PMEVBO 15

“No. Absolutely not.”

Common sense told me so.

Even if the two of them really used to call each other ‘darling,’ ‘honey,‘ or ‘my love’, one of them is half dead and the other is an exiled criminal. They can’t possibly still be madly in love.

Setting aside the issue of me possessing Lucariel, it’s only natural to see their relationship as already ruined from the moment violence replaced love.

“Then why did they send you this red letter?”

“…Exactly.”

That’s what I’m saying. The guy who got beaten to a pulp by the original Lucariel, what kind of mindset did he have to send a love letter? Did he get hit too hard on the head?

Is it Stockholm syndrome, or something like that?

There was only one way to unravel this chain of questions. The moment Iser withdrew his hand from the letter, I immediately opened the sealed envelope to check its contents.

But inside, there was no explanation. Filling the bright red envelope wasn’t a letter, but a pile of carcasses. A graveyard for dozens of butterflies, dead with wings and bodies torn apart. That was the true nature of this letter.

What the hell is this…

The grotesque sight made me let out a hollow laugh.

Sending insect corpses in letters hardly seems like a common practice between lovers. So is this harassment? Or revenge…?

My brother was the kind of person who constantly had his home invaded by insects. Whenever an insect appeared in the house, instead of kicking it out, he’d leave the house himself and never come back.

I lost count of how many times I reclaimed the house from insects for him. I tried to evict them without killing them whenever possible, but for pests like cockroaches or mosquitoes, I didn’t hesitate to kill them.

To me, a dead insect with its wings torn off was nothing special.

Yeah, it really was nothing special.

“Huh… Huh…!”

I didn’t know why I was like this.

It felt like someone was choking me; no matter how hard I breathed, it wasn’t enough. My heart was pounding so fast it felt like it would burst out of my chest any second.

“Lucariel, what’s wrong with you…?”

Iser looked more startled than I’d ever seen him before.

But I couldn’t reassure him. Only choked sobs escaped my parched lips. My whole body was drenched in cold sweat, my lungs ached as if they would burst, and my stomach churned.

Suddenly, everything felt unbearably heavy. Sitting here, meeting Iser’s gaze, everything.

“…Why… why do I have to be here?”

In the end, I fled the scene.

***

My body, trembling like a shaved puppy, finally calmed when the bathwater grew lukewarm.

After several deep breaths submerged in the cold water, my broken body gradually began functioning normally again. Since I was already wet, I finished a quick shower and awkwardly returned to the hideout.

“Sorry. I suddenly felt a bit sick.”

“…You felt sick?”

“Yes.”

Iser’s skeptical gaze stung my face like needles, but I forced myself to look calm as I headed for the table.

The table was spotless, probably cleared by Iser while I was gone. The red letter was nowhere to be seen either.

“I put the letter in the drawer behind you. …Take it if you want.”

“…Thanks.”

I was grateful for the thoughtfulness of hiding the letter away from sight for me.

But he didn’t look inside the envelope, right?

Given the nature of the contents inside, I worried Iser might have needlessly ruined his eyes. But Iser, who was always quick to draw lines with me, didn’t seem like the type to open my letter, so I quickly calmed down.

Relieved, I started boiling water in the pot. Just as the sound of bubbling water filled the small space, Iser, sitting across from me, asked.

“If you’re sick… should I hold your hand?”

It was an unusually cautious tone for him.

Iser had said something similar to me before. It stemmed from his adorable logic that if I got sick, it might hinder his own escape plans.

It’s probably the same this time…

Even if that were true, the concern for me was undeniably present in those vivid blue eyes.

He’s kind, after all.

When I chuckled, Iser’s gentle gaze turned cold. Before the raised corners of his eyes reached the top of his head, I hurriedly answered.

“Thank you. But I’m not hurting anymore. I’m fine now.”

It was true. Now that I’d placed the problematic envelope on the tray, I felt perfectly normal. Though my heart was beating erratically and I was feeling nauseous, it wasn’t unbearable.

If I look inside the envelope again, I might freak out. But I don’t need to check it right now.

I could check it later when I was alone.

I knew one thing for sure. The moment I checked inside this envelope, the terror that took hold of me wasn’t mine.

