The contents of the letter from the Igtheon Guild, which I came up to the laboratory to check, surprisingly agreed to proceed exactly as per the draft contract I had sent.

‘I never expected they’d actually accept my terms…’

I was half skeptical. Honestly, I thought the probability of the contract falling through was higher—I truly never expected it to be finalized like this.

Of course, they did attach one condition of their own.

From this clause, I could sense they genuinely anticipated the weapons I would create. One thing was certain—they had assigned me very high value.

I immediately showed the letter’s contents to Barunen and also wrote a letter to Orland to inform him of these developments.

After swiftly finishing those tasks, I returned to Ascan in the underground bunker and handed him the clothes I’d brought from his room.

Clearly, in the past, even if I jokingly pretended to unbutton Ascan’s shirt, he would blush with embarrassment—but now, things were completely different.

Leaning casually against the wall, Ascan showed no trace of shyness; if anything, he seemed to be deliberately showcasing his appearance to me.

It was I who ended up avoiding his deep, lingering gaze.

“Put it on quickly.”

Ascan took the clothes I handed him and muttered unconsciously,

“…It’s not black.”

“If you don’t like it, go upstairs and change.”

“It’s not that.”

The way Ascan put on the shirt was somehow sensual. His casual movements kept catching my eye—likely because of his excessively handsome looks.

“You said black suits me well, Miss.”

“Did I?”

I didn’t remember clearly. Now that I heard it, I might have said something like that.

─The outfit you’re wearing today suits you well.

─Is that so?

─You seem to suit black, no matter what.

─…I see.

I’d spoken those words carelessly—had he remembered them all this time?

I looked at Ascan, now fully dressed, with a puzzled expression.

“Don’t tell me the reason you’ve been wearing so much black lately is because of that?”

“Yes. I wanted to look good for you, Miss.”

“You really don’t have to go that far.”

“To me, any color of clothing is the same. If possible, I’d rather wear what you say suits me best.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong if he put it that way…

But I hadn’t expected a single offhand remark of mine to linger so deeply in Ascan’s mind—it left me feeling strangely unsettled.

‘Could I be missing something?’

I tried recalling the original plot of , but no matter how hard I thought, nothing special came to mind.

While I was unknowingly lost in thought, Ascan had quietly drawn near and looked down at me, asking in a soft voice,

“You should head upstairs. It’s almost time for dinner.”

“Ah, right.”

“If there are carrots in the food again today, please give them to me.”

“Got it. Since you eat the carrots I don’t like, it’s quite convenient for me.”

Sometime ago, Ascan started picking out and eating the carrots I refused to eat. It might seem trivial, but for someone as picky as me, it was an immense relief.

“I could eat even worse things for you.”

“What?”

“I mean, if you wish it, I can do anything for you.”

Ascan’s casually spoken words carried far more meaning than I initially assumed.

I looked up at him with startled eyes.

Was he growing taller? Ascan suddenly seemed overwhelmingly large.

Since when had he been looking at me with such eyes?

Though his face still showed little overt emotion, his gaze toward me dripped with gentle affection.

Not long after, a reply arrived from Orland, stating it was acceptable to proceed with the contract with the Igtheon Guild.

I’d also discussed it with Barunen, but it was hard to find better terms than those currently offered by the Igtheon Guild.

If we weren’t designating a distributor, perhaps it’d be different—but since I wasn’t crafting magical engineering weapons as a hobby, having a designated distributor was convenient in many ways.

After much deliberation, I decided to contract with the Igtheon Guild.

Once my mind was made up, there was no reason to delay. I promptly sent a letter to the Igtheon Guild stating my intent to proceed with the contract.

I now had a state-of-the-art laboratory filled with advanced machinery, and a designated distributor.

With all conditions in place, I could feel the time approaching to decide how to develop new weapons.

‘The weakness of K01, in a way, reflects a broader issue with all magical engineering weapons.’

Magic stones were prohibitively expensive—and yet, they couldn’t be used indefinitely.

‘It’d be great if I could develop a rechargeable version…’

Magic stones were rare to begin with, which contributed to their high price, but their limited usage meant they quickly needed replacement.

Supply perpetually lagged behind demand, right?

This would remain a persistent obstacle no matter what kind of magical engineering weapon I developed in the future.

‘As I thought before, the Karua Empire likely conducted the forbidden human weapon experiments precisely because they couldn’t solve this magic stone issue.’

Recently, while pondering how to regulate Ascan’s power, I realized even more than what I’d only read in the novel .

Naturally, as a reader in the past, I’d focused on entertainment—but now, living in this other world and accumulating new knowledge, these realizations struck me far more profoundly.

‘The tattoos engraved on Ascan’s body…’

They were traces of special powers forcibly implanted into an ordinary human body.

To put it simply, if you engraved the ancient word for [Fire] onto a person’s body, that person would gain the power of [Fire]—was that the principle?

The explanation might sound simple, but researching the ancient script imbued with such power, the process of engraving it onto the body, and the body’s ability to accept new power—all of it had to align perfectly. Not a single element could be out of place.

In the original story, Tanashia Brellof, upon seeing Ascan’s body, hoped she too could acquire water-based abilities like Noxia Brellof—but achieving that might have required risking her life.

‘But now that I’ve studied magical engineering, it’s fascinating. How can such special power be implanted into an ordinary human body?’

I’d seen with my own eyes the flames Ascan created.

It was astonishing to realize such a thing was actually possible.

Just as I was about to close the notebook where I’d been scribbling down random thoughts that popped into my head,

suddenly, a completely new idea flashed through my mind.

‘Implanting special power into an ordinary human body—that’s the human weapon experiment.’

