Chapter 86: The Shadow of Britain (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 86: The Shadow of Britain (2)
“Hey, you know…”
“………”
“You’re actually kind of amazing.”
A few minutes had passed since Isaac Adler, his face twisted in a fierce snarl, had spat curses at Jill the Ripper.
“… Cough.”
“I’ve never felt this much pain before.”
Jill the Ripper, her cheeks swollen and bruised, had finally managed to restrain Isaac Adler in the chair after a grueling struggle. She stared at the bound man with a dazed, hypnotic expression, whispering to herself like a rhythmic chant.
“Honestly, it was almost scary… Being grabbed by the collar, slapped across the face, kicked in the stomach… and then having you climb on top of me to strangle me…”
“………”
“It was a rare experience. To feel like a victim… it was absolutely thrilling.”
Her eyes slowly began to cloud with the sweet, dark colors of desire and obsession.
“Ah… I really do love you, Adler.”
Thuck—!
“Keep looking at me with that contemptuous gaze, okay?”
Jill the Ripper was more careful now than she had been moments ago. She pushed her medical blade deeper into Adler’s heart, pressing her swollen cheek against his as she whispered in a low, sultry tone.
“And keep resisting me like that while I’m killing you. Just like before—thrash around like a wild animal and try to choke the life out of me.”
“………”
“I’ll do my best to slaughter you in return. That’s a promise, okay?”
Hearing her chilling words, Isaac Adler looked at Jill the Ripper as if he were staring at a disgusting cockroach.
“Hehehe… I love you.”
Grit…
Unable to control the frantic pounding in her chest at the way he looked at her, Jill the Ripper suddenly pulled Adler into a crushing embrace. In response, his sharp teeth sank deep into her shoulder.
“You’re being reckless, Adler.”
Crunch…
“Hey, it would be a sin to leave a scar on my chest, you know? Maybe you should stick to the stomach like before, or go back to my neck…”
She trailed off, staring blankly at him, before muttering with a look of genuine curiosity.
“…You speak as if you actually are royalty.”
“Huh?”
“Even though you stole that body.”
At his sarcastic remark, Jill the Ripper blinked rapidly and began scratching her head.
“It’s disappointing to hear you say that.”
“What’s there to be disappointed about…?”
“I may have many bodies, but this one is the closest to my original self.”
She sat down neatly beside Adler, a decadent smile gracing her luscious lips.
“Of course, my identity is a bit of a jumble. I can become anyone, provided I kill them with my own hands.”
She began to explain slowly, her expression turning modest, almost shy.
“A Jewish barber in a bustling shop, a kind lawyer who dabbles in medicine, a painter with a penchant for the macabre, even a nurse who disguises herself as a man…”
“………”
“The feeling of transforming into a being whose life ended by my hand is the ultimate high. Stealing someone else’s life and being reborn… while not quite as thrilling as the murder itself, it’s still absolutely divine.”
When Adler continued to direct that same disgusted gaze at her, Jill the Ripper flushed crimson and gingerly leaned her head on his shoulder.
“But, in the end, I was born in this very body. It might sound conceited coming from my own lips, but this form is graceful and noble. The perfect body of a royal.”
“………”
“That’s why my proposal to make you my consort wasn’t a trap. It was my sincere feelings for you. The sincerity not of the 'worst serial killer' the newspapers scream about, but that of a princess…”
Her gaze suddenly turned frigid.
“…Why do you have to make it so obvious?”
Squeltch—!
“Then I’ll have no choice but to treat you like the monster they portray.”
As she spoke, Jill the Ripper ripped the knife out of Adler’s heart and thrust it back in with violent vigor.
“Iloveyou, loveyou, loveyou, loveyou…”
“…I have a question.”
Adler’s face was as pale as a sheet of paper. He watched her repeatedly stab his chest with every word she uttered, then reached out, grabbed the blade to steady it, and posed a question to the murderer.
