Becoming Professor Moriarty’s Probability
Chapter 250: The Reunion at the Empty House (3)

“… Both of you, knock it off already.”

The relentless interrogation that had drawn on for far too long finally seemed to approach its end, as Charlotte, glued tightly to Adler’s side, spoke up in a chilling tone, her expression dark and threatening.

“But…”

“We need to at least verify…”

“I said knock it off!!!!”

Watson and Lestrade, mumbling hesitantly while glancing at Charlotte, immediately clamped their mouths shut as she let out a sharp, piercing yell.

“We already lost him last time because of this!!! Because we were too busy fighting amongst ourselves!!”

“”………””

“Now that we’ve finally found him again, we can’t lose him. Ever again!!! Absolutely not!!!!!”

Her words left Watson and Lestrade unable to argue, their heads lowering in guilt as they fell silent.

“… I’m not an object, you know.”

Only Adler, his expression sulky, muttered quietly under his breath.

“Oh, uh… sorry… I’m truly sorry.”

“…….?”

Charlotte, who would usually dismiss such mutterings without a second thought, suddenly flinched. Her face stiffened as she hastily wrapped her arms around Adler’s, apologising with a frantic tone.

“Haaa…”

“Still, if you’re upset… you can hit me once, if you want…”

“… No.”

Adler let out a soft sigh, looking at her with a mixture of pity and uneasiness. He calmly refused her anxious suggestion as she looked up at him with a nervous, almost desperate expression.

- Swoosh…

“Ah.”

Before Adler could say another word, Watson and Lestrade suddenly leaned their faces in close to his.

“It doesn’t seem like a disguise…”

“If it were, Holmes would’ve already figured it out.”

“… So, is he really Adler?”

“That remains unclear. He couldn’t even answer our questions.”

The two women murmured suspiciously as they scrutinised Adler’s face, their eyes narrowed as if searching for a crack in his facade.

“… He does look exactly the same, though.”

“Hmm… But that’s too vague.”

“C-Could we try a different question, perhaps?”

Adler’s desperate expression seemed to momentarily soften their mistrust as they fell into brief contemplation.

“T-Then… how about this?”

Out of nowhere, Lestrade’s face turned bright red as she awkwardly stammered, her voice hesitant.

“Well, um, you see… it’s just that, uh…”

“…….?”

“Together, you and I, well, well, well… the first…”

Adler blinked, bewildered, as he watched the inspector squirm with a shy and increasingly flustered expression. But he was at a loss for words as her question soon followed.

“… Where did we, uh, h-have our f-first time?”

The question hung in the air, heavy and mortifying, as silence enveloped the room.

“Uh, well…”

The oppressive aura emanating from every corner of the room – front, side, and even from the subordinates in the back – was suffocating. Adler stiffened, frozen under the collective murderous glare.

“London… somewhere near London’s…”

After trailing off for an agonisingly long moment, Adler finally shut his eyes tight and, in the faintest of whispers, leaned into Lestrade’s ear to answer.

“… Back alley.”

The quiet room rang with his words, his attempt to lower his voice utterly futile as the admission echoed clearly for all to hear.

“… And me?”

Watson’s chilling voice suddenly cut through the tension, sending a fresh wave of sweat running down Adler’s face. He turned to her, his expression utterly dumbfounded.

“Uh, well… Miss Watson… um, hold on…”

This time, he genuinely couldn’t remember.

“In… the luggage?”

“……….”

“Ah, no, wait. Was it at the professor’s house? Or maybe, was it the opium den…?”

Each word he sputtered out only served to plunge the atmosphere of their long-awaited reunion further into the abyss.

“… Don’t tell me it was before I even enrolled?”

“Yep, this desire to murder you inside me just screams that you’re the real Adler.”

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About 30 minutes later. On the streets of Rhode Island, illuminated by the morning sun,

“What is, that?”

“…What’s going on over there?”

The attention of the early morning passers-by soon gravitated towards a particular scene.

“Um, everyone…..”

“””…………”””

“I know I messed up, but… could we at least walk like normal people for a bit?”

A young golden-haired boy, bound tightly with ropes from head to toe, was being dragged along like a condemned criminal, surrounded by women.

“My limbs are going numb…”

“… What’s the plan now? Should we go back to London after all?”

“No, that’s too risky… We never know when the professor might catch on…”

“But we can’t just keep running forever either.”

“As long as I’m with Master, I don’t care where we are.”

“… I, I feel the same, but…”

In this ridiculous yet humourless situation, Adler cautiously spoke up, glancing nervously at the onlookers. However, the women encircling him paid no mind to his words; their focus was elsewhere entirely.

“I-I’ll loosen the rope for you.”

“… Couldn’t you just untie it altogether?”

“Ahhhhhh, fine, I’ll untie it! I’ll untie it, so just…!”

Only Charlotte, who was still clinging tightly to Adler’s arm, seemed willing to fulfil his request.

“… Don’t run away, okay? Promise?”

“I swear I won’t run.”

“If you run, I’ll find a quiet place and kill myself.”

“… I’ll never run, I promise, okay?”

After untying the rope on her own accord, Charlotte whispered in an ominous tone, and Adler, startled, quickly reassured her.

“Really?”

“I swear it on the heavens.”

“Hehe… Adler…”

Charlotte’s face softened into a weary smile as she began to nuzzle her cheek against his shoulder.

“I love you…!”

“………”

“I love you. Love, love, love, love…”

As she pressed her lips to his neck, whispering her heartfelt words, Adler silently sighed and stroked her head with a look of pity.

For someone who used to be so cold and cynical to end up like this…

Adler wondered idly what Charlotte – three years ago before they had ever met – would think if she were to see herself now.

