Chapter 110: Proposal (3) |
“… Eek?“
Gasping for breath, panting heavily, Rachel Watson was about to even remove her lower garments when… she suddenly turned her head to the side, a startled expression on her face, as the office door was forced open.
“Holmes?”
Soon, she spotted Charlotte Holmes quietly entering the room and her eyes widened in astonishment at her sudden arrival.
“What are you doing here?”
“That’s what I’d like to know, Watson.”
Charlotte, looking expressionless as she stared at her partner, Rachel Watson’s, undressed figure, started murmuring as she shifted her gaze to Isaac Adler lying beneath her.
“I came to see my friend, who I haven’t met for a while, and here our doctor is… in the midst of creating life with her lover where she’s supposed to be saving lives instead.”
“But, but… I thought locked the door?”
“… Sigh.”
At those words, Watson let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes tightly.
“Get out.”
“…….?”
“I said, get out, right now.”
She spoke, trying her best to suppress the anger she felt inside, however, Charlotte remained unmoved.
“… What are you even trying to do by staying here?”
“I’m trying to observe the reproductive activities of a friend and her lover to build up my sexual knowledge for future use.”
“………”
“Didn’t you tell me that the stuff I’ve read is quite lewd and pornographic? Things that are outside of the norm? Instead of such distorted knowledge, you said that you would teach me directly and correct my knowledge, so here I am. Eager to learn and all.”
Watson’s face turned ashen as she muttered with an emotionless expression.
“… Indeed, your sexual knowledge is quite distorted, Holmes.”
“Yes, so…”
“I should have taken responsibility and properly educated you since that incident…”
She continued to glare at her partner, Holmes, for a while, then started muttering regretfully as she picked up her coat from the floor and clumsily draped herself with it..
“What are you talking about…?”
“Oh, well.”
Still beneath her, Adler cautiously asked Watson with intrigue. Meanwhile, Watson, who was looking at Charlotte resentfully for interrupting her intimate affair with her lover, began explaining as she heard his question.
“One night, I returned to the boarding house late due to night shifts.”
“And then…?”
“I found Charlotte missing. I thought she might be out investigating a case.”
“Watson, it would be better for you to stop right there.”
Realizing what Watson was about to say from her mischievous gaze, Charlotte quickly moved towards her and murmured in a cold voice.
“Anyway, I went into the bathroom to unwind with a much-needed bath…”
Despite that, Watson continued her explanation with a her lips curling into a smirk.
“Guess what, our adorable genius girl was doing while holding a picture of Isaac Adler in the bathroom….”
Just as Watson was about to reach the climax of the story…
“… Ugh.“
Charlotte lunged forward and covered Watson’s mouth with her hands, her head bowed low.
“”………..””
With that, an awkward silence settled in the room.
“Holmes, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Don’t.”
“It’s actually quite normal for someone your age to…”
“Don’t… talk……”
As Watson broke the silence with a gentle whisper, looking quite pleased with her partner’s reaction, a muffled voice escaped from the red-faced Charlotte.
“Why? You said it’s fine as long as Adler doesn’t hear it.”
“… Shut up.”
Then, Charlotte inadvertently made eye contact with Adler, who was lying on the floor and was currently gazing straight at her.
“Our genius girl really is going through puberty, isn’t she?”
“… I made a mistake, please.”
As Charlotte’s tone changed into one of pleading upon meeting his dull gaze, Watson’s mouth gently curled into a victorious smile.
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A few minutes later…
“How about it, Charlotte? Have you reflected a bit now?”
“… Reflected?”
“On the fact that you dared to invade my room without permission, without even respecting my privacy.”
Watson, with a triumphant expression at having completely subdued Holmes for the first time since their first meeting, spoke those words to Charlotte. The genius detective was currently standing with her head bowed down and her face flushed, clearly still affected by the previous shameful reveal of her past.
“Truth be told, I would like to make you face a more frightening price…”
“… Considering that I overlooked the fact that your lover is an accomplice of Professor Moriarty and will not bring it up in the future, it seems like I have paid a sufficient price, don’t you think?”
But upon hearing Charlotte’s following words, Watson stopped talking and began chewing on her lips nervously, her face donning a distraught look.
“You… heard all the conversations we had?”
“… I knew from the start would be the more accurate term.”
Watson, hearing Charlotte’s response, dropped her head even further. She was clearly feeling quite dejected right now.
“I could have told you earlier, but you seemed so happy. I was worried about the consequences, but I’m glad it turned out as it did.”
“And what does that make me?”
“Trash that gossips uses a friend’s secrets as a weapon?”
“……..”
“I’m joking, of course. I’m not as petty as a certain someone.”
Charlotte, watching her intently with a subtle gaze, suddenly muttered as if she had just remembered something.
“… By the way, Watson, someone was looking for you downstairs.”
“Oh, what? But it’s my day off?”
“It seems there’s a patient who is in urgent need of your assistance, that’s why they were looking for you even though it’s your off day.”
Following Charlotte’s remark, a puzzled look briefly flashed in Watson’s eyes. Soon, however, she headed to the part of the room where her stethoscope and coat were located.
“Anyway, the number of patients has been so overwhelming lately…”
“Isn’t it good to have lots of customers?”
“… Don’t make these disgusting jokes, Holmes. It’s not funny,”
Watson hurriedly grabbed her doctor’s coat and stethoscope, then paused briefly as she was about to head out.
“… Neville.”
Bending down, she leaned in towards Isaac Adler who was still sitting on the floor with a blank gaze.
