Ch.144Chapter 144 – The Groom’s Identity (7)

“…Holmes?”

Watson, who had rushed up the stairs with her gun raised after hearing a moan from upstairs, began to look dazed.

“Why are you here…?”

It was because her colleague and partner Sharlotte Holmes was, for some reason, wiping her mouth with her sleeve while her face was flushed.

“Watson, this is…”

“Ahem.”

Meanwhile, beside Holmes, her fiancé Neville was quietly trembling with his head bowed.

“What on earth were you two doing here?”

When he avoided her gaze with a pained expression, suspicion began to cloud Watson’s eyes as she observed him carefully.

“How did Holmes know about this place and why is she in the room, and what did you do to be sweating so nervously?”

“”……..””

“Answer me!”

And just as that suspicion was about to manifest quite aggressively.

“She volunteered to be a witness for this wedding.”

“…Huh?”

From behind Watson came the calm voice of a nun.

“So there’s no need to be so suspicious.”

“…….!?”

“Is that so?”

While Adler looked up with a puzzled expression, Watson asked with a blank stare.

“B-but… we already brought a witness.”

“You mean the person tied to the pillar with a leash who keeps muttering something? Such a person cannot be recognized as a wedding witness.”

“W-well, that’s true.”

“And then, this acquaintance of yours visited the cathedral and gladly offered to be a witness. Wouldn’t it be better for both you and me to have a legally certified person as a witness?”

“C-certainly…”

At the nun’s flawless logic, Watson, who had been looking dazed, quietly nodded in agreement.

“…The nun is right. Since you were choosing a dress, I was helping your husband-to-be relax a bit.”

“Holmes. If that was the case, you should have given me some notice beforehand. You startled me.”

Eventually, Watson addressed Holmes with a considerably relaxed smile.

“But then what was that suggestive moaning sound?”

“I was giving him a massage. I learned it when I went to India long ago. Nothing is as effective at relieving tension.”

“I see. But you were wiping your mouth with your sleeve when I came in…”

However, a faint suspicion still remained in her eyes.

“…You didn’t give him a massage with your mouth, did you?”

“Watson. Hearing such rude remarks, I wonder if you’ve been reading too many obscene books lately.”

When she asked that in a small voice, Sharlotte immediately scolded Watson with a serious expression.

“I was simply wiping my face with my sleeve because I was sweating from giving the massage so diligently.”

“Is that… really it?”

“Yes. To be honest, I’m quite offended right now. Would you apologize?”

“U-um…”

At her firm attitude, Watson, who had been fidgeting, finally bowed her head and began to apologize to Sharlotte.

“I’m sorry, Holmes. I think I’ve become a bit sensitive after experiencing various things recently…”

“Don’t call me ‘Holmes.’ It’s a word that’s appeared in my dreams several times lately.”

“Huh?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Sharlotte, who had flinched slightly at the apology, muttered that before clearing her throat and speaking again.

“Anyway, that’s enough. You must be quite sensitive at this time too. I’m sorry for coming without notice…”

“N-no, Holmes. I’m actually happy about it!”

When she muttered with a slightly sullen expression, Watson hurriedly waved her hands.

“Who else could attend my wedding if not you? I was a bit disappointed that it turned out to be such a modest wedding, but I’m glad that with you here, it will be a satisfying ceremony!”

“…..I see.”

At that bright voice, Sharlotte quietly nodded while avoiding her gaze.

“But, is it okay?”

“Hm? What?”

“To show your wedding outfit to the groom already?”

“…Ah.”

At the question she posed, Rachel Watson tilted her head quietly before freezing stiff.

“F-forget about it!!”

She quickly ran behind the nun to hide, then shouted as she went outside.

“…I-I’ll wait downstairs!”

And then came silence.

“Your disguise skills are quite impressive.”

Sharlotte, who had been standing quietly in the room, began to speak in a cold voice to the nun who had remained upstairs.

“…To disguise yourself so quickly as someone you’ve only seen for a few dozen seconds.”

“Ahaha…”

The nun began to scratch her head with a bright smile.

“But if the nun disappears now, the wedding will fizzle out, won’t it…?”

“…….”

“From my perspective, as someone who finds life’s fulfillment in taking things, that would be a bit problematic.”

