Ch.78Chapter 78 – Caroline Augustus Milverton (2)

“Long time no see, Holmes?”

“Watson.”

A few days after Adler informed the two women about the subject of the bet.

“What brings you here?”

Watson, returning to the boarding house after finishing her hospital rounds, spots Sharlotte sitting in an armchair smoking a cigarette and asks with wide eyes.

“I may be out and about a lot these days, but this is still my home.”

“Really? I thought you’d already set up house with Adler.”

“………”

“I was even a little jealous, thinking you might get married before me.”

After saying this, Watson smiles and hangs her coat on the rack, while Sharlotte stares at her intently.

“…How are things going with Neville?”

“Not well.”

At her question, Watson quietly grimaces.

“We’re engaged, but he’s been too cautious, so I tried to just pounce on him a few days ago. But something urgent came up and our date was canceled.”

“Ah…”

“It’s disappointing, but what can you do? I’ll have to aim for the next date.”

Looking at her, Sharlotte smiles quietly.

“So, what brings our Holmes home?”

“I have a visitor coming.”

“…Perhaps a case?”

Watson’s face brightens at those words, having looked slightly gloomy before.

“Something like that. It’s essentially a case request.”

“That’s good news. I’ve been having quite a boring time lately.”

“To be precise, I’m currently in a no-compromise bet over the ownership of Issac Adler.”

“…What?”

But soon she makes a slightly incredulous expression.

“Whoever most effectively neutralizes the person who will knock on our door in a few minutes wins among the three of us.”

“Three of us? Neutralize? Winner?”

“If I win, Adler becomes my assistant, and if the professor wins, he becomes her assistant.”

Ignoring Watson’s expression, Sharlotte rests her chin on her hands with a serious look.

“And if Issac Adler wins…”

Just as her eyes began to quietly gleam—

– Knock, knock, knock…

The sound of knocking began to echo through the boarding house door.

“…Let’s talk about this later.”

“Hey, wait.”

As Holmes immediately stood up and headed for the door, Watson narrowed her eyes and asked a question.

“I’d like to know what kind of person is coming.”

At that, Sharlotte, who was about to grab the doorknob, turned her head slightly and whispered.

“…Female Adler.”

“I understand immediately.”

Watson nodded with an expression of instant comprehension at that concise answer, and Sharlotte nodded back before turning the doorknob.

“Welcome…..”

But as soon as she opened the door, the stench that began to seep in from outside made her stop speaking, cover her nose, and step back before opening her eyes wide.

“…come in?”

For some reason, looking like a drowned rat, dripping muddy water from her entire body, yet still retaining her innate beauty, stood a woman with a dark expression.

“Um, are you really alright… miss…”

And beside her, appearing to be her servant, a maid holding a crumpled note and blushing slightly.

“………..”

These two visitors stood before Sharlotte, who wore a blank expression.

“…Please come in.”

“…Yes.”

“No, please go wash up first.”

After staring at the two for a long time, Sharlotte frowned slightly and stepped back, at which point the dark-faced woman’s hands began to tremble.

‘…That little boy has the nerve.’

At the same time, she began to recall what had just happened.

‘How dare he humiliate me like this…’

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Several dozen minutes before the soaked visitor arrived at the Baker Street boarding house.

“I’ve always thought, aren’t little boys just adorable?”

“…Pardon?”

A woman was walking through the streets of London, accompanied by a rather taciturn-looking maid.

“Just give them a little eye-smile at parties, occasionally praise them and pat their heads, and they go crazy following you around.”

“Hmm…”

“Leave them be for a while and they’ll fantasize on their own, offering this and that, and if you leave them a bit longer, they’ll give you their liver and gallbladder too.”

The identity of the woman speaking with a slightly arrogant voice was none other than Caroline Augustus Milverton.

“Among those, there are countless letters written with such earnestness.”

“……..”

“I wonder what they plan to do when they reach marriageable age, sending such letters without a second thought.”

Tall stature, mature appearance and figure, and a beautiful smile that could captivate anyone. The maid beside her quietly tilted her head at the contented murmuring of this woman who possessed all the elements necessary for a beauty.

“I thought you disliked men, miss.”

“It’s not just dislike, it’s loathing. If you were to name the person who hates men the most in London, the self-proclaimed genius girl we’re going to meet and I would be neck and neck.”

“Then why little boys…?”

“My, you don’t understand.”

When the maid tilted her head and asked, Caroline quietly covered her mouth and answered.

“Men and little boys are completely different creatures.”

“What?”

“Little boys are still cute and pure. When you hold them in your arms, they smile broadly, and you have no idea how angelic that is.”

“………..”

The maid looked at her mistress with an expression of incomprehension.

“So that’s your preference?”

“Not quite a preference. More like a personal taste.”

“So that’s why you’re targeting Issac Adler this time.”

At those words, Caroline quietly took out a photograph from her bosom.

“Issac Adler. He’s practically the ultimate among London’s little boys.”

“That’s true. Isn’t there a saying? If half of London’s men belong to you, then half of the women…”

“I’ve heard that joke so many times I’m sick of it.”

Caroline’s eyes, which had cut off the maid’s words with a dignified voice, reflected the image of Issac Adler in the photograph.

“His age is slightly borderline, but his appearance makes him look several years younger. And since he worked as a child actor for a long time, his image is firmly established as youthful.”

“He’s shorter than you too, miss.”

“Yes, he’s truly the perfect child…”

Caroline’s eyes were sparkling.

“Should I leave such a child and meet that old Winston Earl?”

“But I’m worried, mistress.”

“Why?”

“That person is quite capable of harming you. He’s not someone who considers consequences.”

