There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 386 - 378. Beneath the Showering Blossoms

Chapter 386: Chapter 378. Beneath the Showering Blossoms

A beautiful sky. A beautiful scenery.

It was a reminiscence of a delightful time when two people who were united by fate, at last, became united by choice.

"Did it look like this?" Zein asked the two people who witnessed the event which he could only see through a single photograph.

The Elder and Senan took a deep breath. "Yes," they said. It might not be the correct time, or it might just be mere nostalgia. "I believe so."

It didn’t matter.

Zein walked to the dock, followed by Senan who held a pearl white urn, as well as Ria and Sherri with a blue one in their hands. He stopped at the edge, looking into the clear water that reflected the blue of the sky and the fruit of a perfect union.

He stepped back, sweeping his gaze around the dock. "They liked to spend their leisure time here," Senan told him. "Master Roan will take out a chaise for Lady Lucia to sit and sunbathe."

"I see..."

"They named you here."

Zein raised his brow and glanced at Senan, who had a forlorn smile on his lips. That information made it even more meaningful to do it here. He could hear Ria and Sherri let out a sigh, just like any time they heard anything regarding Lucia.

Turning his body slightly, he saw the Elder, standing at the edge of the lake with Senan’s sister to watch him. The rest of the Iron Shield, as well as Hana, were gathering at the shore, and by the side, under the plum tree, were his family from the Trinity.

He stared into the pair of ambers, and with a slight smile flicked his fingers to beckon the man over.

Eyes slightly widened, Bassena vanished and reappeared beside the guide. Wordlessly, Zein stared at the surprised esper. His dream of this place, of his parents, of a happy time in another reality, had always felt...incomplete.

Because in those dreams, there was no twilight, no light before the sea of darkness.

Because those dreams, after all, were a fantasy of the past. But this man, those pair of ambers, were his future.

And he wanted his future to be there when he bid his farewell to his past.

"Just stay," he whispered, and Bassena obediently nodded.

After glancing at Senan and his aunts, Zein took out a box. It was big, almost like a treasure box, and someone would probably think it was one. The blue paint on it was almost iridescent, shimmering from the mana powder mixed into the material. A grey shield ornament was attached to the side and the lid, surrounded by a carving of hibiscus.

It shall become the new insignia of House Ishtera, instead of the mark used by the Templar of Arms Master.

Zein crouched and put the box on the wooden surface of the dock. He opened the lock on the lid, and, after taking a deep breath, glanced at Senan. The middle-aged man swiftly handed the pearl-white urn over to Zein’s hands, and helped the guide open the lid.

Without any hesitation, Zein poured the content of the urn over to the box; the fine cremains glimmering like the sand over the lakeshore. Before he could ask, Ria and Sherri had brought Lucia’s urn to his side. Zein gratefully accepted it, opening the beautiful vessel of his mother.

"And now, you’ll be together again," he whispered. "Just as I know you had promised each other once."

After all, his parents were imprinted on each other.

With a smile, Zein poured the older cremains into the box, even though Roan had died first. They must have been lonely, waiting for each other to meet in the afterlife. Of course, Roan would never hoped to see Lucia so fast, hoping his wife would hold on long even without him, for the sake of their son.

But Lucia...Lucia would have hoped she was able to meet Roan immediately. It was probably what kept her courage in the face of death, knowing she would be united with the love of her life.

Alas--the world, it was a cruel place.

Not more. You shall not be alone anymore.

With his own hand, Zein stirred the ashes.

They shall be together, and continue the journey you could never take. The journey they might talk about in the presence of blue sky and serene lake, within the showering blossoms and fragrant air. It might be different from the future they spin under the sunlight and forge with the courage of hope, but still...this time, they would face it together.

"Yes, you shall be together."

Zein grabbed a fistful of ashes and, with a smile that reflected the one inside the photograph thirty years ago, scattered them into the wind. Into the flurry of blossom and the calm ripples of the lake.

United, at last, just as their son witnessed within the photograph.

With a sliver of mana, Zein blew the ashes off his hand before closing the lid of the companion urn. He exhaled slowly, closing his eyes to feel the spring breeze upon his face, and the gentle caress of invisible hands.

