Ch.269Side Story – The XX Scandal of the Bohemian Queen (2)

“…Ugh.”

I open my eyes, clutching my head that feels like it’s about to split open.

Right, what’s happened this time? Honestly, I’ve been the victim of so many crimes that I don’t think anything would surprise me anymore.

“Ah, hello.”

“…Ah. Haha.”

Despite steeling myself with such thoughts, as soon as I opened my eyes and saw the scene before me, I had to fight the urge to close them again, forcing a smile at the corners of my mouth.

“Are you awake?”

The queen, who was supposed to marry a prince from another kingdom in a few days, was lying naked beside me.

‘…It couldn’t be helped.’

Well, from the moment I desperately started gulping down alcohol, I half-expected what would happen.

To think that even on a journey to escape obsession, I’d have to ensure my safety by selling my body with adultery as a premise—is this really right?

‘Am I really a man…?’

At this point, I wonder if I’m actually Irene Adler who mistakenly believes herself to be Issac Adler.

“Oof.”

While I was lost in these absurd thoughts, the queen (who had apparently been staring at me until I woke up) finally got up and stretched, muttering.

“…Ugh, my stomach feels so queasy.”

Watching her rub her lower abdomen while saying that, I felt my face grow hot for some reason.

‘…Does this person not age?’

I don’t know how much time has passed since I started being obsessed over, but the queen’s face still looked exactly as it did when she was a princess.

Well, I suppose it’s nice that the person taking care of me is pretty, considering I’ll be indebted to her for quite some time.

[This bastard still hasn’t come to his senses?]

“……!?”

Just as I was thinking that, a familiar translucent window suddenly appeared before my eyes.

[Truly amazing, amazing.]

‘…System?’

The system, which hadn’t appeared since I cleared the game, suddenly reappeared before my eyes after several years.

‘Why suddenly…?’

[I was planning to leave you alone, but seeing how you’re living, you looked too pitiful.]

While the reason for contacting me was quite vexing, in this situation, I needed the system’s help.

And the reason why the system suddenly contacted me must be “that.”

[Well, let me show you your fate after a long time.]

{Probability of being caught within 24 hours: 74 percent}

{Probability of being transported to a secret house within 7 days: 99 percent}

Though I had expected it, the probabilities that appeared before my eyes were truly shocking.

‘W-why….’

[The professor and detective aside, now you’ve turned even your close associates into enemies, and you’re committing adultery with the queen, and you ask why? Wow, you really haven’t come to your senses?]

While I almost missed the system’s old formal tone compared to its current emotional scolding, that wasn’t the issue right now.

I needed to leave this country immediately, otherwise…

‘The queen might also be swept up in that madness.’

Thinking about it now, in that terrifying obsession alliance, only Sharlotte Holmes and Zia Lestrade remained on the side of justice.

The rest were villains likely to kidnap me and harm the queen.

So I couldn’t stay here any longer. Otherwise, not just the queen but the entire country could be in danger…

[Wow, look at you finding an excuse to run away and immediately abandoning her.]

‘…Why have you become so much more aggressive than before?’

[Shut up, you’d make even an incubus cry.]

As I was about to get up and pack my things, I quietly frowned at the system that continued to be aggressive.

[Wait, what are you doing?]

‘I’m trying to turn off the system.’

[No, wait. Seriously?]

Right after that, as I reached out my hand, the system hurriedly moved to the side to avoid it and asked in a flustered tone.

[I-I might have been a bit harsh, but I can help you in various ways…]

As expected, regardless of what the entity inside looks like, I could definitely understand its personality.

The system was probably an extreme tsundere.

‘I have my own plans.’

[W-wait…]

‘And I hate being manipulated by others more than anything in the world.’

The problem was that I wasn’t in a situation where I could consider such personality traits while planning my escape.

‘Especially by women.’

With those words (which I uttered only in my mind), I grabbed the system window and pushed it aside to close it, then slowly got up and sank into thought.

‘To end this situation anyway, I need to return to the Auguste Detective Academy. The special privileges there are my only hope.’

The problem was that the Auguste Detective Academy was in London, from where I had fled.

