Chapter 34: Push and Pull
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 34: Push and Pull
Charlotte approached Isaac Adler after revealing her true self, whispering in a soft, airy voice.
“I’m not going to eat you, Mr. Adler.”
“…Really?”
Isaac took a cautious step back, a faint, nervous smile playing on his lips. However, his expression shifted the moment she spoke again.
“Even if I did, do you really think you could escape my grasp?”
“…No.”
Resigning himself to the weight behind her words, Isaac sank into a nearby chair with a defeated sigh.
“Please, just be gentle this time.”
“I told you, I’m not going to eat you.”
“After you pounced on me in that basement, I lost all my trust in you, Ms. Holmes.” Isaac glanced at her, muttering under his breath with another sigh. “…Beast.”
Charlotte, momentarily stunned into silence, simply stared at him.
“Anyway, how on earth did you see through my disguise?” Isaac asked, scratching his head and chuckling as if it were all a joke. “It was a perfect disguise, you know.”
In reality, Isaac was busy calculating the probability of whether Charlotte was about to pounce on him again.
“I crafted every inch of that disguise myself,” Charlotte replied. “It would be strange if I didn’t recognize my own handiwork.”
“…The phrasing is a bit suggestive, don’t you think?”
“Now, no matter where you hide, you can’t escape my clutches.”
Charlotte continued to drop statements that made Isaac feel increasingly uneasy.
“…How long have you been following me?”
“Don’t misunderstand. You’re the one who showed up where I was.”
Isaac narrowed his eyes. “Why were you in a dangerous place like this?”
“I was investigating a case.”
“Is this about your partner, Watson?”
Charlotte let out a weary sigh and began to explain. “It wasn’t a formal commission, but the signs were obvious. There’s a problem with a man.”
“You mean Ms. Watson’s partner?”
“He’s been missing for about a month. As her friend, I decided to look into it personally.” Her eyes glinted with a dark, sharp light. “There’s no better place in London for someone to vanish overnight than here.”
“………”
“So, will you tell me now, Mr. Adler?” She suddenly stepped closer, closing the distance. “Why are you here?”
Isaac reflexively hugged himself, as if protecting his virtue from the 'beast' before him, and offered an awkward smile.
“Personal matters.”
“What kind of riddle are you spinning this time?”
“I told you, it’s personal. It has nothing to do with riddles or mysteries.”
Charlotte leaned in even closer, her voice dropping to a dark, heavy whisper. “Then it’s alright if I stay with you?”
“…It’s not.”
“Why?”
Isaac looked troubled, eventually averting his gaze as he replied, “I have someone to meet in private.”
“………”
Silence stretched between them once more.
“Hmph.”
To Isaac’s surprise, Charlotte let out a sharp snort—a sound he had never heard from her before—and turned her head away.
“…And here you said I was your favorite.” She muttered in a cold, biting tone. “So, besides the Professor who is your master, you have someone else to meet?”
“Ms. Holmes, I—”
“Forget it.”
Her lips curled into a petulant pout. She shot Isaac one last look as he stood there scratching his head, then marched out of the room.
“Try doing well without me.”
The door slammed shut behind her.
“…You’ll surely regret this,” she added quietly, the corners of her mouth curving upward.
Push and pull is vital in a relationship, Holmes.
Push and pull?
Exactly. You’ve done nothing but pull this entire time.
It was the perfect opportunity to test the advice Watson had given her a few days ago.
‘Maybe it’s time to push.’
*
“When is she going to show up?”
Quite some time had passed since Charlotte Holmes left the room, but there had been no knock from the doll-maker.
Eventually, I grew tired of lounging on the bed and sat up with a quiet yawn.
“…Hmm?”
I felt something brush against my foot.
“Ah.”
I looked down, a look of disappointment crossing my face.
‘When did she put that there?’
The cat doll that had been tucked under the bed was now lying on its side by my foot. It seemed the doll-maker had already come and gone.
‘…Well, I did pay the deposit in advance.’
Though the delivery was a bit unorthodox, I actually preferred this clean, no-contact approach. Besides, I had more important matters to attend to.
｢Hold on.｣
“…?”
Just as I was about to slide the ring off my finger, a voice echoed in my mind.
｢Stop this.｣
“…Is that you, Princess?”
The moment I asked, the ring began to vibrate violently.
｢You would put me in such a lowly vessel? You must be out of your mind!｣
The voice in my head was more furious than ever. It seemed she was capable of telepathy as well. Given that she had hidden this ability until now, she must have been truly desperate to avoid becoming a cat.
