Chapter 1

Several months ago, at the Reshamore Laboratory.

“Ughhh…”

Erin went to get up but instead clutched her head and groaned. She had slept slumped over her desk all night, and her body ached terribly.

“I should have mixed it more moderately.”

On top of that, she had mixed and drunk whatever nourishing tonics and awakening potions she could get her hands on, and now her head felt like it was splitting. Even if she had gotten completely wasted on regular alcohol, she wouldn’t have gotten a headache like this.

“This is all because of the experiment… Ah!”

Right. The experiment!

Erin, who had been massaging her throbbing temples, flailed her arms. 

Crash. 

A stack of reports she had brushed with her fingertips collapsed, but she paid them no mind. Reaching blindly, her hand finally closed around a lab beaker. It was a beaker holding a brand-new drug, still warm from just having been distilled and refined.

‘Is it done?’

Her head snapped up. 

At the same time, swish. 

Something slipped off her shoulder, but she didn’t have time to look back.

“It… it must be, right?”

The new drug was glowing with the mysterious pink color she had expected.

‘The color does look a little like a love potion or an aphrodisiac.’

But that was something she could change later or not. Erin was absorbed in staring at it for a while, intoxicated by excitement and a sense of accomplishment.

Fwip.

Someone took the beaker from her hand as if retrieving it, and then placed a different cup in her grasp. Steam rose lazily from the warm contents inside.

“…Ash!”

“Did you sleep in the lab again?”

She turned around to see Ash. Her first and last assistant, hired three years ago when she began this experiment. He was flaunting his handsome face again, looking down at his superior, Erin, with a hint of pity, despite being just an assistant.

His red eyes, shining in the morning light, were as captivating as ever. From his perfectly sculpted features and thick masculine eyebrows to his unusually broad frame for a researcher, he was the very embodiment of masculinity. Even the thick glasses, which would have looked like a ‘beauty-sealing item’ on any other man’s face, just looked like a famous celebrity’s fashion accessory on Ash’s.

But his looks, which would have normally captivated Erin, had no effect on her today. Her attention was completely focused elsewhere.

“Give it back!”

Erin’s small, white hands reached for the beaker Ash had taken. Ash dodged her attempt as if it were laughable and lightly tapped the cup he had placed in her hand.

“After you finish that.”

“Hmph…”

“Talk like an adult and finish your soup.”

“I said hmph.”

Erin’s short reply met his firm tone. She then drank the contents in her hand without question. As she swallowed, her insides warmed up, and it felt like hangover soup. 

‘Hangover soup? But I didn’t even drink alcohol.’ 

The absurd thing was that it actually worked, and her lingering headache vanished completely. It even tasted incredible.

Erin looked up at Ash, secretly impressed. 

‘Is there anything this guy can’t do?’ 

Even though he was her assistant, Ash had perfect looks, was meticulous in his experiments, and was even a great cook and cleaner. He was a man of many talents, a true jack-of-all-trades.

‘Of course, he wasn’t good from the start; he gradually improved.’

It felt like only yesterday when she hired Ash on the spot when he came to the lab, then drank the burnt coffee he made and rationalized it by thinking, ‘With a face like that, he can be forgiven.’

‘Besides, he improved incredibly fast.’

Erin quickly finished the soup, put the empty cup down with a clink, and exclaimed, “There. I finished it. Give it back.”

“You drank it so messily.”

Ash frowned. He casually wiped the corner of Erin’s mouth and then her lips. This happened so often that it no longer surprised her.

Seizing the opportunity, Erin practically threw herself at Ash as he was meticulously wiping her lips. “I said, give it to me!”

Ash easily caught her as if her charge were nothing, and reflexively lifted the beaker high. Erin, struggling and losing her balance, was pressed tightly against him, rubbing up against his body.

“Doctor.”

Ash’s brows furrowed slightly. It seemed the overt rubbing of her slender body was bothering him, but Erin herself didn’t even notice their bodies touching. She also didn’t care that her soft breasts were being pressed against Ash’s hard chest. Her eyes were fixed only on the beaker he had taken.

“You’re my assistant! You shouldn’t interfere with my experiment and get in the way!”

Ash sighed at her words and slowly looked down at her.

“As your assistant, I have a duty to look after your health.”

“That’s…”

“You’re constantly pulling all-nighters, sleeping in a mess in the lab, and drinking random concoctions even though you know you shouldn’t…”

“…I can stop doing that now!”

