They Who Slaughtered Hope 🌈| 1-2 Updates a Month

Chapter 16

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𝙻𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚡

┗━━━༻✿༺━━━┛

𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 26𝘵𝘩, 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨

Hewler Street's only florist had awoken at the crack of dawn to prepare for September twenty-sixth: Queen's Day.

Lennox thought it was more like the ass crack of dawn. He was disgruntled at the extreme lengths he had to go to just to procure some cash. The bags underneath his eyes were almost as heavy as the bags he was loading with tinctures.

Before he could finish and slip out unnoticed, Renato stumbled out of his bedroom, rubbing his eyes. "Flower boy, what's all this commotion about?"

Lennox assumed he was referring to the noise outside that had awoken the florist hours earlier. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that," he said with a hint of annoyance. "Don't you know what day it is?"

"No, I don't. Mind filling me in?" Renato sounded just as irritated.

It seemed as if he really had no idea. If only Lennox had started stashing money sooner, then he wouldn't have to spend a single day longer with his father and the Verita Aser's insipid celebrations. Or the oblivious guy in front of him.

"It's Queen's Day, you idiot. You know, that time of year when half the country celebrates the birthday of the Verita Aser Queen and ignores how fucked up high society is because they mingle with commoners for a single day?"

"Seems like you have some... interesting opinions about today's festivities."

"Something like that." Lennox plucked the briefcase he had been packing off the ground and shimmied into his cloak, also laden with goods to sell. "Did you want to come?" he called out to Renato, who had disappeared into Lennox's old room. But not too loud, lest he arouse the attention of his father.

The rest of his family had already left, immersing themselves in the festivities far too early for his liking.

Queen's Day was the one day that his fractured family fused together so that they were three-quarters of a whole. The day that it was only his father that kept them from being as one. Even when all the other soldiers were off duty, he never stopped working. When he wasn't holed up in his fortress of an office, he was either roaming the streets, inspecting the stalls, or snapping at someone. Not exactly the model parent.

"Just a minute, mi amor, you know it takes a while for me to get dressed."

He said so many wrong things that Lennox wondered if it was worth correcting him.

In the end, he did decide to react. Renato just irritated the hell out of him, and Lennox wouldn't let him get away with it. He clenched and unclenched his fists on repeat, his breaths slow and steady. Deliberate. Expelling all feelings from his system, albeit unsuccessfully. "What the hell was that, Renato? Mi Amor? Spanish, really? And I don't even want to know what—"

Renato glided up to him, putting a finger on Lennox's lips. "Ah, ah, ah. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, just call me Ren. As for the Spanish, mi mama taught me some things before she passed away. She was the one who wanted to give me a Spanish name, despite my looks ending up being more Japanese."

He knew how to get under Lennox's skin, and he enjoyed it.  The florist, on the other hand, wasn't pleased.

"I'll call you Ren when you stop calling me 'flower boy'," he snapped.