Ch.4Chapter 4 – A Scandal in Bohemia

A few dozen minutes before the mysterious lady knocked on the boarding house door.

“Hello, Mr. Hudson.”

“Miss Watson. You’re quite early today.”

Dr. Rachel Watson, who had returned home earlier than usual, was scratching her head while answering the question from the caretaker, Mr. Hudson, who had greeted her.

“Yes. There weren’t many people at the hospital today.”

“I’m not sure whether to be happy or sad about that.”

“Ahaha…”

Watson laughed at Mr. Hudson’s light joke and began walking toward her room.

– Bang! Bang bang!

She quietly frowned at the sound of gunshots coming from somewhere.

“What is she doing now?”

Normally, if one heard gunshots somewhere, the sensible reaction would be to panic or call the police.

But at 212B Baker Street where she resided, such common sense didn’t apply.

“Holmes. What on earth are you doing?”

This was because London’s most eccentric individual—Watson’s roommate who was quite a bit younger than her—lived here.

“…Watson? You’re early today.”

When Watson opened the door and asked with an incredulous look, a girl who was sprawled like a corpse in an armchair, wearing a white gown haphazardly draped over her body, waved her hand while holding a cigarette.

“Want to smoke some Arcadia tobacco?”

Watson quietly sighed at the sight.

Her gray eyes, which normally shone sharply, had lost their luster and looked cloudy, and her once glossy black straight hair had lost its shine and become dry and lifeless.

Nevertheless, Holmes, who was offering Watson a cigarette with a dark smile, exuded an inexplicable elegance and charm.

“Never mind that, what were you doing just now?”

“As you can see, I was decorating the room.”

“Sigh.”

Had she not been firing a revolver at the wall in front of her to create the shape of male genitalia, her appearance might have seemed quite captivating.

“Where did you throw away your usual way of speaking, to engage in such idiotic behavior?”

“Well. Don’t you think this softer way of speaking is nice sometimes?”

Watson, who had been looking down at Holmes with a pathetic gaze, shook her head and sighed.

It seemed that the longer Holmes went without a case, the stranger her eccentricities became.

“Wait, were you experimenting with mana stones again?”

Watson, who was heading to her seat while thinking this, noticed traces of experiments on the table in the corner of the room and frowned as she spoke.

“I’m pretty sure I told you to refrain from excessive experimentation because it could cause mana poisoning.”

“I’m fine, Watson.”

Holmes, who had tossed the revolver onto the distant sofa, answered with a languid expression.

“For the advancement of forensic science, such risks are merely trivial matters. Besides, I’m conducting my experiments safely…”

“Holmes. I was a military doctor. Now I’m a practicing physician. Do you think I can’t recognize the symptoms of mana poisoning in the person right in front of me?”

But when Watson’s cold voice echoed, Holmes stopped talking and quietly averted her gaze.

“Pretending not to know won’t help. Even for someone like you, you need to listen to me on this matter.”

“Cut me some slack, Watson.”

When Watson declared with a resolute expression, Holmes sighed deeply, got up from her seat, and began to lament.

“If I don’t experiment with mana stones, I might literally die of boredom.”

“Then if you took on a case…”

“Cases. That’s precisely what’s missing. There isn’t a single case in London that would satisfy me, Watson.”

Muttering this, Holmes picked up a newspaper and, with slightly trembling hands, handed it to Watson.

“There hasn’t been a noteworthy case for months. The few strange incidents that occurred were mostly just natural phenomena. The requests coming in and the cases appearing in the newspapers are all trivial matters.”

“Hmm…”

“I feel like my brain is hardening from disuse. Perhaps it’s actually hardening. It’s truly lamentable.”

After complaining at length, Holmes, seemingly tired, slumped back into the armchair.

“Watson, how was I when strange incidents began occurring all over the world?”

“You were overflowing with vitality. You didn’t even glance at those mana-poisoning experimental devices.”

