Chapter 23: Quite the Sight
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 23: Quite the Sight
—BANG!!
The reception door slammed open as Charlotte Holmes burst into the room. A heavy, sudden silence followed her entrance.
“…You’re here, Charlotte.”
“It seems the client has already departed.”
Mycrony immediately began fumbling with the buttons of her disheveled blouse. Beside her, Isaac Adler hurriedly averted his gaze, wiping a stray smear from the corner of his mouth.
“What on earth…”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed, her gaze darting between the two of them with intense scrutiny.
“…What were you two doing, sitting together like that?”
“Mr. Adler was just expressing his desire to join the Diogenes Club.”
“Indeed. We were simply filling out the membership application, Miss Holmes.”
Their responses flowed as smooth as silk.
Even for someone as prone to bouts of paranoia as Charlotte, the explanation was convincing enough to warrant a nod of agreement.
“………”
However, Charlotte didn’t nod. Had her sister not been blushing to the tips of her ears—wearing an expression Charlotte had never seen on her face before—and had there not been clear bite marks on her neck, she might have believed them.
“Is something wrong?”
Flustered by Charlotte’s piercing stare, Adler tilted his head and asked a question as she approached.
“…Miss Holmes?”
Without a word, Charlotte grabbed Adler’s arm, hauled him out of his seat, and ushered him toward the door.
“Stay there for a moment.”
With that command, she quietly closed the door, leaving him in the hallway.
“………….”
Back in the silent room, Charlotte stared intently at her sister before speaking in a low, sharp tone.
“You orchestrated that distraction to get me out of the way, didn’t you, Sister?”
Mycrony merely gave a silent, slow nod.
Seeing her sister’s face still flushed with heat, Charlotte’s brow furrowed. Her voice turned ice-cold.
“What exactly did you do with Adler in here?”
At the question, Mycrony’s eyes widened slightly, and her gaze drifted for a moment.
“…Charlotte.”
She began to whisper in a soft, airy voice, resting her chin on her hand.
“I never imagined I’d have to say this to my adorable, beloved younger sister…”
She was recalling the most intense moments of her otherwise tasteless life.
.
.
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.
.
“Hmm…”
Up until the moment Isaac Adler leaned in, Mycrony had felt perfectly composed.
The unfolding events were merely one of dozens of scenarios she had already played out in her mind.
Even so, I doubt I’ll feel a thing.
Even if Isaac Adler was the man who held half the women of London in his grasp, she was certain he couldn’t satisfy her.
Because, much like her sister, Mycrony Holmes bore a curse.
“I’m afraid I am already married to England.”
Because of that curse, Mycrony could not easily feel stimulation or amusement. She had been born with an inherent, soul-deep apathy—anhedonia.
The only things that held any genuine interest for her were her beloved homeland and her adorable younger sister, Charlotte.
By managing a nation as vast as England and forcing herself into its grueling routine, she could somewhat alleviate the crushing weight of her boredom. Observing her sister—the only entity who stood on a somewhat equal intellectual footing—was her only other intriguing pastime.
“That is why, regrettably…”
To her, Isaac Adler was an obvious target for elimination.
Though she was nearing a state of total ennui, Adler remained a threat to the stability of England. Moreover, just a few days ago, he had even managed to bewitch her darling sister.
He truly deserved his reputation as the fox of London—the quintessential playboy.
She had given him a chance—a mere five minutes—in the hope that he might provide some entertainment. But as she watched him, she felt the conclusion was already foregone.
“The methods you usually employ will never work on me…”
It was decided: Isaac Adler would vanish from London today.
“You’re going to be my blood bag.”
“Pardon?”
However, the conclusion she thought was unchangeable…
—Sigh.
“……?”
Unexpectedly, the moment Adler’s eyes bled into a deep shade of crimson and he bit into her slender neck… her logic began to crumble.
“What are you doing, Mr. Adler?”
“………”
“For a kiss, that was rather aggressive…”
With Adler still latched onto her neck, gazing up at her, Mycrony questioned him with a forced, composed expression.
“…But.”
A flash of genuine surprise crossed her face.
“……?”
A tingling sensation was racing along her neck. She could distinctly feel Adler’s sharp fangs buried deep within her skin.
What is this?
Simultaneously, a prickling pain spread from the wound, coursing through every nerve in her body. It was a sensation Mycrony had never experienced in her entire life.
“Huh.”
She had tried everything. Drugs potent enough to liquefy the brain, pain intense enough to extract secrets from the most hardened spies, even concoctions reputed to grant visions of the afterlife…
None of them had ever elicited a single spark of emotion or sensation from her.
“Ahem—”
However, Adler’s act of vampirism—sinking his teeth into her neck and drawing blood with his eyes closed—provided Mycrony with stimulation for the first time in her existence.
“Now, just a moment.”
Like a machine with a malfunctioning logic circuit, the rigid Mycrony suddenly regained her senses and tried to push Adler away.
—Slurp.
Adler stole a lick of the blood flowing down her neck and calmly met her gaze, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
“What… did you do?”
