Chapter 18: The Red Mana League (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 18: The Red Mana League (7)
“…. Hmm?”
Adler, sprawled on the floor, frowned as he slowly pushed himself up.
“What’s this?”
He wiped the damp corners of his mouth with his sleeve.
“……!”
A smear of crimson liquid stained his arm.
“…Miss Holmes?”
Realizing the liquid was blood, Adler looked up in surprise, his eyes landing on Holmes sitting directly in front of him.
“What happened to your arm?”
“………”
“Don’t tell me… you fed me your blood?”
Only after seeing the fresh wound trickling blood down her arm did Adler realize what had transpired.
“Miss Holmes, human blood isn’t brandy.”
“To you, it might as well be, shouldn’t it?”
Holmes, her expression unreadable and somber, replied in a hollow voice.
“You’ve become a vampire, after all.”
“…I see you noticed.”
Adler scratched his head, an awkward smile playing on his lips.
“I suppose I was bitten while subduing Princess Clay?”
“………”
“But don’t worry. I managed to seal her inside this.”
“Why?”
Holmes cut him off as he gestured toward the red ring on his finger.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“Miss Holmes?”
“Don’t pretend you can’t use magic. You could have easily dispelled the sleeping spell I was under.”
Her piercing gaze pinned Adler where he sat.
“We could have fought together. Explanations could have waited. But why didn’t you…”
“You’re asking as if you don’t already know the answer.”
Adler pointed at her, his tone suggesting his actions were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Didn’t I tell you? An assistant’s job is to protect the detective.”
“………..”
“And anyone can see from your eyes, Miss Holmes, that you’re suffering from severe mana poisoning. If you had engaged a formidable opponent like Princess Clay, you would have undoubtedly overused your magic stones. That would have put your life at risk…”
“In the end, it’s my fault again.”
“…Again?”
Only then did Adler truly read the expression on Holmes’ face. His bravado vanished, replaced by genuine concern.
“Are you alright, Miss Holmes?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that, Mr. Adler?”
She dodged his gaze, throwing the question back at him.
“Your life is going to be difficult now that you’ve become a vampire.”
“Oh, that’s fine.”
Adler offered a buoyant, carefree smile.
“My body wasn’t exactly normal to begin with. It’s practically a corpse anyway, wouldn’t you say?”
At those words, Charlotte’s eyes shook violently.
“And my mana is a bit special. There shouldn’t be any real problems.”
Adler took her hand to help himself up and continued.
“So don’t worry. At this point…”
He stopped mid-sentence. His hand began to tremble weakly.
Drip…
The red blood still trickling down Holmes’ arm reflected in Adler’s eyes.
“…If you want to drink, then drink.”
“Excuse me?”
Charlotte, who had been watching him intently, weakly extended her arm toward him.
“If you want it, take it all.”
“………”
If it could extend your life, even just a little.
Charlotte lowered her head, unable to voice the thought aloud.
“…Miss Holmes.”
Caught in the grip of an overwhelming impulse while holding her arm, Adler squeezed his eyes shut.
“It’s fine.”
He turned away, his steps slightly wobbly.
“A life sustained by your blood is not a life worth having.”
He glanced back at her, a pale smile on his face.
“And besides, I’m not going to die.”
He took the lead, beginning to walk forward.
…A lie.
Holmes, still handcuffed to him, followed with faltering steps. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an hourglass.
You’re going to die soon.
The golden hourglass, now half-filled with red sand, continued to trickle down.
…Because of me.
*
Some time later—
“Miss Holmes, it’s already this late.”
“……..”
“How was your cross-examination of the suspect?”
They walked through the darkened, dawn-lit streets of London.
“If you’ve had your fun, how about finally unlocking these handcuffs?”
Adler, walking in sync with the silent, bowed-head Charlotte, spoke with a sharp, teasing edge.
…I was wrong.
But she was too deep in the labyrinth of her own thoughts to hear him.
It’s all because of me.
Isaac Adler had never viewed her as a plaything or a mere object for his amusement.
Rather, it was Charlotte who had misunderstood him. And the price of her arrogant misunderstanding was the life of a man who had very little time left—a man who had chosen her over everything else in the world.
“Miss Holmes, why have you been acting like this?”
The man, whose condition had worsened because of her, was even suppressing his vampiric urges out of concern for her health.
“If you can’t hold back and just want to attack, I’ll give you all my blood willingly.”
“You have a strange sense of humor.”
His words only made Charlotte feel worse.
“As I said earlier, I’d rather not harm you…”
“Mr. Adler.”
The moment her internal agony reached its breaking point, she spoke.
“Why do you go so far for me?”
“Pardon?”
