Ch.54Chapter 54 – A Foregone Conclusion

“H-Holmes?”

“……..”

“Why are you suddenly like this?”

Isaac Adler’s bewildered voice echoes throughout the room.

– Drip…

But Charlotte Holmes merely kneels before him, crystal-like tears streaming down her face.

“Um…”

As the Game Over warning message flashes before his eyes, cold sweat begins to trickle down Adler’s forehead.

– Rustle…

“Calm down.”

After cautiously observing the situation, Adler quietly embraces Charlotte.

“…I’m the reason you’re dying, aren’t I?”

Her dark voice pierces his ear.

“What are you…”

“Every time you’re with me, you grow weaker.”

Adler’s expression turns to one of confusion.

“Each time I solve a case, I can visibly see you becoming more frail.”

“It’s just a coincidence.”

“Then how do you explain the blood you just coughed up?”

“That’s…”

“How do you explain this body of mine growing more sickly with each passing day?”

Momentarily speechless, unsure how to clear up this misunderstanding, Adler is met with Charlotte’s continued dark words.

“I’m afraid of fighting with you anymore.”

“……..!”

Finally, that statement bursts out.

“Since birth until now, I’ve lived in a state of lethargy.”

“Holmes…”

“Whenever a case occurred, I could briefly escape that lethargy, but that was all.”

Charlotte, still in Adler’s arms, continues with a trembling voice.

“But once the case ended, I’d return to days of unbearable listlessness.”

“………”

“The problem was, unlike my sister, my lethargy could be overcome with stimulation.”

Listening blankly to her story, Adler silently begins to stroke her back.

“Cigarettes, magic stone addiction, and even the next stage… it was only a matter of time before I fell apart.”

“………”

“Until you appeared.”

Charlotte’s trembling transmits directly to Adler’s hand.

“I’ll be honest. I can’t live without you anymore.”

In that state, Charlotte Holmes looks up at Adler with tear-filled eyes.

“I’ve already been consumed by you.”

“That’s…”

“No stimulant, case, or drug can replace you.”

Her gaze was somehow twisted.

“You are stimulation itself.”

“……..”

“If you disappear, how am I supposed to go on living?”

Adler, who was about to say something, quietly closes his mouth.

“What if I defeat you?”

Charlotte pushes her face closer to his and bombards him with questions.

“If I bring down the professor and your kingdom, and put you in prison?”

“……..”

“Then what will I live for?”

But there was no answer from Adler.

“I’m scared.”

Her small murmur echoes in his ear.

“I’m afraid.”

London’s greatest detective was nowhere to be found.

“I don’t want to do anything…”

There was only a frightened girl before his eyes.

“”……..””

And so began the silence.

“…Miss Holmes.”

After a long while of contemplation, looking down at Charlotte trembling in his arms, Adler speaks in a low voice.

“No matter what happens, I won’t leave you.”

Charlotte quietly stares at Adler.

“I swear.”

“How can I believe you?”

At her question, Adler quietly snaps his fingers, and a contract written in golden ink appears in mid-air.

“When it comes to contract magic, I’m more confident than anyone else in the world.”

“……….”

“So sign it, Miss Holmes.”

Charlotte takes it and stares at it blankly.

“I’ll be with you forever.”

– Rustle…

Her hand moves as if entranced, signing the contract.

“…Now you can rest assured.”

After watching her intently, Adler pats her back again and begins to smile quietly.

“…Yes, I’m reassured now.”

It was at that moment.

– Tzzzzz…

“Huh?”

A black seal made of someone’s mana begins to engrave itself on Adler’s lower abdomen.

“That was almost discovered.”

“What?”

Simultaneously, Charlotte, who had been quietly looking down at the golden emblem beginning to engrave itself on her lower abdomen, suddenly speaks in a completely normal voice.

“Huh?”

At that moment, the Game Over warning message instantly disappears from before his eyes.

“…I removed the ambiguous and unnecessary clauses on the back of the contract.”

Charlotte shows the contract she just signed to Adler, who looks dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.

– Tzzzzz…

Charlotte’s black mana had completely burned away all the hidden clauses Adler had inserted on the back of the contract that would have allowed him to escape the agreement at any time.

“Miss Holmes.”

“……..”

“…Don’t tell me?”

After staring at it with his mouth agape, Adler shifts his gaze to Charlotte and asks in a low voice.

“I’ve noticed for a while that you often stare into empty space.”

Charlotte, her eyes sharper than ever, begins to speak.

