- Screech...
After several hours of travel, the carriage finally arrived in London and began slowing down its pace.
- Knock, knock, knock...!
"Ladies and gentlen, we have arrived at our destination."
A mont later, the coachman, having stepped down from the fully halted carriage, knocked on the door of the passenger cabin.
"........"
"Ladies and gentlen? Is there anything amiss?"
However, for so reason, despite his persistent knocking, there was no sign of a response or even any intention of anyone opening the door.
"Hmm..."
Scratching his head for a mont, the coachman soon retrieved a key from his pocket to unlock the door of the passenger cabin.
"Haah, this is really..."
In the poorly maintained roads of the 19th century, even experienced coachn often gave their passengers an unpleasant experience complete with nausea and motion sickness.
This, of course, directly affected their reputation and inco, so coachn had no choice but to invest a fortune in shock-absorbent mana stones for the carriage wheels or improve their driving skills.
"... Having too much skill can also be a problem."
The coachman, who had found a well-paying passenger on the journey from Baskerville to London that day, belonged to the latter group of exceptionally skilled individuals.
Initially, due to his modest living conditions, he had no choice but to improve his skills since he couldn't afford the shock-absorbant mana stones.
With his exceptional abilities, he had now reached a point where he was exclusively catering to the upper-class clientele and attaining remarkable results.
"Maybe I should install a clock inside next ti..."
For him, it was not uncommon for passengers to fall asleep inside the carriage, so as usual, he unlocked the cabin door with a key.
- Creak...
"... Wait, what's happening?"
Just as he unlocked the door of the passenger compartnt and was about to turn the doorknob, he belatedly realized that the carriage was swaying ever so slightly.
"Uh..."
His confused expression lasted only a mont as he proceeded to turn the doorknob without much thought, and then he began to stare, dumbfounded, at the scene unfolding before his eyes.
"Pro, Professor... ugh..."
- Slurp...
A delicately featured boy with his upper clothing half-removed, exposing his bare shoulders, was writhing on the floor of the passenger compartnt, his arms held captive by the grey-haired woman who had been riding with him.
- Swish...
As the coachman continued to watch the scene with an utterly stunned expression, the woman who had been sucking and nibbling on the boy’s neck with intense sensuality suddenly lifted her head in silence.
"........."
In the next mont, the woman directed a piercing stare at the stunned coachman.
... A dream?
At that mont, thinking he might be seeing things due to overwork, he rubbed his eyes and slowly opened them once more when…
- Flutter...
"Professor, calm down..."
Before him, sharp grey mana began to surge violently and behind that veil of raging mana was the boy, pulling the woman who continued glaring at the coachman with a chilling expression as he sweated profusely from head to toe.
"......."
After observing that eerie scene for a mont, the coachman closed his eyes once more.
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy na…
As he silently recited the Lord's Prayer about five tis, he opened his eyes again with overwhelming fear almost crippling his entire body.
"".........""
Fortunately, this ti there was neither a situation where two people were shalessly intertwined with each other nor one where his life was on the brink of coming to an end.
"That was so impressive driving."
"Th-That's right, I suppose. Haha..."
The woman and the boy simply sat modestly as if they were ordinary passengers while the boy spoke in a cheerful and bright tone.
"... Th-That's right."
Of course, the sticky liquid drenching the cabin floor and the grey smoke perating the entirety of the cabin were clear indicators that what had just happened was certainly no illusion.
"Here, take this."
"... What?"
But soon, an event occurred that made all those thoughts fade from the coachman's mind.
"This is for the trouble we've caused, and to ensure your silence about the recent incident."
"... Ah."
"Please, accept it."
The boy was offering a sum of gold coins that would take the coachman six months of backbreaking work to earn, all the while smiling brightly.
"Thank... you..."
"... And one more thing."
The coachman, who barely encountered such fortune only once a year from his dealings with the upper-class clients, was about to greedily reach out when…
"Forget everything that happened today."
Ca a voice, chillingly cold out of the blue and close to his ears.
"It's better for both parties that way."
"...... What?"
Lifting his head, the coachman's gaze t the playful eyes of the boy, who now had a finger to his lips while his lips curled into a cunning smile.
"You never t us."
"What....."
With those words, the coachman's mory faded away like smoke.
"A financial transaction is a contract after all."
"........"
"And a contract must be fulfilled, right?"
An unknown ti later…
"People these days are so open..."
Upon waking he continued driving his carriage ho, retaining no mory of the recent happenings, when he chanced upon a woman and a boy entangled erotically in an alleyway along the way.
"... At that point, it can be considered public indecency, right?”
