Into The Rose Garden

ted living in the bakery’s shed, but he was still not allowed inside the house.

It was unavoidable.
There was no one at the bottom who would welcome a male prostitute who had been rolling on the streets into their house.
The shed was just a storage room full of dust and cobwebs, a place where old tools were stored, so there was no place to wash himself right away.
Aelock limped and had to make it to the river, which was quite far away.

The huge black snake flowed as it flashed its shiny silver scales today.
The cold tongue rose up the bony ankles, calves, knees, and thighs, washing away the filth that didn’t belong to Aelock.
After overcoming the risk of dying from hypothermia while washing late at night, he decided to wash only the necessary parts.

Aelock recoiled from the cold water digging into his body.
He wanted to get out of the piercing cold water, but if he didn’t wash thoroughly, something else might happen.
He had no idea when his heat came and went, and repeated miscarriages didn’t mean that he couldn’t get pregnant.
Aelock hoped that nothing would happen this time, and did not get out of the water until he almost lost all sensation in his lower body. 

After a while, when he began shivering to the top of his head, he moved his numb feet and came out.
He didn’t even have to wipe it, so he shook off the water and put on his pants.
His thin pants clung to his wet legs.
Aelock rubbed his thighs with his hands, trying to suppress the persistent goosebumps, but to no avail.
He wanted to go back to the shed and rest.

He turned around the alley, and couldn’t quite see where he was going as he was trying to detach the cloth clinging to his legs, with his upper body bent down.
When he looked up, he was on the wrong street again, and it was a strangely bright street corner.
He blinked his eyes as he blocked the artificial light flying into his eyes with his hands.
It seems that he came to the front of the night teahouse at some point.

Aelock was surprised by the gaze of the people who were staring at the suddenly appearing vagrant and quickly turned around.
Beyond the bottom, he was nothing more than a bug.
He would be beaten to death just for looking.
In the first year of being abandoned on these streets, it was something he learned deep within his bones.

Aelock ran towards the darkness, constantly checking to see if anyone was following him.
The smell of the gutter guided him even without having to look ahead.
But the smell was soon blocked by something else.
The legs, which had been moving blindly, took a few more steps unconsciously, causing Aelock to bump into someone. 

“Ugh.”

He quickly covered his mouth with both hands and crouched down.
It was an instinctive act so that he would be beaten a little less.
But no kicks or punches flew in.
The person who bumped into Aelock only made a curt remark in a displeased voice.

’

“Watch where you are going.”

The tightly closed eyes flashed open.
The cool hem of his clothes brushed against him as he crouched down.
Like a wish carried away by the sun, Aelock unconsciously turned toward the hem of his clothes, stood up of his own accord, and followed him as if bewitched.
Then he stretched out his rough fingers and grabbed the luxurious fabric that looked to be of a deep color even under dim streetlights.
The other person stopped and looked back.
Dark eyes and furrowed eyebrows.
Tightly closed lips. 

“What? Do you have something to say?”

Voice with a deep resonance.
Aelock moved one step closer.
His dull face, half-hidden by the darkness, was revealed under the orange-colored light.
The other person who saw him frowned.

“Klopp.”

Only then did the other person open his eyes wide as if surprised by the call that came out unexpectedly easily. 

“Aelock?”

Klopp stiffened a little as if he was shocked, then immediately raised the corners of his mouth.
And he slapped Aelock’s hand, which was holding the hem of his clothes, rather roughly.
After patting the somewhat creased hem several times, he let out a familiar sneer.

“It appears that you have not died yet, have you?”

Oh. What are you hurting for? Aelock was a little surprised that his inner sense of pain was still functioning.
He thought it was completely dead, but it seems that it wasn’t.
Instead, he was able to smile quite easily because he had lost the ability to leap out of control altogether.
He had nothing to answer to the question of whether he was still alive, so he just replied with an ordinary greeting. 

“It has been a while.”

He was not flustered as he had peeled off another layer of his tattered heart when he happened to see him and the child.
As if he had been waiting for this moment, Aelock naturally looked closely at Klopp.
He had no idea how many years had passed, but at least it didn’t seem to bring any change to this strong alpha.
Klopp was still as strong and as beautiful as a mythical hero.
Not to mention, the obvious sneer on the lips that he once believed to be emotionless.

’

“Right, as you said, it has been a while.
I never expected to meet you in a place like this.”

“It is a street that I happened to pass by.” 

“Oh, I see that you were out.
I could not recognize you at all since you are so lightly dressed.”

Klopp, with a deliberately exaggerated display of delight, blatantly looked down at Aelock’s bare feet.
Aelock looked down at the same time, moving his feet slightly with a flushed face.
Then, he quietly hid his hands behind his back.
Seeing that, Klopp smiled a little.

“Does Count Taywind have a lot of worries these days? To the point you forgot your shoes and went out for a walk at night.
As someone who was once treated to delicious tea and snacks, I apologize I could not reckon.
I want to take off my shoes and clothes right away, but they will not fit, so it will only hurt the sophisticated Count.”

“That.” 

He was going to refuse.
It was because he was afraid of what would happen if he received clothes that were full of Klopp’s body scent rather than the insults.
The body that was born as an alpha was changed into an omega just for him.
He didn’t know what would happen to his body, even if it was broken and unable to experience heat properly, if he smelled a more enticing body scent after not being able to get close to him for a fairly long time.
Just the thought of going through heat at the bottom was dreadful.

Klopp let out a small chuckle when his complexion, which was originally not so dark, turned pale.
Then he took something from the inside of his coat and threw it at his dirty feet.

Clink.

It was a silver coin that gleamed terribly even in the dim light.
When Aelock looked up at him in bewilderment, Klopp projected scorn with his eyes, with not even a hint of a smile in them. 

“Go and buy some clothes.
Only then would anyone believe that you were a Count.”

Before he could say anything, he turned around and strode toward the light without the slightest hesitation.
Aelock was nailed to the spot until the shadow of the elongated figure gradually faded and disappeared altogether.