Ch.38Chapter 38 – Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

“Hands u… Huh?”

Rachel Watson, who had burst in with a gun and a tense expression, suddenly looks bewildered.

“…Holmes?”

Her closest friend, Sharlotte Holmes, was sitting quietly in the room.

“Haha…”

Right next to her fiancé, who was somehow drenched in cold sweat.

“……..?”

Unable to comprehend the scene before her, she blinked blankly for a while before slowly lowering her gun.

“Wait.”

Her brow quietly furrows.

“What exactly is going on here?”

“…My dear friend, Rachel Watson.”

When she finally posed the question while eyeing the suspicious scene, Sharlotte Holmes began using her original manner of speech after quite some time.

“The man beside me is involved in criminal activity.”

Watson’s face turns pale upon hearing this.

“…I-it can’t be that serious.”

“Unfortunately, it is quite serious.”

“Is that true, darling?”

She then looks at Adler, who is disguised as Neville, with trembling eyes.

“Ah, it seems… that’s the case.”

As Sharlotte’s expression turns cold at Watson’s use of the term “darling,” Adler quietly lowers his eyes and answers.

“”………..””

And then silence falls.

“Watson, you’ll likely be disappointed when you learn this man’s true nature.”

“………”

“So, I dare advise you…”

In that silence, Sharlotte quietly began to speak with a slight smirk, but.

“…I already know.”

“……..?”

“I already know he’s involved in criminal activity.”

Watson interrupts her, speaking with a serious expression.

“It’s all because of Issac Adler.”

“Um…”

“This good man got caught up in crime because he was trying too hard to get an engagement ring, all because of that scoundrel.”

Sharlotte Holmes’s expression grows even colder.

“…I’m sorry for insulting your boyfriend, but it’s the truth.”

“Nevertheless, the fact remains that he is involved in criminal activity, Watson.”

And so begins a strange battle of nerves between the two women, with neither willing to back down.

“Break up with Ai… Neville St. Clair.”

“……….”

“He’s involved in a massive crime that will require years of investigation. Therefore, I must now take full responsibility for him.”

It seemed that Sharlotte Holmes had gained the upper hand in this battle of nerves.

“So end your relationship now.”

She had a legitimate reason for her stance.

“In fact, I’m being quite considerate of you. Because the truth is quite shocking…”

Just as Sharlotte was putting on a regretful expression and pulling Adler toward herself.

“…No.”

Rachel Watson shakes her head firmly.

“Watson, this isn’t a problem that can be resolved by being stubborn…”

“Because we can’t break up now.”

The next moment, the words that came out of her mouth began to turn the situation around.

“What do you mean you can’t break up?”

“We just finished our engagement a moment ago.”

“What?”

“We’re legally engaged, the two of us.”

Sharlotte Holmes, who had been looking triumphant, now appears dumbfounded upon hearing this.

“…Excuse me, what are you saying, Rachel?”

“Don’t you remember the cathedral we visited during our date earlier?”

And Adler was equally confused.

“But that was just a ‘simulated’ engagement date course, wasn’t it?”

He had no memory of actually getting engaged; they had merely experienced a novelty date simulating an engagement.

“That’s right. Everything was identical to an engagement procedure, but without witnesses present, the engagement wouldn’t normally be valid.”

“Yes, the priest clearly explained that…”

“But look at this.”

However, when Rachel Watson shyly extended the back of her hand to Adler.

“”……….””

Both Adler and Sharlotte Holmes were struck speechless.

“It’s an engagement seal, see?”

On the back of her hand was an engagement seal, symbolizing the obligation to marry one’s partner as quickly as possible.

“…Oh.”

Adler, who had been absently touching the seal, suddenly realized that a similar seal had appeared on the back of his own hand, leaving him stunned.

“Why did this appear?”

“You still don’t understand?”

Watson then shyly takes his hand in hers.

“This is a miracle created by our love, Neville.”

“Uh…”

“If not that, then surely it’s a divine sign that I shouldn’t let you go.”

Of course, none of that was true.

‘….Ah.’

It was because Sharlotte Holmes, who had been watching with empty eyes as Adler and Watson kissed and whispered words of love to each other, had unwittingly become a witness to their engagement.

– Grind…

Having belatedly realized this fact, Sharlotte Holmes began quietly grinding her teeth while emitting black smoke.

“Neville, we’re now legally bound to each other.”

Meanwhile, Issac Adler, who had been stunned by the realization that he had inadvertently recreated something similar to the original story, snapped back to reality at Watson’s whisper.

“…So why don’t you come over to my side now?”

After nervously glancing at Holmes, Adler slowly rises from his seat.

“I’ll take responsibility for this man from now on, Holmes.”

“……….”

“And you mentioned a major case, right?”

As he sits beside her, Watson naturally links arms with him and carefully leans against him.

“I’ll help too.”

She says with a bright smile.

“The three of us will work together and definitely solve it.”

Sharlotte, who had been grinding her teeth, quietly bows her head upon seeing this.

“…I see.”

After a moment, she raises her head with gleaming eyes.

“…The three of us, solving it together?”

“Yes, yes!”

As Watson enthusiastically agrees, Sharlotte rises from her seat with a cold expression.

“Where are you two planning to go now?”

“Us? Oh, um…..”

Watson scratches her head as she answers the question.

“If Neville doesn’t mind, I was thinking of going to the racetrack…”

“The racetrack?”

“There’s a trendy special race being held tonight.”

Her eyes sparkle as she begins to explain.

“Get this, instead of horses, non-humans are racing. Isn’t that fascinating?”

