Ch.48Chapter 48 – Zia Lestrade (2)

“Why so suddenly…?”

“…Are you in your right mind, Lestrade?”

Issac Adler and Sharlotte Holmes simultaneously ask Zia Lestrade with bewildered voices.

“I am in my right mind.”

She responds with her usual cold, expressionless face as she picks up the coffee cup in front of her.

“If you’re in your right mind, then why…..”

– Crunch…

While Adler looks at Lestrade with a puzzled expression, Sharlotte Holmes, who had been quietly biting her nails, finally speaks up.

“…This man is garbage, Lestrade.”

“Miss Holmes?”

“Countless women have been ruined because of this man. You’ll probably be the same.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Despite this, Lestrade stares at Issac Adler and answers.

“From today, I will be dating Issac Adler.”

Sharlotte’s gaze begins to darken.

“That’s the most rational solution I’ve come to after much deliberation.”

In the slightly chilled atmosphere, Lestrade takes a sip of coffee and begins to speak.

“Mr. Issac Adler.”

“…Yes.”

“As Miss Holmes said, you are garbage.”

At her cold voice, Adler, who had been wearing a blank expression, flinches slightly.

“Countless women have cried because of you, suffered, and ultimately been completely broken.”

“That’s…”

“But there’s no legal way to punish you for that.”

“………”

“Rather, the women whose lives you’ve ruined end up in prison for trying to harm you.”

Lestrade’s eyes are ice-cold as she looks at Adler.

“I’ve been following you for the past month hoping to find something to pin on you, but to no avail.”

“…That was pretty obvious.”

“Therefore, I’ve come to one conclusion.”

Ignoring Adler’s muttering, she puts down her coffee cup on the desk and says:

“I will like you.”

And then silence falls.

“And I will date you.”

“”……….””

“So don’t touch other women.”

Lestrade’s voice quietly echoes in the silence.

“I will be your only lover, so please be satisfied with just me.”

“Uh, um…”

“After much thought, this is the only way to break the endless cycle of harm you create.”

Adler, speechless and blinking his eyes, suddenly glances at Sharlotte sitting across from him.

“Ms. Lestrade, I understand what you’re saying. It’s certainly a decision worthy of you.”

Sharlotte, guessing his meaning, hastily speaks up.

“But are you really okay with this?”

“……..?”

“Can you really say you like someone you don’t like, link arms with them, or have physical contact?”

After staring at Sharlotte for a moment, Lestrade responds expressionlessly.

“Public interest and justice are more important than my feelings or emotions.”

“But…”

“So from now on, I will look at Issac Adler and say I love him. That decision won’t change.”

Cold sweat begins to form on Sharlotte’s forehead.

“…What if someone else could take on that role?”

“Who else could do it besides me?”

“F-for example…”

She then glances at Adler and mutters.

“Me…”

“I can’t let you shoulder such a burden.”

“N-no. On second thought, I would be better…”

“Does Miss Sharlotte Holmes like Issac Adler?”

But Sharlotte freezes at Lestrade’s direct question.

“…Ah, uh. Um.”

She tries to force her mouth open, but her bright red lips simply won’t part.

“You see? It’s too much for you.”

“No, that’s not it…”

“I love you, Mr. Issac Adler.”

“………”

“Shouldn’t you at least be able to say that much?”

As Sharlotte Holmes finally closes her mouth with a dumbfounded expression, Issac Adler, who had been watching with a puzzled look, quietly stands up.

“Can you take responsibility for what you just said?”

“…Yes.”

He leans toward Lestrade with his characteristic smile.

“If you really love me, you could naturally accept this level of skinship, right?”

As he strokes Lestrade’s white hair, she looks at him with cold eyes.

“…Then, could you kiss me?”

Adler’s face, meeting her cold gaze, has somehow moved right up to her nose.

“Could you let me put my tongue in your mouth while holding hands?”

“……….”

“Could you stay still if I embrace your head and body in that state?”

As Adler says this while stroking her hair, her ice-cold expressionless face slowly begins to distort.

“Love is not a game, Miss Lestrade.”

Seeing her expression, Adler whispers with a smile in his eyes.

“If you understand, let’s pretend you never said anything…”

“…I’ll mix.”

“Excuse me?”

But Lestrade, looking at him with cold eyes, says in a monotone voice:

“I’ll mix tongues with you.”

“……..”

“Not only that, I’ll comply with most of your requests.”

As her breath reaches him, Adler is the one left speechless, his eyes rolling.

“Since I’ve said I like you, I have no choice, do I?”

“Wait, wait a minute.”

Sharlotte hastily separates him from Lestrade and interjects in their conversation again.

“Mr. Adler, what about you?”

And now, Sharlotte stares intently at Issac Adler.

“Do you like Ms. Lestrade?”

After asking in a chilly voice, she carefully extends her foot toward Adler’s leg.

“…Hmm.”

Simultaneously, Adler lowers his head with a slightly trembling expression.

“This should be an excellent condition for you as well.”

Lestrade, who had been staring at him, begins to speak with a cold sigh.

“Dating me naturally means we’ll spend more time together. That will make you a bit safer.”

“………”

“You’re receiving death threats from not only Gil the Reaper but countless others, aren’t you? In your position, this is a condition you should accept by any means.”

But Adler, who was quietly flinching, gave no answer.

“That’s not all. You seem to be in quite a difficult situation lately due to the scandal of getting involved with everyone’s idol, Silver Blaze.”

Then, Lestrade begins to glare at Adler with gleaming eyes.

