Ch.141Chapter 141 – The Groom’s Identity (4)

“S-step back.”

“…Ahem.”

Despite the professor’s threatening warning, Watson, who was still holding the gun in her pocket, opens her mouth with a trembling voice.

“If you don’t step back… I-I’ll shoot.”

“Interesting. Go ahead and shoot.”

“I-I’m not joking! I’ll really shoot!”

“I’m not joking either. Even one shot is fine, go ahead and shoot at me.”

But despite her threat, Jane Moriarty just tilts her head from side to side with an amused expression.

“…For your information, before you shoot, I’d like to inform you that there is such a thing as self-defense in British law.”

“Stop…”

“Or if not that, shall we have a duel? That’s also legal.”

“Will you shut that mouth already?!”

Looking at the professor, Watson finally loses control of her emotions and screams.

“No matter what you say, Neville is my husband!! I will never hand him over to an evil criminal like you!!”

With that, Rachel Watson pulls her fiancé, who had been holding her hand beside her, tightly into her arms.

“Mmph…”

“What on earth did you do to him these past few days that made Neville so frail? Tell me!”

Adler, completely buried in her rather tall figure, looks at Watson with a slightly troubled expression.

“Um, Rachel… I’ll join the professor for now… so please step back…”

“Issac is mine, Miss Watson.”

Just as he was quietly whispering to Watson, a sudden statement bursts from Professor Moriarty’s lips.

“He is not yours.”

“”………..””

As those words end, a momentary silence falls over the surroundings.

“…Issac?”

In that silence, Rachel Watson stares intently at her fiancé and begins to mutter in a low voice.

“That’s strange. There’s only me and Neville Saint-Claire here…”

“……..”

“Where is this person named Issac supposed to be…?”

Suspicion begins to cloud her eyes as she looks down at her fiancé nestled in her arms.

“Come to think of it, you were with Adler earlier.”

“Well…”

“…Are you two switched right now?”

Eventually, her voice begins to tremble.

“T-that can’t be…”

“Then why does the professor call you Issac?”

“Y-you must have misheard…”

“Issac, what are you doing with that woman?”

Despite Adler, disguised as Neville, desperately trying to make excuses, the professor’s cheerful voice comes from the front, making his efforts futile.

“Are you planning to cheat before even getting married?”

“……..”

“Come to me and let me embrace you. Then I won’t ask about that strange behavior you’re showing now.”

Judging by that confident expression and behavior, the professor did not seem to approve of his plan.

“Uh, um…”

Therefore, Issac Adler began to sweat and rack his brain between Watson, who was holding him in her arms with a cold gaze, and the professor, who was extending both arms forward.

[This looks like a game over situation.]

[Be careful or not, it’s up to you.]

To make matters worse, as the blunt-font message appeared before his eyes, Adler’s gaze began to tremble as he racked his brain so hard it could smoke.

“Issac.”

“……..?”

“You don’t have much time to think.”

The professor’s usual leisurely voice pierced his ear.

“You know I’ve been very accommodating to you.”

“Wait.”

Issac Adler’s eyes began to quietly shine right after she finished those words.

“Look here.”

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– Step, step…

“”…….?””

Adler, escaping from Rachel Watson’s arms, begins to move forward, staring intently at Professor Moriarty in front of him.

“Professor.”

“What is it?”

“What you just said, would you say it again?”

After reaching right in front of the professor, he puts his hands behind his back, smiles brightly, and asks her a question.

“Shouldn’t you come into my arms first?”

“No.”

“Then I have no choice…”

At his firm voice, the professor, who had been looking slightly dejected, quietly began to recall and repeat what she had just said.

“You know I’ve been very accommodating to you…”

“Before that.”

“You don’t have much time to think?”

“Before that.”

As she continued to look puzzled at Adler’s persistent requests, the moment she uttered the next words.

“Issac…”

– SLAP!!!

A sharp sound that could make one’s ears ring echoed through the entrance of the remote cathedral.

“……..?”

After that, realizing that her head had turned sideways, Jane Moriarty began to absently rub her cheek, which was starting to burn.

“What are you…”

– SLAP…!!!

