Ch.18Chapter 18 – Red Mana Alliance (7)

“…Hmm?”

Adler, who had been lying on the floor, frowns as he gets up.

“What’s this?”

He wipes his damp mouth with his arm.

“…!”

Red liquid stains his arm.

“…Miss Holmes?”

Adler, startled upon realizing the liquid is someone’s blood, soon notices Holmes sitting in front of him.

“What’s that wound?”

“………”

“Don’t tell me you fed me your blood?”

Only after discovering the wound dripping from her arm does Adler realize what happened.

“Miss Holmes, human blood isn’t brandy.”

“It might as well be brandy to you now,” Holmes replies with a gloomy expression to his dazed voice.

“Since you’ve become a Vampire.”

“…So you noticed.”

Adler scratches his head and gives an awkward smile.

“I got bitten while subduing Lady Clay, didn’t I?”

“………”

“But don’t worry. I managed to seal her inside this in the end.”

“Why?”

Holmes questions Adler as he shows off a red ring on his finger.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Wake you up?”

“Stop pretending you can’t use magic. You could have easily dispelled a sleep spell.”

Her hollow gaze fixes on Adler.

“Even if you explained the situation later, we could have fought together. So why…”

“You’re asking because you don’t know?”

Adler points to her eyes and answers matter-of-factly.

“Didn’t I say that protecting the detective is the assistant’s job?”

“………”

“And as anyone can tell from those eyes, you’re suffering from severe mana poisoning. If you had fought against someone as formidable as Lady Clay, you would have overused your mana stones. Your life would have been in danger…”

“So once again, it’s because of me.”

“…Again?”

Only then does Adler read Holmes’s expression and look concerned.

“Are you alright, Miss Holmes?”

“Are you alright, Mr. Adler?”

But she avoids his gaze as she asks.

“Now that you’ve become a Vampire, your life will be difficult.”

“Ah, that’s fine.”

Adler smiles cheerfully as he speaks.

“My body isn’t normal anyway. I’m practically a corpse.”

Sharlotte’s eyes waver intensely upon hearing those words.

“And my mana is quite special. I’ll probably be fine.”

Adler takes her hand and helps her up.

“So don’t worry. This much is…”

But he trails off, his hand trembling slightly.

*Drip…*

The red blood still flowing from Holmes’s arm reflects in Adler’s eyes.

“…Drink if you want to.”

“What?”

Sharlotte, watching him, weakly extends her arm.

“All of it, if you wish.”

“………”

‘If it extends your life even a little.’

Unable to speak the final words aloud, Sharlotte bows her head.

“…Miss Holmes.”

Struggling against the overwhelming urge while holding her arm, Adler squeezes his eyes shut and answers.

“No.”

Then, staggering as he turns away.

“I’d rather not have a life extended by your blood.”

Glancing back at her, Adler adds with a pale smile.

“Besides, I told you I won’t die.”

He starts walking ahead.

‘…Liar.’

Still connected to him by handcuffs, Holmes follows with weak steps and takes out an hourglass from her pocket.

‘You’re going to die soon.’

The golden hourglass, now half-stained red, still showed the bottom.

‘…Because of me.’

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Some time later.

“Miss Holmes, look how late it’s gotten.”

“……..”

“How did you find the cross-examination with the suspect?”

In the dark London streets at dawn.

“If you enjoyed it, would you mind removing these handcuffs now?”

Adler, walking in step with Sharlotte who still had her head bowed, spoke to her in a friendly voice.

‘…I was wrong.’

But she was too deep in thought to hear him.

‘This happened because of me.’

Issac Adler had never thought of her as entertainment or a toy.

Rather, it was Sharlotte who had thought of him as entertainment, misunderstanding him on her own terms.

And the price of that arrogant misunderstanding was the short remaining life of a man who had chosen her over everything else in this world.

“Miss Holmes. What’s been bothering you?”

Even worse, the man who had become like this because of her was worrying about her while repeatedly fighting the urge to drink her blood.

“If you’d rather I didn’t hold back and just pounced on you, I’d gladly let you drain me completely.”

“You’re quite the joker.”

That made Sharlotte feel even worse.

“As I said before, rather than drink from you…”

“Mr. Adler.”

