96 – A young man carrying a cream tart (4)
“M… ….”
“Suicide club?”
Holmes and Watson mumbled different things at the same time and could not help but look at each other for a moment.
It was Watson who spoke first.
“Holmes, do you know anything?”
“First of all… I don’t know. By the way, Watson, what about you? “Is this a place you’ve ever heard of?”
In fact, I knew M, or the professor, better than anyone else, but at least I didn’t lie to Watson. There was a very high possibility that the teacher she knew, Mr. Moriarty, was involved, but there was no miraculous possibility that it wasn’t her.
Watson hesitated for a moment in response to Holmes’ reaction, but fortunately he did not inquire further. Fortunately, Duke Florizel, who was trying to talk, didn’t seem to notice anything strange about Holmes’ attitude.
“No, just. It’s an unpleasant name, suicide club. “That’s terrible!”
“… “Watson, I thought you might be a suicidal person based on what you usually do.”
Suicide itself was treated as a terrible sin in terms of the ethics of the time, so Watson’s reaction was not strange at first glance.
When Holmes was young, it was publicly announced that his father also died in a gun accident out of concern for his public reputation and honor.
As such, the name ‘Suicide Club’ was clearly an unsuitable name for a club. It was a bad name that some artists seeking decadence might become obsessed with, but Holmes intuitively knew that it meant the literal meaning.
However, Watson’s reaction was a bit excessive, so Holmes had no choice but to make a joke.
Jane Watson’s amazing lifestyle of focusing on reverse dividends and living only for today as if the future will never come seemed plausible even if it were that of a suicidal person.
Watson’s rare, straight-faced attitude was truly impressive. Of course, it may have been because of Watson’s crazy answers.
“Holmes, I just enjoy the risk that my life might really end, the excitement that I might actually experience defeat this time, and a little thrill, but I am not a suicidal person. I’ve never thought about wanting to die in the first place, even though there have been times when I was afraid of dying. Of course, after competing with Professor Moriarty and failing so badly in a final gamble that would end in failure to the point where I thought it would be better to die, I had no choice but to repay my debt to Professor Moriarty with my own body and have children who would remember everything for me, and grandchildren. I want to live until I’m 100 while taking care of my granddaughters, but I’m definitely not a suicidal person. Life is precious, so you should live it faithfully. “Giving up is a bad thing.”
“I think you are shallow and stupid, Watson. “You might as well be a suicidal person.”
“Holmes, how on earth do you look at me normally? And I don’t want to hear it from Holmes!”
“You’re arrogant about Watson.”
“Hmm, do you mind if I continue the story, ladies?”
When the Duke of Florizel interrupted the two ladies who suddenly started a skit ahead of his important story, clearing his throat, Watson and Holmes both kept their mouths shut and turned their heads back to the Duke.
After emptying his glass again, Duke Florizel began talking again.
Florizel von Ormstein was born as the second son of the ancestral archduke of the Duchy of Bohemia, part of the Austrian Empire. Since his older brother, the current archduke Wilhelm von Ormstein, was unmarried, he was also officially first in line to the throne.
However, he was young, full of courage, and did not like being bound by the pretense and pretense of the royal family. Of course, all royals thought of themselves that way when they were young, so he couldn’t be said to be unusual.
However, even when he stayed in Bohemia, he often enjoyed various adventures while hiding his identity, and because of this, he often received caution and advice from various members of the royal family, including his older brother.
Colonel Geraldine was his bodyguard, old friend, and adventurous comrade.
And about 10 days ago, the two secretly left Bohemia, passed through Austria and France, and began enjoying a secret trip to London, England.
Of course, the authorities in Bohemia were shocked and were trying to find his whereabouts.
And three days ago, the Duke of Florizel and Colonel Geraldine, who had visited a famous oyster bar on Baker Street while dressed as usual, were enjoying a meal.
Coincidentally, they were also able to see a young man inside the store recommending them to try the cream tart.
People thought the suspicious yet handsome young man’s behavior was a joke and ate the tart or got angry, but despite this, the young man did not stop offering tarts.
When the young man finally reached the place where the colonel and the duke were, he and his friend the colonel deliberately finished off almost all of the tarts the young man was carrying. The duke was the first among the people in the store to ask the young man why he was doing this.
At that time, the young man’s eyes flashed suspiciously for a moment.
“There is no special reason, teachers. But there’s no reason not to do it, right? Just as life is essentially meaningless, I am just wasting my life. In fact, I think I would like to die at any time. What do you think about teachers?”
“Well, I’m not sure. “What about you, Geraldine?”
