༺ Karma ༻
“Miss Gia.”
“……..”
“Wake up.”
“… Hmm?”
Startled by the sweet whisper reverberating in her ear, Gia Lestrade opened her eyes and looked around in a daze.
“… Oh.”
And then, she spotted Isaac Adler sitting on a bench in the empty lot, smiling faintly at her. Her face immediately turned cold upon seeing that handsome face of his.
“Why such a cold expression?”
“… I thought it was a dream.”
“Sorry, but it’s definitely reality.”
Hearing that, Lestrade lifted her dress slightly, looking down at the golden seal etched onto her stomach, and couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
“… You can’t have me like this.”
“But you already like me, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. But now, I’m starting to hate you.”
Staring at Adler with that resentful gaze, she soon furrowed her brows.
“Didn’t you enjoy yourself yesterday?”
“I didn’t enjoy it at all.”
“Haha…”
Adler, watching her with a pleased expression, leaned in on her shoulder and whispered to her in a gentle voice.
“… Still, my intention to become a good person is true.”
“Move your head away.”
“You lent me your shoulder all night; why are you suddenly behaving like this?”
With a frown, she tried to push him away from her. However, after hearing his words, Lestrade offered her shoulder to him again, her gaze mellowing somewhat.
“I like you.”
“Please, close that mouth of yours…”
“Because you saved my life yesterday.”
“… What?”
Adler began to whisper softly to her ears.
“You felt it too, right? The stares that followed us yesterday.”
“It wasn’t just one or two either…”
What Lestrade said was right.
The greatest and yet the worst child actor of all time— Isaac Adler.
And the heartthrob of British men, the unattainable dream, and the youngest Chief Inspector in all of history— Gia Lestrade.
The news of the romance between the two talk-of-the-town figures had caused an uproar throughout England in just a few hours, twice as much as the Silver Blaze scandal.
“It’s not just those curious stares; it’s the stares filled with ill intent.”
“………”
“I’m always exposed to such looks.”
As Adler heaved a sigh and elaborated further, Lestrade mumbled in a cold voice.
“You reap what you sow, I suppose…”
“… Do you know about curses?”
At the mention of that word, her eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.
“It seems you know a bit about them.”
“How would you know about…”
“I think I might be under one. A curse.”
The eyes of the boy and girl pair met in silence at that remark of his…
“In just the past month, I’ve been officially attacked twice. Unofficially, there have been many more attempts; almost too many to count…”
“………”
“Surprisingly, all the attackers were women.”
For some reason, Adler’s smile looked rather pitiful in Lestrade’s eyes.
“And now, being your lover, I might also be threatened by males very soon.”
“… I’m not that popular…”
“Are you joking? You’ve been confessed to several times already.”
“That was just a ruse to tease me…”
“Haha, somehow it feels like looking in a mirror…”
Adler, who burst out laughing as he spoke those words, gently placed his hand on her knee.
“The point is…”
Then, as Adler grabbed her hand, Lestrade tried to shake him off with a look of disgust.
“It seems my curse doesn’t work on you.”
“………”
“That’s why I like you so much.”
Lestrade looked down upon Adler who was subtly rubbing his cheek against her neck.
“And…?”
“I might become obsessed.”
“How bland.”
With that, she finally pouted her lips and pushed Adler aside.
“With you, at least, I can live comfortably.”
“………”
“Well, I hope we can continue to get along…”
As she rose from her seat, Isaac Adler flashed her a sly smile while bidding farewell.
“…. Oh.”
But just at that moment, a message appeared before his eyes.
“Excuse me…”
“……?”
As Adler, dripping in cold sweat, looked at the message, he hastily grabbed Lestrade’s arm as she was just about to leave.
“What is it?”
“… Please, come with me.”
And then, Adler, shivering in fright, whispered those words to her in a soft voice.
“I have to report to the police station right now.”
“I’ll accompany you.”
“Ugh.”
Observing him, Lestrade sighed deeply and wrapped her arm around him.
“Since I like you, I can’t really help it now, can I?”
“Uh… I didn’t ask for you to put your arms around me, you know?”
“Keep your mouth shut.”
And then, with an annoyed expression, she pulled Adler closer to her side.
“It’s my responsibility if something happens to you. So, I have no choice but to do this.”
Lestrade, averting her gaze, softened her voice for a moment as she spoke her next set of words.
“… How about a date at the police station?”
“I decline.”
However, the tone in Adler’s voice, which had somehow turned pale and frightful, made her voice grow cold once more.
– Swish…
Behind them, two shadows followed closely…
.
.
.
.
.
A few minutes later…
“We’re almost at the police station.”
“Haha… I see.”
Adler, who had clung close to Lestrade while dripping with sweat along the way, flinched and shivered at her words and came to a stop.
“……..”
Then, silence enveloped the duo.
“… If you have some free time, perhaps a coffee nearby?”
– Whirl… Swoosh…
Just as Adler was about to break the silence and suggest something, out of the blue, dust began to rise from behind them.
