Chapter 154

A brief silence followed the sudden words.

"...?"

Leonardo's brow furrowed as if he had heard something strange.

Hugo, who had been blankly staring at his face, suddenly approached him by about three steps, thinking of something that had abruptly come to mind. Then, he naturally sat next to him, supporting himself with his hand on the ground.

It had been a while since he had sat on the bare ground without anything underneath, and if this place hadn't been the peninsula, all sorts of attendants would have come running, astonished.

Sitting back on his hands and looking up at the sky, it seemed unusually higher, which wasn't too bad. It also seemed like the guy's neck sitting next to him would hurt less.

The question mark not disappearing from his widened eyes was also quite a sight to see.

"Why... are you sitting here?"

"...Why, is it not allowed?"

"No, it's not that..."

'Why are you sitting right next to me, that's what it is.'

Although he swallowed the rest of his words, his face was full of discomfort. As if reading Leonardo's mind, Hugo leaned his upper body, which had been tilted back, slightly forward and said,

"It's better to be closer for talking. I think it would be more comfortable for you too, rather than looking up."

A stream of water that had sprung from his palm enveloped his entire large hand and rippled. The clean stream of water stole away the dirt that had gotten on it from touching the ground and disappeared without leaving a single drop of water.

Leonardo silently watched that sight, blinked his eyes a couple of times, and then slowly lifted his eyelids again. He felt uneasy about what he was going to talk about, wondering if a difficult question like before would come out. In the meantime, the excessively close distance was just right for his expression to be read.

"What do you want to talk about?"

His voice was lower in tone than a little while ago. His eyes shone softly as if searching for something. The tip of his fingers in his pocket brushed against Alec's note and Nero's bumpy ring. He hoped it wasn't about that.

"Well... this and that. Since it seems like we'll be busy soon, there are things I want to say before that."

As he spoke, Hugo turned his head to the front. At the end of his gaze, a huge mountain range towered so high that its end was not visible.

In fact, whether it was the illegal mining team or the insider, the truth of the words was not something that could be judged and decided upon right now. Therefore, Hugo, who had been looking into the distance, pushed the thoughts about what he couldn't immediately find an answer to into a corner of his mind.

On this peninsula, where the issue of survival today and tomorrow was more urgent than abiding by the law, the previous concerns were not so important in a way.

The most important thing to consider now was "that existence" that might be over there.

Hugo planned to go in directly with the battalion commanders within three days at the latest to confirm the existence inside. This was because, at the meeting earlier, the opinion was raised that "that" was most likely the cause of the powerful wave that had occurred during the day.

'As a result of analyzing the location of the wave that occurred about five hours ago, the first shockwave originated from the area of Peak No. 112 to Peak No. 119, which are lined up to the due south from the current location, and among them, Peak No. 118 seems to be the most likely epicenter. We tried to enter the interior 10 minutes after the wave occurred to determine the cause, but we temporarily withdrew due to the occurrence of additional shockwaves and the appearance of numerous Ilaptors.'

'We installed an energy detector near Peak No. 118 and analyzed the data collected in real-time, but the value went up and down in response to an unknown force and then went dead. This phenomenon usually occurs when the limit that the device can detect is far exceeded...'

Far exceeding the limit that the device can detect. That alone was enough to predict that it was a being of a different dimension from the monsters they had seen so far. So tonight was like the calm before the storm.

Once today passed, he didn't know when he would be able to face this tranquility again. Hugo, who had been staring at the foot of the mountain where darkness had fallen, turned his eyes slightly to the side.

For some reason, he felt like he had to say the things he had been putting off due to various situations now. That was the reason he had asked to come out together in the first place.

After pondering a few times, Hugo made up his mind and slowly opened his mouth.

"Leonardo, is it very difficult for you to be here?"

Leonardo, who had been looking at the high mountain range following his gaze, turned his head at the sudden question.

"What?"

His elegant eyebrows rose as if he had heard something strange again.

Looking at him like that, Hugo recalled the moment when he had set foot in this base camp with him.

His appearance, which had looked particularly tired in front of others' gazes, was delicate and sharp like a piece of broken glass, as if his inner self was fully exposed. Not the outer appearance he had been packaging as if it was nothing, but his true inner self that came out when he had no room to care about anything.

Leonardo's eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of Hugo, who had thrown out a question with no apparent reason and was quietly waiting for an answer. After assessing the situation for a moment, he soon asked back in a noticeably colder voice.

"You only realized that now?"

That one sentence made him feel a stinging pain, as if the thorn of resentment was strongly piercing him. Because of that, a bitter smile hung on Hugo's lips.

"No, I knew."

"Then why are you suddenly asking?"

As the cold gaze and tone continued, Hugo lowered his gaze slightly. Then, he soon turned his eyes to the void of the base camp and said,

"I wanted to tell you to endure a little longer. A lot happened while you were gone."

Leonardo's head tilted slightly to the side with furrowed brows. It was because he couldn't grasp the intention behind the words. Not noticing it as he was looking elsewhere, Hugo quietly stared at the members moving busily. After briefly organizing the words he wanted to say, he soon slowly opened his mouth.

"In the past few days, new possibilities and purposes have arisen for us. The Council's expedition team has discovered many truths hidden on this peninsula, and those truths have led to new hypotheses that didn't exist before. Thanks to that, the direction we should take has become clearer. ...Perhaps, we may be able to greatly shorten the time that will be required in the future."

The gaze that had been lingering turned back to the golden eyes.

"It means that our subjugation won't last much longer."

The long eyelashes surrounding the pupils trembled and slowly parted up and down. It was a reaction as if he had heard the words he had been waiting for.

