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Bermuda Chapter 129
🕑 Added 2024-06-01 10:30:23 +0000 UTCChapter 129
Kenis couldn't bring himself to answer honestly about how much he had heard. It seemed like that sharp gaze would pierce him even more painfully if he said he had heard most of the content.
However, even if he didn't answer deliberately, Leonardo could guess from Kenis's hesitating appearance that the other party had heard quite a bit.
He stared at Kenis coldly with increasingly fierce eyes. In contrast, Alec didn't seem to care much about such things, his eyes shining as if he had found a new test subject while looking at Kenis. As the two contrasting gazes touched him, Kenis was even more at a loss.
"Ha..."
After glaring at him for a long time, Leonardo let out a big sigh and turned around, brushing his hair up. His mind was complicated, so he bit his lip hard. He had let his guard down too much.
'Right, there's no way he would be in the 1st Battalion for nothing.'
Come to think of it, when Alec Siles first brought up the story of making a deal, Kenis, who had been packing his luggage, suddenly approached them, asking when they would leave, and Leonardo suddenly thought it was to mediate because he had heard the entire conversation.
Then did he also know about Nero's ring and etaide? Did he have to make another contract to silence him now? But even if that scholar guy was one thing, could he involve that fellow in such a dangerous contract?
Like this, it was a problem to send Kenis back, and a problem to take him along. He didn't know how much that fellow knew and was at a complete loss as to what to do in the future.
'I was thinking only about Nero, that scholar guy, and Agrizendro, so I acted too hastily. I should have been more careful and moved more cautiously, thinking about the possibilities...'
Leonardo felt a sudden surge of fatigue and wiped his face with his hands. Then, grabbing his hair as if he would tear it out, he blankly stared at the dense forest.
Seeing his considerably anxious appearance, Kenis hurriedly stepped in front of Leonardo. As Kenis entered his field of vision, Leonardo lowered his hand that had been grasping his hair and looked at him with his brow heavily furrowed.
Kenis flinched at his expression but soon mustered up courage and carefully opened his mouth, taking a step closer.
"I, I really won't say anything even if I go back. I'll tell them I just got lost."
Leonardo only stared at him without giving any answer. At his behavior, Kenis became even more impatient and hurriedly added,
"That... I don't fully understand, but you're being threatened by the scholar, right? Right? So you have somewhere to go together, and you were trying to return to the procession right away once your business was finished. You're not trying to run away."
At Kenis's words, trying his best to convey that he understood, Alec, who had been listening next to them, suddenly opened his mouth as if he had been wronged.
"Why am I mentioned there? And I'm the one who's been threatened more—."
"I know you're a good person, Mr. Blaine. I also know that there must be some unavoidable circumstances for not being able to return. I... I don't know if I can be of help, but I'll try not to be a burden at least."
Kenis spoke his sincerity to Leonardo once again, not even pretending to hear Alec's words. Thanks to that, Alec, who had become a folding screen, was still smiling brightly, but expressed his displeasure, saying, "Huh... he's not even listening to me now."
Two trembling hands approached and tightly grasped Leonardo's hand. The clear eyes with moisture looked quite earnest.
"So don't leave me behind. Please take me with you. And let's go back together when it's all over."
"..."
Leonardo's eyelashes quivered. Kenis's choked voice let him know that those words were sincere.
A wind blew through the dense forest. The refreshing sound of grass and leaves brushing against each other was heard, shaking Leonardo's hair as it passed by. Thanks to that, his vigilant gaze and thoughts were also slightly disrupted.
The reddened eyes from rubbing hard and the clumsy but sincere way of speaking shook his quite troubled heart. It couldn't be an act, but how could he say that much? That fellow whom he hadn't known for long.
'Don't leave me behind.'
Even though it was a time when he had to judge more coldly than ever for his own future well-being, damn it, those abandoned puppy-like words, gaze, and hands that arbitrarily grabbed him blocked his decision again.
