Chapter 249: The Reunion at the Empty House (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 249: The Reunion at the Empty House (2)
“…Adler.”
After what felt like an eternity of pressing her lips to his, Charlotte finally pulled back. Her voice trembled, barely a whisper.
“It’s really… it’s really you, isn’t it?”
Her thin, pale hand reached out to caress his face. She moved with a desperate fragility, as if she needed to confirm that the man before her wasn’t just another cruel illusion.
“…If I’m not Adler, then who else could I be?”
“A—a hallucination… maybe? I used to see you sometimes when I was alone in my room…”
“Could you touch me like this back then?”
“N-no, but…”
Adler gently clasped her hand, holding it firmly. Pressing his cheek against hers, he whispered softly, “You have no idea how much I wanted to come back to you over these past two years.”
As he spoke, Adler reached out, his fingers brushing against Charlotte’s skin.
“…But why do you look so pale?”
His voice laced with growing concern as he examined her. She looked fragile, worn down—far more skeletal than when he had last seen her.
“You haven’t been using drugs or inhaling mana stone powder just because I wasn’t around, have you?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Haaaah…”
Hearing her faint, apologetic admission, Adler let out a heavy sigh. At the sound, Charlotte’s face turned deathly white.
“I—I promise I won’t do it again!”
“…That’s surprising.”
“I swear! I’ll never touch drugs or mana stones ever again! Not even cigarettes! I’ll throw away every pipe and syringe I’ve hidden in the house…!”
Her hands shaking, Charlotte clutched Adler’s hand with a terrifying grip, her voice rising in desperation.
“Just please… don’t… don’t leave me again…”
“………”
“I’ll do anything. Anything you ask of me. Please, just don’t abandon me. Please…”
“I wasn’t planning on leaving to begin with, so calm dow—nmgh.”
Adler, responding with a pitying tone, suddenly winced in pain.
Drip…
“Ah.”
The wound in his hand—caused by stopping Charlotte’s attempt to harm herself—was still bleeding profusely.
“A-Ah… Aaah…”
Realizing this far too late, Charlotte’s face twisted in panic. She released his hand, her own hovering in the air as she floundered.
“W-w-w-wait! Wait! I need to stop the bleeding first…”
“It’s really not that bad—”
Rip!
“…Miss Holmes?”
Before Adler could stop her, Charlotte had already torn a strip from her own shirt to create an improvised bandage.
“H-here, use this at least…”
“…Don’t do anything foolish.”
“Ah!”
As Charlotte frantically reached out to wrap the makeshift cloth around Adler’s hand, Moran suddenly appeared at her side. With a chilling coldness, she smacked Charlotte’s hand away.
“Unhygienic.”
Moran shot Charlotte a frigid glare before pulling a sterile bandage from her coat and carefully wrapping it around Adler’s wound.
“Master is an ordinary human now.”
“………”
“After injuring him, were you planning to give him an infection as well?”
Charlotte, staring blankly at the floor, let out a tiny, timid sound. “I… I’m sorry.”
“…Thank you, Moran.”
“Ah…”
However, the moment Adler flashed a warm smile and thanked Moran, Charlotte’s eyes began to darken again. The faint light in her pupils faded into a hollow void.
“Oh, and you too, Miss Holmes.”
“……?”
Adler’s gentle voice broke through her spiraling thoughts just as they were being submerged in the familiar darkness.
“…Thank you for your concern.”
Adler picked up the torn piece of Charlotte’s shirt from the floor and used it to secure the bandage Moran had applied. His gaze, soft and warm, lingered on her.
“……”
“Ah? Um…”
Charlotte, who had been watching him in silence, suddenly began to tear up again.
“C-can I… come closer again?”
“…Why wouldn’t you be able to?”
When she asked hesitantly, Adler answered with an easy smile.
Pitter-patter…
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Charlotte leapt to her feet and hurried back to his side.
“C-can I touch you?”
“Yes.”
“C-can I lean my head on you?”
“Of course.”
Tentatively, Charlotte wrapped her arms around Adler’s arm and rested her head against his shoulder, her eyes still clouded with uncertainty.
“…Can I stay like this forever?”
“…Of course you can.”
Adler’s expression darkened slightly as he looked down at her. She was a shadow of her former self—hesitant, submissive, and utterly broken.
“If only you could return to the way you were before…”
“N-no, I can’t.”
Adler’s well-meaning plea was met with a trembling rejection as Charlotte shook her head.
“I—I lost you because I did things my way…”
“………”
“…From now on, I want to be yours. Only yours.”
Adler’s expression grew even grimmer, and Charlotte’s face immediately flashed with regret.
“A-Ah, no! I’m sorry! I overstepped!”
“Charlotte…”
“I’ll try to go back to how I was before, I promise! Just please, please don’t abandon me!”
She clung to his arm with a death grip, her voice rising in a panicked shriek.
“I-I’ll even start smoking again, and—no, wait, you said not to do that. Anyway, I’ll become the perfect woman! Just for you! Only for you…!”
“…Do as you wish.”
Seeing her pale, pitiful face twisted with terror, Adler reached out and gently stroked her head. His voice was tender as he whispered once more.
“Because now, no matter what I do, I won’t be able to escape from you anyway.”
*
An unknown amount of time had passed since Adler and Charlotte’s reunion.