“You can stop?”

“That’s the finished product!”

“The finished product?”

“…Probably!”

At Erin’s words, Ash also instinctively looked back at the beaker. Inside the glass, a viscous pink liquid swirled. A strange look came into Ash’s eyes as he watched the small whirlpool created by the shaking potion.

“This is the finished product?”

“Yes!”

“The problematic finished product that Duke Aston requested?”

“That’s right!”

Erin nodded her head vigorously. 

‘Finally!’ 

The long and arduous experiment was over.

‘It really was long.’

A tear almost came to her eyes as she thought of the past. Her mind spontaneously recalled the moment she first realized she had reincarnated.

“Sigh. Of all things.”

So, a few years ago.

It was a day right before graduating as the top student in the Alchemy Department. She was at the academy library, climbing a ladder and searching the stacks for materials for the Imperial Certified Alchemist exam. While she was struggling to get a document from a high shelf, the ladder slipped. Erin stumbled backward, hit her head on the bookshelf, and fell to the floor.

Having fallen from such a height, she thought she was going to die. But instead, along with a splitting headache, memories of her past life returned.

And she realized…

“…Isn’t reincarnating into a 19+ dark, angsty novel a bit cliché?”

She realized what kind of world this was that she had been reincarnated into. Her last memory from her past life was of being unable to handle the stress of working overtime. She had sought out spicy food and had even resorted to looking for a “spicy” novel to read. The pharmaceutical company Erin had worked at in her past life was a respectable big corporation, but it was also famous for grinding its researchers into dust.

So that day, too, she had worked all night. On her way home from work, she was reading a very famous, trashy, and “spicy” 19+ novel—the very novel she had now entered—when…

“I got hit by a truck… This is cliché, too.”

She wasn’t particularly surprised. After all, she had read plenty of stories about dying in an accident and reincarnating into the novel you were reading in life.

Besides, even if this novel was a famous 19+ dark and angsty one…

“I’m probably fine, since I’m just Background Character 1 anyway…”

Lady Erin Reshamore, the top student of the Alchemy Department at the academy, and a former pharmaceutical company researcher in her past life, was a complete background character without even a single mention of her name in the original story.

‘I’m sure this is the academy the heroine attends, but…’

In the story, the poor commoner heroine diligently studied on her own and was admitted to the Imperial Academy as a scholarship student. The academy, which advocates for an equal talent recruitment regardless of social class, turns out to be a place famous for underhanded conflicts and the political schemes and abuses of noble children.

The heroine meets the cruel Crown Prince here, and they fall in love, and so on. The main plot follows the heroine as she develops a love-hate relationship with the Crown Prince at the academy, only to eventually be forcibly taken by him, becoming a “wilting flower.” But no matter how much she replayed the content of the original novel, which was famous for its sadism and high-level intimacy, the name ‘Erin’ never appeared. In fact, even…

‘Our majors are different, and so are our buildings.’

Erin wasn’t even a student in the Magic and Swordsmanship Department, where the main characters were having all their drama. She was simply the top scholarship student in the Alchemy Department, a major that was practical for immediate employment and a decent living. She was obsessed with the idea of graduating with good grades, becoming an Imperial Certified Alchemist, and earning a living by securing grants and research funds. As the eldest daughter of a family deep in debt, she had no choice but to take on that role.

In this situation, remembering her past life as a pharmaceutical researcher made her feel invincible. Wouldn’t she be able to use her past life’s knowledge and memories to create all kinds of medicinal potions based on modern drugs and become a pioneer? All that was left was to work her fingers to the bone, pay off her family’s debt, and gain her freedom.

“Alright. I’ll just live my life.”

She wasn’t disappointed that she had no role in the original story. In fact, it was a relief.

‘If I were the heroine or the villainess, my head would be spinning just thinking about how to survive.’

Feeling relieved, she decided to live a normal life as a mere extra. But…

“Look out!”

The very next day after realizing she had been reincarnated, Erin was late for the Imperial Certified Alchemist exam. She was running without looking where she was going when a sudden hand startled her. Someone had shouted “Look out!” and pushed her aside.

Crash!

A loud noise followed. Erin was terrified, but she quickly understood the situation. She was about to be hit by a carriage while carelessly crossing the road, and someone had saved her and been hit instead. It was a small girl.