“…Ugh?”

As she tried to speak, Adler’s palm struck her other cheek directly.

“….???”

The professor, experiencing this for the first time in her life, held both of her bright red swollen cheeks and stared at Adler with a dumbfounded expression.

“Do you know what déjà vu is?”

“……..”

“To me, this situation feels exactly like that.”

Adler began to whisper to her with a cold and forceful attitude he had never shown before.

– Squeeze…

“…Kuk?”

As he gently grabbed her neck and applied slight pressure, the professor’s body, which had been staring blankly at him, trembled.

“What’s the rush that made you come so soon?”

“You…”

“Can we drop the professor talk between us now?”

As Adler whispered in a low voice in that situation, she stopped speaking and began to stare quietly at him.

“That’s right.”

“……”

“You look cuter that way.”

As Adler gently stroked the professor’s head, her pupils began to shake wildly, losing their focus.

“…Cute?”

“Yes.”

But in that situation, Adler lightly punched the professor’s lower abdomen.

“…Huk?”

Although it was such a gentle punch that it could hardly be felt as an attack, it was an unexpected blow delivered with perfect timing, causing Adler’s fist to completely sink into the professor’s lower abdomen.

– Shudder…

As a result, the professor began to tremble again with an expression that said she didn’t understand what was happening.

“You should have slipped away according to our contract.”

“…….?”

“Disguising yourself and playing such pranks. Aren’t you taking me too lightly?”

Adler, who whispered in her ear with a sigh, slapped her lower abdomen with his palm once more and said.

“Apologize.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Can’t you speak properly?”

As he commanded in a cold voice, after a considerable internal struggle, a low voice began to leak from her lips.

“…I’m sorry.”

“That’s right.”

Finally satisfied, Adler stroked her chin, then began to draw his golden mana from his other hand to create something.

“Our contract isn’t over yet.”

“…….”

“So until my plan is finished, you need to behave.”

It was none other than a golden, glowing dog collar.

“Adler…”

“It’s too late to call me by my proper name now that you’ve already figured it out.”

As Adler tried to put it around her neck, Professor Moriarty began to step back, showing extreme aversion.

“…Want to be punished?”

“……….”

But when Adler, who sternly whispered, pulled her hair, Professor Moriarty quietly lowered her gaze and finally offered her neck.

– Click…

Thus, the dog collar made of Adler’s mana was fastened around her neck.

“Let’s go. Follow quietly without resistance.”

“…….”

“…You have to behave until the wedding is over?”

Adler, holding the leash, began to lead Professor Moriarty toward the cathedral with a grin.

“After it’s over, you can do as you please.”

“…Neville?”

Meanwhile, Rachel Watson, who had been watching the scene from a slight distance with a blank expression.

“Rachel, what are you doing?”

“U-uh?”

“Come on.”

She, who had been watching the situation with cold sweat, answered with an awkward voice at the call of her fiancé, who was putting a dog collar on the terrifying Professor Moriarty.

“We need to have our wedding.”

Then Adler, who had already approached her side, gently took her hand.

“How did this happen?”

“…Don’t you know that the power of love is great?”

Watson’s brain, which had been creaking and malfunctioning several times, quietly stopped at the words that flowed from his mouth.

“I fought and defeated the professor for you.”

“…Ah.”

Forgetting even that the professor had just called him Issac, Watson’s pupils began to turn into hearts again.

“We should finish the wedding before the cathedral closes?”

“…Darling.”

The professor, with a collar around her neck from Adler, was still staring blankly at the scene with a dumbfounded expression.

“Adler… I was just calling you by your name…”

– SLAP!!!

“……..That hurts.”

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Meanwhile, at that time.

“What…?”

Lupin, who had moved to the roof of the cathedral using an inexplicable ability to witness Charlotte’s wedding intrusion.

“What am I seeing right now…?”

She was looking at the situation on the ground with a dumbfounded expression.

“I told you to speak properly.”

“…It hurts.”

“Yes, like that.”

This was because Adler, who had slapped the face of a being feared by all supernatural creatures in England, including herself, was pulling on the leash while caressing her red, swollen cheek.