“If you declare that you’re in a public relationship with me, you can suppress that scandal.”

“……….”

“…Do you still dislike it?”

Just as a voice that seemed to say “don’t keep me waiting any longer” escaped from her lips—

[Don’t Move!: Chapter 2 Start]

That message appeared before Adler’s eyes.

“If you really dislike it, I can’t help it. I also…”

“Let’s date.”

Issac Adler, who had been staring at the message that appeared before his eyes with a pitiful expression for a while, finally opened his mouth with a resigned smile.

“…I like you, Miss Lestrade.”

With that, a chilly atmosphere began to flow through the coffee house.

“I knew you would say that.”

Lestrade muttered with pursed lips, extending her hand to him.

“Haha…”

After glancing at Sharlotte, who had become as expressionless as Lestrade, Adler interlaced his fingers with hers.

“You’re specifically interlacing fingers. You could just hold my hand.”

“Ah, that’s…”

“…Never mind.”

As his hand dug into hers, Lestrade’s expression momentarily distorted, but she soon closed her eyes and muttered.

“I like you now.”

At the same time, her fingers overlapped on the back of Adler’s hand, which had stiffly dug into hers.

– Rustle…

At that moment, as Lestrade lowered the curtain cord by the window with gleaming eyes, Adler’s gaze turned there and his eyes became blank.

“That’s why I called the reporters in advance.”

Outside the coffee house, reporters had gathered like a swarm of bees, forming a cordon and pointing their cameras.

– Click, click!!

And soon after, the sound of shutters began to echo loudly in the street.

The rather convincing image of Lestrade and Adler holding hands was captured by the reporters’ cameras.

“Let’s go to the press conference, Mr. Adler.”

In that state, Lestrade went a step further by linking arms with Adler as she stood up.

“…Hiccup.”

It was the moment when Issac Adler got his first official girlfriend.

.

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“Hahaha…”

“…Why are you laughing?”

After the press conference, which actually lasted less than 30 minutes but felt incredibly long to me.

[Probability of being killed: 1%->33%]

“Now I’ll be targeted by men too…”

“Pardon?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Having witnessed the consequence of messing with two male idols of England in succession through the message before my eyes, I muttered in a resigned voice as I left the press conference hall.

So, I and Lestrade began walking through the complex streets of London toward the coffee house where Sharlotte Holmes would be waiting for us.

“Someone has been following us for a while.”

“I know.”

When Lestrade whispered to me in a low voice, I nodded with an indifferent expression.

“I’m sorry, but could you step aside for a moment?”

“It’s a woman.”

“…You need time to settle things, don’t you?”

At my request, she nodded with a cold expression and quietly unlinked her arm.

– Swish…

After waving her hand at me and heading down a side street, I absently turned my gaze behind me.

“M-Mr. Adler.”

Then, the stalker removed the hat she had been wearing low, revealing her characteristic Ayn race ears.

“…I-I saw the press conference.”

Silver Blaze, with her ears and tail drooping, stood in front of me with a dark expression and downcast eyes.

“Did you?”

I was starting to get used to these kinds of situations.

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.

.

.

.

“…Please forgive me.”

“Pardon?”

“I know I’ve caused you trouble in many ways.”

Silver Blaze, looking at Adler with dark eyes, begins to speak in a trembling voice.

“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have had to experience such terrible pain… or reveal your secret relationship. I know that well.”

“……….”

“So, please, couldn’t you give me a different punishment?”

Then, she begins to stagger toward Adler.

“Telling me to forget you and live as I want?”

“Miss Blaze.”

“I can’t accept such words now…!”

She raised her voice without realizing it, then immediately lowered her head with a frightened expression.

“Mr. Adler.”

And then, Silver Blaze quietly began to shed tears.

“I quit horse racing.”

At the words that flowed from her lips, Adler’s eyes widened.

“…Why?”

“To be loyal to you.”

Silver Blaze staggers and kneels before him.

“I’ve longed for freedom for Ayn races because we’ve been roughly bred by humans all our lives, but you were different.”

“……….”

“If it’s you who saved us, I can entrust you with my dreams, my goals, my soul—everything.”

Her delicate hand grabs Adler’s sleeve.

“…So please accept my freedom.”

At the same time, tears roll down Silver Blaze’s cheeks.

“Please don’t abandon me…..”

Watching this scene from a distant alley with cold eyes, Lestrade quietly takes out her notebook and mutters to herself.

‘Build up and drop. This is Adler’s typical method mentioned in numerous testimonies.’

Surely the next thing Adler will say is, ‘No.’

Then, will he ridicule that poor Ayn race?

After skillful manipulation, she has become so dependent that she has no one to rely on but him, and despite gaining freedom, she’s willing to offer that freedom with her own hands.

Afterward, he’ll probably observe her breaking down or turning dark with an amused expression before disappearing.

That’s how another victim of Issac Adler would be added.

“…The worst.”

Lestrade, who could clearly see what would happen next due to her long investigation and observation, unconsciously muttered and turned her eyes away.

“To have to love such a man…”

“I understand.”

But at that moment.

“I won’t abandon you.”

Issac Adler’s gentle voice penetrated her ears.

“From today, I’ll take responsibility for you, Miss Blaze.”

He was quietly embracing Silver Blaze, patting her back and muttering.

“…By the way, you smell nice today too.”

“Uu, uuu… uuu…..”

As a tearful, happy expression appeared on Silver Blaze’s face, Lestrade’s gaze became blank.

‘….What?’

It was the moment when her deduction, as always, missed the mark.