The hesitant voice he delivered the words with was damp, as if soaked in water. When the final toll faded, Hugo’s mind went blank for an instant.

It was a bewitching remark — enough to make him forget what he had originally wanted to hear. It almost sounded like a plea, though that could not be true.

To stop? Or to continue?

Whatever Leonardo Blaine intended, Hugo leaned toward the latter. Otherwise he would never cling to his neck at this angle, look up with such a sorrowful face, and dare to speak his birthday aloud.

“...ha.”

As the echo spreading through the stadium died away, the straight line of his lips hardened, then helplessly melted.

There were few things more uncomfortable than receiving congratulations from others on a false day. Now, after more than ten years living under the skin of a duke, he was accustomed to it — yet his nature ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) had always shunned falsehood and cherished truth and goodness. Thus the days he had spent hiding his identity before all people had endlessly tormented and isolated him.

Yet perhaps because the one congratulating him shared a similar pain — or endured an even greater one — Hugo felt ashamed before Leonardo, who did not know he was from Bermuda. At the same time, the congratulatory message felt like a divine absolution for the sins of his false life.

It might be nothing more than self-serving interpretation, but at least for this moment, he wanted to believe it. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Hugo let his head fall against Leonardo’s, sharing warmth as he held him tightly.

“...?”

Fine brows cracked, and the hollowed eyelids trembled. Watching the subtle emotional shift, Leonardo inhaled at the sudden pressure against his chest. A groan almost escaped but he swallowed it. Except for when he had been caught while fleeing the peninsula, it was the first time he had been bound so strongly in someone’s arms.

The Commander had always controlled his strength so Leonardo’s shoulders would not hurt — so strongly hugging him as if to crush his ribs was bewildering.

“...What’s wrong?”

He asked in a muffled voice, his chest and throat pressed. Then a low laugh spread near his ear. Leonardo rolled his eyes slightly in puzzlement. With his chin resting on the man’s shoulder, he could not see his face, but he could at least tell the man was happy.

Does he like being congratulated that much?

He must have heard it endlessly in his life — at this rate, Leonardo could say it all day.

Still awkwardly held, Leonardo slipped his hand into the neatly arranged hair at the back of Hugo’s neck. Enjoying the flowing texture, the tension in his golden brows eased. His body, slack like a soaked doll, wrapped around the firm torso.

But the hand stroking from his back to his hips tensed his spine again. Sweat gathered on his forehead and ran along his temple.

He twisted his waist to avoid it naturally — then stopped, afraid it would seem like a needy motion.

In that instant, the thigh between his legs pulled back slightly before pressing against him again.

Warm breath brushed his ear.

“You’re hard.”

His squirming body froze.

“......”

His exhale trembled. Hidden by darkness, Leonardo could not lift his head.

Like a butterfly caught in a trap, he only weakly moved his wings. The hand touching the man’s nape stiffened, trying to hide agitation — but when lips touched his earlobe, his fingers reflexively clenched.

“Want help?”

“Ah....”

He had not expected such direct words — nor such closeness. Leonardo shrank his shoulders, avoiding the whisper like a caress.

Yet he could feel himself rising helplessly against the other. Biting his teeth, he frowned. This was because of that compound — otherwise a single sentence would not make him react like this.

“...Are you insane? Right now—”

He struggled to hold onto reason, but the reply left him speechless.

“I was congratulated, so I want to return the favor. This happened because of me.”

The words sounded normal, but their meaning was not. Leonardo’s lips parted in disbelief.

“...This isn’t your private room.”

“So it would be fine if it were?”

“That’s not what I— ngh....”

Hugo slowly bit and released the heated earlobe. That alone made Leonardo’s back jolt.

Moisture seeped over his skin like a humid tropical midnight.

Hugo noticed the restrained breathing had changed — that his body was growing uncontrollably hot, and a pleasant scent was emerging.

