Ch.88Chapter 88 – Desperate Situation

“…Huh.”

When I open my eyes, the now-familiar hospital ceiling comes into view.

“Mmm…”

As I blink dazedly and trace back my last memories, vague recollections of blood soaking my entire body and Zia Lestrade’s warm temperature come to mind.

‘Did I lose consciousness in Lestrade’s arms because of anemia…?’

Having roughly figured out why I was brought to the hospital this time, I quietly tried to sit up, but for some reason, my body wouldn’t listen.

“Hmph, no matter how hard you try.”

“…?”

“It’ll take at least two more days before you can control that battered body again.”

While I was wearing a puzzled expression, a familiar voice suddenly came from beside me.

“Lady Clay?”

“Why are you looking at me with such surprised eyes? How annoying.”

Lady Joanne Clay was sitting next to me, remarkably in human form.

“Why aren’t you back in your cat doll form, and what are you doing here?”

“Ungrateful brat. I’m the one who’s been nursing you at your bedside all this time. Such an irritating fellow…”

When I tilted my head and asked her a question, the lady frowned deeply and began to mutter.

“…Oh, um.”

Looking at the wet towel in her hand and her chapped hands, her statement surprisingly seemed to be true.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“………”

“If you were to die, my position as someone under your command would become difficult, so I had no choice. So wipe that smile off your face before I gouge your eyeballs out.”

After looking at her with renewed appreciation, I gave her a bright smile, which was immediately met with an intense reaction.

“…Yes.”

“Annoying fellow.”

“Pfft.”

The lady muttered and threw the towel she was holding at my face, adding in a low voice.

“…Try not to get beaten up so much.”

I wanted to remove the towel covering my face right away to check her expression, but I refrained, fearing she might actually gouge out my eyes.

“If you have a subordinate like me, you should keep me by your side, why suddenly send me on reconnaissance…”

Anyway, what a tsundere vampire lady.

“You should have shown that annoying smile to that little Moran kid earlier, not me.”

“What?”

“When I came back from reconnaissance, you were in a near-death state hovering between life and death, and she spent the night crying pitifully.”

As I was quietly smiling at the lady, I couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat and ask a question after hearing that.

“Where is she now?”

“Probably out there with that horse guy who’s gone mad, mobilizing werebeasts to comb through the back alleys like they’re picking lice, saying they’ll avenge their master and then die themselves.”

“Ah…”

For some reason, I feel karma accumulating in real-time, making my whole body shudder.

If those two who are especially loyal to me go completely insane, there would truly be no solution.

“I’ll explain things to them later.”

“…Thank you.”

“Hmph.”

As my complexion darkened without me realizing it, she glanced at me and quietly muttered before turning her head away sharply.

“…By the way, were they the only ones who came to see me?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

As I was mentally raising her likability score by a few more steps, I suddenly became curious and asked a question, to which she responded with an incredulous expression.

“Over the past few days, more than dozens of people have come to visit you.”

“…What?”

“And that’s excluding the people I know who were watching while I was transformed into a cat.”

Then she paused for a moment and began to take a deep breath.

“That annoying detective nursed you all day yesterday with Lestrade before leaving with her head bowed due to a case, and her assistant snuck into the room like a stray cat, typed on a typewriter a few times, then left with a puzzled look.”

“Ah…”

“Besides them, there was an unidentified woman who clearly came from Bohemia, and somehow the Romanian traitors who are still running rampant in London, Microny Holmes’s hounds and Lestrade’s younger sister, and even Colonel Rose, the back-alley power broker you once owed a favor to…”

“……….”

The cold sweat on my forehead increased as she began to list visitors whose identities I could roughly guess.

“For reference, I’m not even counting the silhouette that appeared briefly at the window in the late dawn wearing a silk hat and monocle before disappearing, the ladies of London who once trembled before me, and your ex-girlfriends who came with knives hidden in their bosoms and dead eyes before being chased away.”

“…I’m scared, Lady Clay.”

“The truly frightening one is you, who made all their eyes go crazy.”

As I gave her a slightly trembling smile, she responded with a cold gaze.

“What’s wrong? Are you just now realizing it’s too much to handle?”

“…It’s still within acceptable limits.”

“You’re insane.”

She shook her head at my honest answer and muttered in a low voice.

“…You should have just served me and conquered the world together back then, it would have been easier.”

“……..”

“If you ever want to change your mind, you’re welcome anytime. I always have an escape route to America prepared…”

Then she leaned toward me with a deliberately cold smile.

“How about it? Just running away like this and conquering the world with me…”

“…You worked hard, so I’ll give you a reward.”

“Tch.”

To be honest, it was the moment when my heart wavered the most since coming to this world, but I tried not to show it and answered, causing disappointment to color her eyes.

“Here, drink my blood.”

As I quietly pulled down my upper clothes to expose my neck to her, the lady’s eyes unconsciously glowed red as she began to bury her face.

“…Never mind.”

“What?”

“I’m not interested in the nutritionally deficient blood of someone who collapsed from anemia.”

But just before her teeth could sink into my neck, the lady suddenly stood up and began walking toward the corner of the room, muttering in a low voice.

“I’ll eat when you become more delicious, you fool.”

