Chapter 85: The Shadow of Britain
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85: The Shadow of Britain
“…Hmm.”
“………”
Inside the secret lair, where the air hung heavy with tension, the royal emissary took a slow sip of the tea Adler had prepared.
“The tea is excellent.”
“…Is that so?”
“It clearly isn't your first time brewing. Quite unexpected, I must say.”
“You flatter me.”
As she offered the compliment with a soft smile, Adler responded with a stiff, forced grin.
“Why do you seem so nervous?”
“Me?”
“I get the feeling you’ve been fidgeting ever since I arrived.”
The emissary gazed intently at Adler over the rim of her cup, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“The Isaac Adler I know doesn’t act so timidly in front of women.”
“That’s…”
“Did you put something in the tea?” she asked, her voice laced with curiosity. “I’ve heard the rumors. Some kind of enchantment that turns women into mindless captives. Sophisticated concoctions circulating in the back alleys—products that even ordinary magic can’t easily remedy…”
“Those are just tall tales. I have nothing of the sort. And even if I did, I’m well aware that using such a thing on you would be a grave mistake.”
“Hmm, and why is that?”
“Are you truly asking because you don’t know?”
Adler’s question was loaded with double meaning. Behind her veil, the emissary’s eyes narrowed as she smiled.
“Even the reckless Isaac Adler wouldn’t dare meddle with royalty. Is that it?”
“…That might be the reason I’m still alive in London, unlike Caroline. Besides, you aren’t even trying to hide it anymore, are you?”
“Between the two of us, what is there left to hide?”
Confronted with her bluntness, Adler scratched his head, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
“Are you really of royal blood?”
“What a sudden question. Haven’t you already deduced everything about me?”
“It’s just strange. No matter how I look at it, it’s hard to believe someone of your stature would come to a place this dangerous alone.”
As he tilted his head, pondering the face hidden behind the veil—
Swish…
“…Oh.”
With a quiet movement, the emissary reached up and removed the veil herself.
““……..””
Before Adler could even think to look away, her face was revealed. Silence descended upon the hideout.
“Are you certain now?”
“………”
“I intended to show you my face today anyway, so relax. Don’t look so agitated.”
As the emissary stood and walked toward him, Adler felt his throat go dry. He swallowed hard.
“…So you truly are a princess. One at the very top of the line of succession, no less.”
“It can’t be helped, considering my grandmother is Queen Victoria herself.”
She carried an aura of antiquity, yet there was something free-spirited and unfettered about her. But beneath that royal grace, there was a hint of unconcealable darkness. The faint dark circles under her eyes stood in stark contrast to her pristine beauty, marking a sharp, unsettling difference.
“What are you staring at so intently?”
“…My apologies.”
Adler, who had been staring blankly, averted his gaze from the princess’s dark smile and bowed his head.
“You’re just… very beautiful.”
“Pfft.”
She tilted her head, letting out a soft chuckle.
“I’ve heard that countless times throughout my rather indulgent lifestyle, but it sounds different coming from you today.”
“……..”
“Look at me, Isaac Adler.”
Before he realized it, she was at his side. She reached out, gently lifting his chin with her hand.
“Do you know?”
“……..”
“I’ve taken a liking to you.”
With a decadent smile, she whispered softly into his ear.
“What about you, Isaac Adler?”
“I don’t quite understand what you’re implying…”
“Don’t you think it’s a waste? Gasping for breath while caught between a detective and a professor?”
The princess’s delicate fingers caressed Adler’s cheek.
“It sounds as if you’re asking me to be yours.”
“Correct. Become my consort.”
“…Are you serious?”
Adler reached up, quietly taking her hand and pulling it away from his face.
“Why do you ask?”
“Even setting everything else aside, the gap in our social status is immense.”
“Social status?”
“I am neither a marquis nor a duke. I am a commoner. I don’t meet the bare minimum requirements to be the consort of a royal heir—especially one so high in the succession.”
“I don’t follow your logic.”
As he protested, the princess’s dull eyes began to glow with an ominous hue.
“You are one of the very few mages in the entire British Empire.”
“…Ah.”
“By ceremonial rank alone, you are equal to any marquis.”
