Ch.166Chapter 166 – The Devil’s Foot (4)

“The owner is late…”

“Indeed.”

“By the way, something feels strange no matter how I think about it…”

Adler had entered the inn with Professor Moriarty at her suggestion and was waiting in the lobby for the temporarily absent owner.

“What do you mean?”

“Ah, well…”

As Adler scratched his head and continued muttering something, the professor posed a question, to which he responded in a low voice.

“It’s just that the case is developing differently from what I expected.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, to be honest… I’ve been able to predict and respond to the cases so far to some extent. But this case is completely unpredictable…”

“Hmm…”

Upon hearing this, the professor began to look at Adler with slightly narrowed eyes.

“Why do you think such a difference has occurred?”

“…Hmm. I’m not sure. This is my first time experiencing something like this.”

Adler, not noticing her meaningful gaze, muttered before furrowing his brows and beginning to ask the professor for her opinion.

“Could it be that the unidentified being we saw earlier is involved?”

“…Adler. I told you earlier not to worry about that.”

As he showed an anxious expression, the professor, who had been quietly gazing at him with a look that suggested she found him cute, quickly composed herself and began to speak.

“Honestly, I find it more difficult to understand how you can predict the flow of events when I merely received a request to come here.”

“……..”

“Adler. I’ve been considering a hypothesis for some time…”

After saying that much and deliberately pausing, she continued when Adler quietly raised his head.

“Can you see the future?”

“…Pardon?”

Professor Moriarty, with wide eyes, began to lean closer to Adler, who was starting to look slightly flustered.

“If not that, perhaps you’re from the future?”

“……..”

“In any case, you have some means of glimpsing the future, don’t you?”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Don’t try to weasel your way out of this.”

Eventually, she tilted her head side to side more quickly than usual while staring into Adler’s eyes.

“I still remember what you said during our monumental first meeting.”

“That’s…”

“You knew what kind of person I would become, how people would refer to me. Isn’t that right?”

Adler, who was about to say something, quietly closed his mouth at her sharp questioning.

“…If that’s true, there’s something I’m curious about.”

Moving slightly closer to sit beside him, she asked with a cold smile.

“I looked into it personally, and the Reichenbach Falls is a waterfall located in Switzerland. I’m not sure why I would go there, but…”

“…….”

“As you said then, will I end my life at the Reichenbach Falls?”

After staring blankly at her for a moment, Adler eventually broke into a slight smile.

“It seems even you fear death, Professor.”

“Losing fear of death is a thing of the past for me.”

As he asked with a slightly playful voice, she answered in a low tone.

“Then why is your voice trembling?”

“Because I’m afraid of never seeing you again.”

A momentary silence fell over the lobby.

“Honestly, that’s a bit frightening.”

As Professor Moriarty whispered quietly in the silence and rested her head on Adler’s shoulder, a faint scent of cosmetics and perfume wafted over.

Apparently, she had been diligently practicing her makeup skills in her spare time.

“You won’t die there, Professor.”

“…How can you be so certain?”

Adler, who had been silent for a moment upon realizing this fact, answered with a resolute voice.

“Because I’ll make sure of it.”

“…….”

“So don’t worry too much.”

Upon hearing those words, the professor’s cheeks began to turn slightly pink.

“Sorry for the wait…”

It was at that moment that the inn’s owner, who had been temporarily away, returned.

“Ah, yes…”

Adler, who had been sitting next to the professor with a bright smile, stood up and began heading toward the counter.

“Do you happen to have a room for two? If not, somewhere with at least two beds…”

Professor Moriarty quietly watched his back, which somehow seemed more dependable than usual.

“What?”

Her lips slowly curled upward.

“You only have one room left?”

‘…Isn’t that obvious.’

It was because her plan, which she had been working on for the past few weeks, was about to come to fruition.

“…Well, I guess that will have to do.”

‘I’ve already rented out all the rooms in this inn long ago.’

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“Haa, haa…”

“S-sir! You need to pay before leaving!”

Meanwhile, at the border area leading into Cornwall.

– Clang…!

“…Oh.”

Sharlotte, who had thrown a handful of money to the coachman trying to stop her, began running forward with burning eyes.

