There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 200

Chapter 200: Chapter 194. Felling A Tree

"I will register myself as Ishtera."

Zein looked straight into the Elder’s eyes, which were shaking before. Now, those eyes were blinking in surprise. He stopped talking, letting his words sink into their mind.

"Y-you mean...you’ll take your father’s legacy, Young Master?" the Elder asked, with a small trembling in his voice.

Zein swallowed his sigh. He waited until the police officer--Cohen--finished serving the tea before explaining himself. "I’ll say this upfront; I don’t intend on reviving the clan," he said, sweeping stern gaze to the Elder and the middle-aged man, Senan.

"Then..."

"What I want is to take the name that both my parents left me. I think I owed them that much for birthing me into existence," Zein rubbed his wrist, feeling the pulsing vein beneath. "But the clan, and the organization, I would like you to stop."

"I...have no intention to accept Setnath’s descent. So the seed died with me, your duty ends with me," Zein shifted his gaze toward the youngsters, the young man and woman standing behind the Elder’s chair. "You should forget about any sense of responsibility toward me and life for yourself."

The young man, Arlo, flinched under the gaze. He felt like he was being called out, as if those blue eyes penetrated his mind and read his thought. Indeed, Arlo had been thinking exactly that; feeling that their so-called duty was pointless, hating the fact that he couldn’t freely do what he wanted to do because he needed to abide by the clan’s rule, living as a servant of someone who might or might not exist.

"Young Master..."

"I’m thankful," Zein raised his palm, signaling that he still wanted to talk. "Your loyalty, I respect that. Perhaps if my life went differently, I wouldn’t mind it. But..." he paused, frowning slightly, before letting out a sigh. "I have no intention of becoming the head of a clan, or leading people I didn’t know of. Your loyalty lies with the clan, but I am not a part of that."

"You’re an Ishtera--"

"That doesn’t make me a part of the clan," Zein interjected. "I am as much of a stranger to you as Bassena and Logan here."

The Elder closed his parted lips, staring at the stern blue eyes that left no room for negotiation. Zein didn’t come here to negotiate after all, just to tell them his thought. He already said it during the last meeting, but he wanted to convey it again right now, maybe while trying to sound less like a jerk.

"I am not a part of the clan, so even if you want to maintain it, I will not take part in it--especially not as the head," Zein repeated, voice firm and gaze steady. In the next second, however, his tone softened a little bit. "I am not a part of the clan, but I am Alteroan’s son. So I will take his name as mine."

The Elder, as well as Senan, took a deep breath. While they were still struggling to accept that Zein had no intention to continue the Ishtera and the Templar’s legacy, the fact that Zein affirmed he was Roan’s son filled their heart with glee.

Staring at the calm surface of the blue eyes, Senan closed his eyes for a bit before responding. "I understand."

"Senan--"

"Elder--no, Uncle Boden," Senan looked at the old man, "We...we have no right to demand Young Master Luzein for that, for anything, because we have failed that day. The clan had failed, and the person we need to protect had to defend himself as a result."

The Elder’s lips quivered as the memory of that incident flooded his mind. His eyes caught the sight of Bassena Vaski, and he recalled the story the esper told them, about Zein’s life in the red-zone. And as he met the blue eyes, so familiar and yet so different, he couldn’t help but lower his gaze, clutching his cane tight to quell the pain in his chest.

"I...understand," he said quietly. The Elder took a deep breath and raised his gaze after a moment of silence. "What would you like to do with the inheritance?"

"I want to give out the shares of the company to you--"

"No, please don’t," the Elder interjected quickly, shaking his head with hardened eyes. "While I was the one who build the company, everything else--from the land, the building, and the capital--belong to House Ishtera, to Master Roan. We are but a caretaker, Young Master, and taking it would be a betrayal of Master Alrick’s trust."

Zein stared at the old man’s firm eyes. Just as Bassena had told him, these people--or at least the Elder--would reject it. It was weird, to think that he could find this kind of loyalty, even when the masters were already dead. Even when he basically said he’d abandon them.

But that was exactly why, Zein wanted them to be free. This...subservient--as someone who was treated as a slave for a decade, Zein didn’t like it.

"If the Templar is dismissed," Logan, who had been keeping his silence, suddenly spoke from the side. "The whole ninety-six percent belonged to the heir."

Zein leaned back and crossed his arms, tilted his head as he looked at the Elder and Senan. "If it’s mine, then isn’t that mean I can do anything I wanted to it?"

"That’s..."

"There’s a clause that said the profit from the company has to be used for the sake of the clan," Logan said, holding the copy of the will in his hand. The clause must be there to prevent any misuse of the fund, to avoid personal benefits, and to make sure the Templar kept on running to find Lucia and her son. _{freewebnoveℓ.com}

The Elder, who seemed to still hanging on a thread of hope that Zein would come to them, exclaimed loudly. "T-that’s right!"

"But Sir Zein has no intention to continue with the clan. As the new head, he had the right to dissolve the clan and the organization under it," mercilessly, Logan cleaved that thread of hope.

"O-oh, right..."