Ch.224Chapter 224 – Gambling

“Finally, we’re here~”

“Um… Miss Microny.”

A few days after the letter from Adler arrived. Somewhere in the eastern United States.

“This is quite amusing. I never thought I’d come to America.”

“You need to minimize your movements.”

“It’s fine. After all…”

Microny, who has visited the address left in Adler’s letter, moves forward with a smile, accompanied by one servant.

“…cough, cough.”

But that doesn’t last long, as she stops walking and covers her mouth while coughing.

“You see? Your condition is very poor.”

“…What does it matter when I’m going to die soon anyway.”

“Still…”

“Enough. Just help me walk.”

The servant, who had been looking at her with concern, finally yields to Microny’s firm voice and supports her.

“I’ve really… changed a lot, haven’t I?”

“…Pardon?”

As they slowly make their way to their destination, Microny suddenly chuckles and begins to mutter.

“Originally… I would have found it too bothersome to go from home to the Diogenes Club without the help of servants.”

She glances at the servant who tilts his head in confusion and continues.

“Crossing a continent just to meet one boy, it’s truly ridiculous.”

“……..”

“In the past, I couldn’t have imagined doing something like this… truly.”

Microny’s voice grows increasingly wistful as she mutters these words.

It was evidence that the seed planted in her just a few months ago—after a long time filled with only boredom and helplessness—had already taken root deep within Microny’s bones.

“…If only I had a little more time.”

“Miss Microny…”

“Oh my, I’m being pathetic again without realizing it.”

But Microny deliberately denies this fact internally, erases the expression that had been on her face until just now, and speaks with a voice tinged with laughter.

“By the way. What are you doing?”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, why is France’s greatest phantom thief disguised as my servant and helping me walk?”

And then came the silence.

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

“You can’t fool me, Miss Lupin. If my physical condition were better, I could have easily controlled the professor or my brother.”

“…….”

“Well, honestly, the professor might be a bit difficult. Hehe…”

The servant’s expression, which had been puzzled during the silence, gradually turns cold at Microny’s continued words.

“How long have you known…”

“From the beginning. I can see through everything.”

“Tch…”

“Where is my real servant? You didn’t kill them, did you?”

“…I don’t kill people. I just tied them up in the bathroom at your home.”

Microny looks at Lupin with a composed expression.

“That’s fine then. You can stop following me now.”

“…What?”

“I’d like to have a private conversation with Mr. Adler. Would you mind?”

“Who do you think you are…”

At her gentle request, Lupin made an expression that suggested it was out of the question and tried to follow her, but.

“Please… I’m asking you?”

“…….!”

The terrifying killing intent suddenly emitted by Microny, who had momentarily stopped in place, involuntarily made Lupin stop in his tracks.

“How can a dying corpse… have such killing intent…”

“…What I said earlier wasn’t a joke.”

Meanwhile, after staring quietly at Lupin for a while with slightly opened gray eyes, Microny returns to her narrowed eyes and continues walking.

“And I like taking things just as much as you do.”

After saying that, she quietly enters the hotel and disappears from sight.

“…I wonder what London is like.”

After contemplating for a while behind her, Lupin eventually shakes his head and sits down on the wall beside him.

.

.

.

.

.

– Knock knock knock…

“Are you there~?”

Microny, who has finally reached the fifth floor of the hotel while breathing heavily, knocks on the door of the room mentioned in the letter and slightly raises her voice.

“As you said, I didn’t bring any security guards~”

– Knock knock knock knock…!

“In other words, I’m completely defenseless~”

But when there’s no response, she quietly tilts her head.

“Isn’t this too much? I came all this way with a body that could give out any day…”

– Creeak…

“……?”

Eventually, as Microny turns the doorknob while muttering in a slightly sulky voice, she briefly furrows her brow when the door opens too easily.

“Adler?”

But only for a moment, as she peeks through the open door and calls Adler’s name.

“Chomp.”

“……..!”

At that moment, someone standing at the end of the door bares their teeth and bites her neck.

“Oh my.”

