Ch.7Chapter 7 – A Scandal in Bohemia (4)

“Hello.”

“…..?”

The queen, who had been waiting anxiously for Holmes and Watson, tilted her head at the voice coming from beside her and turned around.

“You, you are…!”

And her eyes widened immediately.

“Should I say it’s been a while?”

As the nurse in front of her removed her uniform and brushed back her hair, a figure that was terrifyingly familiar to the queen appeared.

“A-Issac.”

Issac Adler. The boy who had left too deep a mark on the queen to be dismissed as mere childhood mischief was standing before her.

“H-how did you get here…”

“I shook off Holmes and her assistant. I wanted to talk with you alone.”

Adler, who had been briefly touching his ear as if something was stuck in it, sat down across from the queen.

“…What?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

Adler’s cold gaze pierced through the queen.

“In the end, Your Majesty continues to disappoint me.”

The queen looked at Adler with a terrified expression at those words.

“Why are you doing this?”

She asked, her hands trembling.

“Why put me through such trials?”

Her usual dignity and grace were nowhere to be found.

“Why inflict such unbearable pain…”

There was only a naive young woman in her early twenties who had fallen into a trap meticulously set by the man before her.

“…It’s simple.”

If Adler had shown even the slightest mockery or aggression, the Kingdom of Bohemia would likely have lost its queen.

“I was jealous.”

But for some reason, unlike his usual wicked demeanor, the boy who was calmly glancing out the window made such an unexpected statement.

“…What?”

The queen tilted her head with tears welling in her eyes.

“I wanted to stop Your Majesty’s marriage.”

“What does that mean…”

“As Your Majesty knows, I’ve experienced many women.”

Adler began speaking while gazing steadily at the queen.

“But the only person I’ve ever truly loved was you alone.”

“Lies!”

“It’s not a lie, Your Majesty.”

Adler then pulled something out from his pocket.

“That’s why when I heard that Your Majesty was to marry the second son of the King of Scandinavia, I was devastated.”

“…….”

“Thinking about what would happen if you married that old man who is 30 years older than Your Majesty, I felt I had to do something.”

“I-it’s for the national interest. What would you know…”

The queen muttered, absentmindedly accepting and skimming through the documents Adler handed her, before suddenly freezing.

“What is all this?”

“Evidence of the Scandinavian prince’s misdeeds, which I obtained with great difficulty.”

The queen examined the documents with disbelief.

“According to those papers, the prince uses drugs in bed.”

“F-forgery. You think I would be swayed by such falsified evidence…”

“The fact that he has been divorced three times, with the reason being his spouse’s drug addiction, has already been published in newspapers.”

Her gaze began to waver slowly.

“If you say it’s forged, I have nothing more to say. But did you really want to marry that old man who is 30 years your senior in the first place?”

“National interest…”

“I’m not asking about national interest, but what Your Majesty wants.”

When the queen couldn’t answer for a long time after hearing those words, Adler let out a deep sigh.

“Well, it seems my role ends here.”

“…….”

“And so does the blackmail.”

“…What?”

Suddenly, Adler took out a familiar photograph from his pocket and placed it on the desk.

“Ugh.”

When she saw the photo of herself naked on all fours like a dog, the queen hastily grabbed it and clutched it to her chest.

“Now that I’ve handed over the evidence, there’s no need for further blackmail.”

“You…..”

“Do what you will with breaking off the engagement, but please look at this.”

Adler said with a subtle smile, pulling something else out from his pocket.

“That’s…”

A slave contract that she had written years ago while giggling in Adler’s arms during her more foolish days was placed on the table.

“Your Majesty, would you be so kind as to sign this contract?”

“Y-you can’t be serious.”

“It’s my last wish in life, Your Majesty.”

The queen, who had been serious until then, looked puzzled at his words.

“As you know, I’ve made many enemies while gathering evidence to protect Your Majesty, and now my life is in danger.”

