By Zephyria Hugo headed to the detention room where Leonardo was, emitting a cold aura with quick steps.
The anxious guards’ faces lit up when he appeared at the end of the hallway. However, as he got closer, they couldn’t show their joy as much because they saw the legion commander’s stiff face.
Hugo, who had arrived in front of them, asked without preamble.
“Where is Leonardo?”
“Ah, he’s inside.”
As if he didn’t care about the trembling answer, Hugo abruptly opened the door to the detention room where Leonardo was locked up. As soon as he entered, Hugo’s expression frowned because the food that had been overturned so miserably was squelched under his boots.
And on the old sofa right in front of his eyes, Leonardo Blaine was sitting arrogantly with his legs crossed. Leaning sideways, he glanced over and raised his hand towards Hugo.
“Oh, you came faster than I thought.”
Hugo immediately slammed the door behind him shut and strode towards Leonardo.
Leonardo, who had been wearing a relaxed smile, noticed that he was in a bad mood and jumped up from the sofa, creating distance in the not-so-large space, and shouted urgently.
“Wait, I didn’t do anything and was just staying put!”
“Didn’t do anything?”
Hugo raised one eyebrow and asked back. At the same time, Leonardo involuntarily swallowed hard when he saw blue mana gathering in his hand.
‘He’s angry.’
There wasn’t much expression on that straight and cold face, but the extremely cold voice and the chill around him were proof of it.
Even though Leonardo didn’t care much about whether he was angry or not outside, he couldn’t just swagger around now because it was a confined space and his mana was also being controlled. If he got hit by the mana gathering in that hand, he would pass out without even saying a few words, which would defeat the purpose of calling him here.
To get out of the situation, Leonardo calmly said, as if trying to have a conversation with Hugo, holding out both palms forward.
“Don’t be angry, just listen to me.”
“Anger? Leonardo. I have never been angry with you.”
‘You’re angry right now.’
The moment Leonardo thought to himself, Hugo swung his hand, and suddenly a long whip appeared and flew quickly towards him, who was cornered. Leonardo, whose back was blocked by the wall, quickly ducked his head down and ran to the side.
“No, wait a minute―!”
It was a whip made of water, but it was Hugo Agrizendro’s mana, so its power was so strong that it couldn’t be ignored. The steel wall that was hit by the whip was scratched.
Leonardo barely dodged the whip several times, stepped on the sofa he had been sitting on, and ran to the bed in the corner in one go. Hugo, who was chasing behind, never ran, but took large strides with his long legs and mercilessly swung the whip at him.
At that moment, the whip wrapped around Leonardo’s ankle and pulled him back, and Leonardo, who tripped over a low side table, fell onto the bed as if collapsing.
Even as he lost his balance, he felt a chilling sensation down his spine and quickly rolled to the side and turned his body over.
Bang―!
Then Hugo’s hand plunged down where his head had been, completely piercing the bed mattress. Smoke billowed from that part.
Leonardo stared at the terrifying hand that had flown and stuck right next to his head, then turned his eyes to look at Hugo above him and said with a disgusted face.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
“I won’t kill you.”
The whip in Hugo’s hand moved on its own as if it had a will of its own, binding Leonardo’s hands and tightly restraining him. Meanwhile, Hugo pulled out the hand stuck in the mattress and aimed it at Leonardo’s head again.
Looking at that cold face that seemed to have no blood or tears, the words “I won’t kill you” sounded like he was going to knock him out. Sensing the crisis, Leonardo immediately tried to get up, but Hugo’s other hand strongly grabbed his shoulder to prevent him from moving.
Feeling the heavy grip that seemed to crush his shoulder bone, Leonardo was just looking at the large hand approaching his eyes.
Grumble-
The sound of his stomach craving food for survival echoed from inside him, and Hugo’s hand, which was flying towards his head, stopped just before.
There was silence between them for a moment.
Leonardo frowned and squeezed his eyes shut, overwhelmed by unbearable embarrassment at the sound that rang out at this particular moment. The timing was terrible, and the sound seemed to be particularly loud because the room was quiet.