The woman, who momentarily revealed her voice as Arsène Lupin, quietly raised the corner of her mouth and began to mutter.

“…Though I have no business with someone who even loses to a dog familiar.”

“………”

“Well, then I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

Eventually, Lupin smiled at Sharlotte, who had begun to glare at her coldly, and started walking down the stairs.

“I don’t know what your intentions are in becoming a witness at the wedding of someone you like.”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s something you don’t need to know…”

“Don’t get too arrogant just because you’ve had a little taste.”

After leaving those words, she disappeared to the first floor.

“…I heard it’s a taste that half the women in London already know.”

“”……..””

Silence began to flow between the two people left on the second floor.

“…You said it was your first time?”

“Y-yes, it is.”

“You’re lying until the end…”

Sharlotte’s eyes gradually lost their light as she looked at Adler, who was staggering with his disguise temporarily undone due to mana deficiency.

“I’ll make another mistake.”

“P-please spare…”

They came back down to the first floor just as Watson was about to climb the stairs again, unable to bear the moaning sounds that had started again.

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“Honey. If you like massages so much, you should have told me earlier…”

“Y-yes…”

“I’ll give you one every day from now on.”

Rachel Watson, who had urgently grabbed her fiancé as he was coming down the stairs with Sharlotte, whispered while holding onto him, who somehow seemed several times weaker than before.

“…But what about the dress?”

“Oh, the nun temporarily hid it with magic. She said it’s better to show the beautiful appearance at the critical moment.”

“Aah…”

Adler nodded, looking at her with an expression slightly tinged with guilt.

“Finally, this day has come…”

Whether she knew his feelings or not, Watson began to chatter excitedly beside him.

“Let’s go to America for our honeymoon, honey.”

“…….”

“I’ve already prepared the ship tickets. You just need to bring yourself.”

But Adler was not in a position to pay attention to those words.

“………”

It was because Professor Jane Moriarty, who had been tied to the pillar with a leash until then, was staring at him with eyes devoid of any emotion.

‘…I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’

If he untied her now, it would surely disrupt the wedding quest, but if he didn’t, he feared the consequences.

“Honey, what are you looking at?”

“Mmph.”

As he had been staring at the professor for quite some time, Watson grabbed both his cheeks and turned his face toward her.

“From now on, you should only look at me.”

“……..”

“I’ll shoot you if you look elsewhere, okay?”

Her words, whispered with a shy expression, sounded quite cute when coupled with her innocent appearance.

“…I ranked first in shooting when I was in the military.”

“U-um.”

“Have you ever caught an enemy scout at night with a pistol?”

If the speaker hadn’t been a former military doctor who had even received a medal, it might have sounded several times cuter.

“So, don’t think about running away this time, okay?”

“………”

“If you run away, I’ll find you no matter what. Okay?”

Just as Watson’s sweet yet threatening conversation was ending.

“The bride and groom, please enter.”

Lupin, in the form of a nun who had been watching them with narrowed eyes, began to raise her clear voice.

“We should start the wedding ceremony, shouldn’t we?”

“Ah…”

At those words, Watson stopped chattering and began to look extremely nervous.

“What should I do, honey…”

“……?”

“I’m so nervous…”

As she actually started trembling beside him, Adler, who only knew one way to calm a woman, quietly began to look around.

‘…Oh, whatever.’

“””………..”””

‘Let it be what it will be.’

And then, ignoring the gazes of Sharlotte, Lupin, and the professor all focused on him, he stood on his tiptoes.

– Smooch…

“…….!”

When he kissed her on the cheek, Watson, who had been trembling, stopped moving and began to stare down at Adler.

“Relax, Rachel.”

In that situation, Adler whispered to her with a pure smile.

[London’s Casanova: Being Caught for Marriage Fraud by Rachel Watson]

[0% -> 20%]

“…Huh?”

It was at that moment that a system message that shouldn’t have appeared popped up before his eyes.

[Probability of Getting Shot: 50%]

“……???”

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While Adler was looking dazed at the suddenly changed progress rate and probability.

“……..?”

In Watson’s view, as she was looking down at her fiancé who had kissed her cheek with loving eyes, she was somehow seeing something she shouldn’t see.

‘…A tail?’

It was a tail, somehow very familiar in shape, that was sticking out and swaying over her fiancé’s pants.