Moreover, the words trying to hold onto him happened to be the same words he had said long ago.
Kenis looked very tense, as if he might hear words of rejection. His earnest gaze clung to everything, begging him not to let go. It would be a lie to say his heart didn't soften at that sight.
Leonardo lowered his gaze and let out a small sigh. Then, raising his head with much calmer eyes, he asked Kenis,
"Why would you go that far?"
"...Pardon?"
Kenis asked back as if he didn't understand the question. Then, Leonardo asked him once more,
"If you get caught going with me, it's a violation of regulations. Moreover, a long absence from the procession, harboring a fugitive, and aiding in escape are clear grounds for disciplinary action, but what's your reason for wanting to go with me despite that? You don't actually fully understand why I'm doing this, do you?"
No matter how much of a rookie he was, he should know what would happen to him if he helped someone who was being treated almost like a criminal here, someone who might become a real criminal if he didn't rejoin the procession like this.
He was curious about the reason why he was asking to take him along and go together so much, without even knowing how he would move in the future and what the reason was. However, Kenis's answer that followed was so simple that it made Leonardo's complicated thoughts seem ridiculous.
"You saved me..."
Blinking his wet eyes, he answered readily without any hesitation. Upon hearing that, Leonardo made a dumbfounded expression.
However, that was only for a moment, and he soon let out a hollow laugh. It was because Kenis had said it as if it was so obvious.
It was such a simple answer that it made him doubt whether Kenis lacked thought or understanding, but thanks to that, his worries about whether he could trust this fellow or not completely vanished.
The hollow laugh soon turned into a gentle smile. Leonardo said, relaxing his tense momentum,
"That's right. I saved you twice."
Realizing that his mood had changed, Kenis listed the reasons why Leonardo should take him along in order to accompany him somehow.
"Yes, yes, that's right. Since you saved me, I wanted to help you too. I'm good at smelling and hearing... And I'm also good at lying and making excuses. Really. You'll be surprised if you see?"
It was admirable, but the last part wasn't quite a positive thing, so Leonardo's face subtly crumpled as he listened.
"Hey, if someone hears that, it sounds like I'm making you do terribly bad things."
"Ah, no, that's not what I meant..."
Kenis made an embarrassed expression and mumbled. However, even that appearance was so like him that Leonardo soon ended up chuckling.
As his pretty eyes slightly curved and narrowed, Kenis's face, which had been gauging his reaction, also carefully relaxed. Eventually, he also followed Leonardo and hung a faint smile on the corner of his mouth. In the meantime, the scholar's sarcastic remark of "how nice" brushed past, but Kenis didn't pay much attention to it.
Leonardo cleared his throat and pulled out his hand that Kenis had been holding, then slightly withdrew the smile on his face. Then, looking into his eyes, he asked in a serious voice,
"You said you'd be good to me, right?"
At that, Kenis vigorously nodded his head.
"Yes."
As he answered right away, his eyes sparkling, Leonardo quietly stared at the spotlessly clear eyes. Nero was no longer visible in those eyes. Instead, Kenis himself was seen.
Leonardo slowly raised his hand and wiped Kenis's wet eyes. As the warm touch suddenly approached and gently wiped away his tears, Kenis was startled, but he didn't avoid that hand. Rather, his heart was pounding, and he had a face that was happy and even moved.
Leonardo lowered his hand and looked at him blankly. Afterwards, he let out a small sigh and silently bowed his head, then after a while, as if he had decided on his treatment, he placed his hand on Kenis's shoulder and met his gaze again. Then, he said quietly,
"Make sure to keep that promise."
Comments
Jesse Gibson
Right?! I’m glad I’m not the only person who felt that
Katsura Kureha
Right? It feels like "And I'm also good at lying and making excuses" is the truest thing he said.
Jesse Gibson
I…….. don’t know why but….. Kenis is a bit sus here. The whole innocent act is what feels wrong, like he’s tricking everyone. Hm.. maybe I’m just jaded but… the thought is there