“No, what’s happening…”

“Such a strange phenomenon has never been reported before…”

“I wonder if the people inside are safe…”

Soon, people gathered at the entrance came into her view, murmuring among themselves.

“Hey, miss. It’s no use going now.”

“……..”

“Since this morning, no matter how far you walk in, you can’t enter Cornwall…”

One of the villagers stopped Sharlotte as she pushed through the crowd.

“Move aside.”

“No, miss… I’m telling you it’s useless…”

“Move.”

At that, she began to emit a terrifying killing intent.

“W-what? I was just trying to give some advice…”

As the villager stepped aside, slightly intimidated by her aura, Sharlotte quietly passed by him with a displeased expression.

“Shouldn’t that person be handling this? What was his name again…?”

“Inspector Lestrade?”

“Y-yeah. The one with the 100 percent success rate for solving strange cases…”

She continued walking quietly, hearing the whispers of the people around her.

“W-wait. Right now, ahead is…”

– Whoooosh…

“…Eek?”

As several people came forward to stop her, black smoke began to rise from Sharlotte’s body.

“Move if you don’t want to die.”

At that terrifying expression, people began to step aside like the villager from before.

“Haah…”

Having finally reached the boundary line where London and Cornwall had been completely separated, Sharlotte took a deep breath and extended her hand forward.

– Crackle…

For a moment, there was a spark, and then, surprisingly, her hand went through as if piercing a soap bubble.

“…Is this an invitation to come in?”

Sharlotte, who had been watching with an incredulous expression, muttered that and quietly inserted her body inside.

“Oh, by the way, you all.”

As if suddenly remembering something, she began to speak to the villagers who were whispering behind her.

“Why don’t you work on your acting skills?”

The murmuring of the villagers abruptly stopped.

“Well, even if you acted at the level of me or Adler… I wouldn’t have been fooled by the acting of the people I encountered on the train before or those who take turns following me every week.”

After leaving those cold words for them, Sharlotte quietly entered the barrier and disappeared.

“”……..””

And then came the silence.

“…Yes, she just went in, Professor.”

The man who had first tried to stop Sharlotte began quietly communicating with someone in the silence.

“She seems to have already grasped the general situation. She knew our identities too…”

Except for him, the other villagers were dispersing in all directions, turning into red smoke.

“…But why is your breathing so rough?”

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“Mmm…”

These days, whenever I open my eyes, my head always feels painful and hazy.

‘I wonder why I fainted this time…’

It’s not simply due to insomnia or poor sleep, but because I keep getting involved in specific situations that cause me to faint while I’m perfectly fine.

“…….”

Perhaps because of this, I’ve become skilled at dealing with it.

First, when this happens, it’s essential not to open your eyes immediately, but to take deep breaths and prepare mentally for any situation.

‘…I remember receiving the room key at the counter and entering with the professor.’

It also helps to recall the situation just before the blackout.

‘What happened in the room…?’

I tried to recall the memory, but nothing specific came to mind.

– Rustle…

Anyway, my mind had successfully calmed down, and I was getting curious about my current situation, so I carefully opened my eyes.

“……..”

Seeing the scene before me, I gaped with a blank expression.

“A-Adler…”

“Professor?”

For some reason, the professor, who had lost her top, was straddling me as I lay on the bed, muttering with an embarrassed expression.

“My body feels hot…”

“W-what?”

“…Help me.”

As I blinked at the absurd situation.

“…Ugh.”

I suddenly felt a heat enveloping my entire body, and with a startled expression, I frantically looked around.

“Ah…”

And soon, I found the culprit.

“…Damn it.”

An incense burner on the desk in the room, almost identical to the one from the original work, was emitting suspicious pink smoke.

“This is bad…”

I tried desperately to cover my nose and mouth, but it was already too late.

“……..”

Both the professor and I had already been thoroughly marinated in that smoke in this enclosed space for a long time.

“Professor… we need to get out of here…”

“Adler…”

Even in that situation, as I tried to somehow take the professor outside.

“…Aren’t you going to pounce on me?”

With those words, what little reason I had left completely vanished.

“Damn… I can’t hold back anymore….”

“…Eek.”

The professor’s frightened face as I pounced on her like a beast was momentarily filled with a sense of victory that was chilling—though that was probably just the delusion of my unsound mind.