༺ The Battle Intensifies ༻
“Answer the question, Professor.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about.”
Lestrade, looking ahead with a cold expression, raised her voice demanding an answer. Hearing her demand, Professor Moriarty opened her mouth with a leisurely smile.
“You know better than anyone that I nursed Adler without taking my eyes off him for a single moment over the past few days.”
“I know that. What I’m asking is…”
“Unlike someone who, when faced with a choice between their boyfriend and duty, ultimately chose the latter.”
At her words, Lestrade bit her lips hard, stopping mid-sentence.
“My job is to uphold justice in London. Don’t so casually weigh its importance as you have. And in the first place, it was I who saved him, not you.”
“… But despite being right there, you couldn’t prevent Adler’s chest from being torn open and tattered.”
“Are you going to keep finding faults?”
“It’s not about finding faults, Lestrade. I’m simply instilling the absolute truth into a stupid inspector who mistakenly thinks she saved Adler when ultimately, it was because of my late arrival that Jill the Ripper escaped from the hideout, enabling you to save him; that too by the barest margins.”
Their cold voices echoed through the corridor.
“What a laughable situation. If you can’t protect him despite being right there, why even make such a contract…”
“What contract are you referring to?”
“Adler gave up half of London for you, and you gave up yourself for half of London. Wasn’t that the contract both of you established?”
“… Do not speak so carelessly.”
“You’re not exactly denying it now, are you? You and Adler are nothing more than contract lovers, each pursuing your own interests.”
Lestrade opened her mouth as if to respond, but ultimately shut her mouth again, keeping her silence.
“It seems that you are performing your duties to some extent though. Seeing that you are wearing this oddly shaped dress that’s not your usual police uniform, and carrying the basket full of fruits that have become somewhat precious due to the recent heavy snowfall…”
“… I told you not to speak carelessly.”
“Why, all of a sudden? I doubt you’re embarrassed for bringing a fruit basket…”
Professor Moriarty looked down at Lestrade, who was quietly clutching the fruit basket in her hand, and muttered with narrowed eyes.
“That dress, did Adler buy it for you?”
Silence followed, and Lestrade could only lower her gaze.
“Even though you were recently promoted to an inspector, I’ve heard that your family’s circumstances are still quite poor…”
“Professor.”
Just as she was about to continue her probing with that frigid smile of hers…
“Do not speak lightly of Miss Gia.”
Adler, who had been quiet until then, murmured in a dangerously low voice.
And silence fell once more.
At his firm and resolute statement, Lestrade looked at Adler, a dazed expression momentarily taking over.
“… I understand.”
Meanwhile, the Professor, bobbing her head quietly, soon looked down at him with a gentle gaze and spoke out.
“Be more careful in the future.”
– Swish…
As the Professor wrapped her arm around his waist again, Adler could only silently bite his lips.
“Get your hands off me.”
“… How strange…”
Still, with clear marks around his neck, as he was hugged by the professor while making a dark expression, Lestrade, watching the scene, began to growl in a low voice.
“Surely, you’ve been forced to pretend to be Adler’s lover to protect London.”
“Baseless nonsense…”
But Moriarty, wrapping her arms even tighter around Adler’s waist, muttered under her breath all the more.
“… Why has my will to kill you doubled since the moment my dress was insulted?”
Lestrade’s eyes, poised as if about to rush forward at any moment, suddenly became vacant.
“If I had to become the lover of the person I hate the most in the world to keep them at bay, I’d always be sharpening my knife on the inside, even if I pretended to be fine on the outside.”
“………”
“But the knife in your heart seems to be getting duller by the day.”
As Moriarty’s mocking voice reached her ears, making her speechless.
“Could it be that you’re deluding yourself into thinking you’re acting, just like a certain someone I know?”
“… I don’t know who that might be, but no.”
“Is that so?”
“My unwavering top priority is to uphold justice in London. For that, I would willingly oppose Isaac Adler…”
Lestrade’s voice, initially wavering, steadied as she spoke in a firm tone, but then slowly faded in the end.
“Hmph.”
“……..”
As she saw the scene of Moriarty gently nibbling on Adler’s ear, acting as though she was invisible.
“What… are you doing…”
“… Please stop, Professor.”
Adler, with a voice colder than frigid ice, spoke out as Lestrade looked on dumbfoundedly at the scene while murmuring in a dazed voice.
