Ch.266Side Story – The Adventures of Isaac Adler (4)

“…By the way, Zia really is nice. Don’t you think so?”

“……”

“Moran?”

“Oh, yes.”

Celestia Moran, who had been sitting quietly watching Adler for a while, belatedly responds with a nod to the gentle voice that suddenly reached her ears.

“Ms. Zia is indeed nice.”

“Mm-hmm, I never thought she’d actually give way so easily. I’m relieved.”

In the first-class cabin of the smuggling ship he’d bribed, Adler was smiling contentedly with Lady Clay and Silver Blaze on either side of him, agreeing with her while rolling a wine glass in his hand.

“Anyway, there’s no threat now, so none of you needed to come along this far.”

He was deliberately ignoring the stares of the three women who had been glaring at him from nearby.

“Especially Moran, you’re still young. What if you get hurt and scar that pretty face of yours while running around?”

As this ridiculous statement left his mouth, the corner of Moran’s lips curled up slightly, while Lady Clay, who had been massaging his shoulders, suddenly looked fierce.

“I got hit by you and my face was scarred…”

“Ah, but scars actually suit Your Ladyship. You’re a vampire lord who rules over blood, after all.”

“…H-hmph.”

At his follow-up comment, the lady turned her head to the side with a deflating sound, her face reddening.

“…Not fully conquered yet, I see?”

“Oh, now that I look at you, Moran has grown up a lot too.”

At this truly free-spirited drift, Moran muttered again in a chilling voice, but Adler pretended not to hear and began whispering softly.

“…I think she’s old enough to play with me now.”

As this mischievous joke escaped his lips, a momentary silence began to flow around them.

“Are you being serious right now?”

“…Huh?”

“I’m asking if you really meant what you just said.”

In the silence, Moran’s eyes widened as she urgently asked the question.

“No, it was obviously a joke…?”

“Why?”

“Well, Moran, you’re still just a kid…”

But when Adler answered with an indifferent expression, Moran’s face instantly soured.

“…Do you even know how old I am?”

“Hmm? How old are you?”

“Eek…!”

Just as she was about to explode at his genuinely curious question, it happened.

– Pat, pat…

“Good girl, our Moran…”

Adler began patting her head and whispering.

“If you just do as you’re told, I’ll take good care of you.”

“……..”

“I’d like to take care of you right away, but right now I’m overwhelmed just dealing with the professor, Sharlotte, and Zia.”

Moran, who had been staring at Adler silently, suddenly tilted her head at his next words.

“Especially Zia, like yesterday, such a nice girl but once she gets on the bed…”

“Yesterday?”

“Yeah, yesterday I was choked while being taken. Every time we do it, she’s really rough…”

“But yesterday was your only day off, wasn’t it?”

When Moran finally asked with a genuinely puzzled expression, Adler started scratching his head.

“…Did I have a day off?”

“Yes, every Sunday.”

“Then what’s this? The clear handprints and bite marks on my neck…”

Just as he was opening his shirt slightly to show the clear marks from yesterday, it happened.

– Sniff, sniff.

Silver Blaze, who had been quietly purring with her head down beside them, suddenly started sniffing around Adler’s neck.

“This smells like little Zia.”

“…What do you mean?”

At her words, Adler’s alcohol-induced poker face broke for the first time in his life.

“You know, Zia’s sister.”

“…Gina Lestrade?”

“Yes, it’s her smell.”

And once again, silence began to flow through the cabin.

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As time passed and the sun set, making the day grow dark.

“…Master. We’re almost there.”

“……”

“Master?”

As some unknown port began to appear in the distance, Moran, who had been standing quietly by the window, shook Adler who had been sprawled on the bed.

“This is humiliating…”

“It’s not like being raped is anything new for you. Get up now.”

At her ruthless comment, Adler shifted his gaze to Moran and muttered as if feeling hurt.

“Your tone has been quite harsh for a while now?”

“You won’t remember any of this when you sober up anyway, right?”

“…Do you really think so?”

At his provocative remark, Moran finally couldn’t hold back and began to show her true colors, while Adler slowly raised his waist and narrowed his eyes.

“I might actually be pretending to be drunk right now… heep.”

“Enough, let’s get off now. We’ll be inspected when we reach the port, so we need to slip away before that.”

“Ow.”

“Ha, it’s no use stiffening your tail and resisting. You won’t even remember how you acted toward me once you sober up…”

But as Moran mercilessly pulled on his tail that had somehow appeared, Adler pretended to be in pain.

“Why are you trying to get off so early, Moran?”

“…Eek?”

“There’s still time left.”

But when he suddenly grabbed Moran’s arm and pulled, whether she was caught off guard or Adler’s grip was unexpectedly strong, her body fell onto the bed where Adler had been lying.

“What, are you still upset about what I said earlier as a joke?”