“I-is that true?”

“I don’t think I’ll last long even if I go to Auguste Academy. So, before it’s too late, I’d like to receive one last gift from the only person I’ve ever loved.”

The queen’s gaze wavered once more upon hearing his statement.

“…Since signatures can be easily forged, surely you can do this much for me.”

The burns covering Adler’s body were finally becoming apparent to the queen.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t.”

“………”

“Even without it, the fact that Lilia loved me will remain in this world forever.”

But as the queen still hesitated, Adler rose from his seat with a bitter smile and whispered in a sorrowful voice.

“That’s enough for me.”

“W-wait…”

“If only there hadn’t been such a difference in our status, I would have wanted to spend my life with you.”

And then Adler quietly began to leave.

“W-wait!”

The queen’s urgent voice echoed through the lobby at that moment.

“Wait a moment, Issac!”

Adler paused briefly at her voice and turned around to see the queen looking at him with guilt-ridden eyes.

“I have something for you.”

She took out a pen from her pocket and began signing the contract.

“…I will break off the engagement with that prince.”

After inscribing her name on the slave contract they had once created as a joke, she handed it to Adler who had approached her, and whispered.

“Issac. How wonderful it would have been if we were of the same status.”

“………”

“But as the ruler of a nation, this is all I can give you.”

As Adler accepted the contract, the queen hesitantly embraced him.

“Issac. Although this document is merely a formality, I…”

Just as she was about to murmur something with her eyes closed.

“Get down.”

Adler whispered a command into her ear in a low voice.

“…Ugh!?”

Feeling a chilling sensation throughout her body upon hearing those words, the queen staggered and found herself lying on her stomach at Adler’s feet without realizing it.

“W-what have you done?”

“It’s simple. I placed a spell on the contract.”

“What does that…”

“Because people’s hearts can change at any time.”

The queen, shivering as the cold floor touched her stomach, opened her eyes wide at his words.

“In this dangerous world where even one of Europe’s few magicians gets attacked in broad daylight, one should have at least one reliable means of self-defense, don’t you think?”

Adler’s seal engraved on her lower abdomen was glowing, illuminating the hospital floor.

“Please forgive my rudeness.”

The queen, who had been staring blankly at the scene, began to laugh softly as Adler started stroking her head.

“Ha, haha.”

There was no point in having escaped from him after all.

Rather, the situation had become more serious than before, as she, who should have all of Bohemia at her feet, had now become Issac’s slave forever.

“Hahahaha…”

But now she didn’t care anymore.

As the guilt of not being able to give him anything but this meaningless contract disappeared, her face was flushed and her heart was beating rapidly for some reason.

‘No matter which prince I marry, my child will have blonde hair.’

It was the moment when Bohemia’s sun completely collapsed.

.

.

.

.

.

[To Miss Sharlotte Holmes.]

[From the moment you threw yourself into danger disguised as a young nun to save me, I had somewhat suspected that you were Miss Sharlotte Holmes.

After all, no one would save someone like me, London’s worst scoundrel, and I had been warned several times to beware of London’s genius girl.

So when I woke up in the hospital at dawn, I decided to confirm this fact with my own eyes.

It was easy to secretly obtain a nurse’s uniform.

Lengthening and shortening my hair was also child’s play for a mana user like me.

When I snuck down to the hospital lobby at dawn disguised as a nurse, I saw a girl sitting on a sofa, nodding off with sleepy eyes.

Having confirmed with my own eyes that I was being pursued by London’s most capable detective, I thought there was no hope left.

Therefore, I will now be moving my residence to the dormitory of Auguste Detective Academy.

Even London’s genius girl Sharlotte Holmes won’t be able to enter Auguste Academy without mana.

Instead, I will hand over the photograph, which was our target, to my client before leaving this hospital.

In fact, I will be using an even more certain method.

But now it will be used for self-defense by mutual agreement, not for blackmail.