“Excuse me! Are you okay?”

“You’re the one who got hit! Are you not hurt?”

“You’re the one who was hit! Blood! There’s blood on your leg!”

Fortunately, the carriage wasn’t moving fast, so the girl wasn’t badly hurt. Erin was momentarily captivated by her incredibly beautiful, pure, and fragile appearance. Just then…

“What’s all this commotion?”

A boy stepped out of the carriage, looking displeased, but he was also overly beautiful. The coachman’s voice reached Erin’s ears, leaving her stunned.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, it’s just that…”

“What? That was the Crown Prince’s carriage…”

Erin was horrified.

‘…So this is the role of the extra I play!’

The character who almost gets hit by a carriage, saved by the heroine, and only says one line, “Are you okay?”—the character who just passes by in the story without even a name. The extra who was so insignificant, yet provided the catalyst for the heroine and male lead to meet!

Immediately after she realized her place in the story, something significant was already sparking between the heroine and male lead. Erin involuntarily covered her mouth, feeling guilty. She already knew the miserable future awaiting this small, fairy-like heroine.

‘But I can’t just tell her, “Sister, don’t meet that guy!”…’

Furthermore, Erin was about to graduate and leave the academy, while the heroine was just a girl who had just been admitted and was entering the dormitory. In short, they had no more points of contact.

“Get in. It’s an utter nuisance, but I must have the royal physician look at you.”

“Your Highness, I…”

“I said, get in.”

“Wha-what? H-hey, just a moment!”

While Erin was wringing her hands in distress, the male lead had already put the heroine in his carriage and was taking her away. There was nothing Erin could do.

‘Wow. What am I going to do!’

She tried to reassure herself that she didn’t need to worry because the original plot would unfold anyway. But the heroine she had actually met was a real, living person. A person who had saved her. A fairy-like girl who, with her small body, had taken the place of being hit by the carriage and was now bleeding.

Worried about the heroine that day, Erin ended up failing the Imperial Certified Alchemist exam. What filled her mind wasn’t the alchemical symbols or ingredients she had painstakingly memorized, but the dramatic, tragic path of the original story. After coming out of the exam hall, having replayed the entire ending of the original in her head, Erin clutched her head and muttered.

“…This is all because they didn’t use contraception.”

There was a reason she reached that conclusion. The heroine, who starts with a forced relationship and eventually falls for the male lead (with a `no-no-no-yes-yes-yes` kind of dynamic), also experiences an unwanted pregnancy and childbirth, as befits a tragic heroine. And in that process…

‘Her body and mind become so weak that she dies.’

She had already exhausted all her mental strength from the emotional turmoil of an unwanted pregnancy, and then used all her remaining strength during childbirth. To make matters worse, the male lead only found out about her pregnancy belatedly. This was because when the heroine, after finding out she was pregnant, sounded out the male lead by asking what he would think of having a child with her, he said something like, “A child of you and me? Of course, we’ll have to get rid of it,” and she ran away.

Erin wondered why male leads in these angsty stories always said things they didn’t mean.

‘They’ll regret it so much later.’

Afterward, the male lead becomes obsessed with finding the heroine, but he only finds her body, which causes him to have a mental breakdown and goes mad. The story ends with him becoming a tyrant who only keeps women who look like the heroine by his side, eventually killing them all before getting his head cut off by the guillotine, and a close aide of the Crown Prince bitterly reminiscing on their tragic love story.

‘…So, if only they had used contraception!’

If they had, the heroine wouldn’t have had an unwanted pregnancy, and she would only have had to endure half of the tragedy. There wouldn’t have been a tyrant, or all those women who looked like the heroine wouldn’t have died. After all, the male lead realizes his love and regrets his actions to the point of death as soon as the heroine runs away. He doesn’t even need to have a child; just a hint of her running away would have been enough.

‘Should I go buy them some birth control pills?’

But birth control pills in this world were unreliable. Even the expensive ones had a hit-or-miss success rate. And condoms were just animal intestines that were prone to infection. At least, unless there was a huge breakthrough in that area in the next few years, birth control pills would be useless…

“…Should I try it myself?”

As she muttered this to herself, she somehow felt it was possible. She had the memories of a pharmaceutical company researcher. On top of that, she was already the top student in the field of alchemy, so with a little more effort, she thought she could develop a perfect contraceptive.

‘…I bet there would be a lot of demand.’

