Ch.89Chapter 89 – Enlightenment

“Mr. Adler, why aren’t you answering?”

“……..”

“It seems the professor’s words no longer make sense to you.”

Adler was contemplating whether he should jump up and buy a bottle of vodka even now.

“Do you want to keep failing due to unwarranted point deductions and remain at the academy until your twenties are over?”

“…Ah, well.”

He stammers as he physically feels a chill run down his spine at the professor’s whispered words.

“I’d actually like that.”

“……?”

“Because I’d be spending my youth with you, Professor.”

As he answers with a bright smile, the professor looks down at him silently for a moment.

“Mr. Adler.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“I don’t want to hear a perfect answer as a lover right now, but a perfect answer as the right-hand man serving the ruler of the back alleys.”

After a moment, she whispers as she climbs onto Adler’s bed with a cold smile.

“That won’t work today, unlike other times.”

“…When has it ever worked anyway?”

“It has always worked. It’s been truly entertaining to watch my cute assistant use his brain and wander around here and there.”

Her eyes were glowing darkly.

“Since I observed an ant that strayed from its colony as a child, it was the first time I had such an enjoyable experience.”

“…So you had a cute side even as a child.”

“I soon got bored and killed it by pressing it with my finger.”

The professor says this and quietly sits on top of Adler’s stomach.

“That was my first killing, probably.”

“………”

“It was such an intense experience that I still remember it to this day.”

Then, gently grasping Adler’s neck, she whispers in a small voice.

“Although you’re not an ant, I think I can give you a similar experience.”

“………”

“Though you won’t lose your life like back then, you’ll become the victim of a crime that will remain the ‘first’ and ‘last’ in my life from now on.”

“I would have liked that normally, but I’m not in the mood right now.”

Adler, who had been quietly looking up at her, answers as his eyes turn red.

“I won’t just sit still either, Professor.”

“That’s a very good attitude, Mr. Adler.”

But instead, the professor’s expression brightens.

“With such a rebellious attitude, what I’m about to do to you in five minutes won’t be considered a crime.”

“………”

“So feel free to do whatever you want to me. Struggle all you can while you still can.”

At those words, for a brief moment, Adler imagines himself slapping the professor’s cheek with all his might.

*Swish…*

“Hmm.”

As his hand quietly rises, Jane Moriarty tilts her head with an intrigued look.

“Are you going to use violence on me like you did with Arsène Lupin, forcing me to submit?”

“……”

“Or will you break my heart and dominate me by turning me into a completely different person from the inside out, like you did with that haughty Miss Caroline? I’m very curious.”

The professor’s hand holding Adler’s neck quietly tightens.

“I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but you’ll have to do it within five minutes. Actually, one minute has already passed, but I’ll give you one more minute.”

However, she continues to gently caress Adler’s neck without applying more pressure.

“…I promise I’ll stay still no matter what you do until the five minutes are up.”

Adler’s right hand twitches at her words.

“Even if you grab my hair and shake it, leave bruises and scars on my face, or do what you routinely did to women in the past.”

“………”

“For exactly five minutes, I swear I won’t resist anything. So feel free to make your last resistance.”

And then silence begins.

*Swish…*

“Honestly, I’ve wanted to see it once.”

As Adler extends his hand to his own face in that silence, Professor Moriarty quietly mutters with gleaming eyes.

“The moment you dominate a woman. Whether it would work on me or not…”

*Tap.*

“……?”

But her voice soon fades.

“Mr. Adler?”

Contrary to Professor Moriarty’s expectations, Issac Adler simply placed his hand against her cheek and was gazing at her with a pure smile.

“What does this mean?”

As he just looks up at her without doing anything, she tilts her head side to side and asks in a low voice.

“Did I mention before that you look cute like a baby lizard when you shake your head like that, Professor?”

“Answer my question, Mr. Adler.”

“This is my answer, Professor.”

Issac Adler begins to whisper as he gently caresses the professor’s cheek.

“For the remaining time, I’ll just stay like this.”

“…Are you making a sophisticated joke?”

At those words, the professor asked with an expression of incomprehension, but Adler just whispers with a subtle smile.

“I don’t want to escape this crisis by defying you.”

