Chapter 248: The Reunion at the Empty House
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 248: The Reunion at the Empty House
“Hah, hah… Haaa…”
Sprawled on the floor and drenched in a cold sweat, Charlotte gasped for air, desperately trying to lift her head.
“W-What… on earth…”
Her usually sharp reasoning and keen insight were failing her, dissolving into a blurred nothingness.
Her vision had long since fractured, showing her nothing but phantoms and illusions, while her hearing fluctuated between the hollow whispers and manic shouts of beings that didn’t exist.
The smoke engulfing the room gave her the horrifying sensation that, at any moment, something unspeakable would emerge from the haze to ensnare her.
It was an indescribable, overwhelming weight, as if she were being crushed by the gaze of something colossal. An overbearing presence lurked just beyond the night sky, peering in from the very edges of the universe.
Every movement in the room felt as though it were ripping her soul to shreds. No one inside—Charlotte included—could even draw a proper breath.
“Uggghh…”
Gritting her teeth, she struggled to break free from the oppressive atmosphere. For a fleeting moment, her vision latched onto something real amidst the maddening chaos.
“G-Get away from meeeee…!”
Watson was thrashing wildly, her face pale and contorted as if she were on the verge of suffocation.
“Ugh…”
And Lestrade, though she hadn’t succumbed to total panic like Watson, stood frozen like a statue, her face equally ashen.
“… No!”
At the sight of them, a sudden surge of strength coursed through Charlotte’s body. Her eyes burned with raw determination.
“I won’t… lose you too!”
With a desperate cry, she forced herself up, her face etched with anguish.
“Never… never again!”
Summoning a strength that seemed impossible for a girl of her stature, she hoisted both Watson and the Inspector onto her shoulders and bolted toward the door.
— Bang!
A moment later, she kicked the door open with a heavy crash.
“Ugh…”
“Cough, cough…!”
As fresh air rushed into the hallway, Watson and the Inspector began to recover. Their expressions loosened as they gasped and coughed, their lungs finally clearing.
“Haa… Hah, hah…”
However, Charlotte had expended every ounce of her energy carrying them. She leaned against the wall, pale and panting heavily, her body on the verge of collapse.
— Creeeak…
She bit her lip hard, forcing herself to move. She tried to guide them further away from the room, which was still thick with swirling grey smoke.
— Holmes…
And then, suddenly.
— Miss Holmes…
“… Huh?”
A voice rang out from behind her. It was far too familiar—a voice she hadn’t heard in two years, yet one she could never forget.
“Ad… ler?”
Charlotte froze in the doorway, her eyes wide with disbelief. Slowly, she turned her head to look back into the room, staring at the figure that had silently manifested within the smoke.
— You’re going to leave me behind…?
“A-Ah…”
— Again…?
Adler stood quietly amidst the shifting haze, his expression heartbreakingly sorrowful as he whispered to her.
— For these past two years, I’ve always wanted to see you…
“Th-That… that’s… the same for me…”
— Then why are you trying to leave me…
“No, no!”
Charlotte trembled uncontrollably. As her past trauma surged back, she cried out against Adler’s soft, haunting words.
— Thud…
“I-I’m not leaving… I’ll never leave!”
In her panic, she hastily shoved Watson and the Inspector further into the hallway and retreated back into the room, her mind spiraling out of control as she slammed the door shut behind her.
“See? See? Do you see? I’ll always, always stay by your side…”
Turning back with a strained, frantic smile, Charlotte’s voice suddenly trailed off.
“… Adler?”
Her eyes widened in shock. Adler, who had just been standing there with those pitiful eyes, was nowhere to be seen.
“W-Where did you go… Hrk!?”
Charlotte’s gaze darted nervously around the room, searching for him, but she suddenly clamped her hand over her mouth and sank to the floor.
“A-ah… Hmnph…”
The grey smoke surged again, creeping toward her and suffocating her with its oppressive, smothering presence.
“Where… where are you, Adler…”
Even so, biting her lip until it bled, Charlotte forced herself to crawl forward toward the spot where he had been standing moments before.
“I saw you… I know I did… I know I did…”
— Goooooooooooooo…
“You… you were here… you were…”
The terror clawing at her from all sides brought tears to her eyes, but she refused to stop. She pressed on, crawling with all her might.
“Just once… just once, exactly as you did two years ago…”
— Creak…
“Please… hold me…”
Her trembling fingers gripped the creaking wooden floorboards. Her voice was barely a whisper as she pleaded softly.
— Drip, drip…
Suddenly, crimson droplets began to fall in front of her, staining the wood.
“A… ah…?”
Charlotte stared blankly at the red drops, her breath hitching. Summoning the last of her strength, she lifted her head. Her pupils dilated in sheer horror.
— But, Holmes…
“……..”
— I’m already dead, you know…
Adler had reappeared, but his body was grotesquely twisted, his joints bent at unnatural, bone-breaking angles. Blood poured from his entire frame, and he wore a chilling, hollow smile as he stared down at her.
