(BL) Into The Rose Garden

CHAPTER 6

He held the shiny silver coin in his hand and twirled it around in his hand. It was the first time he had ever touched a silver coin himself. It was insignificant when one owned countless things, and precious when one lost everything. Unlike platinum, the light gray metal, which looked very fragile, was like the crystal of a fleeting dream. Every night, he pondered as the shiny surface reflected against the orange-colored sky.

Should I buy bread? I could eat and buy a large piece of bread with lots of raisins every day for the next six months. I could buy some sugar with it too. It would be nice to buy a blanket for the coming winter. Boots with warm fur could work too. Or taking this to a slightly warmer southern city would be fine. Winters there will not be as harsh as here. What should I do?

Aelock squatted in the shed and agonized with his face buried in his lap. If he still thought like before, he wouldn’t have troubled himself over this to such a degree. He would have immediately gone to the stationery store, buy a pen and papers, and send letters to all the addresses he still remembered. And he won’t be able to get a reply to any one of those countless letters.

Everyone who once fretted over not getting his invitation now turned away from him. However, Derbyshire and Wolflake, who were once very close to him, refused to even visit. After turning back around without even entering the mansion, no one even acted like they knew Aelock. Klopp was the only one who reached out at that hopeless time. In retrospect, it was a path that led him further into the abyss.

He couldn’t waste his precious money on something pointless, knowing full well that there would be no reply anyway. He wasn’t even hungry. It was a golden opportunity that he doubted would come again in the future. He didn’t want to spend the precious silver coin on bread that he could get by offering his body anyway.

Aelock remembered what he wanted most. He never thought that with this money, his dream would become a reality at least once. Aelock did not sleep all night and left the shed before the men coming to dispose of their semen stormed in. And until the morning came, he wandered in search of a high-end boutique in his distant memory.

By the time the sun rose completely, Aelock was kicked out without even entering the high-end boutique properly by the owner, who was afraid of losing the reputation of the boutique. When he begged several times and showed a silver coin, the uptight-looking tailor raised the glasses hanging on the bridge of his nose and laughed coldly.

“A single silver coin cannot even buy a tie in my place! Get lost.”

He was a little surprised. He thought he could buy at least one set of poor-quality clothes with this precious silver coin, if not high-quality ones. It was disappointing that he couldn’t even buy a tie that he had worn once before and thrown away.

He bit his lips while walking in the shade. All day he snooped around anywhere that looked like a store, but he was lucky if he didn’t get hit, let alone treated properly. Eventually, he gave up on the high-end stores along the main street and was able to buy a very old suit and worn-out shoes at the most shabby second-hand clothing store among the stores used by the working class. He paid his only silver coin for it and got some copper coins back. He used those up to buy soap at another store.

He excitedly ran to the riverside without realizing it. Before it was too late, he washed himself clean, out of sight of others, and carefully put on clothes that smelled of dust and mildew. He also wore the shoes. He wished he could iron some wrinkles, but he was not allowed that luxury.