Blink, blink.
Waking from sleep, Iberis blinked hazily. As his blurry vision cleared, his consciousness rose to the surface.
“Yawn……”
Iberis stretched while lying down, letting out a small yawn. Despite his body feeling heavy like a waterlogged cotton, his head felt refreshed. His hair and skin felt soft and clean, suggesting that Lucas had washed him while he slept, as usual.
Turning his head towards the rhythmic breathing sound, he saw Lucas still in dreamland.
The first thing that caught his eye was, of course, the shortened hair. Seeing its uneven length, still untrimmed, brought tears to his eyes from sadness. Even now, his heart sank remembering that moment.
Carefully raising his hand, Iberis tucked Lucas’s hair behind his ear, clearing it from his eyes. Usually, Lucas would wake at his touch, but his continued sleep suggested he was quite tired.
I hope he’s not sick?
Iberis worriedly examined Lucas’s complexion. As he observed Lucas’s face intently, he noticed that while the long hair had given him a pure, beautiful appearance, the shorter hair seemed to make him more handsome. His already distinct features seemed even more pronounced.
Though Iberis thought himself silly, he couldn’t take his eyes off Lucas. As he gazed, mesmerized, at the face as beautiful as a masterpiece carved by a skilled artisan, Lucas’s long eyelashes quivered. Soon, his tightly closed eyelids slowly lifted, revealing eyes as radiant as sunlight.
“……Good morning.”
Iberis greeted Lucas with a bright smile as he opened his eyes. Though he wasn’t sure if Lucas’s wish had come true, he instinctively knew when their eyes met. That the imprinting had succeeded.
So this is what it feels like to have souls connected.
Captured by a strange sensation, Iberis gently pressed his solar plexus. He could feel mana different from his own inside his body. His right ankle, where Lucas’s name was inscribed, also felt oddly itchy.
“Did you sleep well?”
Lucas habitually embraced Iberis’s waist and gave him a morning kiss on his round forehead. His already low voice was especially husky, likely from just waking up.
“Yes, and you?”
“I slept well too.”
“……The imprinting, it worked, right?”
Iberis snuggled into Lucas’s embrace, resting his cheek against the broad chest. His lips curled up involuntarily at the familiar energy he felt from the body against his.
“Yes, though we’ll need to run tests to see if your body has fully recovered, Major.”
Lucas confirmed the imprinting’s success while caressing Iberis’s back. Sharing body heat like this first thing in the morning had become a habit for them.
“……I had a dream.”
Thump, thump…. Enjoying the touch that treated him like a precious treasure and the steady heartbeat in his ear, Iberis suddenly spoke as if remembering something.
“A dream? What kind?”
“Yeah, my mother and team leader were in it……”
Iberis trailed off, looking at Lucas. Then he closed his mouth again.
“Why did you stop talking?”
“Hmm, I can’t remember well……”
“Pardon?”
“I forgot what the dream was about.”
“Hmm, it wasn’t a nightmare, was it?”
“No. It was a good dream. Sad but welcome……”
Overwhelmed by emotion for a moment, Iberis bit his lip. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tightened his arms around Lucas.
“I can’t remember, but… I think I was happy.”
“That’s good then.”
Lucas pretended not to notice the moisture in Iberis’s voice as he gently stroked his trembling back.
The consistent tenderness finally brought tears to Iberis’s eyes. Scrunching his nose, he buried his face in the warm chest and silently sobbed.
In the past, he couldn’t respond to their voices telling him to be happy, but this time was different. Now he could clearly say that he was already happy.
* * *
“This way, Captain.”
Lucas followed the guard’s guidance. The two had taken the elevator to a restricted area underground and were now descending further down a staircase.
[Authentication Complete]
The guard standing in front of a massive iron door brought his eye to the personal identification system machine. As the iris scan finished, a blue light flashed with a beep sound.
“Please sit here and wait.”
The guard maintained a consistently polite attitude towards Lucas. Though he managed his expression, his glances at Lucas betrayed undisguisable curiosity. It was understandable, given that Lucas had been the talk of the world for the past few months.
