There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Chapter 134. White Lotus

It was rare for anyone to hear Zein laughing, but now that they did, they had no idea how to respond. It sounded beautiful, but the tone was rather cold, like a laugh used to mock something.

"You?" Zein snickered. "And who said that?"

"People," Nora replied with a shrug, sounding so nonchalant for someone who got accused.

"They don’t know you, do they?" Zein chuckled while standing up from his seat. "They don’t know how well you know me."

This time, Nora let out a laugh too. "Yeah, they certainly don’t."

Because Nora, as someone who already framed Zein in the past, knew how ineffective such tactics were for Zein. Things like slandering his reputation were something that Nora knew would never hurt the man. Furthermore, using a relationship allegation, when he perfectly knew that Zein and Bassena had something going on between them?

Of course, Nora wouldn’t do something that stupid and useless. Only those who knew nothing about Zein could think of slandering the guide with something as silly as dating scandals.

"But you know who really did it, huh?" Zein smirked behind the mask, to which Nora responded with a smile of his own. "Come with me. You too, Alice...and Nadine. Everyone else is dismissed."

"Yes, Sir!"

* * *

"So, you’re talking about this in my office because...?" Abel looked at Zein, who was leaning relaxedly on his office couch with Alice standing by his side and the other two guides on another couch. When the blue eyes stared at him with a bit of a raised brow, he sighed. "Because it comes from my division?"

At that, Zein glanced up toward his assistant, who immediately responded. "I’m supposed to tell you first before anyone else," she said, to explain why Abel had no idea about this, as well as telling them that yes, the guild had indeed found out who it was. She added after two seconds of pause as she stared at Zein. "Although it seems like you already know, Sir."

"It’s not a hard guess," Zein replied nonchalantly. More precisely, it wasn’t a hard guess after he knew whoever did it shifted the blame to Nora. "In fact, it’s so easy that it feels like a childish prank."

Nora chuckled in agreement at that. Oh, the vicious things people would do to slander someone in the red-zone...playing paparazzi and invoking dating scandals were truly cute in comparison.

Abel narrowed his eyes at the two other guides. "Are you going to tell me, or do you want to keep playing mystery quizzes?"

"Well...why not?" Zein shrugged with a hidden smirk--seemed like having three days of rest, a new rejuvenation accessory, and going out yesterday made him pretty relaxed, even entering a teasing mood.

Abel rolled his eyes; even though he was liking this version of Zein, he couldn’t help but get exasperated at their play. Thankfully, Nora decided to start the deliberation. "The only people who might use me as a scapegoat are those who knew I had bad blood with Ze--Captain."

"Mm..." Abel nodded in agreement, leaning on his desk to think about who might these people be among his subordinates. There shouldn’t be a lot, since Zein had never seen in conflict with Nora except for that one time--

"Ah..." the Chief Guide widened his eyes as he recalled the event, which Zein kindly mentioned next.

"When I first came here, there was only a handful of people who witnessed my conflict with Nora," Zein spoke while looking at the ceiling. "Half of them became members of the strike division, and so they should be able to see that there’s no animosity between us."

Once Nora donned the black uniform, he became one of Zein’s responsibilities. And perhaps because of their sincere talk before, their relationship became somewhat better; as a boss and a subordinate, as people who tasted the filth of the red-zone...

While they weren’t exactly close, they knew each other better than anyone to some extent.

So of course, no one would know about the tension between Zein and Nora if they didn’t witness it on that first day. And since the C-classes that were with Zein came to the division...

"That left the other half," Nora chimed in, and after a little chuckle, glanced at the Chief Guide who was massaging his forehead. "You should realize it by now, Chief."

"Haa..." Abel let out a long, exasperated sigh.

Yes, the other half was a part of his division; the group of which Nora was also a part of before. And the one they talked about should be the leader of the group; the A-class Arden.

Abel leaned back--or rather, slammed his back to the chair, groaning. Arden Rhode, the guide that joined Trinity last year, right after graduating from the Temple. He was young and arrogant, just a typical rich kid who was blessed with privilege.

"I knew he was problematic, but..." Abel let out another sigh. He knew Arden had a clique and his personality was trash toward other guides, while being all nice and innocent in front of the espers and the guild’s executives. But it was just a matter of being a show-off and workplace’s arrogance--petty things, to be honest. Abel would reprimand the guide from time to time, but he just let maturity took its course on its own, as long as Arden did his job.

Leaking insider information to the press, however tiny and insignificant it was, on the other hand...

He looked toward Alice, since he knew now that the assistant was part of the guild’s intelligence. "Is it already proven?"

"Of course," the girl nodded flatly.

Letting out another sigh for who knew how many times already, Abel shifted his gaze to Zein. "What are you going to do?"

The tall guide’s answer, however, came so nonchalantly that it almost felt like a mockery of his stress. "Why would I do anything?"

"Huh?"

"It’s just a petty prank, a stupid one," Zein shrugged. "I don’t even remember about it until the kids bring it up."

Abel blinked before muttering slowly. "That’s...just so you..."

"Right?" Nora chuckled in response.

"So why do you bring the matter here?" Abel tilted his head with a frown. "I thought it was because you want me to do something about it..."