his crystals burned, and his legs trembled. He needed to get out of there, but the combination of darkness and his dizziness made it impossible to move quickly.

Bendyke skipped Aeroc’s soiree to spend the night with his lover. To make up for that, Bendyke sent him a painting. Aeroc was a fool to have traveled all this way, feeling so happy. Aeroc staggered down the second-floor hallway.

“There is no such thing as ghosts.”

Aeroc heard a soothing voice. A shiver ran down his spine.

“Why is my little angel so grumpy today?”

It was the kind of voice that made his heart melt. Aeroc had never loved anyone before, but if that voice wasn’t out of love, he didn’t know what it would be. Aeroc was floundering in a trap of his own making, hurt in a way that was unwarranted. It was a betrayal, to be mistaken and shamed and hurt. Aeroc couldn’t hide his disappointment in his childish, young self.

“I will always be by your side. You don’t have to be afraid.”

It was so sweet, the way he soothed his frightened lover after their affectionate lovemaking. It was qualitatively different from the way Bendyke spoke to him. Hard, cold, and sometimes accompanied by a sneer. This voice was warm and affectionate, as if made of cotton candy. It was a whisper of love.

With forced steps, Aeroc barely found the stairs. Holding onto the railing, he slowly descended, but the words he never wanted to hear pounding against his eardrums.

“Rapiel.”

A sledgehammer smacked him on the head. Aeroc turned his head slowly, like a broken windup doll.

“Ray. Go to sleep.”

This time it was an affectionate nickname. It was surely Rapiel. He had not misheard it. Viscount Derbyshire’s assumptions were wrong. Bendyke must be deeply in love with Rapiel. However, how could Rapiel abandon him for Wolflake? Such a joke was unacceptable, even if he hated his partner. Aeroc stormed out, unable to contain his anger.

“To the Wolflake Villa!”

He shouted as he climbed into the waiting carriage. The coachman dutifully followed his angry master’s orders. The carriage traveled at a fast pace, and it was only a short distance to Wolflake Villa, located in the same town. Wolflake Villa was the opposite of the usual estate. The building was built on the side of the road, with a conservatory and a large garden in the inner courtyard, so it was only a short walk from the road to the front door. Standing on the small covered porch, Aeroc knocked fiercely on the heavy brass knocker on the black-painted front door.

The errand runner opened the door, and before he could say a word of greeting, Aeroc pushed it open and burst in.

“Linus!”

He shouted across the silent room. Servants and maids emerged one by one at the booming voice. “The master is sleeping in his bedroom,” the butler tried to dissuade Aeroc from further action, knowing who he was.

“The bedroom?”

The unusual layout of the villa doesn’t mean the interior is out of place, so Aeroc found the master’s quarters with his aristocratic intuition. Just as he was about to kick the door open, a fierce-looking Wolflake strode out in a robe.

“What’s the commotion at this hour of the night?”

“Is Rapiel here?”

“Of course, he’s here, but why are you looking for him?”

Aeroc had no time to say anything at the swiftness of their cohabitation before having their engagement. Aeroc pushed past him and tried to squeeze through the open door. But Wolflake was quicker, and he blocked Aeroc with a look of bitter anger.

“We may be acquainted, but you have no right to interfere with my privacy like this. Unless you want to sever our ties, show some manners!”

His normally calm opponent was furious, but to Aeroc, who was already in a state of irritation, it didn’t matter in the least.

“Stupid fool. You don’t even know your lover is lying to you!”

“What?”

It was at the moment when both Aeroc and Wolflake had raised their voices. Just then, Rapiel, his curly hair disheveled, appeared between the open door with a puzzled look, rubbing his eyes.

“What is going on?”

He was clad in oversized pajamas, showing no trace of passionate lovemaking. He looked bewildered as he alternated his gaze between his prospective fiancée and Aeroc, then suddenly seemed startled.

“How did you get here, Aeroc? Ah, I don’t know anymore. We got caught. Now I have no option but to get married. Oh gosh! I’ve never even had a proper relationship! I should have gone back home!”

Rapiel spun around in a panic, his hands covering his face. Wolflake caught him and pulled him into his arms. Rapiel buried his red face in his arms. He soon looked up with tearful blue eyes.

“You won’t tell the others, will you?”

At the sound of his innocent cousin’s voice, Aeroc realised the error of his ways. He had unwittingly stormed into the Wolflake Villa. He found Rapiel, as he knew he would. Rapiel was definitely here. Then, who was the person in that place?

“Get out of here right now!”

Wolflake barked ferociously. Aeroc turned and sprinted, not because his opponent had threatened him with a frightening glare. He had to get back there now.

He didn’t care what happened to the mess he made in Wolflake villa. He would hear a lot of unpleasant things from the Marquis later, but that was for another day.

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