“Why are you trying to kill me if you claim to love me?”
“…You did the same thing last time.”
She relaxed her grip slightly, her voice falling into a rhythmic murmur.
“That image of you… being mercilessly stabbed by me in that den of beasts, yet not even blinking as you ask me questions…”
“Answer the question.”
“…It’s that very image.”
Her eyes glowed with an eerie, dark hue.
“Imagine this: a serial killer who only feels love and happiness when taking a life. One day, she meets a victim who, no matter how many times he is killed, simply won’t die. How do you think that feels?”
“Is it… a curse, then?”
“A curse? I’ve never thought of it that way…”
She tilted her head, gently stroking Adler’s cheek, which had become as cold as a slab of ice.
“Calling it a curse feels like trying to justify it, doesn’t it? I don’t like that. I’m saying that killing is the most enjoyable thing in the world to me. It’s as if I was chosen for it.”
“………”
“Actually, it is a bit strange. Everyone I liked and killed turned out to be a criminal… I used to think it was just a coincidence. But it started to feel like something more…”
Her expression suddenly darkened.
“Yeah, now that I think about it, that’s probably why I hit a slump.”
“Even killers go through slumps?”
“But just then, you appeared! Ta-da~!”
Her face brightened instantly, radiating a twisted joy.
“The moment I saw you, I felt the strongest urge to kill I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
“………”
“It was love at first sight. Since that day, my heart has belonged to you, Isaac Adler.”
“…Ugh!”
With a voice thick with heat and desire, she suddenly reached out and seized Adler’s throat.
Swish…
“I love youuu…”
Without even realizing it, Jill the Ripper climbed onto his lap, drooling slightly as she began to strangle him with her bare hands.
“…Huh?”
Adler stared intently into her eyes, then extended his hand with all his remaining strength to grasp Jill’s throat in return. An awkward, manic smile spread across her face.
Squeeze…
Thus began a desperate, sincere contest of strangulation.
As their vision blurred and their senses faded, both began to lose the strength in their grips.
“”………””
After several agonizing seconds, they both collapsed against each other, losing consciousness simultaneously.
“…Hehehehe.”
Jill the Ripper was the first to wake, her head resting on Adler’s chest.
“Gasp… Haah…”
“Look at this, Adler.”
As Adler suddenly gasped for air, his body shivering violently, she began to whisper with the expression of a girl in love, the brief flicker of concern in her eyes vanishing instantly.
“You really never die, no matter how many times you’re killed.”
“………”
“So, I’ll make you one last offer.”
She took Adler’s hand, her voice pleading.
“Leave the detective and the professor behind. Come to me.”
“………”
“Let’s live happily ever after, trying to kill each other for the rest of our lives.”
When Adler remained silent, Jill the Ripper’s expression grew slightly flustered.
“Hey, I’m in line to be the next queen, you know? I have the power to make you my royal consort easily.”
“………”
“Of course, if you don’t like that, we can live an ordinary life.”
She glanced at him with a shy, fleeting smile.
“I can learn how to keep a house. Cooking, knitting… I might not be good at them yet, but I’ll work hard to learn.”
“…….”
“So, live with me.”
“………”
“Until we get sick of each other, trying to kill one another. Okay?”
But Adler remained silent until the very end, simply gazing at her with that same unreadable look.
“Adler, can’t you hear me…?”
“I refuse.”
Just as Jill’s voice was beginning to sharpen with agitation, a firm rejection leaked from his lips.
“What?”
“I have no intention of being with you.”
Jill the Ripper’s face twisted violently. She glared at him, her eyes burning with a manic intensity.
“Why? Whywhywhywhywhy?!”
She began to viciously plunge her knife into Adler’s body again.
“I love you! So why don’t you love me back?!”
“…Ugh.”
“I love you! I’m telling you I love you! Adler!”
As the violence escalated, Adler’s mind began to drift, fading from the excessive blood loss.