“Stop it, it’s making me uncomfortable…”
Unlike his usual sly demeanor, Adler’s expression and voice seemed to carry a hint of sincerity, causing Lestrade’s complexion to pale even further.
“I don’t want to.”
“… Ah.”
“I’m going to continue.”
Despite his protest, Moriarty was much more forceful than usual.
“… If you resist, there will be no thesis review this week.”
“………”
Hearing those words, Adler bowed his head in resignation, and Moriarty began to stroke his hair.
“Why do you look at me with those eyes?”
“… You’ve crossed the line, now.”
Lestrade’s voice, filled with murderous intent, flew at her.
“No matter what has happened between you two, I still am Isaac Adler’s lover…”
“Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case at the moment.”
Moriarty looked at her with an unblinking, mocking gaze as she delivered those words.
“… Adler is currently accompanying me as my assistant.”
Hearing those words, Lestrade’s complexion paled further.
“That means…”
“You know exactly what it means.”
“………”
“Of course, with your dull deduction capabilities, you wouldn’t even understand what’s happening anyway.”
Moriarty’s voice became clearer, more sharper, in stark contrast to Lestrade’s own.
“The important thing is, the Adler you’re facing now is an adversary you must oppose.”
As those words came to an end, Lestrade, biting her lips tightly, began to glare at the professor.
“Why are you doing this?”
The professor, moving forward with Adler, glanced at her questioningly and tilted her head.
“Is something bothering you after all? Are you planning to create a scene here?”
“………”
“All the better for me, I suppose. It would be an amazing opportunity to completely bring down the symbol of justice whose reputation is already jeopardized due to her recent association with Adler.”
Even after hearing her dangerous remarks, Lestrade, with darkened eyes and sealed lips, was about to step towards the exit where the two were heading…
“…….”
However, she had to stop in her tracks with a vacant look in her eyes.
“There are reporters nearby, Miss Lestrade.”
It was because Adler, passing right by her side, whispered in a low voice while shaking his head from side to side, his expression dark.
“I’ll be fine, so don’t get involved unnecessarily..”
“Look at me, Mr. Adler.”
“… Yes.”
But Adler, at the sound of the professor’s chilly voice, turned his head accordingly.
– Swish…
As the professor, who had been caressing Adler’s cheek, applied pressure to her hand, Adler’s tilted head was forced to lean against her shoulder.
“What a pity, on a vacation no less…”
From the professor’s lips flowed a voice that sounded very pleased as she exited the hallway.
“Instead of a boyfriend, you’re faced with a criminal.”
Her voice echoed quietly, fading away, as their footsteps grew distant, bringing a quiet silence to the hallway.
“………”
For a long while, in that silence, Lestrade stood still, biting her lips far more fiercely than she ever did.
“Enough already…”
“Who knew your true self would be this prickly, really, it’s so adorable.”
“… Please.”
Far away, Adler, wearing a troubled expression, was persistently swatting away the professor’s hand trying to caress the back of his own.
“Be content with this.”
“… Hmm.”
“No more.”
It was because he finally extended his pinky finger in resignation.
– Puhk…!
Eventually, as they walked away with their pinkies intertwined, Lestrade’s lips, watching everything with dark, hollowed eyes, were unknowingly bleeding a single line of crimson blood.
.
.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at that time, at 221B Baker Street…
“… What are you doing, Holmes?”
Watson, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she was about to start her day, asked Charlotte who was, as usual, absorbed in some matter while sitting at her desk.
“What is it that you’re reading so intently?”
However, Charlotte, seemingly fully engrossed in the reading material in front of her, gave no answer in return.
“Adler is expected to wake up soon, aren’t you going to come with?”
“………”
“Hey, rookie detective.”
Watson tried to provoke her with narrowed eyes, but Charlotte still remained silent.
“Alright, then I’ll go ahead.”
But her partner, already accustomed to Charlotte’s eccentric nature, left the boarding house alone while leaving those words.
“But what kind of book is it, that it doesn’t even have a cover?”
As her partner’s murmur drifted through the early morning streets of London and faded away,
“Phew…”
Charlotte, engrossed in the book until then, soon closed it and let out a deep sigh, mumbling to herself in a low voice.
“… So that’s how babies are made, huh?”
Thus, the battle over the greatest trophy in London was growing increasingly intense.