As I said before, the me before the possession wasn’t someone who felt fear at insect carcasses. I was the kind of person who could kill a cockroach with my bare hands. If that me suddenly found myself helplessly trembling before a dead butterfly after the possession, then perhaps that was…

The fear of the original Lucariel imprinted on this body.

Lost in thought, I hadn’t even noticed the tea had finished steeping when I heard Iser cough. I quickly handed the peppermint tea to the child who was coughing lightly.

After the tea I offered calmed his cough, Iser suddenly brought up an unexpected topic.

“…Peppermint.”

“Why, is it not good?”

This was the first time Iser had reacted to the food I brought. My heart raced. Could it be that he disliked peppermint tea, which was why the quest hadn’t been cleared until now?

“It’s not that. It’s just that you always seem to bring it. …Do you like peppermint tea?”

Ah, what? Me?

I never expected Iser to show this kind of interest in me.

I appreciate it, but I’d rather you just tell me what you like.

I was the one dying of curiosity.

I answered, trying hard not to show my disappointment.

“I don’t exactly love it, but I heard it’s good for colds.”

“You have a cold?”

If I nodded even slightly, he’d grab my hand in an instant. It was touching, but I, possessing Lucariel’s steel-like body, was currently healthy enough to chew through stone.

“No, not me. You. You. You seem like you might have a cold. Right?”

“What? Me? …Why would I have a cold?”

His expression said he’d heard some strange things in his life.

Well, I guess it is weird for a body that survived five years without eating to catch something as trivial as a cold.

Yes, I thought so too, but…

“You’ve been coughing a lot.”

Why else would he keep coughing if he weren’t catching a cold? That’s why I kept bringing him peppermint tea.

If this didn’t help, I was going to call the physician and get some medicine. Of course, I’d lie and say I caught a cold myself.

After staring at me for a while, Iser stammered hesitantly.

“No, it’s… because of that.”

“What?”

“Because my voice is changing…!”

After shouting that, Iser cringed like an octopus that had squirted out too much ink.

Voice changing…?

I was momentarily stunned by the unexpected words, but soon understood.

Ah, right. Some boys cough a lot during their puberty.

His voice cracking a lot, or sometimes struggling to speak, it was highly likely due to that. If it wasn’t because he was sick somewhere, but simply because of his voice was changing, that was a relief.

But why is he acting like this?

Iser was lying flat on the table with his nose pressed against it. I gently smoothed his messy long hair and asked.

“Why are you doing that? Are you embarrassed?”

“Who’s embarrassed…!”

Iser jumped up, he abruptly sat up as he retorted. Even in the dim light, the face I finally saw was flushed red.

This kid has a cute side.

Come to think of it, I went through puberty in middle school too…

Wait a minute. Middle school?

“Hey, Iser.”

“What. Why…?”

“How old are you?”

“…Why do you need to know?”

What a prickly kid.

But I had a way to roughly guess how old Iser was. Isabel was currently 19. In the original story, Iser was born five years after Isabel, meaning Iser was now 14.

What? That means he’s really just middle school age.

……He looks younger than he is?

Indeed, Iser appeared to be about a third-grader at first glance. That’s why I’d unconsciously assumed his age and never even considered calculating it until now.

Wait, didn’t he say he survived five years without food?

He’s not fine. It’s because of that bastard Duke that he couldn’t eat and didn’t grow tall!

I briefly resolved to feed him more diligently while I had him, then scratched the back of my head and thought.

But have I been treating a teenager who’s about middle school age like a little kid this whole time?

From my perspective, I was twenty-five before the possession, whether elementary or middle school, they were all just little kids to me. But teenage boys can be pretty sensitive, so I was a bit worried.

That’s when the little kid spoke up.

“…How old are you?”

I lied without batting an eye.

“Me? Thirteen.”

“What? You?”

Perhaps I looked too old for thirteen, because Iser stared at me with wide, startled eyes. I chuckled and asked back.

“Why? Are you thirteen?”

“What are you talking about? I’m fourteen.”

Look at him jumping up to correct me. He really is a cute kid.

“……I told you. So answer me. How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

According to the original story, Lucariel was two years younger than Isabelle.

“Call me big brother.”

“Forget it……!”

This kid sure is prickly.