Bermuda Chapter 300

“We apologize, Commander. It was our mistake.”

Hugo, who had taken off his blood-stained jacket and gloves, glanced back. The dical team, lined up in a row, bowed at a 90-degree angle and confessed their mistake in unison.

Hugo scanned the backs of their heads with an expressionless face, then turned back to the front and casually hung his jacket on the coat rack. Then, looking tired, he slumped into a wooden chair, leaned forward, and asked with a sigh:

“What mistake?”

Two dical officers exchanged glances. One of them opened his mouth.

“We failed to confirm that he hadn’t taken the full dose of the prepared sleeping agent. It seems he only took about a third of it through sleight of hand and discarded the rest along with the empty packets.”

Hugo already knew that white powder presud to be the sleeping agent had been found in the trash can. This lent credibility to the assumption that Leonardo had been suspicious of the drug before taking it.

‘I was too complacent.’

Hugo slowly rubbed his forehead, closing his eyes tightly.

It was a big mistake to think he would take it without suspicion this ti, as he had readily accepted the dicine when they left Fidele before. Rather, using the sa thod as then was a form of underestimating his alertness. It might also have been the occasion that shattered Leonardo’s trust in him.

“It seems the problem was that the small amount of sleeping agent he took gradually lowered his heart rate during the examination, and the examiner mistook this symptom for a sleep state and proceeded with the ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) blood draw.”

As he listened to the story of how hell broke loose the mont the blood-drawing needle was inserted, Hugo quietly gazed at the clear face lying on the bed. The face, peacefully sleeping with eyes closed as if dead, showed no trace of the terrifying killing intent from earlier.

Compared to his yaksha-like appearance then, he could be called an angel now. He was so pure and delicate that one might think this is what a ssenger of God would look like, if they existed.

Looking down at the beautiful person with a thousand faces in the worst way, Hugo habitually brushed aside his bangs. It was fortunate that the situation had cald down, but seeing Leonardo unconscious was never a welco sight.

But even if he opened his eyes, would he ever see those golden eyes smile at him again?

Hugo swallowed his bitterness, withdrew his hand, and asked the officer:

“So, how is his condition?”

“Fortunately, the major arteries weren’t completely severed, so we succeeded in 99.9% regeneration. There’s no danger to his life, and the skin has been well sutured without major scarring.”

“...That’s a relief.”

“However, as you know, due to the severe blood loss, he’ll need to rest for a while. We’re currently checking the immune response by comparing the blood scattered in the examination room with the stored blood pack samples. As soon as safety is confird, we’ll report and proceed with the transfusion. And...”

The officer paused for a mont before continuing.

“With this incident, we’ve secured enough blood for the necessary tests, so additional blood draws shouldn’t be needed. We’ll report as soon as the analysis results are out.”

As the officer finished speaking, another officer next to him nudged his arm. His expression seed to ask if he really had to say that in this situation. The officer who had spoken earlier also seed to think it was a bit inappropriate and cautiously glanced at the Commander. However, Hugo just nodded slowly without saying anything.

The dical officer then reported that Flynn had also lost consciousness from exhaustion, but would likely wake up by this afternoon. He added in a positive tone that, surprisingly, there were no external injuries, so he should be able to return to daily life soon.

Despite the chaos that had occurred, there were no human casualties, with only Leonardo’s blood spilled on the floor. This confird that he had struggled purely out of fear, not with the intention of harming others.

Before, and this ti too, he had been afraid. Hugo, unable to take his eyes off Leonardo, recalled once again those unfocused golden eyes.

‘Did that bastard tell you to bring it?’

What on earth did that an? All sorts of thoughts flashed through his mind. Hugo took Leonardo’s limp hand and pressed the bandaged back of his hand to his lips.

With half-closed eyes, aimlessly tracing his golden eyelashes, he suddenly muttered:

“Did I do sothing unnecessary?”

