Chapter 77: Caroline Augustus Milverton
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 77: Caroline Augustus Milverton
“I’m not sure if you fully understand the implications of what you have just said.”
Amid the chilling silence, a stern voice drifted from behind the veil.
“Are you perhaps underestimating the power of the royal family? It seems to me that Miss Mycrony failed to properly explain the inner workings of the British government’s shadows to you.”
“Excuse me, but I believe I understand the implications perfectly well.”
“Then I assume you’re also aware of what will happen if you leave this room as things stand?”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
As I scratched my head and spoke, the woman behind the veil slightly tilted her head to the side.
“You need to understand one thing: no matter how hard you try or what power you wield, if you walk out of this room right now, you won’t live to see tomorrow.”
“What if I just take you hostage right now, Princess?”
“I’m not sure what makes you say that, but I am not a princess.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that? Not when the royal knights and guards have surrounded the building, their senses sharp for the slightest anomaly, and numerous snipers have their weapons locked onto me as we speak?”
The moment I said those words, she straightened her back and sighed.
“And you’re telling me that, despite knowing all that, you still chose to act this way in front of royalty?”
“All the more reason for me to take you hostage right now, don’t you think?”
“That is far too reckless.”
“Please note that if I see you raising your hand or sending a signal, I will attack immediately. So, please consider your next move carefully.”
As I whispered those words with a stern expression, a small laugh emanated from behind the veil.
“Indeed, you are a savage, just as I’ve heard.”
“………”
“But if you keep running wild like this, you might end up as a display piece in my room someday.”
The relaxed voice that followed was filled with the unmistakable dignity and authority of royalty. Judging by her tone and attitude, her confidence seemed well-founded—quite unlike the opponents I’ve dealt with so far.
“Isaac Adler. Apologize for insulting Her Majesty immediately and obey her command.”
“………”
“The royal family is already aware of everything you and the professor have been up to. Naturally, we have already prepared a countermeasure.”
Sure enough, seeing my momentary silence, she began making a series of dizzying remarks directed straight at me.
“With a single command, the full military might of the British Empire will be mobilized to trample you and crush you completely. We have already reached an agreement with the Prime Minister regarding this stance, so you must make your choice with the utmost haste.”
“………”
“As a British citizen, choose who you will serve as your queen this instant.”
I felt a chill run down my spine, and cold sweat began to bead on my skin.
“…But I have only one queen.”
Still, my response remained the same.
“No matter how many times you ask, my answer will not change.”
A heavy silence ensued.
“…I don’t understand.”
Sitting in my chair, I swallowed hard, completely ignoring the killing intent surging from behind me. At that moment, the princess’s voice—a mix of confusion and frustration—leaked out from behind the veil.
“Simply saying you would follow Her Majesty would have been enough to save your life.”
“……….”
“Weren’t you forced to join that professor? Why would you pass up such a perfect opportunity to get rid of her, especially with the support of the royal family?”
Quietly gazing at her silhouette, I replied in a low, deep voice.
“I cannot betray the entity I’ve created.”
“Pardon?”
To put it simply, I was unable to summarize the myriad of strange feelings I harbored toward Professor Jane Moriarty.
“As a creator, I cannot betray my creation.”
“…Is that how it is?”
As I blurted out the most trivial reasoning I could find, the voice before me grew far chillier than before.
“Perhaps I have been misreading this scenario from the very beginning.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“The one who needs to be eliminated is you. You were the mastermind behind everything all along.”
The hostility in her voice was so palpable that my body began to tremble involuntarily.
“An average university professor who had shown no noteworthy movement suddenly becomes a prominent figure in the mathematical world—and at the same time, she begins making a name for herself in the criminal underworld.”
“……….”
“Her appearance was so abrupt that my informants couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation. But now, I fully understand the reason.”
Suddenly, it felt as though the thick killing intent surrounding the building was focused entirely on me.
“The one who shaped her from a raw gem… it was none other than you, wasn’t it?”
“…Hmm.”
“You were the orchestrator, not the professor, from the very start. Since I misinterpreted the origin, no matter how I moved my pieces, nothing would have been resolved.”
I felt like vomiting due to the extreme tension in the atmosphere, but I merely responded with a leisurely smile.
“You have a pretty good head on your shoulders, don’t you, Princess?”
“Should you be admitting to it so easily?”
“The professor is just following my orders. Even if you kill her, unless you kill me too, London will turn into a war zone sooner or later.”
Though her expression was hidden, I could imagine the princess’s eyes narrowing behind the veil.
“It appears to me now that we should be capturing you instead of the professor.”
“Well, why don’t you try it right now? Let’s see if I can attack you, escape this place by using you as a hostage, and then mobilize my colleagues scattered all over London before I am captured or annihilated. I am dying to find out if I can pull it off; it sounds quite thrilling.”
“………”
“If you don’t want to start a game of tag with the fate of London at stake, let’s negotiate, Princess.”
Calculating every possible reaction to my threat, I silently threw a gambit.
“Surely we can find a compromise that satisfies us both.”
Once again, silence descended between us.
“Hmm…”
As I desperately tried to hide the frantic beating of my heart, the only sound echoing in the room came from behind the veil…
“…I apologize, but I don’t think that will be possible.”
A moment later, the princess’s firm response made me close my eyes tightly.
“Therefore, it is time for me to deliver Her Majesty’s real orders to you.”
However, her subsequent words were quite different from what I had expected.
“Are you saying the Queen didn’t order the professor’s elimination?”