｢I’m warning you, return me to my original form immediately. Do so, and I might spare your life…｣
“…It seems our little princess still hasn’t grasped the situation.”
I hadn’t invested in this expensive doll just to let it go to waste. I curled my lips into a smirk and pulled the ring off, holding it up before my eyes.
｢Wait, what are you doing…｣
“Hmph.”
I tossed the ring into my mouth, abruptly cutting her off.
—Swirl, swirl…
｢…Hngh?!｣
As I rolled the ring around with my tongue, strange, muffled moans reverberated through my mind.
｢Stop! Stop this at once! What on earth are you…｣
“…Should I just swallow you?” I whispered, still keeping the ring inside my mouth.
Princess Clay went dead silent.
“Even if you’re slowly digested in my stomach, you won’t be able to resist.”
｢You…｣
“Or shall I throw you into the river? I don’t really care either way.”
I took the ring out and opened the window. As I held her over the rushing water, the violent vibrations finally began to subside. She was clearly shocked by the rough treatment—or perhaps she had finally realized how precarious her situation was.
“Princess, consider yourself fortunate.”
Either way, it worked for me. Leaning against the windowsill, I smiled and pressed the now-subdued ring into the mouth of the doll.
—Zing!
The cat doll began to glow, enveloped in a deep, blood-red light.
“…Instead of devouring or discarding you, I’ll raise you with my own hands.”
—Purr…
The moment I finished speaking, the kitten doll in my hand began to tremble.
“However, from now on, you are neither a noble princess nor a proud vampire.”
“……!”
She glared at me with pure hatred. I reached down and gently squeezed her belly, causing her eyes to widen like saucers.
“You’re just a pet cat.”
I whispered the words softly. The princess stopped resisting for a moment, looking down at her feline body with a bewildered expression.
“Now, say meow.”
“………”
“If you don’t, there won’t be any blood for you.”
At the threat, she let out a reluctant, pathetic mewl. Her face was a mask of utter shame and hostility.
“…Meow.”
“Good.”
I relaxed my expression and reached out to pet her, but she immediately swiped at me.
“Ow.”
I looked at the deep scratch on my palm. The once-haughty creature immediately began to lick the blood from the wound with her raspy tongue.
“…You’re a spoiled vampire cat.”
“Meow.”
Since it was the first day, I let her have her fill. She looked up at me with haughty eyes as she lapped up the blood.
“…Huh?”
Before long, I noticed her pupils beginning to dilate and relax.
“Now, that’s enough.”
“……!”
I pulled my hand away. She stared at me with a look of pure deprivation.
“From now on, blood is a reward.”
There was a reason I had allowed her to constantly drink from me while she was in ring form. My blood, now that of a true vampire, was essentially a drug to her. She had developed a severe dependency without even realizing it.
“As I said, if you act in a way unbecoming of a cat, or if you defy me, you get nothing.”
I wondered what would happen if I used blood as a disciplinary tool.
“Of course, if you behave, you’ll be rewarded.”
“……!”
“You’re intelligent, Princess. You understand, don’t you?”
The outcome was predictable.
—Sssk.
The princess, who had been gritting her teeth and glaring, closed her eyes tightly and walked toward my legs.
—Swish, swish.
With an expression of profound humiliation, she began to nuzzle her cheek against my calf.
“…Meow.”
She looked up at me, letting out a fairly convincing purr.
“Good girl.”
I offered her my finger, and I soon felt a tingling sensation.
—Swish, swish.
The princess, dazed as she sucked on my finger, continued to rub against my leg, her tail swishing back and forth.
‘…This actually works.’
Breaking a haughty vampire princess was easier than I thought.
‘What is this? Do I actually have a talent for this kind of thing?’
—Bang, bang, bang!!!
“…Huh?”
I was pulled out of my idle thoughts by a sudden, violent pounding on the door.
“Open the door.”
“What… what’s going on?”
A chilling voice echoed from the hallway.
*
Meanwhile…
“………”
Charlotte Holmes was hiding among the addicts, her face still obscured by a disguise. She was watching to see who Isaac Adler’s visitor was, having stayed behind after he kicked her out.
“Huh?”
An unbelievable scene unfolded before her.
“…Watson?”
The person she least expected to see—her only friend, Rachel Watson—was knocking on Isaac Adler’s door.
“Excuse me.”
The door opened, and Watson stepped inside.
—Creak… Squeak…
A moment later, the sound of a bed creaking began to emanate from the room.
‘…She told me to push.’
Charlotte stood there, dumbfounded. Her heart sank into her stomach.