Free Web NovelChapter 71: Chapter 71 Afternoon Tea in the Clinic_1
The next afternoon, after finishing his work, Aiden strolled to the infirmary.
He was there to check on Avansa’s medical examination results.
To eliminate the toxins from Avansa’s blood, he was now having her receive medication treatments daily and arranged for her to come here for a physical examination once a week.
As for the treatment plan provided by Meiruki Slave, he still maintained a certain level of vigilance.
He pushed open the door of the infirmary and immediately spotted Veronica sitting by the door, guarding the prisoners.
"Commander!" Veronica stood up at once and saluted Aiden.
Aiden lowered his hand to signal her to keep seated, "Oh, it’s your duty day today?"
"Yes."
Aiden scanned the room and saw Avansa sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, eating a small piece of cake from a tea saucer as if no one else was around, her mouth adorned with snow-white cream.
Aiden was startled for a moment, "Where did the cake come from?"
In the prison canteen, whether for the guards or the prisoners, meals were served without such desserts; the only possibility was that a guard had brought it in from outside.
Avansa heard his question, stopped chewing, but didn’t answer directly, just quietly shifted her gaze towards Veronica.
Aiden followed her gaze to Veronica, who had to raise her hand and admit, "I’m sorry, it was... I bought it for her, to thank her for helping out yesterday."
"Oh, I see, then it’s fine," Aiden smiled, "It’s only reasonable to reward prisoners for meritorious behavior, and it doesn’t violate any rules. I too occasionally give them perks for their help. If you ever find yourself in a bind here in the prison, you can ask them to lend a hand." freewёbnoνel.com
"Is that alright? I haven’t seen the warden do that." Veronica was a bit surprised.
She knew that Avansa, Daili, and Asenna were model prisoners appointed by Aiden to assist in the management of the prison, but since her arrival, she had only seen Aiden casually giving orders to these inmates, and other guards, even warden Flandre, didn’t seem to interact much with them.
Over time, she had begun to feel that only the warden himself had the authority to use these three inmates.
Aiden shrugged, "There’s no reason why not; I recruited them to help the guards manage the prison, not to serve as my personal secretaries. The other guards don’t make use of them because they’re not used to it and have their reservations, but I don’t think you need to worry about these issues."
Aiden could see that, compared to other guards who viewed the core zone inmates as nothing short of natural disasters, Veronica seemed to be able to interact with and manage the core zone inmates from a more equal perspective.
Just like with Avansa, other guards only saw her as a dangerous creature and dared not get too close to the child whose blood was laced with deadly poison; only Veronica still saw her as a child and showed compassion for her.
After all, Veronica herself was no less an outlier compared to these prisoners, and she did not shy away from close contact with them.
Aiden was keen on nurturing Veronica, passing on his methods of prison management to her bit by bit.
If Veronica could eventually become his spokesperson for managing the core zone, many things would no longer require Aiden’s personal involvement, and his job would be much easier.
"You keep an eye on her, I’ll check the results," Aiden said as he strode towards the laboratory.
Upon entering the examination room, he immediately closed the door behind him.
There were two people in the examination room: one was the prison doctor, and the other was the shackled prisoner, Meiruki.
Meiruki’s left ankle was fettered with a long shackle, the other end of which was attached to a pillar; this security measure temporarily prevented her from leaving the examination room or initiating contact with Avansa.
"Have the blood test results come out yet?" he asked the prison doctor directly.
"Not all of them, but the toxicity assessment has been completed," replied the prison doctor.
"And the results?"
"The toxicity has indeed been significantly reduced—the concentration of poisonous substances has roughly halved and there are no abnormalities in other physiological indices. From the current results, the treatment plan is proving quite effective," the prison doctor gave a firm reply.
"Halved? That sounds like she could become like a normal person before long."
"Concentration is just one reference indicator. Initially, the medication shows more pronounced effects, but the progress will slow down as time goes on. The ultimate goal of the treatment is to completely change the child’s hematopoietic functions, which will be a prolonged process," Meiruki interjected, providing Aiden with an explanation.
After listening, Aiden nodded and turned to Meiruki: "Not bad, you’re quite honest. I was worried you might do something strange."
"In your hands, I have resigned to my fate; I certainly wouldn’t joke with my own life," Meiruki said with a smile, lifting her shackled hands and shaking them, "I’m prepared to spend the rest of my life in prison. I wonder if the warden would consider giving me more chances to reform?"
Aiden understood Meiruki’s implication; she wanted to become like Avansa and the others—a model prisoner working for Aiden in exchange for privileges in prison.
"I’m not too keen on using someone as treacherous as a viper, especially since I can’t bind you with a demon’s contract. But as long as you obey the rules, I won’t make things difficult for you. When I need you, I will naturally strike a deal with you," replied Aiden earnestly.
He was well aware that Meiruki had potential value to be utilized, but she was also a femme fatale who couldn’t be trusted. Her seemingly honest behavior at the moment was simply because she had no opportunity to resist him.
With this woman, he could only maintain a cautious distance, ensuring his safety while negotiating with her.
"Truly a man who doesn’t give anything away," sighed Meiruki.
Just then, someone knocked on the door of the examination room.
"Who is it?" Aiden turned around and asked.
"Officer," Veronica’s voice came from outside, "The head of the confinement area has sent someone over to look for you. There seems to be some issue in the solitary cells."
"The solitary cells?" Aiden frowned. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Normally, the solitary cells were not places where problems were expected; prisoners there were strictly isolated, and any issues could generally be handled by the guards on duty immediately.
And at the moment, there should only be two prisoners in the solitary cells—the one who caused trouble in the cafeteria yesterday, the violent Camilla, and the ghoul Slyne.
After pondering for a moment, Aiden responded, "Got it; I’ll head there now."
