Ch.83Chapter 83 – The Outcome of the Bet

Several days after the incident where Caroline’s mansion was raided by numerous uninvited guests, one morning.

Near Windsor Castle, at the rendezvous point where Adler’s group had recently arrived in a secretive carriage.

“…………”

Sharlotte Holmes and Professor Moriarty had gathered there once again, glaring at each other in silence.

“Why are you looking at me so fiercely, Miss Holmes?”

“I’m just tired, which makes my eyes look sharper.”

How much time had passed like this?

“Is that how it appears to you, Professor?”

When Professor Moriarty picked up a cookie from the desk and spoke first, Sharlotte, sitting across from her, asked back in a cold voice.

“Actually, you look like a puppy trying to hold in its poop.”

“I see you’ve abandoned your manners now.”

“Were we ever on terms where we needed to be mannerly with each other?”

And so began another battle of nerves between the two.

“Isn’t that the relationship between you and me?”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but pretending we’re close gives me the creeps, so please stop.”

“My, my, Holmes.”

The professor placed a sugar cube on the cookie she was holding, put it in her mouth, and began to tilt her head side to side while chewing.

“You must have heard what Adler said back then…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. So please save your cute act for Adler, and stop moving your head like that.”

Frowning at the professor’s signature habit, Sharlotte cut her off with a resolute voice.

“This is just a habit of mine.”

“Is that my problem?”

“Can’t friends overlook each other’s little habits?”

“What did you just say?”

She tilted her head with an incredulous expression.

“I want to be friends with you, Holmes.”

“That’s the worst joke I’ve heard all year.”

“It’s not a joke.”

But as the professor continued with her peculiar smile, Sharlotte’s expression grew increasingly distorted.

“You and I are polar opposites. From my perspective, I absolutely do not want to mix with you.”

“When extremes become excessive, they eventually converge. The front and back of a coin may seem opposite at first glance, but they’re actually just parts of the same coin.”

However, the professor simply continued with a relaxed smile.

“In the end, both you and I are doing this to satisfy an unquenchable thirst. We just differ in our methods.”

“That’s a typical forced connection. Everything in this world has similarities and differences. You’re just maximizing coincidental similarities and glossing over the differences.”

“…Does it seem that way?”

“It’s something anyone could understand with a bit of logical thinking. Though the underworld forces you’ve rapidly subjugated over the past few weeks don’t seem to think so.”

After saying this, Sharlotte’s gaze grew cold as she took a moment to catch her breath.

“But not everyone in this world is a fool who falls for a few words from you. I hope you remember that and abandon your arrogance.”

“For someone saying that, several officers who caught wind of me and followed me were quickly won over.”

“…London police are indeed fools.”

But as she muttered this with an irritated face and leaned back, Professor Moriarty quietly lit up her eyes.

“Why deny the truth? The London police aren’t the only fools.”

“………”

“In a few years, London will be my playground. Do you think you alone can stop that?”

Sharlotte’s expression grew even colder at those words.

“Are you not confident? Then just become my friend. It would be quite fun.”

“No matter what happens, that’s the last thing I want.”

“You have as much potential to be a criminal as I do.”

“And you have as much potential to be a detective as I do.”

And so their conversation continued on parallel tracks.

“That’s a shame. I once dreamed of being a detective too.”

“Have you changed your strategy? From excluding me to corrupting me?”

“Think what you will.”

“How insecure must you be to change your strategy like that? If I were you, I’d be too embarrassed to even look up.”

Feeling disgusted by this fact, Sharlotte whispered with a dark expression, while the professor stared at her with her characteristic smile.

“I’m looking at a much bigger picture than you are.”

“Oh, really.”

“And at the center of it is young Adler.”

“I don’t know how long you’ll pretend to cherish him when your eyes aren’t even tinted, but…”

Mimicking her expression, Sharlotte began to smile brazenly as she crossed her arms.

“Why don’t you win the bet first before talking?”

“Don’t tell me you think you won this bet, Holmes?”

