My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 72

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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 called me Master. Had Hayden recognized me? No, it didn’t seem that way.
“Master, are you the ship’s owner? I’m not a thief, there’s been a misunderstanding…….”
“Hayden.”
The moment I spoke his name, his stammering voice cut short. Hayden turned to face me.
I saw his eyes widen, just barely. He looked startled. Was it because I knew his name? No, it felt different from that.
Just then, Arkel and Jenia drew near.
“Master, is this Hayden?”
“Yes.”
Throughout this, Hayden said nothing upon seeing Arkel. A voice that sounded wrung from him emerged.
“……Arkel? Jenia?”
The struggling movement ceased. I loosened my grip, and Hayden suddenly threw his arms around both of them.
“Jenia! Arkel! I never thought I’d see you again……. I missed you so much!”
Tears welled in his eyes. Hayden’s face held only the joy of reunion. No suspicion, no denial, no guilt.
It was the first time I’d found a disciple so easily. It was good fortune.
Yet a powerful sense of wrongness flooded over me. Why was that?
I had mountains of questions, but couldn’t decide where to begin. As Jenia reached out with her tentacles to touch Hayden, he laughed as though ticklish.
“Ahaha, Jenia’s the same as ever! And these tentacles——I’ve missed them too.”
“It really is you, Hayden!”
Jenia embraced him with delight. Hayden lifted her in his arms, laughing, then glanced at me sideways.
“But how did you find me? And who is that person…….”
“That’s Master! He died and came back to life!”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“I don’t know. But he really did come back.”
Hayden’s gaze lingered on me for a long moment. Those violet eyes seemed strangely deep.
The corners of his mouth rose, then trembled oddly. It could have been a smile, or perhaps tears. He murmured softly.
“I see. So Master has come back to life…….”
Relief threaded through his voice. That reaction wasn’t strange in itself. But it differed markedly from his manner with the other disciples.
Unlike Jenia, who seemed delighted, Arkel remained unmoved. He placed no hand on Hayden’s back, merely looking down at him.
“You were wanted by the Lord, weren’t you? Is it true you seduced the Lord’s Wife? Are you a rogue?”
At Arkel’s question, Hayden’s expression shifted once more. He answered with a smooth, practiced smile.
“A rogue? Come now, when a man and woman spend time together, these things happen…….”
“Vulgar.”
“After all this time, you greet me like that? Wait, you’re not here to arrest me, are you?”
His expression was exaggerated fear. He wasn’t taking the situation seriously at all.
Was he trying to lighten the mood on purpose? I glanced past the window. The fire still raged unchecked.
“I heard you met Cesare.”
A brief silence fell. Hayden smiled quietly.
“Yes, that’s right. It’s a long story to tell here——what should we do?”
“We’ll talk elsewhere.”
I handed him my cloak. When he drew up the hood, his face was half-hidden. Hayden peeked out with only his eyes showing and spoke.
“This won’t be enough. Wouldn’t it be better to leave me here for now and hear the story later?”
It was true——we could conceal him here and have him rejoin us afterward.
But I couldn’t leave Hayden out of my sight now. Perhaps I didn’t trust him.
“From this moment on, you won’t leave my sight.”
He smiled at me, but the smile was only in his lips. His eyes did not smile.
How much was sincere? What remained? I would have to discover it now.
* * *
The Inn where Balanus was staying was the second-largest in the city.
It was a place where guests and servants came and went in numbers, but as night fell, it had grown rather quiet.
Then Dein entered with someone. The innkeeper glanced their way.
The companion was a tall woman in a skirt. With a hood drawn up, her face was unclear, though long silver hair showed here and there.
‘That’s the person from the first day.’
The image of a tall, silver-haired beauty came to mind. It seemed she’d stepped out for a while, he thought, and turned his gaze away without concern.
The two of them went up to the second floor. Dein opened the door to one of the women’s rooms.
“Welcome, Master. No one noticed, did they?”
Jenia greeted him cheerfully. But Bella sat on the bed with a sullen expression. The one who’d come in with Dein spoke.
“Wow, nobody recognized me at all. The clothes Bella lent me worked perfectly.”
Hayden removed the silver wig. While he looked refreshed, Bella seemed displeased.
“The two-in-one disguise fooled people nicely. But did it have to be my clothes specifically?”
“Disguising herself as a woman would catch them off guard.”
Dein had borrowed clothes from Bella to smuggle Hayden in. Fortunately, Bella was tall, and Hayden had a lean frame.
“Sister, it’s been so long. I hope you’ve been well?”
Though it was their first meeting in years, Bella’s expression suggested she wasn’t entirely pleased to see him. The reason was clear, and Dein voiced it.
“Where’s Cesare?”
“He says to call him only when needed.”
Even at the mention of Cesare, Hayden wore an easy smile. He simply tossed the wig onto the table without a care.
Jenia settled into a chair and swung her feet as she spoke.
