A pebble drew a parabola and fell into the center of the pond.
After hearing the commotion, Belmod put down his tea cup and turned to look at the man standing by the pool.
"BOSS?"
She shouted.
Spiatus did not look back when he heard the sound. A three-legged crow with a disabled foot landed on his shoulder, raised its head and squawked like a funeral. He played with a few stones with his fingertips and looked down.
The surface of the pond.
Ripples appeared on the surface of the water, and ice cubes broke and floated on it.
It didn't calm down for a long time.
…
After a few minutes, Spiatus finally had enough. After throwing the three stones, he turned back and sat down opposite Belmode.
This Japanese-style garden built in the United States occupies a large area and is very classic. At this time, a tea party was being held. There were only two participants, plus a crow and a...
"Meow~"
There was a slight meow, and Belmode frowned instantly.
The petite gray cat appeared at the hem of Spiatus' trousers. It raised its paw and touched its owner's trousers. He raised his hand to pick it up and put it in his arms.
"Are you hungry?" Spiatus touched its head. He let go and let the cat jump to his other shoulder.
"Meow~"
The folded-eared cat answered obediently and rubbed his face with his head.
Belmode, who dislikes cats very much, got goosebumps when she first saw Moni. She felt even more uncomfortable when she saw the cat's face rubbing against the BOSS's face. But the relationship between superiors and subordinates is there, she said
If you don't want to drive away the BOSS pets.
After all, no one in this organization knows better than her what kind of existence the man in front of her is. Even die-hard BOSS fans like Rum, Gin, and Ireland don't understand him better than she does.
"Belmod."
The sudden sound made the Thousand Faced Witch's fingers freeze when she was briefly distracted.
Spiatus turned his fingers into cat teasers and gently teased the kitten without looking at her: "How is the mission in Canada?"
"Everything went well. Aquavit is dead and his body was recovered by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service."
"That's good."
When his chin was touched, he let out a comfortable purr, which along with the man's gentle voice reached Belmod's ears.
"I have been working undercover for many years, and it would be so pitiful if I couldn't even return the body to my hometown for a proper burial."
Bermod carefully observed Spiatus's expression. As a movie queen, she found that he had a very light and shallow smile on his face, but there was no emotion in his eyes.
He had no real pity, that sentence was just a simple statement of facts; as the person who ordered this task, he didn't care about the undercover killing the undercover, and it was not as important as the pet's coquettishness towards him at this time.
"BOSS, the undercover agent next to Angstra..." She couldn't help but speak.
This is one of the reasons why Belmode came over immediately after Angstra and the others left.
She was very clear about Spiatus's attitude towards undercovers, and she also guessed that he might have known about the undercovers in the organization for a long time - this was what Jerez reminded her, even though he himself was always sighing and complaining about trouble, in many aspects he was
He is just sharper than other members.
Why did you acquiesce to the undercover agent staying with Angstra?
And why did you acquiesce to Angstra... and not deal with those undercover agents?
Belmode knew that her little crow had long been stronger than her, but she still worried about him.
Especially after meeting the BOSS, this feeling will deepen.
The man in front of her was perfectly groomed, especially his crimson eyes, which always reminded her of Angstra.
But if it were Angstra, she would never bring the cat in front of her.
No matter how much he likes her, he will choose to take care of her mood and make concessions himself.
He does this not only to her, but also to other people he likes. And he does it very naturally without any dissatisfaction.
So Belmode really likes him. In front of him, she can say, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, as you wish, baby, as you wish~", secretly she becomes suspicious of Spiatus, who overlooks and ignores all this.
She wanted to know what he wanted to do.
"I know what you want to say, Belmod."
Spiatus finally looked at her, he let go, and Moni jumped from his lap to the ground, jumped down a few steps and ran to the pool to play.
"Although I can give orders at any time, Angostela himself is reluctant to part with it."
"...can't bear to part with it?"
"You have watched him grow up, so you should know him well."
Spiatus looked at her, unlike when Angstra looked at the person he liked, his eyes were full of the other person. No one could be seen in those eyes, like a dark abyss that could swallow everything.
"——He didn't want to reveal their identities because he didn't want Panno's tragedy to happen again."
His voice was gentle and calm, but the code name he mentioned made Belmod grit his teeth.
... She didn't need Spiatus to remind her, she had already seen it herself.
He liked the fact that there were several undercover agents around him who said good things about Scotland in emails, who hurried in when the hospital tested Bourbon, who listened on the phone to ask about Ley, and Panno...
He always regretted killing the French undercover agent.
…
Because Belmode is busy, it is difficult to meet with Angstra, but they often keep in touch via email.
When he was studying, he always talked to her about academic matters; and after going to France, he talked to her about Panno more and more often.
[I have a new partner, codenamed Panno. He is very good-looking and I like him very much. Panno seems to be a very sweet wine. I prefer this codename, my own Angost.
Laha is really too painful...]
[There is a delicious croissant shop near my new residence. Panno took me to eat it. I’ll invite you to go next time!]
[We were on vacation in Iceland. Panno’s eyes are very similar to the color of the Blue Lagoon. It’s a particularly beautiful blue color. I really hope you can come and see it. I want to take a bath in the hot springs, but Panno won’t let me go in, even though he cares about me.
, but he cared about me, so I accepted his words.】
[Pano read The Little Prince to me. This was the first time someone read a story to me. His voice was very nice. Unfortunately, he didn’t finish the reading. I hope I’ll have another chance next time.]
【I went to Panno’s detective agency.】
[I’m going to have a new home soon, and I want to invite Pannuo to live with me. I hope he can agree to it this time. We are already a good partner.]
【……】
[Sorry, Belmod, I can't invite you to visit my new home... Panno is an undercover agent, I was betrayed...]
【But don't worry about me, because I have already killed him.】
Belmode recalled those emails.
She could imagine Angostela's expression when she sent each email, from the curiosity of getting her partner at the beginning, to the happiness when the two got along, to the indifference of feeling betrayed at the end.
He killed Panno, the man who betrayed him, but he always regretted it deep in his heart.
So now when facing the undercover around him, he will be at a loss and scared. He doesn't want to face this fact and wants to maintain the past state and deceive himself.
Little Crow, who was never afraid of any tasks or enemies she faced, chose to run away when faced with her own heart.
"BOSS, is there no way..." Her long nails almost dug into her palms.
Spiatus didn't pay attention to her expression at all, nor did he answer her, he just turned his head and looked at the edge of the pool.
Money was playing with stones there, and with a gentle push of his paw, he pushed the fourth stone into the pool.
Waves of waves appeared on the surface of the pool again, and no matter how hard I tried to keep calm, I couldn't stop the interference caused by external forces.