Becoming Professor Moriarty’s Probability

Chapter 145: A Case of Identity (8)

"Yes?"

"Well, no matter how you consider it, doesn’t that seem a bit odd to you?”

"What does?"

Amid the quiet church, Rachel Watson – bubbling with excitement at the commencement of the wedding ceremony – looked down at Adler and spoke with a slightly dazed look in her eyes.

"... You should see for yourself."

As she pointed towards her pelvis, Adler lowered his gaze, slightly bewildered by her gesture.

"Is there something wrong with your bottom or...?"

"No, not mine, yours."

"......?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about."

"... Really?"

Nevertheless, Watson could still clearly see a black tail, extending out of his rear and swishing about here and there.

"Even if I do this?"

".........!?"

However, as her fiancé continued to act as if he couldn't see the obviously visible tail, Watson suddenly reached out and grabbed it.

"... Aahh?"

Adler, his body bristling, began to tremble as he gazed toward Watson.

"W, What… what are you doing to me right now?"

"......."

"Ra, Rachel. I don't know what you did, but please stop..."

Lowering his eyebrows, her fiancé began to plead to her in a significantly pitiful voice.

"... Adler."

"Yes, yes?"

"That expression you did just now, Adler does that quite often..."

As those murmurs escaped Watson’s lips, Adler – still disguised as her fiancé, Neville – became breathless, momentarily forgetting to even breathe.

"That begging look, the frustrating gesture... even the expression and tone are similar."

"Oh, that? That’s because I've been close to Adler for a long time... They say that you resemble the one you're close to, right?"

"... Is that so?"

Seeing Watson nod in understanding, Adler was finally able to leak a relieved sigh, inwardly though.

- Munch...

"Ugh!?"

However, in the very next moment, Watson pulled the tail and bit the tip with her teeth, causing Adler to start squirming and even scream out loud.

"... So is this another similarity you two share then?"

"Just, wait, please..."

Realizing that his tail was really exposed to Watson, Adler’s face immediately turned pale as a sheet of paper.

- Chew, chew...

"W, Wait... Rachel..."

As Watson started to chew the tip of the tail with a frosty glare, Adler leaked out a heated groan and grabbed her arm.

"… What's going on?"

- Munch, munch, munch…

"Watson…?"

Meanwhile, Charlotte, who had been staring at the scene with an absentminded gaze till now, furrowed her brows and inquired urgently.

"Is the groom unwell? Then we must postpone the wedding…"

"No, it's nothing."

"But he looks quite pale…"

"... Holmes."

As she continued to intervene, Watson turned to her and suddenly smiled with a sly look in her eyes.

"You really care about my husband, don’t you?"

"……"

"Adler would be incredibly jealous if he knew about this."

And with that, an even deeper silence enveloped the already quiet interior of the church.

"Watson, I just…"

"No matter how great a detective you are, I know my husband better than anyone else."

"……"

"Is that clear?"

Finishing her declaration, Watson clenched her teeth once more, the tip still placed between her teeth. At the sudden clench, Adler, his gaze downcast, trembled slightly and muttered to himself.

That’s my weakness...

"... Darling."

Right after that, Watson's voice, underlaid with a frigid frost, reached Adler's ear.

"I have a lot of questions for you honestly."

"......."

"That thing about you and Adler having a senior-junior relationship, is this what you meant?"

As Adler sneakily shifted his gaze, Watson began to murmur in an astonished tone.

"This is totally a sham marriage."

Hearing that, Adler couldn’t help himself from flinching imperceptibly.

"I’m positive it says on the preface of the marriage certificate— that marriage is about sharing every moment without hiding anything..."

"Ah."

"Did you just sign the certificate without reading anything because you were happy to have me? Darling?"

Finally understanding why Watson could see his tail, Adler couldn’t help but blink with a stunned expression.

"A marriage certificate is… technically a contract, after all."

"No wonder there’s a scent about you that makes one want to pounce."

"….. Eh?"

"Can you stop making such a blank expression? It reminds me of Adler."

Hearing that, Adler hurriedly tried to adjust his expression into something that wouldn’t resemble his characteristic traits.

"... Rachel."

"Stop, don’t say anything now."

As he tried to say something while observing Watson, she sighed and placed her hand over Adler’s mouth.

"Whether you were born looking like that or became that way later, we'll talk about it later. Let's just finish the wedding first."

