“…As much as I want?”
A strange light flickered in Lucas’s golden eyes, which had been drowsy. He didn’t miss the opportunity and immediately continued.
“Does that mean… you’ll let me do whatever I want on holidays, no matter what?”
“Huh?”
Is that how it works? Iberis tilted his head.
“Rather than ‘whatever you want,’ I meant I’d cooperate without stopping midway, um, as much as you think is enough.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Is it…?”
It doesn’t seem like it. Iberis’s brow furrowed slightly with a vague uneasiness. Seeing Lucas’s eyes sparkling, he felt a creeping anxiety that he might have dug his own grave.
“Since you’ve made such a big decision, Major, I’ll do my best to follow it. After all, fruit tastes sweeter after exercising patience.”
“Uh…”
“Still, it’s impossible not to do anything on weekdays. When we’re guiding, the mood will inevitably turn that way sometimes…”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s right. I’m saying we should adjust so neither of us overexerts ourselves.”
Iberis nodded. It’s not like he didn’t have desires for Lucas too. Honestly, if it weren’t for work, he wouldn’t mind spending every day like this.
“…You’re not upset, are you?”
Iberis hesitantly asked, watching Lucas’s reaction. Though there were no signs of disappointment, being in a relationship for the first time made him anxious over trivial matters. He especially didn’t want Lucas to dislike him.
“Not at all.”
“That’s a relief.”
Finally relieved, Iberis smiled broadly and leaned back comfortably. His gaze then fell on the hair brushing against his arm. He noticed the long strands dancing in the rippling water.
As if entranced, he moved his hand and wrapped Lucas’s water-soaked silver-white hair around his fingers. Perhaps due to the orange-tinted bathroom light, Lucas’s hair appeared golden.
“You’ve been quite interested in my hair since yesterday.”
As Iberis played with the hair wrapped around his hand, Lucas rested his chin on Iberis’s shoulder.
“Hm? Have I…?”
“Do you prefer blonde hair? Should I dye it now?”
“What do you mean, dye it? It’s not like that. I guess it’s because I met Thomas yesterday and saw your childhood photos today.”
“For someone who says it’s not like that, you kept glancing at Thomas. I thought maybe you preferred blonde hair.”
“Rather than preference… When you’re side by side, you look exactly like identical twins, so I found it fascinating. I thought you might have looked similar to Thomas if you had grown up without incident…”
“Hmm.”
Lucas, seeming somewhat displeased, hugged Iberis’s waist tightly with both arms.
“So, which do you prefer between blonde and silver hair?”
“You’re persistent… If I choose blonde, are you planning to dye it?”
“It might be difficult right away, but I could do it later when everything is resolved.”
“Really? Why?”
“Well, because I want to look pretty for you, Major?”
Lucas retorted as if asking an obvious question.
“No…”
Iberis was the one who became embarrassed at the voice full of sincerity. He opened and closed his mouth, at a loss for words. The corners of his mouth twitched, trying not to smile foolishly at Lucas’s words about being willing to dye his hair just to look good for him.
“What does it matter if it’s silver or blonde? You’re plenty pretty as you are now.”
Iberis, barely holding back his smile, turned slightly. He cupped Lucas’s cheeks with both hands and pressed their foreheads together, meeting his eyes.
“To say that…”
You couldn’t take your eyes off Thomas at all. Lucas swallowed the words that had risen to his throat and trailed off, lowering his eyes. He knew it was childish, but he couldn’t help it. When it came to anything related to Iberis, it was hard to be generous even about small things.
“If you really want to do it because you want to, that’s one thing… But don’t force yourself to dye it because of me.”
Honestly, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t curious about how Lucas would look with a different hair color. It’s a natural desire to want to see various styles of your lovely partner.
But he didn’t want Lucas to change his hair color solely to look good for him. Iberis, looking at the sulking Lucas as if finding him cute, gently reasoned with him.
“This is all because you kept staring at Thomas, Major.”
Whew. Lucas sighed heavily and grumbled in a small voice. Then, as if trying to hide his expression, he buried his forehead in Iberis’s shoulder.
“I don’t think I looked at him that much…”
Iberis felt confused by Lucas’s attitude of blaming himself. He was about to say something out of a sense of injustice when a thought crossed his mind, making him pause. Then, half in doubt, he opened his mouth.
“Don’t tell me… are you jealous right now?”