This was a world of 19+ angsty romance. A world where women who faced unwanted pregnancies tried to get abortions using unsanitary methods, and many ended up dying. Not just common women, but noble ladies as well. Furthermore, medical science, especially concerning pregnancy and childbirth, was particularly underdeveloped. It might have even been a setting designed for a `run-away-after-getting-pregnant` storyline.

‘Which meant—this was a total blue ocean market*.’

[*T/N: the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid.]

In a world like this, there would be many people who wanted a reliable contraceptive. In conclusion…

‘I can change the fate of the unhappy heroine and other women, and pay off my family’s debt. It’s a win-win, right?’

If she succeeded, she would be doing a good deed, and she might even get to sit on a pile of money and live a life of ease. Having reached a reasonably logical conclusion, Erin, who had failed the Imperial Certified Alchemist exam anyway, immediately set up her own lab. It was a lab she had managed to open by pulling in loans and using the small amount of money she had saved from tutoring academy entrance exams.

Aside from the fact that her family’s bad credit made it quite difficult to get loans, having her own lab was a good thing. Though it was in a shabby building, in a room filled with cobwebs, and with rotting, old furniture.

“It all starts now!”

The heroine still had some time before she would graduate. After graduating and becoming an adult, the heroine would soon be imprisoned by the male lead and begin her hot days of `no-no-no-yes-yes-yes`. It was then that a hardcore, thorny path of misery, with contraception being a necessity, would open for the heroine, who, as a minor, had only faced bullying from the villainess or the male lead’s rollercoaster-like whims.

‘I’ll just have to do something before that!’

Erin didn’t despair and went around distributing business proposals outlining her plans. She was confident there would be demand, and she believed at least one person would invest in her.

…And unexpectedly, she caught a big one.

“Duke Aston…?”

“Yes. He wishes to sponsor Lady Erin Reshamore.”

Duke Aston Clebania’s retainer had come to see her. Erin had heard a lot about Duke Aston Clebania. He was a reclusive Duke shrouded in mystery, whose face no one but his closest retainers had ever seen. Yet he was a man with such immense wealth and influence that most businesses in the Empire had to go through Clebania. It was even rumored that he controlled half of the Empire’s wealth.

There were many rumors in high society about why he didn’t show his face. Some said he was incredibly ugly, that he had a major flaw in his face or body, or that he was bald. They were all just speculations, and no one knew the truth. In any case, the Duke was so famous that even Erin, who was at the bottom of high society and barely attended events because she was busy paying off her family’s debt, had heard of him.

 ‘They say that even though he’s extremely reclusive, his business and family affairs are managed flawlessly, right?’

She had also occasionally heard stories that he sponsored various artists and researchers.

‘And a man like that wants to support my research?’

She was so happy she wanted to jump for joy. Furthermore, Duke Aston Clebania was known for being generous to his sponsored individuals. He was a patron who would promise generous support even if academic research stalled for years, and who would even give out vacation funds to artists who couldn’t produce a new piece or were stuck in their work, telling them to rest. This was only possible because the Duke’s family had vast resources.

The Duke’s retainer looked at Erin with serious eyes and spoke.

“In return, you must produce definite results.”

“Yes! Of course!”

‘That was already three years ago…’

Erin felt like pulling out a handkerchief and wiping her tears. Just because she had received sponsorship from the wealthiest man in the Empire didn’t mean things had gone as she’d hoped. For starters, it took a significant amount of time just to cross-reference the drugs and ingredients she knew from her past life with the alchemical ingredients of this world. There were also ingredients that hadn’t been discovered yet, so she had to spend time looking for those, too.

‘It was pure hell.’

Thanks to that, Erin even became the first person in academia to discover a few ingredients that no one knew about or cared about.

‘But they only got a passing mention in some obscure academic journal, that’s all.’

That was fine. Honestly, she thought it was understandable. The Duke wasn’t supposed to be a patron who would pressure or nag his sponsors. And it wasn’t like Erin was being lazy. She was working carefully, diligently, and quickly. For a pharmaceutical or medical experiment, this kind of progress wasn’t bad.

But what in the world was going on?

‘You said you wouldn’t nag! You said you wouldn’t rush me!’

She had clearly heard that, and the other sponsored individuals she met at the annual results conference had praised the Duke’s generous nature.

But Erin was a special exception.

“The Duke asks if there are any results yet.”

