By Zephyria As they went outside, intense sunlight poured down on Leonardo Blaine’s head as if shattering. He shielded the sun with one hand because of the glare and looked up at the sky without moving. The sight of a black shadow in the shape of a palm cast on his transparent and white face was like a scene from a slow and calm movie.
Perhaps because it had been a while since he had been locked up and received sunlight like this head-on, Leonardo Blaine felt the pouring light was dazzling but also very welcome.
He looked up at the magnificent Council building along the thick and tall white pillars. His gaze, which was slowly moving upwards, stopped at the Council’s flag fluttering in the breeze against the backdrop of the cloudless blue sky.
Leonardo Blaine stared blankly at the symbol mark meaning the white scales drawn on the blue background, and muttered dazedly as if he had new feelings.
“I’m actually coming to the Council, me.”
He felt it was quite unrealistic that he was here.
When he was in the Imperial Army, the army and the Council were not on good terms, and even after he left the army, the Council chased him around every time, so he avoided them so much. In the end, he was captured and felt very out of place standing in the middle of this white fortress.
And that was the same for Hugo Agrizendro, who was looking at Leonardo Blaine.
Leonardo Blaine, who had been considered an unsolved problem for three years. He was now standing inside the Council. Moreover, he was firmly connected to him with a chain of handcuffs.
He constantly chased after his name, his past mistakes, his whereabouts and his footsteps, and repeatedly guessed ‘what kind of person that guy would be,’ but all those thoughts could not be compared to him when he met him in person. And the guy he had been chasing was now within reach if he reached out his hand, but ironically, he was now about to go on a journey to send him away.
The Council members who were passing by glanced at the two people standing still.
Even the commander could not be seen so easily here inside the Council, and next to him was ‘that’ Leonardo Blaine, who was now the focus of everyone in the Imperial Capital. It was a rare sight that you couldn’t see even if you paid for it.
However, even considering all those things, there was another reason why they couldn’t take their eyes off Leonardo Blaine. It was because his appearance was completely different from the stories and expectations that had been known.
His golden eyes, with long eyelashes, were a color that was rare and precious even in the Empire, and their color was clear and radiant. At the same time, his profile as he looked up at the sky looked somehow poignant.
Looking at the handsome, fair-haired young man with smooth, clean skin and lightly reddish lips, his past seemed like an unbelievable rumor.
It was impossible to imagine that this beautiful man was once a soldier, committed bloody carnage on the battlefield, and possessed such powerful magic that he was almost called the god of war.
Hugo Agrizendro followed his gaze and stared at the fluttering flag for a moment, then shifted his gaze back to him and thought.
‘If this guy didn’t have magic, he could have lived a happier life.’
If he had chosen a job like an actor or model in the theater instead of being a soldier with powerful magic, his shining appearance would have become a weapon loved by the public, and he would not have had to disobey orders or spend his blooming years in hiding like this.
Hugo Agrizendro didn’t know him well, but he felt that he was a free spirit who didn’t fit in with being tied to something, and because of that, he thought that the strict military and his values might not have matched.
As Hugo Agrizendro developed his thoughts like that, he was confused by his mind, which kept trying to rationalize Leonardo Blaine’s actions. But even in the midst of that, he had no choice but to admit that he was unusually lenient with the guy.
Originally, he would never have responded to him like this as he wanted. Nevertheless, the reason he was responding to the guy was probably because the feeling he had for him was close to pity.
“Agrizendro, I have a question.”
When Leonardo Blaine suddenly turned his head and opened his mouth towards Hugo Agrizendro, Hugo Agrizendro barely escaped from the thoughts in his head and stared into his eyes.
“What is it?”
“I definitely thought I hid it well.”
Leonardo Blaine approached Hugo Agrizendro by about two steps, narrowing the distance between them. Then, he looked up at him from a fairly close distance and asked with a face as if he couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he thought about it.
“How did you know it was me in the frost territory?”
A gentle breeze blew and crossed between them. Hugo Agrizendro captured Leonardo Blaine’s brilliant blonde hair, which was shaking slightly, in his eyes and opened his mouth after reminiscing about that time for a moment.
“I wasn’t sure. It was just a hunch.”
“So, you used magic on someone you weren’t even sure about as if you were going to freeze their hand off?”
Leonardo Blaine let out a burst of laughter as if it didn’t make sense. Hugo Agrizendro carefully retraced his memories once again and pondered when he had started to suspect the guy.
Because he knew too much for a low-ranking merchant. Because he smelled of the sea even though he had been staying at the accommodation. Because he hesitated to hold his hand. Because his hands were warmer than others.
They were all right, but none of them were decisive.
“Well, let’s just say it was a gamble.”
“…Scary.”
Leonardo Blaine looked at him with a subtle expression but didn’t ask any further. Instead, this time Hugo Agrizendro asked.
“Since when have you been watching me?”
