There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 439 - 432. The Heart of The South

Zein thought the portal would lead them inside the palace, but when he arrived on the other side, they were in a pavilion outside of it--on a slightly higher land that allowed him the sight of the palace’s estate; the house of the only Old House in the whole kingdom--the royal family of Rakai clan.

It was a clever spot; almost like a tourist attraction, and made sure that the palace guests had a grand view of the majestic palace the moment they stepped out of the portal.

And Zein was sure this was the objective in their case; to show Bassena the grandeur of the palace which he had once rejected.

It was a good position--Zein thought. Unlike the Eastern Federation, whose landscape consisted of skyscrapers, the buildings in the Southern Kingdom were large and spacious. Seldom were they higher than three stories, but each occupied huge plots of land.

This, of course, included the palace.

Eastern Federation’s presidential palace was shaped like a tower; its many governmental details occupied the many floors that brought the tower to touch the sky. The way to bask in its grandeur, of course, was by looking at it from below.

But the Southern Kingdom’s palace was different. Just like any other building there, it wasn’t tall. The ministry and governmental bodies were spread throughout the compound outside of the main palace itself, which made the estate look like a small city on its own, with the grand palace as the centerpiece. Naturally, they wouldn’t be able to appreciate its greatness fully if it wasn’t from a higher place where they could see the entirety of the palace complex.

And it was indeed a centerpiece worthy of attention; the heart of colors exploding in harmony. The buildings in the Eastern Federation, although carried various architectural shapes, mostly contained muted, cold colors; white, black, grey, the color of steel. It was meant to be calm and not distracting.

The palace, however, was glittering. A lot of reds, yellows, and blues with green palm trees and shrubs around. It was decorated in ornaments of ivory and shining gold, glittering beneath the scorching sunlight that made the fountains look like it spewing jewels.

Talking about jewels, Zein could see statues and ornaments with shining eyes that he thought were polished stones at first but then thought they might be real jewels. Perhaps the golden color wasn’t paint, but real gold--who knows.

He had to say, though--it was indeed grand and eye-opening. He could understand how Bassena’s mother grew to have an interest in accessory-making. She was surrounded by beautiful ornaments and people who walked about in colorful clothes with intricate patterns and jewelry adorning their bodies.

Naturally, with so many precious items out in the open, the place was guarded heavily by guards who wore the same outfit as the one escorting them--just differed in color and insignia. Of course, everyone was espers, although they were of low ranks. He reckoned the higher ranks espers would see the money and prestige from dungeon raiding more appetizing.

Except for the red-uniformed man knocking on the car door earlier, which was at least a four-star. Must have been one of those royal officers.

The man brought them through a park with fountains and palm trees. From how quiet it was, Zein presumed it was a place that could only be frequented by the royal family.

Well, Bassena was technically half-royal, so...

"At this point, it’s inevitable, huh?" Zein chuckled while looking at the sky through the intertwined palm leaves.

"What is?"

"That something will always happen during our date."

"Ugh," Bassena groaned and cursed under his breath. "Don’t jinx it for the next time."

Zein raised his brow. "Next time?"

"Why? You don’t think we can have a date in the Deathzone?" Bassena turned his head to look at Zein, smiling cheekily. "I managed to have sex with you there, you know."

How about that--he was actually right. Despite the less-than-ideal place, and despite Zein’s insistent that there was no such thing as love in the Deathzone, the esper managed to creep his way into Zein’s heart.

And it wasn’t like there was no site to have a date; a nice date, a battle date, a horror date...

"...you’re going to ask me to do it again in that ruin, huh?" Zein narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the smirking esper.

"Wow, are you a mind-reader now?"

Zein scoffed and Bassena grinned in elation at the absence of rejection from the guide. Of course, someone like Zein wouldn’t have any qualms about doing it in the most tricky places.

"Ahem--"

But their small flirty moment was disturbed by a small coughing sound.

