Bermuda [bl]

Hugo, who had to endure nagging throughout the holiday from the vassals at the meeting regarding the issue of compensation for the Imperial Capital's facility claims, took a rest that didn't feel like a rest and went to work at the Council again.

Worried about leaving that guy alone at the Council in his absence, he left the mansion earlier than usual and arrived at the Council's courtyard, which was relatively empty due to the early hour.

As he was heading straight to the Commander's office, he suddenly felt a large vibration from afar and rubbed his forehead, feeling tired from the morning. The fierce tremors and strong mana energy that resonated as if an earthquake had occurred seemed to make it clear whose doing it was even without looking.

Hugo immediately moved his steps and headed to the dedicated hospital established inside the Council. It was a place built for the purpose of treating injured members from missions, and it also served as a place for mana extraction and precise component analysis.

As far as Hugo knew, Leonardo's mana component analysis was scheduled for today, and judging by the strong vibrations emanating from that direction, the cause of the tremors felt now was definitely that guy.

It seemed that they were attempting to extract Leonardo's mana but were having difficulties.

Hugo entered the hospital, which was chaotic from the entrance. Medical personnel were seen running around busily from the morning. Among them, a medical officer who was running near the entrance spotted Hugo, widened his eyes, and hurriedly approached him as if seeing a savior.

"Loyalty! C-Commander, I think you should go quickly!"

"Loyalty. I came to check on Leonardo's condition, but it seems like something isn't going well."

"He's resisting too fiercely, so we can't lay a hand on him."

At that, Hugo narrowed his brows as if he had expected it and said,

"Let's go quickly."

"Please come this way!"

***

"The vibrations are too strong!"

"Increase the control more!"

"But if we increase it any further, the mana won't come out!"

The medical personnel, wearing full-body protective gear, were struggling while enduring the extreme mana emission.

The high-risk mana extraction room in the Council's internal dedicated hospital was in a state of chaos, to put it simply. Under the control of the armed members, the medical team tried to firmly tie down the resisting Leonardo Blaine and insert the mana extraction needle into his arm.

However, whenever they brought the needle close, he would almost have a seizure and draw out an enormous amount of mana, causing the needle to melt, making it impossible to extract the mana.

They were temporarily controlling his mana by attaching patches with effects similar to mana restraining stones to his body, but if they controlled it too strongly, even the mana that needed to be extracted wouldn't come out properly. And if they adjusted the intensity to be weaker for extraction again, his mana would explosively flow out, leaving them unable to do anything.

Thud-! Thud-!

Leonardo, with a gag in his mouth and his whole body tied up, twisted his body while glaring at those approaching him. His eyes were fierce, and veins were bulging on his neck and forehead. Whenever he moved, the specially made fixation bed he was tied to inside the extraction room and all the medical equipment shook together.

Hugo hurriedly headed to the extraction room where Leonardo was, along with the medical officer. As they got closer, the vibrations intensified, and the chaos inside could be clearly felt from the outside.

Following the officer's guidance, there were armed members gathered in front of the extraction room they approached, and looking inside the mess beyond them, the guy who was restrained was resisting with his whole body, emitting an uncontrollable power.

"Where does such strength even come from..."

Hugo spoke as if he was amazed and entered the inside. Then, the guy who had been struggling fiercely seemed to have sensed Hugo's mana, and his murderous eyes instantly shifted in that direction. The armed members around him also noticed Hugo and saluted, stepping back in all directions.

Hugo entered among them, intently looking down at Leonardo, who was lying on the bed and heavily panting, and said,

"Stay still, Leonardo. Before I knock you out."

At Hugo's words, he thrashed even more as if he was rebelling. As the impact caused the medical equipment placed beside him to shake once again, the medical team almost tearfully held onto the expensive equipment to prevent it from falling over.

As if he didn't know that the more he caused a disturbance, the more roughly he would be handled, Hugo's brows furrowed at the sight of him rampaging like a time bomb about to explode at any moment.

Hugo soon unbuttoned and rolled up his right sleeve, condensed the cold energy in that hand, and stared at the struggling Leonardo with cold eyes, saying,

"It seems I've been treating you too much like a gentleman."

Eventually, Hugo's large hand grabbed Leonardo's entire face with one hand and pressed down hard. Then, due to that force, Leonardo's neck was bent backward, and a loud sound was heard.

Bang-!

The cushion on the upper part of the bed where his head was located was completely depressed, and the iron part bearing the load was noticeably bent. As Leonardo seemed to have fainted from the momentary impact and became docile, Hugo ordered the medical staff beside him,

"Proceed with the extraction quickly."