In other words, to go back, I needed to somehow escape from the clutches of the obsession alliance that had fallen into madness.

“…Hey, Adler.”

Just as I was thinking that and about to take a step.

“Are you leaving?”

The queen’s melancholic voice came from behind.

“Ah, well…”

“You don’t need to make excuses. I think I can tell what you’re trying to do just by looking at your expression now.”

I tried to hastily make an excuse, but the queen had already noticed something.

“This will probably be the last time we see each other, right?”

“……”

“Still, I’m satisfied. Now I have a way to remember you.”

To be honest, for someone like me who had lived a life of being obsessed over by others, the queen’s reaction was quite unexpected.

“I’ve already prepared a carriage at the secret passage exit of the palace. If you take it now, you should reach the border before nightfall.”

If I weren’t in this situation, I might have liked to stay by the queen’s side a little longer.

Of course, that’s not possible now. For her sake too, I must leave this place quickly.

“Whether your child is a boy or a girl, I’ll raise them well and make them the ruler of this country.”

Watching the queen stroke her lower abdomen again while saying that, a bitter smile escaped me.

Perhaps this person grew up too sheltered and never received proper sex education?

The probability of getting pregnant during the fertile period is surprisingly only 20 to 30 percent.

Especially in this world, when the species are different like in my case, the probability is even more abysmal.

Even the professor had to develop special magic to overcome species differences, which says it all.

So the possibility of the queen being pregnant from this encounter is probably around 1 percent?

“…I-I love you, Adler.”

Nevertheless, I quietly kept my mouth shut and started heading towards the door, leaving the queen who whispered those words behind me.

Yes, this would be the better ending for both the queen and me.

If this relationship were to be discovered, the queen would surely be ruined.

Rather than risking that possibility, I hope she can be satisfied with the memory of her first love taking her first experience.

“B-but, I have one last question.”

Just as I was grabbing the doorknob, determined to leave, a slightly trembling voice came from behind.

“This golden tattoo… h-how do I remove it?”

“……”

“I-I mean, if my fiancé sees this, it would be quite troublesome…”

Turning my head at those words, I finally noticed the golden seal on the queen’s stomach, and my mind went blank.

‘…Wait, is that…?’

Originally, the seal I create doesn’t have a heart filled in the center.

Because the meaning of a heart filled in the center is…

“W-wait, Adler?”

“…Haha.”

“H-hey!”

It seems I need to leave this place a bit faster.

*****

About a month after Adler left the Austro-Hungarian Empire at a terrifying speed.

“Y-Your Majesty! Look at this!”

“…W-what is it?”

The queen, who was sipping herb tea in the garden with dark circles under her eyes, startled, asked the question to the maid who rushed towards her.

“Remember the prince who was supposed to come for the marriage talk but suddenly lost contact? He was in the newspaper and guess what…!”

After staring blankly at the newspaper handed by the maid for a while, the queen raised her voice with rounded eyes.

“…F-fell off the ship during a storm and died?”

“Yes! And he was the only casualty! How could such a thing…”

In fact, unknown to the queen, she too, like the women around Adler, was born with a “Curse.”

The queen’s curse was none other than gaining incredible luck at the cost of bringing death to those who sought her hand in marriage.

All the previous marriages that had been thwarted by “unfortunate accidents,” how she, the queen of the minor country of Bohemia, became the head of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and how only her relationship with Adler, whom she had pursued first, succeeded—none of it was coincidence.

“How, how could this… No, wait. Could it be?”

But of course, not knowing this fact, the queen began to have reasonable suspicions as she recalled Adler’s face.

“Urgh.”

“Y-Your Majesty, are you alright?”

But then, she suddenly started to retch.

“U-urgh… Ah?”

The queen, who had extended her hand to stop the maid who was about to rush to her in alarm, suddenly began to mutter while breaking out in a cold sweat.

“T-this is bad.”

“Pardon?”

Her ability of “incredible luck” had already activated on that night a month ago, in exchange for devouring the life of the man who had come to possess her, along with the ring he had given her.

“…W-with this, there’s no one to blame the pregnancy on?”

And thus began the Bohemian Queen pregnancy scandal that would ignite the spark of World War I.