Lucas sat on the cold visitation room chair, waiting for the guard to return. A few minutes later, he came in with a man in prison uniform. It was Livio Logan.
“You…!”
“Hey!”
Bang! As Livio recognized Lucas and tried to lunge at him, the guard quickly grabbed his nape and restrained him.
“Ugh!”
Livio groaned in pain as the guard slammed his forehead onto the desk.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect him to be so agitated.”
“It’s alright.”
Lucas gave the apologizing guard a dazzling smile. It was the smile of someone who knew their looks were a powerful weapon.
“Ahem…”
As expected, the guard’s ears turned slightly red as he cleared his throat and seated Livio. After fastening the restraint belt around Livio’s waist and legs, he finally connected the mana-restraining cuffs on his wrists to the desk.
“Please talk comfortably. I’ll be watching from outside.”
“Thank you.”
Lucas thanked the guard as he left, then turned his gaze to Livio, who was glaring at him. Livio was in a terribly deteriorated state, almost unrecognizable from his original appearance.
His disheveled hair had turned white, and his face, which used to look younger than his age, was now wrinkled. This was due to the side effects of the enhancers and the lack of proper treatment and guiding after his arrest, aside from emergency care.
“You seemed so apathetic during the trial, I thought you’d given up on everything… But I see there’s still life in your eyes.”
“…What do you want?”
Livio asked bluntly, as if not wanting to engage in a long conversation with Lucas. His voice, coming through lips covered in scabs, was cracked as if he hadn’t drunk water in a long time. He stared at Lucas sitting across from him with eyes full of past emotions.
Perhaps because he had recognized Lucas’s identity, the young man before him now resembled his long-dead friend so much that Livio wondered why he hadn’t recognized him immediately. Maybe it was because his hair was shorter now. When his hair was long, his impression had been softer.
“How is it? How does it feel to be back at the headquarters you so longed for?”
Instead of answering Livio’s question, Lucas asked one in return. The special prison where Livio was currently held was located underground at the Defense Force Headquarters in New York.
Although mana restraints were in place, high-ranking ability users could potentially attempt escape given the slightest opportunity, and it was difficult to subdue them if they strongly resisted the guards. This was a measure for effective management.
“…If you came to mock me, get out!”
“Shut up. Who are you to order me around?”
“Gah!”
Livio, who had been yelling in irritation, suddenly made a choking sound. Lucas had pressed down on his body with mana.
“Business, huh? What if I said I came to enjoy the sight of you in such a miserable state?”
“You… you bastard… ack!”
“Just kidding. I’m actually here on business.”
“Huff, hah.”
Livio breathed heavily as Lucas withdrew his mana. After calming down, he looked puzzled.
“Business?”
“Yes. This damned world expects even the perpetrators’ rights to be somewhat protected.”
“What…”
“You haven’t received any guiding since your arrest, right? Because there’s no guide compatible with you.”
Lucas tilted his head sarcastically. Ability users accumulate mana in their bodies even when doing nothing. That’s why they need to use their abilities to release mana or have it circulated through guiding. Without this, they experience side effects even without using their abilities. In severe cases, it could lead to a mana outburst.
“I heard that due to the damage to your mana circuits from the enhancer side effects, your ability leaks constantly, causing complaints from nearby inmates. Most guards also expressed anxiety.”
“…”
“So the military judiciary, worried about potential major disturbances, requested my cooperation. As you know, I’m an S-class guide capable of guiding regardless of compatibility rate.”
“You’re… going to guide me?”
Livio gaped as if he had heard something absurd.
“I don’t want to, but what can I do? They say I’m the only one with a somewhat matching compatibility rate with you.”
“Nonsense! You’re paired, no, imprinted with Major Hyun!”
Bang! Livio slammed his hand on the desk and raised his voice. Two months had passed since his failed escape and capture, and a lot had happened during that time. He had undergone intense interrogations almost daily on dozens of charges. After that, he had to appear in court every other day. The same was true for those who had committed corruption with Livio.
In the process, many truths came to light. The most talked-about revelations were that Lucas was not Luke Illum but ‘Lucas Lowell Blake’, and that he had imprinted with his lover, ‘Iberis Hyun’.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