“Hayden. I want to ask you something.”
“Yeah, what?”
“Why did you run away?”
Hayden hesitated for a moment, then let out a sigh. A shadow crossed his features.
“The truth is, I had a relative. I thought they might feed and shelter me, so I went to find them.”
“Why didn’t you tell us before you left?”
“I was afraid you’d all follow me. Don’t take it personally. You’re grown now — you understand, don’t you?”
Dein listened quietly. It was cowardly, perhaps, but the circumstances had been dire, and Hayden had been a child.
Jenia only nodded once, without reproach.
“I see. And what did you do after that?”
“It was a poor household, so just scraping together meals was everything. As soon as I was old enough, I left and did various work here and there.”
“What kind of work? Fraud?”
“Fraud? No — I made money through Magic.”
He pinched his thumb and forefinger together to make a circle and winked.
“I’m quite the accomplished mage, you know, but there’s no real money in doing it honestly. So I got my hands dirty with some dangerous business.”
Dein’s eyes darkened. Hayden had never struck him as particularly greedy — how had it come to this? Was money so important he’d betrayed his own brother?
“I heard you took Cesare’s money.”
“… You think he resents me?”
Hayden fell silent for a moment.
“The truth is, I did it on purpose.”
“On purpose?”
“Yes. I was being hunted by creditors. They were trying to use him against me, so…”
His head drooped. A single tear rolled down his cheek in silence.
“That’s why I lied to him and left. I knew that if he found out the truth, he’d insist on helping me…”
Dein studied Hayden. The story was plausible. Too plausible, even.
He didn’t beg to be believed, didn’t plead his case. He simply wept in silence. And yet something about it felt almost rehearsed, as if he weren’t truly crying at all.
Just then, Jenia clapped her hands together once.
“So it was all a misunderstanding? Like when Bella deliberately called me a monster spawn?”
“… How long are you going to milk that?”
“For the rest of my life.”
Bella exhaled heavily. Her expression had softened slightly since before, and she glanced at Hayden sideways.
“Master. So what do you plan to do now? Hand him over to the Lord?”
“No. We’ll have to either negotiate or slip away quietly somehow…”
Neither option was easy. Hayden sensed this and opened his mouth.
“Master, actually I’ve prepared something.”
“Prepared?”
“I have a corpse that resembles me ready. The Lord’s Wife was so relentless that I thought I’d fake my death and escape.”
He spoke of the corpse so casually, as if such matters were second nature to him.
“The face is ruined, and I only need to have a tattoo inscribed on the shoulder, but there’s a problem — the feet are tied up.”
“…”
“If you give me just a few days, I can have everything prepared perfectly.”
Dein nodded, his face expressionless and silent. In contrast, Hayden’s expression was bright. He flopped down onto the bed.
“Then I’ll stay in the women’s quarters while we wait. Sister, since we’re in this situation anyway, let me borrow your bed too.”
“Don’t even dream of it. You’re sleeping on the floor.”
Hayden was found. Watching him, Dein couldn’t bring himself to smile. A question had been circling his thoughts ever since earlier.
Would we ever sit together at the same table again? Like we did so long ago. Cesare and Hayden too.
* * *
Lord’s Manor. The afternoon sunlight was streaming in through the windows.
I stood in the Reception Hall where I had come four days before. Just as then, the Lord sat in the place of honor.
The difference was that today Cesare had come along. His expression was unusually blank.
He set down a heavy bundle with a thud. It was just large enough to fit one person inside. The Lord looked at me with displeasure.
“I thought I told you to bring him back alive.”
“What’s done is done. I found it cast away at the Seaside.”
I unfurled the sack and showed him the corpse. The Lord’s eyes narrowed as he regarded the black-haired body.
“The face is ruined. The shoulder tattoo matches, though.”
He glanced at the left shoulder, then let his gaze drift lower.
“Why is the lower half in this state?”
“It was already like that when I found it. The damage to the face and lower body—someone got there first, it seems.”
Hayden had mutilated the corpse, reasoning it would seem natural for a murder born of jealousy. Whether to call it thorough or something else, I couldn’t decide.
Fortunately, the ploy took hold. The Lord’s expression shifted to one of grim satisfaction.
“So he was touching other women about the countryside. I knew it would come to this.”
He rang a small bell that lay on the table. Moments later, someone appeared through a back door.
It was a well-dressed noblewoman of middle years, her eyes swollen as though she had wept for days on end.
“Come here and look.”
The Lord’s Wife hesitated before drawing near. Her gaze, trembling with anxiety, fixed upon the corpse.
Her eyes traced across the face, the shoulder, then down to the lower body. She crumpled to the floor.
“Guy, no—!”
Only after witnessing his wife’s anguish did the Lord’s expression settle into one of satisfied pleasure, as though her reaction were undeniable proof.
I forced a smile. Things had gone well enough, but should I have felt pleased about this?

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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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