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Chapter 31
“What did the colonel say?”
On the way home.
The red steed Leto drove gleamed even redder, dyed by the setting sun sinking beyond the sea.
“He said congratulations on your marriage.”
As soon as they left Navy Headquarters, Noah answered casually in informal speech.
Leto liked the sound of Noah speaking comfortably to him and let a smile curl on his lips.
“He called you aside just to say that?”
Still, he didn’t believe Noah’s brazen lie.
“Maybe he was embarrassed to say it in front of you.”
“Principal Voltria came today.”
The naval academy where Vice Admiral Voltria served was in the Oceánus estate, quite a distance from the Sharp estate.
“That man has no reason to come to headquarters…”
“Maybe there was something you didn’t know about?”
“As if there could be anything I wouldn’t know.”
“……”
“Have you forgotten, Father?”
Now that Admiral Advelo was absent, the highest-ranking officer in the navy was none other than Leto Oceánus.
And Vice Admiral Voltria was his aide.
“Plenty of people came to headquarters today.”
“……”
“Brigadier Orin, Major General Clarisse, even Brigadier Kirko, who hardly ever shows his face…”
“Of course, they all came to see me.”
Happy now?
When Noah shot him a sharp side-eye, Leto only beamed even brighter, delighted.
“……”
Noah gazed at him in silence, then let out a short sigh.
“…Did you hear anything?”
Leto asked, his voice a shade subdued.
“On the contrary.”
Leaning back in his seat, Noah squinted against the unusually strong sunlight.
Glancing over, he saw Leto struggling too, driving with one hand shading his eyes.
“If it’s too bright, just say so.”
Noah reached over and pulled down the driver’s sun visor for him.
“Why put up with it like a fool?”
“It’s just a little further to town anyway.”
At that, Leto lowered his hand from his eyes and spoke as though it was no big deal.
“Don’t put up with things.”
Noah spoke more firmly.
“You could cause an accident. You can ask me for something this small. It’s not hard—so why endure it?”
“It’s nothing, really—”
“It’s not nothing!”
Suddenly snapping, Noah’s voice rose.
“……”
Startled, Leto’s eyes widened. Realizing his slip, Noah gripped his seatbelt tightly with both hands and turned his face away.
“…Sorry for yelling.”
The car, which had been cruising smoothly, pulled over to the roadside.
“Noah.”
Leto reached out, turning Noah’s face back toward him.
Noah let him, and then asked quietly:
“…Do you remember what you said before?”
“What part?”
“You said, ‘I’m popular, but in a bad way.’”
“Ah…”
He remembered.
That day when Leto had been irritated by the pests who kept pestering Noah with shameless congratulations.
He had muttered jealously that he was “too popular,” and Noah had retorted that Leto was the one more popular.
The thought still stung.
“Not like I was wrong, was I?”
Leto’s red eyes curved in a faintly bitter smile.
“Every great man attracts envy. I like to think of it as a badge of honor.”
“I don’t deny that.”
Noah was not the sort to sugarcoat reality.
And the reality surrounding Leto was far from sweet.
“You are popular in a bad way, that’s true.”
“Everyone knows that.”
“But you’re also popular in a good way.”
Looking straight into Leto’s eyes, Noah spoke with conviction.
“All those people we saw today—they were worried about you.”
Choosing his words carefully, he made sure the sincerity of their concern reached him.
“They said that even if you get hurt by keeping burdens all to yourself, you should still believe in others, rely on them sometimes. That you shouldn’t face things alone.”
“They said that?”
Leto’s expression turned doubtful.
“…I did tweak the wording a little.”
Noah admitted to censoring it in his head.
“But their worry was real.”
And there was one more thing left unsaid.
“The colonel asked me to look after you.”
This time Leto truly looked stunned. The veins stood out on the back of the hand gripping the wheel. His widened eyes said everything.
Noah repeated the colonel’s words verbatim, no censorship required:
“He has this bad habit of shouldering everything alone, but that’s because he cares too much for those around him. It’s selfless.”
“It may feel stifling at times, but try to understand him. He hardly ever puts himself first.”
“He’s a foolishly kind man.”
“Thank you for being with him.”
“…Leto.”
Noah spoke his name.
“What did I tell you?”
Though no answer came back, Noah smirked lopsidedly.
The sunset blazed red, flooding the inside of the car with its fiery glow.
“I told you—you’re popular.”
