Chapter 10

‘A-Ash… I’m… coming…’

‘Yes. You’re beautiful, Doctor.’

‘No, I mean, I’m coming… right now…

’

Ash looked down at Erin lovingly, kissing her forehead several times.

‘Isn’t it too soon to test for pregnancy with just one time?’

‘O-One time is enough… it’s enough…’

‘You always said experiments should be conducted from multiple angles.’

Ash’s whispers echoed in Erin’s mind as she helplessly shook beneath him. She could barely remember how many times they continued, since she’d nearly passed out midway.

The last thing she remembered…

Was Ash’s face as he pressed his fingers into her, scooping up the thick s*men that foamed between her legs.

‘I went through all the trouble of putting it in, it’d be a waste if you spit it out.’

‘…Mm…’

‘You have to swallow it well, Doctor.’

Ash’s strangely shining eyes and flushed face lingered in her memory like a panorama. Erin fanned herself, her head lowered.

Thinking back, she realized she’d really done something unthinkable with her assistant.

But apart from that disheveled look, Ash seemed perfectly normal.

‘Why does he look so unaffected, as if nothing happened?’

She couldn’t tell if his attitude was reassuring or disappointing. If Ash had acted awkward about last night, she would’ve felt uncomfortable, but after everything, just a messy fringe and an undone shirt button seemed like too little change.

‘…No, that’s not it.’

Erin brushed off her fleeting disappointment with a laugh. What was she even hoping for? It seemed so absurd.

‘Why would I want Ash to be conscious of me?’

They were only connected by the experiment, and last night’s act was for the clinical trial of the drug, nothing more.

If not for that, their bodies would never have been entangled.

‘So act like a researcher.’

With that thought, Erin’s rationality settled.

Still…

“Would you like some coffee?”

Ash approached with his usual bright smile, and Erin’s cheeks flushed uncontrollably.

He was always kind, but today he seemed especially gentle, making Erin’s fingertips tingle. She forced a smile and answered,

“Y-Yeah. I’ll have some.”

“No, you should have breakfast first since your stomach’s empty.”

“Oh, uh.”

Ash came closer and helped Erin sit up. Then he answered the question she’d wondered about earlier.

“I brought the sofa from the professor across the hall. He was going to throw it away.”

“Huh? Across the hall?”

The building across from Erin’s lab housed large research facilities with doctors far better funded than she was.

“Yes. They said they didn’t need it anymore… Oh, and I cleaned and disinfected it thoroughly, so don’t worry.”

Erin nodded blankly.

‘How thoroughly did he clean it for it to feel this new?’

A sofa someone else was about to throw out felt brand new.

Ash was really good at things like this.

“Anyway, just sit a bit longer. I’ll bring breakfast soon…”

“Wait. If you carried the sofa by yourself, you must be tired.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, let’s just go out and eat…”

But what stopped Erin from getting up was…

Drip.

As soon as she stood, she felt something trickling between her legs.

Erin froze for a moment, then realized what it was. Her face flushed hotly.

‘This is… Last night, Ash…’

The image of Ash gazing at her dazedly, pressing his s*men into her, flashed through her mind.

She bit her lip unconsciously as the memory surfaced. Ash’s hand slipped casually between her thighs.

“Ah!”

“Hmm.”

Ash’s fingers, brushing her thigh, came away with a smear of translucent white fluid. Erin was too shocked to make a sound, just blinking.

“I tried hard to put it in, but you ended up leaking it out.”

“…….”

“In the end, you spilled it.”

At Ash’s words, Erin closed her eyes tightly. She felt like the same thing might happen as before she fell asleep.

Once again, Ash, with that look, down there…

Thump, thump, thump. Her heart bounced in her temples like a trampoline.

She’d just woken up, and was this going to happen again?

She should be flustered, but instead, a strange anticipation welled up.

‘How long did my resolve as a researcher last?’

But really, this wasn’t her fault. If Ash hadn’t looked at her that way…

Her mind was in chaos.

“It can’t be helped.”

What Erin felt next wasn’t Ash’s large, warm hands laying her down—

Creak. Instead, the sound of the lab’s shabby door opening, Ash’s voice tinged with regret.

“…Ash?”

When she opened her eyes again, Ash was already getting ready to go out. He brought Erin’s outer clothes and helped her put them on.

“Huh?”

“We should go out for breakfast after all.”

“Suddenly? But I…”

Like this?

Erin panicked. She absolutely didn’t want to walk around while leaking Ash’s… release.

Ash stared at her with a strange look.

“You’re telling me to go out like this…”

Erin puffed her cheeks, about to ask if he had that kind of taste.

“…There’s no shower in this lab, Doctor.”

“Uh, right?”

“It’d be hard to go around all day like this, as you said. We need to clean up.”

“Oh…”

“The only place to wash is the public restroom on the first floor. I can’t let you clean up there…”

Erin’s eyes widened again. So…

“You’re going to… clean me?”

“…….”

Ash gave a strange smile, as if asking if she’d really refuse him.

Feeling awkward, Erin glanced away and continued,

“N-No, that’s not what I meant. I thought you…”

‘You said not to let it leak…’

He’d even pressed it in, so she thought he wouldn’t let her clean up or take it out…

Her last bit of rationality held her back from saying it, but Ash seemed to read her mind and smiled languidly.

“There’s no helping it.”

“Hm…?”

“We’ll be… doing this again anyway.”

Ash trailed off, stepping toward her again.

His hand slipped slowly between her thighs to clean up the mess, and Erin hiccupped. Ash spoke with that same strange look.

“I can’t let you walk around like this. Really.”

“Mmm…”

“If you go around leaking like this, what if you run into another creep like yesterday?”

“Yesterday… Oh! Right!”

That guy Ash beat up…

“Hurry, Doctor.”

But Erin’s thoughts didn’t continue.

Ash grabbed her hand and led her outside, almost scolding her.

【 Change in Relationship 】

A few days later.

Sitting at her desk in the lab, Erin thought,

‘What is this?’

She’d just woken up as usual in the lab, sitting down to improve her drug as always.

But her seat felt soft.

Surprised, she looked down to see her usual shabby, worn-out chair replaced by a brand-new one from a famous chair craftsman.

And that wasn’t all.

‘Was my desk always this nice?’

Even her desk had changed. It wasn’t the battered office desk marked with stains and scratches from rough use and eating at her seat, but a luxurious mahogany desk with elegant grain.

Erin narrowed her eyes and looked around the lab.

“…What is this, really?”

The old, rented lab had been repainted as if renovated. The ceiling, once covered in cobwebs and mold, was now completely new…

Squinting around, Erin remembered,

‘No wonder those weird articles came out.’

She glanced at the crumpled newspaper in the corner of her desk.

It was filled with malicious headlines like ‘Anonymous tip! An alchemist defying the gods!’ or ‘A high-ranking noble sponsors obscene research!’ and even ‘A noble’s mistress, the alchemist, developing contraceptives?’

There was even a photo, somehow taken through the window, showing her lab becoming more luxurious. She remembered how she’d kept the curtains closed since then.

‘No wonder these rumors started with the lab getting so nice.’

Reporters still poked around her lab for stories about contraceptives.

With the lab so thoroughly improved, it was no wonder such ridiculous rumors spread.

‘Of course, I am sponsored by a high-ranking noble.’

Good thing the reporters didn’t know her sponsor was Duke Aston Clebania.