Free Web NovelChapter 216: Chapter 216 Your Color Map has Arrived_1
In the afternoon, having finished today’s paperwork, Aiden leaned back in his chair, reached for the letters that had been taken out from the warden’s mailbox on the corner of his desk, and started to peruse each one by one.
As usual, nearly all the letters came from the relatives of inmates—pleading for mercy, praising them, making requests... Aiden went through each one, and then a particular letter caught his eye.
An exceptionally thick envelope, almost as if it were stuffed with a stack of money.
No, it was very likely stuffed with a stack of money.
Aiden sighed. The autonomous state prisons had extensive autonomy, and the wardens had considerable authority within their own prisons. It would have been strange if nobody tried to bribe him while he held that position.
Letters containing money, checks, gold leaf, jewels, and other valuable items would occasionally appear in the warden’s mailbox, in hope of bribing him to provide special treatment to certain inmates or even to secure a reduction in their sentences.
In truth, Aiden was really annoyed to see these things; he wasn’t indifferent to money, but he knew how to weigh the risks. His prison was far from lacking in inmates who ended up here because of bribery or corruption, each an example to heed.
Moreover, in his prison was also a matron succubus who had gotten rich from pandering, always thinking of corrupting him with money and dragging him down with her. If he wouldn’t even touch that sort of honey trap, why would he risk his reputation for such petty gains?
Whenever he received such letters, he would generally have to spend time reporting them and cooperating with the investigation, just to avoid the senders pestering him incessantly afterwards.
But first, he still needed to confirm the contents of the letter.
With that thought, he tore open the envelope, and the contents suddenly slipped out. freewebnovёl.ƈom
Aiden paused in surprise—the contents turned out to be... photographs.
They were portraits of scantily clad women with exaggerated curves, posing provocatively in the photos. Although they weren’t completely nude, the suggestive attire and alluring poses gave off an undeniably racy aura... definitely on par with the sensory stimulation provided by the Autonomous State’s widely circulated B.B. Girl Magazine.
It wasn’t money; someone had actually... sent him a collection of risqué images!
Aiden was taken aback for a moment, then pulled out the rest of the photos and a letter from the envelope. He flipped through all the photographs from start to finish, then picked up the sheet of paper and read it:
"This is a small part of my personal collection that I have amassed over many years, which I hope the warden will accept with pleasure.
I am the brother of an inmate in your esteemed institution, Ophelia Callado.
I have been separated from my dear sister for over twenty years and miss her dearly.
I recently heard that she was detained in the autonomous state, so I immediately set off to see her, only to find that she had committed offenses in prison, making it impossible for us to meet.
In the near future, I will have important matters to attend to and it may be years before I can meet with her again. I earnestly request the warden’s accommodation.
Attached: I am a lawful citizen with a ’Permit for the Management of Exotic Individuals.’
Also attached: If needed, I can provide more items from my collection, with a level of excitement no less than this one.
End.
Sincerely yours,
Kael Callado."
"..." Aiden stared at the letter, momentarily dumbfounded.
He felt like if he were a character in a comic at that moment, his head would be covered in dark, frustrated lines.
Using risqué images to "bribe"... Was this guy serious?!
But Aiden quickly reviewed the relevant laws and regulations of the autonomous state in his mind and suddenly realized that the behavior of this person wasn’t entirely without reason.
The crime of bribery in the autonomous state has strict regulations on the items used for purchase; it must be money, valuable goods, or exchangeable items, and the value must reach a certain threshold.
The stack of lewd drawings didn’t qualify as valuable goods, nor were they exchangeable items; obviously, they did not meet the value standard and had little use except to those who would collect them.
Even if Aiden reported it, he couldn’t make a case; he might even be suspected by the prosecutor’s office of having water on the brain.
On the other hand ... if Aiden just swallowed all these photos, there wouldn’t be a problem either.
With that thought, Aiden casually took the pictures and threw them into a drawer.
As long as he took them but did nothing, it didn’t constitute a transaction; after all, the letter said these photos were gifts.
Then, Aiden picked up that letter.
In fact, the photos were secondary; it was the signature on the letter that deserved his attention.
This Kael Kaordo claimed to be the brother of Princess Ophelia of the vampire clan.
Vampires, as immortal beings, actually lack the reproductive capabilities of ordinary organisms. In this world, almost all vampires are transformed from humans later in life.
The "proliferation" of vampires is actually achieved through the Embrace, where a vampire performs a ceremony on a mortal, converting them into their kin. Vampires are accustomed to using noble titles to indicate the proximity of their lineage to the first of their kind, with those closer to the original vampire possessing greater natural vampire strengths.
A mortal directly turned by the original vampire is known as a vampire prince or princess, and below them are the dukes, marquises ... and so forth. These titles are not set in stone; if a vampire kills another of higher rank and completely absorbs their blood, they can be promoted.
Of course, there are some vampires who were nobles in life and choose to ignore these rules, forcibly retaining their former noble titles, but the vast majority of vampires are accustomed to identifying hierarchies by bloodline.
There are two types of kinship among vampires.
One is the master-servant relationship; occasionally, a vampire might establish a parent-child relationship with all the vampires they have transformed. For instance, most vampire princes and princesses refer to their progenitor as "Father."
The other is the kinship that existed between two vampires before their transformation.
As for sibling relationships, they can only be the latter type; it is rare for the kin of the same master vampire to call each other brothers and sisters.
Being siblings in life and both ascending to vampire royalty ... this brother and sister pair must have had quite the experience before their transformation.
It’s just ...
"It seems their heads are not that bright." Aiden shook his head at the letter.
Because he was somewhat intrigued, Aiden kept the letter for later study.
He took out the next letter, which had no stamp or postmark, suggesting the sender dropped it into the mailbox personally. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
He glanced at the letter and saw only one sentence:
"Tonight at seven, I invite you to join me beside the long table in the mist."
There was no signature, but Aiden had an idea who sent it.
Abigail could send invitations to witches across the continent, so sending a raven, owl, or bat to slip a letter here was probably a piece of cake for her.
Not many days had passed since Abigail’s visit, and Aiden suddenly felt like he was becoming a member of the witches’ gathering himself.