"Y-Yes, yes!"

The medical staff, who had been frozen by the Commander's ruthless action that seemed like he wouldn't even bleed if pricked, hurriedly brought the extraction needle back to Leonardo's arm.

Then, Leonardo, who had quickly regained consciousness, strongly resisted while emitting heat from his whole body. Hugo climbed onto the bed, forcefully pressing down on Leonardo's head while closely pinning him down to prevent any movement.

Then, he strongly emitted a bone-chilling cold energy as if to swallow the heat the guy was emitting, making it overflow around them. As the hot and cold energies met, hazy steam billowed and filled the space between the two.

"Mmm, mmph!"

Even though he had a gag in his mouth, Leonardo tried to struggle while scratching his vocal cords as if screaming. Hugo suppressed him with force, and suddenly, through the fingers pressing down on the guy's small face, he met the trembling golden eyes.

Those eyes were glaring at him as if they would kill him, but Hugo could see a slightly different emotion lingering in those eyes compared to the guy's gaze he had seen so far.

'Is he afraid?'

Crash!

The moment he thought that for a very brief moment, as if mocking it, Leonardo's mana burst out, shattering all the glass windows around the extraction room.

As glass shards poured down, screams erupted from outside, and the medical staff who were bringing the needle closer staggered from the force. Hugo shouted strongly at them as they hesitated,

"Proceed quickly!"

"Y-Yes, yes! Understood!"

Taking advantage of the gap where the Commander's cold energy neutralized the fierce heat, the medical staff swiftly inserted the needle into Leonardo's arm. Feeling the creepy sensation of something entering his body, Leonardo immediately turned his eyes, and as soon as he saw the needle, his eyes shook violently.

The longer the long needle dug into his thin skin, the more intense his movements became. Hugo drew out even colder energy and warned him,

"If the needle melts inside your body, that in itself is dangerous. Stay still."

As the mana moved through the hose connected to the tip of the needle, the value displayed on the mana extraction equipment gradually began to rise.

Then, whether he understood Hugo's words or it was his own will, it was unknown, but Leonardo, who had been fiercely rampaging until now, surprisingly stopped struggling and tightly closed his eyes.

Hugo felt the sensation of his trembling eyelashes tickling between his fingers. The guy intermittently twitched and then went limp, lying powerlessly as if all his strength from a moment ago had disappeared.

At that, Hugo carefully removed his hand from his head, thinking he had understood his words. However, as soon as he removed his hand, Leonardo's eyes snapped open, and he tried to sit up again, making it impossible to let his guard down.

Suppressed again, Leonardo stared fiercely at Hugo while his eyelids trembled. Hugo also looked down at him from above with coldly sunken eyes.

Between the fiercely clashing gazes, unsteady breaths intertwined. Soon, the medical staff, confirming that the extraction gauge was almost full, shouted loudly for everyone to hear,

"97, 98, 99, 100. It's complete!"

"I'll remove the needle!"

Another medical staff on standby swiftly pulled out the needle and rubbed Leonardo's arm with a disinfectant cotton swab. At that moment, Leonardo's breathing became much more rapid than before. As his chest rose and fell irregularly and the interval of the vital sign sounds rapidly shortened, Hugo released the force he had applied to suppress him and also removed his hand from the head he had been gripping.

"Measurement complete. Commander, thank you so much for your help."

Listening to the medical staff's words of gratitude, Hugo slowly got off the bed. Leonardo had his eyes closed and was panting heavily with his brows deeply furrowed. Noticing his appearance and the quickened vital signs, Hugo asked the medical staff,

"Is this guy alright?"

"His pulse has quickened due to excitement, but it's not to the extent of abnormality. He's fine."

"Is that so? Good work, everyone."

Afterward, seeing the medical staff busily moving around to organize the interior, Hugo sighed. Thinking he had done his part, he tried to leave now, but the sight of Leonardo lying still bothered him, so he turned his head once more to check his complexion.

The guy's face had turned pale white, making his already fair skin look even more pallid, and seeing that, Hugo couldn't easily take his steps away.

With a troubled expression, Hugo carefully reached out his hand and untied the gag in his mouth. As Leonardo's saliva stretched out, he coughed as if expelling the breath he had been holding.

Immediately taking out a handkerchief from his inner pocket, Hugo wiped his sweaty forehead and wet mouth, saying,

"...Since your mana has been extracted, you'll lack energy for a while. They'll probably lock you up in prison for now in case you act out, but it'll be better than having your whole body tied up like this, so take a rest and have a meal for now."

