“Be careful climbing up.”

Gripping the sharp decorative spike, Leonardo bent forward and reached his hand down. Hugo, who stood several steps below him, glanced over the view behind his back with a slightly troubled look. Night had already fallen across the city, and countless lights stitched patterns across the darkened ground. The multicolored glitter created a mood entirely different from daytime.

It seemed the entire schedule at the Third Main Arena had ended; the Council control lines that had blocked the streets were long gone. Instead, colorful lights, restaurants, and market stalls now decorated the outer walls of the arena in dazzling fashion. With the full festival atmosphere beginning to bloom, the streets held far more people than usual.

At the center of that loud bustle, not a single person would guess that the figure climbing the clock tower railing in polished shoes was a duke of the Empire. After taking in the distant scenery for a moment, Hugo shifted his gaze and looked up toward the roof of the tower.

There he saw a golden-eyed thief cat grinning as if this sort of thing were completely familiar. The cold night air swept seductively through the curling blond hair. What on earth am I doing? The thought almost made him laugh aloud, yet Hugo, captivated despite himself, firmly grabbed the offered hand.

The moment their palms locked together, the heavier body was pulled upward in a single motion. Hugo planted his foot on a protruding ornament, added momentum, and sprang lightly upward. His unbuttoned jacket flared briefly in the air before he landed beside Leonardo, drawn in by the grip on his hand.

When he gained his balance atop the roof, the cool wind scattered his dark blue hair in fine strands. Beneath his feet spread a vast world like a universe unfurling in silence. Hugo drew a short breath as he looked over the open dark-blue panorama. A strange exhilaration filled his chest.

“How is it? Much better view, right?”

Leonardo asked in a proud tone, as if he had just discovered a perfect lookout spot. Before Hugo could even answer, he took Hugo’s hand again and pulled him farther upward. The two climbed to the peak of the trumpet-shaped roof and approached the sharp finial jutting up like a lightning rod.

Gripping the finial, Leonardo looked around for a place to sit and then dropped down first onto the ridge of the roof.

“You should sit too. If a giant like you stands at the top of a tower, you’re surprisingly easy to spot even in the middle of the night.”

Then he patted the spot beside him with his palm.

Hugo gazed silently at him for a moment, then slowly bent his upper body and sat down beside Leonardo.

The top of the roof was so narrow they could not sit side by side facing the same direction. Still, they could sit close enough for their arms to touch, sharing the same small space and the warmth between them. If Hugo’s subordinates or the attendants at the villa saw this, they would probably run over in horror.

The dried rain and clinging dust would certainly dirty the pristine white uniform trousers, but Hugo surrendered himself to the small act of rebellion Leonardo offered. He loosened the tightly knotted tie at his throat.

“I knew you liked high places... but it seems you’ve climbed up quite often.”

“Well, it’s basic training for missions.”

The casual answer was enough to draw Hugo’s eyes sideways.

Even in the middle of the night, the golden eyes were bright like a beast’s iris, glowing vividly in the moonlight. The faint excitement lingering there and the raised corner of Leonardo’s mouth revealed plainly how exhilarated he was.

Apparently he believed that since the chance to ask questions had already been used up, he no longer had any obligation to answer anything. Unlike earlier, when he had been overly cautious, now he seemed willing to say whatever he felt like.

Even knowing that a single offhand remark from him would send the other person’s imagination racing in all directions.

It was good that the atmosphere had loosened, but Hugo lightly tapped Leonardo’s cheek with the back of his hand in faint reproach. The golden eyes rolled toward him at the touch. As if nothing had happened, the blue eyes turned forward again toward the world below.

Leonardo followed the neat line of Hugo’s profile for a moment, then also turned his head forward again.

Knowing Hugo’s attention was still on him, Hugo asked casually into the air,

“Do all members of AmSilver enjoy looking down from high places?”

Mentioning that name was quite a gamble. He did not expect an answer. He only hoped Leonardo would not pull away.

Yet after several seconds of silence, an unexpected reply came.

“Not all of them, but it’s the easiest way to find a target. Of course, it also makes you an easy target.”

“...And it’s fine to tell me a secret like that?”

“If it’s common knowledge, it’s not really a secret.”

The exchange was brief, but Hugo recognized that Leonardo had given him quite a few hints within it.

So this much is acceptable.