“That’s merely a formal—”
“If necessary, I will simply bestow a title upon you.”
Adler looked up at her, his expression deeply troubled.
“There is no justification for that.”
“Are you unaware that the entire magical community has been turned upside down by the discoveries in the thesis you submitted?”
“…No.”
“I see. The Professor must have hidden it. Just as I expected.”
The princess’s voice grew colder than the Arctic Sea.
“A professor who shoves her only protégé into the shadows rather than bringing them into the light is unfit for her title. Why waste your brilliant talent under such a person?”
“………..”
“With me, you can shine. Of course, our relationship would be the greatest scandal of the age, and you would face no end of criticism—but you’re used to that by now, aren’t you?”
As the atmosphere around her shifted, Isaac Adler began to break into a cold sweat.
“…You know.”
“Yes?”
“Why have you been looking at me with those eyes?”
The princess stared at him with a dark, hollow gaze. Adler bit his lip hard.
“It’s as if you aren’t looking at a princess, but a monster.”
“…………”
“Am I mistaken?”
At that moment, Adler’s eyes trembled violently.
Click!
“Uh.”
In an instant, a small pistol sprang from Adler’s pocket into his hand.
“If you hadn’t been so dead set on brutally murdering me, Princess, I might have actually considered your offer.”
“…How amusing.”
The princess looked down at the pistol and then at Adler’s sweat-drenched face. A sly smile cracked across her lips.
“When did you start to suspect my true identity?”
The raw, predatory hunger finally revealed itself in her dark eyes.
“Since the first time we met, perhaps.”
“That’s quite romantic. But tell me, exactly when?”
Abandoning all pretense of royal grace, she leaned in, softly wrapping her hand around Adler’s shoulder.
“Years ago? Months ago? Days ago? Or was it just now?”
“I don’t need to tell you.”
“Don’t be like that. Tell me.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” Adler asked, his voice shaking.
The princess gently sat on his lap, leaning in until their faces were inches apart.
Ssshhh…
Instead of answering, she pulled a surgical scalpel from her bodice. Her smile was so thick with desire and decadence it felt as if it were dripping from her eyes.
“Sorry, but it’s a bit difficult to explain right now…”
Bang!!!
A gunshot roared through the hideout.
Shudder…
Adler had fired point-blank into the head of the woman sitting on him. He shuddered, his face contorted in a scowl.
Wiggle, squelch…
Her head, now wreathed in a dark, writhing shadow, began to knit itself back together, reverting to its original form.
Ssshhh…
“Look at this.”
In the midst of this grotesque transformation, the princess placed a hand on Adler’s cold, pallid cheek. She whispered in a voice full of twisted love.
“How can I not like you? Even when I’m like this, you don’t turn away.”
“…Cough.”
The scalpel she held plunged deep into his chest, piercing his heart. Dark crimson blood began to seep from Adler’s mouth.
“Are you… cursed too?”
“…I love you.”
Even as he spoke in a voice that was barely a crawl, the princess felt the rhythmic thrumming of his heart through the blade. She finally lost the last of her sanity.
“IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou…”
“Enough… please stop…”
Slowly, she withdrew the knife, only to stab it back into his heart with every word she uttered.
“I love you so very much, Isaac Adler.”
“I’m telling you to stop.”
Covered in his own blood, Adler looked at her with a detached, blurred gaze.
“The detective, the professor, even your little girlfriend…”
She leaned in, a shy expression on her face as she licked his blood from her lips. Her voice was thick with fervor.
“…I’ll kill them all for you.”
Slap!!!
Adler’s eyes turned ice-cold in an instant. He slapped her across the face with every ounce of strength he had left.
“Just shut the hell up.”
Jill the Ripper tilted her head in silence, a look of genuine confusion crossing her face.
“What did you just do?”
“Shut up, bitch.”
“…….?”
.
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.
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Meanwhile…
“This is…”
Gia Lestrade, who was about to leave the back alley leading to Adler’s hideout, froze. Her expression darkened.
“…These are Adler’s men.”
Adler’s subordinates, who had been diligently following her until she arrived, were all lying unconscious in a heap in the corner of the alley.
“…This is trouble.”
She surveyed the scene with a grave look, then turned back, sprinting toward the path she had just come from.