Ch.172Chapter 172 – Ripple Effect

Shortly before Issac Adler’s subordinates heard shocking news through Sharlotte…

“…Adler, that traitor.”

“I-It’s going in…? Everyone was saying no one could get inside…”

“How dare, how dare he play with me…?”

Two figures slid smoothly through Cornwall’s boundary—which had clearly been blocked to prevent anyone from passing—as if passing through a soap bubble.

“Kill, I’ll kill him… I’ll kill him…”

“But anyway. Listen, Inspector.”

They were none other than Inspector Lestrade, who had just neutralized the anomaly in Cornwall with her curse and forced her way inside, and Rachel Watson, who had been dragged along against her will.

“I don’t really care whether you kill that bastard or not.”

“……”

“Why are you dragging me along when I finally took a vacation after so long?!”

As Inspector Lestrade quickened her pace with fire in her eyes upon feeling Adler’s energy strongly after entering Cornwall, Watson raised her voice in protest behind her.

“Well, you’re an excellent doctor, aren’t you?”

“Y-Yes, that’s true. But what does that have to do with anything…”

The Inspector replied with a terrifying expression.

“Even if I beat Adler to within an inch of his life, an excellent doctor like you could revive him.”

“What on earth did he do this time…”

“I dedicated my entire life to him and made one promise, and that bastard broke it in just a few days.”

Watson, who had been wearing a disgruntled expression, was left speechless at the Inspector’s bitter words.

“I, I… even lost my f-first experience to him…”

“Wow, he really is garbage…”

Of course, Inspector Lestrade was referring to the incident where she lost her lips to Adler due to an unfortunate accident, but Watson interpreted it quite differently.

“…I’ll be in your care today.”

“Sigh…”

It seemed unlikely that the strongest inspector in the British Empire, who had never experienced defeat in her life, had been completely forced by Adler.

“Normally I’d think it was absurd, but considering who we’re talking about, I understand.”

Nevertheless, the fact that Adler was complete trash remained unchanged, so Watson eventually accepted it with a sigh.

“…Thank you for understanding.”

“But can I hit him a little too?”

Lestrade, who had been expressing gratitude for her understanding, stared blankly at Watson upon hearing those words.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’ve got some grudges built up too. I’d like to leave a few bullet wounds in his shoulder.”

As Lestrade tilted her head questioningly, Watson replied with her own head tilted.

“…If you’ll excuse me saying so, that seems a bit excessive.”

“What?”

“I’ll do it myself.”

Watson’s gaze turned slightly cold upon hearing Lestrade’s subsequent words.

“It’s okay for you to beat him within an inch of his life, but I can’t shoot him?”

“Yes, you cannot.”

“If it’s not too presumptuous, may I ask why?”

When Rachel Watson, with a slightly changed demeanor, asked this, Lestrade answered in a low voice while looking straight into her eyes.

“Because Adler is my husband.”

“………”

“I’ll do the beating myself. I cannot accept violence from anyone else.”

The cold gazes of the two women crossed silently for a moment.

“I see… He’s your ‘husband’ now…”

“…The word ‘now’ bothers me slightly.”

“No, well. You seem to think I’m interested in Adler, but you don’t need to worry about that…”

Watson whispered quietly to the Inspector, who had muttered in a wary voice in that situation.

“I like Neville. I have absolutely no interest in that piece of garbage, Inspector.”

“Birds of a feather flock together—it seems you’ve been influenced by Miss Holmes.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…?”

Just as the atmosphere was becoming increasingly uncontrollable:

“If you don’t understand, let me say it again. Issac Adler is my husband……”

“……?”

The Inspector, who had been narrowing her eyes and raising her voice, suddenly looked surprised and trailed off.

“What’s going on? Why did you stop mid-sentence…”

“Shh…!”

“Mmph!?”

Eventually, she covered Watson’s mouth, who had been muttering with a slightly confused expression, and jumped into the nearby bushes.

“Not the bushes again? Anyway, what are you—”

“I can sense Adler’s energy nearby…”

“What?”

Watson, who had finally managed to push away the Inspector’s hand covering her mouth, looked dumbfounded upon hearing those words.

“You can’t even use magic. How can you…”

“I made a contract. So I can detect Adler’s every move and any contract violations…”

“…Huh, what are you, some kind of stalker?”

“Be quiet. He’s right in front of us now.”

“Mmph.”

Covering her mouth again, Lestrade began to concentrate while breaking out in a cold sweat.

