Ch.140Chapter 140 – The Groom’s Identity (3)

“Hmm…”

After staring with a puzzled look at the inside of the bush where black smoke had been rising for quite a while, Lupin suddenly begins to make a mischievous expression.

“Hello~?”

“…….”

“Is someone there~”

Then, she gently clasps her hands behind her back and begins to walk toward the bush, gliding smoothly.

“I hear something strange coming from somewhere?”

– Rustle, rustle…

“Could it be a cat in heat hiding in there…?”

As she arrives right in front of it, covering her mouth and smiling while muttering, the bush begins to shake quite significantly.

– Pop…

“Oh my.”

Eventually, a girl with rather disheveled black hair emerges expressionlessly from inside, and Lupin bursts into laughter while covering her mouth.

“Not a cat but a detective? Well, I suppose you’re both in heat all the same.”

“…….”

“So, what were you doing in there?”

Lupin asked accusingly, having read the subtle irregularity in her breathing, but no answer came back from Sharlotte.

– Step, step…

“Hmm…?”

She simply approached Lupin, who was wearing Adler’s clothes, with a serious expression.

“W-wait. Just wait a moment.”

“……..”

“D-don’t tell me you’re trying to pounce on me?”

Lupin began waving her hands in slight confusion at the situation.

“I-I’m not actually Adler, you know? I’m just disguised as him?”

– Growl…

“Y-you really misunderstood? You’re really Sharlotte Holmes? Huh?”

But as a shadow suddenly rose behind her, blocking her escape route, genuine cold sweat began to run down her forehead.

“P-please spare the phantom thief….”

“…Enough nonsense, answer my question.”

Grabbing her wrist firmly with remarkable martial skill, Sharlotte Holmes began to whisper coldly.

“Where is Adler?”

“What, you knew I wasn’t Adler?”

“Even without reading my mana implanted in his body, I could tell you weren’t Adler just by your scent.”

Hearing this, Lupin chuckles and asks.

“Are you two close enough to know each other’s scents?”

“……..”

“Or perhaps it’s one-sided knowledge?”

Meanwhile, Lupin’s eyes began to gleam mischievously again.

“Adler didn’t seem to notice you were here even when we were intimately changing clothes in the closet…”

– Gulp…

“I see now you’re not a detective but an obsessive stalker.”

The very next moment, black smoke emitted by Sharlotte wrapped around Lupin’s neck.

“…Kuhk?”

“Don’t speak carelessly about things you don’t understand.”

A cold voice reached Lupin’s ears as she trembled and gasped for breath through her suddenly constricted throat.

“He was the one who liked me first.”

“What?”

Lupin tilted her head, wondering if she had misheard, when Sharlotte’s indignant voice pierced her ears clearly once more.

“Adler was obsessed with me first.”

“……..”

“I accepted him, I didn’t chase after him saying I liked him…”

“I-I see. I misunderstood.”

Thinking that her neck might be snapped if she mocked her now, Lupin quickly nodded in agreement.

“…But why is the situation reversed now?”

But the next moment, unable to contain the pure curiosity that arose in her mind, Lupin asked such a question.

“That’s…….”

Trailing off at the question, Sharlotte quietly lowered her gaze and muttered.

“…Because I like him.”

“Hmm.”

“More than he likes me, I’ve come to like him more…”

As she said this, Sharlotte’s face had turned red without her even realizing it.

‘…Interesting.’

Looking at her with interest, Lupin soon began to mutter to herself.

‘I thought we were the same kind…’

“So, answer my question. Where is Issac Adler right now…”

“…I think you should answer my question first.”

Then, quietly snapping her fingers, Lupin countered with a question.

“The Curse, you have it too, right?”

At the sudden change in her demeanor, Sharlotte tensed but quietly nodded.

“I thought so.”

Lupin smiled as if she had expected it and muttered in a low voice.

“Adler was the key to breaking the curse, wasn’t he?”

“…Key?”

“For those born with curses, he’s a treasure more valuable than anything in the world.”

Sharlotte’s expression darkened at those words.

“Explain in detail. What do you mean…”

“You’ve actually noticed it too.”

“…….”

“That only Issac Adler can neutralize our curses.”

Lupin revealed an eerie smile to her for the first time.

“…You know, I don’t know what curse you have, but honestly, I doubt you’re more unfortunate than I am.”

“You’d better take that back.”

“Hmph. At least you’re living a seemingly normal life on the outside?”

An uncharacteristically dark voice began to escape from Lupin’s lips.

“I’ve never even had the luxury of appearing normal on the outside.”

“……..”

“From what I can see, you who are so obsessed with Adler must have lived a life unable to love anything. Am I wrong?”