The mention of being targeted briefly reminded him of the carriage incident at Pentagov, but he immediately pushed the thought aside. He did not want unnecessary worries intruding on this moment.

“I see. Common knowledge.”

Leonardo had insisted they watch the festival fireworks together. Pretending he had been reluctantly dragged along, Hugo followed him here. He knew perfectly well that chaos must already be breaking out among both his legion and the ducal household at the unexplained disappearance of their commanders so late in the evening. But for now, he chose to ignore worries that were not immediately visible.

If it meant hearing small fragments of Leonardo’s life like this, then even the inevitable scolding afterward would be bearable.

Blue eyes flicked down briefly to the wristwatch on his hand.

The time was exactly 8:00 p.m., two minutes before the hour.

There were about two minutes left until the fireworks event Leonardo had been eagerly anticipating.

Hugo murmured honestly,

“I thought I had stood in quite a few high places in my life. But now it seems that wasn’t true at all.”

“Hm?”

“As a duke, the highest place I was allowed to stand was the railing beneath this roof. But now I’ve learned you can look down from even higher...”

He spoke calmly, as if reflecting on something newly realized. Watching him from the corner of his eye, Leonardo blinked quietly. He glanced at Hugo’s ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) watch and then lifted his eyelids again.

“A duke should stay down there. It’s less dangerous. The roof protects you.”

“Then am I in considerable danger right now?”

“It’s fine right now. I’m here.”

Hugo’s gaze slid sideways. Their eyes met in midair, tangled together as if pulled by gravity. Leonardo studied Hugo’s reaction quietly before speaking again.

“There’s no one around here worth targeting you. If there were, I wouldn’t have suggested we climb up here.”

His tone was confident.

And so certain that it was difficult not to believe.

Seeing that proud expression, Hugo’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“How do you know that?”

“If you’ve ever aimed at someone before, you learn to notice when you’re being aimed at too.”

The golden eyes swept the surroundings once without real focus.

“I’ve gotten a little careless lately... but killing intent is something I notice right away.”

So don’t worry.

The words followed in an offhand murmur with a faint smile.

Sometimes Leonardo became unexpectedly flustered in front of him, sometimes he acted adorably while hiding embarrassment, but Leonardo Blaine had once been the squad leader of AmSilver, the Imperial Army’s special elite unit, and a war hero acknowledged across the Empire.

Hugo sometimes forgot that utterly obvious fact.

And each time he remembered it again afterward, he fell into an indescribable sense of dissonance.

He was far too young to have accomplished such overwhelming feats, too incapable of cold cruelty to easily harm others, and so righteous and beautiful that Hugo had once wished he might live an entirely different life.

Why such a dangerous and captivating person had given a corner of his heart to Hugo was something Hugo still wondered about.

Especially when Hugo himself had been the one who dragged him back into the world.

During Leonardo’s imprisonment on the Peninsula and under the Council, Hugo had been the only person Leonardo could rely on, so perhaps that explained it then.

But now... that was no longer the case.

Why is he especially kind to me? That day, and earlier too.

There had been a time when Hugo believed Leonardo’s affection was nothing more than an emotional distortion forced by desperation at the edge of a cliff.

He had once told himself that he too had only wavered briefly because he was moved by that fragile and pure heart.

Of course, that line had long since been crossed.

But a duke was not someone allowed to grab whatever appeared in front of him without thought.

The same applied now.

This clock tower was a secret meeting place Hugo had chosen to give Leonardo some peace—someone who loved the world but disliked the scrutiny of others.

Yet here Leonardo was speaking as though he were the one protecting Hugo.

That vigilance combined with such unwavering sincerity toward him—Hugo simply could not understand it.

And yet...

Could any man truly remain unmoved hearing those words?

Leonardo’s eyes pretended not to notice Hugo’s persistent gaze, and that very avoidance was strangely provocative. The long lashes decorating the shape of his eyes fluttered as if inviting attention. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Sometimes Hugo wondered if it might not be so bad to hide this beautiful face away from the world forever.

Of course, that was not the thought of a Legion Commander or a duke.

Only that of a man.

A large hand came to rest behind Leonardo’s back.

The broad shoulders slowly leaned closer.

Drawn as though toward eyes that seemed to hold starlight, Hugo’s lips moved toward them.

Then abruptly changed direction and lowered.

Beyond the shadows of their overlapping silhouettes, a blue flash shot upward and scattered golden afterglow across the darkness.