He took the box and stood up, pretending not to see as Senan turned his head away, hiding tears welling in his eyes. The one whose tears were not at all being hidden belonged to his two aunts and the Elder, who was almost wheezing on the lakeside.

Haa...and after he said they should not cry on this happy occasion...

Although, Zein quite understood that there was such a thing as happy tears.

With Bassena following closely, Zein brought the box to a small field not far from the house. Inside the garden that his mother used to tend, a small burial ground had been made within walls of blue hibiscus shrubs that Senan had carefully grown with the help of magical wonder.

Carefully, Zein lowered the box to the ground, protected by preservation magic and marked so he would know if someone was ever messing with the grave in the future. Behind him, Bassena flicked his fingers and the ground was covered instantly without much of a labor.

Zein chuckled as he stepped back, letting Senan and Cohen tidy the graves more. "Show off," he whispered, patting the bronze cheek affectionately.

"Be honest; you copied my mother’s, aren’t you?" Bassena whispered cheekily.

"Yes."

The reply came with no hesitation--because it was true. Zein thought how calm and beautiful Svadiva’s grave was. The moment he heard that Lucia had wanted to have a garden of blue hibiscus, he image had been planted in his mind.

"The memorial stone," Bassena whispered again. "It came out good."

Zein shifted his gaze to a memorial stone he put beside his parent’s grave. Two names were carved there; no date of birth nor date of passing. Unconsciously, like a reflex, Zein stroked the beads hanging around his neck.

"I wish I could bring them here," Zein said softly. "I wish I had their remains."

He regretted it even now, after five years. The twins’ remains, if there were any, would be beneath the red soil filled with death and misery. Or perhaps, they had been blown away by the harsh wind, swirling amidst miasma-riddled air.

But, at the very least, he wanted to have something physically dedicated to remember them, even if he was the only one who could remember.

"But now, they are officially your family."

His lips curled at Bassena’s words. Beneath the twins’ name was the word Ishtera carved boldly. With his authority, Zein had put the twins into the family registry, officially as his younger brothers. Because certainly, Zein would never let the twins’ names vanish in obscurity.

"They had always been my family," Zein said, more to himself than anyone else.

Yes. He had wavered once, questioning if it was right for him to claim them as his family when they weren’t tied by blood. How foolish.

If they weren’t his family, then who were?

Zein turned around and walked away, patting the still-weeping Elder and giving the others time to pay their respect. He walked with Bassena toward Radia and Han Shin, who had been watching the process from afar.

"Thank you for coming," he said, leading them to the picnic table on the lakeside.

"Don’t be so formal," Han Shin pouted.

Zein chuckled and ruffled the healer’s hair. "Tell me when you’ll move your sister."

"Of course!" Han Shin grinned as if they were planning for a party rather than another funeral-related thing. "I’ll wait until the relatives go and take that person’s remains away."

Zein smiled and glanced at Radia. "Do you have time for this?"

"To sunbathe beside a beautiful lake in a beautiful estate?" Radia leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes, lips stretched in genuine satisfaction. "Anytime."

"Don’t you have like...resorts or a private beach or something?"

"I have," Radia nodded. "What’s your point?"

Zein smirked as he swept his gaze across the estate. His estate, which he inherited from his family. "I’ll take that as a compliment."

"Your parents...seem like wonderful people," Han Shin said. "Oh, I don’t mean anything by that, just--"

"I know," Zein replied calmly.

He might not have had the privilege of meeting his parents, but he was glad that the memory of them in people’s minds had been nothing but wonderful. Han Shin wasn’t so lucky about that. His parents were also dead, and he ended up loathing the other one so much he couldn’t even speak his name without ire.

On the other hand...

"I’m pretty sure you have a wonderful brother too," Zein said with a smirk, glancing at Radia despite talking to the healer.

The crimson eyes blinked open, as if his soul was being summoned by the mention of his lover.

"Talking about him," Bassena tapped on the table with furrowed brows. "Is there nothing we can do about his imprisonment?"

"Well..."

Han Shin glanced at Radia, who was sighing long while staring at the scattering petals. "It’s complicated..."