Chapter 282: Chapter 282 New Source of Happiness_1
Annie recovered from the severe pain in her shoulder and looked up at Aiden with fury. "You wouldn’t be messing with me, would you?"
"Do you think so little of me? As bad as things might be, I am still the ’Emperor’ of this place." Aiden chuckled, "If I wanted to mess with you, I wouldn’t need to resort to such petty tricks. You should reflect on who you’ve managed to offend after you went in."
Annie clenched her teeth, having a rough idea of the reason for her current predicament.
"So, resorting to violence in prison and a day in solitary is all I get?" Annie demanded, her face dark with anger.
"Punishments and their severity are determined by the situation. After all, we can’t completely rule out the possibility of accidents," Aiden shrugged. "You spat in my face yesterday, and that’s all the punishment you received. What more do you want?"
"I’ll grind that bitch into pieces and throw them into the sea for the fish!" Annie spat out the threat through gritted teeth.
"There’s no sea here." Aiden shook his head. "You’d be better off worrying about whether you’ll be played to death in prison."
Annie raised her face to look at Aiden, her expression cold. Aiden could clearly feel that she was concocting plans to take revenge on him.
"That being said, I have some questions to ask you." Aiden continued without changing his expression. "I saw in the records that you were caught by a bounty hunter, right?"
Annie Drake was a prisoner from the Empire side; the main case files were also with the Empire, and the information Aiden received was sent over after being sorted there, not in much detail.
In the description of Annie’s capture, it mentioned only that a bounty hunter lured Annie’s pirate ship out using a cargo vessel at sea, then boarded the ship, seriously injured a group of pirates, and took Annie away. The identity of the bounty hunter was not specifically mentioned.
Annie kept her mouth shut, clearly unwilling to cooperate with Aiden’s questioning.
Aiden bluntly resorted to provocation: "A single bounty hunter wiped out the entire pirate crew you led. How incompetent do you have to be? All the pirates of the Silent Sea must be looking to you for such shame."
True to form, Annie immediately bristled. "Who said it was just one bounty hunter? There were clearly three people! And they were all Bloodline members!"
"Oh? Bloodline members?" Aiden narrowed his eyes, feeling certain of something in his mind.
After considering, he tentatively continued to inquire, "Was one of them wearing an outdated suit and a monocle, looking young but dressed like an old gentleman in his fifties?"
Annie recalled for a moment, "He was wearing a cloak; I don’t know what was underneath, but that bastard definitely wore glasses..."
It was Kael—Aiden was almost certain of it.
Three High-Rank Bloodline members had annihilated Annie Drake’s pirate crew and delivered her, bound, to the hands of the Empire’s navy. Only the Death himself, who controlled the old Blood Moon Cult, or the progenitor of the Bloodline, Azrael, could command High-Rank Bloodline members to act in such an organized manner, and Death clearly had no reason to do such a thing.
The bounty hunter who had handed Annie over to the navy was likely Kael, as he was probably the only one with a legal identity among the three Bloodline princes.
Kael, as a lackey of the progenitor, taking the initiative to do this was most likely at the behest of the progenitor.
It seemed that Melissa had not only had the progenitor reveal the news about Navi Drake to him but also had the progenitor take care of the bait to lure her out.
Although the progenitor was cursed, he was still the saint of the "death" dominion. Melifilia, being sealed in the prison and simply claiming to be a follower of the "Goddess of Intrigue," would probably find it difficult to persuade the progenitor to do so much work.
Aiden had a vague sense that Melissa herself must possess a status that allowed her to converse with the progenitor on equal terms.
If she indeed exists above saints and wishes to free Melifilia from this prison, stopping her would likely be a very difficult task.
This could also explain why Melifilia, a ruling figure, seemed indifferent to being detained by mortals, for she could break out whenever she wanted.
Thinking of this, Aiden shook his head. It was not something he could figure out at the moment, and even if he could, there was nothing he could do about it.
What was most important now was to deal with the task Melissa had assigned him, even though it was semi-coercive. He still needed to snatch the Wordless Code from Drake’s hands.
Aiden looked at the prison doctor, seeking information about Annie’s injuries with his eyes.
"It’s just a dislocation, no fractures. It’ll slowly subside after being set and rested for a couple of days," the prison doctor waved his hand dismissively, "There’s no need to stay in the infirmary all the time; just send her back, but make sure she doesn’t lift heavy objects."
"Looks like you’ll still be able to go to the toy workshop and do some assembly work. Start tomorrow," Aiden looked at Annie.
"You’re making me work even though I’m injured?" Annie frowned.
"Criminals don’t have the rights of ordinary people. I’ve picked an easy job for you, so don’t push your luck," Aiden replied calmly.
"I won’t cooperate anyway," Annie scoffed.
"You’re still not over the solitary cell you slept in yesterday?" Aiden raised an eyebrow, "Do you enjoy sleeping next to a toilet that much?"
"Solitary confinement, solitary confinement, that’s all you’ve got," Annie challenged Aiden with a provocative look, "I’ll get out sooner or later. I don’t care if you make me live in solitary."
"If you’re going to be that stubborn, I can also add a continuous restraint," Aiden remained unflustered, "Handcuffed behind your back, 24 hours a day, cuffed to your waistband."
"So what?"
"You won’t think the same when you need to wipe after using the toilet... oh wait," Aiden corrected himself, "By then, you might not even be able to pull your pants down by yourself."
Annie’s face changed slightly.
Aiden rarely had the chance to use this kind of punishment. Even the previous Camilla would relent under such a threat.
"Furthermore, if you can’t get along with your current roommate, I can arrange another roommate for you," Aiden continued, "You seemed to hit it off with that violent inmate earlier. How about I arrange for you two to live together? Just to mention, she may not even be the worst roommate here."
Annie was at a loss for words.
"Run out of steam, huh? Is that all? Seems like you’re at least not foolish enough to seek out your own death," Aiden, admiring the frustration on Annie’s face, nodded with satisfaction.
Ever since Ophelia and other difficult inmates straightened out, it had been a while since he had the pleasure of dealing with such stubborn criminals, enjoying the gratification of training them into silent submission.
While the sole authority held by Navi Drake indeed posed a tough challenge, the pirate princess in front of him was undoubtedly a potential source of joy no less promising than Ophelia’s.
"I’ll slaughter you one day!" After a while, Annie enunciated each word deliberately.
