“Oh, well, actually, after you confessed to me, I consulted Lieutenant Cali about various things.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. The Lieutenant has a lot of dating experience… It was quite helpful.”
Iberis shared a few of the conversations he had with Brenda with the curious Lucas. He also mentioned that her advice had contributed to his decision-making.
“Now that I think about it, Lieutenant Cali really did a great job, didn’t she? I should get her a gift too.”
Lucas’s eyes lit up when he heard that Brenda had enthusiastically supported their relationship. He had noticed her being friendly towards him before, but he never dreamed she had been so passionately supporting them behind the scenes.
“You don’t have to go that far… What kind of gift are you thinking of?”
“Well, hmm. Does the Lieutenant like cars?”
“Huh? You’re going to buy her a car?”
Iberis’s eyes widened, surprised by the much larger scale of the gift than he had expected. He knew Lucas was wealthy, but it was still a bit shocking every time he casually spent such large sums. For someone born and raised in the slums, it was an unimaginable scale.
“There are many luxury car companies rooted in my home country. They have connections with the Blake family, so if I ask Thomas, who acts as my stand-in, we could get one quickly. She must have had a hard time coaching our inexperienced Major in romance, so we should at least give her a car.”
“The Lieutenant will be shocked… But hey, I’m not that inexperienced, you know?”
“Hmm, are you really not?”
Lucas playfully questioned Iberis’s protest.
“…You’re the weird one to begin with. Honestly, I even doubt you were a virgin before meeting me.”
“Why?”
“Well, just… in many ways… We’re both inexperienced, but you’re so different from me.”
Iberis mumbled his doubts, recalling their continuous lovemaking over the past few days. He had even worried about dying from overexertion. Even for an S-class guide, Lucas’s stamina was abnormal.
Moreover, it wasn’t just about physical strength. He had taken Iberis’s breath away in a way that made it hard to believe it was his first experience. Come to think of it, it wasn’t just this time. Lucas had been skilled at various forms of skinship from the beginning.
“I told you before, I learned diligently during the guiding training.”
“Theory and practice are different. Anyone would think you were the only one who received training. Shouldn’t there be some awkwardness in the first experience?”
“Everyone has different innate talents, right? I didn’t know I had an aptitude for this sort of thing either. Not until I kissed you, Major.”
“…Wow, that was a bit obnoxious just now.”
“Do you dislike it?”
Lucas suddenly brought his face close and asked. As the distance narrowed to the point where they could feel each other’s breath, Iberis’s shoulders jerked noticeably. His round silver-gray eyes also trembled slightly.
“I-It’s not that I dislike it…”
“If I seemed relaxed and skilled as if I had experience, it’s because I was desperate to seduce you. I’m glad, though.”
“Huh?”
“It means you enjoyed it so much that you doubt my purity, doesn’t it?”
“That’s…”
Iberis’s words faltered for a moment, his lips moving silently. He wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Once, when he was perplexed at his inability to refuse Lucas’s skinship and kept getting swept up in it, hadn’t he complained to Brenda that he didn’t know he was such a passionate person?
Seeing Iberis unable to say anything, Lucas chuckled and slid his hand that had been caressing Iberis’s cheek. Then he lightly pressed his thumb against Iberis’s slightly protruding lower lip. Perhaps because they had been intimate until Iberis fell asleep exhausted, the flesh under his fingertip was slightly swollen.
“…You’re really annoying.”
Iberis snapped, pretending to bite the finger touching his lips. He pushed Lucas’s shoulder as if telling him to back off a bit.
“You hate me? Really?”
Lucas tilted his head, looking at Iberis as if he were watching a kitten clumsily trying to rebel.
Iberis swallowed hard as he met Lucas’s golden eyes, which seemed to shine even more brilliantly today. As the silver hair slid down, tickling his cheek and neck, he felt strange.
A feeling like his body was twisting unnecessarily? His heart was pounding and his face was flushing even at trivial actions – it seemed to be the effect of becoming lovers.
“…You’re using your looks again.”
He always knows how pretty and handsome he is. Iberis grumbled inwardly as he subtly averted his gaze. The most pathetic thing was himself, falling for that face attack.
The rose-colored glasses he had been wearing even before realizing his feelings had grown thicker over the past few days. Now Lucas seemed to sparkle and shine dazzlingly even when he was just standing still.
“It’s not about using my looks… I’m glad my appearance is to your liking, though.”
“…What are you saying, it’s not my taste? Originally, I preferred people smaller than me. I like delicate people like my mother.”
“Really? I’ve always thought you liked my face…”
Lucas made a slightly shocked expression. While not a narcissist, he was quite confident in his looks. It was hard not to be confident when everyone he met since childhood had complimented and shown attraction to him.
Sometimes, he would use his exceptional appearance to guide situations to his desired outcome. After all, being attracted to beautiful and impressive things was an instinct everyone possessed.
“Well, it’s not that I dislike it, but if we’re talking about preferences, it’s closer to not being my type. I prefer small dogs to large ones.”
“Are you comparing me to a dog now? Do you dislike my large build?”
“When did I say I disliked it? It’s just…”
“All this time, I was glad that at least my appearance was to your liking… I guess that was completely my misunderstanding.”
“No, I’m not saying I don’t like your face. How should I put this, your looks overcome my preferences! Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say!”
Seeing Lucas’s gloomy expression, a flustered Iberis blurted out whatever came to mind. Even though he knew Lucas was teasing him, he broke out in a cold sweat, worried that his words might have hurt Lucas.
“Then, did you like me from the start?”
Backed into a corner, Iberis asked with a tone implying they weren’t so different. After all, he clearly remembered the day he first met Lucas.
That day, the emotion in those golden eyes fixed on him was a mix of slight curiosity and caution. Although Lucas approached him actively from the first day, conducting tests and attempting guiding, his attitude towards Iberis was strictly professional. It was as if there was an invisible wall between them.
Of course, Iberis wasn’t upset about it. At the time, he acted similarly, suspecting Winfried’s intentions in sending Lucas to the N-0 unit. They were even.
When did affection for me appear on Lucas’s face?
Iberis looked up at Lucas with a newfound curiosity. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when warmth had seeped into those once indifferent eyes, when a gentle smile had replaced the tightly pressed lips, or when he started to sense personal feelings in Lucas’s attitude towards him. But it was fascinating how much a person could change in less than a year.
Mature and kind, yet occasionally mischievous like a child; rational and cool-headed at work, but more passionate and honest about his desires than anyone else when in front of his loved one.
Perhaps this was Lucas’s true self, only temporarily lost while living behind the mask of Luke Illum for the sake of avenging his parents. Thinking this way made Iberis’s nose tingle and his chest feel tight.
“Well, I don’t really have a specific type… On the day I came to the N-0 unit, I thought the Major had a handsome yet pretty face, and that you looked cute for your age. So maybe I liked you from the start but just wasn’t aware of it?”
“Ugh, when you say it like that, it makes me sound like a terrible person.”
“I don’t think you’re terrible. I’m just grateful that you accepted my feelings even though I’m not your type.”
“I was wrong, so please stop…”
I really should watch what I say. Iberis regretted his words and lightly slapped his own lips.
“Besides, what’s the point of debating whether I’m your type or not at this stage?”
“Huh?”
“Isn’t it important that I… like you? They say when you fall in love with someone, everything about that person becomes your type.”
Iberis lowered his eyes and cleared his throat. He seemed embarrassed after saying this.
“Hmm, so the conclusion is that you’ve come to love me enough to change your preferences?”