But thanks to that, he seemed to have avoided being knocked out, so Leonardo opened his eyes slightly again and said to Agrizendro, who was still looking down at him with a cold face, the main point of calling him.
“…I, give me some food.”
* * *
The sound of tableware clashing was heard in succession. Hugo, who had his chin propped up with his hands clasped together, glanced at the accumulating plates, then turned his gaze back to the front and looked at Leonardo in front of him, who was clearing away the many plates.
It didn’t seem like he was eating very quickly, but he was diligently moving his not-so-big mouth and hands, and he was getting rid of the food on the plates one after another in the blink of an eye. It was only natural that the server’s eyes widened as he went back and forth to the table.
Hugo tried hard not to show it, as he thought the other person would be quite embarrassed if he even showed a surprised expression. But it was hard to believe that so much food was going into that slender body, even though he was seeing it with his own eyes.
“…You must have been very hungry.”
Leonardo, whose cheeks were bulging with a mouthful of food, nodded at Hugo’s mumbling, which seemed like a soliloquy. At that sight, Hugo silently pushed a new plate further forward.
This shameless guy, who had been begging and begging to be taken out of prison, saying he would stay put, had only been moved to the temporary detention facility for a day. He had threatened the guards with escape and made the legion commander himself come.
Besides, he had strongly demanded to eat food from outside because the meals being distributed were not tasty, so now Hugo had brought him to the restaurant for employees inside the Council, which was quiet after lunchtime.
He knew it wasn’t polite to stare at someone else eating, but Hugo quietly watched him because Leonardo’s face, looking happy as he ate, was unfamiliar.
After a while, Leonardo, who had neatly emptied the last plate and stacked it next to him, wiped his mouth with the napkin on the table and rubbed his stomach with satisfaction.
“Wow, that was really good. The Council’s food is delicious? You should have given me this kind of stuff sooner. Then I would have stayed put.”
Leonardo, feeling full, looked the happiest Hugo had ever seen him.
He had to stay attached as a supervisor because he was the only one in the Council who could control the immeasurable S4-class mage by force, but seeing his eyes crinkled up, Hugo felt that it wasn’t entirely pointless to have brought him out.
Because of that, he quickly erased the smile that was about to spread on his own lips and picked up the cup on the table. Water gradually filled the empty cup, filling it halfway. Hugo put it in front of Leonardo and said.
“I’m glad you seem satisfied. Let’s get up now. I only brought you out for a while because you threatened to escape.”
Leonardo Blaine put the cup he was handed to his lips, his brow furrowing slightly as if he didn’t want to comply with the words. Then he tilted his head back and drank all the water, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and deliberately put the cup down with a clatter.
“I’ve been locked up the whole time, you should give me time to get some fresh air. What’s the big deal if I go in slowly?”
“……”
“And the escape was just a joke. I’m tied up like this for just coming out for a bit, what escape?”
Leonardo Blaine said, holding up the handcuff on his left wrist. The handcuff was connected by a long chain on both sides, and the other handcuff connected to the end was on Hugo Agrizendro’s right wrist.
Hugo Agrizendro, who was looking at the clanging thin chain, sighed softly. He got up from his seat and said to Leonardo Blaine.
“I have to go to the Council meeting soon.”
Leonardo Blaine looked up at him, increasingly disappointed by the firm tone. Hugo Agrizendro, who met his eyes that he didn’t want to go in, continued.
“…So the time I can spare for you is very short. If you promise to stay still when I go back in a little bit.”
Leonardo Blaine’s expression brightened again at his words, and then he smiled and replied in a pleasant tone.
“Okay. I really promise.”
Leonardo Blaine, who also got up from his seat, lightly shook his little finger in front of Hugo Agrizendro as if he was really making a promise, and headed outside.
Hugo Agrizendro wondered if it was right to grant all of the guy’s requests like this, but he had no choice but to follow him because of the tightly pulled chain.