And when that pain crossed a threshold.

“Why do you go so far for me?”

“Pardon?”

The girl surrenders.

“Why did you risk your life to save me from the flames back then?”

The girl who considered finding answers through her own power as life’s only pleasure.

“Why did you protect me from the Vampire at the risk of your life?”

For the first time, she asks for the answer key.

“Why can you do so much for me when I’m your enemy?”

And the man who was asked for the answer key.

“For a mystery you can’t solve, Miss Holmes, the answer is quite simple.”

As if he had been waiting for this moment, he looks at her steadily and answers in a low voice.

“Because I like you.”

And then silence falls.

In the foggy night street devoid of people, the boy’s and girl’s gazes meet.

“That can’t be.”

Eventually, Sharlotte’s voice breaks the silence.

“What’s unsatisfying about the simple answer that I fell for you at first sight, and those feelings remain unchanged to this day?”

“The answer to the mystery I couldn’t solve can’t be something so trivial.”

She mutters with a confused look.

“You couldn’t have done all that for such a reason. You must want something from me.”

“………”

“You have a Curse too, right? Your ultimate goal is to break that curse. Or maybe even this moment is part of some plan of yours…”

“I do have an ultimate goal I’m pursuing.”

Adler agrees.

“See? In the end, you…”

“But the reason I pursue that goal is you.”

“You…”

“The fact that I came here and went along with this madness without complaint is, in a way, because I liked you too much.”

To the speechless Sharlotte, Adler whispers with a smile.

“That’s what love is, Miss Holmes.”

“………”

“Love isn’t logical. It’s not rational either. It lacks plausibility.”

The faint moonlight breaking through the fog reflected in Adler’s eyes.

“It’s natural that you, who embodies all those things, would find it difficult to understand.”

As Sharlotte remained silent, Adler carefully added.

“But you don’t need to understand.”

“Why not?”

“Because I didn’t do it seeking understanding. It’s just my one-sided feeling.”

Then, he gently shakes his handcuffed arm.

“This is my first confession in life, but now that I’ve done it, I want to hide in a mousehole.”

“………”

“So would you please unlock these?”

When the dazed Holmes takes out the key from her pocket and unlocks the handcuffs, Adler rotates his arm once, waves his hand, and turns around.

“Don’t worry too much about Miss Wilson, our client. I have a solution.”

“……..”

“Well then…”

“Mr. Adler.”

Watching his back, she urgently speaks up, feeling this might be her last chance.

“Please become my assistant.”

“I refuse.”

But before she can continue, a firm rejection reaches her ears.

“…Why?”

“Miss Holmes.”

His eyes, which had held the moonlight, lose their glow as they’re obscured by fog.

“I am a villain.”

“If it’s because of that professor, I’ll deal with her. So…”

“You can’t defeat her now, and you’ve already noticed it’s not because of her.”

At his different tone of voice, Sharlotte falls silent again, her gaze wavering.

“As you suspect, this London will soon be dyed in deep gray.”

Adler asks her in a gentle voice.

“Can you really stop it?”

A dark silence lingers between them.

“…Then, I’ll visit you soon with the next mystery, Miss Holmes.”

Having said everything he wanted to say, Adler gives a slight bow and walks away.

“Let’s enjoy it together, as far as my power allows.”

As the thick fog gradually obscures his retreating figure, silence once again fills the street.

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Even after being left alone, Sharlotte stood silently in the street for a long time.

The change in her occurred not long after.

“………”

The first negative outcome brought about by her actions. The confession of the man who became its target. And simultaneously, the ominous challenge he left behind.

The numerous emotions and thoughts that intertwined as a result produced an outcome no one could have predicted.

*Whoosh…*

Black mana, which should have only manifested years later at the final stage, was faintly rising from Sharlotte Holmes’s body.

Whether it would become darkness that swallows the man’s distant light, or a shadow consumed by that light, no one could tell.

“…Watson would have a fit if she saw this.”

But that wasn’t the biggest change.

“Or she’d tease me about it forever.”

From that day on, Sharlotte’s gray eyes slowly began to take on the color of someone’s hair—someone who had now completely disappeared into the fog.

[Love-Hate Relationship: Chapter 1 Complete]