“You’re back?”
Iberis raised his hand towards Lucas, who was gently embracing him from behind. When he stroked Lucas’s smooth cheek with his fingers, Lucas leaned his head into the touch. It reminded Iberis of a puppy showing affection to its owner, and his tense expression softened.
“Did the Investigation Bureau people not bother you?”
“No, they just checked if there were any discrepancies with Carlos’s statement.”
Lucas answered as if there was nothing to worry about. Until now, he had been known to be resting due to minor injuries sustained while subduing Carlos. He had been using this excuse to avoid cooperating with the Investigation Bureau’s requests for victim statements and such.
However, when photos of their outing yesterday were published in the newspaper, the Investigation Bureau expressed their regret. That’s why he had to give additional victim statements today.
“When I told them I went to the hospital for a check-up and bought some necessary items, they couldn’t say anything more.”
“Well, we are staying longer than originally planned because of the investigation. Did they get anything out of Carlos?”
“Well, they say they’ve completely broken the hypnosis. It seems the missing bartender and the dead friend are the culprits. As we suspected, there’s a mastermind behind their actions.”
“They haven’t identified the mastermind yet?”
“No. They say Carlos’s mental state is unstable due to severe addiction symptoms. Because of that, the credibility of his statements is low, so they’re verifying everything one by one. That’s why they came to get additional statements from me.”
“Tch.”
Iberis bit his lip at the unsatisfactory result. He didn’t want to doubt the Investigation Bureau’s abilities, but he was worried this might end inconclusively again.
“What did the Lieutenant General say?”
“He says they’re tracking the hacker who breached the security system in cooperation with the Investigation Bureau. And according to information sent by an agent dispatched to investigate Carlos’s family home, the missing bartender is believed to be a B-class villain called ‘Darkness’. The bar owner, employees, and some neighborhood people were also under hypnosis.”
“Darkness?”
“Yes. He’s a mental esper whose main ability is hypnosis. He was seen meeting Carlos on the day of the incident, and his whereabouts have been unclear since then.”
“That villain is probably dead.”
“Maybe. He could have escaped before the investigation started, but…”
Lucas swallowed the rest of his words. If Livio was the client who instigated the villain to manipulate Carlos, he likely eliminated him to silence him. It was unlikely that he would leave alive someone who could become a future threat.
Lucas, with his chin resting on Iberis’s shoulder, let out a small sigh. Even though the culprit could be someone else, it had become natural to suspect Livio whenever something happened.
“Why the sigh?”
“It’s a bit frustrating. But they say they’ve found some clues and are investigating.”
Lucas nuzzled Iberis’s neck like a child seeking comfort and took a deep breath with his face buried there. As the cool, fragrant scent like night air seeped deep into his lungs, he felt the heaviness in his chest lift, as if a stone had been removed.
“I hope there will be good results.”
“Since the Lieutenant General is personally involved, we won’t be caught off guard like last time. So, what were you pondering about? Is there any trouble in the unit?”
“No, I had a good talk with the Lieutenant. She was a bit upset that we didn’t tell her about us dating, but… It seems the unit got noisy after seeing today’s article. They even had a bet about us?”
“A bet?”
“Yeah. Guessing when we started dating…”
Iberis briefly relayed the unit’s situation and the reactions of people in the N-zone as told by Brenda.
“I see. Your expression looked serious, so I thought something had happened.”
“Ah, it’s nothing major… I was just thinking about what to do from now on.”
The gray eyes darkened. After becoming lovers with Lucas, Iberis’s goal changed from waiting for an unpredictable death to living happily with him for a long time.
To do that, he needed to overcome the life-consuming disease and escape his terminal condition. There were also other things he had to do. Namely, finding and avenging Lucas’s parents’ killer, and dealing with threats like Livio as much as possible.
“From now on?”
“Yeah, I have something I want to discuss with you about that… Sit down.”
