Kenis couldn’t bring himself to answer honestly about how much he had overheard. That sharp gaze would cut into him even more painfully if he admitted he had caught most of it.
But even without a reply, Leonardo could tell from Kenis’s hesitant expression that he had heard quite a lot.
He stared at him coldly, his eyes growing fiercer by the moment. In contrast, Alec didn’t seem to care in the slightest—his eyes gleamed as if he had found a new test subject while observing Kenis. With those two contrasting gazes pressing down on him, Kenis grew even more uneasy.
“Ha...”
After glaring at him for a long while, Leonardo finally let out a heavy sigh and turned away, running a hand through his hair. His thoughts were tangled, and he bit down on his lip. He had let his guard slip far too much.
Right, there’s no way he’d be in the 1st Battalion for nothing.
Come to think of it, when Alec Siles first mentioned making a deal, Kenis—who had been packing his luggage—suddenly approached and asked when they were leaving. Leonardo now wondered if it had been because he had overheard everything, stepping in to mediate.
Did that mean he also knew about Nero’s ring and the etaide? Would he need to forge another contract to silence him? But even if that scholar was one thing, could he drag this fellow into such a dangerous pact?
Sending Kenis back was a problem, but so was taking him along. He had no idea how much the man knew, and he was completely at a loss about what to do next.
I was only thinking of Nero, that scholar, and Agrizendro. I acted too hastily. I should have moved more carefully, considering every possibility...
Leonardo felt fatigue wash over him. He rubbed his face with both hands, then clutched his hair as if to tear it out, staring blankly into the thick forest.
Seeing how anxious he looked, Kenis quickly stepped forward. As he entered Leonardo’s line of sight, Leonardo lowered the hand gripping his hair and glared at him with furrowed brows.
Kenis flinched at the expression but soon summoned his courage, edging closer as he opened his mouth carefully.
“I—I really won’t say anything if I go back. I’ll just tell them I got lost.”
Leonardo only looked at him in silence. Growing more desperate at his lack of response, Kenis hurriedly added,
“That... I don’t fully understand, but you’re being threatened by the scholar, right? Right? You have somewhere you need to go together, and you were planning to return to the procession as soon as it was done. You’re not trying to run away.”
At his words—spoken with effort to show he understood—Alec suddenly interjected with wounded indignation.
“Why am I dragged into this? I’m the one who’s been threatened more—”
“I know you’re a good person, Mr. Blaine. I also know there must be unavoidable reasons why you can’t go back. I... I don’t know if I can help, but I’ll at least try not to be a burden.”
Kenis poured out his sincerity toward Leonardo, pretending not to hear Alec at all. Alec, relegated to the background, still kept his bright smile but muttered in irritation, “Huh... he’s not even listening to me now.”
Kenis’s trembling hands reached out and clasped Leonardo’s tightly. His eyes, glistening with moisture, were full of earnestness.
“So don’t leave me behind. Please take me with you. And let’s go back together when it’s all over.”
“...”
Leonardo’s lashes trembled. The choked voice told him those words were genuine.
A breeze stirred through the dense forest. The fresh sound of grass and leaves brushing together reached his ears, tousling his hair as it passed. It disrupted his guarded thoughts, if only slightly.
Those reddened eyes, rubbed raw, and that clumsy but heartfelt way of speaking shook his already troubled heart. It couldn’t be an act—but how could someone he had barely known say all that?
Don’t leave me behind.
Even though this was a time when he needed to be colder than ever for the sake of his own future, damn it, those puppy-like words, that gaze, those hands gripping him—they blocked his judgment once again.
And those words, pleading to hold on, happened to echo the very ones he himself had spoken long ago.
Kenis stood tense, as if bracing for rejection. His earnest eyes clung to him, begging not to be let go. It would be a lie to say Leonardo’s heart didn’t soften at the sight.
He lowered his gaze with a small sigh. Then, lifting his head again with calmer eyes, he asked,
“Why go that far?”
“...Pardon?”
Kenis blinked, confused. Leonardo pressed once more.
“If you’re caught with me, it’s a violation of regulations. A long absence from the procession, harboring a fugitive, aiding escape—each one is grounds for punishment. So why insist on coming with me despite that? You don’t even fully understand why I’m doing this, do you?”
Even as a rookie, he had to know the consequences of helping someone treated as nearly a criminal—someone who might become one if he didn’t return to the procession.
Why would he beg so earnestly to follow, without knowing what would happen or even the reasons behind it? Yet Kenis’s reply was so simple that Leonardo’s tangled thoughts felt absurd.
“You saved me...”
His wet eyes blinked as he spoke without hesitation. Leonardo looked stunned.
But only for a moment. He soon let out a hollow laugh. Kenis had said it as if it were obvious.
Such a simple answer—it made him wonder if Kenis lacked sense. But thanks to that, all doubts about whether he could trust him vanished.
The hollow laugh softened into a faint smile. Relaxing his tense bearing, Leonardo said,
“That’s right. I saved you twice.”
Sensing his mood shift, Kenis quickly tried to give more reasons to be taken along.
“Yes, yes, exactly. Since you saved me, I want 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, though the last part wasn’t exactly reassuring, and Leonardo’s expression twisted slightly.
“Hey, if someone heard that, it’d sound like I’m making you do terrible things.”
“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant...”
Kenis looked embarrassed and mumbled, but the sight was so like him that Leonardo chuckled.
As his pretty eyes curved into a smile, Kenis, who had been gauging his reaction, cautiously relaxed as [N O V E L I G H T] well. He even mirrored him with a faint smile of his own. Somewhere in the background, the scholar muttered a sarcastic “how nice,” but Kenis paid it no mind.
Clearing his throat, Leonardo gently pulled his hand free, withdrawing his smile. Looking Kenis squarely in the eye, he asked in a serious tone,
“You said you’d be good to me, didn’t you?”
Kenis nodded hard.
“Yes.”
His eyes shone as he answered without hesitation. Leonardo gazed quietly at those clear, unclouded eyes. Nero no longer lingered there—only Kenis himself.
Leonardo slowly raised a hand to wipe the tears from them. The warm touch startled Kenis, but he didn’t pull away. If anything, his heart raced, his expression bright with happiness and even awe.
Lowering his hand, Leonardo stared at him blankly. After a small sigh, he bowed his head in silence. Then, as though reaching a decision, he set a hand on Kenis’s shoulder and met his gaze again. Quietly, he said,
“Make sure you keep that promise.”
