Do Flowers Bloom in the Fallen Land?

Zion, of course, was the exception. Even after facing Aven’s chillingly cold gaze, he continued to follow him without showing signs of intimidation.

“You have the power to catch people with just your eyes,” the wizard continued, “If you are jealous, then be honest.”

Aven merely shrugged off his comment, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being honest,” Zion suggested, “You aren’t a beta like me, you’re an alpha.”

Aven walked silently with his mouth shut.

It was almost impossible for a commoner like Zion to understand the world of nobles. Even if he was an excellent wizard, it was hard to incorporate him into the aristocratic society that struggled to maintain his bloodline, and his internal circumstances would never be known.

Just as he couldn’t be her companion even if he became the only slayer in the empire above master-class, there are things in this world that can’t be changed.

She was so young that Seira didn’t even know, but Aven wasn’t the real son of Mark, the previous Count of Helford. At that time nests weren’t well known, and Mark Helford who was inspecting nearby said he had adopted an abandoned baby.

In short, it wasn’t clear whether Aven was a noble or a commoner. Still, how dare he wish to be Seira Askan’s companion? This was the betrayal of Mark Helford, who had given him away, and a disgrace to the noble Askan.

‘I’ve so far stained her bed with the excuse of it being unavoidable, but I can’t do it anymore,’ Aven thought at the back of his mind.

The night he noticed Baron’s pheromone, which attached faintly to Seira, Aven felt unusually sad. He wanted to beg her to allow him to be the only one forever, as she reached out her hand while slowly peeling her clothes off that night.

He was engulfed in an ugly desire to control her, who trusted and relied on him more than anyone else.

If Seira noticed what he had in mind, would she be able to rely on him as she had now? Can she trust him at all?

‘If I lose her, it will be a thousand times more difficult than ever,’ he thought.

So Aven had to hide as best as he could. He shouldn’t be caught up with his feelings so he could run the moment Seira Askan needed him. To stay within her reach until the very end.

At that time, Zion entered the dusty knights’ quarters and looked back at Aven while covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve.

“By the way, I asked the other wizards while I was at a conference if there was any way to interpret the beast’s voice using magic,” Zion said.

“What did you learn?”

“Research had been done several times, but according to recent outcomes, none had succeeded yet,” he answered glumly.

“Right… it doesn’t seem to be easy,” Aven added.

It was somewhat expected.

“Is it because of your power? Do you want to cross-validate?”

It was questionable whether it could be classified as power, but Aven nodded.

“Shall we look into other schools?” Zion suggested.

“No, thanks. Regardless of whether they understand their language or not, it’s enough to subjugate them for now.”

“That’s, well…… That’s true.”

Aven left first after he watched Zion’s sky blue mana that rose from his fingertips run down the hallway for a while. Unlike Seira’s main building, the knight’s quarters had nothing he should be paying attention to.

Even if something was forgotten and broken, it was to be the responsibility of the clumsy one.

Aven’s face turned mad serious as his mind focused on one thing, ‘For now, the first thing to do is to find out what happened in Jeff.’

He walked toward the main building thinking of Seira’s glum face, and then noticed that the front door was noisy.

“I’m telling you the truth. Her excellency is not in the mansion.”

“Then why don’t we wait inside?”

“No, I don’t know when she’ll be back…”

It was none other than Baron Jeff who was arguing with an Askan knight.

‘Seeing that he came in person, he must have made a mistake,’ Aven scoffed.

Breathing in a sigh, Aven approached the two of them.

“Oh, Captain!”

The knight who found him rejoiced and nodded toward Baron.

“You can settle the rest with the Captain then.”

Baron glared at the knight who ran away with wrinkles on his forehead. His eyes veered towards Aven, and he greeted, “Aven…”

“You must be here to see the Duchess,” Aven said.

“Yes.”

Baron seemed to be in a very sensitive state. Even during the rut period, pheromones that were difficult to detect were pouring out of him.

“I must meet Seira. There’s something I need to apologize for,” he explained.

Even if it wasn’t necessarily a pheromone, his complexion was bad enough it could be easily recognized that he had lost his composure unexpectedly.

‘If I were you, I wouldn’t have made a mistake,’ Aven thought silently.

He was truly upset. Baron Jeff’s bloodline, family, honor, and power… it was only allowed to a very few.

Baron must have been vigilant.

Unlike in the battlefield where he used a perfect strategy based on probability and exact calculations, he was clumsy and missed the opportunity.

“What you heard is true. The Duchess has been invited out,” Aven said.

“To where?” Baron urgently asked, feeling ominous about what Aven talked about, “Whose invitation did she get?”

In response, Aben slowly lowered his gaze and replied, “The Duke of Franto has invited her to dinner.”