There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 209

Chapter 209: Chapter 203. The Little Prince

Bassena cursed his decision of not telling Zein about it sooner.

He swore--he swore he had no intention of hiding it. He would tell Zein himself later, if Rina didn’t casually blabber about it. And he had wanted to immediately talk to Zein about it, but like perpetual bad luck, the other girls were coming inside before he could ask Zein for a face-to-face. And then they immediately went for dinner so Bassena lost the timing even further.

Zein didn’t seem angry or anything though, but Bassena knew the guide could hide his feelings well under a poker face if he wanted to. He didn’t particularly feel like he was in the wrong, but he also recalled how Zein looked at him regarding the fact that he was hiding Celestia’s attempts.

And now, he felt like he had stepped into an even bigger blunder.

He was still a nervous wreck when they came back to the suite. Lex and Jock were considerate enough to leave the two alone and immediately went to their own hotel rooms. And now, Bassena faced the awkwardness of having to explain himself.

He had no idea where he should start, but surprisingly, the one who start the conversation was Zein instead.

"Is it your mother’s family?" Zein asked as he took a bottle of water from the fridge. His tone was light and casual, which actually surprised Bassena more. It made him unable to respond immediately, and Zein repeated his question. "The one from an Old House; it’s your maternal family, isn’t it?"

"...yeah," Bassena replied weakly.

"Mm," Zein gripped the bottle and unscrewed it while walking to the bedroom. "I thought you still use Vaski because you don’t know your mother’s maiden name?"

"I didn’t..." Bassena said, following Zein to the bedroom. "I knew about it a few years ago, when I attend the Continental Sentinel Summit. They came to me and told me about my mother’s origin then."

Zein drank the water while digesting this new information. The Sentinel Summit was a global event, and unlike the annual gathering in Eastern Federation, only held once every four years. Since it was a continental event, representatives from all four nations were gathering there, so it was easy for Bassena’s maternal family to meet him during that. If his lousy memory recalled it correctly, the last Summit was held three years ago, which means...after Bassena annihilated the Golden Viper.

"Are they like the Mallarc? The kind that’s still in power?" he asked when he reach the table on one side of the room, putting the bottle of water there and turned around.

"In power..." Bassena narrowed his eyes, pausing in the middle of the room. "Yeah, they’re still in power, alright," he snickered. "They’re the only one who is still in power in the South."

"Huh..." Zein leaned on the table and crossed his arms, tilting his head in ponder. The Southern part of the continent, from area-9 to area-7, was ruled under a monarchy of a single dynasty. If it was the only family in power...

Zein widened his eyes then, looking up to stare at the esper. "What--the royal family?"

"...yeah."

Bassena scratched his neck, and slowly took a seat at the edge of the bed. It was clear on his face that he wasn’t too keen on talking about his maternal family. "My mother was the eldest princess of the current royal family," he finally said, eyes staring hard at the floor.

Which meant, the current King of the Southern Kingdom was Bassena’s maternal grandfather.

"Hmm," Zein observed the esper’s furrowed brows and asked, "I guessed they wanted to take you back?"

Bassena didn’t answer, but the clench of his jaw had given Zein a silent agreement. "Did they hear about you being the youngest Saint-class and thus wanted you to be a part of the kingdom’s force when they probably never look for you at all before?"

Bassena looked up with slightly widened eyes. "Wow,"

"It’s not particularly hard to guess," Zein shrugged. Especially if you used to see the worst in people.

"I refused," Bassena chewed the inside of his cheek for a while, before muttering in a clear, but rather pained voice. "After my mother ran away, they never look for her. I looked for information after the Summit, and it seemed like they erased her name from the registry," he let out a bitter laugh. "Until before the Summit, that is."

"So she was disowned, but getting acknowledged back because they wanted you," Zein concluded. Well, no wonder Bassena didn’t like talking about them. Whether it was Vaski or his mother’s maiden name, both were probably just as bad in Bassena’s book.

"They were the ones who drove my mother to make the decision to run away; banning her from being an esper because they think all she needed to do was to get married, and her future partner wouldn’t like it if she was strong and had aspirations," Bassena gritted his teeth as he recalled the content of his mother’s diary, and laughed mockingly. "A future partner that was at least twice her age."

But Bassena was letting out a regretful sigh and burying his face in his palm, so he couldn’t see that soft smile and adoring gaze inside the blue eyes. In the midst of his lamentation, he heard a melodious sound of laughter. He looked up and stared confusedly at the chuckling guide. "Why are you laughing?"

"So this is what it feels like to be in a relationship," Zein chuckled. For both of them; it was their first time engaging in a romantic relationship, something that wasn’t just built upon lust, but feelings. There were things and thoughts that wouldn’t usually come up before; feelings of entitlement, of silly anxiety, of foolish jealousy...

Zein smiled, blue eyes curling softly. "There’s a lot to learn, isn’t it?"

"...yeah," Bassena finally let out a smile on his own, and they laughed softly for a while, melting the tension that was filling the air before.

And then they fell into another silence, As Bassena enjoyed the relief he got from not actually making Zein angry. But the next thing coming out of Zein’s mouth almost pissed him off instead.

"So, technically...you’re a prince?" Zein tilted his head, tapping the table he used to sit at as he stared at the frown on Bassena’s face that came out at the last word. As if ignoring the visible displeasure on the younger’s face, Zein continued in a low, airy voice. "That’s hot."

The amber eyes flickered, gazing up with widened eyes as if he couldn’t believe the words coming out of the guide’s mouth. But before the esper could open his surprised lips, Zein moved from the table, walking closer to the bed.

"Not the fact that you’re a prince," the guide said, and Bassena just grew more confused. "It’s the way you refused to be one," Zein stopped in front of the esper and held the astonished face, rubbing the parted lips with his thumb. "It’s hot."

Bassena suck on the air through the parted lips that were being held by the guide. His eyelashes fluttered in a myriad of emotions that probably needed a long night to digest. But for now, he just reached out to hold the lean waist that lowered to his lap, taking a short breath before the smiling lips captured his trembling one.

But even that, couldn’t match how much his heart trembled and shook for the rest of the night.

Zein kissed him hard as if wanting to prove how much Bassena’s act of rejecting princehood excited him. The guide shed his own jacket, and then Bassena’s, and their hands were all over each other next. Grasping the platinum strands harshly, Zein yanked the esper’s head and bit into Bassena’s lower lip. He licked the blood smearing on his own, and whispered against the bitten lips.

"Strip me,"