“Haa…”
Leto covered his face with both hands.
But the tips of his ears and his neck burned bright red.
“What are you trying to do to me…”
“What do you think?”
Noah’s hand reached over, brushing lightly against Leto’s ear.
“Love you.”
Leto’s heart pounded so hard it felt like it might leap out of his chest.
“You weren’t like this before.”
Too rattled to drive, he turned off the engine completely.
If he kept going in this state, he’d probably speed recklessly.
“Why are you doing this…”
“What am I doing?”
Noah chuckled, withdrawing his hand from Leto’s ear.
“I just said I love you, because I do.”
“That’s exactly the—!”
Leto cut himself off mid-retort.
“…Well, not that it’s really a problem…”
The words he’d meant to say boldly dwindled away. Noah easily noticed the twitch at the corners of his mouth behind his hands.
Watching, Noah asked casually:
“Does hearing me say I love you make you that happy?”
“I feel like I’m really gonna die… from happiness…”
“I’ve been waiting to say it with the same heart.”
Leto’s flustered expression froze.
But Noah went on as though it was nothing.
“This isn’t sudden. I can say it now because I’m sure of your feelings too.”
“……”
“Honestly, until now it felt a bit one-sided.”
“…Yeah.”
Leto admitted readily.
“…I really was kind of a jerk.”
“Not a jerk, no.”
Noah laughed softly, urging him not to put it that harshly.
“I was angry too, so I tried hard not to show you how I really felt.”
In the end, they were even.
Looking back, it was a barren relationship.
No love confessions, no sweet exchanges of affection—yet somehow it endured.
“…Strange we didn’t break up.”
“Right?” Leto murmured, eyes heavy with bittersweetness, gazing ahead.
On the coastal road, dusk deepened over the red glow of sunset.
His red eyes darkened too.
“Why would you love a fool like me?”
“Didn’t I tell you? Because I’m a sucker.”
“A lovable sucker.”
“And hey, isn’t this kind of nice too?”
Noah tilted his head, blinking slowly.
Leto mirrored him, confused.
“Feels like we’re in a romance novel.”
“What?”
Leto blinked wide-eyed, then let out a surprised laugh.
“You read those?”
“Two lovers, missing each other over and over, finally realizing their hearts and falling in love—it’s romantic.”
“Romantic, huh…”
Leto rolled the word on his tongue like chocolate.
“…Yeah, it is.”
Then he started the car again.
With a low rumble, the vehicle eased back into a gentle vibration.
“If my lady says so, then I suppose we really are in a sweet romance.”
“Such refined sarcasm, sir.”
“It’s not sarcasm…”
Instead of the gearshift, Leto cupped Noah’s cheek.
And he leaned in, guided by love.
“Just making up for lost time.”
Like red dusk melting into blue night, their kiss sank deeply, unwilling to part.
The pride of the Cheti Company, the red steed, only resumed down the road once the streetlamps lit.
“Okay, lift together!”
“On three—one, two…”
“Three!”
With Clara’s cheerful shout, the mattress lifted up high.
“Fighting! Fighting!”
Cheered on, they carried it outside to the gate, where other discarded furniture was already piled.
“Getting rid of big furniture costs money…”
As sighed, already calculating the disposal fees in his head.
“Then maybe I should use it?”
Leto dusted his hands lightly and asked.
“No way. A new family member’s moving in—we need new things. Besides, the young master is bringing the dowry, isn’t he?”
“If you need anything, let me know. I’ll order it along with my things.”
“Oh my, how generous!”
“Unnie, what does ‘generous’ mean?”
“It’s what you say when you’re praising a rich pushover.”
“Oh, an adult word.”
Today, the Bello family was cleaning out the room Leto would use on the first floor.
It had been the runaway brother’s room, but by unanimous agreement, the family decided to treat the original owner as if he didn’t exist, and prepare it for their new member instead.
“Pretty spacious.”
Leto remarked, surveying the cleared-out room.
“Isn’t it smaller than the room you used before?”
Noah, standing beside him, asked.
“Rooms are all the same when you live in them.”
“So it is smaller.”
Currently, Leto lived at the Oceánus family’s villa estate on the outskirts of the Sharp lands.
The grand mansion on the coastal road hill was always in sight on his commute to Navy Headquarters.
“Bigger doesn’t always mean better.”
Leto said it was just lonely having so much empty space.