“………”

“From the moment you killed me that first day, our fate was already decided.”

The professor, who had been quietly looking down at him, speaks in a serious tone.

“You might never see the light of day again.”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll comply.”

“Do you really not know what I’m going to do to you?”

“I know all too well.”

“Then how can you be so calm?”

And then comes Adler’s simple and clear answer.

“Because I am your probability.”

Professor Moriarty’s expression goes blank.

“No matter what happens, that identity won’t change from beginning to end.”

“Then what about your words about having me in the palm of your hand?”

“…You mean that?”

Adler asks with a gentle smile in response to the quiet question from her lips.

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

When the professor stares at him with a look that demands an answer, Adler points to her eyes and responds.

“My ultimate goal is to turn your eyes golden.”

“………”

“Do you need a more detailed explanation?”

And then, Adler carefully caresses her eyes with his hand.

“…I want to be the queen’s consort.”

Professor Moriarty’s breath stops for a moment upon hearing the statement that escaped his lips.

“Before my life ends, I want to make Jane Moriarty the most wicked and powerful evil queen in history.”

“………”

“And I want such a being to live stained with my color for her entire life.”

In a situation that seems as if time has stopped, Adler’s voice quietly resonates alone.

“So that I remain in your memory forever, even after I’m gone.”

At those words, the professor unconsciously begins to loosen her grip on Adler’s neck.

“That is my only purpose…”

Just as Adler was about to quietly add to his words while gazing at the same gray eyes she had when they first met, as she sat on top of him.

“…That was quite a good performance.”

“Keh… What?”

She begins to press down on Adler again, applying force to her hand.

“As expected of a former child actor with great acting skills.”

“….Ah.”

“Mr. Adler, it’s too late to regret now.”

The professor declares and calmly begins to undo the buttons on Adler’s shirt.

“…The five minutes are already up.”

Hearing those words, Adler turns his gaze to the side with a seemingly resigned expression.

“Don’t look away, look straight at me, Adler. At the truly foolish outcome you’ve reached in your relationship with me…”

Right at that moment, as Moriarty grabbed his head with her hand and turned his face toward her with a dark smile.

“…outcome.”

The professor, who had stopped unbuttoning, began to stare at him blankly.

“……..?”

In the silence that followed, as Adler quietly tilted his head.

[Excuse me.]

[You’ve avoided an early ending and unlocked a hidden route.]

A message from the system appears before his eyes.

[I’ll congratulate you for now.]

“………Huh?”

Adler’s eyes, wide open in bewilderment, soon begin to glaze over.

.

.

.

.

.

“You look quite ridiculous.”

“……..?”

While I’m displaying a question mark on my face, unable to understand the sudden situation, the Professor, who has quietly risen from her seat, begins to speak in a low, whispering voice.

“…If you walk around looking like that, you’ll certainly attract attention.”

“What do you…”

“Why don’t you look in the mirror?”

Turning my head to where she pointed, I finally understood the situation when I saw my reflection in the mirror.

“Ah…”

My eyes, which had both been black, were now black on the left and gray on the right.

“Why didn’t you just be honest instead of hiding it, Mr. Adler.”

The professor’s voice, tinged with a strange amusement, begins to reach my ears as I quietly observe that mysterious appearance in the mirror.

“The fact that you’ve been loving Holmes and me in exactly the same measure all this time.”

Only then did I have to admit for the first time since entering this world.

“And for that reason, you still haven’t decided which one of us to choose.”

The statement I had just made wasn’t just my usual improvisation.

“That’s why you’ve always been thoroughly hiding your true feelings.”

“………”

“It’s also the reason you’ve become passive recently.”

No more excuses about survival or having no choice because the system commanded it would work.

“..Hmm.”

I had been loving this woman, who was no different from an incarnation of evil, as much as Sharlotte Holmes.

“I feel a bit relieved now.”

“………”

“What I need to do has also become clear.”

And the sin of happening to love both London’s hope and the queen of the underworld at the same time.

[Hidden Route: Detective’s Husband] (100% -> 45%)

[Hidden Route: Professor’s Consort] (0% -> 45%)

[Hidden Route: Flower in Both Hands] (5%)

Somehow feels like it won’t be light at all.

[Probability of Division: 5%]