Chapter 29: The Secret of the Speckled Band (4)

"…What are you looking at, Mr. Adler?"

Helen Stoner, sitting on Adler's lap, noticed his eyes darting around with his face colored in a pale hue.

"Why are you looking at my employee?"

Then, Stoner carefully extended her hand to shift Adler's gaze from Professor Moriarty to herself before adding.

"That woman is just someone I hired."

"...….."

"Talk to me now."

Though Professor Moriarty had began to intently watch the interaction between Stoner and Adler, he found himself unable to tell the girl on his lap that he wanted to speak with the professor first.

– Swoosh…

He was fully aware that if the knife pressed against his neck were to move just a fraction more, everything could come to an end.

"Yes, that's it. That's exactly it."

As Adler began to look at Stoner with slightly quivering eyes, she started whispering in a voice filled with gentle warmth.

"If you can look at me like this now, why haven't you done so before?"

"...What?"

"I've been watching you for a long time."

Upon hearing her last words, Adler made a somewhat bewildered expression and tilted his head to the side. Professor Moriarty, who had been leaning next to him, began to whisper in a soft voice, clearing his confusion about this matter.

"Ms. Helen Stoner, here, has been a long-time fan of yours."

"…My fan, you say?"

"Talk to me."

Then, Stoner's icy voice flew in without fail.

"Mr. Adler, do you remember who was the one that watched your debut performance from the very front row?"

"What?"

"Who was the president of your initial fan club?"

"...…"

"Who holds the most of your autographs in London?"

With her eyes deepening further with each word she uttered, Adler quietly averted his gaze to the side…

"That would be me."

And in the next moment, suddenly advancing her head closer to his own, Stoner whispered.

"I enrolled in the August Detective Academy, which I had no interest in, all thanks to you. I even studied mind-control magic just in case I needed to use it for you."

In that maniacal state, she asked him in a quivering voice while gently stroking Adler's cheek.

"But then why didn't you even spare me a glance, let alone a conversation?"

"....."

"You were always surrounded by women, so why only me?"

Avoiding her gaze till now, Adler finally frowned slightly and couldn't help but ask.

"…Were you stalking me?"

In the world of the game, Stoner and Adler had no points of intersection. Hence, he had unconsciously asked the question to her.

"Stalking?"

However, Stoner only replied with a creepy smile on her face.

"That's a harsh way to speak to your future wife."

At the utterance of that statement, Adler decided to give up on gathering more information from her and simply closed his mouth. Meanwhile, Stoner continued the conversation with gleaming eyes.

"I have no intention of filling the mansion with vampires like my stepmother did."

"…I see."

"So let's have just one son and one daughter and live peacefully ever after."

As she was speaking, Adler, who had momentarily been at a loss for words and had interrupted her in a meek voice, soon regained his composure and posed another question.

"…So, did you orchestrate all of this?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Stoner then responded with an expression that showed she was genuinely curious why he asked that question.

"The conclusion has already been reached. You'll live happily with me in this basement forever."

"…I'm just curious how things unfolded."

To understand the significantly altered developments, when compared to the original game, Adler began to employ all of his acting skills at this moment.

"…Shouldn't I know how hard my wife worked to obtain me?"

Having said that, Adler added with a slight grin on his face.

"From the standpoint of a husband."

"…Husband."

Repeating his last word to herself, a curious warmth appeared in Stoner's previously chilly eyes.

"Now that I hear it, you do have a point."

"…Do I?"

"Then, let me explain from the start."

A moment later, she began to explain the series of events— her face tinged with a faint blush.

"The first time I hatched the plan was a few days ago from now."

'…I figured as much.'

Ignoring the momentary sense of danger he felt from the gray aura emanating next to him, Adler was lost in thought.

"To be precise, it was when I tried to kidnap you as you were walking alone through the foggy streets of London at night."

'Of course.'

Upon hearing that, he smiled as if he had suspected this development already.

"At that time, while I was quietly following you with a leather sack, someone grabbed my arm."

However, Helen Stoner, absorbed in her recollection of that time, didn't notice Adler's subtle reaction.

"That person was…"

"The one who advised her on this whole affair was none other than me, of course…"

Moriarty interjected, who had been leaning against the wall next to her until now.

"Surprisingly, you had already noticed that…"

And then, in a voice low enough that Stoner couldn't hear, she added.

"Isn't that right, Adler dear?"

