Ch.56Chapter 56 – The Mystery of Lygate (4)

“The withdrawal symptoms from magic stones have already passed.”

After completing her investigation, Sharlotte Holmes returns to Cunningham Manor.

“…Then, what am I seeing right now?”

Having just opened the front door, she stares blankly at the scene before her, then tilts her head to the side with a cold expression.

“I wonder?”

“Eek…”

Issac Adler sits improperly in an armchair in the middle of the living room, legs crossed.

At his feet, the eldest Cunningham sister lies prostrate, trembling with a humiliated expression as he steps on her back.

“Sister, are you stupid?”

Meanwhile, the younger sister sits on Adler’s knee, looking down coldly at her sister.

“You should bow your back more.”

“Hick?”

With none of her usual submissive attitude, she mercilessly steps on her sister’s back and coldly mutters.

“Mr. Adler is uncomfortable.”

Then, she carefully reclines into Adler’s arms.

“What exactly did you do while I was gone?”

“…I wonder.”

“I did tell you not to disobey my orders unreasonably.”

*Swish… swish…*

“I don’t think I ever told you to become a scoundrel who seduces young girls.”

As Adler gently strokes the head of the younger sister who looks up at him with expectant eyes, Sharlotte Holmes mutters with an incredulous expression.

“It can’t be helped.”

“…?”

Just then, a monotone voice comes from the sofa nearby.

“My assistant is currently intoxicated.”

“…Ah.”

“It seems an officer gave brandy to him, who looks quite frail.”

Professor Jane Moriarty, with fresh bite marks clearly visible on her neck, mutters this while dumping sugar into freshly brewed tea.

“By the way, what’s this about orders, Miss Holmes?”

“You’re quite good at concealing your presence.”

Sharlotte, who had been glaring at Adler with a comprehending expression, brushes off Moriarty’s sharp question and walks forward.

“Miss Holmes!”

But at that moment, Adler suddenly calls out.

“Don’t pass by the window.”

“…Why not?”

“Because it’s too bright.”

Sharlotte, who had been tilting her head with a puzzled expression, quietly frowns at Adler’s cheerful answer.

“Just explain from there.”

“…Explain what?”

Then, with a sigh, she puts down her documents on the desk.

“The truth behind the case.”

“…You smell nice, Mr. Adler.”

“Haah…”

Sharlotte briefly glares at Adler, who is smiling smugly while stroking the head of the younger sister rubbing her cheek against his chest, then speaks with a look of resignation.

“Then I’ll explain.”

“……..”

But soon her gaze sharpens as usual.

“The truth behind this case that I’ve discovered.”

Everyone in the room begins to focus on her.

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“At first, I thought the Cunningham sisters were the murderers.”

“…!”

As Sharlotte begins her deduction, the faces of the Cunningham sisters, each with different expressions, freeze.

“W-what nonsense…”

“Shut your mouth, sister.”

“…Sob.”

After confirming the sisters’ reactions, Sharlotte snorts and hands over documents from her desk.

“You were the ones who broke into old man Acton’s house, weren’t you?”

“W-what…”

“There’s no use denying it. Children who lack even the basic knowledge that land deeds wouldn’t be kept at home wouldn’t have thought to wipe their fingerprints.”

As she presents fingerprints collected from the scene, the two girls turn pale.

“I already know about the recent land ownership dispute between the Cunningham and Acton families.”

Sharlotte begins to slowly pressure them.

“You snuck in to find the land deed, came up empty-handed, and then messed up the room to disguise it as a common burglary, right?”

“That’s…”

“You returned to the mansion feeling relieved, but as luck would have it, the butler who was suspicious of you and followed you discovered your crime.”

“D-do you have any evidence?”

When the elder sister, who was being stepped on by Adler, asks this through gritted teeth, Sharlotte calmly pulls out a letter from her pocket.

“After that incident, didn’t you receive a letter like this while trembling with anxiety for days under the butler’s blackmail?”

“….Ah.”

Seeing the contents, she looks dazed.

[Come to the east gate at 1:45. I will tell you surprising information. It will likely be a good solution to the problem you’re currently facing.]

“Thinking there was only one person who would send such a threatening letter, you secretly armed yourselves and went out at the appointed time.”

“……..”

“And there, after struggling with the waiting butler, you shot him.”

After hearing Sharlotte’s deduction, she bows her head with a despairing expression.

“I didn’t mean to shoot…”

Then, she begins to sob.

“But when the butler discovered my gun and reacted so violently, asking if this was my intention from the beginning… before I knew it…”

“Wait a minute, sister.”

“…Sob.”

But the younger sister, who stops her mid-sentence by firmly stepping on her stomach, tilts her head quietly and speaks.

“Are you stupid, sister?”

“…Huh?”

“Don’t you see something strange about the letter’s content?”

At those words, the elder sister’s eyes widen.

“The letter we received said ‘surprising information for you sisters.’ But the letter she showed has ‘surprising information for you.'”