“But you must be low on energy after being in human form for days.”

“…That’s none of your business anyway.”

Eventually, she picked up the cat doll that was lying on the floor.

“I’ll have to stay in this wretched form for a while…”

“You didn’t happen to share with me the blood you’d been digesting from feeding, did you?”

“Shut up.”

As I watched her with a tilted head, somehow avoiding facing me, I scratched my head and asked her about something that suddenly came to mind.

“By the way. Were those all the people you knew among the visitors?”

“…Why do you ask now?”

“Um… Did the professor… not come?”

She turned her head to glance at me with a smirk.

“You mean your academic advisor who seems to be going senile these days?”

“That’s a bit harsh.”

When I bristled slightly at her comment, she looked at me with an interested expression and asked.

“…Aren’t you afraid of her?”

“Why would our cute Professor Moriarty be scary?”

“Because you haven’t heard what she’s been asking women my age lately.”

“You’re saying things you wouldn’t dare say if the professor were here. As a fellow woman, you should respect her privacy.”

“What are you talking about? She hasn’t left your side for a moment since entering the hospital room.”

“What?”

As she quietly pointed to my side, I strained to lift my head to check, and finally realized why my body felt so heavy.

“Ah…”

“She’s been sitting by your side without sleep for days, and just fell asleep a moment ago.”

Professor Moriarty had been leaning over the bed with her head bowed, placing her hand on my stomach and activating a binding spell.

“……….”

“Oh.”

And contrary to Lady Clay’s words, she was already wide awake, staring at me with round, gray eyes.

“…Really, what a strange woman.”

As Clay’s muttering echoed through the room as she prepared to possess the cat, did the professor’s gaze turn slightly colder, or was it my imagination?

“Well, recently she asked me about makeup techniques to look younger…”

“Whatever it is, I think you should stop now.”

“Hmm?”

“I’d rather not lose a reliable subordinate like this.”

“Hmph, what nonsense are you suddenly spouting…”

The professor’s cold gaze remained fixed until Clay, who had become red smoke and possessed the cat, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

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“Adler.”

“…Professor.”

How much time had passed since then?

“I currently have two concerns.”

“…Is that so?”

After staring at Adler’s pupils for quite some time, Professor Moriarty quietly opened her mouth, and Adler, barely able to lift his head, responded with cold sweat.

“That’s interesting. But I’m feeling a bit sleepy right now…”

“First, lately people around me keep attacking me by making fun of my age.”

But ignoring his comment, the professor continued.

“It’s truly strange. I’m in my 20s. Not even late 20s, but exactly the average marriageable age for English women.”

“……….”

“That means there’s absolutely no reason to be teased about my age. Rather, these ignorant youngsters…”

“…Did you put on makeup?”

Adler, who had been staring at her blankly, quietly tilted his head and asked.

“So that’s why you’ve been looking cuter lately.”

“………”

“Actually, you’re cute even without it, Professor.”

The professor paused and stared at him silently for a moment.

“…Then, let’s move on to my second concern.”

As she surprisingly easily moved past the first concern, Adler nodded while inwardly sighing with relief.

“Listen to this.”

“What?”

Then she smiled darkly and pulled out a miniature phonograph from her bosom.

– “I think it’s about time I seriously take London into my hands.”

– “Do you realize what you’re saying right now?”

As she caressed the magic stone embedded in the center, the conversation that he and Lestrade had at the hideout a few days ago played softly from the phonograph.

– “I need to gradually build up my forces, and eventually even bring our cute professor under my control. After that, I’ll mobilize various criminal organizations all at once to…”

“…That’s enough.”

As soon as the problematic statement played, the magic stone and phonograph shattered into pieces due to the professor’s mana that suddenly flooded in large quantities.

“Uh, Professor. That’s…”

“During this vacation, I’ve endured a great deal, Adler.”

“……..”

“You’ll admit it. You’ve seen with your own eyes how far I’ve bent my pride for my cute assistant.”

Just as the professor brushed off the smoke rising from her hand and tilted her head from side to side in her characteristic habit while leaning toward Adler.

[Hey.]

The system, which had been silent for a long time despite being called for situation assessment, appeared before Adler’s eyes again.

“…I’ll give you 5 minutes, Adler.”

[This is the branching point between the ending and the hidden route.]

“Explain to me within 5 minutes why you shouldn’t become the victim of my perfect crime today.”

Looking at the professor who was smiling chillingly behind that message, Adler tried to hide his creeping feeling and forced a smile.

“…For your information, I can commit perfect crimes of many kinds besides murder, Adler.”

[Choose wisely.]

The system message, which had lowered its transparency to naturally cover the professor’s face, sent him a final message before slowly disappearing.

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“Oh, and there’s something I’ve been curious about for a while.”

“Yes?”

Thanks to the system’s consideration, by the time Adler had somewhat regained his composure.

“Those messages that appear in mid-air, which you’ve been checking all along.”

Professor Moriarty’s voice, full of pure curiosity, penetrated Adler’s ears.

“…Is that perhaps from a woman?”

Adler’s rapidly spinning mind suddenly went blank.

“…Can we have a drink and talk about this?”

“No.”