Becoming Professor Moriarty’s Probability

Inspector Lestrade, after noticing Adler unconscious by the roadside, cautiously brought him to her house.

“No, no…”

Even after several hours, as Adler continued to groan in bed without showing signs of waking, she watched him with a worried expression on her face. But soon, she heard faint words escape his lips in his half-sleep.

“No… Don’t… Please don’t…”

“… Mr. Adler?”

“A-At this rate… I’ll really end up broken…”

Gradually, her complexion began to visibly darken.

“Ugh, hic? Ah, ah…”

Adler, with his eyes closed, began to twitch, and his moaning sounds distinctly pierced her ears.

- Swish…

How long did he continue to groan like that? With a sombre expression, Lestrade began extending her hand forward.

- Grasp…

“Huh?”

As her rugged hand carefully grasped Adler’s, he momentarily ceased convulsing and again mumbled in his sleep with a pale face.

“I… am a married man…”

And with that silence ensued.

“What on earth happened to you?”

In the silence, Lestrade, with a serious look, wiped the cold sweat from Adler’s forehead and soon narrowed her eyes and lowered her head.

Then, slightly blushing, she pressed her head against Adler’s body and began to sniff him like a sniffer dog.

“Ugh…”

Suddenly, she frowned and abruptly jerked her head back, muttering in a cold voice.

“This smell…”

The unpleasant and slightly fishy smell emanating from Adler was something she had never experienced before, rendering her unable to identify it.

However, she could discern a faint sweet smell mixed deeply with the unpleasant one.

“… Holmes.”

Although she lacked the sharpness of certain someone, it was not for nothing that she was called an arresting specialist at such a young age.

Her superior physical abilities were unmatched in combat, and her animal-like senses were second to none.

And those abilities of hers, normally used to track down criminals, were now helping her to pinpoint the owner of that sweet scent on Adelr’s body.

“It’s the scent of Holmes’ childish perfume…”

Muttering under her breath, Lestrade’s hands began to tremble.

“Why…”

Clearly, the man before her was a ruthless criminal; an unrepentant villain who should cease to exist for the peace of London.

In contrast, Charlotte Holmes was London’s guardian of justice— a master detective. Having already received help from her several times, Lestrade had to acknowledge that she was the pride and hope of Britain. Ŕ

Therefore, there must have been a reason why Holmes brought Adler to this state.

Adler, too, deserved whatever he got from her.

“Why did you do this…”

Yet why, when Lestrade imagined what Adler might have suffered at the hands of Charlotte last night, did it make her stomach churn so?

“… Isn’t this clearly too much?”

It did not stop there either. Her heart burned like a fireball, yet her head grew as cold as ice.

“It… It’s a crime…”

As Lestrade murmured, she realised that extreme anger had overtaken her senses.

“Uggh…”

“…..!”

But before she could think about the cause, the heightened senses from her anger soon began to detect another female’s scent emanating from Adler’s body.

“… Professor Moriarty.”

Although fainter than Charlotte’s, it was easier this time to identify the owner.

There was no one else who would have marked every inch of Adler’s body with her scent and mana, as though bolstering to others just who he really belonged to, other than Professor Jane Moriarty.

- Crack…

Suddenly recalling Professor Moriarty’s sexual exploitation of Adler, Lestrade began to grind her teeth with a murderous look in her eyes.

“You’re not their toy…”

And then, looking down at Adler, who had become a plaything for both the professor and the detective, she muttered in a sad voice.

“But my husband…..”

The officer trailed off, her eyes widening.

“… My husband?”

Legally, she and Isaac Adler were, of course, married.

However, it was merely a contractual marriage to pursue mutual benefits.

Adler used the inspector’s power, and she, in turn, used the marriage to prevent the atrocities he would regularly commit against women. It was nothing more than a sham marriage, devoid of genuine affection from the get-go.

It must have been so.

“How strange…”

As she watched Isaac Adler, groaning with a pale, frightened face, a constricting feeling became evident in her heart.

… Is it sympathy?

She thought to herself for a moment but soon shook her head.

Having worked as a police officer and felt pity for countless people, she knew well that the emotion now overwhelming her was not sympathy.

Is it guilt then?

Could it be that she felt some debt to Adler, who had cleared all her debts and even sent donations secretly behind her back?

Yet, the emotion was becoming too intense, far more than necessary.

If it’s not even that…

A more primal, instinctive emotion.