“T-then…”

“H-how is it, Mr. Adler?”

Ignoring her sister’s reaction, the younger sister looks to Adler and asks.

“You’re quite good.”

“Hehe…”

“…Tsk.”

As Adler praises the younger sister while stroking her again, Sharlotte clicks her tongue with cold eyes.

“Anyway, your reaction just confirmed it.”

She begins speaking again with gleaming eyes.

“You’re curious where this letter came from, aren’t you?”

“C-come to think of it…”

The sisters finally wonder how Sharlotte has the letter they supposedly destroyed.

“This was intact in the butler’s pocket.”

“T-that’s a lie. I definitely burned it…”

“Perhaps you couldn’t see clearly in the dark? That the butler accidentally tore off part of the letter you were holding during your struggle?”

Sharlotte asks the dumbfounded sisters with a triumphant expression, then begins pacing the living room with her hands behind her back.

“In other words, there wasn’t just one letter.”

“…What?”

“One for the butler, one for you sisters. Two letters with identical handwriting were sent to each party.”

Then silence falls.

“From the moment I realized this, I revised my deduction.”

Only Sharlotte’s confident voice echoes through the living room.

“That there was a third party involved who manipulated the situation to make it appear as if the sisters killed the butler.”

“Then perhaps…”

“Yes. There was a separate culprit who murdered the butler.”

She pushes the autopsy results across the desk.

“This is the evidence.”

The autopsy results of the butler, who died from a bullet wound to the head, pass by the sisters and Adler toward Professor Moriarty.

“Presenting autopsy records alone doesn’t constitute an explanation.”

“You already know roughly what happened just by looking at this, don’t you, Professor?”

“Still, I can’t just let it pass. Would you explain in detail?”

“…Haah.”

As Professor Moriarty demands further explanation, she begins with an annoyed expression.

“The gunshot wound to the forehead is too clean to have been caused by an accidental discharge during a struggle.”

“Couldn’t that happen by chance?”

“I’ve seen dozens to hundreds of corpses, half of which had gunshot wounds. But I’ve never seen such a clean gunshot wound.”

“The world is full of more wonders than one might think.”

For some reason, Professor Moriarty continues to challenge her deduction.

“A self-defense pistol that even young girls could easily use could never make such a wound.”

“As I’ve been saying, such things can always happen by chance…”

“I don’t know why you’re needlessly dragging this out, but there’s a decisive fact, so let’s stop.”

“…And what would that be?”

Sharlotte glares at her and snaps.

“There are no burns or wounds from gunpowder and heat at all, despite the bullet being fired at such close range.”

Professor Moriarty finally falls silent with a smile.

“That doesn’t make sense, does it?”

“Unless someone shot air itself.”

“Then perhaps a passing air-manipulating magician happened to snipe the butler at the exact moment the girl’s misfire occurred?”

“It’s slightly different, but quite similar. Did you happen to witness it?”

“I didn’t expect my joke to be taken seriously.”

The two women’s gazes cross coldly.

“The moment the bullet from the inexperienced girl’s gun went astray, a third party who had sent the letters to bring them to that place and time sniped the butler.”

“Hmm…”

“That is the truth behind this case.”

“Found it!!”

At that moment, a cheerful voice comes from the window.

“I found it!!”

The inspector, who had been searching the nearby bushes as instructed, waves his hand, all dirty, having finally found the girl’s stray bullet.

“…Well done.”

“Don’t approach the window!!”

As Sharlotte smiles with satisfaction and starts walking toward the window, Adler shrieks again.

“You’ll wear out, your face.”

“Have you been doing drugs rather than drinking?”

Sharlotte stops in her tracks, startled, and asks with an incredulous expression at Adler’s nonsensical sweet talk.

“Why would I do drugs when Miss Holmes is here?”

“…You’re strange today.”

“My assistant isn’t in his right mind today.”

After eyeing him suspiciously, Sharlotte quietly shifts her gaze to Professor Moriarty at her amused remark.

“By the way, good deduction, Miss Holmes.”

“It’s nothing.”

“But if that’s the case… who exactly is this ‘third party’?”

At Moriarty’s continued question, she smiles slightly and speaks.

“There’s only one person.”

Sharlotte’s eyes shine brilliantly as the deduction reaches its climax.

“Someone who recently put up their mansion for sale despite not being in financial difficulties.”

“The only friend who has known the elderly Acton, who doesn’t have long to live, for a long time, and who has the highest possibility of inheriting from the sentimental old man.”

“And someone who, even if they don’t inherit, could cheaply acquire the old man’s increased land using the money from selling the mansion.”

After continuing her explanation, she pauses briefly to catch her breath.

“Are you pointing to Colonel Hayter, who let you and Adler stay here, as the culprit?”

“He’s bound to benefit from this incident one way or another, so it makes sense.”

“Jumping to conclusions without evidence isn’t a good habit. Colonel Hayter, though an excellent soldier, wasn’t particularly gifted in magical aptitude.”