But did it necessarily have to be a human body?

‘What if I applied the same principle to implant special power into an ordinary stone?’

Magic stones formed naturally.

But what if I could artificially create them by engraving ancient script?

If I could apply the exact same principle used on Ascan’s body to an ordinary pebble, perhaps expensive magic stones would no longer be necessary.

I felt as if struck by lightning—I realized something profound.

‘Maybe… I can create magic stones myself.’

If successful, none of my future magical engineering weapons would require magic stones. That would drastically reduce production costs.

Moreover, if this attempt succeeded, further research might even overcome the limitation of usage counts.

‘This is it!’

I stopped agonizing over whether to improve K01’s weaknesses or develop an entirely new weapon.

Creating a new magic stone that encompassed everything became my most urgent priority.

I spread a large sheet of paper across my desk and began writing frantically, trying to organize the ideas that had just flooded my mind.

Just then, Ascan entered the room holding a cup of herbal tea.

“Miss?”

“Ascan, take your clothes off right now.”

Ascan looked at me, bewildered, but seeing me absorbed in writing magical formulas as if possessed, he silently removed his upper garment without protest.

Engraved on Ascan’s back were ancient scripts—clear remnants of the experiment.

I’d overlooked it before, but these were essentially magical formulas written in ancient script.

Just as I installed magic stones into magical engineering weapons to grant them abilities, these tattoos engraved on Ascan’s body served that exact function.

“Stay still for a moment.”

I began copying the ancient script from Ascan’s back onto paper.

In the past, I wouldn’t have understood—but now, being able to fully decipher the ancient script written on his back filled me with awe.

Tanashia Brellof in the original story had researched Ascan before I did. I suddenly wanted to see the notes she’d written about those experiments, which I’d glossed over without much thought before.

“I should tell Jerin to fetch my old belongings from the Brellof estate.”

After furiously scribbling on paper for a long while, I finally stopped.

This was where I hit a wall. It wasn’t a problem I could solve immediately—I needed more time to think it over.

Just as I was about to call for Jerin,

I suddenly realized Ascan was still standing there shirtless, like a mannequin.

‘Oops.’

I’d been so absorbed in the idea of a new magic stone that I hadn’t noticed Ascan’s state.

Without a word, I walked over to Ascan, who stood with his back to me, and hurriedly draped his discarded clothes over his shoulders.

“Sorry, that was too sudden, wasn’t it?”

Only then did Ascan turn his head to look at me.

He’d kept his body turned so I could comfortably examine the tattoos on his back—this was the first time our eyes truly met.

“It’s fine. I can take off my clothes anytime, anywhere, if you ask me to, Miss.”

Hmm? His tone carried definite potential for misunderstanding, but I sensed his loyal devotion, so I chose not to press the issue.

“Thank you.”

“But you’re only interested in my tattoos, Miss—you look at my actual body so indifferently, it’s starting to feel a little hurt.”

“Huh?”

Ascan turned fully toward me, still wearing the clothes I’d just draped over his shoulders, and stared straight at me.

Instinctively, I took a step back, suddenly overwhelmed by the imposing aura he radiated.

When did he get so big?

Since he wasn’t fully dressed, his firm chest and tightly defined abs were visible through the unbuttoned gaps in his shirt.

I looked at Ascan with puzzled eyes—then he suddenly grabbed my hand and guided it straight toward his chest.

I flinched, startled by the sensation of touching Ascan’s bare skin.

“What—what are you doing?”

“If just looking isn’t enough to appreciate it, you’re welcome to touch.”

Do I look like some kind of pervert?

I was momentarily speechless and wanted to scold him, but his gaze toward me was so intensely hot that my body froze on its own.

“You—you’re doing something dangerous right now.”

“What’s dangerous?”

“Exposing your body to just anyone.”

Ah, I was the one who told him to take it off.

I wanted to correct myself, but given the situation, I cleared my throat once and continued,

“You shouldn’t let people touch you so casually.”

“Why not? I’m a slave. That means I belong to you.”

How did the conversation turn into this?

I did consider Ascan mine, but not in that sense.

“I belong to you, so you can undress me and touch me however you like.”

“I won’t do anything like that without your consent…!”

“I like it.”

I’d sensed Ascan had changed somehow since the academic festival, but recently, he’d started doing things like this—unexpected actions that caught me completely off guard.

I was confused.

Seeing me gaze at him with a complicated expression, Ascan frowned slightly and gave a vague, troubled smile.

“If you keep looking at me like that, I might think you’re about to devour me.”

“This doesn’t seem to be about my expression right now.”

“What if I really did?”

“…!”

My words caught in my throat.

Thump. Thump.

It was the moment my long-forgotten heart suddenly reminded me it still existed.

Knock, knock. Just then, Jerin’s voice came from outside, accompanied by a knock on the door.

“Miss, a visitor has arrived at the laboratory.”

A visitor? Who would possibly come to see me?

Barely regaining my composure at Jerin’s words, I pushed Ascan away. He obediently stepped back as I pushed him.

Standing one step apart, I buttoned up Ascan’s shirt and looked up at him sternly.

“Don’t do things like this again unless you’re deliberately trying to seduce someone.”

For some reason, Ascan’s expression turned crestfallen at my words.

He seemed like he wanted to say something, but Jerin waiting outside the door took priority for now.

“Who came to visit?”

In response to my question, Jerin’s crisp voice answered from outside.

“He says to tell you Dekain from the Igtheon Guild has arrived.”

“What? Dekain?”

Dekain came here?

I looked toward the door where Jerin stood, my eyes wide with surprise.

Ascan’s pupils darkened. Unlike moments before, his expression hardened—as if something deeply displeased him.