By Zephyria The two sentries Hugo had placed in front of the tent last night were the eyes and ears that he, as Duke Agrizendro, had planted throughout the unit. Their mission was not only to prevent others from approaching Leonardo, but also to report everything Leonardo saw, heard, and touched to their superior.
Immediately after the meeting that had continued all night ended, Hugo left the meeting place and urgently called the two sentries first. They reported in detail, without missing a single word, what had happened last night after Hugo had left the tent. A man named Felix Montero from the 3rd Battalion had approached the tent, Leonardo had suddenly grabbed him and stopped him, and he had been staring with a dazed gaze for a while before making a somewhat sad expression.
Later, he had let the member go, saying that he had mistaken him for someone else, but it had taken quite a long time to get to that point. The sentries added their subjective opinion, saying that it seemed like Leonardo had known him.
Listening to them, Hugo immediately realized who Leonardo had mistaken the member for. No, in fact, it was ambiguous to even call it a mistake. That’s because the guy he had kicked out of Fidele had been wearing Felix Montero’s face until the moment he left.
However, if Leonardo was quick-witted, he would have quickly realized that he wasn’t someone he knew. After that, he had obediently returned to the cabin and came out with a gloomy face around dawn, so the one who had stirred up his emotions was definitely that reckless fool.
But hearing the words ‘sad expression’ and ‘gloomy face,’ Hugo felt like he could picture Leonardo’s face in his head, even though he hadn’t seen it. And that face was a reaction that Hugo’s values couldn’t quite understand, as if he had realized the separation from a close colleague.
Hugo also knew about Dark Silver’s rule that contact with a banished colleague was punishable by death. That’s why he had turned a blind eye to their contact out of compassion as a fellow human being, and it was a flexibility that stemmed from his desire for Leonardo to be safe.
However, the parties involved would know the severity of such regulations and situations even better. So the news that his colleague had left safely should have been a relief for Leonardo… As a result, his reaction that morning was completely different from Hugo’s expectations. And that made Hugo look back at another possibility that he didn’t particularly want to think about.
In short, the ‘guy’ who had risked his life to enter the peninsula and hide in the middle of the Council was so foolish that the title of Dark Silver was a waste, and perhaps he was an even greater romanticist than Leonardo.
Even when he was temporarily away to prepare for the execution of plan 5, he had constantly hovered around Leonardo and coordinated with him. Moreover, he had heard that it was also the guy who had found them trapped inside the barrier and signaled their location with a flash bomb. In other words, just as his instincts sensed Leonardo, a similar sense had developed in the guy as well.
Hugo couldn’t define that relationship as a simple colleague. In the end, the relationship between the two that he had suspected from before was narrowed down to one thing in his common sense.
‘Were they lovers after all?’
The sad expression that had appeared on Leonardo’s face last night was probably a longing for the lover who had left his side. The fact that he had retorted with ‘it’s not like we’re lovers’ to his interference was Hugo’s guess that some of the thoughts he had been captured by had flowed out.
Having come to a conclusion, he turned his eyes to Leonardo. Their eyes met naturally, as if he had been looking this way all along.
The other person felt like an afterimage that would have scattered in front of his eyes if he hadn’t had the handkerchief tied around his neck. The unrealistic face above the white, long neck added conviction to Hugo’s doubts without saying a single word.
‘Well, it’s the prime of his life.’
The words ‘gold in the mud’ were not enough to express it. Even Hugo, who was watching, felt sorry and regretful for Leonardo’s life, which he had been living in hiding for the past three years. He was fresh even if he didn’t do anything, and he was youthful just by looking at him. It was a time when he was full of passion and vigor to pour all his emotions into, so it might have been stranger if he didn’t have a lover who understood him in the midst of the hardship.
‘With that face, the people around him wouldn’t have left him alone.’
Hugo quickly turned his eyes away from the golden subject that he couldn’t help but be convinced by. He knew that it was rude to compare who was more regrettable between the two lovers. But thinking of that guy who seemed like he was going to proclaim to the whole world that he was Dark Silver, Leonardo was much more regrettable.
Of course, even that wasn’t something that he, as a third party, should be concerned about. Rather, the recklessness of the two, who were so alike, had contributed to the execution of the core.
Hugo hoped that the guy who had threatened to kill him if he didn’t like it really had that much skill. So that his choice to let him go wasn’t wrong, so that the meaning of extending leniency to a complete stranger had meaning. He hoped that he would thoroughly clean up the aftermath so that it wouldn’t harm Leonardo’s brilliant future, which was just beginning to sprout.