Hugo, who had been silently staring at that sight for a moment, gently brushed aside the golden hair that had grown long enough to prick the corners of his eyes with his fingertips and said,

"It must be very difficult for you to be here. I fully understand. Even for me, if I were in the same situation as you, receiving the gazes of uncomfortable people and having to continue an unavoidable companionship, and if I had to fight for them... Regardless of the circumstances before and after, that moment would be unbearably unpleasant. I would just wish for everything to end quickly."

"..."

"...I'm sorry for being an incompetent and immature adult who brought you here and can't even properly protect you in such a situation."

Leonardo's eyebrows moved slightly. It was because he was a bit surprised and felt unfamiliar with his words, trying to understand his situation and lowering himself.

The brushed aside golden hair slid down again. Hugo tried to brush it aside again, but this time, his hand was withdrawn in the air without touching it. It was because he thought it would be contradictory to what he was about to say.

"I know that I play a big part in that uncomfortable situation. I also know that my actions and judgment betrayed your trust before."

"..."

"You must have hated me, disliked me, and despised me."

The red lips that had been silent moved a little. It seemed like he had something to say, but Hugo felt strangely afraid of the words that would come out of that mouth. So, instead of waiting for those words, he grabbed his hand that had somehow slipped out of his pocket and hastily added,

"But Leonardo... I won't say it's for your sake this time. It may sound shameless, but I have a favor to ask."

Leonardo, who had lowered his gaze at the sensation of his hand being enveloped, raised his head again at the word favor.

The large hand firmly grasped his hand. What he felt from that strength was desperation.

"Trust me and endure it a little longer. And please, don't go anywhere and stay by my side until this subjugation, which won't last much longer, is over. So that I can take responsibility for you until the end."

The blue eyes he faced appealed calmly.

"So that I can let you go."

The air around them felt quite heavy due to his story that had suddenly set the mood.

Although his eyes were calm, the words he conveyed didn't come across as calmly, so Leonardo just stared at him for a while without answering.

"..."

Stay by his side so that he can let him go?

It was very paradoxical. In many ways.

The confusion it caused was quite significant, and it made him think a lot.

It was ironic that an adult who was bigger and stronger than him in many ways called himself lacking and asked for what he had taken for granted.

However, thanks to that, he could vaguely guess the reason why he hadn't asked about his whereabouts in detail.

'This person thinks I didn't come back because of him.'

The man in front of his eyes seemed to know that he had escaped from the collapse site and had been hiding without returning on purpose. He had even intentionally drawn attention and ran away after being caught, but he didn't ask the reason.

While he was relieved by that, on the other hand, it was also bothering him. Now that he looked at it, this person seemed to think that he, whose feelings had been hurt by the incident where he had tested his control instability before, had not returned because he hated and disliked him.

He also seemed to have decided to understand his deviation, which seemed to stem from such resentment, and thus did not ask.

Of course, he couldn't say that he didn't have such feelings at all... But honestly, if asked whether it played a big part, it wasn't. While thinking that he was misunderstanding something, he suddenly remembered the words he had heard on the way back to this base camp together.

'It's largely my responsibility for not being able to hold onto you properly in the first place, which led to you being separated from the procession.'

He also remembered his contradictory heart that had wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault at the time, even though he had hoped for him to blame himself.

It was clear that he was the one who had let go of his hand, but he was suffering from unnecessary responsibility, which was unlike his usual cool-headed self, and he had an unwise side. The fact that he had such a tiring mindset was similar to him, making it hard to turn a blind eye.

Uneven warmth was transmitted through the held hand. It seemed that the subtle mana felt was deliberately keeping the originally cold hand warm, but unlike his usual composure, the warmth fluctuated somewhat clumsily. However, because of that, he could newly realize that this warmth he had felt before was his consideration.

Leonardo closed his eyes tightly. Then, he repeated the paradox he had spoken.

Not wanting to make the atmosphere even heavier at a distance where his expression could be easily read, he soon opened his eyes and faced him with a nonchalant face. He wanted to answer just as calmly, but the words that came out were blunt, contrary to his intention.

"Do I look like I don't think?"

One of Hugo's eyebrows rose slightly. Leonardo lightly shook his hand, which was entangled in the large hand and unable to move, in front of his eyes and added,

"I was going to stay put even if you didn't ask. I told you. It's not that you caught me, but that I let myself be caught. That's why I'm staying still like this now."

Hugo's gaze lingered on the held hands for a moment. Seeing that it wasn't escaping, a faint smile hung on his lips as if it sounded like a definite answer that he would stay by his side.

However, the tightly intertwined hands were soon pushed aside by Leonardo. Instead, the shining golden eyes came even closer, abruptly bringing his face forward.

"But don't misunderstand."

Then, he spoke as if telling him to understand clearly.

"The reason I'm fighting here is for Lady Cordelia Hareth and the people of her territory who suffered because of the monsters, and because of the promise you made to me. Not for you and the Council."

It was a tone as if telling him to wake up from unnecessary thoughts. Hugo's lips, which had been slightly curved, found their place again. His eyes hardened a bit.

Facing that face, Leonardo straightened his upper body that he had brought forward. And after escaping from the entangled hands, he brushed his hair back along the wind blowing from afar.

"...When I was trapped in the Council's prison, you swore to me, even putting your name on the line. That if I participated in this subjugation and helped the Council, you would release me and never look for me again. Both then and now, the only thing I can hold onto and rely on is that one oath."

The soft eyes that had been wandering in the distant void, reminiscing about the past, touched Hugo once again.

"So I will trust you. No matter what you do."