I Was Confessed to by the Golden Sun

69 – 69. Makeup… Should I?

They say there has never been a time when a sad premonition was wrong.

The ominous thought I had before coming here had already become a cruel reality and approached me rapidly and abruptly, even before I could distance myself.

“For now, let’s find the switch. There must be a device that lights up the entire space.”

It’s so dark that I have to rely on my flashlight that I’m holding right now.

It would have been typical for me to try to assess my surroundings with a sense of fear and caution, but for some reason, I didn’t feel the need to do that here.

That’s because, in the place I currently found myself, I couldn’t sense any signs of life other than ours.

– Click!

Simultaneously, the light shone from the bulbs as if someone had flicked a switch.

Only then could we see the inside of this research lab in detail, and the place that should have been bustling with activity was devoid of people.

And in the midst of it all, what caught our eyes first was none other than.

“Units 2, 4, and 5…”

The Homunculi, referred to as Enoch and Abraham, and the one known as Lot, inspired by religion.

Originally, they should have been our enemies, but now they didn’t seem to pose any threat to us.

“…Is this an attack?”

Because, just like Noah had experienced, they were lying on the floor with some part of their bodies missing.

No, to be precise, it wasn’t just one part of their bodies that was missing.

Most of them had nothing left but their basic skeletons, with their outer layers and organs entirely gone.

“I’ve seen this before.”

Coincidentally, I recalled a situation from a novel that was exactly the same as the current one.

Homunculi who had fallen, their bodies filled with machines, slightly better than just skeletons.

And a person, like a cunning snake, who found a way to take them and use them.

“Olivia Calix…”

The situation I was witnessing now was similar to when the princess had torn apart the outer layer of the Homunculi to take them away.

Perhaps she used them to create something resembling a suit.

Maybe she modified the suits to prioritize causing harm to the opponent, relying less on the original functions of the Homunculi, such as intelligence and disguise.

“It’s like creating the ultimate weapon from excellent materials.”

For some reason, it felt like it perfectly matched the scenario people were expecting from the final boss battle with the princess.

But there’s still one question remaining: Why, with such expensive materials, did they end up with a weapon of only this caliber?

“I wonder if it’s because of the protagonist, Heidi, and the current me, being the only ones they can face. I’m curious about that.”

The technological prowess of the Homunculi in the seventh episode, “A Puppet Show Crafted in Malice,” was nothing short of over-the-top technology.

It could be described as the pinnacle of technology that wasn’t even properly implemented in the present-day Republic of Korea.

With such technological prowess, the weapons created from the outer shells of these Homunculi fall within the common understanding of weaponry on the continent?

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

Naturally, if they had the technology to create such things, the weapons made from these materials should be on a level at least close to that of the Homunculi themselves.

“At the very least, you should be at the next level, this difference is too stark.”

“So, this level of technology itself has received quite a bit of attention as a plot device.”

From Noble mtl dot com

“An excessively developed technology in specific areas, users expressed the opinion that it’s not something achieved by the princess’s side, but rather borrowed from external knowledge.”

“And the hypothesis is that the story related to this will only be revealed in the eighth episode.”

“Surprisingly, most of that hypothesis turned out to be accurate.”

I possessed the early part of the eighth episode and naturally remembered how the early part of the story unfolded. The original protagonists, too, questioned and pondered the technology development in just one part.

Eventually, when they grasped the outline of that information, I got possessed.

“An attack?”

“True, but there aren’t many signs of battle or bloodstains.”

“Can’t the other side hide signs of bloodstains or battle if they wanted to?”

I pondered for a moment and thought that I might find some clues here and called Dylan and the Crown Prince, who were engaged in a heated debate about the reason why the research lab had become like this.

Rather than fighting over something so trivial, if you have time to make a fuss, find some clues.

“At the very least, it’s a fact that this ruin and this technology are related in some way.”

The princess who should have explained that had disappeared somewhere, like a ghost. “Did she anticipate it? No, that’s unlikely.”

