Ch.73Chapter 73 – The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (5)

The Blue Carbuncle Incident occurred a few days ago.

“…Hmm.”

As Adler came into Lestrade’s living room, rubbing his sleepy eyes, he saw Sharlotte Holmes staring blankly at the fireplace.

“Miss Holmes.”

“……….”

Though he approached and spoke to her, Sharlotte remained silent, deeply lost in thought.

“Are you going to keep ignoring me?”

Watching her rare expression that perfectly matched the original character’s description, Issac Adler felt a bit mischievous.

– Poke, poke…

He quietly extended his finger and began poking Sharlotte’s soft cheek, but she continued to stare vacantly at the fireplace.

“Sharlotte…”

Slightly sulking, Adler leaned in close to her face with his lips pursed and muttered, when suddenly—

“…mmph.”

Something soft unexpectedly entered his mouth.

“………”

Sharlotte Holmes had naturally slipped her tongue into his mouth and was now looking up at him with her head tilted.

– Slurp…

And so began a brief French kiss.

“…You didn’t need to respond like that.”

“I was organizing my thoughts.”

“Well, when you focus on something, you wouldn’t notice if someone carried you away.”

After carefully pulling away, Adler continued their conversation and then asked with curious eyes:

“So, what were you thinking about so deeply?”

“……..”

“Is it because there’s been no response to the bait we set out days ago?”

Adler carefully sat down in front of her.

“I wonder if we might fail to solve this case?”

“…That’s not it.”

Shaking her head, Sharlotte swallowed Adler’s bodily fluid that had been in her mouth and began to explain.

“I’ve already figured out everything about the case.”

“Is that so?”

“After the Blue Carbuncle disappeared from the hotel where Countess Morcar was staying, the manager who worked there suddenly vanished.”

“Oh.”

“And look at this.”

Sharlotte quietly unfolded a newspaper and pointed to an article on the front page.

“It says the manager was found tied up in her own home. In other words, the manager we’ve seen recently wasn’t the real one.”

“Hmm…”

“It’s the same case as Police Candidate Baines who was found unconscious in his home a few days ago.”

Her eyes gleamed quietly.

“This confirms everything.”

“What exactly?”

“The reason why two criminals, each disguised as Candidate Baines and the hotel manager, did this.”

As Adler tilted his head quietly, Sharlotte smiled slightly and began to explain.

“The criminal who stole the jewel from the hotel while disguised as the manager happened to run into Police Candidate Baines at that moment.”

“At that time?”

“Being as clever as I am, he probably saw through the disguise.”

She muttered, quietly tapping her finger on the desk.

“So the criminal needed to drop the jewel temporarily, and at that moment, a cart carrying ducks heading to a nearby grocery store caught the criminal’s eye.”

“Hmm….”

“They managed to throw the jewel into the cart, but what if a duck mistook it for feed and ate it?”

“………..”

“So they needed to get the duck somehow to retrieve it, but what if Candidate Baines, still suspicious, kept following them?”

Listening to her words, Adler made a slightly puzzled expression.

“This explains why the French intruders took the risk of disguising themselves as Candidate Baines and why they were after the duck.”

“…I see.”

“What’s wrong? Is there something you find unconvincing?”

Scratching his head, Adler responded to Sharlotte’s question.

“It’s just that your style is a bit different from usual.”

“In what way?”

“Well, there are too many assumptions and uncertainties in this deduction.”

His gaze sharpened slightly.

“You usually hide your deductions until the very end, only revealing your thoughts when everything is certain.”

“Why bother with such formalities between us?”

But Sharlotte simply smiled softly and countered his words.

“Still…”

“Besides, I just sent a telegram to Watson’s hospital where Candidate Baines is hospitalized to confirm the facts.”

“………”

“Since it will become fact in a few minutes anyway, does it matter?”

After looking at her for a moment, Adler smiled.

“…I suppose not.”

Then, quietly resting his chin on his hand, Adler gazed at her.

“Decisively, we have the jewel now.”

“That’s true.”

“Even if we lose the criminals, we can still claim victory by returning the jewel to Countess Morcar when she recovers from the shock of losing it.”

“…I didn’t know you were the type to accept such an unsatisfying victory.”

“Given the circumstances.”

Sharlotte looked at Adler with a slightly dark expression.

“The back alleys of London are being cleared at an unusually rapid pace.”

“………”

“Numerous organizations are disappearing or being merged somewhere, and the Werebeasts have already vanished.”

