Chapter 193: Contest (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 193: Contest (2)
“Uh, ugh…”
“……..”
Inspector Lestrade, having found Adler unconscious by the roadside, had cautiously brought him back to her house.
“No, no…”
“……?”
Even after several hours, Adler continued to groan in bed without showing any signs of waking. She watched him, a worried expression etched onto her face. Soon, faint words began to escape his lips in his half-sleep.
“No… Don’t… Please don’t…”
“… Mr. Adler?”
“At this rate… I’ll really end up broken…”
Lestrade’s complexion began to visibly darken.
“Stop… Please stop… It’s my fault… hic.”
“……..”
“Ugh, hic? Ah, ah…”
Adler, his eyes squeezed shut, began to twitch. His pained moans pierced her ears with agonizing clarity.
—Swish…
How long had he been suffering like this? With a somber expression, Lestrade reached out.
—Grasp…
“Huh?”
As her calloused hand carefully grasped Adler’s, his convulsions momentarily ceased. With a pale face, he mumbled again in his sleep.
“I… am a married man…”
Silence followed.
“What on earth happened to you?”
In the quiet room, Lestrade wiped the cold sweat from Adler’s forehead with a serious look. She narrowed her eyes and lowered her head.
“…….”
Then, blushing slightly, she pressed closer to Adler’s body and began to sniff him like a bloodhound.
“Ugh…”
Suddenly, she frowned and abruptly jerked her head back, muttering in a cold voice.
“This smell…”
There was an unpleasant, slightly fishy scent emanating from Adler—something she had never experienced before, leaving her unable to identify it.
However, she could discern a faint, sweet fragrance buried deep beneath that unpleasant odor.
“… Holmes.”
Although she lacked the supernatural sharpness of a certain someone, she wasn't called an arrest specialist at such a young age for nothing.
Her physical abilities were unmatched in combat, and her animalistic senses were second to none. Those instincts, normally reserved for tracking down criminals, were now helping her pinpoint the owner of the sweet scent on Adler’s body.
“It’s the scent of Holmes’s childish perfume…”
Muttering under her breath, Lestrade’s hands began to tremble.
“Why…”
Clearly, the man before her was a ruthless criminal—an unrepentant villain who should cease to exist for the peace of London.
In contrast, Charlotte Holmes was London’s guardian of justice, a master detective. Having received her help several times, Lestrade had to acknowledge that she was the pride and hope of Britain.
Therefore, there must have been a reason why Holmes had brought Adler to this state. Adler surely deserved whatever he got from her.
“Why did you do this…?”
Yet, as Lestrade imagined what Adler might have suffered at Charlotte’s hands last night, her stomach churned.
“… Isn’t this clearly too much?”
It didn’t stop there. Her heart burned like a fireball, yet her mind grew as cold as ice.
“It… It’s a crime…”
As Lestrade murmured, she realized that extreme anger had overtaken her senses.
“Uggh…”
“…..!”
But before she could dwell on the cause, her heightened senses detected another female’s scent emanating from Adler’s body.
“… Professor Moriarty.”
Although fainter than Charlotte’s, it was easier to identify the owner this time.
There was no one else who would mark every inch of Adler’s body with her scent and mana—as if boasting to the world exactly who he belonged to—other than Professor Jane Moriarty.
—Crack…
Recalling Professor Moriarty’s history of sexual exploitation regarding Adler, Lestrade began to grind her teeth, a murderous look in her eyes.
“You’re not their toy…”
Looking down at Adler, who had become a plaything for both the professor and the detective, she whispered in a sorrowful voice.
“But my husband…..”
The officer trailed off, her eyes widening.
“… My husband?”
Legally, she and Isaac Adler were, of course, married.
However, it was merely a contract marriage for mutual benefit. Adler used the inspector’s power, and she used the marriage to prevent the atrocities he would regularly commit against women. It was a sham marriage, devoid of genuine affection from the start.
“……..”
It was supposed to be that way.
“How strange…”
As she watched Isaac Adler groaning with a pale, frightened face, a constricting feeling tightened around her heart.
Is it sympathy?
She thought for a moment but quickly shook her head. Having worked as a police officer and felt pity for countless people, she knew well that the emotion overwhelming her now was not sympathy.
Is it guilt, then?
Could it be that she felt indebted to Adler, who had cleared all her debts and even sent secret donations behind her back?
