My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 37

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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He really hasn’t changed much since childhood. Arkel wore that same shocked expression when I went to the bathroom earlier.
It seems I maintain some kind of lofty image in his eyes. Still.
How could I convince him of this? I was choosing my words carefully when Arkel’s cold voice cut through.
“If what you’re saying is true, what did he tell you about us?”
This was a question I hadn’t heard before. I spoke slowly.
“He said Cesare was a timid but endearing student. He used to have accidents in bed frequently at night, but he heard you helped cover it up.”
Cesare, I’m sorry for exposing your weakness. I’ll apologize when I get back.
“He said Jenia worried about her tentacles. He mentioned she was so curious she often tormented you.”
Arkel fell silent. Only the pressure around my arm eased slightly.
“……What did he say about me?”
What could he have said about Arkel? I paused, then opened my mouth.
“He said you were remarkable but worrying. That as the eldest, you were taking on too much.”
“…….”
“He wanted to tell you that there’s no need to grow up so quickly.”
Arkel seemed burdened by excessive responsibility that came with being the eldest. Because of this, though he got along well with his siblings, there was something oddly distant about him.
He often took care of his troublemaking younger siblings in my stead. Yet he rarely spoke of his own worries.
My student, who tried to shoulder everything alone. I had hoped he would stay a child a little longer.
“…….”
His arm released me. When I turned, Arkel looked somewhat confused. After a long moment of hesitation, he spoke.
“……Is Bella alright?”
Bella. She was one of my students. Why was he asking about her?
“Bella has gone missing. I found Jenia and Cesare.”
Then the air froze again. Arkel’s expression, which had softened slightly, turned sinister once more.
“So it was a lie after all.”
Bloodlust poured from him. I couldn’t understand why he was reacting this way.
“If you find it hard to believe me, I can tell Cesare and Jenia to come visit. You can talk to them directly.”
“Visiting isn’t allowed.”
He flatly refused. If Jenia had been here, persuasion would have been easier. Her appearance hadn’t changed much, and Beast hybrids weren’t common.
Arkel spoke in a cold tone.
“If you were going to deceive me, you should have investigated properly. I receive regular letters with news of my siblings.”
Letters. I looked down at what had spilled across the desk. The most striking thing was the money.
Blood-stained thousand-batz notes lay scattered everywhere. I picked up a letter that had fallen among them.
“Take your hand away.”
Arkel reached out to restrain me. I preferred not to use force, but I needed to read the letter’s contents.
―Thud!
I pinned him down flat. As I pressed him from behind, I quickly scanned the letter.
The moment I saw the first sentence, I lost my words.
「From Brandon to Arkel.」
Brandon. He died fifteen years ago. Yet a letter had arrived? A sense of foreboding washed over me as I forced my eyes downward.
「Cesare’s flower shop is thriving. Jenia is achieving excellent grades at the Academy. It’s all thanks to you.」
A flower shop? The Academy?
Cesare had been struggling as a mercenary, and Jenia had been enduring abuse.
The letter contained updates on the other students too. All lies—impossible, preposterous lies of happiness. My eyes reached the final sentence.
「But Bella has fallen gravely ill. The diagnosis says she won’t last more than two months. They say she needs a dragon’s heart, but there’s no way to obtain one.」
Then Arkel, who had been struggling, thrust me away violently and broke free. Just as he tried to strangle me with the chain of his shackles, I raised my arms.
―Clang-clang!
The chains struck each other. An unpleasant metallic sound rang out. Arkel released a killing intent far beyond what he’d shown before.
He was furious. As if this forged letter were infinitely precious to him.
But it was all fake. There was no truth in any of it.
As I blocked Arkel’s assault, the narrow cell quickly descended into chaos. Hearing the commotion, guards rushed in.
“What is this now? Both of you, step apart!”
“Dain, return to your cell!”
While the guards subdued Arkel, I was shoved back into my cell. As I entered the empty room, my mind went blank.
The lies written in the letter. And Arkel, who believed them so firmly.
I’m uncertain whether my student truly committed murder or not. But one thing was clear.
Someone had been deceiving my student for fifteen years.
* * *
The next day.
I was cleaning the inside of the Frost Prison with Mateo. Mateo, who had been sweeping, let out a long, lazy yawn.
“Ugh, I’m dying of boredom. Aren’t you bored, Dain?”
“Not particularly.”
“Right, I guess. You had quite the time yesterday, didn’t you? You’re way stronger than you look. I never would’ve guessed.”
Word had spread through the entire prison about my fight with the gang in the dining hall yesterday.
Because I’d beaten them down so thoroughly, the way the other inmates looked at me had changed. Everyone except Mateo.
“Dain, something tells me you’re hiding something. Is there anything else you’re keeping from us?”
“I have five children.”
“Five? At your age?”
“Five of them.”
“Five?!”
Mateo’s expression turned exaggerated with shock. Looking at him like this, he was nothing but a mischievous, slightly unhinged young man. I watched him grin impishly.
“What about you, Mateo? You hiding something?”
“Me? Not at all. People as upright as I am are few and far between.”
He lied with remarkable ease. When he’d fallen asleep yesterday, I’d examined his letters.
I’d read the faint traces of magic clinging to them. He seemed to be investigating some kind of misconduct on Warden Gaston’s part.