Adler’s spine began to chill as he heard those words.

“…It seems like a war is about to break out.”

And then came silence.

“I’ll try to solve that somehow, so don’t worry too much.”

“………”

“By the way, I still have one thing I’m curious about.”

Forcing a smile to reassure Sharlotte, Adler tilted his head to the side and asked:

“So what were you thinking about earlier?”

Sharlotte replied with a smile at the corner of her lips.

“I was just organizing my thoughts about the bet I had with you.”

“…Bet?”

“You said there was something wrong with my deduction.”

Adler made an interested expression upon hearing this.

“Did you figure it out? What was the problem?”

“…Of course.”

Looking at him with a triumphant smile, Sharlotte began to explain.

“It was wrong to assume that the hat owner was intelligent because of his large head, based on the hat’s volume.”

“Why is that?”

“If a large head automatically meant high intelligence, dolphins or whales would be ruling this world instead of humans.”

A pleased smile appeared on Adler’s face.

“Correct.”

“The error of phrenology has only recently become common knowledge. I had to reconsider my thoughts several times before realizing it.”

“Is that so?”

“Anyway, you need to keep your promise.”

Meeting his eyes, Sharlotte whispered in a soft voice.

“…Now that I have two wish tokens, I’m thinking of using one.”

“……….”

“So, to the bedroom…”

Just as she naturally began loosening Adler’s tie and leaning in, at that very moment—

– SLAP!!!

The same sound of a palm striking a cheek that had echoed days ago filled the living room.

“…….Huh?”

Adler had slapped her so hard that blood was already starting to flow from her nose. Sharlotte touched her reddening cheek with trembling hands.

“What are you—”

But as she was about to speak in a cold voice while glaring at Adler with icy eyes—

– SLAP!!!

“Excuse me…”

– SLAP!!!

Adler’s hand struck again, completely silencing her.

“…..Issac?”

With both cheeks now swollen red, Sharlotte stared at Adler in bewilderment.

“If you wanted to imitate Sharlotte, you shouldn’t have shown such a perfect performance.”

“What?”

“Sherlock might be different, but Sharlotte is still young and lacks common sense much more.”

Adler said with a cold smile.

“I… I studied. To win the bet…..”

“And you know what?”

Adler leaned into the face of the seemingly frightened Sharlotte and caressed her slightly roughened lips while whispering:

“…Sharlotte isn’t that good at kissing.”

“……..”

“She’s always initiating, but when it comes to the actual kiss, her awkwardness is the point.”

The fear that had settled on her face disappeared, and her eyes gradually became half-lidded.

“Does that justify hitting someone based on a guess?”

“…You like this kind of thing.”

Hearing those words, Sharlotte—

“Pfft.”

No, whoever had been imitating Sharlotte quietly began to laugh.

“Is that your preference?”

“………”

“I don’t think that’s a suitable taste for a petty thief.”

Quietly grabbing her throat with his hand, Adler began to ask in a low voice:

“Shouldn’t someone who hates being caught and beaten more than anyone else?”

“…That’s exactly it.”

The girl who had taken Sharlotte’s form answered while exhaling rough breaths as her throat was being squeezed.

“This was the first time I’ve ever been caught by anyone.”

“……….”

“And the first time in my life I’ve been hit by someone.”

Then, the girl grabbed Adler’s hands that were choking her neck with both of her hands.

“It was truly a thrilling experience, like I was about to die.”

Rather than pulling his hands away, she gripped them tighter, adding more pressure as she continued with tears in her eyes:

“To think that I, who had been freely roaming the world and toying with police from various regions, could die helplessly in such a shabby place—it made my whole body tremble with excitement.”

“…What?”

“Even being branded like livestock… and then being released like a discarded chess piece…”

As she began to convulse due to the rapidly decreasing oxygen to her brain, Adler urgently spoke with a concerned expression at her somewhat deranged look:

“Let go.”

“………”

“Hello?”

But for some reason, the golden mark engraved on her stomach remained silent.

“Ugh…”

“…How did you escape from the contract magic?”

Adler frowned slightly as he asked, and the girl began to answer in a dying voice while drooling:

“I’m under… an interesting curse…”

“…Curse.”

Just as Adler’s expression became serious at the mention of “curse” again—

– Hisssss…!

“…Kuk?”

A mysterious spray began to discharge from between the girl’s clothes as she lifted her leg with all her might.