At that, Leonardo, who had been keeping his eyes closed, opened them with difficulty, glared at Hugo, and spoke in a voice mixed with hatred,

"I'll kill you."

Even though he had become accustomed to his murderous words, Hugo simply let out a small sigh and replied,

"Yes, if you want to kill me, recover your strength first."

At Hugo's calm response, Leonardo's expression crumpled. With that as the last sight, Hugo turned his steps again and quickly left the extraction room.

As he went out into the hallway, he saw the hospital staff busy cleaning up the shattered glass fragments in a different sense than before. Hugo called one of the commanding-level armed members who were helping them and quietly instructed,

"Let him rest for a while, and when the battalion-level personnel from each unit arrive, have two or more of them escort him to the prison. Don't put shackles on his ankles, and tell them to provide him with sufficient meals."

"Yes, understood!"

After hearing the answer, Hugo lightly nodded his head and immediately left the hospital. Quite some time had passed, and outside, it was already bustling with members who had come to work.

Even while receiving their greetings and heading back to his original destination, the Commander's office, the image of the guy's pale face kept lingering in Hugo's mind.

'Is he afraid of sharp things? No, if that's the case, he wouldn't have been able to fight with a sword.'

Those eyes that seemed frightened kept haunting him.

* * *

Leonardo, who had been moved to the prison, sat with his back against the wall. With one knee raised and his arm resting on it, he blankly stared at the meal placed in front of him.

The food was of much better quality than the meals eaten by criminals imprisoned, but Leonardo couldn't even see them right now. His stomach churned, and his head was spinning, making him feel like he would vomit at any moment.

"Hey, what did you come in here for?"

"Oh my, why do you keep talking to someone who doesn't speak?"

"Because he's so pretty. If you saw his face, you'd want to talk to him too, right?"

The front of the prison where he was confined was empty, and the right side was a dead-end wall. Although it was a pretty good location for a prison, there were sounds that kept tiring his ears. Conversations with constant giggling continued from the prison directly to the left, which was blocked by a wall, and the one across from it, as if there were people there.

Moreover, unlike Leonardo, whose range of motion was limited due to the handcuffs connected to chains fixed to the wall, the prisoner confined in the prison diagonally to the left seemed to have relatively free movement as he wasn't bound by handcuffs.

He was stuck right in front of the bars, staring intently at Leonardo's figure across the corridor. He even approached him, grinning and trying to talk.

Ignoring that gaze and sound, Leonardo leaned his head back and slowly breathed. He was trying not to move as much as possible to regain his condition, but his tightly closed eyelashes trembled. As the feeling of nausea wouldn't subside, he soon jumped up from his spot.

Although there was no lack of oxygen, a sense of anxiety rushed in as if he couldn't breathe, feeling like he was in an enclosed space and experiencing hyperventilation symptoms.

Leonardo hurriedly stuck his face into the small window at about head height on the wall he had been leaning against and repeatedly inhaled as if craving oxygen. As he roughly breathed, shoving the outside air into his lungs, his breathing gradually calmed down.

Finally, through the clear small window, the only thing visible was the wall of the prison across from it and other windows on it. Sunlight was coming down from the center, but when he was moved here, his eyes were covered, so he couldn't figure out exactly where this place was.

As he blankly gripped the bars and stared outside, suddenly, a white butterfly fluttered down from above where the light was coming in, drawing a trajectory. As it was the only warmth in the still and barren background, his gaze was naturally drawn to it.

The white butterfly gradually approached the window of the prison where Leonardo was confined. Then, it stayed between the dense bars, fluttering its wings for a moment, and eventually crossed the window frame and began to circle around him.

When Leonardo raised his hand, the butterfly sat on his finger as if it had been waiting. Watching the weak fluttering that irregularly opened and closed, Leonardo quietly looked around.

In the four corners of the prison ceiling, sensors were blinking with a red light, but it was still unknown whether they detected movement or sound.

After glaring at them for a while, he immediately sat down and intently observed the sensors. As his movement ceased, he could see the lights that had come on in the sensors turning off one by one.

'Do they detect movement?'

He carefully raised his hand with the butterfly on it so that it wouldn't be detected by the sensors, and then whispered to the butterfly in a small voice,

"I'll get out on my own, so tell them not to do anything unnecessary."

At the whisper so soft that no one could hear, the butterfly moved its wings a few times rhythmically and then flew up again, fluttering out the window.

Leonardo quietly stared at the place where the butterfly had left, receiving the sunlight coming through the small window gap. Then, he rolled his eyes toward the sensors to check if the lights were still off.