Ch.157Chapter 157 – The Crawling Man (8)

“M-meow…”

“Meow…”

Zia Lestrade slipped out of the room with its chilly atmosphere, using the bathroom as an excuse.

“You should have chosen one of them instead of me…”

After catching her breath for a moment, she begins whispering in a low voice to the cat nestled against her chest.

“Weren’t you supposed to be taken care of by one of those two? Why did you choose me?”

“Purr…”

Of course, he wanted to protest immediately since it wasn’t his choice at all, but all that came out was cat sounds, causing him to make a sullen expression.

“…Hmm.”

Lestrade’s heart begins to soften gradually after witnessing such a fatal sight of that woman.

“Well, neither of them is in their right mind anyway. Were you having a hard time?”

“…Meow!”

“Hmm…”

Finally, seeing the cat’s intense reaction, she quietly sinks into thought.

“I wasn’t planning to keep a cat…”

After looking around briefly, she enters the bathroom while taking out a small notebook from the pocket on her uniform’s chest.

“The book definitely said that keeping pets during the newlywed phase isn’t a very good choice…”

“……..”

“B-but… both Issac and I make decent money, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right? And my siblings could look after it normally…”

Then, crouching inside, she begins to mutter while reviewing the densely written notes in her notebook.

“It looks gentle, so it probably won’t attack my siblings, but just in case, if I train it in advance…”

“Meow?”

“…Wait.”

It was at that moment when the cat looked at her with a puzzled expression and meowed while she was seriously contemplating, even biting her nails.

“What if the baby shows an allergic reaction?”

Lestrade, who had been quickly checking the contents written in her notebook, blurted out such a question without thinking.

“”……….””

And silence begins to linger in the bathroom for a moment.

“…I’m crazy.”

After staring blankly for a while in that silence, she starts hitting her cheeks violently and shaking her head frantically.

“We’re not even really married… it’s just a contract marriage forced by my values… what baby…”

“M-meow.”

“Get a grip, Lestrade. You’ve been overworking too much lately and your mind is getting too strange.”

Just as she was about to get up after slapping her cheeks until they turned bright red, though for some reason her ears were also red despite not being touched by her palms.

“Yes, I think you’ve become strange too, from my perspective.”

“…Eek!?”

A nonchalant voice was heard right in front of her.

“W-w-what is it, Miss Holmes?”

“You’ll pass out breathing like that, Officer.”

“Y-you startled me…?”

“I didn’t do anything. You just got startled on your own.”

“…That’s true.”

Thanks to that, Lestrade, who had jumped up in surprise, avoids eye contact with an embarrassed expression at Sharlotte’s words.

“We don’t have time for this.”

“Pardon?”

“Let’s hurry and leave this place.”

But suddenly, Sharlotte grabs her arm and starts urging her to walk faster.

“What are you saying all of a sudden?”

“Why? Weren’t you the one who wanted to hurry and leave this place, Officer?”

“That’s true, but…”

When she made a slightly uncomfortable expression, Sharlotte sighs quietly and begins to explain.

“We have no reason to be considerate of Professor Moriarty from our position, right? She’s our enemy now. Shouldn’t we save even the time for goodbyes to reduce the time she has to make her next move?”

“What about this cat…?”

“We’ll take it with us. Well. That ancient magic already told us it’s not about the owner anyway.”

As she said this and reached out her hand to the cat with an indifferent expression.

– Zzzzt…

“…Ouch.”

At that moment, she felt a tingling sensation from the spark that ran through the creature’s body and pulled her hand back.

“…I-I guess this is also part of the magic.”

“………”

“But it is strange. Why is it recognized as my possession, not yours or the professor’s…”

Eventually, Sharlotte glares at the cat nestled in her arms for a while with colorless eyes.

“I suppose the ancient person who designed it had an old-fashioned way of thinking.”

“Is that so? Well, if you say so, then it must be…”

“…Meow.”

“Eek!?”

Lestrade, who had been nodding with an innocent expression at her words, lets out a groan as the cat, unable to withstand Sharlotte’s cold gaze, slips inside her clothes, causing her to shudder.

“T-this guy. That won’t work…”

“Haah…”

After watching that scene with a completely distorted expression, she quietly turns around.

“You want to live like that forever, I guess?”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s nothing.”

After muttering coldly in that state, she adds in a low voice as she leaves the bathroom.

“Behave yourself.”

“……?”