Wanting to breathe it deeper, he buried his mouth and nose at his neck and asked,

“Leo, did you forget whose territory this is?”

His damp lashes trembled. Unable to resist, Hugo bit the ripened nape again. The curiosity of how far the heat could rise carried more than simple curiosity.

“With a single will of mine, anywhere on this land becomes private. Your duke is more convenient than you think.”

Each time his voice scattered, the moving lips were unbearably stimulating. Holding the back of Hugo’s head, Leonardo leaned back and exhaled heavily toward the ceiling. At the same time, the hand moving from his pelvis to lower abdomen made him tighten his stomach.

As pressure gathered and hardened there, Hugo eased their chests apart and tilted his head to examine the flushed face.

“If you walk out like this, you’ll be in trouble.”

He brushed aside fallen hair with gentle lips. Leonardo closed and opened his eyes. The gaze he met was far too gleaming for someone merely concerned. Trusting the suggestion to “make it easier” was dangerous. And yet—

My body feels strange.

He clearly felt unlike usual. Even if it was the touch he had imagined for months, reacting this faithfully was unlike him.

That flower... does it have an aphrodisiac effect?

He could not gauge how flushed his face was in the dimness, so he sharpened his eyes, pretending composure. But his breathing grew rougher, and even biting his lip to restrain it looked seductive.

Between his heated thighs, he could not push the intrusion away. His golden eyes dampened with pleasure gradually twisted.

Watching persistently, Hugo slowly moved his hand to his center. Leonardo’s buckle loosened, and their eyes met — as if telling him to stop if he disliked it.

Leonardo ran his tongue over the lip he had bitten. Not intentional, but he knew how it looked.

He grabbed Hugo’s forearm and pulled him closer, murmuring in a wet voice,

“Finish quickly.”

***

“Ah, mmph....”

Unlike his earlier composure, Leonardo bit Hugo’s lips like a gag to suppress his voice. Hugo, who willingly offered his tongue even to the lion’s bite, already grasped the clear outline over damp underwear. Though a water mage should know moisture well, it was wetter than expected.

Is he always this wet?

Or simply in his prime?

Either way he welcomed it. He wanted to ask directly but refrained, fearing he would seem like a vulgar old man. Instead, he carefully caressed the flesh visible through the wet fabric as if handling glass.

“Hn... mm....”

Leonardo lifted his hips urgingly. Hugo gradually tightened his grip.

A moan escaped between lips. The experienced hand grasped beneath the heavy shaft and kneaded slowly several times. Each squeeze made the soft flesh swell and slacken between his fingers.

It felt less like helping and more like indulging his own desire.

Unable to keep up with the heat, cool fingers wrapped around sensitive slickness.

The unfamiliarity made Leonardo writhe, blood rushing there again. The heated center emphasized the temperature difference, and the veins on the hand clutching the Legion Commander’s collar bulged — mirrored along the swelling shaft.

Hugo’s palm rubbed as if to engrave fingerprints, leisurely unaware. Frustrated, Leonardo grabbed his wrist and tried to move it himself.

“Ha, faster—”

“You’ll get hurt if we rush.”

Hugo dismissed it lightly, instead studying him intently. His gaze held no smile, yet gleamed like a man obsessed with research.

Under that stare Leonardo felt naked despite being clothed.

It would be a lie to say he had never pleasured himself thinking of this man. But the subject unfastening his buckle and reaching inside was another matter entirely. The excessive arousal twisted his insides.

How had it come to this? His thoughts blurred — he could hardly think while nerves were scratched raw by a mere stroke.

It felt unreal, yet the eyes dissecting every expression reminded him it was not a dream. Then a broad palm slipped deep inside the now-transparent underwear.

“Ah—!”

His thighs clamped at the skin contact. The large hand spread and dragged the spent underwear down with its back.

As the damp cloth fell, the organ soaked with fluid sprang free, its swollen tip trembling within Hugo’s palm before touching.

At the teasing sensation, the blue eyes darkened.