Ch.55Chapter 55 – The Mystery of Lygate (3)

“I can hear the sound of your eyeballs rolling from here.”

Charlotte, who had been looking down at the dazed Adler, stands up with a satisfied expression and speaks.

“Did you just see something that will happen in a few days?”

“……..”

“Or is it a new command?”

At those words, Adler’s smiling face turns slightly pale, and Charlotte quietly gives him an eye-smile.

“If it’s a new command, just follow it without pushing yourself too hard.”

“Um…”

“I’ll be patient with most things.”

With that, her soft lips overlap with Adler’s as she leans forward, and soon their tongues begin to shyly intertwine.

“…mmph.”

Slightly flustered by the unexpected situation, Adler tries to pull his head back, but Charlotte grabs his hand and pulls him toward her.

“”………””

Then, she closes her eyes and tilts her head to the side.

Unlike the rough and clumsy kisses of the past, this kiss is like one between lovers, causing Adler’s cheeks to flush with embarrassment.

– Drip…

After some time passes, they both pull away from each other as if on cue.

“…haah.”

Charlotte stares blankly at the sticky fluid connecting her tongue to Adler’s outstretched tongue, and slowly moves her head to retrieve it.

“…Miss Holmes.”

After reaching Adler’s tongue and nibbling on it briefly before releasing it, Adler finally speaks in a low voice.

“What exactly are you doing?”

“Collecting genetic material.”

“You know very well that doesn’t make sense, Miss Holmes.”

For a brief moment, her gaze shifts away from Adler.

“…Do you like me?”

“……….”

Then, she stands up while ignoring Adler’s question, which in the past would have been immediately refuted.

“My logical and rational conclusion seems to be somewhat misunderstood by you.”

“……….”

“Well, think what you will.”

“Ouch.”

With a reluctant expression, Charlotte reaches out and plucks a few more strands of Adler’s hair.

– Munch munch…

She puts them all in her mouth, chewing as she starts heading toward the mansion’s front door.

“…Aren’t you going to investigate?”

Deliberately ignoring Charlotte’s strong determination for genetic combination, Adler asks, and she quietly smiles as she looks back.

“The deduction for this case is almost complete.”

“…Already?”

“What do you take me for?”

She says with a confident expression, shrugging her shoulders.

“I just need to confirm a few things. For instance, real estate information in the area, that suspicious note from earlier, and the wounds on the dead butler who should be undergoing autopsy by now.”

“………”

“If my prediction is correct, combining all those will give us the answer.”

Her tone, now back to her profession, was unwavering.

“That’s the Miss Holmes I know.”

“You flatter me.”

Adler watches her now-familiar demeanor and offers praise with a slight smile.

“…You should prepare yourself mentally.”

But when Charlotte swallows the hair she had been chewing and points to her lower abdomen, his smile quietly falters.

“Mr. Adler.”

As she’s about to leave the mansion, Charlotte suddenly stops in her tracks.

“Although I may have acted a bit to gain an advantage in this situation…”

Her voice was trembling slightly.

“You know, Mr. Adler.”

“……….”

“That such acting isn’t possible without some truth mixed in.”

A moment of silence falls between them.

“…Take care of yourself.”

With her face slightly flushed, Charlotte seems about to say something but changes her mind and starts walking.

“If you die, I’ll follow you to hell and curse you.”

Her final statement as she left the mansion quietly echoed in Adler’s ears.

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“……….”

How much time had passed since Sharlotte Holmes left the mansion?

Left alone for a while, sitting in place, I absentmindedly looked down at the handcuffs still on my arms and muttered without realizing.

“…This is driving me crazy, seriously.”

My head is a mess. I don’t know how things got to this point.

When did Charlotte start noticing my achievement system?

Could the Professor have noticed it too?

‘That’s not the issue right now.’

The fact that Charlotte has noticed my system.

Thanks to that, she’s reached a point just before crossing the line.

The Professor will naturally follow the same course.

Just listing these problems shows how serious the situation is, but there was something else I needed to focus on.

‘Solving the case comes first.’

I need to solve the immediate problem first.

‘That’s the only way I’ll survive in this situation.’

According to my reasoning, this isn’t an ordinary case.

Perhaps, though it’s just a remote possibility.

At the end of this case, I might meet the entity I’ve been desperately searching for.

And if I succeed in recruiting that entity?

‘…I’ll have to create my own organization.’

My mind starts racing.

Slowly building the Professor’s kingdom is fine, but at this rate, I won’t live out my natural life.

[Probability of imprisonment: 99.99%]

[Probability of being trained: 99.99%]

[Probability of being ??: 70%]

“…This is ridiculous.”

To escape these grotesque probabilities, I absolutely need my own personal guard that moves only for me.