“Ugh…”
“…Huh?”
Watson and Inspector Lestrade, who had managed to escape the room thanks to Charlotte’s last-minute intervention, began to stir. Soft groans escaped their lips as their bodies trembled.
“Is this… the hallway…?”
“M-my head hurts…”
Slowly opening their eyes, they blinked groggily, their faces blank as they took in their surroundings.
“…Why are we out here?”
“Indeed. My head aches so much I can barely remember…”
Their voices trailed off as they exchanged bewildered looks. Then, all at once, their eyes widened in alarm.
“…Wait, that smoke from earlier!”
“Ah…! Now that you mention it…!”
The foggy memory of the unearthly grey smoke engulfing them came rushing back, sending chills down their spines.
“That was… horrifying. If we’d stayed in there even a second longer, I’m sure we would have lost our minds.”
“Ugh… I’ve never experienced anything like that. I still feel like I’m suffering from the aftereffects…”
They shuddered, recalling the sensation of their minds being invaded by every fear in the world, as if every nightmare imaginable had clawed its way into their consciousness.
“…In any case, I think it’s best if we retreat for now. It’s been quite some time; I imagine Lovecraft has already fled.”
“Wait a moment.”
“Yes?”
“…Where is Holmes?”
It was only then that they realized Charlotte wasn’t with them in the hallway. Their faces paled instantly.
“S-surely not! Is she still in that room?!”
“No!”
Lestrade staggered to her feet, and Watson, already panicked, bolted toward the room they had fled—the one that had been thick with that cursed smoke.
“W-wait! Prepare yourself before you go in…!”
“There’s no time for that!”
Ignoring Lestrade’s warning, Watson’s mind was consumed by the terror of her precious friend being trapped in that hellish chamber. Without thinking, she reached for the doorknob.
“Holmes… Eh?”
But she stopped in her tracks. The door wasn’t closed; it was wide open.
““………””
A short but heavy silence followed.
“…What am I even looking at right now?” Watson murmured in a low, disbelieving voice, her face frozen. “Have I already gone mad because of the smoke?”
“W-why? What is it?”
Behind her, Lestrade peeked her head out, concern etched across her features. “What’s inside that room that has you so—”
Her voice, too, died in her throat.
““………””
“A-Ah, um, that is to say…”
Standing in the doorway was Isaac Adler—who had unequivocally died two years ago—holding a teary-eyed Charlotte. She was clinging to his arm, trembling as he supported her weight.
Neither Watson nor Lestrade could speak. Their eyes were fixed on the impossible.
“The timing… isn’t exactly ideal, is it?”
““………””
“Ahaha… haha…”
Adler awkwardly scratched the back of his head, a sheepish grin spreading across his face. Watson and Lestrade, who had been silently staring at him, slowly turned to look at each other.
“Inspector, please slap me across the face.”
“…I’d like the same, if you don’t mind.”
“Excuse me, ladies?”
As the two women raised their hands in the air with dazed expressions, Adler quickly reached out to grab their arms, clearly alarmed.
“As hard as it may be to believe, it’s really me…”
““………””
“So let’s all just calm down and put our hands down, shall we?”
Sweat trickled down Adler’s face as he tried to explain himself, his tone increasingly desperate.
““………””
Feeling the unmistakable warmth of his touch, Watson and Lestrade’s eyes widened further.
“…You’re really Adler?”
“Y-yes, I am.”
“Can you swear it? On the heavens above?”
“O-of course I can.”
Adler stammered, clearly unnerved by the increasingly icy expressions on their faces.
Click…
Swoosh…
“Uh, w-wait…?”
His unease turned into outright panic as Watson and Lestrade calmly but firmly drew a pistol and a baton. Their gazes turned cold and lethal.
“Don’t lie. Adler is dead.”
“…Who are you, really?”
“I-it’s me! It’s really me!”
Adler frantically waved his hands, trying to dissuade the two women who now had their weapons aimed squarely at his chest.
“Prove it, then. Tell us something only Adler would know.”
“Oh, that? Sure! I can do that!”
He hastily nodded, attempting to put on a confident front.
“…Who was Adler’s first spouse?” Watson demanded, her voice chilling.
“Oh, that’s an easy one! Of course, it’s—”
He began to answer with a wide, relieved smile, only to falter as he registered the dark, foreboding expressions on their faces.
““Of course, who?””
“…Ah.”
Both women tightened their grips on their weapons. Their glares turned even colder as they repeated the question in an ominously synchronized voice. Adler’s face paled as he froze, realizing the trap he had walked straight into.
“Well, uh, you see, um… that is to say…”
““…………””
“The concept of marriage, you know, it’s, uh… it’s kind of… um, how should I put this…? Err…”
Adler’s words stumbled over themselves as he tried to talk his way out of the situation, his face drenched in sweat. Meanwhile, the two women glared at him with murderous intensity, their patience wearing dangerously thin.
“That’s such a simple question, and yet you’re taking so long to answer, aren’t you?”
“…Indeed. It’s a question with a very clear and obvious answer.”
“Oh my, Inspector, you think so too?”
“Naturally. After all, there’s only one correct answer, isn’t there?”
Their voices dripped with venom as they shifted their weapons closer. The oppressive aura around them made Adler visibly cower.
This was his karma.
“…Please spare me.”