Hearing this, Sharlotte stopped what she was about to say and stared at Lupin.

“I guess I’m right. It must have been a truly sad life.”

“…Don’t speak as if you understand.”

“Well, you’re right. I couldn’t understand.”

There was no longer any trace of a smile on Lupin’s face.

“Because my curse is the exact opposite of yours.”

“…The opposite?”

“A curse that prevents anyone in this world from loving me—isn’t that truly cruel?”

Instead, countless expressions were flashing across her face.

“…When I was young, I thought getting beaten was an expression of ‘love.'”

“……”

“Before abandoning me at age eight, my parents beat me almost every day.”

Most of these were negative expressions not usually seen on her.

“When I wandered the streets of London like an orphan with nothing to my name, getting beaten by anyone and everyone, the world seemed truly beautiful. I thought everyone loved me.”

“……..”

“…It was only when I collapsed coughing blood and was left on the street for half a day, nearly dying, that I realized.”

Tears began to well up in her eyes.

“That I was actually not loved by anyone.”

As those tears rolled down Lupin’s cheek, who was facing Sharlotte.

“…After that day, I began to hide myself.”

“…….”

“I realized that if I became a completely different person, the curse would avoid me!”

After quickly wiping away her tears with her sleeve, her voice began to return to its cheerful tone.

“You know how every curse comes with one enviable ability? For me, it was the ability to disguise myself and escape. Thanks to that, I could easily live by changing my identity.”

“But why…”

“But whenever I developed an identity I considered my ‘true self,’ the curse would inevitably strike me down.”

Lupin sighed and scratched her head as she muttered.

“…As a result of constantly changing identities, I’ve reached the point where I don’t even know who I really am anymore.”

“……..”

“Pushed to my limits in such a situation, I was about to stop loving myself too.”

And then the next moment.

“…When I secretly entered England for a jewel I wanted, I never expected to receive a ring as a gift.”

“Ah…”

“That was more surprising than having my disguise and plan seen through, you know?”

Having escaped from Sharlotte’s smoke with astonishing speed, Lupin was now sitting on the roof of the villa, shrugging her shoulders.

“It was the first gift I’d ever received in my life. Even when I once foolishly tried to live honestly, I never properly received even my wages, let alone gifts.”

Sharlotte stared blankly at what had happened so suddenly.

“I always had to forcibly take things from others to survive, and the more I did so, the worse my infamy grew…”

Her expression began to turn serious.

“And then I realized, that guy always had a worried expression whenever he hit me.”

“……..”

“I’ve never met anyone in my life who made such a cute expression while hitting me. And he was handsome too—how could I not be interested?”

And the next moment, she shouted.

“The only person in the world who could love me is London’s most handsome man—why wouldn’t I want to have him?”

“…Adler is mine!!”

The eyes of the thief on the roof, who had been shrugging her shoulders, began to fill with a sense of transgression at that moment.

“That’s exactly it…”

“What?”

“The desire to steal something that completely belongs to someone else and make it mine…”

Sharlotte quietly closed her mouth at those words.

“That’s my way, detective.”

“……..”

“So, I’m truly sorry, but I can’t tell you where Adler is.”

It was at that very moment when smoke filled with killing intent, incomparable to anything before, began to pour from her body.

“Still, I wonder if it’s time by now?”

Lupin tilted her head for a moment and began to mutter in a subtle voice.

“The marriage registration should have been submitted by now, making him the husband of either a doctor or a professor…”

“………!!!”

Within seconds, Sharlotte withdrew her black smoke and began sprinting with a pale face.

“Good luck, detective…”

Toward the nearest cathedral.

“…Everyone, work hard to increase the value of my treasure.”

After quietly watching her retreating figure from the roof, Lupin inhaled the scent of the clothes she was wearing once more and muttered.

.

.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, at the only cathedral in a remote rural area.

“”………””

Rachel Watson, who had reached the front of the cathedral while firmly holding her lovely fiancé’s arm, was caressing the gun in her bosom with a pale face.

“I truly don’t understand why London is overflowing with people who have the bad habit of caressing guns inside their clothes.”

It was because she had unfortunately come face to face with the very person she had hoped not to encounter at this moment, who was blocking the door of the cathedral with gray eyes gleaming.

“…It’s useless in front of me anyway.”

Thus began the intense confrontation between the professor and Watson, with neither willing to yield.

‘I just had a wonderful idea, Miss System.’

[What is it?]

Adler, suddenly with bright eyes amidst the tension, began to mutter to himself.

‘…Instead of letting them fight, why don’t I just make both of them my wives?’

[Die.]