When Russell arrived at the lecture hall, panting, Professor Fields was already standing at the podium.
"Mr. Watson, you're late," Professor Fields said with a glance, looking slightly surprised.
"I'm sorry, Professor."
"My alarm clock broke," Russell said breathlessly.
"Let's not argue about it this ti. Go back to your seat."
Professor Fields said nothing more and simply waved his hand to urge Russell to sit.
"Thank you, Professor."
Russell nodded, walked to the back row under everyone's gazes, and took his seat.
Mary rested her chin on her hand, watching with interest as Russell passed by and sat beside her.
"Good morning." The girl lowered her voice. "Being late isn't like you."
"Morning." Russell sat down and caught his breath a little. "There was a small accident."
"Hm?" Mary raised her eyebrows ambiguously. She seed to have already guessed what the so-called "small accident" was.
However, the girl did not bring up the topic now and silently returned her gaze to the blackboard.
"We'll talk at lunch."
To her surprise, Russell had not slept at all that morning.
Whether out of guilt for being late or for so other reason, he maintained his concentration throughout the entire morning session.
How much information he had actually absorbed was not sothing to worry about right now. The important thing was that he had not slept.
Mary glanced slightly surprised at the person beside her. Although his gaze was directed at the podium, his eyes were not focused on it.
In short, he was distracted.
Mary quietly observed him for a while. A knowing light flickered in her blue eyes.
It seed he had not known about Hanigan's situation.
No, to be precise, he had only learned about it this morning.
The girl did not disturb him. She quietly opened her notebook and ticulously recorded the professor's lecture in neat handwriting.
Even after the morning classes ended, Russell was still deep in thought. Mary gently tapped his shoulder to bring him back.
"Have you evolved to the point where you no longer need to close your eyes when sleeping?" Mary asked softly, her voice carrying a mix of amusent and teasing.
"Uh… it's nothing. I was just thinking about what to eat for lunch," Russell shook his head and gave a perfunctory reply.
Mary did not expose the la lie. She simply helped him stand up gently.
"Instead of sitting here thinking, wouldn't it be better to go see for yourself?"
As she spoke, she led Russell out of the classroom.
On the way to the cafeteria, discussions about this morning's newspaper kept echoing in his ears.
"I never imagined Moriarty would actually kill soone…"
"Yeah, I thought he was a good person."
"A good person? He's just a thief! What's so strange about him killing soone?"
"But didn't he once help Scotland Yard catch bank robbers?"
"That's just proof he's betraying his own kind. It's a dogfight between dogs!"
"But why is this being reported by so obscure tabloid? The Tis and The Guardian haven't said anything. Sothing feels off."
"That's ridiculous. The Tis and The Guardian both depend on Mr. Moriarty for their livelihood, so they have no reason to slander him. They're all in the sa boat."
Similar debates continued one after another without end.
Having overly sharp hearing was not always a good thing.
Russell listened expressionlessly, absorbing the endless stream of malicious points.
Mary followed behind Russell, staring at the indignant students holding ritual weapons, then finally turned her gaze to him.
"I don't necessarily believe everything that newspaper wrote."
She spoke quietly, her voice reaching Russell's ear.
"Moriarty wouldn't kill anyone, right?"
Hearing this, Russell paused briefly before continuing to walk.
"Who knows?"
He casually remarked, "There was a card he left at the scene."
"But just because the card was there doesn't an he did it, does it?" Mary smiled and asked, "What did Charlotte say?"
"Charlotte said it was fabricated."
Russell hid nothing.
"She was called to the scene by Inspector Lestrade yesterday."
After examining the scene and taking statents, she concluded that Moriarty had been frad.
The two bought two sandwiches at the cafeteria and then headed to their familiar secret base.
"If Moriarty was treated unfairly, why was this report published?" Mary asked with great interest.
"Who knows?"
Russell shrugged. "Maybe soone tried to make quick money off this news and sold it to a Fleet Street paper."
"Are they from Scotland Yard?"
"I have no idea." Russell shook his head. "Lestrade already instructed his subordinates to keep it quiet, but with sothing like this… who can say for sure?"
Scotland Yard had never been friendly toward Moriarty.
After a short pause, he added, "Of course, it could also be Hanigan's servants. They were the first witnesses."
"Hmm…" Mary thought for a mont, then looked at Russell.
"Do you care a lot about this?"
"?" Russell raised an eyebrow. "Why should I care about sothing like that?"
"You've been spacing out since this morning," Mary said as she opened the sandwich wrapper, took a bite, and mumbled sothing.
"This is the first ti I've seen you not sleeping during class."
"With the risk of being late, how do you still manage to sleep?"
Russell sank deep into his chair and picked up his sandwich.
"It's all Charlotte's fault. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have been late."
"Hm?" Mary's gaze lingered on his slightly tired eyes. A faint sadness flickered in her own eyes, but she quickly hid it.
"But Moriarty helped you so much," she said. "Don't you care at all?"
"Moriarty has plenty of minions," Russell shrugged.
"Besides, only you and Charlotte know about this, so why should I worry?"
Hearing this, Mary smiled helplessly and did not press the topic further.
She ate her lunch quietly. Sunlight streaming through the window cast a warm golden glow on her silver hair.
Those blue eyes, always calculating and sharp, looked exceptionally gentle in this rare mont of tranquility.
"However," Russell's voice broke the silence again. "Actually, I'm very interested."
"Hm?" Mary looked up at him.
"You seem to place quite a lot of trust in Moriarty," Russell said.
"When everyone thought he was a murderer, you were the first to stand up and say he wasn't."
"Because he doesn't need to do that," Mary replied calmly. "He wouldn't do sothing like that."
"Why?"
"Because I believe in him."
"Reason?"
"Faith needs no reason."
Mary laughed.
"What if he really did kill soone?" Russell asked.
Hearing this, Mary fell silent for a while, seemingly thinking deeply about the question.
After a long pause, the girl finally spoke.
"Then that person must have deserved it."
…
…
PS: Support and read advanced chapters at patreon/AbsoluteCode
User Comments
0 comments from readers