'…I had my suspicions.'

Only then could Adler confirm all of his guesses.

In fact, he had been somewhat certain from the moment a gray-colored message appeared on the palm of the woman who had attacked him in the hospital.

The entire incident was, in essence, a surprise party that Professor Moriarty had prepared for him.

"Professor Moriarty told me a more efficient way to get you."

"…Is that so?"

"It was, specifically, to exploit my stepmother's criminal plans."

However, that didn't mean he could overlook any mistakes made by him in assessing the situation…

"My stepmother had planned to kill me by sending a snake through the ventilation duct. Her aim was to be in sole possession of our newlywed home."

A trick with a plot hole that appeared in the original story, and which Moriarty had exploited brilliantly.

"…So, you turned that plan around and used it to brainwash her."

"Yes?"

"You were planning to use it again today, weren't you? Probably targeting either Charlotte Holmes or the lady herself. Then framing the remaining one as the culprit…"

This trick was a critical mistake that could potentially lead to the world's downfall.

"What are you talking about?"

"Yes?"

However, Adler's line of thought was abruptly cut off by a bewildered voice…

"Executing such a foolish plan is impossible."

At Professor Moriarty's statement, Adler couldn't help but feel defeated.

"A plan involving a professional snake charmer feeding the snake milk and controlling it with a whistle, it's quite a ludicrous thought."

"...…"

"It is such a clumsy trick that only stupid detectives or policemen would find such a thing plausible."

After that, Adler stared blankly at Professor Moriarty for quite a while.

"…Surely, the mistake you referred to wasn't the misunderstanding that I had directly utilized such a low-grade trick?"

At hearing those words, Adler broke into a cold sweat and shook his head from left to right.

"Yes, you're right. It was an unnecessary worry."

Moriarty then looked at Adler with a slight expression of relief on her face.

"The terrible mistake I committed couldn't possibly be such a trivial misunderstanding."

'…I'm truly fucked…'

A sense of dread began to well up in the eyes of Adler, who had forced a smile to appear on his face at Moriarty's subsequent words.

'I did misunderstand her plan, dammit…'

All of a sudden, he thought of the moment he had pushed Professor Moriarty aside, who had been brimming with pride thinking she would be praised by him, when she had come to Miss Roylott's home and had embraced Lady Roylott with open arms.

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"My stepmother's idea was creative, but that was all there was to it. Due to her foolish intelligence and misplaced confidence in her abilities, the likelihood of success was precisely zero."

Stoner, who had climbed onto my lap in the meantime, was muttering something, but I wasn't quite listening to her as I had been lost in thought.

"Well, actually, 90% of that person's talent was just an illusion created by my brainwashing magic, so it's understandable that she would resort to such pitiful actions."

I had realized the gravity of what I had committed.

"In any case, the plan was foolish but thanks to the professor's excellent advice, I was able to repurpose it."

"Ah…."

"My stepmother has weak mana ability, but her mental resistance is strangely high. That's why, even as an expert in brainwashing magic, I can only apply simple suggestions to her."

"...…."

"I will frame my stepmother's foolish plan as an attempted murder. It's a plan that will surely work with the foolish London police covering it, don't you think?"

Contrary to my expectations, it seemed that Professor Moriarty had completely eliminated the probability of the breakdown of the plot, created due to the stupidity of the story department, by simply intervening in the case.

However, why then did the probability warning message remain unchanged?

Because of that, I had assumed that the original snake-using method had not been corrected and had embarked on this dangerous endeavor.

Wouldn't my actions, including the bondage date with Lady Roylott, turn into a huge waste then?

"So I immediately put it into action. In order to get my stepmother into prison as quickly as possible, I was wandering the streets, having placed a slight hallucination on myself…"

As I was enveloped in doubt about why the assimilation rate had increased, Stoner's voice, sounding even more delighted than before, reached my ears.

"And when I saw you, my goodness…"

Her eyes were shining even more than before.

"I just couldn't resist."

"…What are you talking about?"

"Stabbing you with a knife."

What kind of bullshit was she spouting?

"It wasn't pre-arranged with the professor, but I naturally stabbed you."

"Why?"

"…Because I love you."

I tilted my head to ask the question, however, I gave up trying to understand her after hearing her subsequent answer.

"Of course, I felt a bit of regret afterward… However, it was also the perfect opportunity to have you for myself."

