There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 280

Chapter 280: Chapter 273. Home

With help from Jock, they brought Bassena to the guest lounge in front of them. They put the esper on the couch, with Zein cradling Bassena’s upper body to guide the man.

For some reason, the white rabbit was following Zein, and perched on top of Bassena’s chest, curling calmly there while Zein stroked the bronze cheek, cleansing the man.

"Cloudy can make you sleep really well, you know, without nightmare or anything like that," Elena explained. "It will healed your esper faster."

Zein didn’t know which one amused him more; that Cloudy had healing properties or that Elena called Bassena his esper.

"Thank you, Cloudy," Zein patted the white rabbit gently. He was sure its name wasn’t supposed to be ’Cloudy’, but the rabbit didn’t seem like it minded too much. "You too, Elena."

The young girl grinned. She had been secretly observing the Serpent Lord from afar for a few days; the Saintess and everyone had told her to stay away. But she asked around about the esper, and found out that he was an esper under Zein’s responsibility. One of the priests also whispered that they might be lovers.

So when the falcon told her that Zein was awake, Elena immediately rushed to the Sky Garden to tell Zein about it. "He waited for you for so long," she whispered, crouching beside the couch and propping her chin on Zein’s armrest.

"Sounds like him, alright," Zein patted the bronze cheek, stroking the black scale beneath the closed eyes.

Elena watched in fascination at the way Zein’s cold and nonchalant face turned soft when he looked at the esper, wondering if that was what people in love looked like. Zein had been gentle with Elena and Cloudy, but there was something different with the way he treated Bassena that made Elena feel warm and comfortable looking at it.

And then she gasped. She leaned closer and whispered to Zein. "Is he the reason why you don’t want to be a Saint?"

Zein raised his brow at her perceptiveness. While he also had this deep-rooted distrust toward the Temple, Bassena was indeed his biggest reason. "Yes," he replied, a smile came out almost automatically to his lips.

And then he shifted his gaze to Han Shin and the others, who sat on the couch across from him. "When did you arrive?"

"Two days ago," Han Shin sighed, finally having a breather after hustling from physical healing to mental healing non-stop. He might be a 5-star healer, but mental healing used up so much of his mana, so it was exhausting.

"Did he cause a lot of trouble?"

The healer shrugged. "We need to fix the third basement, and..." he glanced toward the Head Templar and the Saintess who stayed there too, before adding. "Whatever the compensation the Temple wants, I guess?"

The Saintess smiled subtly at the healer’s remark. When Zein looked at her, she just shook her head lightly. "There’s no damage happening, so there’s nothing to compensate."

"Mm," Zein hummed and looked back at Han Shin, who was shrugging with a smirk. For all they knew, Radia would still sending the Temple something just to smoothen things out. But it was not their role to play politics and connection, so...

"Mister," Elena propped her chin on the armrest and looked at Zein with disheartened eyes. "So you’re really going after this?"

"Yeah, since I already do everything I needed to do here," he said, casting his gaze at Bassena’s sleeping face on his arm. "We’ll go after he woke up."

"Hmm..." the young girl sighed, looking out the window with a disappointed but understanding gaze. Perhaps because she was no stranger to separation, she could accept things quickly and swiftly perking up again. "Can I write to you?"

"Why not?" Zein shrugged, and seemingly wanted to say something more, but suddenly turned his head toward the door. Just a few seconds after, the door opened and the Medium came inside with a few templars, probably for security against Bassena.

She immediately approach Zein, but her eyes wasn’t glowing. "Is there a message?" the guide asked.

"Lady Freyja expended the tree’s energy, so She could not come down for quiet sometimes," the Medium said. "But She asks you to come visit Her again," she continued, and added with a firm, serious tone. "She’s adamant about it. You need to come here before you march to the East."

Zein raised his brow, and glanced at Han Shin, who was also looking at him in surprise.

What...so did that mean...the Goddess knew they would get the reclamation project?

* * *

And while it sounded nice thinking about how peaceful his life would be in that scenario, he also wondered if such a life would still bring him to Bassena, and he wasn’t sure whether he would prefer having his parents alive or meeting his esper. It was a complicated feeling that couldn’t help but make him sigh.

"Hmm...would it be bad if people think I won’t go back to Trinity?" Zein muttered, eyes narrowed in ponder. Unquestionably, Zein had been a pivotal part in why Trinity had a favorable impression regarding the possibility of success in the Deathzone.

But he realized that his concern was a silly one. Because, if Radia could turn people’s opinion about him and the Temple, the man most certainly could fix this.

Which was why, Zein wasn’t even surprise anymore when Jock led them to exit through regular gate instead of the exclusive one. He was not surprise when he found Rina waiting for them in the airport, and that there were already reporters on stand-by to catch Zein returned to Althrea--still with Bassena holding his hand.

Well, he had kissed the man in public with cameras staring at them, so might as well. Not that people hadn’t already made assumption from a long time ago.

Rina cheerfully greeted him, and while there was no interview or press conference, Zein did not grumble when the cameras were flashing at him. There were more of them around the compound too--more than Radia usually let on.

"Were you parading me?" Zein asked Radia right away after he finished telling the guides in the seventh floor that he was back and he was alright. He also told them clearly that he already rejected the Saint position from the Temple of Frejya, so Dheera could stop biting her nails in anxiety.

"Well, we got to use whatever we can, right?" the Guildmaster shrugged, curling his lips up. "Thanks to you, we might received a boost in the evaluation sheet."

A Saint candidate was as good as a Saint, and now Trinity could boast that they had a Saint-class guide in their rooster. It gave answer to a lot of question about how Zein managed to take care of Bassena’s corrosion easily when even the Saintess of Mago struggled.

Paired with Bassena who proved himself in successfully cleared a black gate with only two scouts and without preparation, no one could doubt Trinity’s prowess anymore. Some mercenary groups who were still in doubt about participating with Trinity finally gave the guild a call after seeing the news about Zein in the airport.

Which was probably why Radia had been smiling nicely and genuinely. Or perhaps he made up with Joon--Zein had no idea.

"Fine," the guide scoffed. "I did my part, so you don’t need me here anymore today, right?"

With a simple laugh, Radia waved his hand and shooed him away. "Go and coddle your boyfriend,"