“What the…?”
Lestrade turned her head, her eyes opened wide with alertness, toward the source of the disturbance. A group of scrawny little girls soon came into her view at the end of her gaze.
“Wait, you guys…!!”
The suspicious gold coins and food in the hands of the girls who looked nothing short of vagabonds triggered Lestrade’s instincts as an inspector.
“Stop right there!”
“Hmph.”
“Blehh—”
As soon as she raised her voice; as if they had been waiting for the cue, the little miscreants scattered into various alleys, sticking out their tongues defiantly.
“Tsk…”
Observing their suspicious behavior, Lestrade, holding onto her long skirt, started chasing them in an astonishing speed.
“Um, excuse me…”
“I’m currently on official duty, Mr. Adler!”
And once again, silence filled the air.
“Take your police uniform with you, at least…”
Adler, who had held onto the uniform in his arms since picking it up from the clothes store the day before, began to mumble while scratching his head as he offered to give it back to her. But alas, she was already gone…
“… It’s okay.”
Just at that moment, a chilling voice echoed from behind him.
“I’ll deliver it for you.”
Feeling a shiver run down his spine after hearing the voice, Adler turned around and instantly froze in place.
“By the way, Miss Lestrade still doesn’t seem to have good instincts.”
“… Miss Holmes.”
“Still, no one is better at apprehending criminals than her. I suppose I’ll have to reward the Baker Street Special Forces separately later for their troubles.”
Meanwhile, Charlotte Holmes quietly approached, watching him intently.
“So those kids earlier…”
“But Mr. Adler, I really had no idea…”
Her eyes shone darkly, seemingly out of focus even as she looked straight at him.
“Never thought your just a moment would last all day in reality.”
“………”
“And all this time I was sitting in the coffee shop, waiting until evening, for what?”
Seeing that terrifying sight, Adler swallowed his saliva hard and took a step back.
“I was so worried about you, my dear assistant, that I came out immediately after my lecture ended.”
However, from the opposite direction, a familiar voice, neutral in tone, resonated in his ears.
“By the way, isn’t London abuzz with news about your very first girlfriend?”
“Professor, you are a bit out of the loop it seems…”
“Mr. Adler, I have just one question.”
Professor Jane Moriarty, who was wearing a cold smile, ignored Charlotte Holmes’s warning in a dark tone and posed a question.
“How does it feel to have your first official relationship, hmm?”
“… Uh, that’s not it.”
In that desperate situation, Isaac Adler scrambled for words.
“We’re not in a relationship…”
In his fluster, Adler’s words failed him, and an absurd excuse slipped out.
“Relationships during student days are just mere child’s play…”
“”………..””
“… So it doesn’t count.”
Then, the two women smiled and each approached Adler one step at a time.
“A relationship should be at least during university days…”
Adler, trapped between the two, trailed off and lowered his gaze.
“Here’s a train ticket.”
In his hand, Charlotte Holmes placed a freshly issued train ticket.
“Do you remember when I said I was going on a vacation?”
“……….”
“Today’s the day.”
Taking the train ticket in his hand without understanding its significance, Adler’s other hand was caught by her own.
“I’ve got yours too, let’s go together.”
“……….”
“It’s going to be a fun experience for sure.”
Just at that moment, a pale hand of Professor Moriarty unexpectedly emerged from behind.
“Hmm, this is truly surprising.”
“……..?”
“Actually, I took a vacation today as well. I wanted some time alone.”
In her hand, she held a train ticket identical to the one in Adler’s hand.
“So I booked a ticket for a convenient time slot. I chose a seat where I presumed I would be all alone, as I didn’t want any disturbances.”
“……..”
“But now, it seems that the seat is right next to yours. Even the boarding time and destination are the same somehow.”
A sly smile appeared at the corners of Moriarty’s lips.
“What a pleasant coincidence…”
“That’s quite the astonishing coincidence indeed, Professor.”
Their steely grey eyes, eerily same yet distinguishably different at the same time, began to fiercely lock onto each other.
– Probability of being Tamed — 50% → 99.99%
“Um…”
Meanwhile, Issac Adler, who had been trembling all the while in fright, asked a question with a barely audible voice.
“… Can I bring Miss Lestrade along?”
The cold and vicious gazes of the duo simultaneously turned toward Adler.
“No.”
“It’s not allowed.”
“Please save me…”
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Meanwhile, at that moment…
“Eek…”
“… But, this is strange.”
Lestrade, who had quickly arrested all the members of Baker Street Special Forces, belonging to Charlotte, and had them on their knees, suddenly tilted her head while mumbling to herself.
“Miss Mycrony had told me about Adler’s curse, but I am quite certain that it had nothing to do with his relationships with women…”
Then, she crossed her arms quickly and made a cold expression.
“… Well, it’s none of my business anyway.”
Contrary to her indifferent tone and expression, a faint blush could still be seen… plastered on her delicate cheeks.
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