Theus's hand froze as he turned the page, then gradually began to tremble.
There was still a great deal left in the second half of the book, but the pages seemed to have been glued together. No matter what he did, he could not turn them, and could only stare helplessly at the chapters ahead.
"What's next? Don't tell me there's nothing after this!"
"There is, but you have to pay..."
Zoe looked somewhat guilty as she glanced at her lord.
When Theus had just asked her about Nini's novel, she had gotten carried away and pulled out the copy she was holding.
Only now did she realize—would she be punished for privately keeping forbidden books?
Sigh, hopefully only Nini would be punished. Don't punish her. She was just a reader; what had she done wrong?
Even if she often tipped Nini and paid for subscriptions, th-that was unavoidable! Readers shouldn't be implicated!
"How do I read the chapters after this?"
"Oh, this is Nini's latest research result. She combined it with the Candlelight Society's sealing ritual and cleverly modified the sacrifice-bestowal ritual. We sacrifice Leo to Nini, and Nini bestows updates upon us."
Theus paused, then asked in an apparently casual tone, "This technique belongs to the Candlelight Society? Where did she get it?"
"Before, at the fountain... I mean, didn't Miss Beatrice bring back a batch of techniques? Among them were the Mechanical Cathedral's human modification techniques, as well as techniques involving the Candlelight Society's sealing knowledge... uh..."
Realizing she had said something wrong, Zoe hurriedly covered her mouth, her eyes darting around as she began looking for an escape route...
"So, I gave her technology to research, and then she researched paid novel subscriptions!?" Theus's voice trembled slightly beyond his control.
"Before, I thought Richard and Tata's