“Ugh… Kheuk…”

Adler hurriedly removed his hands from the girl’s neck and covered his nose and mouth, but it was already too late.

“Unlike last time, this spray has garlic juice mixed in instead of alcohol.”

“Urgh…”

“It’s practically a specific remedy for vampires.”

The girl carefully caressed the red handprints on her neck and began searching through the pockets of Adler, who had fallen to his knees before her and was breathing heavily.

“…Found it.”

She then took out a small box from his pocket and quietly gleamed her eyes.

“I was worried because I couldn’t find it anywhere in the house, but you had it all along.”

“Ugh…”

“I’m truly sorry, but I really need this.”

The girl, who carefully tucked it between her breasts, began to stroke Adler’s chin.

“It was quite fun, this battle of wits with you. It was more evenly matched than with the obsessive Miss Ganimar.”

“………”

“Though it’s a shame to end it this way, it’s time for us to part.”

And the next moment—

– Thud…!

“…Kuk.”

The girl quietly drove her fist into Adler’s stomach.

“…Being deprived of freedom and helplessly trampled was seriously amazing.”

The girl began to whisper in Adler’s ear using her own voice for the first time, as he lowered his head and trembled slightly.

“But I can’t just be on the receiving end.”

“……….”

“I have a personality where I need to return exactly what I’ve received.”

The girl who had punched Adler’s stomach quietly extended her fingers and gently rubbed his lower abdomen.

– Thud…!

“…Ugh.”

But at that moment, Adler used his last strength to drive his fist into the girl’s stomach.

– Shudder…

“Stop hitting me already…”

The girl, who momentarily lost strength and embraced him while trembling, bit her lip and muttered:

“Strangely, every time you hit me, my desire to be dominated rises.”

“……….”

“If you continue, I might kidnap you and make you my master without even realizing it.”

After finishing those contradictory words that sent chills down his spine, the girl quietly rose from her seat.

“…Before saying goodbye, there’s one thing I want to tell you.”

As she was walking towards the entrance, she suddenly stopped, turned around, and added:

“That was my first kiss.”

“…What?”

“I don’t know what it means to be good at it.”

After leaving those somehow shy words, she had vanished without a trace.

“…………”

And so began the silence.

“…Brother Adler!”

In that silence, the voice of the younger sister who had been hiding in the room echoed.

“Sister Holmes is coming back from the hospital now?”

“…I don’t understand.”

But ignoring her voice for a moment, Adler muttered in a voice of enlightenment:

“Why is the character I chased away to DLC with gritted teeth tormenting me in the main story?”

Before Adler’s eyes, a system message appeared for the first time in a long while.

[Arsène Lupin %% you!]

“…Is this an update too?”

.

.

.

.

.

[This is a gift for you.]

“……..”

Meanwhile, at that time.

[I already took ownership of the jewel from Countess Morcar. The countess valued my one-week rental rights more than that jewel.]

The girl walking not far from Lestrade’s house was blankly staring at the letter and jewel that came out of the opened box.

[I’m sorry, Miss Thief.]

“…Ha.”

After reading the letter, she began to laugh hollowly.

“From beginning to end, I was completely played.”

The girl, who had somehow returned to her mysterious appearance with a monocle and cape, bit her lip and continued walking.

“…I can’t live with just being on the receiving end.”

Just as her gaze was about to become slightly chilling—

– Bump…!

“Oof.”

She collided rather hard with a passerby.

“…Ugh.”

As her lower abdomen began to glow golden and resonate on its own, she sat down with a tearful expression and began to mutter:

“I’ve become conditioned after all…”

– Shudder…

“…I still want to have it.”

Eventually, she rose from her seat with a quite tired face.

“…Huh.”

It was at that moment that she realized the change that had happened to her.

“Oh.”

Instead of the jewel and letter that had been in her grasp just moments ago, a card was now in the girl’s hand.

“This is…”

The identity of the card was none other than the 16th tarot card, “The Tower.”

– Leave London.

“……….”

After confirming the simple and clear message written on the front of the card—considered the most ominous among tarot cards—she quietly looked back.

– Step, step…

A woman in professor’s attire was walking down the middle of the snowy street, her gray long hair fluttering.

“Is this not London but some otherworldly realm?”

After blankly staring at her back, the girl let out another hollow laugh as she detected the gazes and killing intent densely surrounding her.

“…This makes me want it even more.”

It was the moment when the world’s greatest thief decided on her next target.

[Erosion Rate: 20% -> 25%]