“Ah, well, that… Just a little more time…”

“It’s already been two years. Your experiment is stalled.”

“Medical experiments don’t happen that quickly…”

“Ahem.”

“…”

Duke Aston’s retainer came to her time and again, putting pressure on her for results, hounding her even on an unspecified deadline. Honestly, Erin felt a little wronged.

‘He doesn’t put that kind of pressure on the other researchers!’

Some of his sponsored individuals just lazed around for years, happily traveling without any hounding, while others only submitted reports out of habit just to get paid. Some even shared “good tips” on how to pretend to work hard and get several times more funding!

Compared to those people, Erin believed herself to be a diligent and passionate sponsee. That was a plain fact, because she was slowly but steadily getting meaningful results.

‘So why is he only doing this to me!’

Could this experiment be especially important to Duke Aston? It wasn’t just the retainer who came to her. While others reported quarterly, once every four months, Erin had to write a report and send a letter to the Duke once a month.

“I can’t go on like this.”

That was precisely why Erin, who was used to working alone, hired an assistant. She needed someone to work with her as an assistant and secretary. She had used almost all of her given budget to pay for experiments, materials, and to pay off her debts. The little money she had left was what she used to barely manage to hire an assistant, who was Ash.

“You are… Mr. Ash Hamilton?”

“Please, just call me Ash.”

‘A research assistant…?’

She was a little puzzled at first. That’s because, unlike most researchers, Ash was already big and solid, even back then. Besides, she hadn’t known at first because he always had his hood pulled up. But then…

“Wow.”

“…I’m sorry. It was hot, and I forgot to cover it…”

“No, why do you cover it up?”

“…Huh?”

“You’re really beautiful.”

“…”

“Oh! I’m sorry. Um… I wasn’t trying to rate you or anything, you’re just really beautiful!”

It was early summer, not long after she had hired Ash. Not knowing he was already there, Erin burst into the lab without knocking and was shocked to see him with his hood off.

‘He’s really handsome.’

His ash-colored hair and red eyes weren’t a common combination, and some people might have found them ominous, but paired with his handsome face, they only added to his mystique. His eyelashes, so long you could rest a pen on them, a delicately sculpted nose, and graceful lips. Even his sharp, masculine jawline was perfectly harmonious. Even his smile, which seemed to express his awkwardness at her words, was enough to take a person’s breath away.

“…Should I say thank you?”

“No, I didn’t say it to get a thanks or anything…”

“And ‘Mister’? As I said, please just call me Ash.”

“Ah, o-okay!”

“And you can speak informally, too.”

“…Okay, Ash! Speaking of which, I’m trying to pick a flavor for the drug. Can you come and do a taste test?”

Feeling awkward, she just blurted out anything—but then, the refreshing scent Ash carried as he came closer nearly undid her.  

‘Pure thoughts, pure thoughts.’ 

Erin had to chant to herself dozens of times, ‘He’s just an assistant, I’m the doctor…’ before she could escape the turmoil of that moment.  

‘Is he hiding his looks to avoid attracting attention?’

She worried she might neglect her research if she kept focusing on Ash’s face… but thankfully, her instincts never let her forget that her work came first. Whenever focus was required, she became so absorbed that she hardly noticed his face at all. It was proof enough that she hadn’t spent years as a corporate researcher in her past life for nothing.  

Even so, the experiments weren’t progressing at any dramatic pace.  

After all, the tasks Ash could actually help with were limited to ghostwriting reports for the duke, organizing documents, or lending a hand in areas of the experiments that didn’t require expertise.  

Still, time moved steadily forward.  

And then, just recently—  

The ever-indulgent-to-others-but-a-tiger-to-Erin Duke Aston sent a servant with a message that was close to an ultimatum.  

“What?! If no results come out soon, he’ll cut off the funding?”

“Yes. The Duke feels he has already given you more than enough time.”

“That can’t be…”

No matter how she looked at it, this was wrong.  

“Still, he said that since you’ve worked hard, he’ll pay you generously for your efforts…” 

“…Ten months! Just give me ten more months!”

“Ten months, my lady?”

“Yes! That’s all I need!”

“If you couldn’t accomplish it in three years, how could you in ten months…?”

“I’ll do it! I can! Absolutely!”

So Erin clung to the retainer’s trouser leg.

There was a reason she was so desperately clinging to him and pleading for ten months. She had to produce results within that timeframe anyway.