“I drank your blood.”
“I am aware of that. But why…?”
“…Are you asking why you felt something?”
As Mycrony gave a small nod, Adler replied in a soft, low voice.
“Through a certain method, I recently became a genuine vampire. I can bestow my mana and vampiric traits upon those I bite.”
“…Vampire.”
“And by adjusting the concentration, I can maximize the sensitivity of the bitten area.”
His eyes still glowed with an ominous red hue.
“To explain the principle: think of it as temporarily becoming a vampire yourself, subdued by my mana the moment I bite you.”
“………”
“No matter how cursed a body is, it tends to obey its master’s commands.”
“…Is such a thing even possible through magic?”
Faced with a method she had never even considered, Mycrony tilted her head, her eyes clouded with confusion and doubt.
“Infectious code… infiltrating mana to seize control of the target. It’s a strategy I’ve contemplated for a long time.”
“Unless one can create entirely new magic, such a method should be impossible—”
“You talk a lot, don’t you?”
Before she could finish, Adler leaned in again.
“Just be a good little blood bag.”
“Wait a moment…”
Mycrony reached out to stop him, but her hand was effortlessly seized by his.
“Wasn’t it you, Miss Mycrony, who said one shouldn't discriminate when it comes to means and methods?”
Thanks to her naturally frail constitution—having never exercised a day in her life, with what few nutrients she consumed seemingly gathering in her chest—she had no hope of breaking Adler’s grip.
“…..!…..!!”
Outside, her agents seemed to be in a state of chaotic distraction, completely unaware of what was happening inside the room.
“Hold on… ugh.”
As her vision wavered from the sheer shock of the situation, Adler’s fangs found the other side of her neck.
“…Ahhh…”
With both hands pinned and Adler looming over her, Mycrony couldn’t help but close her eyes. She offered no further resistance as the boy drained her blood.
…It hurts.
The girl with severe anhedonia, who had spent her life wishing to feel even a single spark, was finally getting her wish.
So this is what pain feels like.
To her, the pain of the bite—enough to make most people scream in agony—felt like an unstoppable, glorious torrent.
—Shiver…
…I never knew it would be this perilous.
Swept away helplessly by that tide, her mind whited out and came to a complete halt for the first time in her life. No drug or hallucinogen had ever replicated the pure, raw stimulation that now dominated her entire being.
“Ah… uhh…”
Caught in the throes of this overwhelming sensation, Mycrony gasped for air for what felt like an eternity.
—Rustle…
“…..?”
She blinked slowly, feeling a sudden, cold emptiness at her neck.
“………”
Adler licked his lips, lowered his head, and looked directly into her eyes.
“Five minutes have passed, Miss Mycrony.”
With a dazed expression, Mycrony looked blankly at Adler, her mind struggling to process his words.
“…Do you understand now why you cannot kill me?”
Still gripping her arms, Adler added those words, prompting the sharp glint in Mycrony’s eyes to resurface.
“I’m sorry, but I am neither convinced nor satisfied.”
Her voice was cold once more.
“…However.”
Just as Adler began to close his eyes in resignation, she continued.
“Five minutes haven't passed yet.”
Once again, her quiet, meticulous reasoning filled the air.
“………”
Adler looked perplexed, losing his words as she pointed to the clock on the wall.
“It is only 12:10.”
“………”
“There are still fifty-five minutes until 1:05.”
While she should have been averse to the pain, Mycrony was in no position to shy away from this sensation. For the first time in her life, she was feeling something.
Regardless of the consequences, she wanted to be submerged in that intense stimulation right now.
“But… continuing to bite you might endanger your life.”
“Why is that?”
“Your skin is delicate. Even if I bite the sturdiest part of your neck, your blood vessels might not hold up.”
To her surprise, Adler began to explain himself, beads of cold sweat forming on his brow.
“Then, I suppose you can just avoid the lower part of the neck.”
“Excuse me?”
The determination of a woman experiencing a breakthrough for the first time in her life was more terrifying than he could have imagined.
“I never thought my ample assets would come in so handy.”
Just like her younger sister before her, Mycrony was helpless against the allure.
—Rustle…
It was a brief moment after that when Charlotte entered the room.
.
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.
.
“…Your boyfriend is quite the catch.”
Mycrony came out of her reverie, opening her eyes fully for the first time in a long while. She spat out a sentence that seemed impossible coming from her.
“What?”
To Charlotte, who wore a stunned expression, Mycrony added in a faint, lingering voice:
“I think I’d like a turn as well.”
“…You’ve lost your mind.”
The dark gazes of the two sisters locked in mid-air, silent and heavy.
.
.
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.
Outside the reception room, as the tension eased and I felt the adrenaline leave my system, a welcome message popped up before my eyes.
[Probability of Assassination: 69% → 33%]
“Huh?”
Judging by that, it seemed I was quite adept at thinking on my feet.
[Warning!]
[Probability of Confinement: 40% → 60%]
[Probability of Abduction: 25% → 50%]
“…Oh.”
But apparently, not in a good way.