“Suicide is a sin.”
“hahahaha, this guy is a bit stubborn. “Anyway, you’re a fun friend.”
At the time, Duke Florizel thought the young man was just telling a practical joke. Then, smiling suspiciously at the Duke, the young man took out a small invitation from his sleeve and held it out.
“Originally, we only invite those who are considering suicide, but we often invite people we don’t know well to help them find answers. Here’s an invitation to the Suicide Club, teachers. “It looks like you are from abroad. The Suicide Club will be held tonight for the first time in a long time, so please attend with joy.”
“Suicide club?”
“It is literally a gathering of people who want to commit suicide.”
With that, the young man who had offered a cream tart disappeared somewhere, and the Duke smiled as he fiddled with the invitation to an interesting club.
“Interesting, Geraldine. “I never thought I would find new adventures in London so quickly.”
“Isn’t this a gathering of bad people, Your Highness? “I don’t think we need to hang out.”
“Well, wouldn’t eccentric artists and philosophers get together and do opium? There won’t be any harm in going. Rather, seeing guests being invited like this makes me more interested. Look here, the invitation from M. “Oh, it’s not even a kid’s joke.”
Colonel Geraldine hinted at avoiding this vicious prank, citing that it was unusually ominous.
But that was all.
Not even Colonel Geraldine could regard this mysterious gathering called the Suicide Club as anything more than a malicious prank. In fact, anyone with common sense would have done that.
But the Duke of Florizel soon realized that he had made a huge mistake, and that terrible things were happening during the night of crime in London.
The place the two headed to was a mansion on the outskirts of London. I wasn’t familiar with the geography of this place, so I wasn’t familiar with it, but I was surprised for a moment when the coachman said he was going there, so I was certain that it was a remote place. The coachman was also surprised to see such a large mansion in such a place.
It felt like I was in a huge masked ballroom. I expected it because the invitation said to prepare masks in advance, but everyone was wearing various masks, so it felt like I was at a prom.
Compared to the size of the mansion, the number of people inside was not very large. Those who appeared to have purely attended the Suicide Club were about ten people, including Colonel Geraldine and the Duke of Florizel himself, M, the president of the Suicide Club who arranged all of this, a maid guarding him, and two escorts.
Lastly, there were only a few servants serving the people in the club.
However, Duke Florizel soon realized that this was a place filled with terrible malice. At first he thought he was playing a mean game.
The card game began, and while everyone was competing with all their heart as if they were trying to win, Colonel Geraldine and Duke Florizel were also able to stand on the winning side.
When the two people were left behind for the last time, and when the tension was in the air and the two people each drew a new card and were filled with joy and sorrow, Duke Florizel was able to realize that this suicide club was really a place for suicide. .
No, that was the wrong expression. To be precise, it was a vicious place where people were forced to commit suicide.
A servant silently handed a knife to the person designated as the executioner, and the remaining servants bound him, ignoring the resistance of the person designated as the executioner.
The Duke of Florizel, who was inferior, quickly pulled out his pistol and intervened by firing a shot into the air.
“Can’t we stop right away!”
“I… majesty!”
Colonel Geraldine shouted at the unexpected and possibly dangerous action, but he quickly took out his gun and skillfully watched the panicked people to prevent them from making foolish moves and began to think of a way to escape from this place.
It was clearly a dangerous act as it was a place where massacres really took place, and from the perspective of Colonel Geraldine, who had to protect the duke, quietly assessing the situation was a priority.
But since the Duke had a burning sense of justice and was impatient in the face of injustice, he had no choice. At least he was a person who couldn’t just watch someone being horribly murdered.
At that time, M, the president of the Suicide Club, who had been supervising everything from the beginning and was just sitting there mockingly watching, opened his mouth.
He was also wearing a mask, and it was impossible to guess the face behind the mask just from his voice, as if he had used magic.
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But the Duke thought that he was quite a young man. And clearly the other person was mocking them with pure malice.
“The reason for wearing a mask is to ignore all status outside, so do you really need to bring up the status you were lucky enough to obtain here, Duke Ormstein?”
I couldn’t help but be surprised that he already knew their identities.
Geraldine, who was in charge of the duke’s guard, quickly pointed a gun at him and threatened him, and Duke Florizel could tell that M was laughing at them for a moment.
More than anything else, at that moment, the man next to her smiled unpleasantly and tried to secretly take out a razor, and the maid standing next to him as if guarding her as if she were one body tried to secretly raise the hem of her skirt, but M stopped them both with a wave of her hand. Stopped.
