I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison - Chapter 171

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 171

 

The woman called Mother held Mint in her arms and cried for a long time. Until the moment she could cry no more due to lack of strength.

 

Mint hesitated, then gently patted her back. Should she be grateful that she had learned how to comfort someone thanks to Helios?

 

“…Child, what will you do when you go out and meet your real family?”

 

“No, shouldn’t you ask if I can even get out first?”

 

“Either way.”

 

The question Mama had once asked filled her mind.

 

She also remembered the answer she had given.

 

“What do you mean what will I do? I don’t really care. If my family is the one who put me in here, I’ll catch them and beat them up. Otherwise, they’re just strangers.”

 

Of course, she hadn’t thought that a young lady from a marquis house would suddenly be wrongfully accused as a criminal and thrown into prison.

 

At that time, Mint had already suspected that her family was complicit in putting her in this place.

 

And her gaze toward family who weren’t accomplices was no different then than it was now.

 

“My daughter, how difficult it must have been for that tender child. I’m just grateful that you’re alive. Really, resent this foolish mother for the rest of your life…”

 

It only felt like being held by a stranger, an unfamiliar other person.

 

Unfortunately, Mint couldn’t give back the tears, the sorrow, or even the resentment and anger that her birth mother hoped for.

 

If they had met when she was twelve, would there have been something, even faintly, that she could have given back?

 

But even that faint something had grown dull and disappeared during her long prison life, leaving not even dregs behind.

 

“…I’m sorry, truly sorry. For not being able to protect you. I’m truly sorry…”

 

The person called her birth mother held Mint for a long time, crying, then collapsed from exhaustion and fainted again.

 

With tear-stained marks on her clothes, Mint turned toward Pontos. Pontos slowly nodded his head.

 

It must have been a greeting that replaced words of sincere gratitude. Pontos’s eyes were also reddened.

 

…For 10 years, I truly wanted to say these words.”

 

“…”

 

“Welcome home, our daughter.”

 

Only the lingering echo of Mother’s last words before fainting circled around the room.

 

* * *

 

A week had passed since then.

 

There was no contact from Helios, as if it were a lie.

 

Mint became a little busy. No, let me correct that. She became very busy.

 

Not only did she drag in people from the Information Guild to collect information with terrifying aura.

 

She also met with Collectors directly to buy necessary items.

 

The assets of the Limnades Marquis House were consumed in the process. But Pontos spared no support, saying this was the price of their promise.

 

“Since we’re switching to making the hard-to-find items ourselves, it’s become much easier.”

 

“Well, it can’t be helped. I want to use existing items as much as possible, but we agreed to acknowledge that newly made items are the same thing.”

 

And so, when four more days had passed, Mint obtained what she wanted.

 

In fact, a small secret was hidden within this. It would be better to call it a compromise rather than a secret.

 

Mint had resolved to find all the items from Mama’s will through legitimate means.

 

However, after meeting Helios again, an inexplicable anxiety followed her like a shadow.

 

And so, on the day Helios declared to her that he would kidnap the ‘Illegitimate Child.’

 

She decided to compromise.

 

Deciding to craft some of the hard-to-find items was one of those compromises. And for items that couldn’t even be made, she either carried out threats with the Marquis’s help or went in directly to steal them.

 

“Anyway, the Collector who possessed this had also obtained it after killing the Craftsman and even the Craftsman’s Family Members. But a crime is still a crime.”

 

“Are you going to have the Police Station arrest me now?”

 

“Well, I didn’t see anything.”

 

“Oh my, what a corrupt former police chief you are.”

 

When she chose the easy and simple path, the speed at which items gathered was incredibly fast.

 

So much so that even Mint was surprised.

 

Mint gazed endlessly at the Items placed on the Table.

 

In fact, Mint knew too.

 

Mama, who would be in the Afterlife, even if she knew that she had gathered items this way.

 

She was someone who would smile and say ‘well done.’

 

Even Paul had been pushing her back for several months now, telling her to just go and steal them, saying ‘what’s wrong with picking the pockets of bad guys anyway.’

 

From Paul’s perspective, he hoped that Mint, whom his Elder Sister had cherished, would no longer be held back.