Keeping that knowledge hidden, Mateo spoke on casually.
“We’ve finished cleaning, so let’s head back. Recreation time’s coming up soon.”
After finishing our preparations, we descended to the first floor. Guards barked orders amid a crowd of prisoners.
“Open the gates!”
The heavy iron doors creaked open. Prisoners filed out one by one, each taking up a worn blade, heading toward the Snowy Plain. That white hell.
Sleet was falling. Looking at the sky, a blizzard seemed imminent. The weather was ominous.
I slipped into the crowd. Arkel was visible ahead, leading the way. Mateo nudged me and spoke.
“Want to hunt together? Let me see that fancy noble-killing technique of yours.”
“Next time. I’ll show you when I catch something real.”
“Ooh! Yes, definitely show me!”
I scattered away from Mateo. Once we entered the Birch Forest, everyone became nothing but dim silhouettes.
No one nearby. The moment I confirmed that, I began sprinting rapidly back toward the prison.
Recreation time afforded considerable freedom. Magic could be used, and movement was far less restricted.
Clang!
I drove my blade into the outer wall of the prison and began to climb. I wedged my fingers into the narrow gaps between the stones.
The third and fourth floors of Frost Prison were the guards’ quarters. Letters and packages would be inspected there.
My target was singular: a letter. I needed to discover who had impersonated Brandon.
Ice covered the stone wall, and my grip kept slipping. My bare hands grew raw from the cold. I made it to the third floor by a razor’s margin.
Through the window, I saw no guards. They would be waiting on the first floor, ready for any emergency during recreation time.
As I surveyed the interior along the wall, I spotted a room containing bundles of letters. I forced open the frozen window and slipped inside.
Boxes organized by name came into view. Searching through the boxes starting with A, I found a letter from Arkel meant for Brandon.
“I’m sending money. Please look after my siblings.”
Alongside that brief message, the envelope contained dozens of banknotes worth 1000 batts each.
Blood-stained notes with ragged edges. The same ones I’d seen in a drawer. A hundred batts per beast.
Then I heard footsteps outside. Peering through the door crack, I saw the thug I’d beaten the day before.
His expression was dark. He sighed, then headed toward an inner room. After a knock, his voice came through.
“Warden, sir. It’s me.”
The warden? Could it be Warden Gaston?
I slipped back out onto the outer wall and approached the adjacent window. Through it, I could see the warden’s lavishly appointed office.
A man sat on the sofa, dressed in what appeared to be expensive fabric. He looked to be in his mid-thirties. But something caught my eye more than his clothes.
Cloudy blue hair. Silver eyes. The exact same color as Arkel’s.
The similarities in gender and age to Arkel were striking. Too many to be coincidence. Could it be?
Then Gaston opened his mouth.
“You still haven’t dealt with Arkel. It seems money isn’t in short supply for you.”
“My apologies, Warden. That monster just keeps growing stronger with each passing day…….”
The warden threw the whiskey glass he’d been holding at the thug. It struck his forehead with a sharp crash.
Blood streamed down from the impact, yet the thug said nothing.
“You can stop if you want. I can just pass him on to someone else. What’ll it be?”
“I’ll, I’ll do my best, sir.”
“Good. Get out.”
The thug bowed repeatedly before leaving the room. An aide produced a fresh whiskey glass and spoke.
“I doubt those men can handle Arkel.”
“Right. It will be difficult. Who knew Arkel would become this formidable.”
The warden poured whiskey into the glass as he spoke. The ice clinked softly.
“I should’ve kept Brandon alive.”
“What choice do I have? I can’t throw away a billion Batz. That bastard refused to pay what he’d promised—that’s on him.”
He poured whiskey for his associates as well. They spoke of it all with the casual indifference of men discussing the weather.
“We need to clean this up before anyone finds out. He won’t stay quiet after doing fifteen years in my place.”
Cold wind cut across my skin like a blade. My body froze even as my mind burned.
I remembered what Diar had said.
“We barely caught him from witness testimony. A man with ash-colored hair and silver eyes—that’s the murderer they described.”
Was the prison warden the real killer?
I had no proof. But after hearing that conversation, the shape of it became clear.
Arkel had become the culprit in Gaston’s place. In exchange, hadn’t he received a billion Batz?
And Arkel had entrusted that money to Brandon. He sent the money he earned here to Brandon consistently. There was only one reason.
“I’m sending money. Please take good care of my siblings.”
Snow swirled in blinding gusts. The image of Arkel came back to me—his body covered in wounds, the way he killed beasts, bills soaked with blood falling to tatters.
Then, from somewhere distant, came a faint vibration like a low rumble. In the same instant, the door flew open. A guard gasped heavily and shouted.
“Warden! Arkel has escaped!”
Silence fell. Gaston slowly lifted his head. A sneer played at the corners of his mouth.
“If it’s about his siblings, I knew he’d do it eventually. So he finally did.”
The letter came back to me—the one saying Bella had fallen ill. Had that been crafted to trigger Arkel’s escape?
“An escapee can be summarily executed.”
Gaston looked satisfied as he drained his whiskey. He turned to the guard.
“Tell every guard and inmate. Whoever kills the escapee Arkel gets ten million Batz.”

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