“Let’s release the restraints. Being fixed to the bed makes it difficult to examine from various angles.”
“Uh… mm…”
With a slightly disappointed expression, Julia untied the ropes.
Only then could Aslan free himself from being bound flat on the bed.
Continuing the experiment in this state wouldn’t be bad, but he couldn’t help but stop due to a vague fear that he might awaken some unusual preferences.
“Given that Neomium hasn’t been expelled from your body, the likelihood is low that it’s circulating in your system. Therefore, it’s better to focus on the possibility that it has accumulated in your skin and organs rather than in your blood vessels and respiratory system.”
“Then how about starting with your head? …Is that okay?”
“Why the head specifically?”
“Because I thought Neomium might have built up in your head and made Aslan strange. …That’s why.”
“…”
Julia casually made a harsh remark.
It seemed she had no awareness that it was a severe statement, as if it were natural that Aslan was a strange person.
For a moment, Aslan was taken aback and lost for words.
“I find it hard to agree. How could an utterly normal person like me be considered strange…?”
“Since I’ll be examining your whole body anyway, what does the order matter? Just hurry and show me your face. I need to check your mana response. …Please.”
“…”
Swoosh.
With that, Julia grabbed Aslan’s face with both hands and pulled it closer, bringing a measuring instrument close to him.
She had intended to approach this seriously and without any feelings.
But suddenly having their faces so close made her feel embarrassed.
“I always looked up at your face… ”
How much taller was Aslan compared to her?
About two and a half heads, roughly?
It was an entirely different impression to face him at eye level instead of straining her neck to look up at him.
Of course, it was only a subtle difference.
He still looked fierce and cunning, but that didn’t mean he was unattractive.
It was just that his overwhelming aura made him seem intimidating.
Objectively speaking, his appearance was quite bearable…
But that opinion only came from those who had observed Aslan closely for a long time.
First-time observers all looked at him as if he were the Demon King.
Here was a person who had a necromancer and a dark knight under his command, carried a knight who drew swords from his mouth, lived in a mansion with a massive dirt clod-like great spirit, and had hundreds of undead legions protecting his territory while researching black magic.
Why did people live so caught up in prejudice?
If they only knew he was a little… no, quite… no, utterly decent person.
“Close your eyes. …Please.”
“Why close my eyes?”
“Just because. It makes me uncomfortable. …Please.”
“…”
With a sigh, Aslan closed his eyes. Only then could Julia look directly at his face.
If Aslan’s gaze was directed at her, she felt too embarrassed to meet his eyes.
She thought he might mistakenly believe that she was staring at him because she thought he was handsome.
She disliked that.
Even though she thought he looked unattractive and seemed to make no attempt to date other noble ladies, if he firmly believed he was handsome, noble ladies would start to pursue him.
Initially, they might be disgusted, but they would gradually get closer and come to like Aslan…
She really didn’t want that.
“Has the measurement started?”
“Don’t open your eyes! …Please.”
“I understand.”
Noticing the silence, Aslan gradually opened his eyes.
Julia startled and gently lowered Aslan’s eyelids with her hand.
She felt embarrassed at the sudden eye contact…
Tentatively, Julia pretended to bring the measuring device close to Aslan’s face while continually touching his features.
If not now, when would she get to touch him again?
It felt a bit wrong to touch him without any excuse.
‘Charlotte does it so casually…’
Thinking back, Charlotte would touch Aslan’s face freely under the pretense of giving him a massage. Even without an excuse, she would directly demand to touch him.
How did she do that!?
Wasn’t she embarrassed?
Right now, under the pretext of an experiment, she had made him close his eyes, yet she felt so embarrassed…
The more she thought about it, the more amazing Charlotte seemed to Julia.
‘His skin is so pale. Does having such pale skin contribute to people’s fear of him?’
Then she thought perhaps a little tanning might help.
But recalling how Aslan suffered under the sun for even a little while made her think that wouldn’t be a good idea.
Thinking about it, Aslan really was quite fragile…
No one else in this mansion seemed weaker than him.
Aslan couldn’t handle mana at all, so he was practically weaker than she was.
When they first met, he just seemed scary and incredibly large.
But as she got to know him more, his frailty seemed to stand out increasingly.
There was an unsettling feeling of needing to stay close and protect him…
“Hmm…”
Aslan’s breath tickled Julia’s fingers. In a moment of surprise, her finger slipped down to Aslan’s lips.
They were a reddish hue against his pale skin.
“…”
Julia removed her finger from Aslan’s lips and stared at it for a moment.
Her finger had touched Aslan’s lips…
Swallowing, Julia felt her throat dry.
She had no particular thoughts.
No, her mind was blank, as if a clean slate had replaced her usual thoughts.
She was overwhelmed by one impulse and had no time to think.
Julia glanced to the side to check if Aslan was really keeping his eyes closed.
Unable to resist the impulse, she secretly brought her finger to her mouth.
