Becoming Professor Moriarty's Probability

Chapter 73: The Blue Carbuncle (5)

A few days after the Blue Carbuncle incident...

"... Hm."

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Isaac Adler stepped into the living room of Lestrade's house. Immediately, Charlotte Holmes, lost in thought by the fireplace, came into view.

"Miss Holmes."

".........."

He tried to strike up a conversation with her as he quietly approached the fireplace, but Charlotte remained silent, lost in deep thought.

"... Are you going to ignore me like this?"

Observing her rare appearance, so similar to the original depiction, a playful smile crept up Adler's cheeks and he couldn't hold back his desire to tease her.

– Poke, poke...

He quietly reached out and poked her fluffy cheek with his finger, but she just continued to stare blankly at the flickering fire before her.

"Charlotte..."

Adler, slightly annoyed at her continued disregard, leaned in close to her face, his lips pouting as he mumbled to her. However, at that moment...

"... Eh."

... Out of the blue, something soft entered his mouth.

"........."

Charlotte Holmes, who quite naturally slipped her tongue into his mouth, tilted her head as she looked up at Adler.

– Smooch...

Thus began a brief tongue-on-tongue duel between the duo.

"... There was no need to answer like that."

"I was just organizing my thoughts."

"I know, Miss Holmes. I must say, once you start focusing, you won't notice even if someone were to carry you away..."

A moment later, Adler – who had carefully pulled his head back from their passionate exchange, to converse with Charlotte – threw a question toward her with a curious look in his eyes.

"So, what were you thinking about so intently?"

"........"

"Could it be... you were contemplating about there being no response to the bait we've thrown out even after several days have passed?"

Delivering the question, Adler carefully sat down in front of her; his eyes matching hers.

"Could it be, hypothetically, that you are thinking we might fail to solve the case if things go on like this?"

"... That's not it."

Charlotte, shaking her head, gulped down the last bits of Adler's bodily fluids that remained in her mouth – from their previous naughty exchange – before she began to speak.

"I've already figured out the whole truth of the case."

"Is that so?"

"After the Blue Carbuncle vanished from the hotel where Countess of Morcar was staying, the attendant who worked there abruptly disappeared as well."

"Oh."

"And look at this..."

Quietly unfolding a newspaper, Charlotte pointed to an article on the front page before adding,

"It's an article about the attendant being found tied up in her own home. In other words, for the past few days, someone was impersonating said attendant."