Into The Rose Garden

Vol. 3 Chapter 12 - The nightmare ends

“You mean, that Rapiel?”

Unable to believe it, Kloff asked again, and Aeroc nodded his head.

Six months ago, Rapiel Westport got married with only his family in attendance as if fleeing from something and then traveled to another country with his unlikable husband. They were still living well in another country.

Recently, they received a greeting card from him, sent to the estate. The butler forwarded it to the villa, Kloff personally confirmed the signatures of the annoying bastard and the person he’s awkward with. Of course, he never showed it to Aeroc. If Rapiel had died during this time, he would have definitely received the news. Or maybe, that Wolfie would be standing outside the door right now.

Moreover, in order to instigate a murder, one would have to secretly meet someone. It was impossible for the nervous, pregnant omega who had been pestering Kloff 24 hours a day to meet someone out of his husband’s sight. So how could he have instigated a murder? Then Kloff reached a conclusion.

“Childbirth is a blessing, but at the same time, it is an extremely painful process. Maybe you’re just talking nonsense because you’re tired. Aeroc, you should sleep now. Let’s talk when you wake up.”

With a gentle smile, he gently lifted the child from Aeroc’s protesting arms and placed him in the prepared crib. Aeroc whimpered as if he were a mother dog who had lost her pups, so Kloff placed the crib right next to the side of the bed where he lay. Aeroc, who was gently patting the baby through the gaps in the wooden bars, was soon laid down by Kloff and had to have the blanket covering him up to his chest.

“I’m not lying. Believe me. Rapiel was your wife and he got pregnant with your child. I got jealous and made people trample on him mercilessly, killing both the fetus and the mother.”

“Yeah, right. You committed murder. I hated you so much that I turned you from an alpha into an omega. Then I did all the horrible things that a human wouldn’t imagine. I know.”

At the half-hearted reply, Aeroc’s eyes widened and he grabbed Kloff.

“You remember that? Do you?”

“Yeah. I already knew everything. Our first child was an omega son and his name was Rapiel, right?”

“Yeah! That’s right!”

Aeroc looked very pained, not sure whether he was glad or sad that Kloff remembered. Kloff smiled thinly and hugged his stiff body, swollen with ten months of hardship. And he whispered affectionately in Aeroc’s ear.

“You’re a truly wicked person, and I thoroughly took my revenge on you. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah. After giving birth to every child, you took them all away. You kicked me out of the estate, and I sold my body on the streets due to hunger. I had several miscarriages as well. I really wanted to die because it was so miserable and difficult.”

A vein bulged on the Alpha’s forehead, and his arms embracing Aeroc trembled. However, Kloff stubbornly didn’t lose his smile.

“Yeah. So, what did I do to you?”

Pleased that Kloff was listening to his words, Aeroc started to utter cruel and relentless words with a somewhat excited voice.

“I accidentally ran into you and received a silver coin. With that money, I bought clothes and went to your house. And because I looked like Rapiel, you made me pregnant. I was in so much pain that I tried to kill myself. But you saved me again. After that, I lived in a cabin in the rose garden at the estate that was then belonging to Viscount Bendyke. Then, I gave birth to four more children. The last ones were twins.”

Gritting his teeth, he managed to ask, ”And then?” before Aeroc spoke words that were almost unbearable to hear.

“You told me that you wanted me to die just like the sin I had committed, so that’s what I planned to do. I ran away and purposely got involved in a gang rape. It was so painful, and I regretted it. My arms were falling off, my legs were broken. Most of all, I felt like I was going to lose my babies. But then, you appeared again and saved me. You were truly like a prince in a fairy tale.”

Kloff didn’t understand what was so good about it that Aeroc laughed. He could barely hold on to his fading sanity.

It’s because of childbirth. Aeroc was exaggerating and fabricating stories to make the alpha who hurt him through difficult childbirth the worst man possible. He was using his good memory and recalled the nightmares that Kloff told him before and combined them. Aeroc was intentionally mocking in a sophisticated manner. Yeah, this damned omega.