 

‘I’m sorry, Mama. I tried to play the role of a good Daughter at least on this final path.’

 

Mint fidgeted with the item in her hand.

 

“I guess being a good Daughter is out of the question now.”

 

Mint placed the item in her hand on the Table.

 

“You can curse me for acting this way because I’m crazy about the Man I want now.”

 

Mint lowered her gaze and withdrew her hand.

 

This was the last one.

 

At last, Mint had finally gathered all the Items that Mama had mentioned.

 

Soon after, an Executive from the Information Guild came, received all the Items Mint handed over, and left.

 

Now all that remained was to hold the funeral.

 

She had decided to hold the funeral together with Paul.

 

“Honestly, it’s thanks to traveling around the Continent and collecting the ridiculously difficult items in advance. Even Elder Sister probably didn’t think this would be possible, right?”

 

That would be right.

 

For a full two years wandering the Continent, even Mint had clicked her tongue more than once or twice.

 

Just as she was tracking the Presence Detection of the Information Guild Member who had left through the Window, the Door to the Room where she was opened.

 

Looking back, Pontos was standing in the doorway.

 

Though it was a dark night, it wasn’t difficult to see by relying on the moonlight.

 

“The items?”

 

“I sent them. To the guild where I am.”

 

Pontos was silent for a while.

 

“…Then, are you going back now?”

 

They had joined hands to collect items. In exchange, she had wished to meet Mother, and Mint had kept her promise.

 

Hoping to meet once more, and not stopping there, hoping she would now return and live as ‘Minte’ again.

 

He realized.

 

This was just his and Mother’s greed.

 

Whether intended or not. His younger sister and their life paths had become far too different.

 

“I should.”

 

Mint quietly looked at her oppa.

 

“There’s one thing I’m curious about.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“By any chance, are there any items that you and I used together in childhood, or things I used when I was young? Anything would be fine.”

 

Pontos made a strange expression, then slowly nodded.

 

“…The Former Marquis got rid of most of them. But there are some remaining.”

 

He said he had kept them well preserved.

 

Just as Mint nodded and was about to say something.

 

“Wait.”

 

“…? What’s wrong?”

 

Mint quickly headed toward the window.

 

‘A barrier?’

 

She didn’t hesitate and ran to the window, jumping over the railing.

 

Gathering Kia in her feet, she used her musculoskeletal ability for the first time in a while.

 

Her legs ran with explosive strength and agility.

 

Mint, who reached the wall in an instant, blinked.

 

‘I’m trapped.’

 

She hadn’t sensed it wrong. In an instant, some barrier had covered this massive mansion.

 

Rustle, rustle.

 

From behind, she heard footsteps that made no effort to hide their presence.

 

Mint slowly turned around.

 

There, she saw a man standing elegantly with his back to the moon.

 

“It’s a bright moonlit night, Young Lady of Limnades.”

 

It was Disciple, Helios.

 

Whoosh.

 

The wind blew, and his pure white silver hair fluttered beautifully. It was a day when it looked particularly white.

 

Like a celestial being that had dropped down from the sky.

 

Helios smiled faintly. His sharp impression wasn’t erased even by the subtle smile.

 

“Where were you planning to go at such a late hour?”

 

Cold eyes captured her.

 

When Mint didn’t answer, Helios slowly and leisurely tilted his head.

 

“Shall I take a guess?”

 

That expression resembled how Mint used to look at him in the prison.

 

A gaze looking down from above.

 

Mint calmly opened her mouth. So as not to be shaken by the sharply tense atmosphere.

 

“Duke.”

 

Kia bloomed around Helios. The blue light didn’t emerge from just one place.

 

From the right, from the left, then from above.

 

“Since everything is over. You must have been planning to leave again.”

 

The time close to two weeks wasn’t time given only to Mint.

 

For Helios, it had become time to realize another truth.

 

Mint only now understood.

 

Click.

 

Familiar weapons appeared from within the blue-green Kia.

 

“Last time, I was disappointed that I couldn’t properly show you how much I’d grown.”

 

Among countless ‘guns’ aimed at her.

 

“Familiar weapons, aren’t they.”

 

The grown disciple smiled as purely as a flower. As if asking her to look at him.

 

“Isn’t that right, Master?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————