Chapter 71

The deep bass resonated at the back of his head. Along with it, a chilling sensation flowed down his spine. Feeling as if his hair was standing on end, Leonardo's shoulders flinched greatly.

As he slowly turned his head while tightly gripping the cloth of the tent, Hugo, who had come at an unknown time, was looking down at him with a slightly tired and scary face.

Leonardo blinked his surprised eyes while moving his lips.

'What the... I didn't sense his presence at all?'

Although he had let his guard down, it was unbelievable that he hadn't noticed Hugo coming this close at all.

No, more than that, since when had he been awake?

"Uh, when did you wake up?"

"...Answer my question. Where are you trying to go?"

Leonardo swallowed nervously, worried that he might have been caught staring at Hugo's face. Moreover, even to his eyes that usually didn't get scared easily, Agrizendro's appearance, who seemed to be in a very bad mood after waking up, felt somehow a bit... scary.

Leonardo searched for a proper explanation and held up the crumpled cigarette pack to show him.

"Just for a smoke..."

Hugo briefly shifted his gaze to the crumpled cigarette pack with lowered eyes, then stared intently at the golden eyes looking up at him pleadingly as if gauging his reaction.

He stood there silently for a long time, then slowly blinked once and said,

"I'll go with you."

***

Hugo and Leonardo climbed up to a certain cliff located slightly higher than the cave where the base camp was.

Leonardo sat precariously on the edge of a protruding rock, holding a cigarette between his fingers and putting the filter in his mouth. Eventually, he lit the end, slowly turned to the side, and asked,

"You're not a smoker, so why did you follow me?"

Hugo was standing with his hands in the pockets of his combat pants at a position slightly distant from Leonardo but close enough for his voice to be heard. He had been gazing at the peak on the other side in the distance, and at Leonardo's question, he slowly turned his eyes towards him.

"To watch over you."

At the voice that was even colder than usual, Leonardo, who had been glancing at him from the corner of his eye, soon grumbled as if talking to himself.

"You could have just assigned someone else like before."

After saying that, he changed his posture, raising one knee and resting his arm holding the cigarette on it. Hugo looked at him for a moment, then turned his head back to the front. He didn't particularly respond.

Leonardo, who had been making eye contact with him, also thought he had just been ignored and looked ahead. He felt a little sorry because it seemed like Hugo had woken up because of him.

The sky of the peninsula was usually foggy and gloomy throughout the year, but apart from the large cloud hanging over the mountainside of the peak on the other side, the night sky of the peninsula today was quite clear. Leonardo exhaled the smoke in a long breath while gazing at the stars shining in the sky.

The wind was blowing from where Hugo was towards where Leonardo was, so the smoke didn't fly towards Hugo, but due to the not-so-distant proximity, Hugo could smell the scent of the cigarette.

There was a sense of familiarity in that hazy cigarette smoke. It was the same scent as the cigarette Andreas smoked, and he vaguely remembered Leonardo mentioning that he smoked the same thing as him in the interrogation room.

Shifting his gaze back to Leonardo, Hugo scanned his hair and side profile that sparkled under the moonlight.

The familiar composition suddenly reminded him of the day he first took Leonardo to the Council.

The image of him smoking on the terrace of the annex building. Overlapping with that afterimage, Leonardo's sharp jawline seemed to have become even more defined than back then.

'Did he lose some weight?'

Eventually, Hugo lowered his eyes slightly and focused his gaze on the black short-sleeved t-shirt Leonardo was wearing. Although it was commonly worn, seeing him wearing it even though he was no longer a soldier, it seemed he hadn't been able to break his old habits yet.

Leonardo's body was more toned and well-balanced than the average man, but he had a relatively slender physique. However, even considering that, the black t-shirt draped over his body somehow looked quite loose to be the one he originally wore.

And because of that, Hugo's gaze inevitably fell on his white and long neck exposed above the slightly stretched neckline. On that white neck, a black choker was fastened, clearly crossing below his slightly protruding Adam's apple.

He had only seen it briefly covered before, but this was the first time he was seeing it so blatantly. However, coincidentally, it didn't look out of place.

The black choker contrasted with his skin color, creating a somewhat decadent atmosphere, and it unexpectedly went quite well with his appearance as he smoked under the moonlight. If a stranger saw it, they might really think it was some kind of accessory.

Suddenly, Hugo recalled Flynn's words that Leonardo had brought up the topic of that thing first. He had contemplated several times before whether he could ask about it, so after a brief hesitation, Hugo casually called his name.

"Leonardo."

At the soft voice that reached his ears, Leonardo, who had been holding the cigarette in his mouth, removed his lips and turned his eyes towards him.

As the brilliant golden eyes turned towards him, Hugo opened his mouth slowly, as if being particularly cautious.

"There's something I want to ask you. May I?"

For a moment, Leonardo made a slightly puzzled expression. But soon, he chuckled and asked back,

"What's with the question of whether you can ask something you want to ask?"

"Because it seems like you wouldn't be very welcoming of it."

At Hugo's words, Leonardo rolled his eyes upward, gauging what that question might be. Then, he inhaled the smoke once and exhaled it briefly.

"I'll hear you out."

Thinking it was a positive response for him, Hugo gazed at him and calmly began to speak.

"That thing on your neck, did the military make you wear it?"

As soon as the question ended, a hot and humid wind blew between the two.

"..."

Until just a moment ago, Leonardo's face had been full of quite diverse expressions, but as soon as he heard Hugo's question, his expression froze. Then, after a while, even the remaining leisureliness slowly disappeared.

He stared at Hugo with that stiffened appearance for a while, then slightly curled up the corners of his mouth and opened his mouth again.

"A question I wouldn't welcome... You know well."

Feeling the discomfort clearly in his expression and words, Hugo thought he wouldn't get a proper answer. Hugo, who had slightly lowered his eyes, looked at him again and said,

"It seems it was a rude question. You don't have to answer."

Leonardo stared at him quietly, then turned his head back to the front. At the unfamiliar side profile of him holding the filter and inhaling the smoke deep into his lungs, Hugo also turned his head.

As the atmosphere turned a bit colder, Hugo lowered his gaze to the cliff below. He waited for the cigarette held between Leonardo's fingers to shorten like this.

A quiet silence passed, and only the faint cigarette scent let him know that Leonardo was still beside him. Hugo thought his question had been hasty. That thought then changed to uncertainty about whether he would be able to get an answer even later.

And at that moment, a very unexpected story came out of Leonardo's mouth that had been tightly closed.

"A dog they can't even touch for fear of being bitten, but they wanted to put a collar on it, claiming it as their own."

At the words he never expected, Hugo reflexively raised his head and turned his eyes towards him. Although Leonardo wasn't looking this way, his answer was definitely a response to the question from a moment ago.

Hugo narrowed his eyes and looked at Leonardo's side profile, trying to understand the meaning of his words.

His words seemed to imply that the military had put that on him to not let him go completely. Once he recognized it that way, although there was no change in his expression, Hugo unknowingly clenched his fists.

At that moment, Leonardo, who had been looking straight ahead, shifted his gaze to Hugo. Thin smoke scattered through his twitching lips.

"You're the first person to ask if you could ask, you know."

"..."

"So I'll tell you a secret."

Hugo slightly furrowed his brow and focused on his words.

Seeing his face, Leonardo smiled faintly and said,

"The military can't put something like this on me."