As his mental torment continued, Kloff felt as if the sky was becoming hazy.

After using his literary prowess to the fullest to torment the alpha with all sorts of wicked imagination, Aeroc finally ended his story while talking about his own death.

“You said what I had wasn’t love. For the final time, I asked you to tell me that you loved me, even if it was a lie, but you refused.”

At this point, Aeroc seemed completely upset, like a wet puppy in the rain.

“That damned… bastard…”

Unable to bear it any longer, Kloff cursed himself in the story, but Aeroc got surprised and quickly apologized.

“I’m sorry. For causing you such pain. I always feel sorry…”

“I wasn’t saying that to you.”

Cutting him off, Aeroc’s eyes blinked for a moment, and then he made a puzzled expression as if he didn’t understand, and began to apologize again. There was no torment worse than this.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“I know. You don’t need to apologize anymore. I had already forgiven everything before.”

Unable to listen to it anymore, Kloff tried to soothe and put him to sleep, but Aeroc suddenly jerked his body up. It was too early for him to be getting up so abruptly, and he had a pained expression on his face. He collapsed onto the surprised, half-risen Kloff.

“Are you alright?”

“…Say it again. What did you just say…”

Kloff asked with worry, but Aeroc clung to Kloff and urgently asked.

“I asked, are you alright?”

“Not that. Before that.”

Completely taken over by his poignant gaze, Kloff repeated in a dumbfounded voice, “I forgive you. I had forgiven everything.” With that, tears welled up in Aeroc’s pale eyes, and soon they began to stream down his cheeks.

“Is that really so?”

Kloff wasn’t really sure what this was about, but his investor’s gut told him to respond positively.

“I mean it. I know everything, and I had forgiven everything.”

Aeroc started to sob softly, crying out small whimpers and soaking Kloff’s clothes with his tears.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Kloff was at a loss with Aeroc’s repeated appreciation. He couldn’t understand what Aeroc was thankful for. He was the one who should be appreciating Aeroc, who had overcome a difficult process and given birth to a strong alpha son. Kloff would have to live his whole life repaying that. But he gently embraced Aeroc, who was endlessly crying as if something was melting deep in his heart, and wiped away his tears. After crying for a while, Aeroc looked at Kloff with tearful eyes and a snotty nose, then he asked.

“Does that mean I can love you now?”

Kloff had no more energy to question what kind of permission did he need or what did he think of the words Kloff had said to him until his mouth was sore. Kloff simply smiled and wiped away Aeroc’s tears.

“Yeah. You can love me.”

He had never seen anything good coming from saying something casually without much thought, but it was different this time. Kloff was now fortunate to see his Omega, messy hair sticking to his forehead, tears and snot smearing his face, and his clothes in disarray, smiling so happily right in front of him. With his eyes curved, he smiled giddily and spoke to Kloff.

“I love you.”

Aeroc’s confession was now directed straight toward Kloff. Like someone awakening from a long, long dream, Aeroc smiled brightly towards Kloff with tears of happiness glistening in his eyes.

His lips, wet with tears, were incredibly sweet to the point it was intoxicating. Kloff licked the slightly swollen corners of Aeroc’s eyes and whispered, “I love you,” to which Aeroc now reflexively responded with “I love you” back.

After an afternoon of what must have been one of the most painful births in human history, the first breastfeeding, and the psychological torment inflicted by his husband, the fearsome Omega soon fell into a blissful sleep.

Even until the moment before he fell asleep, Aeroc insisted that he didn’t want to be left alone, so Kloff sacrificed one arm and used it as a pillow for Aeroc.

Clinging to his shoulder, Aeroc’s slightly heated cheek was pressed against Kloff’s chest. He fell into a deep sleep as if he had fainted. Kloff should have removed his numb arm, but he didn’t want to. His arm wouldn’t be hurting as much as Aeroc himself. Kloff sighed as he looked at the ceiling for a moment.