…It tasted like nothing.
In that moment, Julia suddenly felt a strange sensation and turned her gaze away.
“…Huh.”
“…”
Half-hidden in the shadows, Charlotte’s eyes widened as she silently stared at Julia.
Julia froze, her mind momentarily halted.
After a brief pause, her face suddenly flushed bright red.
“Ah!!!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing! It just suddenly! A bug appeared!”
The moment Julia belatedly screamed, Charlotte slipped back into the shadows.
With her eyes open, Aslan looked confused, not knowing what was going on.
Julia, flustered, began to babble incoherently.
“But what about the measurements?”
“Ah, huh? Yes! They were going smoothly! Earlier, I noticed there was a pretty strong reaction around the forehead… Ah! I forgot to take notes! I think I need to do it again! Close your eyes again! …Please!”
“…”
What on earth was going on?
I haven’t even used ‘Touch of Death’ yet, so what could they have measured?
Aslan felt something suspicious about Julia’s reaction but decided not to dwell on it too much.
After all, he would find out everything later.
***
The measurements proceeded smoothly. It was simply a matter of placing a mana concentration meter on his body and using the ‘Touch of Death’ skill to measure the changes in mana concentration and its rate of change.
It wasn’t complicated, nor did it take long, so progress was quick and efficient.
‘It seems ‘Touch of Death’ has no restrictions.’
And from this measurement, a new discovery was made: the ‘Touch of Death’ skill had no cooldown, and the only resource consumed was a bit of health.
Even that health consumption was minimal, meaning he wouldn’t exhaust himself unless he used it all day long.
This level of consumption made it reasonable to use it like a mosquito net, leaving it on at night while sleeping.
“Umm! Drawing the diagram is yielding a pretty decent picture!”
Excited, Julia quickly organized the measurement results into diagrams and tables.
If it had been him, he would have taken a long time due to his slow hands.
But with Julia, who had developed an interest in research, she could finish the task in half the time.
Thus, the final result was completed.
“This…?”
It was a diagram of the human body, with darker colors indicating stronger reactions to Neomium.
The extremities were the lightest shade, and the body gradually darkened.
By the time it reached the left chest, near the heart, the reaction was almost equivalent to concentrated Neomium.
“I had a rough idea, but I can’t believe it’s actually the heart.”
“This means Neomium has accumulated in the heart, right!? Is that okay? Are you not going to die? Huh?”
“It’s been almost ten years since this started, and I’m still healthy, so it should be fine. Besides, I carry a great sword in my body, so what’s the big deal?”
“Well, still…”
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ strongly demands that our necromancer’s head be patted gently at least three times right now!]
With a slight quiver in her voice, Julia looked up at him.
Since he was already thinking of petting her, he took the opportunity to stroke her hair affectionately, which led Julia to subtly tilt her head toward him for easier petting.
It seemed she had forgotten her earlier annoyance about messing up her hair.
“By the way, Charlotte.”
“Huh? Charlotte?”
“Hehe! How did you catch me?”
“…!?”
When he called out while looking at the shadow stretched behind the desk, Charlotte, seemingly flustered, scratched her head and slowly emerged.
Julia’s eyes widened in surprise.
Did she not realize Charlotte was hiding?
How could she not know?
While sounds and appearances could be concealed, the distinct sweet smell of Charlotte’s sweat couldn’t be hidden.
He had been curious about how long she would remain hidden, but since it seemed she would stay there all day, he called her out.
“Ugh! My legs hurt! I must have squatted for too long!”
“Well, why didn’t you come out at a decent time?”
“Hehe. It just seemed like an embarrassing moment to come out…”
“Embarrassing? Anyway, back when I had my eyes closed earlier, what did you see that made you act so strangely?”
“Ahh! Charlotte couldn’t have seen! Right? You didn’t see anything, did you!?”
Julia quickly ran over to Charlotte, biting her lip and sending her a desperate look.
A smile spread across Charlotte’s lips.
“Hehe! Did I see? Or didn’t I?”
“Charlotte!!!”
At this point, Julia looked like she was about to cry, kneeling down.
Charlotte stood confidently, hands on her hips.
What on earth could she have seen?
Julia was beginning to genuinely wonder if she should bribe Charlotte with chocolate to get her to talk.
“My Lord!”
“…What is it?”
With a loud bang, the laboratory door swung open roughly.
Turning his head, he saw Sylvia awkwardly holding a door panel with its hinges ripped off.
He thought he’d deduct the repair cost from Sylvia’s salary.
“The Empress has urgently summoned you! Here!”
“…!”
The edict that Sylvia handed over bore the seal of the Empress. Usually, when the Empress called him, she would send a messenger.
Sending a rider to deliver the edict urgently meant it was a pressing matter.
‘This doesn’t seem good.’
If the usually laid-back Empress was acting this way, how serious could the situation be?
As sweat trickled down his back, he felt a wave of anxiety wash over him.