Watson, who answered her question, looked at Holmes with a slightly sympathetic gaze.

“Yes, that’s right. I thought I wouldn’t have to pray for cases to happen every night anymore, that exciting major cases would welcome me.”

Holmes, who was continuing to speak while listlessly looking at Watson’s crimson eyes, quietly turned her gaze toward the window.

“But Watson, I feel like I’m living in a world of fools.”

By now, the streets of London were covered in thick fog.

“For several months now, mysterious fog has been covering the streets every night, yet there hasn’t been a single crime taking advantage of it. Really, London’s criminals…”

Holmes, who had been muttering while staring blankly at the scene, suddenly stopped speaking.

“What’s wrong?”

When a smile appeared on her face a moment later, Watson tilted her head and asked the reason.

“Did you spot a crime or strange incident?”

“No, not that, but…”

In Holmes’s eyes, which answered Watson’s question, vitality had returned.

“…I’m about to witness one indirectly.”

This was because an unidentified lady knocking on the boarding house door had caught Holmes’s eye.

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“Come in!”

Some time later, when there was a knock on the door, Holmes, whose earlier listlessness had completely vanished, called out in a cheerful voice.

– Creeak…

Then, cautiously opening the door and entering, was a visitor wearing a black robe and mask.

At Holmes’s gesture, the visitor hesitated briefly before sitting on the sofa. When she removed her robe, luxurious clothing and a voluptuous figure were revealed.

“Which of you is Charlotte Holmes?”

The lady quietly asked Holmes and Watson, who were silently observing her.

“I am Charlotte Holmes.”

“…I wish to speak with you alone. I apologize to your friend, but could you please leave us for a moment?”

At those words, Watson was about to rise from her seat, but Holmes extended her hand to stop her and spoke.

“If she cannot hear it, then I will not hear it either.”

“Hmm…”

The lady began to ponder, biting her lip.

Her face, slightly visible beneath the mask, was somehow deathly pale.

Even Watson could easily deduce the look in her eyes hidden behind the mask.

“Very well, but swear that you will not speak of this matter to anyone until at least my death. This is an issue that could turn Europe upside down.”

“I see.”

The lady began to speak with a slightly trembling voice.

“This is a serious matter involving a royal family of Europe.”

“The House of Ormstein of the Kingdom of Bohemia, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right. Although I am merely an agent and cannot reveal my identity to you…”

But she stopped speaking and looked at Holmes.

“What did you just say…”

“Your Majesty, if you wanted to conceal your identity, you shouldn’t have worn such luxurious attire.”

The lady’s eyes widened at Holmes’s words.

“Besides, it was an error to try to deceive me when you are so well-known worldwide.”

And so, a silence began to flow in the room.

“…Yes, you are correct.”

The lady, who had been quietly trembling while looking at Holmes, finally removed her mask and spoke with a resigned expression.

“I am indeed the Queen of Bohemia.”

“Yes, I knew Your Majesty was Lilia Gotzreich Sigismund von Ormstein from the moment you entered.”

“I apologize for the unseemly display. But I had no choice…”

“Well, there are things in this world that cannot be helped. So, would you please tell me what trouble you’re experiencing?”

Holmes interrupted her words and began to press her, using the most respectful expression she could manage.

“To summarize briefly, it’s like this.”

The queen, who had been frowning for a moment, eventually covered her face with both hands and began to speak.

“Issac Adler. Because of that famous young man, I am now facing ruin. Do you know of him?”

“Watson, look him up in my index.”

Holmes pointed to the files where she had organized information on numerous individuals, but Watson shook her head and replied.

“No, there’s no need. I know him well.”

And then, she began to explain to Holmes.

“London’s number one scoundrel. A great delinquent who has seduced countless women. A truly garbage person whose hobby is to break women who have passed through his hands, both physically and mentally.”

“…You know him quite in detail?”

“The patients I care for at the hospital where I work are his victims.”

