There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Chapter 93. The Blood of The Covenant

The first thing he did when he woke up at dawn this morning was to access the encrypted folder and unlocked it.

There was a comprehensive conclusion, but there were also separate details documents that led to that conclusion, including the note and photograph of Lucia’s letters to her friends, the records of her activity in Eiyuta, and notes of her history with Marshall Todres.

What Zein looked up the most, however, was a single blurry picture. It was from her mother’s guide license, dug up from an archive dated more than thirty years ago, so the quality wasn’t that good. The only other photograph of his mother was a tiny group picture of the Eiyuta Guide Center’s staff--so it seemed like she wasn’t part of any guild.

The report mentioned that they still hadn’t found out how she met the esper who imprinted her, just speculation about a certain commission. Obviously, they had no idea who that esper was, and she never mentioned names or affiliations in her letters for those women.

"That’s a pair of unmistakable eyes," Bassena said when Zein showed him the picture.

It might be low quality, but it was enough to discern her face and the striking deep blue phoenix eyes. Those eyes and the fair complexion--just like Zein, her mother was also a beauty.

"So you got your hair and lips from your father then," Bassena threw the guide a glance, whose eyes were narrowing at the mention of the father. His brows frowning too, as if he despised the mention of the unnamed esper. "Do you hate him?"

"...I don’t know," Zein replied after a long silence. So far, that person didn’t give him a good impression. Taking Lucia so suddenly, basically kidnapping her out of Eiyuta, putting her in danger...

"I don’t know how he imprinted her, whether it was consensual or...I don’t know," Zein bit his cheek to hold back the surge of emotions. He didn’t know if he felt angry, disappointed, or disgusted.

It was the whole reason he hated the imprinting concept between an esper and a guide.

And then he just died like that after imprinting someone and impregnating her. A young woman, alone and pregnant, ended up in a hand of scum like Todres. She was younger than Zein now when she gave birth to him and died not long after.

Zein couldn’t decide which one was worse; having an abusive father who sold him, or having a father that did all of that to his mother.

Bassena didn’t say anything, even though he wanted to say a whole lot of things, wanted to soothe that rare agony on the guide’s face. It was rare for Zein to sound hurtful, to pour his emotions out, after years and decades of always hiding them inside his mask.

Right now, he just wished Zein could pour it out, and not repress it into a festering wound like usual. For now, he would just be content and grateful that Zein would want to share it with him.

Zein took a deep breath, and followed what Bassena did earlier; leaning into the railing and putting his head down. There was another thing that had been bugging his mind so much since yesterday.

"So..." he started to speak in a rather weak voice that lost the fury he had earlier. "It seems like we don’t even share any blood,"

Zein didn’t explicitly mention it, but it was clear who he meant by that. The twins he had raised for thirteen years, whom he had thought to be at least his half-brothers...turned out to be just a pair of strangers. Sure, sometimes he had this thought that maybe they weren’t actually related. But since there was no proof of it before, he clung to the thought that there was a special bond between them.

But now...

"What does it matter?" Bassena responded dryly. Zein lifted his head, turning toward the esper, who was looking into the distance with a subtle smile and a calm expression. "Is having blood ties that important?"

"...is it not?" Zein replied with a slightly cracked voice, which made the smile on the esper’s face grew wider.

"Yeah?" Bassena turned to look at the guide, who seemed to be paler than usual. "Do you think your brothers would choose their parents over you?"

The blue eyes, which were shaking earlier, blinked twice. Bassena answered his own question with a smile. "I don’t think so," the amber eyes shifted into the distance again, as the smile turned into a sinister smirk. "Just like I wouldn’t choose the Vaskis over Joon and Radia."

The esper stretched his shoulder and leaned into the railing again while making a nostalgic face. "It was funny you know; both my blood relatives and those two were beating and scolding me so much, but I got a totally different sense from them."

"Different how?"

With a little laugh, Bassena continued. "With my blood relatives, it just felt hurt and unfeeling. But with Joon and Radia...I could feel that they were trying to get me to submit so I could calm down. They never made it dangerous or fatal for me, giving me little lectures and advice at the end of each fight. Rather than feeling hurt...I just feel like someone finally giving me the right treatment," the amber eyes curled at the memories, "I guess I just felt their good intention, even with Joon’s hard fist and Radia’s harsh words."

He glanced at the guide again, who was listening quietly with a rumination on his face. "I’m sure your brothers felt that too,"

Zein looked at the serene garden beneath his room, sipping into his watery drink to soothe his mind. But he looked calmer, his pretty face no longer filled with frowns like before.