Mafia Lord's Mute Sweetheart

Chapter 110: Chapter 110 I Found it

The next morning, the atmosphere inside the laboratory remained just as tense as it had been over the past few days.

The failed stability report had become everyone’s biggest concern. Every researcher was busy preparing fresh samples, recalibrating instruments and repeating experiments from the very beginning. No one wanted to overlook even the smallest detail.

As soon as Daisy walked in, she spotted Ace standing beside the gas chromatograph, staring blankly at a stack of reports. His posture was slumped, his shoulders heavy with exhaustion.

His usually neat hair was a complete mess, sticking up in every direction as if he had been running his hands through it all night. Dark circles had formed beneath his eyes, making him look as though he hadn’t slept in days. His shirt was wrinkled and his sleeves were rolled up haphazardly.

Mona walked over carrying three cups of coffee. The moment she saw Ace’s face, she stopped in her tracks.

"Oh my goodness..."

She placed the cups on the table before pointing at him.

"Ace, what happened to you?"

She leaned closer, examining his face with concern.

"You have panda eyes!"

Ace rubbed his face tiredly and forced a weak smile.

"I know..."

Mona folded her arms across her chest, her expression shifting to one of mock sternness.

"I told you not to overthink. You promised me yesterday."

Ace let out a helpless sigh, his shoulders slumping even further.

"I really tried... I just..." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, unable to meet her eyes. "...I can’t control myself."

He let out a frustrated breath.

"My brain keeps replaying every possible reason the formula failed. I kept thinking that maybe I overlooked something. What if I made a mistake? What if the entire project fails because of me? What if—"

"Oh, stop."

Mona lightly smacked his shoulder, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"See? You’re doing it again. You’ve already started another ’what if’ chain."

Ace gave an embarrassed smile, his cheeks flushing slightly.

"I know... I just can’t help it."

Before Mona could lecture him again, Daisy quietly stepped beside Ace.

Without saying a word, she gently tapped his arm twice.

Tap... tap.

Ace turned toward her, his tired eyes meeting hers.

She smiled softly before raising her hands carefully.

She signed, It’s okay.

Then she pointed toward the laboratory. We’ll do another test today. We’ll find the answer together.

Ace watched her hands, his brow furrowing slightly in concentration. Although he couldn’t understand sign language, he had spent enough time around Daisy to recognize some of her common gestures. He knew she was encouraging him, reassuring him.

More importantly, he understood her expression.

She wasn’t worried. She believed they would solve it.

Daisy then picked up her notebook and quickly wrote the same message.

It’s okay. We’ll run another test today. We won’t give up.

She showed it to him with an encouraging smile.

Ace looked at the words for several seconds. His tired eyes softened, and the tension in his shoulders eased just a little.

Then he let out a small laugh.

"...You know..." He smiled a little more genuinely this time. "You always manage to calm people down."

Daisy blinked before shyly lowering her eyes, her cheeks warming.

Mona immediately wrapped an arm around Daisy’s shoulders, pulling her close.

"That’s because she’s our little emotional support human."

Daisy looked up in surprise.

Mona grinned, her eyes sparkling.

"You don’t talk... but somehow you comfort everyone."

Ace nodded in agreement, his smile widening.

"She’s right. Whenever Daisy pats my arm, I feel like everything will somehow be okay."

Daisy’s cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. She quickly waved both hands, trying to deny the compliment.

Mona laughed, the sound bright and warm.

"Look! She’s embarrassed!"

Ace chuckled, the tension on his face finally easing. His shoulders relaxed and the dark circles under his eyes seemed less prominent.

"Alright."

He clapped his hands together, a new energy filling his voice.

"Let’s run the next round of tests. We’re finding that problem today."

The three of them exchanged determined smiles before returning to their workstations.

❀┈┈┈┈❀

Every researcher was focused on repeating the stability tests, determined to find the tiny mistake that had slipped past them.

Daisy stood at her workstation, carefully handling the samples. This time, Ace had allowed her to conduct the entire analysis by herself.

She slowly injected the prepared sample into the gas chromatograph and patiently waited for the chromatogram to appear on the monitor. Her eyes moved from one peak to another, her mind analyzing each signal.

Everything looked normal...

Until they didn’t.

She frowned.

Her gaze focused on one particular ingredient. The aromatic compound itself wasn’t unstable. Neither were the solvents. Everything seemed fine on the surface.

But something was wrong.

She quickly pulled out the previous reports and placed them beside today’s results. Her eyes darted back and forth between the chromatograms, comparing each peak, each retention time, each subtle variation.

Then...

Her pupils widened.

She immediately grabbed another sample prepared with a slightly different ratio and ran another analysis.

Several anxious minutes passed.

The machine finished processing.

Daisy’s eyes sparkled.

She had found it.

It wasn’t that any ingredient was defective. The problem lay in the composition. One of the fixatives, the ingredient responsible for holding the fragrance together and slowing evaporation, had been added in a slightly higher proportion than necessary.

Initially, the perfume smelled exactly as intended. But after weeks of storage and repeated exposure to air, the excess fixative interacted with one of the floral aroma compounds, gradually changing its chemical profile. Instead of preserving the fragrance, it accelerated the breakdown of the delicate top notes.

That was why the perfume developed an unpleasant odor after about a month.

It wasn’t a problem with the raw materials.

It was the ratio.

A tiny difference in composition had created a huge problem.

Daisy’s heartbeat quickened. Her hands trembled with excitement as she grabbed her notebook and hurried across the laboratory.

Ace was still studying another report when Daisy almost skidded to a stop beside him. Her breathing was slightly uneven, her eyes bright with discovery.

She quickly began writing, her handwriting slightly messy from excitement.

I think I found it! The ingredients are fine. The composition ratio is wrong. The fixative concentration is slightly too high. It’s reacting with the floral compound during long-term storage. If we reduce the percentage and rebalance the formula, the instability should disappear.

Ace read the page.

Once.

Then twice.

His eyes grew wider and wider, his lips parting in disbelief.

"...No way."