Lost in that frivolous thought, he continued to stroke Charlotte’s head— the once-cold feline who had transformed into a devoted retriever, wagging her tail eagerly for her master.

“……?”

Suddenly, Adler stopped stroking her and came to a full halt, a shiver running down his spine.

“””……….”””

“Ah.”

The women encircling him were all staring at him intently, their eyes fixed on him without a word.

“Adler, I love you.”

“… Me too.”

“… Same here.”

And soon after, the street began echoing with an onslaught of confessions.

“Haha… ha…..”

Adler, his expression now slightly hollow, began patting each woman on the head with trembling hands. Passers-by cast him pitiful glances as they walked on, murmuring amongst themselves.

“I love you, Master. I love you. I really love you.”

“… I love you too.”

“Can we… just stop now…”

How much time had passed like that?

“Can you all just cut it out already?”

Once again, Charlotte stepped up for Adler, her expression icy as she intervened.

“… Can’t you see that Adler’s struggling? Have you all gone blind?”

“””……….”””

“… Haaa, and what’ll you do if I glare back at you?”

The suffocating aura Charlotte exuded - seemingly multiplied several times over the past two years – made the women fall silent, though their faces were still full of dissatisfaction.

“U-Um… Adler. Are you okay? You are not feeling too stressed, are you?”

“… I’m fine. And you can speak casually with me.”

“A-Ah, okay! From now on, I’ll speak casually! Sure.”

Finally, looking back at Adler, Charlotte wagged her metaphorical tail again, her demeanour softening instantly.

“So, where should we go now?”

“… Pardon?”

“Y-You should go wherever you want to go. If we force you again… you wouldn’t like that, right? That would be bad, wouldn’t it?”

She hesitantly asked, her expression timid, and for a moment, Adler’s face froze.

“Now that I think about it…”

Hearing her words, the memory of a certain forbidden figure he had seen earlier resurfaced sharply in his mind.

“This… this isn’t the time to be standing around like this.”

“Huh?”

“We need to… we need to get back to London as quickly as possible!”

Adler, his face pale, raised his voice urgently, prompting the women surrounding him to tilt their heads in confusion.

“Why?”

Charlotte, speaking on behalf of the group, asked the question, and Adler, his face tense, hurriedly tried to explain.

“Because, right now, the professor is in danger—!”

But before he could finish, he froze, realising too late the slip of his tongue.

“… Ah.”

“””……….”””

The moment the word Professor left his lips, the women’s expressions hardened, all of them now staring at him with cold, sharp gazes.

“… Adler.”

“Uh, um…”

“Keep talking.”

Charlotte, the only one maintaining a calm face, spoke to Adler, though the abyss lurking in her eyes was impossible to miss.

“What about the professor?”

Her tone was steady, but the weight of her gaze made Adler’s throat tighten.

“The professor… the professor is…”

“… Yes?”

“Well, um… in danger… so…”

Adler instinctively began to stammer, his body trembling as he trailed off.

“So, the professor’s in danger. Alright, I understand that perfectly.”

“…….”

“But, so what?”

Her voice remained calm, but the chill behind it was unmistakable.

At Charlotte’s eerily calm voice, Adler gathered a little courage to finish his sentence.

“I-I want to go… save her…”

“Ah, I see.”

Charlotte spoke softly, her lips curling into a serene smile.

“Then we should go save her.”

“… What?”

“If that’s what Adler wants, I’ll do anything. Just say the word, and I’ll even lick the professor’s feet for you, so don’t worry.”

Her reaction caught Adler off guard, leaving him flustered as he cautiously asked, watching her closely.

“Um… If it’s something you don’t want to do, I can go alone…”

“Do you want me to kill myself?”

“A-Ah, okay, okay, I get it…”

But as soon as Charlotte’s face darkened, her voice dropping into a chilling threat, Adler, now drenched in sweat, hurriedly tried to calm her.

“… By the way, Adler.”

“Yes?”

“You can speak casually to me. I’m doing it, after all.”

“… Right.”

Still smiling, Charlotte’s words made Adler nod hastily, his attention entirely on her.

“Tell me, if we meet the professor, are you going to abandon me?”

“No, why would I ever…”

“No matter what the professor says to you, what they have, or what they ask of you… You won’t abandon me, right?”

Her voice, slightly trembling, carried a deep unease as she posed her question.

“… Well, it’s your choice in the end. I can’t force you, after all.”

“Look, I…”

“But still, if it comes to that… I’ll just kill myself, and that’ll be the end of it!”

“……..”

Her face, now distorted with anxiety and panic, forced a brittle smile as she shouted that out. Adler, rendered speechless, could only close his mouth, unable to respond.

“No pressure, though! Feel free to choose however you want!”

“……….”

“Ahaha… haha… ha…”

Adler, who had already resolved in his mind to give Charlotte a little extra attention when they returned to London, silently pulled her into an embrace.

“I won’t abandon you, no matter what happens.”

“H-ha… ha… haahhh… ugghhhh…”

“I swear, alright?”

Charlotte, her face buried against his chest, let a faint, twisted smile creep onto her lips— a detail Adler didn’t notice in the slightest as he spoke.

“… Heh heh.”

It seemed Adler had yet to fully realise how dangerous a word like swear could be in a world where magic existed.

“By the way, Charlotte, why are you suddenly touching my belly?”

“It’s nothing…”

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Meanwhile, somewhere over the North Atlantic Ocean,

“… Well, this is truly an overwhelming sight.”

A massive grey dragon, its wings spread wide as it soared through the skies, muttered in a voice laced with scorn as it beheld the distant view of Britain emerging on the horizon.

“I can’t even remember how long it’s been since I last saw this scene.”

The former master of London had returned.

***

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