dmims Chapter 175: True Lies
Chapter 175: True Lies
“Adler, it’s time to wake up.”
Desperately, Adler pretended to pass out as he closed his eyes shut. But Professor Moriarty’s emotionless voice echoed in his ears, signalling him out.
“I just saw you open your eyes, Adler.”
“..........”
“Get up.”
Even though Adler’s whole forehead was dotted with beads of sweat, he tried his utmost to ignore her.
“Hmm...”
Observing him, the Professor narrowed her eyes and leaned closer to whisper in Adler’s ear.
“If you don’t get up within five seconds, everyone in this hospital room might just pounce on you.”
“... Eek!”
That did the trick, as Adler bolted up the next moment, eyes snapped open in fright.
“”...........””
A brief silence passed over the room after that event.
“Um, hello...?”
After some time, Adler spoke up in a whispery voice, noticing the women observing him from all directions.
“Where am I?”
“”......?””
“Is this... a hospital room?”
As he queried with an innocent look, puzzled expressions washed over the faces of the women gathered in the room.
“If you don’t mind me asking, who are you all?”
Adler muttered, scratching his head as he observed their confused looks.
“Why am I lying in a hospital bed?”
“”.........””
“Ugh, suddenly my head...”
As he clutched his head in agony, the women in the room subtly exchanged glances without speaking.
“Where the hell does he pull all this bullshit from...”
“Just, wait a moment.”
Amidst the ensuing silence, Watson, unable to contain her anger, reached into her pocket for her handy pistol. However, Gia Lestrade quickly stepped forward to stop her from doing anything dangerous.
“Hey, do you not recognise me?”
“... Huh? Who are you?”
As Adler stared blankly at her for an answer, she hesitated for a moment before responding with reddened cheeks.
“I-I am... your w-w-wife.”
The moment those words leaked out of her lips, the temperature in the room plummeted to dangerous levels.
“Uh...”
In that suffocating atmosphere, Adler spoke up with a bewildered look on his face.
“You mean someone as beautiful as you is my wife?”
In the next moment,
“Master, that’s a lie. I’m actually your...”
“... I am your daughter.”
“I-I was your lover...”
Isaac Adler’s confidants lost control of their restraints and interjected.
“I’m sorry I don’t remember anything at all. W-Was I a complete trash?”
“... Yes, that’s right. And you guys, if any of you lays even a finger on Adler, I’ll shoot immediately...!”
“Did I lose my memory...?”
While they were panicking, Gia Lestrade tried to intervene, horror marring her face. On the other hand, Rachel Watson looked on at the bickering crowd with a blank for some time, before her eyes narrowed and she pondered out loud.
“... Could Adler and Neville, having lost their memories, essentially be the same?”
As she reached such a conclusion,
“Why don’t you and this big sis here go somewhere nice and quiet together, hm..?”
Taking advantage of the confusion and the chaos, Jill the Ripper approached Adler with silent steps, whispering in a chilling voice with a knife hidden behind her back.
“Are you, are you really my big sister?”
“It will only take a short moment...”
“Hmm.”
However, it was true that, at the moment, they were inferior to even Charlotte, much less Moriarty. Charlotte had already stepped into the realm of the apex predators of this world, while the professor could effortlessly face everyone in the room with not a hint of trouble.
“Kulluk, Kulllu...”
Then, when the room momentarily calmed,
“Ah, it hurts...”
Suddenly bowing his head to cough, Adler gasped with teary eyes.
“””...........”””
The reason those ready for war dispersed and gave up the fight was more because of that single utterance than the threats from Professor Moriarty and Charlotte.
“... Argh!! Let me go!! I don’t care if he loses his memory or not, as long as I can chop him up in pieces and kill...”
“I’ll take her.”
Of course, not everyone’s thoughts were the same. However, it seemed that the situation had somehow been defused thanks to Lupin’s adept handling skills. She had already formulated a plan to capture Adler in her mind and this confrontation was not ideal for her to execute it.
“Wait!! You lowly subject dare to...”
“See you next time, yeah?”
- Poof...!
.
.
.
.
.
- Flutter, flutter...
“........”
As Jill the Ripper, who had been desperately trying to plunge a knife into my heart, and Phantom Thief Lupin, who winked at me, simultaneously vanished from the hospital room, a card fluttered onto my lap.
If you don't want to be caught and squeezed by them for a lifetime, how about willingly getting kidnapped when I come to the window next time?
A sigh escaped me automatically as I read the plain message written on the card.
“That’s just the way it is...”
You’re normally so dull, but get surprisingly sharp when it comes to survival.
I turned to the side, sheepishly trying to avoid the system window that tried to berate me as usual. Soon, Charlotte Holmes and Professor Jane Moriarty came into view.
“Uh, hey...”
“”.........””
“Thanks... for that...?”
Having given up on deceiving them from the start, I cautiously uttered those words. The two women who only stared eerily at me in response, stood up simultaneously.
“... Let’s have a word.”
“I always welcome conversations with friends.”
“If you ever address me that way again, I’ll fucking tear you apart...”
Eventually, without responding to my words, the two women conversed and exited the hospital room.
“Excuse me, everyone...”
“Just lie there. If you disappear somewhere again, we’ll track you down to the ends and pounce at you together, just so you know...”
“... I kind of agree.”
Feeling uneasy, I forced myself to sit up and call out to them, but only received bone-chilling threats in response.
- Click...
“Ha ha...”
Thus, as if by magic, I stared blankly at the door that locked itself immediately after closing.
“How did I end up like this...”
I soon stopped talking and bowed my head deeply in resignation.
“... Kulluk, Kulluukk!”
The truth was, my collapse had not been my usual acting in place.
“Ugh...”
That’s right, the end is drawing ever closer.
The blood smeared all over the hand covering my mouth and the exceedingly heavy body painfully etched that fact into my brain.
... This shouldn’t be happening.
My time in this world was seemingly running out.