Into the Rose Garden Novel - Chapter 42

His life, if one could call it that, had been smooth. Even losing his mother at a young age and his father recently, how could it be considered a special tragedy? There was too much sorrow and misery in the world. Compared to that, he had abundant wealth and a decent appearance. A brilliant mind and a healthy body. And well-meaning acquaintances and affectionate relatives. The ups and downs of Aeroc’s life were gentle enough to be traversed by carriage. But suddenly, a great disaster struck out of nowhere.
Kloff Bendyke.
He was an earthquake and a tsunami. Unavoidable. No, he could have avoided it, but he missed the opportune moment. As his cunning tongue had once said, Aeroc didn’t have to deal with him this way. Even if his father’s strict will was at stake, and he didn’t want to dispose of even a fraction of his vast fortune, and even if he desperately needed a competent financial manager.
Currently, the Count of Teiwind was Aeroc. No one would scold him even if he made mistakes and squandered his wealth. Was losing some wealth worth enduring the humiliation he felt? No, it wasn’t. So why did he agree to such a thing, and moreover, why did he get entangled in it?
Was it because he didn’t properly appreciate the value of his inherited body? No. Every body had equal value. Being slightly more attractive and having a proud lineage than others didn’t inherently make one superior. If Aeroc had pride, it was due to the intelligence and etiquette he had cultivated himself, not his body.
Or was the arrogant man’s charm too great? To call him a great beauty was a bit of an overstatement. He could have been a masterpiece but remained unfinished, perhaps. God might have forgotten the finishing touches. His overly rough gaze, unrefined contours, dark complexion. If not for the combination of his neat attire and a deep, resonant voice that seemed to rise from the depths, creating a peculiar charisma and sophistication, Aeroc wouldn’t have given him a second glance. Of course, this was according to Aeroc Teiwind’s personal aesthetic standards. If one were to lower the bar to the general standards of high society, Bendyke was quite, no, very attractive Alpha male.
“But by my standards, absolutely not.”
Aeroc slammed the open book shut. He had stayed in the study all morning. But he hadn’t even finished one chapter, let alone one book. The damned man, even out of sight, ruined Aeroc’s daily life. The tea Hugo had prepared earlier was still steaming. He picked up the hot teacup and took a sip of the moderately cooled tea. The fragrance filled his nasal cavity. When his mind was cluttered with useless thoughts, there was no better remedy than a warm cup of tea. Aeroc enjoyed a moment of peace.
He highly doubted that man had completed higher education with excellence. Every minute, every second, he feigned careful speech and behavior, but in front of Aeroc, he was always like a barbarian. It was hard to deny that his untamed inner nature added a mysterious charm, but that didn’t mean he could completely disregard the etiquette humanity had accumulated over a long time.
“Stop thinking about that uneducated beast.”
Realizing he was continuing foolish thoughts, Aeroc frowned and put down the half-empty teacup. He flipped through the pages of his favorite book, moving back and forth in the section he always enjoyed, searching for his favorite passage. He traced each letter with his finger, trying to shake off his thoughts.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why he had fallen into such a quagmire. One thing was clear: if the one who set the trap wasn’t Kloff Bendyke, he wouldn’t be agonizing like this.
What made that man so special? He was the second son of a rural noble, with no title or wealth, a newly rising class who had to earn his own living. Generally, this wasn’t a huge flaw, but it wasn’t perfect for being the secret partner of one of the five greatest nobles in the empire.
Moreover, that man possessed an arrogance beyond his station. And though he was only a few years older than Aeroc, he showed a seasoned experience that rivaled middle-aged men who had gained wisdom over time. Even Marquis Wolflake, who stood out among young Alphas, still lacked his gravitas. This made Aeroc curious about his past.
“In reality, he’s just a fool without even an honorary title, but in his hometown, hell, he must be a grand duke or something.”
He cursed, though no one was listening.
It wasn’t that Bendyke uniquely possessed cunning habits. Aside from his occasional habit of gazing into the distance, he displayed a vibrant activity that exuded vitality. However, he had eyes filled with deep emotion, a sense of regret, that could make most others seem like mere youngsters. When that gaze was intentionally directed at Aeroc, it clung to him like glue, refusing to let go. It was difficult not to be overwhelmed by eyes that possessed the power to choke a person without physical contact. Little by little, and surely, it shook Aeroc’s soul. That’s why, even after announcing his dismissal, he was still brooding over anger and humiliation rather than triumph.
“Damn it.”
