Becoming Professor Moriarty’s Probability

Chapter 176: True Lies?

“Kulluk, kullluk…”

- Squeak…

“… Gasp.”

My head bowed, I continued smearing my hand with coughed-up blood. However, the abrupt sound of the door opening made me hastily take in a sharp breath and straighten up, suppressing the blood that had clogged up in my throat.

“”……….””

And then, silence ensued between us.

“… Are you in pain?”

“What? Oh, no…?”

Frantically sitting on my palms lest the blood be seen, I offered an awkward smile to Charlotte as she entered the room and posed the question.

“I can smell a faint scent of blood…”

“Well, that’s, that’s… because I am a terrifying vampire, you see? I practically reek of that stuff, yes.”

“… Hmm.”

I thought I had managed to cleverly dodge the question, but Charlotte, narrowing her eyes, clearly didn’t buy it.

- Swipe…

“Hey, where are you touching?”

“… Shut up.”

“Yes, ma’am…”

She reached out, grabbed my arm, and forcibly opened my palm, revealing the contents I had been desperately trying to hide.

“……..”

Seeing my palm stained with blood, a cold expression overtook her face.

“You’re still not going to tell me the truth, even after this?”

“……….”

“Even someone utterly ignorant to the medical world can see you’re not alright.”

I tried to avoid her gaze, but Charlotte pushed forward, forcibly meeting my eyes as she continued.

“When I asked Watson about your condition, why did she look so gloomy and not answer no matter how much I asked?”

“That’s…”

“You might deceive others but you can’t fool a doctor, and you certainly can’t fool me.”

“… Miss Holmes, think about it.”

Thus, I had no choice but to come up with another plausible excuse.

“I am a terrifying devil straight out of a fairy tale. Do you think it makes sense for a being like me to die from a mere illness?”

“………”

“Absolutely not. A being who is both a devil and a vampire dying from an illness, that’s utterly nonsensical…”

“How can a devil know less about their own condition than I do?”

However, Charlotte interrupted me mid-sentence and started climbing onto the bed.

“What are you saying all of a sudden?”

“If devils really couldn’t die, they wouldn’t have gone extinct since the Crusades, wouldn’t they?”

“……..”

“… You are dying right now. Not your body, but your soul.”

At her words, my expression momentarily slipped.

“Devils are generally immune to physical and magical attacks, but… there are always exceptions.”

“How would you know that if you’re not even a devil…”

“I blackmailed my sister with a photo of her on a leash in your basement. Using that, I rifled through the confidential documents of the British government. So, shut up and listen to me.”

Leaving aside the fact that she seemed to know more about devils than the literal devil, me, himself, she was revealing information that must never come to light, which made my expression grow more somber.

“The things that can harm a devil are… crosses, silver bullets, religious relics, constraints due to contracts…”

“….. I know that much too.”

“Of course, if that was all there was, I wouldn’t have mentioned it. But the most crucial cause still remains.”

“That is?”

However, the information she revealed next was something that even I had no idea about.

“Love.”

As I sat there with a dumbfounded expression, Charlotte bit her lip and bowed.

“Love?”

“… Don’t fucking act like you don’t know.”

With a heated voice, showing her growing anger, she whispered in my ears.

“The most dangerous act for a devil is none other than love.”

“………”

“Especially, love with a contractor is exponentially more lethal. Am I wrong?”

I was quite literally dumbfounded since I had no idea about that, which made me look at her with a stunned look, completely speechless. However, Charlotte, with her head bowed, didn’t seem to have noticed that and continued muttering under her breath.

“Knowing that, did you…”

“……?”

“Why did you still fall in love with me?”

“Ah, no…?”

Despite her intense gaze, I unwittingly shook my head in denial.

“Just why?”

“What?”

“Why would an immortal being like you fall for someone like me, dooming yourself forever?”

Charlotte was not in a state to hold a rational conversation anymore.

“That is…”

“Answer me.”

“……..”

“Answer me, please?”

And as I was not in a good state physically, being somewhat delirious myself, the words that spilled out of my mouth were unfiltered.

“… I just like you, what can I do.”

“What?”

“I just like what I like, what do you want me to do about it…”

And then an unnerving silence descended between us.

“… So, even though you’ve seduced countless women, you’ve never truly loved anyone.”

“……?”

“If you had truly loved someone, you would have died long ago, right?”

In the silence, her bone-chilling voice reverberated throughout the room.

“You didn’t even love the professor. Because you were brainwashed by her, both mentally and physically. I can tell…”

“… That’s not true.”