And I’ve already conceptualized the foundation.

Lady Clay and Silver Blaze who are already subordinate to me. Queen of Bohemia and Colonel Rose who handle backing and funding. And even Zia Lestrade who recently became my lover.

If I utilize these people properly, I might be able to lower those grotesque probabilities at least a little.

But it’s still not enough.

To even struggle against Professor Moriarty, a crazy serial killer, and Sharlotte Holmes who has realized something, I’m still missing one puzzle piece.

I hope that puzzle piece is at the end of this case as I expect.

‘…No, it must be there.’

Knowing that there’s a 99.99 percent chance I’ll be imprisoned as soon as this case ends, I started to shiver.

“Excuse me…”

“……..?”

As I was quietly trembling, a timid voice came from beside me.

“…Your identity has been confirmed.”

The inspector who had arrested me forcefully while investigating around the mansion bowed his head with an apologetic expression.

“I’ll remove the handcuffs right away. This is so embarrassing, I don’t know what to say…”

“…It’s alright, Inspector.”

Since I was actually in the wrong, I held out my arms without much thought, and the inspector, repeatedly bowing his head, began to unlock the handcuffs.

“By the way, are you not feeling well?”

“Pardon?”

He suddenly looked me up and down and asked.

“Your face looks as pale as a corpse.”

“Ah…”

If anyone saw the probabilities floating before my eyes, wouldn’t they look similar to me?

“Well… *cough*!”

As I was trying to make up an excuse, a sudden fit of coughing erupted.

“…*cough*, *cough*.”

“Tsk tsk, young people these days.”

As I covered my mouth and continued coughing, the inspector quietly patted my back and began to mutter.

“…What’s happening to me.”

“Drink this.”

Just as I was wondering if I had become terminally ill due to my head spinning strangely, the inspector took something out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“Thank… you?”

When I unconsciously accepted it and took a sip, warmth spread throughout my body and the tingling pain began to subside.

What is this? Some kind of elixir?

“I must be going now. I need to join the little detective lady for the autopsy.”

“I… see?”

“…Well, I suppose this apology is sufficient?”

For some reason, I nodded my head, full of heat, and he placed the bottle in my hand, patted my back, and headed toward the entrance.

“Take care of yourself.”

“……..”

“…Young people shouldn’t be coughing up blood so early.”

His final remark wasn’t clearly audible.

“What is this…”

As I took another sip of the strangely effective potion, my body began to stagger.

– Creeeeak…

“What on earth…”

Just as I was about to check the label on the bottle, feeling something was seriously wrong.

“…mmph?”

That’s when someone covered my mouth with a handkerchief from behind.

“Mmmmph…”

I tried to struggle in the sudden situation, but my body had lost all strength and I couldn’t even resist properly.

“………”

As a result, I was dragged with both arms restrained into a room in a secluded part of the mansion.

– Click…!

“Haa, haa…”

“U-unnie…”

As the sound of the door locking echoed, two sisters came into my view.

“Eek…!”

“D-do we… really have to do this…?”

Before I could say anything, the older of the two sisters climbed on top of me and began to strangle me.

“Kack… urgh…”

“You said to trust you. You said you’d cover up our crime…”

Her defiant eyes were filled with anxiety and fear.

“Why does that professor know everything…?”

“Ugh…”

“Why are the police officers leaving the mansion one by one…!”

The younger sister, holding my body down and trembling, watched her sister.

“And what about that note?”

“………”

“Why didn’t you get rid of it?!”

The situation was spiraling toward catastrophe.

“You deceived us, didn’t you?”

‘Come to think of it, there was a scene like this in the original work…’

“You were deceiving us from the beginning!!”

As my consciousness grew increasingly dim, I stared blankly at the girl strangling me and shouting, then quietly shifted my gaze.

‘…Ah.’

Only then did I confirm the label on the bottle that had slipped from my hand and was rolling on the floor, and I screamed internally in my death throes.

‘…This is brandy.’

That was my last memory of that day.

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Just a few minutes later.

“………”

Professor Jane Moriarty, who had rushed into the room where the Cunningham sisters were with an urgent expression, began to wear an uncharacteristically blank expression.

“You fucking… bastard…”

“Ehehe…”

The Cunningham sisters, one with a humiliated expression and the other with an ecstatic one, were prostrating themselves at the feet of Adler, who was sitting in a chair with his chin resting on his hand.

“…Urgh.”

“My dear Professor.”

Adler, who had stepped on the head of the older sister who had cursed him with unbroken eyes, forcing her to bow her head, gently stroked the younger sister’s head and spoke.

“This is a gift for you.”

“You’re doing something interesting, Adler.”

Chilling smiles began to appear simultaneously on the lips of Adler and Professor Moriarty.