“What are you thinking about?”
Hugo snapped out of his deep thoughts at the sudden voice. Leonardo, who had been sitting in his chair and looking up at him, blinked at Hugo’s increasingly bad expression.
Hugo wondered if he had been thinking too long with someone in front of him, and habitually checked the watch on his wrist. Then, he got up from the table he had been leaning against and answered as if it were nothing.
“Probably, about you.”
Leonardo blinked as if he were dumbfounded. Sometimes he would say something out of the blue that would embarrass people, even though it wasn’t the right situation at all.
But his rigid expression and cold voice were the complete opposite of the atmosphere of the words he had uttered.
Leonardo watched the other person’s face, which was incomprehensible today. Was it because he was tired, or because things weren’t going well? The person who was usually hard to figure out was acting even more like a mystery today.
Sensing that searching gaze, Hugo looked down at Leonardo and cautiously opened his mouth.
“Leonardo. In about 40 minutes, there will be a major conference to finalize the situation before returning to the central headquarters.”
“…Another meeting?”
How long had it been since the all-night meeting had ended? Leonardo made a face as if he was tired of it, even though it wasn’t his job. Hugo nodded as if he was used to the murderous schedule and continued.
“After all, this Eldermilli Peninsula subjugation will be an event that will be remembered in many ways in the history of our Council. Even if we share the progress and hold meetings in succession, there’s no end to the issues to discuss and decide.”
“……”
“So, I wish you would rest inside… but you’re also a member of this subjugation force, so I think you’ll want to know how the situation is going.”
“Then I’ll go too.”
Leonardo gave a neat answer that made the roundabout way of speaking seem pointless. Hugo nodded as if he had expected it. But in his heart, he wanted to recommend that he stay in the cabin.
In fact, he might not have brought up the major conference, but the reason he had bothered to mention it was because he wanted Leonardo to be confidently recognized in front of the commanders, and also because he was very worried about leaving him alone.
He didn’t really want to imagine him longing for his lover and feeling lonely. He didn’t want to see his face, which should be shining the brightest, be soaked in depression either. That was all.
Hugo thought that his action of cutting off the strange atmosphere from earlier was the most mature thing he had done since meeting Leonardo. Soon, he gathered his stray thoughts and held out his hand to Leonardo. Leonardo, who had been staring silently, lightly got up from the chair, relying on his hand.
“There’s still some time left, so let’s have a meal together. I asked Sir Hares to pay more attention this time.”
At the word ‘Sir’ at that moment, Leonardo’s expression stiffened. It was as if he was asking if he had told Sir Hares exactly what he had said about it being tasteless.
Hugo raised the corners of his mouth unintentionally at the sight. Soon, he added as if to reassure him.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t mention you.”
Even so, Hugo let go of the hand he had been holding to help him up. Instead, he took the cigarette case on the table and put it into his pocket connected to his belt.
Since he was usually the one who let go of his hand first, Leonardo looked down at his hand, which had suddenly become empty. Then, he followed with his eyes the interference that had completely disappeared into his pocket. In the meantime, Hugo, who had moved the chair to the side, walked towards the entrance first.
Leonardo couldn’t erase the strange sense of incongruity in Hugo’s actions, which were still kind but clearly different. Instead of following the Legion Commander right away, he suddenly opened his mouth after a moment of hesitation.
“Hey.”
Hugo, who was about to step outside with the iron rod, stopped at his voice. Sunlight poured down like it was shattering over Hugo’s head as he turned around.
Leonardo stared at his face silently and decided to test the point that had been bothering him since earlier.
“Earlier, you said that. That you have a duty to interfere so that I can regain my health, and to safely take responsibility until my return.”
Watching Leonardo recite the words he had said exactly as they were, Hugo slightly raised one eyebrow. Then, he nodded and answered as if it were nothing.
“I did.”
Leonardo asked him.
“Is it really because of duty?”
At that moment, the air inside the tent was woven with an invisible thread and pulled taut. A heavy silence flowed from that point on.
Hugo’s eyelids twitched slightly. But his inner thoughts, standing in the light, were not easily revealed on his face.
Leonardo quietly held his breath and stared at his blue eyes. In that instant, the firm lips, which he thought would be closed for quite a while, opened relatively lightly.
“I wonder.”
The heavy bass that pierced through the silence sounded colder to Leonardo’s ears than ever before.
Hugo turned his body slowly, as if avoiding Leonardo’s gaze. His footsteps towards the outside of the tent quickly cleared away unnecessary thoughts.
“Maybe, it is.”