Since I’m being targeted by London’s greatest detective, I shouldn’t cross the line any further, right?

Well then, have a good day, Miss Holmes.]

Holmes, who had read and reread Adler’s letter several times, closed her eyes tightly and put it down on the table.

“He truly is a remarkable man, isn’t he?”

Beside her, the queen continued to chatter with a flush still on her face.

“If only our statuses had been the same, I would have kept him by my side somehow…”

“In my opinion, Mr. Adler seems to be of a very different class from Your Majesty.”

“Right? You see it too?”

Holmes spoke sarcastically, but the queen only agreed with her.

She looked just like a teenage girl in love.

“I wonder what conversation she had with Adler to make her like this.”

“…Sometimes it’s better not to know, Watson.”

Holmes quietly answered Watson’s muttered question, then slightly bowed her head to the queen and said.

“I deeply apologize for not being able to satisfactorily resolve the matter you entrusted to me.”

“Not at all. You did your best.”

But the queen shook her head and instead encouraged Holmes.

“So, what would you like as compensation?”

“…Compensation? I hadn’t thought I deserved any.”

“You worked your hardest for me. And it’s also a fee for keeping this matter confidential. Please don’t hesitate to tell me.”

As she smiled kindly and said this, Holmes quietly fell into thought.

‘I don’t understand.’

According to the letter, Issac Adler had noticed her identity from the beginning.

A detective hired by the queen who was constantly threatening his lifeline.

A threatening presence that forced him to relocate to Auguste Detective Academy.

To him, she must have been a very uncomfortable existence that needed to be eliminated somehow.

‘Why didn’t he abandon me then and save me instead?’

But why on earth did he risk his life to save her?

According to the servants, the path to her room was particularly treacherous.

So much so that servants who came to rescue her in her room turned back and gave up.

But Issac Adler endured the flames for a full 10 minutes to save her.

And he was the first to do so, excluding the servants who escaped the mansion on their own with Adler’s help.

Unless Holmes herself was Adler’s most valuable possession, it was an inexplicable act.

‘I don’t know.’

It was a first in her life.

Before her, who had always regarded everything that happened in the world as mere puzzles to pass the time, an unsolvable puzzle had appeared.

“If you can’t decide, how about this ring I’m wearing? This ring…”

“Your Majesty possesses something more valuable than that ring.”

Holmes, who had been deeply pondering this unsolvable problem for a long time, finally spoke.

“…What is that?”

“The photograph that was our target.”

“What?”

She suddenly began to request the photograph as compensation for the case.

“A-are you in your right mind? This is obviously not possible.”

“Didn’t you say you could give even half of your kingdom?”

“This is mine.”

But of course, the queen refused vehemently.

“Is it because you’re in it?”

“O-of course. Even for someone like you, that’s a bit…”

“Then this should work.”

“…Ah?”

Before the queen could stop her, Holmes snatched the photograph from her hands and quickly tore it in half.

“I don’t need this part.”

And then she handed back the portion showing the queen on all fours to her.

“This should solve the problem.”

“D-do you want his picture? May I ask why…”

“Watson’s hobby is to write about our cases and publish them as novels, Your Majesty.”

“…Ah, I see.”

The queen, who had been eyeing her with a slightly wary look, cleared her throat and stood up at Holmes’s meaningful words.

“If that’s what you really want…”

“And I have one personal request.”

“…A personal request?”

At the same time, Holmes also stood up and added.

“Could you write me a letter of recommendation for Auguste Detective Academy?”

“What are you saying, Holmes?”

Watson, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, asked Holmes with wide eyes.

“Just a few months ago you were harshly criticizing them as people not worth associating with, so why do you suddenly want to go there?”

Holmes, who had been fixing her gaze on the photograph in her hand until then, answered in a low voice.

“The puzzle I need to solve has fled there.”

In her deep gray eyes was reflected the image of Issac Adler from the photograph, looking down from the window.