His head ached. He wanted to take a walk. Reading no longer offered solace. As he stepped outside, he happened to run into Hugo.
“I’m going out.”
“To the garden, sir? Or…”
“Out.”
“I’ll prepare the carriage.”
“Please make sure the coachman this time only follows my orders.”
When Aeroc pointed out the previous incident, Hugo nodded as if he understood perfectly.

At this point, he had no intention of clinging to purity. It was already too late. And he didn’t attach any special meaning to purity. He hadn’t deliberately saved it. It was just that he hadn’t found a suitable partner who aroused his sexual interest.
“To think I got entangled with such a man.”
There were plenty of easy partners. But of all people. That was one of the many reasons that annoyed Aeroc. What bothered him even more was that he had never even properly been with an Omega, and his first partner happened to be an Alpha. Would this have a significant impact on his sexual identity in the future? To be honest, it would be a lie to say he had no concerns whatsoever.
“Would he have angered me this much if he were an Omega?”
A strange thought occurred to him. An Omega with that appearance? A terrible imagination. Aeroc quickly erased the foolish scene he had conjured and fell into other thoughts.
He was Count Teiwind. He had a clear duty to produce an heir. Ultimately, it wasn’t a mandatory requirement to produce an heir. If he couldn’t produce an heir, there was also the option of adopting a suitable relative’s child. Nobles who couldn’t produce heirs due to various physical problems adopted children to preserve their family line. No one would say anything if Aeroc made such a choice. However, the question was whether it was right to consider such an option before even trying the proper method as a physically sound Alpha. The adoption itself wasn’t the problem, but the situation where he might elicit sympathy from others was uncomfortable.
As his thoughts raced to their conclusion, Aeroc suddenly realized he was making an utterly absurd assumption. He was so shocked that he jumped up from his carriage seat.
“I’m insane! Why should I keep meeting that man? This is just a temporary interest. There’s no need for fidelity or anything… No, before that, I fired him. I won’t ever meet him again.”
Startled by his own thoughts, Aeroc’s mind jumped to an irrelevant conclusion.
“It’s simply sexual interest that I’ve mistaken for interest in the person. It will be fine if I find another partner.”
He decided to find another partner immediately. He signaled the coachman to change direction.
“I’ll get off here.”
“Are you alright? The bustling district is a bit further.”
The coachman asked worriedly as he stopped the carriage. The surroundings were dirty, and there was nothing special to see. It was an ordinary working-class area with shabby houses. A woman carrying a shopping basket looked back with a strange gaze at the luxurious carriage. In the distance, an old man sitting on a worn chair in a shaded corner puffed on a cheap cigarette, his wrinkled eyes narrowing further. His eyesight seemed poor.
“This is fine.”
Aeroc answered firmly. The coachman, having been warned by the strict butler to obey orders without question, no longer argued. He merely watched his young master alight from the carriage with an uneasy expression.
Aeroc smiled contentedly, looking at the dirty street where the smell of sewage rose. The reason he came here was not to meet anyone from high society. No, he came here to find someone completely unrelated to high society. If he was only going to satisfy his sexual interest anyway, he judged it better to pay someone to handle it cleanly rather than going through the troublesome process of searching for a partner. He would find a suitable place, choose a person, and pay the price. And through a skilled professional, he would experience amazing things that no one, specifically no arrogant man, could dismiss. That was the plan Aeroc had formulated in a short time.
“What time should I pick you up?”
“I’ll go back on my own. No need to wait.”
The carriage, emblazoned with the Count’s crest, was sent back from a spot a little distance from its true destination. The coachman hesitated slightly, then meekly obeyed the order. Only after the carriage disappeared did Aeroc move.
It was clearly a bad neighborhood. It was his first time stepping into what was called the bottom, a den of crime and lust. The bottom was a labyrinth of dirty, dark alleys where rough individuals roamed, their eyes glinting dangerously, just as its notorious reputation suggested. Aeroc knew that a red-light district existed on its outskirts.
“It must be somewhere.”
Based on knowledge he had occasionally overheard from unsavory members of high society, Aeroc looked around the bottom. He was startled by the filth, with dirty cats, dogs, and even swarms of rats scurrying about. The sewer seemed to be clogged, and stagnant sewage, emitting a terrible stench, collected in every slight depression. As he carefully walked to avoid soiling his shoes, a door he hadn’t even known existed suddenly burst open. The alley was narrow, and the single door completely blocked his path.
Splash!