“Haah~“
Adler, now quite accustomed to kissing, naturally accepted Watson’s soft tongue that skillfully slipped into his mouth.
“”……….””
Silence drenched the room as the lovers shared a deeply intimate moment.
“I’m fine with everything, so let’s get married, okay?.”
“………”
“If you want, I’ll even quit the hospital. I was planning to open my own private clinic anyway. That would make it easier to coordinate with your schedule.”
In the silence, Watson lifted her head slightly and whispered to Adler, their foreheads touching in a loving gesture.
“… All I need is you and you alone.”
“……..”
“You feel the same, don’t you, Neville?”
Watson asked, her hand giving a gentle squeeze to Adler’s hand as she held it in hers. Tilting her head, she waited patiently for his response.
“… I’ll be waiting for your answer.”
However, when no answer came for a while, she just gently whispered those words and rose from her seat, heading towards the exit.
“”………””
An awkward atmosphere began settling inside the now silent room.
“Uh, so…”
– Thud, thud…
Within that atmosphere, as Charlotte slowly approached him, Adler’s eyes drifted about and he struggled to sit up.
– Fizzzzzz…
“Ahhhhhhh?”
However, Adler began to tremble in the next moment, as though electrocuted. Before he could react, Charlotte’s finger had stabbed the area near his heart.
“… Seeing that you’re completely naked when I forcibly dispelled your magic, it seems the clothes worn during the disguise are also illusions created by mana.”
“……..”
“I’m not sure if it’s a tangible illusion or one that deceives the sense and perception of others, but I can still tell it’s quite a high-level disguise.”
As the convulsions in his body subsided, Charlotte Holmes crouched down in front of him while murmuring with a sinister hue flashing in her eyes.
“When did you learn such a dispelling magic…?”
“Since you’re so good at disguises, I learned this recently to be ready to counter you at any moment.”
“… Impressive!”
Stripped of his disguise in an instant by the unknown magic wielded by Charlotte, Adler, now covering his naked self with his coat that was sprawled on the floor, flashed her a bright smile.
“Well then, I’ll be leaving now…”
– Swoosh…
“… Ah.”
As he attempted to get up, Charlotte quietly pulled out the outfit he had been wearing beneath his coat from her overcoat and waved it before Adler.
“They were in the bathroom. You usually disguise yourself there, right, Mr. Adler?”
“… This isn’t some fairy and woodcutter tale, what in hell is this?”
“Fairy? Woodcutter? I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about.”
Tilting her head in response, she hid Adler’s clothes once again inside her overcoat.
“… Miss Holmes, I’m not in the mood for pranks.”
“Does this look like a mere prank to you?”
With a sigh, Adler quietly sat back down under her chilling gaze.
“That’s not a marriage registration form you’re holding onto now, is it?”
“You’re quick to catch on. How did you deduce that?”
As he gazed at the paper that Charlotte was about to present with a surprised gaze, Charlotte, genuinely curious, threw the question back at him.
“A hunch, if you will…”
“Intuition, huh? It’s both the most necessary virtue for a detective and also the most unreliable.”
Charlotte nodded her head in response to Adler’s answer, affirming his opinion.
“For the record, my intuition tells me that it’s now or never.”
The form she extended, a form he had seen several times today, entered Adler’s vision.
“… Sign it or don’t.”
“……..”
“Still, it would be best for you to choose the most rational way to leave your genes in the world.”
Charlotte murmured, her gaze frigid as she looked at one of Adler’s eyes which had been dyed in a cloudy grey hue.
“You know well that marrying someone other than me would be a waste of your good genes, don’t you?”
After finishing her statement, she rose from her seat and stomped off towards the exit.
“Ah, and…”
Charlotte stopped mid-step and started fidgeting with her fingers, a hesitant expression on her face.
“… About that photo.”
She turned her head back and began speaking in a calm voice, but…
“……….”
No words came out no matter what she tried, leading to a bead of cold sweat trickling down her forehead.
“… It’s all a misunderstanding.”
After fumbling around for a while, she eventually mumbled those words and hastily exited the room.
You are definitely at a critical branching point right now.
What will you do now?
Adler, who had been blankly staring at her retreating figure, read the message that appeared before him and replied in a somber voice.
“… I need to consult someone.”
You mean to receive counsel instead of giving?
“There’s one person who’s right for the job.”
Muttering to himself, Adler stepped out of the hospital room, taking quite a while to realize that he was only wearing a coat over his buck-naked body,
“… Dad, why are you walking around without clothes?”
Pfft.
“Ah, fucking damn it.”
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Meanwhile, at that time… strict security was being maintained at the Diogenes Club on the outskirts of London as usual.
“… Excuse me.”
A frail girl in a wheelchair, about to enter the club, asked her loyal aide standing beside her in a low voice.
“How long has it been since Isaac Adler overpowered me and made me his slave?”
When her aide was unable to bring himself to answer the question, the frail girl opened her eyes slightly with a thin smile on her face and asked again.
“It is truly incomprehensible. Boldly attacking and making someone their slave, then leaving them completely untouched and neglected. It’s gone beyond being rude and is now at the point of being intriguing.”
Mycrony Holmes murmured with her usual cheerful expression, but her slightly opened eyes caused her aide’s complexion to pale like a sheet of paper.
“… He’s forgotten about me, hasn’t he?”
“………”
The aide knew all too well what tended to make the front page of the newspapers the day after the frail girl opened her eyes as she did now.
“What do you think?”
“… Sigh.“
It was when the back of Mycrony Holmes’ began to glow in a golden hue that she finally opened her eyes completely and asked her aide the same question for the fifteenth time.