And so, their gazes began to gleam coldly.

“I won this bet.”

“How unfortunate. I thought you were upset because you lost the bet, but you were simply under the delusion that you won.”

As their gazes collided, creating a chilling atmosphere in the room despite the summer weather returning after the heavy snowfall days ago.

“Um.”

A familiar voice began to sound from behind them.

“Could you please stop fighting now?”

Issac Adler was standing behind Sharlotte and Moriarty with a bright expression.

“Shouldn’t we judge the results of the bet soon?”

As he said this while scratching his head, the two women quietly straightened their posture.

“So, who’s going to judge?”

“Good point. All three of us are parties to the bet, so a fair judgment would be impossible.”

When the professor casually posed the question, Adler answered with a smile.

“But don’t worry. There’s someone perfect for this.”

– Creeeeak…

The moment he finished speaking, the inner door slowly began to open.

“The client of this case will judge directly.”

As a veiled girl walked out from inside, a deep silence began to fill the room.

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“Should we treat you as a royal representative, or as a member of the royal family?”

When the veiled girl sat before them, Sharlotte, who had been quietly observing her, broke the silence.

“Indeed, you all have sharp instincts.”

“………..”

“Officially, right now I am merely an anonymous royal representative.”

Then, an old-fashioned voice began to sound from behind the veil.

“So please skip the courtesies and honorifics, and quickly report the results.”

“Then, I’ll start first.”

Upon hearing this, Sharlotte Holmes took something out from her bosom and placed it before the client.

“What is that?”

“A key.”

The client quietly tilted her head at those words.

“To be precise, it’s the key to the secret door disguised as a bookshelf in Caroline Augustus Milverton’s mansion study.”

“How did you find it? Our side checked several times.”

“A few days ago, I put precise magic stone powder on her hands, and traces of it were all over the bookshelf. It was probably difficult to find because the keyhole only appears when books are inserted and removed in a specific order.”

“…What was inside?”

“All the blackmail evidence she had collected so far.”

Sharlotte shrugged and said with a triumphant expression.

“I’ve moved all the documents inside to a secret location under my management. I plan to burn them all in the presence of a royal official.”

“…………”

“In other words, Caroline is completely finished. Having lost all her blackmail evidence collected throughout her life, even the possibility of her comeback has been completely eliminated.”

The client nodded quietly at those words.

“Isn’t it clear by now? Who neutralized Caroline…”

“Why are you leaving out the crucial part?”

Just as Sharlotte was wearing a triumphant expression, Professor Moriarty, who had been quietly watching her, interrupted.

“I’m talking to the client right now…”

“You never managed to secure the letter that the client’s sister… no, the poor associate wrote and sent to Miss Caroline, did you?”

Hearing this, Sharlotte quietly frowned.

“Even if she loses that one letter, Caroline isn’t neutralized. As long as she has her assets of evidence, the master of blackmail could make a comeback anytime. My victory lies in completely eliminating that possibility.”

“That’s for the client to judge, Holmes.”

The professor, looking at her with contempt, took a letter from his bosom and handed it to the client.

“This is…”

The client leaned forward to check it and muttered in a slightly surprised voice.

“I’m the one who secured the letter that caused you to request ‘neutralization.’ So naturally, it’s my victory.”

“At best, it’s half a victory. With just that, you can’t claim to have ‘neutralized’ someone who had London in her grip as much as Issac…”

“How did you find it?”

Interrupting Sharlotte’s protest, the client asked in a low voice, to which the professor answered with a smile.

“Is that really important?”

“Pardon?”

“What matters is that I got the letter, not the process or method, right?”

The client then silently stared at the professor.

“How did you get it, Professor?”

“…I threatened the thieving cat.”

In the ensuing silence, Sharlotte whispered with slight curiosity, and the professor, with gleaming eyes, answered in a whisper.

“I simultaneously attacked and imprisoned her subordinates scattered throughout London, warning that I would shoot one every hour if she didn’t send me the letter.”

“………..”