“Shut up. I’m talking, dammit!”

Eventually, unable to bear it any longer, she grabbed me by the collar.

“… Why do you love me?”

“……..”

“Why do you like me enough to risk your fucking life…!”

Even if she asked why I liked Holmes, being a fanatical Sherlockian, there was no way I could properly explain it to her.

It seemed unlikely that Miss System would let me explain the true nature of the world to her— the protagonist.

“Don’t love me, please.”

“……..”

“It’s better to not love me than to die!!”

So, with a slightly crestfallen expression, I heard her scream in my ear.

“… Hmm.”

I closed my eyes, trying to contemplate her words, but it was meaningless. It was always meaningless no matter how much her words made sense.

“… It’s not possible.”

“What?”

“How can I not like you?”

Having spent half my life as a fanatic Sherlockian, it was impossible for me not to like her.

“…….”

So, I just scratched my head, and Charlotte, who had been staring blankly at me, suddenly…

- Swoosh…

Embraced me with a tearful expression and kissed my lips without saying any more words.

“… Mmm.”

“…….”

The kiss that day was a bit bittersweet.

.

.

.

.

.

“… I promise you right here and now.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll save you, no matter what it takes.”

After sharing a brief kiss with her, as Charlotte backed away, she started muttering under her breath.

“The Dragon’s Tear. With it, I can save you.”

“… That’s impossible.”

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly at her words.

“Why is it impossible? Don’t tell me it’s because dragons have gone extinct in ancient times.”

“………”

“The only remaining one is right beside you, isn’t it?”

Yes, I already knew that fact.

Professor Moriarty being actually a dragon was a twist I couldn’t possibly miss, being a developer and also a story consultant for the game.

“… Still, it’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“It’s just…”

But, what can’t be done, can’t be done.

“Professor can’t shed tears.”

“What?”

“Professor Moriarty will never cry, not even if I die.”

Despite having a significantly low empathy, the professor could feel anger or happiness to some extent.

However, I can assertively say that she would never be able to comprehend sadness in her whole life.

Maybe even love.

“Well… it makes sense, seeing as she has raped you multiple times without a single change in the color of her eyes. That heartless bitch… but that’s to be expected.”

“………”

“But the difference between her and me is that, my eyes are dyed in your colour.”

As I pondered to myself about the professor, Charlotte Holmes started whispering to herself again.

“… Then, the solution might be surprisingly simple.”

“Really?”

I eagerly listened to her words,

“If I cease to exist in this world…..”

“No.”

Hearing what must never occur, I stood up and started lashing out at her for the very first time.

“If you ever bring up that topic again… it’s over between us.”

“…….”

“The moment you die, I’ll kill myself too, so don’t even dream about it…”

Charlotte, her arm grasped in my hand, stumbled back and nodded with a startled expression.

“… I’ll look for another way.”

“……..”

“So, will you let me go now?”

Realising that I had been unnecessarily exerting too much force on her hand, I quickly released her arm.

“… Suddenly doing things you never do, what’s that about?”

She narrowed her eyes at me for a moment, then swiftly turned around and walked out of the hospital room.

“It turns out you were just pretending to be weak…”

“………”

As the door closed, silence settled in the room.

“Haah…”

Sitting quietly on the bed amidst the silence, I sighed to myself.

Excuse me.

“…….?”

At the message that suddenly popped up in front of me, acting all timid, I couldn’t help but tilt my head, puzzled.

I'm sorry to ask so suddenly, but are you really a possessor?

Why was the system suddenly asking such a question now?

“Then what else would I be…”

Warning!

– Probability of True Identity being Revealed — 50%

“Ah.”

A few seconds later, I realised the reason, and a cold sweat started to run down my forehead.

.

.

.

.

.

“……..”

Meanwhile, outside the hospital room,

“… Heh.”

Charlotte, about to walk away after closing the door, spotted Professor Moriarty standing blankly beside the hospital door and snorted with a smirk, turning her head sharply.

“Why are you making that face?”

“……..”

“It looks like the face of someone who thought they were truly in love, only to realize the truth, doesn’t it?”

Of course, the words that Adler had just uttered were still echoing in the professor’s ears, so Charlotte’s words meant nothing to her.

“… My assistant is terminally ill?”

“Tch.”

At the low murmur that slipped out of her, Charlotte clicked her tongue with a look of disdain and quietly walked away down the corridor.

“There’s no way that’s true…”

Left alone in the corridor, only her hollow voice echoed off the silent walls.