“Aren’t you going to kill me? Won’t you kill me? If you don’t want to die, just say you love me too…!”
“You’re mistaken. That’s not it.”
“…Eh?”
Despite the haze, Adler’s gaze remained clear. With the last of his strength, he kicked Jill the Ripper square in the stomach in the middle of her frenzy.
“Ugh…!”
“What you’re doing right now isn’t love.”
She collapsed to the floor, clutching her stomach and breaking into a cold sweat. Adler leaned over as much as his bonds allowed and whispered in a low, raspy voice.
“Then… what is it?”
“This is just violence. It’s nothing but one-sided brutality. It isn’t love, and it isn’t affection.”
“No, it is. It’s definitely love…”
Jill the Ripper murmured dejectedly, looking utterly incapable of comprehending his words.
“Real love, you see…”
Gazing into her eyes, Adler suddenly leaned his head forward.
“…Mmph.”
He pressed his lips to hers, his tongue sliding past the teeth of the bewildered Jill the Ripper.
“”………..””
A heavy silence fell between them.
“…? …..???”
Experiencing a sensation she had never known, Jill the Ripper froze solid, her face a mask of pure confusion.
“…Phew.”
After a moment of intimacy while she kept her eyes tightly shut, Adler slowly pulled back and met her gaze once more.
“It’s like this.”
A thin thread of saliva stretched and broke between their lips. He whispered to her again, his voice steady.
“It’s not the violence you commit. This is love and affection.”
“………”
“Do you see the difference now?”
Jill the Ripper’s eyes began to tremble in the silence.
“It’s weird.”
“What is?”
“My tongue tickles. It feels like your tongue is still inside my mouth.”
She mumbled blankly for a moment, then suddenly bared her teeth and began to growl.
“It’s really weird. My chest is burning hot. I don’t like this!”
Thuck—!
“The slimy feeling won’t go away. It’s unpleasant. I—I feel terrible!”
As her knife dug into his neck, Adler’s eyes finally began to lose their focus.
“What is love, anyway? No matter how I think about it, this isn’t it!”
“Ugh…”
“I feel so strange. Foolish. Annoyed. Weird. I really hate…”
She looked at him with a flustered, panicked gaze and tried to pull the knife from his neck, but Adler spoke in a faint, dying breath.
“Next week. Same time.”
“……?”
“How about we go on a date? Just the two of us…”
He gripped her arm with a hand that had grown deathly cold, his tone calm and inviting.
“I will show you what real love is.”
Puh-thuck—!
“…Ugh.”
At that exact moment, as Jill the Ripper stared down at him, her hand trembling with a strength she didn't realize she was exerting…
BANG—!!!
A sharp gunshot shattered the quiet of the room.
“Argh?!”
Jill the Ripper twisted her body instinctively to dodge the fatal shot, but she couldn't prevent her shoulder from being torn open.
Szzzzz…
Staggering, she immediately began to dissipate into black smoke, scattering across the room.
“…What are you?”
Reappearing in a corner as a flickering shadow, she clutched her shoulder. Unlike her usual wounds, this one wasn't healing. She glared fiercely at the intruder.
“Why are you interfering?”
“……..”
The newcomer stood firm, staring coldly while holding a revolver that was still emitting a wisp of smoke.
“…Didn’t you say you wanted to confront me, Inspector?”
Taking a deep breath to withstand Jill the Ripper’s suffocating murderous intent, the woman caught sight of Adler—tied to a chair, lacerated, yet wearing a pale smile. She bit her lip hard.
“…Right now, I’m not here as an officer. I’m here as his lover.”
It was the perfect response.
“”………””
The most formidable inspector in Britain and the most depraved serial killer locked eyes, their gazes sharp enough to draw blood.
“Are you prepared, Princess?”
“You’re a real nuisance, you know that…?”
The collision between Lestrade’s bullets and Jill the Ripper’s blade occurred a mere heartbeat later, filling the room with a blinding flash of light.