Yet, the emotion was becoming too intense—far more than necessary.
If it’s not even that…
It was a more primal, instinctive emotion.
… Jealousy?
As Lestrade questioned herself, she suddenly reached a possibility she had never properly considered.
“Huh?”
Stunned, she blinked rapidly.
“… Wha—What a ridiculous thought.”
Lestrade vehemently shook her head and muttered, “A man whose hobby is playing with women… There’s no way I could like him.”
“……..”
“He’s exactly the type I despise the most. Such a scoundrel…”
However, contrary to her words, her gaze began to waver.
“I’m certain I despise him, but…”
Since their agreement, there had never been any reports of him harassing women. Sometimes, when he looked at her with a twinkle in his eye, she thought his otherwise annoying appearance seemed… handsome.
Despite preparing herself to be sullied when she signed the contract, the fact that he had never sexually approached her—except for that one accident—made her feel a confusing sense of fondness.
When she saw his wretched expressions or heard his lonely mumblings, it seemed like he was hiding some dark trauma or secret, which made her worry for him.
When he had proposed, bypassing both Charlotte and Professor Moriarty, her heart had fluttered slightly. It made her wonder if she was just a typical woman after all.
She had wanted an equal marital relationship, not a one-sided one, and the fact that he said she didn’t have to take his last name sounded… romantic.
… But that doesn’t mean I like you…
Even though Gia Lestrade had listed every reason she might find Isaac Adler likeable, she kept her head bowed and her face flushed, denying it to the end.
“This is just… I mean…”
“Home…”
“…..!?”
At that moment, Adler muttered in his sleep.
“… I want to go home.”
Hearing that whimpering murmur, Lestrade’s eyes wavered.
“Please, just let me go home now…”
As far as she knew, Adler had no real place of residence. He had left the academy dorms, and calling a back-alley hideout a "home" was a stretch.
In that case, there was only one place he could be referring to.
“I hate working late… Boss…”
The newlywed home. Lestrade’s house.
—Thump, thump…
“…Uh.”
Reciting that fact to herself, Lestrade suddenly became aware of her heart beating rapidly. She couldn't help but frown.
“No, this isn’t…”
She murmured to herself, purposely leaning her head close to Adler’s face.
“This is just a coincidence… It has nothing to do with Adler…”
—Thump, thump, thump, thump…
“……..”
However, as she tentatively moved her head close enough that their lips might touch, her face turned red as a beetroot. Her heartbeat spiraled completely out of control.
“Uh…”
Frozen, Lestrade looked at Adler for a long time, her mind a whirlwind.
“… Do I really like this person?”
Afraid that her ragged breathing might wake him, she covered her mouth with her hand. Her face was hot, her expression blank.
—Drrriiing…!
….!!!!
Suddenly, the ringing of the newly installed mechanical telephone in the living room echoed loudly.
“Fuh, Fuhaa…”
“Um…”
“… Hic?”
Startled, she let out a gasp. Adler rolled over with furrowed brows in response to her breath and inadvertently wrapped his arm around Lestrade’s waist.
—Tighten…
He held her tightly in his arms and fell back into a deep sleep.
“Er, um…”
Panicked, Lestrade tried to pull away, but she paused when she saw his face relax.
—Swoosh…
She covered her face with both hands and buried her head in Adler’s embrace.
“We shouldn’t be doing this…”
They looked far too innocent for a couple that was just for show. However, the tender moment did not last long.
—Drrriiing, drrriiing…!!!
“Ugh…”
The telephone in the living room rang again, causing Adler to roll over and naturally loosen his grip.
“… Haaa.”
As Adler turned his back to her, a sigh escaped Lestrade’s lips. She was left alone on the edge of the bed.
.
.
.
.
.
“Yes, hello.”
—Inspector Lestrade? It’s Holmes speaking.
About a minute later.
—I wasn't sure if this was the right number. Is this the inspector’s residence…?
“It is, so just get to the point.”
—Ah, yes. The thing is…
With a dark expression, Lestrade stood in the living room, irritably responding to the call from 221B Baker Street.
—I’m just asking in case, but is Adler ther—
“No.”
—Pardon?
Even before Charlotte could finish her question, Lestrade cut her off.
“Adler isn’t here.”
—Really…?
Lestrade's trademark pure white eyes slowly began to shift in color.
“… Why would I lie to you?”