Bassena glared at his back. "What?"

"We’re in the palace," the red-uniformed man cleared his throat and stared at the couple with a disapproving look. "You might want to mind your language a little bit."

"And why should we do that?" Zein tilted his head, eliciting a smirk to stretch on Bassena’s lips. "We’re not even a citizen of this kingdom, and we’re here as a reluctant guest."

The royal guard frowned slightly, although the disdainful expression vanished immediately. His face seemed to say that the one who got invited was Bassena, the one with the blood of royalty.

Of course, such a gesture did not sit right with Bassena. He stopped and turned slightly so he could look at the surprised royal guard.

"What will you do anyway, if I talk vulgarly?" he tilted his head. "Are you going to put me in jail?"

The man blinked and parted his lips, but nothing came out of his mouth.

"Surely you know that my boss and the Federation wouldn’t just stay put if you do that, right?" Bassena smirked, knowing full well his own value as the youngest Saint class. Li Caishen and, especially, Radia, would wage a diplomatic war if they caused their walking national warhead to be locked in another country.

Another country that had once tried to pouch hum over.

And the man seemed to be smart enough to realize it, because he lowered his gaze and bowed his head slightly.

"You shouldn’t have invited me here in the first place," Bassena scoffed, before turning around and resuming his walk.

They followed the palace staff dispatched to guide them to the palace’s main court. From the park, they crossed a long walkway atop a big pool with scattering water lotus and bright-colored fish swimming around. The walkway led directly to the palace’s front door, to a big hall and waiting lounge which had a lot of people staring at them and whispering in surprise.

Bassena clicked his tongue as he realized there was a court in session and this invitation was probably a deliberate action to ’show off’ his presence. He couldn’t help but think that it was a ruse to give him pressure about rejecting their offer to come to the kingdom.

Look, how ungrateful he is to reject the king’s grace; look, how ignorant he is to reject nobility.

This wasn’t just his conjecture; he could hear the court members whispering quietly between themselves.

Haa...he thought rejecting them once was enough. He should have known. He should have remembered why his mother ran away.

The royal guard signaled for the huge double door to be opened, and the murmurs turned quiet as the people in the throne room looked at their long-lost prince and his lover strolling on the beautiful patterned rug.

Yeah, strolling; because they were just walking casually as if they were still walking in the palm garden. No trace of tension, nor reverence, could be seen on their face even as they stopped a few meters away from the dais where the traditional throne sat with the current king and queen--Bassena’s oldest uncle and his wife--occupied it.

Hmm...Zein felt it was jarring to see this after spending all his life in the Eastern Federation. He was sure the President had no throne, just an office and a tall chair in the congress hall. He could see some people with tablets and documents in their hands, which he presumed to be government officials.

The King, meanwhile, did not make any gesture, only staring at Bassena and Zein coldly as if he were waiting for something. But they just stayed there, looking back with boredom and annoyance.

After a few minutes of silence, a murmur started to spread from the side, where the members of the royal family, their companions, their attendants, and a few court members who were still there, whispered the same thing.

How ignorant; they don’t even know how to curtsy!

"How ridiculous," Bassena scoffed loudly, tilting his head as he stared at the throne sharply. "Are you really expecting an Old House patriarch to bow to you?"

Bassena was one thing, and he only refused to give any courtesy out of spite. But Zein, even in his best sentiment, should not be expected for such a gesture. He was the head of an Old House; just like the King was the head of House Rakai.

In this world, they were equal.

Ludya Mallarc or Zhou Caishen never bowed their head to the President, because there was no need to. Sure, they would still act politely, but their status was actually higher than the President.

Naturally, Zein had no intention of making himself look inferior in front of the people whom his esper loathed.

As if they finally remembered who Bassena’s lover was, the murmur died down.

And Bassena had no intention of wasting more time in front of people who couldn’t even show goodwill to his most beloved.

"What do you want?" he asked the King sharply.