Unless her life is in danger, would she have any reason to destroy her research results, including Homunculus, and ransack the lab?

And as far as I know, from the beginning of the work until now, the only one threatening the princess’s life was Heidi.

Unless there was some kind of change, there was no reason for her to leave this place.

“Was there some sort of change?”

Perhaps, because of the butterfly effect caused by my actions in the background, I don’t want to admit it, but I had a strong feeling that I might be involved in this incident as well.

“Here, I have the schematics.”

As I was slowly retracing the mistakes I might have made, Dylan approached me from somewhere with the schematics.

It was the schematic for Homunculus, but unfortunately, I didn’t need that schematic at the moment.

The materials to make Homunculus are so rare, and even if you subtract that, the production process is excessively complicated. And in addition, the management is something I can never handle.

“Where did the princess run to, and what is the source of this technology? That’s more important than anything else.”

“Ah, I see.”

Dylan quickly nodded as if he had caught on to my intention and continued to search through the research lab. Meanwhile, I carefully examined the design of the Homunculus.

Despite being filled with various technical symbols and ambiguous markings that I couldn’t fully understand, I made my own interpretation.

I realized that the design of this incredible piece of technology had been written down in one go without any apparent revisions.

“This doesn’t make sense…”

It was a clean record that seemed as if it had been copied from somewhere. Even a simple report would undergo multiple revisions, yet there was no trace of any edits here.

Of course, this design itself was the final result, created by combining existing designs. There might be separate design documents used in the planning process, but the problem was that no other design documents had been found.

“Did they dispose of all the other design documents except for this one?”

I considered other possibilities, but they were soon discarded.

If there were any issues or improvements needed for the final design, it would be essential to have the previous design documents. Discarding them all was simply illogical.

“Perhaps they got rid of them in a fit of anger since they planned to escape anyway…”

However, this was a world of romance and fantasy. Even if Olivia Hwang, a genius in the story, held a prominent position, there was a chance she did something foolish for the sake of plot coherence.

“No way, that can’t be it…”

It might be a world of romance and fantasy, but up to this point, things hadn’t been this “unbelievable.” Disrupting the logical consistency of the story had never happened.

“For now, let’s put this on hold and just focus on the oddity.”

After nodding my head a few times, I continued to look around, and as I did, my eyes met with Lucia’s.

She giggled and quickly ran over, burying her face in my chest and playfully rubbing it.

I wondered if maybe her makeup had smudged, but my clothes were clean.

Come to think of it, every time she saw me, she would rub her face against me, and yet I’d never seen her makeup smudge.

“But Lucia, don’t you wear makeup? Your face doesn’t smudge on your clothes…”

“Yeah! I’m too lazy to bother with it!”

As I conveyed my curiosity, Lucia placed her hand on her hip, and with an air of self-assurance, she straightened her chest.

After a while, Lucia looked uneasy and glanced at me, then asked, “Is it strange that I don’t wear makeup?”

“Um… would you like me to do your makeup? Shall we practice?” Considering her hesitation, she seemed to be thinking that she wasn’t great at it.

Perhaps she didn’t think highly of herself because she didn’t wear makeup.

“No, you don’t need makeup because you’re already beautiful,” to be honest, she was already pretty, so why bother with makeup? Makeup is essentially meant to enhance one’s appearance, and when your appearance is already perfect, is it really necessary?

“But I did put on some basic makeup! I’ll practice a bit more in the future…!” However, it seemed like she was too absorbed in her own thoughts to hear me.

Lucia declared her makeup practice with a rather strained expression that would make anyone think she looked perfect without makeup.

“No, you’re beautiful without makeup,” I said.

“But it must have been difficult to say that, so thank you for saying it. I’ll try harder to become someone who suits you.”

“What on earth…”

She seemed to be expressing her apologies and gratitude, even though it seemed like she couldn’t hear anything else.

“I might go crazy…”

Now, she had completely closed her eyes, too. I let out a deep sigh and then kissed her to silence her constant rambling.