“Why, am I not allowed to? Yesterday it was Thomas, today it’s Regina… Do you know how insecure I feel?”
“What do you have to be insecure about?”
“You keep showing interest in Thomas.”
“I’m sorry for Thomas, but… I only looked at him because he has your face. Didn’t I explain earlier? I was imagining how you might have grown up if you had lived as Viscount Blake instead of Luke Illum. That’s why my eyes were drawn to him. Silly.”
Thwack. Iberis raised his hand and lightly flicked Lucas’s forehead as if to say ‘snap out of it’. The fact that he found this childish behavior endearing rather than annoying showed just how deeply in love he was.
“And what about Regina?”
“…She’s fallen for you. Talking about being the Northern Grand Duke or a prince, saying she’ll marry you.”
Lucas replied grumpily. Even he thought it was pathetic to be jealous of his little sister. But Iberis was someone he could never yield to Regina.
“It’s my oversight. I should have considered that siblings might have similar tastes…”
“Oh come on, why so serious? I was surprised when Regina acted out of the blue, but isn’t it similar to a kindergartner insisting they’ll marry their teacher? Above all, it ended well, didn’t it? She sincerely congratulated us both.”
Iberis, perhaps feeling sorry for flicking him, gently rubbed Lucas’s furrowed brow, his fingers trailing down from the reddened forehead.
“Who knows, she might suddenly insist on marrying you again.”
“I don’t think that will happen… But even if it did, what’s the problem? I would reject her.”
“What?”
“I’ve been feeling this for a while… Luke, you seem to lack faith in me. Do I look like someone who would easily fall for another person’s seduction?”
“No, no. That’s not it.”
Lucas hurriedly denied, realizing his mistake. It was clearly an error to imply that he doubted Iberis out of jealousy.
“I’m sorry, it’s not that I don’t trust you, Major. I’m just not confident in myself.”
Since losing his parents, Lucas had deliberately avoided getting too close to people. He feared that if he experienced another loss, he might never recover.
That’s why the more he liked Iberis, the more afraid he became of losing this happiness. As his feelings deepened, so did his fears, causing Lucas to act childishly even though he knew Iberis might find it strange. They say love makes you a childish coward, and he was the perfect example.
“Sigh, I’m just as worried about losing you to someone else. You’re incredibly popular, you know.”
Iberis stretched Lucas’s cheeks with both hands as if exasperated, then let go.
“Who else could guide me but you? Above all, we’re Name partners. You know that once we become an official pair, we can only separate if both agree, right? Even if you say you don’t like me later, I’ll never let you go.”
“Even if the world crumbles, I would never say I don’t like you, Major… but please, do that.”
Lucas whispered pleadingly, pulling Iberis close as if to trap him in his arms. Although he was currently full of determination to escape his terminal condition, Iberis had already given up on life once before.
What if he’s told once again that a cure is impossible?
Given his gentle and kind nature, he would likely try to leave at some point. To prevent his lover from repeatedly experiencing the loss of a loved one to death.
Knowing this better than anyone, Lucas always harbored a faint anxiety in a corner of his heart.
“No matter what happens, you must never let me go.”
“Alright, alright. Anyone listening would think I said I was going to abandon you. Want to make a pinky promise?”
Feeling a bit strange at the desperate tone in Lucas’s voice, Iberis deliberately spoke more lightly.
“Sure.”
Lucas didn’t miss the chance and hooked his pinky with Iberis’s. Then, pressing their thumbs together, he lowered his head.
“Is this a promise?”
“Yes, yes. Ouch!”
Iberis let out a short groan as Lucas pulled his hand and gently bit his ring finger.
“What’s this all of a sudden…”
“It’s in place of a token.”
Kiss. Having achieved his goal, Lucas kissed the reddened finger as if stamping it, then released Iberis’s hand.
“Really now, this kind of thing will disappear soon anyway…”
Iberis spread out his left hand to examine it and chuckled. The teeth marks on his ring finger looked just like a ring.
“But it’s not a token if I’m the only one with it, right?”
“Then you do it to me too, Major.”
Iberis laughed out loud at Lucas’s action of promptly extending his left hand as if he had been waiting for this. Then he bit Lucas’s ring finger just as Lucas had done to him. Wishing that someday, instead of these childish marks, beautiful rings would adorn both their fingers.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