Right now, rather than wasting mental energy trying to understand this mad woman, I had to think about how to get out of this royally fucked-up situation.

"So, I sent you to the sick room after giving my stepmother a suggestion to get you under her control…"

"…Instead, she choked me with her hands. I guess if the suggestion is weak, the intent can get twisted, right?"

In order to buy myself a little more time, I played along with her words. Stoner nodded quietly in response.

"Yes, I was quite troubled at the time as well. Fortunately, thanks to a message that Professor Moriarty had activated as a safety measure, I was able to regain control."

"...…"

"But after that, I was at a loss for what to do next. And then, a miracle happened."

She began to smile, a chilling smile of nightmares graced her lips.

"Amazingly, you came to this mansion voluntarily."

"...…"

"…It would have been wonderful if not for the reason that you wanted to be trained by my mother."

Then, she cautiously lowered the knife.

"However, none of that matters anymore."

In the next moment, for some reason, she picked up a bowl of milk that had been sitting on the floor and started attempting to feed it to me while gently stroking my head.

"According to the foolish detective outside, Lady Roylott will be apprehended."

"Huh?"

"Now that the obstacle is gone, I will give you a sweet suggestion."

For some reason, unlike what Lady Roylott used to give me, the liquid she was offering felt like something I shouldn't consume at any cost. Desperately, I turned my head away only to hear her voice turn colder.

"After the case is settled and a few months have passed, when everything calms down… quit the academy."

"Ugh, heup…"

"And come back to this place, then we can live happily…"

Just as the sweet liquid began to seep between my lips and my consciousness started to grow hazy, it happened.

"…Adler."

I began hearing the voice of Professor Moriarty in my ears.

"…Is it time to whisper those words yet?"

"Professor Moriarty, what are you doing?"

Hearing the softest voice I've ever heard from the professor and Stoner's abruptly sharp words simultaneously, I began to tremble uncontrollably with my eyes closed at what followed.

"I have committed a grievous mistake toward you."

'What the hell is it, fuck…'

So this was the feeling of unknown terror.

.

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"...….Huh?"

At that very moment, Stoner, who was just about to pour the milky liquid into Adler's mouth with a shiver-inducing expression on her face, suddenly dropped the bowl from her hands and clutched her own throat…

"Heu… Heuk…?"

The spotted collar that was enveloping Adler's neck just seconds ago began to coil around her neck like a snake in an instant.

"Yo-You…"

Pale-faced and clutching her throat, fighting for every breath, Stoner looked around frantically and was finally able to discover the source of her predicament.

"What are you… doing now…."

Professor Moriarty lifted a single finger, exuding a cold gaze, and emitted a gray-colored mana toward her.

"…I am correcting it."

"Huh!?"

As she slightly bent her finger in that state, the not-yet-fully-coiled collar stretched even longer, beginning to crawl into Stoner's mouth.

"Uh? Ugh…."

"Adler."

As the room fell silent, Professor Moriarty flung Stoner, who had been sitting on Adler's lap, onto the floor with a mere gesture of her hands.

"The basic and foolish mistake I committed against you ends now."

With that, she began to whisper those eerie words, leaning her face just short of touching Adler's face.

"You, who chose me."

"Uh…"

"You, who rolled into my life which was as placid as a calm sea, and created powerful ripples that I have never witnessed before."

"..."

"You, who are more precious than anything and whom I can't allow to be taken away by anyone."

Just as Adler, visibly distressed and at a distance where even his breath could be felt by Professor Moriarty, tried to avert his gaze, Jane Moriarty grabbed his face, forcing him to lock eyes with her.

"Like that witless detective, or rather, at an even more severe level…"

As she slowly climbed onto his lap in that state, she glanced at Stoner, who was struggling on the floor, and whispered to him in a sweet tone…

"I've made you dangerously uneasy."

And then, silence began.

"…Isn't that right, Adler?"

As Adler, trembling in Moriarty's embrace, nodded his head, she began to gently caress his neck with a smile on her lips.

"I'll correct it right now."

– Swish…

Just then, Moriarty's mana began to rapidly envelop the murky mana that had been lingering around Adler's body.

"Stay still."

".....Yes."

And at that very moment, eyes mixed with shades of gray and gold were blankly staring through the gap in the partially destroyed basement door.

『Villain Maker』

Chapter 1 – Complete

『Love-Hate Relationship』

Chapter 2 – Begin