By Zephyria Leonardo subtly moved back as the sudden offer was presented. The distance between the chairs wasn’t that narrow, but the face that suddenly approached was closer than he thought.
When he looked at the other person with a not-so-friendly gaze, the adjutant hesitated but offered the water bottle with a worried expression. His impression was neat and quite gentle, so Leonardo glanced down at the water bottle in his hand instead of ignoring him.
He didn’t like drinking from a stranger’s bottle, but the other person was quite friendly, and his condition wasn’t good enough to refuse.
He felt like he had to drink something to suppress this nausea somehow. Leonardo nodded, meaning he wanted it. Then, as if he had been waiting, the adjutant opened the lid and handed him the water bottle.
Just then, Flynn, who was writing the minutes separately to deliver to Hugo, heard the whisper next to him and turned his head in that direction.
In his view, he saw Leonardo wiping his mouth and the adjutant receiving the half-empty water bottle.
Leonardo, who had softened his stiff expression a little, whispered back to the adjutant on his right.
“Thank you.”
The adjutant seemed quite moved by his words and gave him a very kind smile. Then, he leaned in and whispered intimately, “Tell me if you need anything else.”
Flynn, who was watching the two, tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
‘What’s going on?’
Knowing that Leonardo rarely opened up to anyone within the Council, Flynn craned his neck and peered over to try to understand the situation.
At the same time, he briefly wondered if he should stop their conversation. This was because he knew that the Commander’s instruction to ‘pay attention’ meant to moderately block Leonardo’s contact with others.
However, their conversation ended quickly, and Leonardo turned his head to the front as if nothing had happened. Flynn subtly gestured to him, called him, and asked in a low voice.
“Is something wrong?”
Leonardo glanced at him and shook his head as if nothing was wrong. Still, he took a deep breath to calm his unstable stomach and roughly swept back his hair.
To Flynn, Leonardo’s actions seemed to indicate that he was subtly uncomfortable in this place.
“Do you want to go in first if you’re not feeling well? I’ll take you.”
“No, I’ll stay here.”
Leonardo shook his head again and answered as if he was okay. Because his answer was so firm, Flynn nodded without thinking.
His meticulous gaze watched Leonardo until the end, but he seemed to be fine on the surface, so he decided to let it go for now. Soon after, he refocused on the briefing to catch up on what he had missed. But the moment he looked forward and held his pen, Flynn felt a cool current and turned his eyes to the head table.
‘Gasp.’
He gasped silently and inhaled. He didn’t know since when, but the Commander was watching this way.
To be exact, he seemed to be looking at the two people next to him, and his indifferent and dry gaze was somewhat cold.
Although he tried to hide it, Flynn, who had been watching him for a long time, felt that something had bothered him enough to distract him from the meeting. Flynn glanced at Hugo with a nervous look, wondering if he had arbitrarily ignored the instructions and made him uncomfortable.
And just then, Leonardo, who felt the same current, turned his head to the head table. Two clear gazes crossed the crowd and met in the air.
“…So, the duration of the temporary Portal installed on the passageway two days ago is running out. It is expected that the connection to some areas will be cut off as early as tonight, so action is needed. As a result of discussing with the person in charge of the support troops who will be coming over tomorrow, they suggested that it would be better to send the advance team first and then the rear team would reorganize the Portal and join them. What do you think about this?”
In the meantime, the agenda of the meeting had changed to another topic. The new commander who took over the baton looked at the audience and asked for opinions.
To be exact, he asked towards the head table, and Bruno, who was buried in the documents and rummaging through them, quickly raised his head and answered.
“Hmm… that agenda is…”
Even though it was a major conference attended by most commanders, the senior commanders who were seriously ill were absent. Therefore, Bruno was speaking on almost every agenda item today to prevent the meeting from being interrupted.
Dellua, who felt sorry for him trying to fill the void, raised her hand and added.
“Currently, the subjugation itself is nearing its end, and the most important issues to focus on now are the transportation of the injured and the supply of medicine. Maintaining the connection of the Portal is essential for smooth passage and material procurement, but there are almost no remaining personnel here for return preparations tomorrow. In addition, all the Gate Portals are under inspection, so it would take a lot of time to go outside and reorganize them directly. So, wouldn’t it be a much more efficient way to move if the rear team reorganizes, even if it’s a little late?”
Dellua neatly organized it, and Bruno winked at her as if to thank her. Eventually, Bruno’s last gaze moved to Hugo right next to him.
“Then, should we leave that matter to the support troops…”
In fact, he was naturally passing on the decision-making power, but Bruno had no choice but to trail off as soon as he saw Hugo’s profile.
Hugo, with his chin propped up, was staring at one place, his gaze reaching a corner of the seats where the adjutants were sitting, not the front stage or the summary paper.
And at the end of it, golden hair and Gold Eyes that could be recognized at a glance even from afar flickered.
Bruno, who alternately looked at both ends of the crossed gazes, concealed his embarrassment and tried to finish the sentence.
“…What do you think, Supreme Commander?”
He pretended to ask for an opinion, but in reality, he was unsure whether the Legion Commander had properly heard the previous agenda.
Until then, Hugo was only staring at the other person’s Gold Eyes with an ambiguous gaze that unconsciously came out.
‘Is it a habit?’
Then, just as the commanders were wondering about the prolonged silence, he finally withdrew his fixed gaze, turned to Bruno, and answered plainly.
“Do so.”
It was a very natural answer as if he had been listening from the beginning, but Bruno was suspicious again. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like he had been daydreaming for a while, and he was at a loss as to how to explain this again.
However, before Bruno could add an explanation with tact, the commander on the stage quickly brought up the next agenda. As a result, Bruno’s suspicion was vaguely resolved, and in the process of collecting the list of necessary supplies that followed, a heated discussion broke out among the quiet commanders.
Thanks to that, the fact that Hugo had momentarily spaced out went unnoticed except by a few people around him.
After that, Hugo only added a word from time to time when the atmosphere of the meeting became overheated, and he refrained from speaking and remained silent in order to listen to the words of the lower-ranking commanders as much as possible. At the same time, he completely cut off his gaze towards Leonardo as if nothing had happened. So it was only natural that Leonardo, who had been stiff since meeting Hugo’s gaze, made a dumbfounded expression.
‘What?’
He recalled Hugo’s gaze a little while ago and grumbled inwardly, feeling quite offended.
‘Concentrate on the meeting instead of daydreaming, or something?’
He had clearly only whispered quietly so as not to disturb the meeting, but perhaps his voice was heard all the way over there, and the other person sent a very sharp gaze.
The gaze clearly showed a displeased expression, so it was by no means a good look.
Recalling the cold face as if giving a warning, Leonardo twisted his lips at the rush of resentment.
He was pretending not to be, but the other person was clearly drawing a line with him. He wouldn’t feel wronged if he knew the reason. He couldn’t figure out why he was doing that at all.
Leonardo crossed his arms and glared at Hugo’s profile from a distance. Soon, he turned his head away with an annoyed expression.
Meanwhile, Hugo, who felt the burning gaze being withdrawn, looked back at Leonardo’s side again at the right timing. Then, he watched him, who seemed to be upset, and sighed softly, rubbing his eyes.
‘This is not the time for this…’
It was a very important meeting to wrap up the final situation on the peninsula. But even though his ears were listening, his consciousness was elsewhere, so it was a very embarrassing concentration to say that he was doing his best.
Hugo scolded himself for his incomprehensible behavior. Nevertheless, his tense nerves did not easily leave Leonardo.