I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison - Chapter 182

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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 182

Helios’s face was calm as the warning flowed from his lips.

Didn’t Pontos say that Helios and I resembled each other quite a bit?

It was quite a pleasant story to hear.

And hadn’t Haira said so as well?

That since I was the one who corrupted a person with a good nature, I should take responsibility.

This too was quite a sweet story.

Responsibility was nothing but restraint, after all.

Though thanks to the brand, I couldn’t leave Helios’s side anyway.

“You’re quite gentle.”

Looking at my disciple who had boldly grabbed his master’s chin and lifted it up, I smiled silently.

Helios had a displeased expression. I pressed his cheek somewhat mischievously.

“Is a warning that’s only words really a warning?”

“…”

“If it were me, I’d break your legs first, disable that Kia of yours, then threaten that you wouldn’t be able to leave.”

“…I’ll take note of that.”

Helios clicked his tongue low.

“But I can’t implement it for you.”

Come to think of it, all he did was confine me and tie up my hands and feet. Haira’s words suddenly felt very real.

“It’s fine. I’ll let myself be captured even without that.”

I grabbed the hand that was holding my chin.

I pulled it straight toward me, grabbed the approaching face, and kissed him.

“Helios.”

The rain had stopped.

After a long kiss ended, I spoke quietly while getting hit by water droplets falling from his hair.

“I’m going to seek revenge from now on.”

As soon as I was released, I began Mama’s funeral. The path to collecting the items from the will felt like an endless journey.

But I believed there was an end.

And at that end, I had already set my next goal.

From a very long time ago.

Having gone through such a long time, I was already ‘Mint.’

I would not let the one who framed me and made me rot away for a full 10 years go unpunished.

“If what you want is confinement, I’m prepared to grant that. But… how about listening to my goal before taking me away?”

Helios listened quietly, then asked bluntly.

“Then if I say I don’t want that. At that time…”

“I won’t run away.”

I grabbed Helios’s cheek and spoke clearly. Helios let out a small laugh.

“…Master.”

Helios pressed his forehead against mine. His body temperature was hot.

“Won’t you ask me to stay with you?”

“….”

“If you beg, my mind might change, don’t you think?”

Then Helios kissed me again without giving me time to answer.

It was a somewhat urgent kiss.

When our lips parted, our breaths mingled. With our noses touching, I silently gazed into those violet eyes.

Under the sky where the rain had stopped, I looked at that clean and pure face for a long while.

“Helios.”

I suddenly spoke.

“There’s one more funeral. Want to come with me?”

* * *

“…You said it’s Master’s Mother’s funeral?”

“Yeah.”

When we returned to the Information Guild, I didn’t need to do anything.

Paul had already prepared everything in my place.

So we could start immediately once I arrived.

It was a huge space.

It was once a cathedral long ago, but now it’s a building no longer in use. It was also the first place I bought and renovated as soon as I came to the Capital.

A place chosen solely for Mama.

The attendance was modest.

It was a scene that contrasted with the Former Marchioness Limnades’ funeral where countless people had gathered.

But it was fine.

Mama, who would already be in the Afterlife, didn’t like large gatherings.

That was also why she always wandered alone instead of gathering with others, despite being the Boss.

Paul didn’t say much when he saw me appear with Helios.

Rather, he just glanced at Helios with a look that seemed to understand.

Though it was a funeral, there was no corpse or priest. The coffin was empty, filled only with flowers from her hometown that Mama had loved in life.

“…Elder Sister said that when all the wars ended, she wanted to return to her hometown. To tend a garden. It was a humble dream for someone who was the Boss of a massive mercenary corps.”

“Ah, I’ve seen her tending moss in prison.”

“…Ge-Guild Master has no sense of mood. Tsk.”

Paul sniffled and muttered. His eyes were bright red.

The few people here were all Paul’s colleagues and also Mama’s former subordinates.

They said they owed their lives to Mama.