"........"

"I love you, and that’s enough for me."

As her words concluded, the nun began smiling and held both of their hands.

"I'm not sure what you were whispering about, but it seems like you have settled the small issue that had surfaced between you two.”

"... I suppose you could say that."

"It appears that you two are already engaged... In that case, let's skip the complex procedures and start the ceremony right away!"

From that moment, Adler's mana began to resonate and slowly intertwine with Watson's body.

"... Holmes, please don't sneakily interfere with the sacred ritual."

"Tsk..."

"And you too, Professor."

"Adler..."

With the help of a nun, she had prepared herself to receive her fiancé’s mana into her body. Not to mention, she had even made sure to sharply dismiss any disturbances that may occur.

"By undergoing this ritual and accepting your husband's mana, you will become his property, both physically and legally."

"........"

"Do you accept?"

Watson sighed silently upon hearing the terms.

"... This is why I dislike British marriage laws."

"They are indeed archaic. Generally, I would recommend getting married in America, but given that you've come all this way, it seems you don’t have much time..."

"That's okay."

Eagerly, Watson spoke,

"Please start."

Charlotte, who was silently biting her nails next to Watson, started biting her fingers so hard that it made a crunching sound. On the other hand, the light in Professor Moriarty’s eyes disappeared in its entirety, her body still chained to the pillar.

- Tssssss...

The cause? Well, Adler's mana had slowly begun to merge with Watson's blood, after all.

"........ Eh?"

And at that very moment, Rachel Watson's face also began freezing over.

.

.

.

.

.

Something had gone terribly amiss.

"Why do you look so troubled, Rachel?"

… This is.

That was Rachel Watson’s thoughts when the mana started intertwining with her body as she began the marriage ceremony, tightly clasping her fiancé's hand.

That's Adler's aura.

Watson, having performed surgeries on Adler every time he was butchered at Charlotte’s request, had seen more of Isaac Adler's bare skin than even the professor herself.

Rachel Watson possessed considerable skill as a doctor, enough to be deemed an elite, a quality she always prided herself on.

Therefore, it was only natural that she faintly remembered the wavelengths and sensations when Adler’s mana was subconsciously released.

It's thoroughly hidden... cleverly disguised.

Even her sharp senses, honed as a decorated former military officer, were alerting her in real-time that the mana flowing into her body was suspicious.

"Are you in pain by any chance? Shall we share it bit by bit?"

Could it be that Isaac Adler had once again disguised himself as her fiancé, intending to carry out a sham marriage?

"Miss Watson?"

However, Watson knew better than anyone that it was an impossible conjecture.

If the person before her was truly Adler and not Neville, then the marriage registration and the ceremony itself would not have been valid.

… There's no way he could have tampered with the underlying magic.

The magic of marriage was a grand ancient spell that has existed since the days of King Arthur and Merlin and was deemed a magic that surpassed all magic.

Even Charlotte and the professor, who could easily bend most magic to their whim, were easily spotted and thwarted by Watson… even though she was the farthest from anything related to magic.

It was not for nothing that there existed fairy tales about fairies and devils getting bound to humans through marriage contracts.

"......."

The crucial point, however, was that this boy before her, looking concerned, was indeed the Neville St. Clair she knew.

But then, what was this aura emanating from him, an aura that could only be found in Adler?

… Could it be?

After staring blankly at her lovely fiancé for a long time, the most horrifying yet rational speculation surfaced in Watson's mind.

- Swish...

"Uh?"

And the next moment, Rachel Watson gingerly brought the hand she had been holding to his cheek and whispered.

"I'm just a bit nervous."

"........."

"Please comfort me, darling."

From that moment, the cold sweat pouring from her forehead and her overly applied makeup to impress her fiancé began to create a peculiar synergy.

.

.

.

.

.

"A bit harder, in every nook and cranny..."

"....... ???"

Thanks to that, Adler's hands, heavily smeared with her make-up, left their sticky fingerprints all over her body.

『London's Casanova』

– Description: Have Rachel Watson uncover the sham marriage

– Progress: 20% → 50%

Warning!

– Probability of being Shot — 50%

A moment later, a flood of messages popped up, making Adler belatedly realize the truth behind Watson’s sudden behaviour.

... There's no weird trap in the return ticket, right?

Why don't you try using it and find out yourself.

Eh?