After freezing for a moment with her eyes wide open, she realizes that the person is Adler wearing a bathrobe and smiles slightly.

“You startled me.”

“……?”

“You’re asking why I pretended to be surprised when I can see through everything? Actually, that ability hasn’t been working well lately.”

She glances at Adler, who is hanging onto her neck with a puzzled expression, and mutters.

“Because my health has deteriorated rapidly lately… The doctor said I might not even last a month, let alone six months…”

– Crunch…

“Huh? Mmm…”

Then, as Adler increases the intensity of the bite on her neck, she lets out a sensual moan and collapses to the floor.

“If, if you treat me this harshly… I might die here today…?”

– Crunch crunch crunch…

“Ah, wait…..”

Despite her subtly trembling voice, as Adler continues to drink her blood while staring directly into Microny’s eyes, she weakly raises her hand as strength begins to leave her body.

– Squeeze…

And then, she embraces Adler with all her remaining strength.

“Well, dying like this, being treated as a blood bag until the end by an insolent vampire…”

“……..”

“Wouldn’t be… so bad…”

Her eyes begin to close as a dreamy voice escapes her lips.

“…But.”

But in the midst of this, Microny’s gaze darkens slightly.

“Somehow… it feels… unfair…”

“…Puha.”

And at that moment, Adler suddenly removes his fangs from her neck and asks with a bright smile.

“What’s unfair?”

“……..”

In response, Microny slowly opens her mouth with a slightly disappointed expression.

“Why don’t you just kill me now.”

“…….”

“Rather than dying surrounded by terrible boredom, I’d at least like to feel the chilling stimulation of being murdered.”

“…Never mind that, just answer me.”

But when Adler doesn’t back down, she raises her staggering body with a frown.

“What’s unfair, you ask?”

She sits weakly on a nearby chair and begins to answer in a low voice.

“It’s unfair that I was born so sickly. It’s unfair that I have to die in a few months. It’s unfair that I can’t join the race with you as the prize.”

“……..”

“Until just a few months ago, it was the opposite. Back then, death, the eternal rest, was welcome.”

“I see.”

“But now… it’s not.”

Microny’s clouded gaze was now directed at Adler, who had sat down beside her.

“Because of some flirtatious vampire who appeared out of nowhere… I don’t want to die anymore.”

“Hmm…”

“Well, it’s not like I can live just because of that.”

But her expression, which was about to darken again, soon returns to its usual form.

“Let’s stop talking about this and get to the main point.”

“……..”

“What exactly is the reason you called me all the way here?”

When she asks this question with narrowed eyes and a smile, Adler, who had been tapping his fingers on the desk while staring at Microny, begins to search through his clothes.

“…What is that?”

Eventually, he takes out two white pills and places them on the desk one by one, causing Microny to quietly tilt her head in confusion.

“Try to see through them.”

As she follows Adler’s instructions and lowers her gaze to the pills.

“…Huh?”

Soon, an uncharacteristic confusion passes across Microny’s face.

“I can’t… analyze them?”

“Hmm, the performance is certainly as expected…”

Adler, looking satisfied at her reaction, gently strokes the system floating beside him with his finger.

“Let’s play a simple game now.”

He then turns his gaze back to Microny and begins to speak with a voice tinged with laughter.

“One of these pills is a panacea that can cure any disease. If Microny takes it, her lifespan would probably increase by about 80 years.”

“…….!”

“And the other one is a poison that will definitely kill you if you eat it.”

At those words, her eyes momentarily widen.

“It’s a very simple and fun game where you, Microny, choose one of these two pills and take it.”

“……..”

“Without relying on your ability, purely by luck.”

Satisfied with her reaction, Adler finishes speaking and examines Microny’s rigid expression while swaying his black tail that has appeared.

“Would you like to try?”

“Why are you doing it this way?”

When Microny quietly asks him this question, the absurd answer comes back.

“…I’ve always wanted to toy with someone like you.”

Even without using her ability, she could tell this ridiculous answer was sincere, and for the first time in her life, Microny frowned and condemned the demon before her.

“Pervert.”

“Hehe.”