Someone who opened the door splashed water onto the street. It was dirty dishwater mixed with rotten bits here and there. Steam rose from it. The door slammed shut again. Startled, Aeroc noticed a gaze at the end of the street looking his way. Someone with an extremely corpulent body smiled grimly, wiggling their fingers. Covered in thick makeup and dirty clothes adorned with old-fashioned lace, it was impossible to tell if they were a man or a woman.
“Are you looking for an Omega, sir? Then how about me? I haven’t been experienced yet, sir.”
“Ah… no. No.”
Aeroc, struck by the absurd advance, lost all will. No matter what, he had no intention of doing anything with someone who hadn’t even properly bathed. He would rather go through all the troublesome search processes and be with a germaphobe who bathed twelve times a day. Aeroc, having completely lost the desire to find any solution here, immediately turned around. And he began to retrace his steps. He repeatedly regretted how absurd and foolish his impulse had been.
Thump, thump.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
He felt an unpleasant presence behind him. He glanced back to see two rough-looking men swaggering and following him. At first, he thought it was his own overactive imagination. But just in case, when he turned into a narrower alley, they followed. They were definitely following. Even when he twisted and turned to shake them off, they didn’t easily disappear. Just when he thought they were gone, they would suddenly reappear closer, having narrowed the distance.
He walked for a long time, turning and twisting, until he reached an unfamiliar alley. The followers had also disappeared. Fortunately, it seemed he had shaken them off.
“Where am I?”
He couldn’t tell how deep into the bottom he had come. The fortunate thing was that it was still daytime. He gauged the directions by the position of the sun in the sky. He figured he would somehow get out if he just kept going in one direction. But just as Aeroc, feeling relieved, was about to move to find his way back, the men suddenly appeared from the other end of the alley.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“A rich-looking gentleman. Let’s share some of that wealth.”
It was surprising enough that thugs roamed freely in broad daylight, but they seemed ready to turn into robbers at any moment. It wasn’t that he begrudged the money. If they were beggars rather than robbers and aroused his sympathy, he would have thrown them his whole wallet. But he had no intention of succumbing to threats. As an adult Alpha male, he was not a pathetic coward who couldn’t protect himself. Aeroc held his hard cane upside down.
The swaggering men came within range. He swung the ornament at the end of his cane like a club, striking one of them in the jaw.
Thwack.
“Ugh!”
As the man fell, Aeroc struck the other man, who was frozen in surprise, on the temple.
“Argh!”
The man cried out in pain and stumbled to the ground. Aeroc passed them and quickly left the alley.
“You bastard! I won’t let you get away with this!”
“We’ll humiliate you until your handsome face is disfigured!”
Insults flew from behind him. He didn’t know what kind of insults or humiliation they meant, and he didn’t want to know. The important thing was that when they shouted, other idle loiterers started watching Aeroc for no reason. As expected, they were of the same low caliber, and some of them joined the chase behind Aeroc.
He was overwhelmingly outnumbered. Moreover, he was in the middle of the bottom. If anything happened to him here, it would be impossible for Aeroc to call for help. He deeply regretted coming into an unfamiliar area alone. If he had told the coachman to wait, he might have come looking for him later. Various misfortunes piled up.
“This is bad.”
There was no time to catch his breath. He knew he had to run until he sweated, but his body wouldn’t keep up with his urgent mind. There was nothing wrong with his legs. However, Aeroc’s body had no experience with strenuous exercise beyond walking quickly while wearing a suit and shoes. He instinctively refused to run. It was a kind of mental restraint caused by the constricting suit. Of course, the bottom-dwellers chasing him had no such restraints. They ran, and the distance Aeroc had cleverly created quickly closed.
“No choice.”
He had to intentionally circle through the complex alleys to split up the group. It would be more advantageous to calmly eliminate them when there were only one or two. Aeroc moved through the alleys, twisting and turning, while thinking about the direction to escape the bottom. He didn’t forget to keep an eye on the front. Men who knew the area well might pop out from ahead. Just as he entered a narrow alley, a silhouette of an unusually large build suddenly appeared.
“Hmph!”
He immediately swung his cane. But instead of a dull thud, there was a dry clang!
“Ugh.”
The impact on his wrist was considerable. He barely managed to hold onto his cane. Losing his cane now could lead to a truly terrible outcome. Instead, holding his aching wrist, he tried to push the opponent away with his shoulder. But the firm opponent didn’t budge. Instead, his nose was pressed against a hard chest, and his silk hat fell to the ground with a thud. A dark hand grabbed Aeroc’s arm.
“What are you doing here?”