Holmes, who had been glancing at Watson with a heated expression, then turned her gaze to the queen and asked a question.

“So, what weakness has this Issac Adler caught you with?”

“A handwritten… um… sl-slave cont…”

The queen, with a shameful expression, stammered.

“…Something like a love letter that he possesses.”

As she averted her gaze and evaded the question, Holmes scratched her head and began to ask again.

“Did you secretly marry the young man? Or did you enter into some legal contract?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Then there doesn’t seem to be a problem. Handwriting can be imitated, and even if there’s a seal or stamp, you can claim it’s a forgery.”

The queen, lowering her head, replied.

“He has a photograph.”

“Your Majesty’s photograph can be obtained anywhere…”

“A photograph of him and me together.”

“Oh dear. What kind of photograph exactly?”

The queen, whose face had turned bright red, hesitated for a moment before continuing with a stammer.

“Well, to be precise… I, I am lying face down on the floor with a collar around my neck… and that young man is stepping on my head…”

“”……….””

Holmes and Watson looked at her with astonished expressions.

“Why on earth did you do such a thing?”

“I, I was crazy then. I was young. Despite being a princess of a nation, I thought I could give everything to him.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I don’t understand it myself now. But it definitely happened, and Issac started blackmailing me with it yesterday.”

The queen, now red up to her ears, pleaded with Holmes.

“Actually, I don’t have much time. My marriage will take place in two days. But if that child reveals my photograph and that document… my life is over.”

“Hmm.”

“So, I ask you. I know it’s a very difficult request, but please retrieve that document and photograph within 36 hours.”

“How do you intend to pay the fee?”

“If you wish, I could give you half of my kingdom.”

“What about the immediate expenses needed for the job?”

When Holmes asked with a raised corner of her mouth, the queen took out a heavy pouch from her bosom.

“As a retainer, I will pay 300 pounds in gold coins and 700 pounds in notes.”

“Very well.”

Holmes tore a page from her notebook, wrote a receipt, and handed it to the queen with a satisfied smile.

“Please write that man’s address here, and Your Majesty should return and rest comfortably now.”

“Does that mean…”

“I will bring you good news soon.”

Only then did the queen rise from her seat with a slightly relieved expression.

“…Be careful.”

As she put on her mask and robe again, she left a warning to Holmes, who was wearing a confident expression, in a low voice.

“Although his face looks gentle and innocent, a demon lurks within Issac.”

And then, the queen quietly left the room.

“Anyway, I just don’t understand.”

Holmes, who had been sitting quietly in the chair for a long time after she left, muttered as she got up.

“Those who are swayed by the inefficient emotion called love and ruin everything.”

Then, suddenly looking at Watson, Holmes said.

“I think I will never understand such people until I die, Watson.”

Her manner of speech had returned to normal by now.

Considering Holmes’s age, her previous way of speaking might have been more natural.

“Well, this case should at least be a good diversion.”

“But isn’t the time too tight? What are you planning to do?”

Holmes, who was busily preparing to go out, answered Watson’s question with shining eyes.

“I have a good plan.”

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The day after my first meeting with Professor Moriarty.

On my way to what would now be my home for the weekend.

“Hey, you there. Stop for a moment.”

“Hand over everything you have, and we’ll spare your life.”

As I entered an alley near my home, a group of vagrants appeared from somewhere, surrounded me, and began to threaten me.

“No!”

As I was looking at the guys wielding pokers and knives with a troubled expression, suddenly a voice echoed from the distance.

“Please stop this!”

A seemingly fragile young nun was walking toward me and the vagrants.

‘This…’

And then, I finally understood the situation.

‘…It’s definitely Holmes.’

The development of “A Scandal in Bohemia” was being reenacted right before my eyes.

Although Holmes was disguised as a nun rather than a clergyman, anyway.

‘…I’m screwed.’

As a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes series, it was truly a momentous occasion.