“…Isn’t that illegal?”

“Oh, come on. The abolition of slavery regardless of species was implemented before we were even born.”

“In an era where the ‘graduate student’ loophole still legally exists.”

“That’s their own choice. Anyway, non-humans being treated as slaves is a thing of the past.”

Issac Adler listens to this with slightly curious eyes.

“For example, ‘Silver Blaze,’ who’s currently the most popular in the special racing circuit, is treated better than most actresses…”

“Silver Blaze?”

His eyes widen as he mutters to himself.

“…So she’s not a horse but a non-human?”

“What did you say, darling?”

“Ah, nothing.”

He quickly closes his mouth as Watson tilts her head curiously.

“…Well, that sounds good. Let’s go.”

“Hmm, yes. If that’s what you want…”

As he stands up and speaks, Watson, with a triumphant smile, begins to hum as she heads toward the door, but.

“I’m coming too.”

“…What?”

Sharlotte Holmes throws cold water on the atmosphere.

“We’re all working together on this, aren’t we?”

“…………”

“Isn’t that right? My dear assistant?”

A strange tension begins to flow once again between the two close friends.

.

.

.

.

.

Placing a “Curse that prevents revealing one’s identity” on Sharlotte Holmes just before Watson burst into the room had been a very good move.

“”…………””

But now, I almost wish my identity had been exposed back then.

– Tszzz…

Sharlotte Holmes, walking right beside me as I headed toward the racetrack arm-in-arm with Watson, was squeezing my body with invisible black smoke.

“…Miss Holmes.”

Her energy, which completely enveloped my body, was writhing violently and mercilessly violating every inch of me.

“This is actually sexual harassment.”

“Well, why did you put a Curse on me in the first place?”

“………”

Simultaneously, my mana was being rapidly absorbed by Sharlotte.

“…I think my transformation is going to wear off.”

“That’s the point.”

Thanks to her now openly doing what she had been doing secretly at the café earlier, the time limit on my disguise, which should have lasted for several hours, had been drastically reduced.

“…What are you two talking about?”

“Nothing at all.”

“And why do you keep trembling?”

To make matters worse, Watson, who had somehow nestled her head even deeper into my neck than before, was eyeing me suspiciously.

“…I think I’ve caught a bad cold.”

Since I couldn’t possibly tell her that her best friend was actively draining my energy in real-time, I made this excuse with a reddened face.

“Oh dear…”

Watson lifts her head slightly and looks at me with concerned eyes.

– Gulp…

As her snow-white neck, which had been pressed against me, becomes visible and the soft scent of her skin begins to waft toward me, my vampiric urges suddenly surge, perhaps due to my depleted mana.

“Here, take this.”

But as I was squeezing my eyes shut and resisting the urge, knowing I only needed to endure for a few more days until my visit to Microny’s house, Watson offers me something.

“…What’s this?”

“Medicine. It’s very good for colds.”

Trusting the word of the doctor, I immediately took the bottle and began gulping it down.

“………!?”

But then a suspicious heat began to spread throughout my body.

“Y-you shouldn’t drink it all at once!”

As I struggled to maintain my balance due to the heat, Watson grabbed me and muttered.

“…I was planning to give it to you slowly back at the lodging.”

Could this be brandy, which was considered a panacea in the 19th century?

“Ugh, uugh…”

If so, this is bad.

“I-I need to go to the bathroom for a moment.”

“Should I come with you?”

“I’m… fine…”

Barely holding onto my fading consciousness, I staggered toward the bathroom across the way.

‘…My drinking habits are really bad.’

I still can’t forget the blank expressions of the female students who avoided my gaze the day after I got drunk on just half a bottle at a college MT.

‘What should I do?’

I still don’t know what happened that day.

.

.

.

.

.

A few minutes later.

“…Huh?”

Watson, who had been waiting for her fiancé with a worried expression, suddenly widens her eyes and pulls out a gun from her bosom.

“Issac Adler!”

Issac Adler, who was now practically her enemy, was somehow approaching where she and Holmes were standing.

“Y-you! How did you get here…!”

Watson backs away nervously, pointing her gun at him as he approaches with glowing red eyes.

“Huh?”

But the place where Issac Adler stopped was right in front of Sharlotte Holmes.

“Sharlotte.”

“…Adler?”

Meanwhile, Sharlotte Holmes, who had succeeded in removing his disguise according to plan, tilts her head at his somehow changed demeanor.

“You just called me by my…”

– Grab…

“…Eek?”

At that moment, Adler roughly grabs her arm.

“Look up.”

After forcefully pushing Sharlotte against the wall, he coldly commands her, and she instinctively raises her head.

– Crunch…!

“………!”

At that very moment, Adler’s sharp fangs sink into her snow-white neck.

“…Ahh.”

As Sharlotte writhes from the pain spreading through her nerves, Adler grips her arm more forcefully and pins her against the wall.

“H-Holmes!”

In that perilous situation, as Watson desperately cries out and tries to pull the trigger of her gun.

– Swish…

“……..?”

Sharlotte quietly raises her hand to stop Watson.

“…As I thought, you’re stronger than me.”

She whispers to Adler, feeling for the first time what it’s like to be subdued by someone.

“Beast.”

In response, Adler’s cold gaze turns toward her.

‘…How strange.’

Sharlotte Holmes, who had been quietly staring into those eyes, bites her lip and surrenders herself to him.

‘Being overpowered by such trash…’

An inexplicable, peculiar emotion was welling up inside her.

‘…Why do I feel this way?’

Seeing her dear friend standing in front with a blank expression made her feel several times more.