‘In ten months, the heroine will graduate from the academy!’

The academy’s curriculum was three to seven years, and the heroine, who couldn’t afford to pursue a higher-level degree, would graduate exactly at the three-year mark as soon as she became an adult.

‘And as soon as she graduates, she will fall into the cycle of that problematic ‘no-no-no-yes-yes-yes’ misery.’

That was exactly ten months from now.

‘I have to complete it before then!’

After that, she would sit on a pile of money and pay off her family’s debt all at once. She would also repay the Duke for his continuous support. It wasn’t that she didn’t resent the Duke for hounding her every day, but without his sponsorship, it would have been difficult for a noble lady deep in debt to develop a new drug on her own. Even now, she was using his support money to help pay off her loan interest and family debt.

‘Just you wait!’

I’ll humble the Duke… no, I’ll repay his kindness!

Erin’s heart was burning with passion.

So from that day on, she dedicated her health and strength, running at a frantic pace for several months.

“Now all I have to do is show it to the Duke!”

Today was the day. The new drug she had so longed for was finally complete. The result came much faster than expected, and Erin’s eyes were filled with emotion. Ash, who had been looking at her sparkling blue eyes, turned his gaze back to the beaker. He then peered at the subtly glowing liquid and tilted his head.

“A finished product, huh?”

“…What’s wrong? Why that reaction?”

At Ash’s subtly indifferent reaction, Erin unconsciously pouted.

‘I thought he’d be happy for me.’

After all, Ash had also suffered with her for three years as her assistant. But with a reaction like this, she felt a little let down. Her lips pouted out even further like a duck’s. Ash unconsciously pressed her lips back into place and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m not doubting you.”

“Really?”

“Of course, you are a very capable person.”

“Of course I am!”

“There’s a high probability that this is a successful final product.”

“Obviously.”

As Erin kept nodding, her pink hair bobbed like cotton candy. Soft strands of baby hair waved like a ripple between the locks pinned up like a small bun. Ash sighed at the sight of it and tidied the stray hairs. Then, in a deliberately gentle voice, he asked.

“But… how will you prove it?”

“Huh?”

“How will you prove that this is a completely, one hundred percent effective contraceptive drug?”

“Oh.”

At his sharp and important point, Erin’s mind, which had been wandering in a beautiful flower garden toward the future, snapped back to reality.

‘Right. I have to prove it.’

Erin fumbled for a moment, then quickly smiled.

“Well, that’s easy.”

“What way?”

As he said that, his eyes slowly scanned her face, and his gaze felt somehow impertinent. When that kind of look settled on his already languid-looking face, it gave her a thrillingly sensual feeling for a moment. Having thought that far, Erin flinched.

‘What am I thinking? He’s my assistant.’

Of course, Ash had a way of making her feel that way all the time. Honestly, over the past three years, there had been more than a few times when she felt she might see him as a man if she didn’t hold onto her reason.

‘It can’t be just my fault, can it?’

Erin knew from a few trips to the market with him that even though he always covered his face with a loose hood when he went out, there were quite a few women who would approach and flirt with him just by seeing his lower face. Erin was inclined to agree with those women.

‘It would be weirder if you weren’t enchanted by a face and body like this.’

“So what’s the method, Doctor?”

Meanwhile, breaking Erin’s train of thought, Ash’s hand, looking down like a languid predator, rested on her waist. Only then did Erin feel their bodies, which had been so close they were radiating heat, and she jumped away from him in surprise.

“Well, that is!”

His firm yet springy chest felt like it was still lingering on the tips of her soft breasts, making her fingertips tingle. The sensation of his solid thighs that had been tangled with hers for a moment, too. He was a disarming assistant, in any case.

Erin reminded herself of her researcher’s ethics—that you shouldn’t harass or molest someone based on rank—and took a deep breath.

‘Good thoughts, good thoughts. More importantly, think about the new drug!’

She quickly shook her head and exclaimed.

“We’ll do a clinical trial!”

“…What kind of trial?”

“A clinical trial. We’ll test how safe and effective the drug we developed is on people!”

“Hmm.”

Perhaps because the concept of a clinical trial hadn’t been properly established in this world yet, Ash’s reaction was lukewarm as well. But Erin was confident.

“We just need to find participants. We can prove it quickly just by observing them for a few weeks!”

“Participants?”

