I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison - Chapter 175

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 175

* * *

Another two days had passed.

In the meantime, I had faced Haira again.

And I had also met Seth.

Seth only looked at me with resentful eyes, didn’t say anything particular, just left the meal and went away.

‘And yet he came back again in the evening.’

How many more days would it take before I could see Helios again?

Until now, I had been constantly busy searching for the items from Mama’s will, so this was the first time I was spending time doing nothing.

Thanks to that, I decided to earnestly reflect on myself.

Namely, what did I do wrong and how, and therefore what kind of apology should I make?

Would Helios feel better if I acted a bit more like a normal person?

I thought hard about it.

Just as I was continuing my contemplation now, light began to gather before my eyes.

‘My Kia?’

No, it was a Kia similar in color to mine, but it was someone else’s Kia.

The light, which had been about the size of a candle flame, gradually grew larger and soon dropped from the empty air.

“…A hedgehog?”

Squeak!

The hedgehog cried out once as if to confirm, then spread its tiny wings wide from among its spines.

At the same time, letters appeared before my eyes.

[Younger sibling, are you living well? This is my ability to send messages to only one person. However, there are distance limitations.]

It was Pontos. He continued with a brief explanation.

[You’ve been missing since you jumped out the window. Thanks to you telling me in advance that you might be imprisoned, I wasn’t surprised.]

The letters continued in a line.

[Still, I’m worried. If you need help, pull on the hedgehog’s wings.]

I stared at the message for a long time.

The hedgehog, as if reading my intention, didn’t move on to the next content.

When I nodded, the letters quietly disappeared and the next content appeared.

[And by any chance… are you in a situation where you can escape?]

[Mother will soon… pass away. She’s looking for you.]

I gazed at the message with a calm expression.

The Former Marchioness was critically ill. She would likely pass away as early as tonight, or by tomorrow at the latest.

[…This is truly shameless of me, yes, truly shameless, but I have one last request. Could you please see my mother, who will soon pass away, just one more time?]

The message concluded by saying it was fine if it was difficult, and to firmly pull the hedgehog’s wings if I needed help.

“I’ve read everything, you can go back now.”

The hedgehog circled around me with a confused expression.

Flutter flutter. It even extended its wings toward me, but I shook my head.

“If you’re trying to help me escape, you don’t need to. I can do it on my own.”

The hedgehog stared at me for a long while, then licked my hand once before smoothly disappearing.

I watched Kia’s afterimage, then looked up at the ceiling.

‘How far does the surveillance extend?’

If it were Hades, I was certain he would be monitoring my every move as if he had installed cameras.

But I couldn’t guess how far Helios would go.

To me, Helios was still that righteous Male Lead who had been wrongfully imprisoned among all those prisoners.

Even this confinement, from his perspective, was justified since I had done wrong.

I looked at Kia’s afterimage left by the hedgehog, then finally at the window created by illusion.

I stood up and approached the wall.

* * *

“D-Duke!”

The door burst open. Helios was already standing up.

The startled knight quickly delivered his report.

“Th-that person has attempted to escape!”

Helios’s expression was calm.

“…I know.”

No, could that really be called calm?

“There’s no need to worry, have everyone return to their positions.”

“Pardon? B-but…”

Currently, very few people in this mansion knew about the confinement of Marquis Limnades’ Daughter.

This knight was one of them, and also the captain of the Alpheion Knights.

At the same time, as a loyal knight, he accepted the order. He withdrew and closed the door, suppressing his questions.

Helios rubbed his face.

He stood still for quite a while.

Enough time passed that those who knew how obsessed he was with Mint would find it puzzling.

‘Which direction?’

The eyes visible between his fingers sank coldly.

The barrier that had surrounded the Marquis Estate when he kidnapped Mint, or the barrier and surveillance system of the room where she was confined.

There wasn’t a single place from one to ten that his hands hadn’t touched.

He had prepared for a full three years, but on the other hand, he knew.

The fact that she might easily slip away.

And once again, she would leave far away.

‘…I’ll just catch her again.’

Next time with an even sturdier cage, no, with bars…

“Haha, new Duke. Do you really think that pursuit will ever end?”

An unpleasant voice struck his head. With jet-black hair, Helios erased Hades’ mockery and afterimage.

Mint must have already gone far away.

The Kia tracking her had been severed, but he didn’t mind.

‘If I can just figure out which direction she’ll leave in.’

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t anticipated this situation anyway. She didn’t know, but the confined space wasn’t just that room.

This mansion was an extension of confinement and like a giant maze itself.

Then suddenly his eyes widened greatly.

What.

She hadn’t gone in any direction he had expected.

Rather…

Bang!

With a tremendous roar, one side of the wall where he was collapsed.

And through the dusty wind, he saw a familiar person. For a moment, he had the illusion of seeing a prison uniform.

Though her appearance was different, Mint stood in front of the hole in the wall with the same smile.

“Ah, bingo. Here it is?”

A standoff that wasn’t quite a standoff continued.

Mint looked around Helios’s office.

“This place is a mess. Did thieves break in?”

Her expression was calm.

“I don’t know what kind of thieves, but should I catch them for you?”

Yes, it was truly a calm expression and ordinary conversation.

There seemed to be only one person who couldn’t bear this tranquility.

Helios, calm like Mint but with a cold face, tilted his head slightly.

“Why didn’t you run away?”

“…”

“With Master’s ability, you wouldn’t have been unaware of where the exit was.”

Then Mint’s smiling expression changed subtly.

“…Right, it was quite complexly made, but it wasn’t difficult. Finding the exit.”

Blood was dripping from Mint’s hands.

This place was originally a space that Helios had put his heart and soul into creating. He knew Mint’s ability and had done his best from the beginning to make it impossible to use Kia.

Therefore, Mint had no choice but to move while accepting significant blood loss.

It began the moment she stepped out of the room.

It was a space worthy of her admiration.

At the same time, it was also a moment that made her reflect once again on the Disciple’s growth.

But Mint found the exit without much difficulty. However.

“Why didn’t they chase after me?”

No one pursued Mint. Rather, from a certain point on, the knights she encountered neither stopped nor chased her, as if they had received orders.

And Helios, who she thought would come running first.

Was nowhere to be seen.

“When a hostage runs away, you should chase and catch them.”

And you should punish them even more severely so they never think of escaping again.

“Did I teach him to be this soft?”

The smile gradually faded from Mint’s face.

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