Quietly tilting her head at those words, Lestrade begins to follow her while gently stroking the cat that had started trembling inside her clothes with a slightly pitiful gaze.

“…I wonder if this is what maternal love feels like.”

“Meow…?”

“No, why am I talking nonsense today…”

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“………”

“Um, Miss Holmes?”

Sharlotte and Lestrade, who had left the laboratory and been walking through London’s streets for quite some time.

“Why does it feel like we’re going back the way we came?”

“Well, that’s because we are actually going back the way we came.”

“Pardon?”

When Lestrade, who had been silently stroking the cat in her arms while following Sharlotte, casually asked a question due to the déjà vu she began to feel, Sharlotte stops walking and begins to answer in a low voice.

“I’ve already figured out the truth of the case. I also know where we need to go next.”

“T-the police station is in the opposite direction. If we want to get police reinforcements before losing the professor’s fiancé, time is tight…”

“What if I already know the destination?”

Lestrade’s face shows a question mark at those words.

“But… is that possible?”

“Professor Moriarty and my sister gave plenty of hints. It would be strange not to notice.”

“…When did they give hints?”

Sharlotte, who had been glancing repeatedly at her wriggling top, eventually sighs and begins to explain.

“It was definitely Professor Moriarty who made Gregory Freud leave the laboratory before we arrived.”

“Yes, I know that too.”

“But both the professor herself and even my sister, who didn’t know what she was thinking, said the professor hadn’t committed any crime.”

Lestrade quietly nods at those words.

“She made the person we were chasing move at a critical moment, but ‘harboring charges’ don’t apply. That means Gregory Freud isn’t currently fleeing.”

“Then…?”

“Rather than moving to a place unrelated to the case to avoid the situation, isn’t he moving to the most crucial place in the case with some purpose?”

A light bulb finally appears above Lestrade’s head.

“Could it be that Gregory Freud is heading to the professor’s mansion…?”

“Your deductive skills have been slow lately, Officer Lestrade. I’ll give you credit for that.”

“But why on earth…?”

“There are many possibilities. For example, if we assume he’s the culprit, he could be trying to hide or destroy evidence.”

Lestrade’s expression gradually becomes serious as she hears those words.

“Going further, he might be aiming for murder, right? Hiding in the mansion, waiting for the professor to return.”

“T-that’s terrible!!”

As soon as Sharlotte finishes speaking, she raises her voice and starts shouting.

“Let’s catch a carriage right now!! No, get on my back. If I run with all my might, I’m confident I can get there faster than a carriage!!”

“…Calm down.”

“How can I calm down after hearing that?”

Eventually, after showing momentum as if she was about to start sprinting, she begins to get heated after hearing Sharlotte’s calm voice.

“I-Issac is in that mansion!”

“………”

“Moreover, his mental state isn’t right, and he’s even tied up! If we leave him like this, who knows what disaster might happen…”

“…So, even for you, Issac Adler has become an important person?”

Lestrade falls silent for a moment upon hearing those words.

“…We’re still just using each other. There are no personal feelings whatsoever.”

“…Yet you call him by his first name instead of his surname, and you’re even making plans for a second child.”

“T-that’s… a misunderstanding!”

Eventually, she turns her face red and avoids eye contact under Sharlotte’s questioning.

“…The second child plan is like a last resort in case controlling Adler becomes difficult.”

“………”

“S-so even if we do have one, I won’t love Adler. I-I’ll only love the c-child…”

Sharlotte, who had been looking at her with an incredulous gaze, eventually shakes her head and opens her mouth.

“Let’s hurry our steps. Time is really getting tight now.”

“…So, we’re going to the mansion to stop that man?”

“That’s right, but…”

Suddenly, her footsteps begin to turn sideways.

“Before that, I need to make a quick stop somewhere.”

“…Pardon?”

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“Time is already short, where exactly do you need to stop by…”

“To end this childish farce, there’s someone I absolutely must bring along.”

Meanwhile, at that time.

“M-meow…?”

Issac Adler, who had been curled up between the lower chest and stomach inside Lestrade’s clothes, eavesdropping on the conversation with a blushing face, began to show a panicked expression.

[Erosion Rate: 40% -> 45%]

[Erosion Rate: 45% -> 50%]

[Erosion Rate: 50% -> 55%]

He thought the case was almost solved thanks to his noble(?) sacrifice, but he realized it was an illusion through the system messages that had begun to run wild.

“W-wait a moment. The cat is suddenly trembling again…”

“…Why should that matter?”

‘…I’m screwed.’