A familiar voice spoke. Only then did Aeroc raise his head and meet two eyes that glared at him with a burning intensity. It was the last person he wanted to face at that moment.
“What are you doing here?”
“That’s my question, Aeroc! Are you crazy, wandering around a place like this alone?”
Bendyke, who had suddenly appeared, raged like fire. They had argued many times before, but Bendyke had never been so agitated or shouted so loudly. While Aeroc stood dazed, unsure how to respond to his violent reaction, Bendyke pushed him against the wall. Then he ran his hands over Aeroc’s entire body.
“What are you doing!”
Pushing away his restraining hands, he bent down and thoroughly examined Aeroc from his ankles to the top of his head. When he lifted Aeroc’s loose jacket to check if anything strange had happened, Aeroc’s face turned beet red with shame. Whatever he was thinking, the serious Bendyke, not content with checking himself, questioned Aeroc again.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. Let go.”
He was so flustered that he told him to let go, but the damned man, as if deaf, did the opposite. He firmly tucked Aeroc under his arm. If Aeroc had been wearing a cloak or coat instead of just a jacket, he would have been completely enveloped.
“Get out of here immediately. No, I’ll escort you to your mansion myself.”
He acted like a guardian who had found a young Omega girl who had secretly snuck out of the house at night, behaving nervously. Before Aeroc could even protest, he was forcefully dragged out of the alley by a strong grip.
“You dropped your hat.”
“Forget the hat. You have enough money to buy hundreds of those.”
“You, who scrutinize every bill with a displeased look.”
“I’ll buy them for you myself. As many as you want. So shut up and let’s get out of this damned bottom.”
It was a surprising offer for a miser. The bottom was dangerous, but not to the extent that it warranted such an overreaction. Aeroc wondered how fragile he was considered. Just as he was about to protest that he would walk himself, the gang of thugs who had been chasing him suddenly appeared, blocking their way.
“Two more joined.”
“Both of them are slick with oil.”
“Let’s get rid of them all.”
He didn’t know what grudge they held, but the men pulled out small daggers from their pockets. The stains on the dirty blades didn’t look like mere rust.
“I apologize. They were chasing me. They are bad people.”
“Of course they are. Those filthy bastards always take what’s mine.”
With that, Bendyke tried to hide Aeroc behind him. Someone dreaming of romantic fantasies might have accepted it as a wonderful gesture, but Aeroc did not. Instead, he felt even more offended, as if he was being underestimated. Moreover, since when had he been ‘his’ person? When he shook off the pushing arm and stood beside him, Bendyke glared at him with a terrifying gaze.
“Step back. It’s dangerous.”
“I’m capable of protecting myself too.”
“I don’t care about your paltry ability!”
The enraged Alpha roared. It wasn’t just Aeroc who was startled by the booming shout. The sneering thugs also flinched. Somewhere, a door burst open or slammed shut.
With wide eyes, Bendyke spoke in a terribly pained voice.
“It’s my role to get blood on my hands. Aeroc, you… just stay exactly as you are… completely immaculate. That’s all. Because this time, I want to protect you… please.”
In the boiling rage, there was an indescribable desperation. The expression Bendyke showed now was incomparable to the look he had for Raphiel. It was a desperate gaze, an soul steeped in pain and despair, barely gathered by the flames of fury. He didn’t know why he felt that way, but he did.
“Very well.”
Aeroc meekly stepped back. Bendyke let out a long sigh and muttered something softly. The words “two,” “chance,” “God,” and “thank you” were faintly heard. Was he thanking God for a second chance? Aeroc wondered what the “second” was, and what could be so grateful for that a devil-like man would seek God, but it wasn’t the time to ask.
Bendyke stood squarely facing the thugs. He realized belatedly that in his hand, clad in a tough-looking leather glove, was an unusually thick and long cane. It was the metal object that had blocked the cane Aeroc had swung earlier.
Swoosh.
Unlike the cane Aeroc used, Bendyke’s cane, when twisted at the handle, revealed a long sword. It was a rather classic weapon, rarely seen recently. The blade was not merely decorative; it was terrifyingly sharp. There were black stains here and there, and their color was incomparable to the daggers held by the thugs over there. The dark blade gleamed ominously.
“Come on, you maggots.”
His sneering face was chilling. The thugs exchanged glances. One of them, as if signaling the others to go first, shouted and charged. Bendyke, as if he had been waiting, swung the sword disguised as a cane.
Come to think of it, what was this man doing here? And with such a terrifying object.