Aeroc’s story just now was truly horrible. He felt like he could understand why Aeroc was fixated on eating something, why he sometimes looked at Kloff as if he would leave soon, or why he couldn’t directly confess his love.

Kloff thought he had directly displayed his affection towards Aeroc, but it was apparently not enough for this mentally incomprehensible Count. Kloff didn’t think that Aeroc was having such an imagination because of his insecurity. Emotional insecurity in the absence of affection. It was a common case among nobles. Aeroc had grown up as the sole heir to a powerful family under strict discipline, and then, he had been converted to an omega due to a genetic mutation, it was more than possible for him to be like this. As far as Kloff knew, there was only one medicine for this condition.

Giving him unlimited love.

And that was something Kloff was most confident in. He heard a soft ‘phew’ sound from their son next to the sleeping Aeroc. It seemed like the baby woke up. Kloff wanted to go over and check on him, but it was impossible with Aeroc clinging onto him.

“Son, your mother is a person who needs a lot of affection and love. He just barely fell asleep after crying so much. I don’t want to wake him up. So can you play by yourself and go to sleep?”

As if responding to his father’s calm voice, the baby made a ‘phew’ sound, then soon fell silent again. Judging from the sound of a tiny sniffle, it seemed like the newborn baby had woken up from his hiccups.

“Smart boy. You’re definitely my son.”

The next day, when Kloff woke up late with swollen eyes, Aeroc was already up and breastfeeding the baby. Kloff blinked and asked, “Did you sleep well?” Aeroc, with an equally puffy face, smiled warmly and nodded.

The baby was vigorously nursing on his breast. It looked delicious for some reason, so he smacked his lips, and Aeroc looked at him strangely. Kloff then raised his head as if he was yawning and rubbed his temples, shaking his head. The sound of Martha rummaging around in the kitchen could be heard from a distance.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“A little.”

Grunting and stretching, Kloff slid off the bed and pulled on his robe. Before leaving, he came back to the bedside and gently kissed the top of the nursing child’s head. Then he lifted his head and gently kissed the most beautiful person in the world. Closing his eyes and savoring his lips, Aeroc smiled softly when their gazes met.

It was the same thin smile as before, but it was completely different. It seemed like light was radiating from his whole body. Kloff stared at him blankly, then cupped his cheek with both hands and kissed him again. Eventually, when their lips parted, Aeroc shyly confessed, “I love you.”

“I know.”

As he playfully replied, Kloff kissed his forehead and his temple. Aeroc smiled.

They kissed for a while, and then, hearing the thunder of Aeroc’s stomach, Kloff rose from his seat and headed for the kitchen. Now that he had become the head of a household, he needed to diligently work hard to feed his wife and child. Just as he was about to open the door and leave, he turned back for a moment, feeling regretful about not being able to see the two people he loved. Aeroc was still looking in this direction and as soon as their eyes met, he smiled without saying anything.

Somehow, it felt odd. It was an odd sensation that he felt like he shouldn’t leave without saying “I love you” to the one who must be looking at his back. Kloff moved back to the bedside and stroked Aeroc’s matted hair with his hand.

“Aeroc Teiwind.”

Suddenly called by his full name, Aeroc looked up and met his gaze.

“I love you. Both you and the child you gave birth to. More than anything in the world. I love you.”

His face went blank at the sincere confession, and then a bright smile burst out from him.

“I know.”

Hearing the same response as himself, Kloff felt a sense of relief as if something he had forgotten had been resolved. It was an odd sensation, but since he had to prepare the meal quickly, he gave Aeroc a short kiss on the forehead and left his side. As he turned towards the door and glanced back slightly, he saw that Aeroc hadn’t looked in his direction and was kissing the baby’s forehead. That was enough. Kloff couldn’t hide his smile as he descended the stairs with light footsteps.

Beyond the large window in the hallway leading to the kitchen, the dazzling sunlight poured in.

Next chapter will be the last part of Volume 3 and the main story. After the main story, there are still 3-4 side stories to go (including one where V1!Kloff regressed and Aeroc has no memories of V1), so stay tuned!

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