After looking at her quietly for a while, the maid began speaking with a cold expression.

“If you continue acting like this, it’s dangerous. I’ve noticed the eyes watching you have doubled and redoubled recently.”

“That’s why I bring you along, isn’t it?”

Caroline answered with a relaxed expression to her maid’s advice.

“Who would guess that one of the strongest assassins known in London’s back alleys, almost like a supernatural being, is pretending to be a maid in a maid’s uniform?”

“………”

“If only you’d fix that cold and taciturn expression and personality, you’d be perfect.”

“…Honestly speaking, just wearing this maid uniform is already my limit.”

Caroline let out a soft laugh at her maid’s complaint, which was accompanied by a tired look.

“By the way, it’s starting to come into view…”

Her gaze was directed toward the most famous boarding house in Baker Street, when suddenly—

– Screeeech…!!!

“Eek?”

A carriage drawn by an extremely excited horse suddenly appeared from between the alleys and charged at Caroline who was walking on the street.

“Danger, miss!”

The maid, who had clearly been on high alert yet somehow failed to notice the appearance of the large carriage, raised her voice in panic.

“………”

But Caroline, momentarily frozen, couldn’t move out of the way and blankly watched the carriage bearing down on her.

“…..Ah.”

Then her eyes caught sight of a boy running urgently toward her from across the street.

“…Hehe.”

Coincidence or fate?

‘This is… quite surprising.’

Caroline began to smile faintly as she realized that the boy looked exactly like the person she had just been looking at in the photograph.

‘…This play might be a bit fun.’

Muttering this to herself, she extended her hand toward Issac Adler, who had already reached her and was stretching out his own hand.

– Slap…!

“…….?”

But when Issac Adler, far from taking her outstretched hand, knocked it away with a crisp snap, her eyes immediately went blank.

– CRASH!!!

The next moment, hit head-on by the carriage traveling at a terrifying speed, she was lifted into the air with her waist bent.

“Kuhek… Eck… Uegh…”

As Caroline’s body, now fallen to the ground, bounced heavily three times, each time a single scream escaped from her mouth.

– Splash…!

After rolling around for quite some time, she ended up face-first in a dirty puddle that had formed at the end of the street due to the recent heavy snowfall.

“………..”

And then came the silence.

“…You should be careful.”

“Huh?”

In the silence, Issac Adler, who had picked up the maid who had been right next to Caroline in a princess carry, whispered to her in a gentle voice as she looked completely flustered.

“That was a close call.”

“Um, excuse me…..”

“Miss.”

The maid’s perpetually taciturn face turned bright red for the first time in her life upon hearing those words.

“Miss.”

“What? I mean, yes?”

After gently setting her down by the waist, Adler narrowed his eyes and leaned in, causing the maid to become completely flustered and start rambling.

“Now that I look at you, you’re really cute.”

“…Me?”

“I fell for you at first sight.”

The maid, who had been avoiding his gaze while touching the scar near her eye, was left speechless by Adler’s melting voice.

“This is my contact information.”

“……….”

“Would you like to have dinner with me sometime?”

Adler handed her a note with his contact information with a shy expression.

“…Uh, uuh.”

The maid, whose face and now even ears had turned bright red, was making small moaning sounds as she reached out her hand, when—

“Thank you for giving us your contact information.”

“……..!”

Caroline, dripping with sewage water, appeared beside them with a dark smile.

“Oh, miss. Are you alright…”

“That action earlier, you were casting a protection spell on me, weren’t you?”

Caroline, who had finally come to her senses and raised her hand to her bowing maid, spoke to Adler in front of her with a relaxed smile.

“Saving both me and my servant. How very admirable.”

“……….”

“I’d like to give you a small reward, if you could give me that contact information…”

But for some reason, Adler stepped back, avoiding her outstretched hand.

“…You smell.”

“Pardon?”

As he looked at her with slightly contemptuous eyes and spoke, Caroline doubted her own ears and listened again.

“You smell, ma’am.”

But at Adler’s cold voice that followed, her mind began to turn completely white.

“Please move aside.”

“…Ma’am?”

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“Operation failed.”

Meanwhile, at that time.

“The plan itself was perfect, but I didn’t expect Issac Adler to intervene so boldly.”

“……….”

“Well, since Adler himself is participating in that bet you mentioned, it’s a natural strategy for him to interfere with our operation.”

Lady Joanne Clay was quietly observing the scene from the rooftop of a nearby building.

“…Should I just snipe her?”

“No, Adler said it himself. ‘Killing’ is excluded from neutralization.”

“Ow.”

“So, what are we going to do now?”

After giving Moran, who had muttered expressionlessly beside her, a light tap on the head, she asked the woman standing behind her in a voice mixed with a sigh.

“As long as Adler interferes, it won’t be easy to disable the target…”

“……..”

But for some reason, Professor Jane Moriarty ignored her words and just kept looking down quietly.

“…Do you have knowledge about cosmetics?”

“Huh? Suddenly?”

“Answer with yes or no.”

“…Look, I was a lady, you know? If I had to say, I’m at an expert level.”

At her out-of-nowhere question, Lady Clay answered with a puzzled expression.

“Then, do you know makeup techniques that make one look younger?”

“…What?”

Then, Professor Moriarty’s low voice reached her ear.

“Makeup techniques that would make one still look like they’re in their twenties even years from now.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Does it look like I’m joking?”

“Hello?”

Lady Clay tried to smile and say so, but the professor just muttered with slightly reddened cheeks.

“…Is there no makeup technique that would make one look like a teenager?”

“……….”

Sweat began to pour down the forehead of the lady who had understood what cosmic horror was even before Lovecraft’s novels made the world buzz about it.