“I’m saying this because there’s evidence to jump to such conclusions.”

Sharlotte answers while tapping her fingers on the desk.

“And that evidence is in your possession, Professor.”

“Me?”

“The letter that Sebastian Colonel, an acquaintance of Colonel Hayter, exchanged with your sister. May I see it?”

“The letter you claimed was fabricated?”

“…I’ll admit it’s not fabricated, so please hurry.”

Hearing this, Professor Moriarty pulls out the letter from her pocket with a rather pleased expression.

“I thought so.”

Sharlotte’s lips quietly curl up as she compares the handwriting of the letter with the anonymous threatening letter.

“Look here.”

She circles parts of the letter with a pen and passes it to Professor Moriarty.

“The tails of the p’s and g’s are identical.”

“The dots on the i’s are also missing in both letters. The overall handwriting is similar too.”

“However, this is Colonel Sebastian’s letter.”

The professor, who had been staring at the letter, looks up and says.

“Sebastian Colonel, who was an acquaintance of my sister, was indeed known as a master sniper, but he is already deceased.”

“…But his child remains. It’s highly likely they were influenced by his handwriting while learning to write.”

Sharlotte then shows the final document.

“And here’s a clear record that Colonel Hayter adopted that family as guardian.”

“…Where did you get that?”

“As you know, I’m quite friendly with the British government.”

“Haha, that’s frightening.”

Hearing this, Professor Moriarty laughs and leans back on the sofa.

“Of course, it’s still just speculation.”

Sharlotte finally smiles victoriously and stands up.

“If I order the inspector to investigate Colonel Hayter, we’ll know the truth.”

She begins walking toward the window to call the inspector outside.

“The ugly truth about how he betrayed his superior who trusted him with his daughter, and how, blinded by money, he ordered her to commit this crime…”

“…Miss Holmes.”

At that moment.

“Eek?”

“I told you not to go to the window.”

Adler, who had been sitting silently in the chair until then, gently picks up Sharlotte.

“Why have you been…”

Sharlotte, blushing in his arms, tries to show an annoyed expression.

“……..”

But her eyes soon become blank and her words trail off.

“It’s dangerous.”

Adler, whose head has been pierced by something, staggers while bleeding profusely.

“…Earlier too, it was hard to make it miss.”

Sharlotte’s face turns deathly pale at his words.

“Adler…?”

But before she can catch him as he collapses, Adler begins to melt in her arms.

“…Huh?”

‘A doppelganger spell? That’s beyond human capability, Adler.’

While Sharlotte sits down, trying to gather the endlessly melting Adler with a dumbfounded expression, Professor Moriarty sits calmly on the sofa, lost in thought.

‘…I want to understand you completely.’

“Issac…?”

Of course, her inner thoughts, accompanied by her pounding heart, were anything but calm.

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“I-I failed.”

“…What?”

Meanwhile, at that time, in a grassy hill not far away.

“I-I definitely hit the target…”

“And?”

“T-the target… disappeared.”

A very young-looking girl was trembling as she made excuses to the man in front of her.

*Slap!*

The next moment, her face turns sharply.

“Does that make any sense?”

“I-I’m sorry, Colonel…”

“Shut up!”

“…Ugh.”

The cute-looking girl, sitting on the ground touching her cheek, rolls on the ground as the man kicks her in the stomach.

“Your chance ended earlier. I gave you one more opportunity out of consideration for your father, and you wasted it like this?”

“…Please forgive me.”

“You worthless worm.”

The girl’s eyes, which had been begging for forgiveness even while clutching her stomach and breathing heavily, quietly die at those words.

*Slap!*

“……..”

As if her expression was particularly displeasing, the man pushes away her hand touching her cheek and slaps her again.

“Get out of my sight and go to your storage room.”

“……..”

“You made me get blood on my hands, so starve for a while.”

Finally, as she bows her head without response, the man roughly pushes her aside and reaches for the sniper rifle he brought just in case.

*Crack…*

“…Ugh?”

In the blink of an eye, both his legs twist grotesquely.

“Aah, aaaah…..”

“I didn’t know Colonel Hayter was that kind of person.”

A blonde boy quietly passes by the colonel who has fallen face down and is struggling.

“Hello, little one.”

“…W-who are you.”

When he stops and greets her, the girl holding the sniper rifle asks with frightened eyes.

“And who might you be?”

“…Pardon?”

“Tell me your name.”

But at the warm voice flowing from his mouth, something she hadn’t heard in a very long time, the girl answers without realizing it.

“C-Celestia.”

“………”

“….Celestia Moran.”

The boy’s eyes begin to quietly shine at those words.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Moran.”

The right-hand person and closest aide to the original Professor Moriarty.

A possessor of formidable shooting skills that would make her one of the strongest players in the game despite her young age.

The girl who would grow up to become the second most dangerous person in London in the not-too-distant future.

“I apologize for being forward, but please become mine.”

“….What?”

It was the fateful first meeting between her and Issac Adler.