“…Ugh.”

“Looking at you like this, Moran, you’re really innocent, aren’t you?”

Thanks to this, Adler began gently stroking Moran’s hair as she momentarily looked flustered.

“I didn’t expect you wouldn’t notice even when I was sending such obvious signals.”

“…….”

“A child is still a child, I guess?”

As he gently mounted on top of the frozen Moran and whispered in her ear, she turned her head to the side urgently, her face and neck turning bright red.

“But you’ve really grown up a lot.”

“Huh.”

The weight of Adler on top of her pressed down pleasantly. The scent of his skin, which she had only imagined, stimulated Moran’s nose, and her heart began to pound as if it would burst.

“…I’ve been, waiting.”

In this situation she had only dreamed of, despite having enough strength to escape, Moran found herself powerlessly pinned under Adler, whispering in a crawling voice.

“Do you know… how many years I’ve waited for you to touch me?”

She whispered to Adler, who was quietly staring at her with a rather resentful expression, whimpering.

“If… if you had been just one day later, I might have pounced on you first… hup.”

But as something suddenly covered her lips, Moran tightly closed her eyes.

‘Ah….’

Her first kiss tasted slightly bitter, like tobacco.

“…….?”

No, it would be more accurate to say that what she thought was her “first kiss” tasted like tobacco.

‘…But Adler doesn’t smoke?’

Feeling something strange, she opened her eyes, and what came into view was not Adler gently kissing her lips.

“That’s right. Well done.”

“……???”

It was Adler with a pipe he had taken from his pocket, placing it in her mouth while raising the corner of his lips with a smirk.

“What is this…?”

“It’s an improved version of the Devil’s Foot that the professor invented. The toxicity and side effects have been removed, maximizing only the mental stability and sleep effects.”

“Huk…!?”

Moran’s eyes, which had been blankly listening to his words, began to rapidly blur.

“Its efficacy is enough to put even an elephant to sleep, so you’re no exception, Moran.”

“Wait…”

“Hush now. My dear Moran.”

In Moran’s field of vision, as she struggled to lift her head against this strange phenomenon, she could see Lady Clay and Silver Blaze already slumped at the desk in the distance.

“This, can’t be… no… please…..”

Moran, who had finally realized how the situation had unfolded, tried to struggle and get up, but it was already too late.

Her body was already so paralyzed that it could be subdued even by the grip of Adler, who wasn’t drunk.

“You, you shouldn’t play with people’s feelings… like this…”

“Sigh. That’s because you’re still young. Do you know how big our age gap is…”

But as Moran, who was somehow managing not to close her eyes with superhuman willpower, spoke in a resentful voice, Adler muttered quietly with a seemingly frustrated expression.

“Haah… what could you possibly see in an old man like me…”

“I… don’t… care…!!!”

“…Hmm.”

But when Moran seemed to gain more strength at those words and tried to struggle, Adler finally shook his head and slightly lowered it.

“…But Moran, your chest is smaller than Sharlotte’s.”

The next moment, the words Adler whispered mercilessly pierced Moran’s ears.

“I don’t have a taste for children.”

“You fu…….”

That seemed to be quite a critical hit, as she tried to open her eyes wide and curse, but soon closed them gently.

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Several hours later. In some alley where darkness had completely fallen.

“Your Majesty. The wedding ceremony is in a few days, so this kind of escapade…”

“…Shh.”

The Queen of Bohemia, who had been biting her nails inside a carriage accompanied by suspiciously fully armed troops in the alley, suddenly opened her drowsy eyes and stood up.

“Your Majesty… *sniff*”

“Ah, aah…”

Eventually, in the dim moonlight, the figure that appeared from the far end of the alley was none other than a boy covered in a shabby robe.

“What? Who is that?”

“I, I should chase him away… Y-Your Majesty???”

“N-No!”

Before the guards could stop her, she jumped out of the carriage as soon as she spotted the boy and grabbed his hand with wide eyes.

“My goodness, Adler. What a state you’re in…”

“*Sob* I’ve been through so much.”

The boy’s body was covered with what seemed to be fresh crude wounds and dirt, but in the queen’s mind, a well-crafted escape drama was already playing out.

“I have nowhere to go right now, could you hide me for a while…?”

“Ah. Of course…”

When the boy, who looked quite pitiful, whispered like that, she almost nodded immediately, but the queen had to trail off.

“Of course…….”

The wedding ceremony to be held in a few days was an extremely important affair that could be said to determine the fate of the nation.

Therefore, it was natural that any variables that could ruin the marriage should be thoroughly blocked, even if it meant setting aside emotions.

So no matter how much her past lover was in danger, she, now a queen of a country and an emperor of an empire, couldn’t take him in based on personal feelings…

“…You’ll hide me, won’t you, Lilia?”

“Yes!”

She could.