The dical officer who had been briefing like calm background noise stopped at Hugo’s voice. In their view, they could see the side profile of the Commander, who hadn’t been able to concentrate on their story at all. With dark shadows under his sunken eyes, he was staring intently at the patient lying on his own bed.

Sensing the strange atmosphere, the two dical officers exchanged glances, then bowed their heads and stepped back in farewell.

“We’ll return in two hours to check his condition.”

Hugo lowered the hand he had pressed to his lips and glanced back. They seed to be deliberately giving him space, but he didn’t bother to stop them.

Soon after, the dical staff bowed and rushed out, and their footsteps faded down the corridor. Hugo lowered his head, following the sound of the second hand, sighed, and then briefly stood up to securely lock the door.

‘First, I need to instruct Shorendo to issue a gag order...’

Although he wasn’t sure they could completely silence all the dical staff who had witnessed the situation, if this incident spread outside, it would be quite troubleso for both him and them. That was also why he had brought Leonardo to a private room rather than a special ward in the infirmary. Even in the midst of the chaos, Hugo was organizing future plans as he strode toward the door.

However, as he grabbed the handle, he saw a dical staff mber standing beyond the not-yet-closed door. The staff mber, who had been waiting quietly, seed to have noticed Hugo through the gap and stepped forward as if he’d been expecting him.

“Commander, I have sothing to give you.”

He was holding a crumpled dicine envelope in his hand. Hugo’s eyebrows rose subtly.

“What is it?”

“Ah, I’m... the psychiatric counselor who briefly spoke with Mr. Leonardo Blaine just before the examination. It’s nothing much, but I thought this might be needed when he wakes up.”

‘Counselor?’

Hugo accepted the dicine envelope from the staff mber, hiding his suspicion. With doubts that soone within the Council was trying to pressure Leonardo, he couldn’t simply accept and hand over unknown dicine, even if it was from dical staff.

Just as Hugo was about to ask about his affiliation and what the dicine was, the staff mber added:

“I have a family mber who is a war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.”

*****

‘Mr. Leonardo Blaine ntioned that he also has PTSD symptoms. He gave a heads-up that he wanted to avoid tests that might trigger neurosis during the examination process. However... he didn’t answer when asked exactly what situations made him anxious, so we arbitrarily excluded a few tests when he was judged to be conscious. But we proceeded with the blood drawing stage as it was deed unavoidable.’

Sitting at the desk in the Commander’s office, Hugo felt the black letters swimming even as he read the docunts he needed to process. It was because the words he had heard from the dical staff yesterday kept lingering in his mind, disrupting his concentration.

He seed to feel guilty for not warning the examiner more strongly, saying that his family mber and Leonardo showed similar symptoms.

‘I apologize for how the situation turned out.’

Hugo set down his pen for a mont and rubbed his eyes. The dical staff mber’s voice played again like a panorama.

‘This is a list of dications I often prescribe to my mother who suffers from PTSD. Mr. Blaine also asked for it. He specifically requested certain dications, so it seems he has experience taking them. He’ll probably take them without any problems if you give them to him.’

He had never told Hugo about such symptoms himself, so while Hugo had only guessed, it was the first ti he’d heard that Leonardo had directly experienced symptoms and even taken dication.

After separately instructing them to inspect the list of dications in the envelope, it turned out they were really ordinary PTSD managent drugs—antidepressants and anti-anxiety dications. The dical staff mber explained that while it seed Leonardo had stopped taking the dication for a long ti, sothing must have recently triggered and heightened his anxiety.

‘A trigger, huh.’

Hugo tapped the docunts with his fingertips, trying to recall when Leonardo had started to beco anxious. However, there were so many factors that could have sharpened his nerves that it was almost aningless to single out just one.

The old-style mana-restraining handcuffs, the scene at the plaza a few days ago, injuries that nearly killed him, the deaths of people he couldn’t protect.

The thousand-year-old mother body, the forcibly decided expedition to the peninsula, or even before that...

‘Maybe it’s been like this since the mont he t .’

