"Ah, goodbye..."
"......."
Upon spotting Watson standing behind Charlotte, Adler reflexively closed the door while bidding them farewell.
- Clunk...
"... Ugh."
However, before he could fully close the door, Watson dashed towards the door using superhuman levels of speed and caught it from closing with her bare hands. Seeing her sudden, erratic action, a look of panic imdiately crossed Adler’s face.
- Swoosh...
And in the next mont, Watson reached into her pocket, her face as stiff as a board.
- Thunk...
"... Eh?"
However, Lestrade, standing next to Adler, pulled him back and grabbed Watson's hand to prevent her actions. Thus, a chilling silence started to settle between them.
"What are you doing, Inspector?"
"I'm on escort duty."
Watson couldn’t help but show a puzzled look upon hearing the Inspector's reply.
"I didn’t know that you would be in such dire straits that you even needed to escort a criminal."
"... I'm sorry."
In response to her sarcasm, Lestrade could only mutter those words while trying her best to avoid Watson’s gaze dripping with contempt.
"But a contract is a contract..."
"What?"
"... A-A wife must protect her husband."
Hearing her reply, the faint light in Watson’s eyes dimd down even further.
"This fucki..."
"Calm down, Watson."
"These fucking bastards are driving insane!!!"
As she finally exploded, screaming at the top of her lungs, beads of sweat began dripping down Adler's forehead.
"... Wh-What's the problem here?"
anwhile, a slightly frightened voice echoed out from behind the two won.
"Just the usual chaos of 221B Baker Street."
"S-Should I call the police?"
Mrs Hudson, who had been enjoying her afternoon tea ti, poked her head out from the staircase with a worried look and began asking in a frail voice.
"... Ah, it should be fine since the inspector’s here."
Then, spotting Lestrade next to Adler, she slightly relaxed and turned away from the scene.
"".........""
And thus, silence ensued between them once more.
"Hey, listen."
""........?""
"So, what brings you two here?"
In that chilling silence, Adler and Lestrade started fidgeting as though they were standing on pins and needles. However, they couldn’t help but doubt their own ears when Watson’s cheerful voice echoed amid the daunting silence, addressing them, prompting them to raise their head and focus on her.
"I, I… followed Isaac Adler here..."
"That, there’s... a new... mystery..."
"A mystery? Oh, you've co to help our Hols then."
Just as the two were about to broach their story, Rachel Watson suddenly clapped her hands, interrupting them with a broad smirk on her lips.
"Hols, what do you think?"
"... Watson."
"Don't you think it'd be more fun if the four of us went together instead of just us two? I'm already feeling my heart race in anticipation of what might happen!"
"What do you think about having so brandy and just relaxing for today?"
"Eh? Hols, what are you talking about?"
With an anxious look in her eyes, Charlotte posed the question to her partner in a soft voice. In response, Watson leaned towards her, eyes widened.
"I'm perfectly fine right now. So, there's no need to rest."
Then, she muttered with a stern look in her eyes.
"... If you say so."
"Shall we go then? Mr Adler, and Miss Lestrade?"
Charlotte, about to say sothing, eventually sighed and decided to just turn away. On the other hand, Watson began descending the stairs with an unnaturally cheerful expression.
"... Are you really okay?"
"Eh? What do you an?"
Charlotte, watching her back in silence, couldn’t stop herself from whispering that query.
"I an, we will be working together with Isaac Adler on this case so…”
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"You know by now. Neville and Adler are..."
"Hols."
Stopping halfway down the stairs, Watson sighed and began speaking to her partner in a soothing tone.
"My fiancé isn’t the jealous type who would fuss about being with Adler."
"Are you serious right now?"
"Why are you acting like this?"
Yet, Charlotte looked even more worried after hearing her remark, and Watson furrowed her brows and finally started showing a semblance of anger at those words.
"Isaac Adler, the scum of London known for playing and discarding won, and Neville St. Claire, the pure-hearted man who only has eyes for , are completely different people, aren't they?"
"......"
"Why do you keep talking like they're the sa person?"
With that, she turned her head sharply and began walking towards the boarding house's entrance.
"... Seriously, treating like that just because of a bad mood, I feel offended.”
And with that, silence settled once again in the scene.
"Maybe we should just go back..."
"... Isaac Adler."
Shivering in primal fear as he murmured, Adler couldn’t help but stiffen as he heard Charlotte’s whisper in his ears.
"Don't you have sothing to say to ...?"
"... Eek."
.
.
.
.
.
Evening of that day,
"We've arrived, everyone..."
Charlotte and Watson in the front, Gia Lestrade on his side; with the girls surrounding him at all sides, Adler had to endure their relentless, sinister gazes all throughout the ride with a restless mind. Maybe that’s why… when they finally reached their destination, Adler hastily stepped out of the carriage and started speaking in a lighthearted tone.
“Well, the most intellectually esteed university town in England welcos us... Shall we get off?”
“........”
“The view of Cambridge is quite pleasing. Haha...”
However, the three won only looked at Adler with cold expressions from inside the carriage.