“I thought it was coincidence, but your pupils would contract whenever something happened.”

“That’s…”

“Decisively, after observing you while keeping you confined last night, I was able to confirm what I had been suspecting all along.”

Her whisper penetrates Adler’s ear.

“Your Curse is that you must forcibly do something.”

“………”

“That ‘something’ appears before your eyes in text form, doesn’t it?”

Adler’s pupils begin to quietly tremble.

“…Every Curse comes with at least one ability that people would envy.”

Seeing this and confirming her deduction, Charlotte tilts her head slightly and murmurs.

“Then, what is your ability?”

Then, thrusting her face forward, Charlotte asks.

“I don’t quite understand what you’re…”

“Just now, I tested by heightening my emotions a bit. I’m quite confident in my acting skills.”

Her mind was spinning faster than ever.

“Seeing how flustered you are, unlike your usual self, is it mind reading?”

“Um…”

“Is it the ability to grasp the current situation?”

“Miss Holmes…”

“Or perhaps the ability to see future possibilities?”

“………”

As Adler stumbles over his words, Charlotte puts her lips to his ear and whispers softly.

“Or… all of the above?”

And then silence began.

“…Well, it doesn’t matter.”

To Adler, who flinches from the breath blown into his ear, Charlotte’s whisper continues.

“I’m starting to understand you a little now.”

“What…”

“How many commands have you disobeyed for my sake?”

Her voice becomes slightly apologetic.

“…You don’t need to struggle to disobey anymore.”

Her hand begins to gently stroke Adler’s head.

“I simply can’t bear to watch your life force being chipped away any longer.”

Charlotte, looking at the blood-spitting Adler with slightly anxious eyes, wraps one arm around his waist and murmurs.

“…And, you love me.”

“…….”

“Much more than the professor who can’t even make such a simple deduction.”

Then, she asks in a slightly sharp voice.

“Right?”

“What?”

“Right…?”

“…Yes, I do.”

When Adler stammers his answer, Charlotte, who had been glaring at him with a slightly displeased look, soon smiles again.

“Well, with this contract, the conclusion is already foregone.”

And then, showing the contract tucked in her bosom with her finger, she slightly lowers her head.

“Still, I need to make it a bit more certain, don’t I?”

The next moment.

– Chomp…

“…Ugh!?”

Charlotte’s teeth sink into Adler’s soft neck.

– Crunch…

“…? …..???”

Confused by her sudden bloodsucking, Adler makes a bewildered expression.

“H-Holmes.”

“…Puha.”

“A-Are you a Vampire or something?”

Urgently pushing her away, Adler questions.

“No.”

“Then why…?”

“I’ve reached a conclusion.”

Charlotte answers, looking at Adler before her and falling into thought.

‘No matter how much I think about it, there’s only one conclusion.’

Isaac Adler is her enemy.

Also, he is someone a detective should not be tainted by.

But at the same time, he is someone she absolutely needs.

“…Charlotte?”

And such a person’s life is fading because of her.

Even if that weren’t the case, this fight would eventually come to an end.

Then, is there no way to keep him by her side forever?

If not that, is there at least a way to keep his existence within her?

After repeated rational and reasonable deductions, there was only one method.

“I’ll swallow you.”

Having finished her thoughts, Charlotte wipes Adler’s blood from her lips with her finger, consumes it completely, and whispers.

“…This isn’t me being tainted by you.”

Simultaneously, Charlotte reaches for Adler’s head.

“This is me tainting you.”

With careful hands, she plucks a strand of his hair and puts it in her mouth, whispering.

“…Mmm.”

And then, resting her chin on her hand, she stares at Adler and chews.

– Gulp…

After a moment, Charlotte closes her eyes tightly, swallows it, and opens her mouth with a bright smile.

“Now that I’ve gone this far, there should be good news soon.”

“…What?”

After looking slightly anxious, Adler freezes upon hearing her continued words.

“Watson told me.”

Charlotte, licking her lips and wiping her mouth with her sleeve, points to her lower abdomen where the golden seal is engraved and whispers in a small voice.

“That to make it a fait accompli, genetic material is needed.”

“…Wait just a few days.”

At that moment, Adler realized.

[Hidden Route: ???]

[Progress: 20% -> 50%]

What would happen to him when Charlotte’s knowledge became perfect.

[Probability of being ??: 60%->70%]

“…Ah.”

The messages appearing before his eyes were vaguely showing him the scene that would soon come.