Looking back, every aspect of his environnt around Hugo was a situation that could only cause stress.

Hugo stared into the vast empty space of the Commander’s office with an uncharacteristically blank gaze.

Thud–

His fidgeting fingertip fell onto the docunt and stopped moving, as if realizing his ignorance.

No matter how much he tried to accommodate Leonardo, it would be purely from his own perspective. In the end, it was impossible to perfectly understand his inner thoughts unless the person himself spoke up—just as Hugo had suddenly realized how little he knew about Leonardo while listening to the dical staff mber’s words.

Well, even when he wanted to ask about the past, Leonardo showed signs of discomfort, so he often missed the timing.

At first, he didn’t have the capacity to care about such things, and both of them probably thought more about finishing the job and being free of each other.

But now, when everything is over and the ti cos, can he confidently say he can part ways with him happily?

Could he sufficiently define their relationship as just that of the Council’s Commander and a high-risk mage?

‘I’d like to have a conversation when he wakes up... though I’m not sure if he’ll oblige.’

Hugo sank into contemplation, wrestling with the questions that kept arising at random. He always beca overly focused on matters related to Leonardo. The content of the docunts was already secondary.

So it was only natural that Hugo didn’t hear soone repeatedly knocking on the door outside. In the end, it was only after Gabe, who had been waiting and knew he was inside, opened the door and entered that Hugo barely erged from his thoughts.

“What’s the matter?”

“Commander... it’s too cold.”

As Gabe spoke, shivering his shoulders, Hugo finally realized that the air inside had grown noticeably chilly. The temperature must have dropped in the space used by the adjutants in front of the Commander’s office as well, leaving them shivering in the cold for several minutes.

Hugo opened the large window to let out all the cold air, as if in apology. Then Gabe entered with quick steps, carrying a heavy stack of docunts, and placed them with a thud on one corner of Hugo’s desk.

Seeing another pile of work accumulating, Hugo didn’t say anything, but his expression subtly hardened. Noticing the sign, Gabe gathered the already processed docunts and changed the subject, suggesting that he take a break.

“Flynn returned about 30 minutes ago, saying he had a lot of work to process. He says there’s no particular problem with either himself or that side. But it’s still worrying to leave the patient alone for long, so wouldn’t it be better for you to check on him directly, Commander?”

He was referring to Leonardo in Hugo’s personal room. Flynn had regained consciousness yesterday evening, as the dical officer had said, and returned to work without any problems.

However, Hugo, thinking he also needed rest, had given Flynn a rest order under the pretext of checking on Leonardo’s condition. He seed to have returned because he couldn’t bear it, due to his innate workaholic tendencies, but anyway, thanks to that, it was the right ti to go see Leonardo.

“Is he still unconscious?”

“Well... Flynn said that when he last checked, he was occasionally tossing and turning but hadn’t woken up. But since they say his brain has forcibly entered a sleep state to recover his overworked body, won’t he wake up soon once he recovers?”

Gabe conveyed the ssage in the best possible light, citing the dical officer’s opinion. However, Hugo checked his wristwatch and furrowed his brow.

“30 hours...”

About 30 hours had passed since Leonardo collapsed. If it was a sleep state, that would be fortunate, but even so, being asleep for 30 hours clearly indicated a problem.

“Is he sleeping a lot because he’s still young?”

Hugo muttered in a serious voice, filled with concern. In truth, it was less that he believed it and more that he wanted to. But Gabe, who took it seriously, looked up at the Commander with an ambiguous expression.

‘There’s not much difference with Flynn...’

No, before that, isn’t he already an adult? He’s well past the age to be called young.

But seeing the Commander already preparing to leave, Gabe swallowed the words that had risen to his throat. anwhile, Hugo, who had loosened his tie, signed the last docunt he was looking at and handed it to Gabe, saying:

“When it’s ti, go ho with Flynn. I’ll be going now.”

With those words, he opened the door of the Commander’s office and left in hurried steps. It was a declaration that he would not return here today.