“By the time I half-killed them, the letter arrived.”

Sharlotte began to coldly glare at the professor.

“…Of course, I didn’t kill half of them, but rather half-killed the first subordinate.”

The professor lightly tapped his back and then turned his gaze back to the client.

“…Indeed, I was the one who said to use any means necessary.”

“I see we understand each other.”

At the response from behind the veil, the professor began to tap the desk with his finger, wearing a cold smile.

“Then, do you agree with my opinion that there can be no more ‘certain’ neutralization than this?”

“But something seems odd.”

However, the client’s voice began to grow slightly heavier.

“Why aren’t you mentioning the possibility of a ‘copy’ of the letter?”

“We thoroughly searched Caroline Augustus Milverton’s mansion, but no copy existed.”

“We checked ourselves, so it’s certain.”

“…What about the probability that a copy is stored somewhere other than the mansion?”

The professor and Sharlotte began to explain simultaneously, but the client continued her questioning with a cold voice.

“You know well that she doesn’t trust others. Even her servants didn’t know where the letters were kept. Yet, would she entrust copies of such vast data to someone else?”

“Then why did she disappear from the mansion a few days ago?”

“That’s…”

“Who knows if she’s hiding in a secret hideout with the copies, laughing at us right now?”

The eyes of Sharlotte and Moriarty narrowed at those words.

“That’s not all. While most of her knowledge was simple blackmail information, the leaked information this time is related to state secrets.”

“I haven’t heard about such information.”

“…It was such a significant secret that I was reluctant to talk about it.”

The client sighed, looking back and forth between them.

“If she, who remembers the information, speaks carelessly, we would still be in trouble.”

“Ah, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

As Professor Moriarty, who had been quietly watching, was about to speak with a slightly chilling smile.

“Because Caroline Augustus Milverton, on that day…”

“…I have her with me.”

Issac Adler, who had been sitting quietly until then, finally cleared his throat and spoke.

“………”

At his words, the gazes of Sharlotte and Professor Moriarty focused on him.

“Tell her to come in.”

After giving them a bright smile at their puzzled looks, Adler quietly clapped his hands to signal outside.

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– Slide…

Shortly after, the front door of the secret rendezvous point, under strict guard by soldiers, opened, and someone entered.

“………”

Their eyes widened as they instinctively turned their gaze there.

“Come here.”

A woman with dog ears and tail, her head bowed low, began to slowly move toward Adler at his call, her whole body trembling.

“…Huff, huff.”

Like a dog, she crawled on the floor, panting.

“Good.”

When she reached his feet, holding the handle of the leash attached to her neck in her mouth and kneeling docilely, Adler smiled and stroked her head.

– Swish, swish…

For a brief moment, she wore an expression steeped in shame, but then she tightly closed her eyes and began to rub her cheek against his leg.

“…Woof.”

A small but distinct dog sound escaped from her lips.

“Ta-da!”

“………”

“This is the bitch who seduced half the men in London.”

As Adler, holding the leash, looked down at her and cheerfully declared with his arms spread, the expressions of Sharlotte Holmes and the professor grew increasingly cold.

“Until a few days ago, she had the name ‘Caroline Augustus Milverton,’ but as a result of several days of education, she’s given up being human from today.”

“…Oh my.”

Unlike their expressions, the client behind the veil seemed intrigued.

– Squish…

“Eek.”

As Adler, who was smiling at her, pressed his foot firmly on the woman’s stomach, she gritted her teeth and groaned with a chilling sensation.

“……..”

Adler looked down at her coldly for a moment.

“…Grrr.”

“Now, who is the winner?”

When the woman’s groans changed appropriately, he smiled again and posed the question to the client before him.

“It seems it was just decided.”

“Surely not?”

“As one of the future leaders who will guide the British Empire, I urge you to reconsider.”

Sharlotte and Moriarty both frowned and began to glare at the client, but the conclusion had already been reached.

“This is perfect neutralization.”

“That’s crossing the line.”

“England is doomed.”