"Pro-Professor... maybe we should stop... ugh...?"
- Smack, smooch...
It was the mont the last key to uncovering the truth behind the case disappeared forever.
.
.
.
.
.
"... Adler."
"......."
A few minutes later, despite being lunch hours at the mont, an eerily quiet atmosphere lingered in the back alleys of London.
"Can't you hear ?"
Walking down the alley with the professor, Adler turned his head to the side, pouting in response to the flat voice coming from beside him.
"Darling."
Then, Professor Jane Moriarty whispered in a low voice right into his ear.
"... Uh."
"Honey."
"Please, tone it down."
Adler flinched at the tickling voice that caressed his ear. Eventually failing to resist the urge to reply and falling into her clear bait, he opened his mouth with an irritable voice.
"I love you."
A straightforward response ca flying back, filled with the professor's refreshed laughter.
"........."
Adler's face involuntarily reddened as he stared blankly at her visage.
"... Do you really intend to marry ?"
"It's not an intention; it's already done. Once we submit this paper with our handwritten signatures, we'll be legally married."
As he shook his head to ward off the daze and asked, she pulled out the marriage registration form from her pocket and answered with a bright smile.
"And this is in my possession. So you have no choice but to give up and get married quietly."
"Do you want to have a legal battle with your student?"
"... And what do you think will happen if I win?"
The professor's gaze, gentle a mont ago, suddenly turned frigid at those words.
"... You really plan on doing housework, cooking, and having children with ?"
"Housework and cooking are your jobs. I've never succeeded at any dish other than milk tea."
Adler stamred for a mont in disbelief at her response, asking again with an incredulous expression, to which the professor only replied in a calm tone.
"However, I can promise to earn the money. That much I can assure you."
Hearing those words, Adler murmured with a rather disappointed look.
"... Charlotte said she would do the housework and cooking herself though."
And with that silence ensued between them for a while.
"... I'll start attending cooking classes this weekend."
"Are you serious?"
"I should also buy an apron."
After a long serious contemplation amidst the silence, the professor answered with a face full of resolve.
"... What about the child?"
Adler asked with a dazed look, his voice a re whisper.
"Wouldn't she be adorable? A daughter with blonde hair and grey eyes, looking just like ."
"Uh..."
But the professor, as if anticipating even that question, began to whisper into his ear in a soft and llow voice… like the whispers of a pleasant dream.
"Adler, just stop denying it already."
"........."
"You're already a married man now.”
It was a statent so horrifying that it sent shivers down Adler’s spine.
"If you understand, then start preparing for our newlywed life."
"That's..."
"While I finish up the aftermath of this case, you'll have to lay low in the hideout."
"But that's supposed to be my role..."
As he reached out with a confused look, the professor who had escorted him to the front of the hideout simply turned on her heels and started walking further and further away from the alley.
"... Oh, by the way."
Then, suddenly turning her head back, she whispered with a broad smile stretching her lips.
"If you're going to ta sothing, make sure to do it thoroughly."
"What?"
Caught off guard by her unexpected remark, Adler tilted his head, and the professor quietly pointed to a secluded corner of the alley before adding.
"The Baskerville family's demonic hound."
"Oh."
"As much as I'd like to kill it, you could use a few more loyal henchn, so I'll resist the urge."
Only then did Adler notice the cerulean gleam that was lurking in the shadows of the alleyway and couldn’t help but look on with a bewildered expression on his face.
- Grrrr...
"Why are you here?"
.
.
.
.
.
- Creeeak...
An unknown amount of ti later…
"... Master!?"
"Dad?"
"Hmph."
As the door to the hideout slowly opened after several days of silence— Silver Blaze, who had been sitting on the sofa with dead eyes, knitting sothing Celestia Moran, who sat beside her with a sullen expression, and Princess Clay, who had been cleaning the windows, each shifted their gaze towards the door while making a varied set of reactions.
"Where have you been I've been so lonely master..."
"Dad, I took care of the people you asked to last ti..."
"Where have you been wandering off to without a word..."
However, almost imdiately, all three trailed off mid-sentence, their expressions turning blank.
"Well, you see..."
Isaac Adler was sitting there with a bright expression, holding sothing in his arms that glowed with a deadly blue gleam in its eyes.
"""..........."""
To Adler's eyes, it appeared to be a , but for so reason, to the eyes of the three won, it seed to be a girl around the sa age as Moran.
"... Her na is Poppy."
- Woof.
As Adler gently stroked the creature's belly and spoke those words, a deeper silence than ever before began perating the /genesisforsaken
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