The girl finally waved the white flag.
“Why did you risk your life to save me from the flames back then?”
The girl who had always considered solving puzzles the only pleasure in life…
“Why did you risk your life to protect me from the vampires?”
For the first time, she demanded the answer to the greatest mystery of her life.
“Why on earth would you do so much for me? For someone who is your enemy?”
Faced with the question, the man she had come to recognize as that man delivered the answer readily.
“For a riddle even Miss Holmes can’t solve, the answer is quite simple.”
As if he had been waiting for this moment all along, he looked at her softly, his voice gentle.
“Because I love you.”
Silence descended upon the street.
In the fog-laden night, devoid of other souls, the boy and girl locked eyes.
“It can’t be that simple.”
Charlotte’s voice finally broke the heavy stillness.
“How could you possibly have a problem with such a straightforward answer? I happened to fall in love with you at first sight, and that feeling remains unchanged to this day.”
“The answer to a riddle I couldn’t solve can’t possibly be just that.”
She mumbled, her eyes clouded with confusion.
“You couldn't have done all that for such a reason. You must want something from me.”
“………..”
“You have a curse too, don’t you? Your ultimate goal is to lift that curse. Or perhaps even this very moment is part of some grand plan…”
“I do have an ultimate goal I’m pursuing,” Adler interjected.
“See? You eventually—”
“But the reason I’m pursuing that goal is because of you.”
“You are…”
“From the very beginning, the reason I came here and have been enduring this insane ordeal without complaint is, in a way, because I liked you a bit too much.”
Adler leaned in, whispering softly to the speechless Charlotte.
“Love is like that, Miss Holmes.”
“………”
“Love isn’t logical. It isn’t rational. It utterly lacks coherence.”
The dim moonlight piercing the fog reflected in Adler’s eyes, illuminating them with a gentle hue.
“It’s only natural that you, who are virtually the embodiment of logic and reason, would find it difficult to understand.”
As Charlotte remained silent, Adler sensed her mood and added quietly, “But you don’t necessarily have to understand.”
“Why not?”
“Because I didn’t do it for the sake of being understood. It is simply my own unilateral feeling.”
Adler gave his arm a light shake, rattling the handcuffs.
“I’m confessing for the first time in my life, and now I feel like crawling into a hole.”
“……….”
“So, would you kindly unlock these?”
Holmes stared blankly at him for a moment before taking a key from her pocket. She unlocked the cuffs. Adler rotated his wrist, stretching it out, and waved as he turned to leave.
“Don’t worry too much about your client, Miss Wilson. I have a solution for her situation.”
“……..”
“Then…”
“Mr. Adler.”
Watching his retreating figure, she spoke hurriedly, sensing that if she didn't speak now, she might never get another chance.
“Please… become my assistant.”
“I refuse.”
Before she could even elaborate, his resolute voice cut her off.
“…Why?”
“Miss Holmes.”
The moonlight in his eyes dimmed, losing its luster as the city fog swallowed him.
“I am a villain.”
“If it’s about the Professor, I’ll deal with her. So…”
“You’ve already realized it’s not just about her. And you aren’t currently in a state to beat her, either.”
At the sound of his voice—colder and different than before—Charlotte’s gaze wavered. She fell silent.
“Soon enough, this London will be steeped in a deep shade of dull grey.”
Adler asked her in a soft, haunting voice, “Can you really stop that from happening?”
A heavy silence hung between them.
“…Then I’ll see you soon with the next mystery, Miss Holmes.”
Having said his piece, Adler gave a slight bow and began to walk away.
“Let’s enjoy this together—as far as my power can reach, at least.”
As the thick fog slowly obscured his figure, a sense of desolation returned to the streets.
*
Left alone, Charlotte stood in the middle of the street for a long time.
Something extraordinary began to happen to her shortly after he vanished.
“………..”
The first negative outcome of her actions had manifested. The man’s confession had hit its mark. Along with it, he had left behind an ominous challenge.
A tangled web of emotions and conflicting thoughts surfaced, triggering a transformation no one could have foreseen.
Rooooaaar…
Dark mana, which should have only manifested in the final stages of the game years later, began to faintly emanate from Charlotte Holmes’ body.
Whether this darkness would swallow the faint light seen in the distant man, or become a mere shadow consumed by that light—no one knew.
“…Watson would probably faint if she saw this.”
However, that wasn't the most significant change.
“Or maybe she would tease me about it for the rest of my life.”
From that day on, the grey hues of Charlotte’s eyes began to shift, slowly taking on the color of the hair belonging to the man who had disappeared into the fog.
『Love-Hate Relationship』
Chapter 1 – Complete