… Jealousy?

As Lestrade kept questioning herself, she suddenly reached a possibility she had never properly considered before.

“Huh?”

And then, momentarily stunned, she rapidly blinked her eyes.

“… Wha-What a ridiculous thought.”

Lestrade then vehemently shook her head and muttered,

“A man whose hobby is to play with women… There’s no way I could like him.”

“He’s exactly the type I despise the most. Such a scoundrel…”

However, contrary to her words, her gaze began to waver.

“I’m pretty sure I despise him, but…”

Though since their agreement, there have never been any reports of him harassing women.

Sometimes, when he looked at her with a twinkle in his eye, she thought his otherwise annoying appearance seemed slightly handsome.

Despite preparing herself to be sullied when she made the contract with him, the fact that he had never sexually approached her, except for that one accident, as the rumours suggested did occasionally make her feel a confusing fondness.

When she saw his wretched expression or mumblings when he was alone, it seemed like he might be hiding some dark trauma or secret, which made her worry a bit for him on the inside.

When he proposed, bypassing both Charlotte and Professor Moriarty, her heart fluttered slightly, albeit unnecessarily, making her wonder if she was just a typical woman after all.

She also wanted an equal marital relationship, not a one-sided one, and the fact that he said she didn’t have to take his last name during their marriage sounded slightly romantic.

… But that doesn’t mean I like you…

Even though Gia Lestrade had listed all the reasons she might find Isaac Adler likeable, she kept her head bowed and her face blushed as she continued to deny it to the end.

“This is just… I mean…”

“Home…”

“…..!?”

But at that moment, Adler muttered in his sleep.

“… I want to go home.”

Hearing that whimpering murmur, Lestrade’s eyes began to waver.

“Please, just let me go home now…”

As far as she knew, Adler had no particular place of residence.

He had left the academy dorms, and calling the back alley hideout a home was a bit of a stretch.

In that case, the only place he could call home.

“I hate working late… Boss…”

And that was the newlywed home which was Lestrade’s house.

- Thump, thump…

“…Uh.”

Quietly reciting that fact to herself, Lestrade suddenly became aware of her heart beating rapidly and could not help but frown.

“No, this isn’t…”

Then, she murmured to herself, purposely leaning her head close to Adler’s face.

“This is just a coincidence… It has nothing to do with Adler…”

- Thump, thump, thump, thump…

However, as she tentatively moved her head close enough that their lips might touch, her face turned red like a beetroot, and her heartbeat spiralled completely out of control.

“Uh…”

Frozen in that state, Lestrade looked bewildered as she faced Adler for a long time.

“… Do I really like this person?”

Afraid that her ragged breathing might touch him, she covered her mouth with her hand, her face hot and expression blank as she murmured to herself.

- Drrriiing…!

….!!!!

Suddenly, the ringing of the newly installed mechanical telephone in the living room echoed loudly.

“Fuh, Fuhaa…”

“Um…”

“… Hic?”

Startled, she let out a gasp as Adler rolled over with furrowed brows, in response to her ragged breath, and inadvertently wrapped his arm around Lestrade’s waist.

- Tighten…

Then, he held her tightly in his arms and fell back asleep.

“Er, um…”

Panicked, Lestrade tried to get out of his embrace but paused to consider as she saw his face relax.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

- Swoosh…

Then, she covered her face with both hands and buried her head in Adler’s embrace.

“We shouldn’t be doing this…”

They looked too innocent right now for a couple that was just for show. However, this tender moment did not last for long.

- Drrriiing, drrriiing…!!!

“Ugh…”

The telephone in the living room rang again, causing Adler to roll over again and naturally loosen their embrace.

“… Haaa.”

As Adler turned his back to her, a sigh escaped Lestrade’s lips as she was left alone in the corner of the bed.

.

.

.

.

.

“Yes, hello.”

- Inspector Lestrade? It’s Holmes speaking.

About a minute later.

- But I’m not sure if this is the right number? Is this the inspector’s residence…

“It is, so just get to the point.”

- Ah, yes. The thing is…

With a dark expression, Lestrade emerged into the living room, irritably responding to the call from 221B Baker Street.

- I’m just asking in case, but is Adler ther…

“No.”

- Pardon?

Even before Charlotte could finish her question, Lestrade immediately responded.

“Adler isn’t here.”

- Really…?

And her trademark pure white eyes slowly began to shift in colour.

“… Why would I lie to you?”