“Ahem, ahem. Guild Master, won’t you say goodbye to Elder Sister?”

At those words, I stared down at the empty coffin.

I couldn’t look away.

“I wonder.”

Greetings, do we really need such things.

“I don’t understand why I should do it.”

“….”

“I feel like I’ve been doing it every day in my heart since the day Mama died.”

“…I see.”

Paul let out a small sigh at my calm words.

Strange gazes followed me, but I still stared at the coffin.

“However, I do think it’s fortunate that we can finally hold a funeral like ordinary people.”

Because both Mama and I were prisoners.

Mama couldn’t live the ordinary life she desired. And I still don’t think I can live the life you implicitly wished for.

‘Mama, I’ve kept all the promises from your will.’

“It was the promise I kept most diligently in my life.”

So please understand if I can’t live ordinarily. What can I do? I was born this way.

Still….

“Thanks to one thing you taught me, I learned how to love.”

“….”

“If you haven’t closed your eyes yet, go now and rest peacefully and play to your heart’s content. Tend to that garden you loved so much.”

“….”

I fell silent for a moment, then murmured.

“But don’t make any daughters in the afterlife. I think I’d be a little jealous.”

We were probably a relationship that miraculously bloomed normal affection in an abnormal place.

The dead don’t go anywhere; they rot and decay and become soil.

So.

These words won’t reach you anyway.

But still.

“…I loved you. And I always will.”

“….”

“Mother.”

I quietly closed my eyes.

Now there’s only one request you made of me left.

Not to let the one who sent me to prison get away with it. Gladly, that aligns with my own goal as well.

Behind me, I heard uncontrollable sobbing.

Though a long time had passed since her death.

Mama seemed to be the kind of person who remained in someone’s heart for a long time.

The same would be true for me.

I etched the image of the empty coffin in my mind for a long time.

‘It’s fortunate that you’re not someone who gets lonely.’

…Let’s meet again someday.

Mother.

* * *

After the funeral ended, Mint said she had something to discuss with the man named ‘Paul’ and stepped aside to talk with him for a moment.

Helios stood alone in front of the coffin.

It had been a modest funeral. However, this place alone was surprisingly well-maintained.

They said this place would be preserved like this in the future as well. They had already selected a caretaker to manage this place.

Here, a retired mercenary who had once been Marla’s subordinate long ago would take charge.

He was said to take pride in the role given to him.

“Are you satisfied.”

Helios quietly murmured while looking at the coffin.

At the same time, faint kia flowed out and surrounded him. Mint would have felt this flow of kia as well, but she probably wouldn’t pay much attention to it.

He simply wanted to murmur to himself alone.

“To be honest, if I hadn’t met you, I would have faced Master in a much more hideous state.”

Helios was certain.

If he hadn’t met Marla who appeared like a ghost.

He would have reunited with Mint while harboring an even more demon-like obsession.

― You’re my daughter’s new precious person, aren’t you? Perhaps, even more so than me?

He wasn’t sure about these words.

― I hope my daughter meets someone gentle and humane.

Helios quietly recalled that day.

Along with the image of Marla, who had used her last chance to appear before him even though she could have appeared before Mint.

― Loving my daughter will be more than twice as difficult as for ordinary people.

Even so, it was a path I couldn’t give up. Your daughter shattered my flame-like anger and hatred, my heart that tried to resign itself, all with an aura like a raging torrent.

Helios recalled the title Mama had asked him to use when calling her at her grave next time.

“Mother-in-law.”

Did she know they would meet like this? It was something Helios couldn’t know.

“I kept my promise.”

Helios looked at the coffin and murmured softly.

The thought that I no longer need to compete with you who are dead is, regrettably, also evidence that I too have already become a twisted person.

Helios revealed the most composed face he could manage.

It seems I’m a bit lacking in becoming a gentle and humane man. But still.

“I will devote my life to making Master happy.”

By my side.

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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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