— There’s no way I could hold you like this…
“A-Agh…”
Charlotte reached out a trembling hand, but it passed straight through Adler’s figure as if he were made of nothing but mist.
— Are you stupid?
— So stupid… such a fool…
As Charlotte sat there in a daze, voices crept in from both sides. Figures leaned close to her ears, whispering mockingly.
— Kyaheehee, kyaaa…
— Kyaa…
“………”
Charlotte’s lifeless gaze flickered as the realization dawned on her—the figures surrounding her were none other than Adler’s children. The same children she had seen in the Professor’s office.
The light within her eyes began to fade entirely, turning dull and vacant.
“”……….””
And then, silence. A cold, dreadful silence.
“… So, what should I do?”
Breaking the quiet, Charlotte finally spoke. Tears streamed down her face as she cracked a half-insane smile. Her question was directed at the Adler before her.
“What must I do to hold you in my arms again…?”
— Oh dear, poor… Holmes.
Adler’s voice, strangely adopting the Professor’s tone and demeanor, whispered into her ear.
— You already know, don’t you?
“……..”
— The way to be with me again.
Hearing those words, Charlotte’s eyes lost all color, turning into empty pools of soulless void.
“… Yes. That’s right.”
— Ssshhh…
“I’ve known all along, haven’t I…”
A moment later, her trembling hands reached into her coat and pulled out a small knife.
“I’m sorry… for loving you so much… yet never having the courage until now…”
“……..”
“But… n-now, at long last, I’ll come to you…”
The sharp blade, enveloped by her dark mana, rose to her throat. It hovered over a vital spot—one shallow cut, and her life would slip away forever.
“… Please forgive me.”
In that precarious state, Charlotte’s tear-streaked face turned toward Adler, who appeared to be weeping crimson tears of his own. Her voice was barely audible.
— Tremble, tremble…
But as she pressed the knife against her skin, Charlotte’s hand began to shake violently, overwhelmed by the countless, eerie eyes that had suddenly filled the room.
— What’s wrong?
Adler leaned forward, his lips curling into a sinister smile.
— Don’t you want to be in my arms?
“No…”
Charlotte’s response was a whisper, weak but resolute. She squeezed her eyes shut, gripping the knife tighter.
“… I’ll be in your arms now.”
— Shlkk…
The sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed through the room, slicing through the oppressive air.
And then, silence. An agonizing, lingering silence.
.
.
.
.
.
An eternity, or perhaps only a heartbeat, passed.
“……?”
Charlotte, who had been bracing herself to drive the blade deeper into her neck, suddenly felt something was wrong. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
“What?”
What greeted her was a scene completely transformed. Her surroundings were unrecognizable from the nightmare of moments ago.
“Cough, cough… ugh…!”
“My goodness, what on earth is this…”
“… Open the windows. And the door too—keep them wide open.”
The peculiar sight of Princess Clay donning a strange mask, alongside Silver Blaze, filled her vision. They were ventilating the room under Moran’s cold and curt orders.
“How… how are you all here…?”
— Shhhk…
“… Hick!?”
Charlotte, staring at them as if they were ghosts, suddenly flinched when someone draped a coat over her shoulders from behind.
“Miss Holmes.”
A warm voice resonated behind her.
“…….!”
Though the voice was the same as the one she had heard earlier, this time it was clearer, softer—filled with a warmth that pierced through her frozen, soulless state.
“You asked what you needed to do to find your way back into my arms, didn’t you?”
“…. A-Ah.”
Slowly, she turned her head. Her expression was filled with disbelief, as if she didn’t dare hope for what she might see.
“That’s quite an intriguing riddle, isn’t it?”
“Aaaah…”
Her trembling eyes locked onto the face before her—the face that had once stolen her heart with its gentle, kind smile. And now, there he was again, as if no time had passed at all.
“Shall I solve it for you?”
“Isaac…?”
The mana that had once surrounded him was gone, but there was no mistaking him. Standing right before her was the person she had yearned for all these years.
“The answer is… you don’t have to do anything.”
His right hand, bloodied and gravely injured from stopping her knife with his bare palm, trembled slightly as he spoke.
“… Because I’ve already come back to you.”
Charlotte, whose mind had gone utterly blank for the first time in her life, stood frozen. Isaac Adler, without hesitation, extended his arms and pulled her into a tender embrace.
“There’s no need to do anything at all…”
Hearing those words, Charlotte’s eyes welled up with hot tears.
“A-Aaaaah… Isaac…”
“……..”
“Isaac, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac…”
Her tears, which had been cold and lifeless for the past two years, now glimmered with golden hues once more.
“I… missed you.”
“… Me too.”
With tears streaming down her face, Charlotte pressed her forehead against his, her voice trembling with emotion. And then, as his gentle whisper reached her ears, she closed her eyes tightly and pressed her lips to his.
How pure and lovely.
“”……….””
Through the now-open window, unusually bright sunlight poured into the room, illuminating the two of them as if the world itself had finally begun to heal.