Does Spring Come Even for a Dying Esper

“What?”

“The person I was just talking to is my younger sister. There’s nothing wrong with telling family members you love them, is there?”

“Ah…”

Family. Iberis let out a small exclamation upon hearing Lucas’s explanation. A faint redness rose to his pale, almost white skin.

“R-right. It’s not strange to say ‘I love you’ to family.”

So it was a call with family. Iberis, finally clearing up the misunderstanding, groaned at the wave of embarrassment washing over him.

What an idiot, you fool.

Iberis inwardly berated himself, groaning. He wished there was a mouse hole he could hide in. He quietly pulled up the blanket to cover half his face. At the same time, a strange sense of relief rose in his chest, causing him to sigh unconsciously.

…Why am I feeling relieved?

Iberis hesitated, surprised at his own action of sighing in relief. He couldn’t understand why he was feeling this way.

“Has your curiosity been satisfied?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry for asking something strange…”

Iberis mumbled in a small voice, fidgeting with the innocent blanket. He couldn’t look Lucas in the eye due to embarrassment. Then, feeling a small sense of discomfort, he lowered the blanket covering his face.

“Wait, but weren’t you an only child?”

“…It’s my cousin.”

Lucas, who momentarily fell silent at the sharp question, hurriedly corrected himself. As Iberis pointed out, he was currently living under the alias Luke Illum. And Luke Illum was set up as an orphan who lost his parents and was taken in by his distant relative, Winfried.

However, it couldn’t be helped just now. Although he was pretending to be calm on the outside, Lucas was also flustered by Iberis’s misunderstanding that he had a lover.

“Cousin, ah… I see.”

Fortunately, Iberis didn’t find it strange and accepted it. Then he said, as if finding it interesting:

“You’re close with your cousin.”

“…That child’s situation is somewhat similar to mine.”

“Similar?”

Lucas stared for a moment at Iberis, who tilted his head as if to ask what that meant. He wanted to satisfy the curiosity gently glowing in those silver-gray eyes, but he wasn’t sure how much and how to explain.

“That child also lost her parents in an accident at a young age.”

After a very brief moment of contemplation, Lucas explained, cleverly mixing lies and truth. He decided to answer honestly except for the cousin part, thinking that lying about his sister’s story might complicate things later.

“That’s… Was it like your family, caught up in a dungeon break?”

“No. It was a fire accident.”

“Fire…?”

For a moment, a strange light flashed in Iberis’s eyes. After receiving guiding from Lucas, he had started to recall old memories he had long forgotten. He often dreamed about them, like today. Perhaps that’s why, at the mention of a fire accident, the name of a child came to mind.

“Come to think of it, you… Did you say you were from British nobility?”

“Me? Yes, that’s right.”

A girl from British nobility who lost her parents in a fire accident? Surely not… Iberis felt as if all the blood was draining from his body.

“Major?”

Lucas called out to Iberis, puzzled, as his complexion noticeably paled. He became anxious, wondering if he had made some mistake.

“Wait. Just a moment…”

Iberis frowned and hurriedly sat up. Swallowing hard, he moved his lips hesitantly.

“Captain. I know this question might be strange, but… Is your cousin’s name by any chance… ‘Regina Lowell Blake’?”

Lucas reacted quickly to the name of his younger sister coming from Iberis’s mouth. His eyes hardened as he sharply asked back:

“How did you know that?”

“Then, does that girl have an older brother? And is his name ‘Lucas Lowell Blake’?”

This time it’s my name. As Iberis spoke Lucas’s real name, deep furrows formed between Lucas’s brows. At this moment, he didn’t even have the composure to manage his expression. Looking perplexed, he ran his hand over his mouth.

“…If you don’t mind me asking, how do you know these two people, Major?”

Lucas asked hesitantly, uncharacteristically. He needed to find out how Iberis knew his real name and his sister’s name. He tried to remain calm as he waited for Iberis’s answer.

“Do you remember the doctor I mentioned before? The one who passed away in an accident.”

Fortunately, Iberis quickly satisfied Lucas’s curiosity. It wasn’t something he needed to hide in the first place. Rather, he was glad to have met someone close to Armand couple’s children.

“I remember. You’re talking about Medical Officer Armand Allis, right?”

“That’s right. I heard about it from him before. During psychological counseling, he mentioned that his son was the same age as me.”

“He talked to you about his family?”

“Yes, I even saw photos. He said it would be nice if I became friends with his son and that he’d introduce us later…”

Iberis’s expression darkened as he recalled the unfulfilled promise.

“But he suddenly passed away in an accident, so meeting his son never happened.”

“I… see.”

Lucas tensed his neck to hide his agitation. He felt slightly dizzy learning about this past connection only today. He hoped his expression wasn’t strange as he waited for Iberis to continue.

“I heard that the doctor and his wife died at the scene, but the children were rescued alive. After some hesitation, I went to the hospital where they were admitted, but I couldn’t meet them.”

“You even went to the hospital?”

Lucas’s eyes twisted at the continuously revealed new facts. He simply couldn’t maintain his composure.

“Yes. They said their condition was too poor for visitors. Since I wasn’t family…”

Iberis gave a bitter smile. He didn’t find Lucas’s reactions suspicious. It was understandable to be surprised about close family members he kept in affectionate contact with.

“After that, I had to go out on field missions, so I couldn’t visit again. When I heard they were discharged and tried to find out more, their whereabouts had become unknown…”

Iberis trailed off, as if still regretting it. While he genuinely wanted to help Armand couple’s children, there was another reason he wanted to meet Lucas.

On the day Armand couple died in the accident, a Name suddenly appeared on Iberis’s right ankle. The meaning of a Name appearing on one’s body was clear: the guide connected to Iberis’s soul had awakened.

Since the Name engraved on his ankle happened to be the same as Armand’s son’s name, Iberis occasionally felt the urge to check if he might be his guide, despite the slim chances.

Lucas.

Thinking of the Name engraved on his ankle, Iberis unconsciously touched his right ankle. After the Name appeared, he had occasionally inquired if there was a guide named Lucas, but he hadn’t found one so far.

“It was a few years after the accident, wasn’t it? I think I was 20 or 21… Later, I saw some news about them being nobility. Viscount Blake, was it? Something about nobility with royal blood, an entrepreneur who overcame a tragic childhood accident…”

Iberis heard about Lucas Lowell Blake again from news he saw by chance. As it turned out, the Blake family was quite distinguished.

The news anchor reported on the achievements of the pharmaceutical company run by Viscount Lucas Lowell Blake, briefly introducing his story. It mentioned how he rarely left his own mansion due to full-body burns from a childhood fire accident, and his eccentricity of thoroughly covering his face when going out.

“…When you learned about this, didn’t you think about visiting?”

“I did. But they seemed to be from a completely different world. I’m an esper, and they’re ordinary people. I thought it might not be good to get involved unnecessarily.”

Iberis frankly revealed why he didn’t visit even after learning about Lucas Lowell Blake. If he had been an ability user like himself, he might have gone to meet him earlier. He wouldn’t have been able to resist the desire to confirm if he was his Name match.

But Viscount Lucas Lowell Blake wasn’t even an esper, let alone a guide. He was a successful businessman who had steadfastly raised his family despite suffering from indelible scars from a childhood accident. So Iberis gave up on finding Lucas.

“It would be a bit funny to just show up saying I knew your parents before, right?”

“…The Lucas I know would have welcomed your visit, Major.”

“Really? Hmm, but at that time, the situation was difficult in many ways. My superior then, Major Jackson, was secretly investigating former Lieutenant General Logan’s misconduct.”