Iberis patted the seat beside him. When Lucas sat down, he turned slightly to meet his gaze. Then he carefully chose his words. Although he had organized his thoughts, he didn’t know how to start the conversation.
“…You know, what if former Lieutenant General Logan isn’t your enemy?”
After hesitating for a moment, Iberis slowly moved his lips. Lucas’s eyes widened at the unexpected question.
“What?”
“According to what we’ve investigated so far, there’s enough circumstantial evidence to suspect him, but no concrete proof, right? You’ve been continuing to suspect him as your parents’ killer because there’s not enough physical evidence to implicate him?”
“That’s right.”
Lucas nodded with a heavy expression. For the past 10 years, he had been working with Winfried to uncover everything about Livio. But while they found his other misdeeds, they couldn’t find any decisive evidence linking him to that day’s incident.
Still, their efforts weren’t entirely fruitless. Lucas learned that there were several accomplices involved in Livio’s wrongdoings. He also discovered that they were likely connected to his parents’ death.
At the time of the incident, Livio’s helpers had enough power to easily suppress the military investigation and Winfried’s raising of suspicions. To hide their own misdeeds, they actively helped him cover up the Allis couple’s deaths as an accident. Most of them still held key positions in the military.
“That means former Lieutenant General Logan might not be the enemy, right? Although the possibility is very slim… Even if he didn’t kill your parents, do you still intend to attack him?”
“Of course.”
Iberis hesitated at Lucas’s unhesitating response.
“Why?”
“He may not be the target of my revenge, but he’s still your enemy.”
“Huh?”
“From the day he took away your precious people, and from the moment he targeted your life, Livio Logan became my enemy regardless of my parents’ death. So even if I was mistaken, he deserves to disappear from this world.”
Iberis gaped at Lucas’s reason. His heart raced foolishly at the declaration that Lucas would take down Livio for him, not for himself.
“Is that a sufficient answer?”
“Yeah…”
Iberis nodded, trying to control his expression. He was struggling to keep the corners of his mouth from turning up when he needed to focus on the conversation.
“Ahem, I understand your feelings well.”
“Are you planning to deal with Livio Logan?”
“That’s right. I’m going to completely remove him from my sight.”
Lucas’s face turned serious at the declaration made without any hesitation. Iberis’s expression was as resolute as his determined voice. He had truly prepared for everything.
“Until now, I’ve been passive in responding to Livio’s attacks. As I explained before, it was because I had people I was responsible for.”
Iberis had suppressed his desire to kill Livio because he didn’t want to endanger the unit members, including Brenda, and the families of deceased colleagues like Adrian.
Unless in special cases like killing terrorists or arresting robbers on the spot, ability users who kill people are branded as villains and live a life of being hunted, regardless of the reason. Having once been a member of a special investigation team, Iberis couldn’t help but worry about the situation after killing Livio.
“So I tried to live as quietly as possible. I thought if I stayed still, Livio wouldn’t bother me either. In fact, it had been quiet for the past few years, so I thought it would continue that way.”
“…”
“But this incident made me realize I was wrong. Livio was quiet all this time just to build up his power… He’s always been full of intentions to kill me. Not just me. Just look at how he attacked you this time… He’s clearly going to try to destroy everything I hold dear.”
“Hmm.”
“So I’m not going to sit still anymore. I’ll willingly get my hands dirty if necessary. I’ll try to move within legal bounds as much as possible… But I won’t let former Lieutenant General Logan have his way anymore.”
“I’ll follow you in whatever you do.”
“Thank you. So, I was thinking… Maybe I should provoke them first from my side.”
Iberis smiled faintly at Lucas’s support. Even just his words were reassuring.
“How?”
“I want to lay out some bait. For that, I need your help.”
“What kind…?”
“I want you to arrange a meeting with the person who’s currently acting as your stand-in.”
“What?”
“I need to meet the person who’s currently living as Viscount Blake in your place. More precisely, I want to show Livio the scene of me meeting him.”