“Yeah. Just a few women in their childbearing years, and it’ll be quick.”

It was a contraceptive, of all things. Of course, there would be demand for it anywhere, at any time. Even if it was for a clinical trial.

“We can do it!”

Erin nodded confidently.

 

* * *

 

…But she was met with frustration not long after.

“Ughhh…”

Erin woke up among a pile of documents again today. Her appearance was no different from before she had succeeded in developing the new drug. Thump. Only after feeling something fall off her shoulder did she realize Ash had covered her with his clothes.

‘Now that I think about it, last time too.’

The day she finished the new drug, something was on her shoulder as well.

‘I wonder if that was Ash’s clothes, too.’

“He tells me off for sleeping hunched over every day…”

But he always looks after me anyway. Erin grumbled for no reason and picked up Ash’s clothes, which had a refreshing scent. 

‘Does a handsome man really smell different?’ 

The scent from Ash’s clothes was on a different level from the musty, turtle-neck researcher smell of her academy seniors and peers.

“Wow…”

Erin found herself burying her face in the lapel, marveling, before she suddenly lifted her head. 

‘A boss sniffing her own assistant’s clothes, of all things. …Is that too perverted?’

Erin awkwardly smelled Ash’s scent a few more times before putting the clothes on her chair. It was at that moment that Ash opened the door to the lab and entered. At the close timing, Erin’s heart pounded. Ash, with a face that revealed nothing, placed a warm stew in front of her.

“It’s vegetable stew, to help your stomach.”

“…Ugh, thanks.”

“I took out the carrots since you don’t like them.”

“Honestly, you’re the best.”

She gave him a shy smile of gratitude, and Ash also smiled, just the corner of his lips turning up. Erin desperately tried to hold onto her mind, which was momentarily blank. He was already handsome, but when he smiled like that, he truly looked like a creature of God.

‘So, it’s not like I can help doing perverted things. What am I supposed to do when he’s so handsome and smells so good?’

Having tried to rationalize it, Erin busily ate her stew. She used the documents she had been looking at right before she fell asleep as a coaster for her pot. Ash saw this and tilted his head as if to point it out.

“Weren’t those important documents?”

“Uh. They were, but…”

Erin sighed and put on the thick-rimmed glasses she only used for reading documents. She then complained to Ash, who was staring intently at her.

“I never thought the reactions would be so divided.”

She had ambitiously placed an advertisement in the newspaper to find clinical trial participants, but people’s reactions varied, and there were very few positive ones. Anonymous complaints from religious people, warning that she “dared to defy God’s will,” kept flying into the lab, and a questionnaire from a newspaper even arrived, asking if the drug would cause infertility if taken for a long time. It was a blatantly malicious question with the clear intent to ruin her research.

‘That’s not all.’

Sometimes, there were even people who took issue with the compensation Erin offered, asking why women would receive more than twice the amount of compensation as men. Erin shrugged at the question. ‘Isn’t that obvious? Because the risk is much higher for the women.’

Of course, Erin was confident in the contraceptive she had created. But as a researcher, she couldn’t help but consider the worst-case scenario: a failed contraception. In that case, it would be the woman who got pregnant, wouldn’t it?

“Besides… What am I supposed to do about the lack of female applicants…?”

“…”

“Does this make sense, Ash? They’re all men!’”

The few people who did apply for the trial were all men. Some of them even bluntly asked if a female partner would be provided if they volunteered. Even when she desperately set the compensation for female applicants to be more than double, she still couldn’t find anyone. It was a truly vexing problem.

‘…Right. Thinking about it again, I can understand.’

She had been so confident there would be demand before she started looking for applicants, but thinking it over, she realized even she would be hesitant to volunteer. Not only did they have to take the risk of the trial failing, but for single female applicants, they would have to… do that with a male applicant they had just met. 

A technology that could cleanly extract and use only cells… Maybe in the modern world. But it couldn’t possibly exist in this ‘run-away-after-getting-pregnant’ angsty romance world. What if information about the applicants leaked from the lab, or if it was scooped up by the hyena-like media that had been watching Erin’s lab all day since the job ad came out?

‘Wow. It’s horrifying just to imagine.’

Erin, in her desperation, even tried to find people who were already couples. But that didn’t turn out well, either. 

‘There were couples who came saying they were using contraception but then told us they were pregnant on the day they were supposed to get the drug. And others who just took the drug and the money and then disappeared…’ 

She couldn’t believe her luck with applicants could be this bad!