“... Actually, I find Oxford more familiar than Cambridge.”
“Familiar?”
“Yes, I once studied abroad th...”
This caused Adler, who was blurting out anything that ca into his mind to suppress the restlessness in his mind, to suddenly cover his mouth.
“... It was a place I dreamt of. But I just ended up enrolling at August Academy.”
“An Englishman studying abroad?”1
“You must have forgotten. I’m not an Englishman, but a devil. Haha, haha...”
Adler started defending his statent with all his might to Charlotte, who was erging from the carriage with an unusual gleam in her eyes.
“... Co to think of it, you once said that your soul had black hair.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about~”
“Could it really be that one day your soul just changed...?”
“W-Wow! An eagle!!”
Miraculously spotting an eagle flying through the dark, cloudy skies that provided almost zero visibility, Adler pointed out in the air with an excited tone, which only resulted in Charlotte slowly narrowing her eyes.2
“So… Miss Hols, which university were you originally going to attend?”
“?”
“I’m very curious about that.”
Realising this fact, Adler hurriedly threw a question at her to change the topic.
“... If it weren’t for you, I might be tinkering with a thesis right about now in that pleasing Cambridge you see right there.”
“Eh, ah, Miss Hols, just how old are you…?”
“I was granted early admission by the dean of Cambridge. It’s water under the bridge now though because I ended up submitting my application to August Academy because of you.”
“Ah, haha...”
Adler, smiling awkwardly at her dark, pointed gaze, quietly turned his head away from her, only to be t with the cold, piercing gazes of the two won who were behind him.
“... I’m going to wither away at this rate from all the exhaustion.”3
I’ll say this again... you’ve brought this on yourself.
“So, where is the client?”
Then Adler quickly dismissed the system that appeared in front of him and turned to Charlotte with a question.
"Is it, by any chance, a board with instructions written on it?"
"Eh, Miss Hols?"
"It seems like it can be physically touched and removed from sight... If that's the case, if I just had Adler's hand, there’s a chance that the curse can be countered. If I have the chance later then…”
"Hey."
"... I'm listening."
As she muttered sothing eerily under her breath alone, he waved his hands in front of her to get her attention. In response, she pointed forward, stretching out her hand.
"Our destination is right there."
"... It's not too far, is it? I thought we were going into the university."
"The client for this case is not a university professor, but his son and assistant, Mr Trevor Bennett. His mansion is right in front of us."
With that, Charlotte quietly smiled and added in a low voice.
"Just so you know, the client is a man. Surprisingly, It’s the first ti I’ve accepted a request from a man since I’ve co to know you, Adler.”
"........"
"Of course, deliberately refusing all requests from won might have played a role in it."
Her eyes gleaming ominously, she started to walk, glancing at Adler while murmuring.
"... It's a sha you couldn't charm the client this ti, Mr. Adler."
"Oh, co on. It’s not like I'm crazy about won or anything..."
"""........"""
Unwittingly clicking his tongue Adler muttered those words. However, he soon moved his feet with a sullen expression, shutting his mouth, due to the sharp glances directed at him from all around.
.
.
.
.
.
"Who... are you? Who are all of you?"
""".........."""
However, Isaac Adler's gloomy face did not last long.
"Why are you looking at like that? I would appreciate it if you stated your business in coming here, please.”
As Charlotte Hols knocked on the door of the client's house with a triumphant expression, a strikingly intellectual-looking beauty with black hair erged.
"... What are you trying to do by coming here?"
Raising her glasses and furrowing the slight wrinkles under her eyes, she coldly stared at Hols and her group, throwing a question.
"That, that..."
It was the mont when Charlotte stuttered uncharacteristically, taken aback by the client's unexpectedly sharp and profound deanor.
"Uh, mum. Sorry...!"
"... Are they your friends, Trevor?"
At that mont, a blushing boy hurriedly burst into the doorway from inside the mansion.
"Yes, mum, they are my friends..."
"... I thought I told you not to carelessly bring your friends ho."
"We were supposed to et outside. Ah, I'm not letting them in..."
"... Sigh."
The woman sighed, and the boy, sweating, hurriedly made excuses.
"I've finished arranging the papers. I won't drink and will co back before it gets too late..."
"... Don't stay out too late, co back early."
"Uh, yeah..."
The woman looking down at her son with displeasure, eventually shook her head and then went back inside the house.
"""........"""
And then silence ensued at the scene.
"So, is that the person?"
Finally grasping the situation, Charlotte broke the silence and asked the client in front of her with a chilly voice.
"The professor who allegedly crawls around the house in a vulgar manner at night and even got bitten by a dog?"
"... Indeed."
Adler's eyes, which had been dull, began to sparkle with interest at that mont.
1. What Charlotte ans by this query is that, an Englishman saying that he is studying abroad when Oxford is actually in England doesn't make much sense.2. Well, it should be easy to guess but there was no eagle, Adler was trying to divert attention.3. Adler is saying that the sharp gazes and malice directed towards him is making him so exhausted in his mind that he feels like he will die if this goes on.
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