– Crunch…

“………”

When the two women spotted Adler walking in the distance holding hands with Sharlotte, their gazes simultaneously darkened.

“So Holmes was the other woman after all…”

“…Hmph.”

Thus, Lestrade began to exercise superhuman patience while twitching as if about to jump out at any moment, and Watson pretended not to care while watching the situation from the corner of her eye.

– Rustle…

“Ha, haha…”

“She’s lost her mind. Either her brain is pickled in drugs or pickled in Adler…”

Just as their patience was about to explode after witnessing Sharlotte and Adler’s hot, sticky embrace:

– “I’m sorry, but the reunion is over.”

“”……!””

Their eyes caught sight of Adler’s subordinates appearing from the opposite side.

“Th-Those guys…”

“All three are classified as dangerous individuals by the London Police Department.”

“……..”

“I’ve heard they’re all so loyal they would give their lives at just one word from Adler.”

Lestrade, who was eyeing the much-grown Celestia Moran standing at the front threatening Sharlotte, muttered in a cold voice.

“…By the way, that little one is the most dangerous among them. Even I couldn’t easily subdue her.”

“S-Someone like you?”

“This has become quite troublesome…”

Just as Lestrade, who had been briefly troubled by this sudden variable, was about to speak again:

“…I need to call for backup. Now that they’ve appeared, I can no longer act on my personal and private emotions…”

– “Your master was just brutally raped.”

Sharlotte’s shocking statement left everyone dumbfounded.

“Wh-What did she just say…?”

– “Where were all of you and what were you doing?”

“What did she say? Holmes…?”

Next to the stiffened Lestrade, Watson began to mutter while breaking out in a cold sweat.

“We, we must have misheard.”

“R-Right? Today isn’t April Fools’ Day. April passed a long time ago…”

Thus, they began to deny reality as they looked at each other.

– “Seeing as there’s no answer, you must not have heard me well. Let me say it again.”

However, their denial of reality quickly came to an end as Sharlotte’s tearful voice was heard again from right in front of them.

– “Issac Adler has been regularly raped by Professor Moriarty. Against his will.”

“”……..””

– “From the beginning until now, always by force. Continuously…”

As the gazes of Inspector Lestrade and Rachel Watson darkened completely and began to lose all color:

“Then, what the contract violation notice I received means…”

“Was it really… really because of the Professor…?”

In their minds, the puzzle pieces began to fit together on their own.

.

.

.

.

.

“MasterIsItReallyTruePleaseLookIntoMyEyesAndTellMeIt’sNotTrueIfIt’sTrueI’llGiveMyLifeToDefinitelyMakeThatWoman…”

“…It’s a lie, right?”

Silver Blaze and Lady Clay, who quietly approached me, asked with pale complexions.

“No, well… you see…”

As I desperately tried to figure out what to say in such a situation, Moran’s words made my brain freeze.

“Daddy.”

“Did you really get raped?”

“…….”

When I stood with my mouth open and a blank expression at her chilling question—she who had already grown tall enough to reach my chin—the atmosphere around us began to turn cold.

“Is-Is it so painful just to recall it?”

“No, um…”

In that situation, as Lady Clay, who was still maintaining her sanity, asked the question, I forcibly turned my frozen brain and:

“…It-It’s all a lie.”

“””……..”””

“H-Hell thinks today is April Fools’ Day. Haha, ha…”

I ended up blurting out such nonsense.

– Crunch…

“…….”

“JustWaitAMomentI’llGatherAllTheWerebeasts InLondonRightNowAndThatBitch…”

Of course, after hearing Sharlotte’s sincere remarks—not even acting—they wouldn’t believe my awkward excuse.

‘…What should I do, shit.’

Even though I had decided to participate in the Professor’s plan, I never anticipated it being revealed to so many people simultaneously.

“…Live with me from now on. I can protect you without leaving your side for even a minute, no, a second.”

“If you just say the word, I’ll immediately implement the plan I mentioned before…”

How on earth can I escape this crisis?

“…You seem unusually tense.”

In this life-or-death crisis where even the system had given up on outputting probability messages, as I was desperately racking my brain:

“But crisis is also opportunity.”

“……..Ah.”

I closed my eyes tightly and gave up thinking when I heard the voice coming from behind me at that very moment.

“Isn’t that right, Mr. Adler…?”

Professor Moriarty, with a glossy face, was walking toward us from the distance with a refreshing expression.