By Zephyria Leonardo was in the burning flames.
Originally, this place was a high ridge densely packed with low-growing grass, and beyond the ridge located far away, there was a vast plain.
But now this area was entirely engulfed in raging flames, and the surroundings were not visible at all due to the smoke that filled all directions, making him forget where this place originally was.
Leonardo stood in the middle of it, watching the demon beasts screaming and burning to death. His face, filled with indifference, was full of exhaustion. Soon after, when a glowing crimson flame flew from his hand, even the last remaining screams disappeared.
Leonardo felt that the things that had been tiring his ears had become much quieter, and he collapsed on the spot. It was because he had been catching demon beasts all day for the past few days without rest, so his stamina had dropped a lot.
The flames that did not go away were soaring around him, but he had no intention of putting out the fire. Because that rational legion commander, who was probably watching his appearance at this moment, would arrive soon.
As he sat surrounded by fierce flames, a blue barrier soon unfolded over his head as he expected. A larger magic circle unfolded on the floor, and thick streams of water gushed out from the ground at a certain radius based on where Leonardo was sitting.
They bit into the burning flames and roughly stirred them all up. Leonardo sat with his knees slightly raised, put his arms on them, and quietly stared at the scene.
The flames were wrapped in the huge coil of water and were helplessly caught as if they had never risen. After the fire went out, the rising smoke spread more thickly in all directions, blurring the view as if he were in a fog. Because of that, his eyes were stinging painfully.
But soon a subtle wind blew and prevented the smoke from getting close to the barrier. The hazy gas cleared only where Leonardo was sitting.
“You’ll suffocate if you stay there.”
Soon after, the owner of the blue barrier appeared before his eyes. Hugo, who didn’t know where he had appeared from, stepped down in front of the barrier and strode towards Leonardo, who was sitting in the middle of it. Then he suddenly handed him a canteen.
Leonardo stared blankly at the canteen. He seemed to have noticed that he was thirsty, how did he know?
He would never have accepted it under normal circumstances, but now he was extremely thirsty, so Leonardo grabbed it without even looking at Hugo’s face. He opened the cap of the canteen with hurried hands and tilted his head back to gulp down the water.
As he drank urgently, the stream of water flowed down between his lips and brushed against his Adam’s apple, which rose and fell. Hugo watched the scene silently.
“Ha―.”
Leonardo, who had quenched his thirst, took his mouth off the entrance of the almost empty canteen and let out a small sigh. After a while, he wiped the stream of water that had flowed down his mouth with the back of his hand and handed the canteen to Hugo. When Hugo took the canteen, the water quickly filled up again.
“Do you need more?”
Leonardo shook his head. Then he swept his hair back a couple of times and lowered his head deeply. Hugo quietly examined him, looking increasingly tired. That was because the number of demon beasts Leonardo had slaughtered in the past few days was as many as the bees in a hive.
Recently, his appearance seemed to be overdoing it more than necessary.
Hugo had heard from Flynn that the reason why he was catching demon beasts so madly was not only because he was angry with him, but also because he seemed to have something urgent, so he roughly guessed that there was another reason.
So he had made a promise not to stray beyond a certain radius and allowed him to roam relatively freely, but in the end, he had become like this.
Hugo looked at this foolish guy who had used his magic power to the point of being almost discharged and wondered what to do, then opened his mouth.
“Leonardo, I know you’re strong, but don’t overdo it too much.”
“…….”
“You haven’t been sleeping much lately, your body won’t last like this.”
But Leonardo had no movement or answer. Hugo sighed.
“Are you not going to answer now?”
When he asked as if frustrated, Leonardo, who had been bowing his head and keeping silent, replied in a slightly subdued voice.
“Don’t talk nonsense unless you’re going to order me.”
When he heard the somewhat arrogant answer, his neat eyebrows narrowed. Hugo said to him, who was trying to avoid him, in a rather stern voice.
“I order you to look at me.”
A small sigh was heard from his deeply bowed head. Soon after, Leonardo rubbed his eyes and slowly raised his head. His face was full of frowns and quite a lot of dissatisfaction.
But even in the midst of that, he was completely exhausted and tired.
“Leonardo, let’s have a conversation.”
But instead of answering, Leonardo grabbed the ground and got up from his seat. Hugo reached out as if to grab him, but he didn’t grab it either. Leonardo, who roughly dusted off his clothes, retorted as if he was fed up.
“I have nothing to say to you.”
Then he tried to pass by Hugo as he was. But Hugo blocked his way and grabbed his arm with his left hand.
Leonardo flinched and tried to shake him off forcefully, but he couldn’t break free, whether because Hugo was holding him tightly or because he was losing strength. He frowned and tried to pull away, but now he was completely stuck and couldn’t even move.
He even thought about heating his arm up to make the other person let go, but when he saw the bandage on Hugo’s left hand that was holding his arm, he couldn’t do anything.
In the end, Leonardo ran his free hand through his hair nervously and glared at Hugo. Hugo, still maintaining his grip, spoke with a slightly worried expression.
“I don’t think avoiding it like this is a good idea. Even if I don’t know anything else, you look pretty precarious right now.”
“…….”
“I’m sure I still have some resentment left. So let’s talk, Leonardo.”
Leonardo scoffed at his words.
“So, what do you want me to do? Listen to the reasons why you had to do that again and tell me to understand?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Damn it, am I supposed to understand everything and force myself to feel better and cater to your whims? Why would I do that?”
“Leonardo―.”