Terzio was a fictional character that Leonardo Blaine played. And he first met him in the frost territory at the bar on the first floor of the accommodation. Leonardo Blaine said that he deliberately approached him to give him and Flynn a hint.
He was a calculating and quick-witted guy who even tried to lure the Council, so now it wouldn’t be surprising no matter where he had been watching him from.
However, even more than Hugo Agrizendro’s expectations, Leonardo Blaine’s answer was unexpected.
“From the beginning.”
“…From the beginning?”
At Hugo Agrizendro’s question, Leonardo Blaine nodded lightly with his unique relaxed smile. At that, Hugo Agrizendro asked again.
“From the moment I entered the frost territory, you were watching me?”
“Um……. Well, I guess you could say that?”
“Then, that means you already knew my face before you met me there.”
Leonardo Blaine was silent for a moment. Hugo Agrizendro carefully scanned his face, analyzing every fleeting expression.
Leonardo Blaine now knew what that persistent gaze meant, so he was still smiling, but his brow was slightly furrowed. He turned his head halfway to avoid the gaze of exploration and replied vaguely.
“You’re more insensitive than I thought. Don’t you know how noticeable you are? People who live in the extreme regions might not know, but most people know.”
Certainly, Hugo Agrizendro’s face had been in a few articles, so it was not unreasonable for Leonardo Blaine to know his face. However, Hugo Agrizendro was not sure how to react to his words, as this noticeable guy was telling him that he was noticeable.
When there was no reply, Leonardo Blaine told him again with a bit of playfulness.
“You’re noticeable because you’re handsome.”
Hugo Agrizendro, who slightly narrowed his brow at Leonardo Blaine’s words that seemed to be teasing him, looked down at him with narrowly opened eyes.
“…Are you usually so open about things like that?”
“It’s the truth, so what.”
Leonardo Blaine shrugged and replied. It didn’t seem like he said it with much meaning, so Hugo Agrizendro didn’t say anything more.
“Commander!”
At that time, a voice calling from afar was heard, and Hugo Agrizendro and Leonardo Blaine turned their heads at the same time. When they looked up at the building on the left where the voice was heard from the Council’s central garden where they were standing, a man with light camel-colored hair and eyes was waving his hand with a bright smile from the third-floor railing.
Leonardo Blaine didn’t think much of it, assuming it was just ‘so-and-so’ belonging to the Council’s central branch. But then, the man who was waving his hand immediately put his foot on the railing and jumped down to the first floor in the blink of an eye, then approached the two of them.
Leonardo Blaine’s eyes widened at that sight.
‘Fast.’
Even though he wasn’t focusing on him, that was by no means ordinary speed. His speed was so fast as if he had used teleportation in the Imperial Capital where he couldn’t use teleportation.
Leonardo Blaine immediately examined the insignia and epaulettes attached to the man’s white uniform. He couldn’t take his eyes off the rank on his shoulder for a moment, then slightly raised his head again and made eye contact with the light camel-colored eyes that were smiling.
He was younger than any other battalion commander he had seen so far, a little taller than him, and his physique was smaller than Agrizendro or Battalion Commander Frederick. He was closer to being slender.
However, Leonardo Blaine was feeling a powerful force from him that could not be compared to other battalion commanders.
‘Could it be that this guy is….’
“Deputy Commander! You have to go report to the higher-ups first!”
Someone else peeked out from the third-floor railing where he had been a moment ago and shouted loudly again. The man who had approached Hugo Agrizendro and Leonardo Blaine turned around and replied to the voice of his adjutant calling him, looking up.
“Ah, I’ll just say hello and be right there!”
He turned his head again and looked at the two of them alternately with an interesting face, then suddenly asked Hugo Agrizendro.
“Commander, is this guy that Leonardo Blaine?”
Hugo Agrizendro slowly nodded, then gave a simple greeting to him, who was shining his eyes.
“It’s been a while.”
“Wow, it’s the first time since I saw the commander leave back then. Do you know how quickly I came to see this guy?”
He couldn’t hide his excited expression as if he had been looking forward to this moment, then suddenly reached out his hand to Leonardo Blaine.
“Blaine, nice to meet you. I really wanted to meet you.”
As he smiled and asked for a handshake, Leonardo Blaine found his incomprehensible words a little strange, but he grabbed the hand that was being held out to him without hesitation. It was because there was something he wanted to confirm with him.
Hugo Agrizendro was puzzled to see him grab the hand as if he had been waiting for it, unlike what he had expected that Leonardo Blaine would be wary of strangers and would be reluctant to shake hands.
As soon as Leonardo Blaine shook hands with the man in front of him, he felt his magic spreading around him. Hugo Agrizendro was the only one among the combat personnel he had encountered in the Council so far who possessed such strong magic that gave him this level of sensation.
Soon, Leonardo Blaine, who had identified his identity, put strength into the hand he was holding and raised the corner of his mouth.
“You’re Lumen of the Council.”