Bermuda

As the sudden offer was thrust at him, Leonardo subtly leaned back. Although the distance between the chairs wasn't that narrow, the face that suddenly approached was closer than he expected.

Looking at the other with a not-so-friendly gaze, the adjutant hesitated but still held out the water bottle with a concerned expression. His impression was neat yet quite gentle, so instead of ignoring him, Leonardo glanced down at the water bottle in his hand.

He didn't particularly like drinking from something a stranger had been drinking from, but the other was quite friendly, and his condition wasn't good enough to refuse.

It seemed he needed to drink something to suppress the nausea somehow. Leonardo nodded, meaning he would take it. The adjutant, as if he had been waiting for this, opened the cap and placed the water bottle in his hand.

Just then, Flynn, who had been writing separate meeting minutes to deliver to Hugo, heard the whispering from the seat next to him and turned his head in that direction.

In his view, he saw Leonardo wiping his mouth, and the adjutant taking back the half-empty water bottle.

Leonardo, his expression slightly softened from its previous rigidity, whispered back to the adjutant on his right just as quietly:

"Thanks."

The adjutant smiled very kindly, as if he had been greatly moved by Leonardo's words. Then he leaned in and whispered familiarly, "Let me know if you need anything else."

Flynn, who had been watching the two, tilted his head with a newly puzzled expression.

'What's this?'

Knowing that Leonardo allowed very few people close to him within the Council, Flynn stretched his neck and peered at the neighboring seats, trying to grasp the situation.

At the same time, he briefly considered whether he should intervene in their conversation. This was because he knew that the Commander's instruction to "take care" meant he should 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 caught his eye and called him over, then asked in a lowered voice:

"Did something happen?"

Leonardo glanced at him and shook his head as if it were nothing. Yet he took a deep breath to steady his unsettled stomach and roughly ran his hand through his hair.

To Flynn's eyes, Leonardo's behavior seemed to subtly indicate discomfort with this place.

"If you're not feeling well, do you want to go back first? I can take you."

"No, I want to stay here."

Leonardo shook his head again and answered as if he were fine. His response was so adamant that Flynn nodded reflexively. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

His attentive gaze scrutinized Leonardo to the end, but as there didn't seem to be any outward problem, he decided to let it go for now. Soon after, he turned his attention back to the briefing to catch up on the content he had missed. But the moment he faced forward and gripped his pen, Flynn felt a chilly current and turned his eyes to the head seat.

'Gasp.'

He inhaled silently, startled. He didn't know since when, but the Commander had been watching this direction.

More precisely, he seemed to be looking at the two people beside Flynn, and there was a certain coldness in his emotionless, dry gaze.

Although he tried to hide it, Flynn, who had observed him for a long time, felt that something had bothered him enough to distract him during the meeting. Wondering if he had upset him by carelessly overlooking the instructions, Flynn rolled his eyes nervously, watching Hugo's expression.

And just then, Leonardo, feeling the same current, turned his head towards the head seat. Two clear gazes met in mid-air, cutting across the crowd.

"...so, there's not much time left for the temporary portal we set up on the passage two days ago. Some areas are expected to lose connection as early as tonight, so action is needed. After discussing this {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} with the person in charge of the support troops coming over tomorrow, they sent an opinion that it would be better to send an advance party first and have the rear party rejoin after reorganizing the portal. What do you think about this?"

By now, the meeting's agenda had shifted to a different topic. A new commander who had taken the baton looked at the audience and asked for opinions.

More precisely, he had asked towards the head seat, but Bruno, who had been rummaging through documents with his head buried in them, quickly raised his head and answered.

"Hmm... regarding that agenda..."

Although it was a general meeting attended by most commanders, high-ranking commanders who were seriously injured were absent. Because of this, Bruno had been speaking on almost every agenda item today to keep the flow of the meeting uninterrupted.

Delua, feeling sorry for him trying to fill the gap, raised her hand and added:

"The subjugation itself is in its final stages now, and the most pressing issue at the moment is the transfer of the injured and the supply of medicines. Maintaining portal connections is essential for smooth passage and procurement of supplies, but we have almost no manpower left here for tomorrow's return preparations. Moreover, with all the gate portals under inspection, it would take a lot of time to go outside and maintain them directly. So wouldn't it be much more efficient to have the rear party reorganize, even if it's a bit delayed?"

As Delua summarized point by point, Bruno gave her a grateful look. Eventually, Bruno's gaze shifted to Hugo right beside him.

"Then, regarding this matter, should we leave it to the support troops..."

It was essentially passing on the decision-making power naturally, but Bruno had to trail off as soon as he saw Hugo's profile.

Hugo's gaze, resting his chin on his hand and staring at one spot, was fixed not on the platform in front or the summary paper, but on a corner of the seats where the adjutants were gathered.

And at the end of that gaze, golden hair and golden eyes that were recognizable even from afar shimmered.

Bruno, who had alternately looked at both ends of the crossed gazes, hid his bewilderment and struggled to conclude his sentence.

"...what do you think, Commander?"

Although he pretended to ask for an opinion, in reality, his tone suggested uncertainty about whether the Commander had properly heard the previous agenda.

Until then, Hugo was just staring at the other's golden eyes with a vague look that had unconsciously emerged.

'Is it a habit?'

Then, just as the commanders were starting to find the prolonged silence strange, he finally withdrew his fixed gaze and turned to Bruno, answering plainly:

"Let's do that."

It was a very natural answer, as if he had been listening from the beginning, but Bruno grew suspicious again. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed the Commander had been lost in thought for a moment, and he was at a loss for how to explain this again.

However, before Bruno could tactfully add an additional explanation, the commander on the platform quickly brought up the next agenda item. Because of this, Bruno's doubts fizzled out, and in the process of compiling the list of necessary supplies that followed, a heated discussion broke out among the commanders who had been quiet.

Thanks to this, the fact that Hugo had been distracted for a moment went completely unnoticed, except by a few people around him.

Afterwards, Hugo only added a word occasionally when the meeting atmosphere heated up, and showed a tendency to refrain from speaking and remain silent to listen to 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 natural for Leonardo, who had been stiffly frozen since meeting Hugo's eyes, to make an incredulous expression.

'What's this?'

Recalling Hugo's gaze from earlier, he grumbled inwardly, feeling quite annoyed.

'Is it like, "Stop messing around and focus on the meeting"?'

He had only whispered quietly so as not to disturb the meeting, but the other had sent a particularly sharp gaze, as if the sound had somehow carried all the way over there.

That gaze had clearly revealed displeasure, so it certainly wasn't a look with good intentions.

Recalling the cold face, as if giving a warning, Leonardo sneered, feeling a wave of disappointment.

Although pretending otherwise, the other was clearly drawing a line with him. If he knew the reason, he wouldn't feel so wronged. He couldn't grasp at all why the other was acting this way.

Leonardo crossed his arms and glared at Hugo's profile from afar. Soon, he turned his head away with an irritated expression.

Meanwhile, feeling the burning gaze withdraw, Hugo looked again towards where Leonardo was at just the right moment. Then, after observing him looking upset, he sighed softly and rubbed his eyes.

'This isn't the time for this...'

It was a very important meeting summarizing the final situation on the peninsula. But even though his ears were listening, his consciousness was elsewhere, making his concentration shamefully poor when he should have been giving it his best.

Hugo reproached himself for his incomprehensible behavior. Nevertheless, his heightened nerves refused to detach from Leonardo.