A sigh escaped involuntarily at the sharp reply. Hugo stared at him with sunken eyes before opening his mouth.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“If that’s not what you meant, then what do you want to talk about?”
Leonardo snapped at him with cold eyes. Hugo replied in a calm voice.
“I told you why I had to do it back then, so this time I want to hear your story.”
“…….”
“I want you to tell me anything you’re upset about, anything you’re worried about. Of course, I know you’re angry that I tested you. But if we talk a little more, we might find out things we didn’t know or things we thought differently about. I think you and I definitely need to talk now.”
Leonardo was silent for a while. Hugo waited patiently for him.
And soon, a low voice leaked out from between his chapped lips.
“If we talk, what will change?”
“There’s a better chance of it changing than if we don’t.”
At the answer that came out as if he had been waiting for it, Leonardo furrowed his brow as if his energy was being drained and turned his gaze elsewhere. Hugo, seeing that he seemed to be reluctantly held back but still had room for conversation, added as he looked at him.
“I’ve said it before, Leonardo, it’s not that I don’t trust you.”
“…….”
“I want you to know that.”
A moment of silence flowed at Hugo’s words. But when Leonardo didn’t react, Hugo continued to speak.
“I trust you, but if your unstable control caused a problem, you could have been in trouble. That’s why I wanted to keep an eye on you to prevent such a situation. So―.”
“I know.”
Hugo paused for a moment at the unexpected and sudden answer. After a brief silence, Leonardo, who had been staring elsewhere, slowly turned his head. He seemed to have lost some of his momentum.
“I know that.”
“…….”
“I know you were worried about my position. I know, but―. You said you’d try to trust me, and I trusted you too. And when you tested me, I realized then that what I trusted was bigger than what you said you’d trust.”
Hugo listened quietly to Leonardo’s words. Leonardo lowered his eyes for a moment to organize his thoughts before opening his mouth.
“I thought that if I said I could prevent the danger even if my ability was unstable, you would believe me. Because I was really confident until then. That even if my control was a little unstable, I wouldn’t hurt anyone. That even if someone got caught up in it, I could prevent the danger.”
“…….”
“I know I’m strong, and I know my abilities. So I didn’t really care that much before. But you made me care.”
Hugo narrowed his eyes as if trying to understand what he meant. Leonardo raised his head, but continued to speak, his gaze fixed on the thick smoke rising in the distance rather than the person standing in front of him.
“When I heard about the responsibility you had to bear, it looked really heavy. So I started to worry then. That my damn unstable control would hurt someone and make your responsibility heavier, that’s why I worried.”
Hugo looked at him with a slightly surprised and puzzled expression. He always said things he never expected, but. He didn’t know that he was taking his trust and responsibility so seriously.
Leonardo, who had been staring into the distance, slowly shifted his gaze to Hugo’s blue eyes. Their eyes met.
“I know I wasn’t trustworthy enough for you. And I know I was just overinterpreting that trust on my own. You’re a legion commander, so I guess you can’t trust me as much as I expected. I knew that, so I just shut up. I know, but, I had to trust my abilities even if my control was unstable. You know why?”
Leonardo furrowed his brow.
“You didn’t come then.”
Hugo paused at his words. The ‘then’ that Leonardo was talking about seemed to be the time when he met the Dermokas and was late. Hugo, retracing the situation at the time, called out his name as if sighing as he looked at his deeply furrowed face.
“…Leonardo.”
“The 1st Battalion guys went into the water and didn’t come out. But you went far away and didn’t even show your face. So I had to believe again that I could save those guys, that I could keep them from getting hurt.”
Leonardo bit his lip for a moment as his emotions gradually intensified, then opened his mouth again.
“I doubted and doubted my abilities until right before I went into the water, and then I finally pulled myself together and jumped in and fought. I tried not to hurt anyone even though my control was unstable, and I fought while struggling like a dog. But you tested me and didn’t believe my words that I could have stopped it.”
“…….”
“Damn it…. But, do you know what the most fucked up thing is, besides all that?”
“…….”
“I doubted my abilities because of you, and I jumped into the water and fought because you were late. But you were thinking about testing me, and even in the midst of all that, I kept―!”
Leonardo stopped speaking, as if he was too agitated. His eyelashes, which were fluttering with anger as he frowned and squeezed his eyes shut, trembled.
“Haa….”
Finally, a deep and heavy breath was exhaled from his lips. Leonardo lowered his head to control his emotions, then lifted it up again with difficulty. His face, reflected in Hugo’s eyes, looked more difficult than ever.
Instead of a sharp look, Leonardo stared at Hugo with a pitiful expression. Then, he took out his true feelings, which he never wanted to reveal.
“I was, waiting for you to come quickly.”
Hugo’s eyes widened.
He seemed to be confused for a moment as he tried to understand what he had just heard. He didn’t know whether to understand it with his head or with his heart, and he couldn’t think of anything as if he was broken.
Hugo couldn’t say anything as he faced the wounded golden eyes looking at him.
The blue eyes, which had been scanning the slightly trembling breaths and the furrowed but still beautiful brows, and the lips that had been bitten several times and had become even redder, slowly rippled.
At the same time, the hand holding his arm slightly loosened, sliding down and touching Leonardo’s hand.
A cool, large hand gently grabbed the warmth that had entered it. The gaze that had slid down with it stopped at the end. Behind the lips that were about to say something but then closed, the Adam’s apple in his thick neck moved slightly.
Hugo looked at Leonardo’s face again.
He couldn’t say anything.