Standing just one step away from success and facing a roadblock, only Erin was anxious and on edge. Her assistant, Ash, on the other hand, was still indifferent.

“Maybe you should just give up?”

“What? How can you say that! I’m so close to being done!”

It was the same even when Erin’s eyes widened with a look of injustice. Ash smoothed her hair and added, “I know how hard you’ve worked. The Duke said he’ll make sure you’re well compensated for all your efforts…”

“…”

“You never know. It’s a payment from Duke Aston Clebania, of all people.”

Ash leaned in toward Erin, his lips pressed to her ear as he whispered, “He might give you enough to live a life of ease forever.”

The breath on her ear made her feel a little ticklish. Even as she shrugged her shoulders at the sensation, Erin held her ground. “Hey, that’s not right. I’m just a sponsee like the others.”

“…”

“What makes me so special that he’d give me a payment like that?”

Of course, it would be more generous than the pay at other labs. And honestly, that would be enough for her, since she only needed to commercialize the contraceptive. 

‘Still, I want to be recognized.’ 

She hadn’t come all this way just to get a bonus and quit the experiment.

But Ash was just as persistent.

“Or maybe he’ll give you a lifetime research position at his research institute, or even hire you personally.”

“Personally?”

“As the Duke’s private alchemy tutor, for example.”

Haha. Laughter burst out of Erin’s mouth.

“That’s a bit of a stretch. Why would the Duke learn alchemy?”

“He’s an eccentric Duke who lives as a recluse anyway, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he did something like that.”

The more she heard, the more absurd it sounded, but instead of refuting him, Erin just smiled.

“Thanks, anyway. Your words are helping me relax.”

She was amused by the thought of the Duke doing alchemy experiments in the shadows, his face covered by a hood. 

‘A private alchemy tutor. What kind of medicine would the Duke need to learn alchemy for? If he really wants to learn, maybe he’s an old man who wants to make medicine for his joints. Or maybe, as others say, he’s bald and that’s why he’s a recluse, and he’s experimenting with hair loss medicine to fix it…’

While Erin was having fun by herself, letting her imagination run wild, Ash tilted his head and whispered again. His breath felt closer than before.

“You never know.”

“Know what?”

“If none of that is to your liking… he might recognize your potential and set up a completely new, independent research lab for you.”

At that, Erin couldn’t help but let out a strange sound, like ‘Hah!’ and laugh. She laughed so hard she clapped and a tear welled up. Wiping her eyes, Erin patted Ash’s shoulder.

“I am capable, sure, but a private lab… Even if you’re my assistant, you’re overestimating me.”

“I’m being completely serious.”

“Honestly, why would the Duke do so much for a researcher who barely met the deadline?”

“I don’t know. Maybe just because…”

“Just because?”

“…If it were me, I don’t think I could let you go.”

At those words, Erin’s heart also fluttered for a moment. He probably meant it in the sense of not losing a talented person, but it sounded a little different. 

‘Words like that are cheating…’ 

While Erin was feeling moved, his hand tenderly smoothed down her stray hair.

Erin smiled, feeling that even if nothing else went her way, her luck with assistants was truly perfect.

“To think you feel that way about me. Ash, you really are the best assistant.”

“…”

“After this experiment is over and the Duke’s sponsorship ends… it will probably be hard to continue our arrangement.”

“Doctor.”

At her words, Ash’s face seemed to subtly harden. Erin shook her head dismissively, as if to say ‘don’t worry.’

“But I’ll write you an amazing recommendation letter. One that will make any lab or research institute unable to resist hiring you.”

She wouldn’t even have to make anything up. Ash truly was an excellent, meticulous, and outstanding assistant. ‘It would be a shame to part ways like this.’ He was an assistant who was too good for her, too good to be working for such a small amount of money.

Erin chuckled and patted his shoulder one last time.

“Now, back to the experiment.”

“Didn’t you say there were no applicants?”

“I have a way to fix that.”

“A way?”

“Yeah. There’s no other choice.”

“What are you going to do, Doctor?”

Ash looked at her as if he found her ominous. Erin deliberately kept her mouth shut. At the very least, she wanted to leave a good impression on Ash. 

‘I just have a feeling he’ll hate it if I bring this up.’ 

Because there was a final method, one she had been putting off again and again.