“That was actually a personal request of mine. I am the only one in the royal family who noticed your suspicious activities.”
“……….”
“Of course, since it was a personal request, I couldn’t actually mobilize the royal army against you. At the very least, it’s fortunate that I now have confirmation that you are definitely planning something behind the scenes.”
For a moment, I was stunned. I wasn’t sure which princess she was, but wouldn’t Britain’s future be quite bright if she became the next queen?
“…So, what are the real orders?”
“Hehe.”
When I asked the question, my ego slightly bruised from being played like a puppet, the princess chuckled and reached into the pocket of her dress.
- Rustle…
A moment later, a slender, pale hand slipped out from behind the veil, placing something before me.
“This is…”
As the hand retreated, a photograph came into view.
“Who is this?”
“I didn’t think you would fail to recognize her.”
As I gazed at the unidentified figure in the photograph, the princess responded with a faint hint of disbelief.
“Caroline Augustus Milverton. Don’t you know her?”
“Ah.”
Only then did I realize the identity of the person in the photo.
“Of course I do.”
Caroline Augustus Milverton.
In the Sherlock Holmes novels, the character was a villainous man named Charles Augustus Milverton—a heinous manipulator who controlled the elites of London’s upper class by exploiting their weaknesses.
In the original story, he manipulated Holmes and Watson’s plans and even blackmailed them, forcing them to break into his mansion. He was a formidable and intimidating villain.
Because of that backstory, the gender-bent version of him, Caroline, had been adapted into the gal game our company was developing as one of the top mid-bosses.
“Of course you should know her. There’s a famous joke that if half the women in London belong to Isaac Adler, then half the men belong to her, isn’t there?”
“Is there really such a rumor going around?”
“The problem is that it’s not a joke or a rumor; it is a cold fact.”
Naturally, since the original villain targeted famous women in society, this gender-bent version targeted their male counterparts, just as the princess described.
“Anyway, I believe you’ve realized by now why I showed you her picture.”
“…You want me to take care of her?”
“One of Her Majesty’s honorable acquaintances is in quite a predicament because of her.”
With her background in mind, I asked the question, and the princess’s cold voice returned.
“Judging by the honorifics you use for this acquaintance, the person must be royalty as well?”
“…Don’t bother digging deeper into this matter.”
“Well, understood.”
Nodding quietly, I picked up the photograph from the desk.
“What exactly should I do with her?”
“Neutralize her. Don’t worry about the means; you may do whatever you see fit to take her out.”
“I never imagined I would be asked by the royal family, of all people, to facilitate a crime.”
“As long as you carry out the orders of Her Majesty, your actions will not be deemed a crime.”
At her words, I chuckled and rose from my seat. The princess did the same.
“…Keep this in mind…”
The woman, seemingly wearing a long robe, glanced at me and spoke from behind the veil.
“I am keeping a close eye on your suspicious activities in London.”
“…………”
“You will have to correct the impure schemes you are harboring as soon as possible.”
Hearing her, a question immediately popped into my head.
“If you’re so wary of me, why haven’t you revealed my secrets to anyone yet?”
“If it weren’t for the business regarding Caroline, I would have reported your activities to Her Majesty the Queen long ago.”
“If it were me, I would have told her anyway, just in case.”
To that, the princess merely replied in a calm, dignified voice.
“I have the perfect card in my hand—a card I can use to control and keep you to myself. Why would I let others have a piece of it?”
“Are you planning to use me in the internal power struggles of the royal family?”
“Not necessarily for that reason alone, though you aren’t inaccurate in your reasoning.”
With that, she began walking toward the secret door beyond the veil.
“Then, is there another reason?”
“Well, you’re quite handsome, aren’t you?”
As the princess left those words behind and stepped through the secret door, her figure hidden to the last, the palpable tension in the room vanished as if it had never existed.
“…The last statement must have been a joke, right?”
Thinking about how 19th-century princesses were surprisingly good at joking, I silently headed toward the door at the back of the room.
“……..?”
As I opened the door, I was taken aback by the sight before me. My eyes widened, and I tilted my head to the side.
“Professor?”
Professor Moriarty was standing there awkwardly, enduring the icy gaze of Charlotte, who was sitting on the sofa across from her.
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t follow us?”
“……….”
As I looked at her in confusion and moved toward her, Professor Moriarty subtly averted her gaze, avoiding my eyes.
- Swish…
In her slightly awkward state, she imperceptibly extended her hand to me. As I reflexively held out my palm, she gently placed something on top.
“…A gift, for you.”
There were three sugar cubes—the ones she loved so much—placed in my palm.
“Thank… you?”
“…Mr. Adler.”
While I was scratching my head and popping one into my mouth with an awkward smile, I heard Charlotte’s icy tone from behind.
“What is that picture in your hand?”
She was staring at the photo of the elegant woman in my other hand.
“This is…”
Immediately, a light bulb went off in my head.
“…It’s the subject of a bet.”
The eyes of both Charlotte and Professor Moriarty began to glow with an ominous light at the same time.
.
.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at that moment…
“…Miss, Count Winston has contacted us to request a meeting with you.”
“Decline it.”
In a darkened room, a woman sat in an armchair, resting her chin on her hand as she stared blankly at a picture.
“I have been informed that if you refuse to meet him, there will be trouble regarding your safety, Miss…”
“I don’t care.”
A cold voice leaked from her lips.
“…I have already chosen a new target.”
Reflected in her eyes was the image of a boy with golden hair.
“Surely, you don’t mean Isaac Adler, do you?”
“…Hehe.”