Chapter 338: Chapter 338 Personal Transaction_1
In the afternoon, in the interview room, Aiden sat across an iron table from Sophie Carter, with Veronica standing behind.
"Every so often, inmates try to have a ’private chat’ with me in this prison, most of them looking to offer a bribe, especially the one in the cell next to yours, who brings it up every time he sees me... So, I generally don’t accept an inmate’s request for a one-on-one meeting," Aiden said slowly, tapping on the iron table, "I hope you have a fairly good reason for seeing me."
"Could you ask the guard miss to step out for a moment?" Sophie asked.
"Are you that concerned?" Aiden glanced at Veronica, "I heard from her that when you saw her today, you were on guard as if she was going to eat you alive. She only ’interrogated’ you once, so why does it seem like you’re left with a psychological shadow?"
Aiden noticed the unnatural depth of Sophie’s wariness towards Veronica.
"Because there really will be psychological shadows," Sophie sighed, "Forgive me, I received intelligence training a long time ago, one aspect of which is secrecy. Every so often, we’d be given a piece of intelligence to keep confidential, and then someone would come to probe us. Our task was to parry with the person probing us... just a normal conversation for a while. If the one probing us managed to get information out of us and guessed the intelligence, the person responsible for keeping it a secret would be punished quite harshly... The purpose of the training was to instill a fear of leaking information."
"So Veronica forcefully extracting information from you triggered the fear that had been instilled in you through previous training?" Aiden was starting to understand.
"After all, your interrogation methods are too harsh, there’s really no resisting them," Sophie shook her head, "It’s like hanging someone with a fear of heights over the edge of a cliff."
"All right." Aiden signaled to Veronica with his eyes to temporarily leave the room, then turned his attention back to Sophie once Veronica was gone. "Now can you tell me what exactly it is you want to discuss?"
"I wanted to ask, how much intelligence are you, Warden, interested in knowing?" said Sophie seriously.
"There’s quite a bit I want to know, but the most important is information regarding Mr. Bloodshirt," Aiden said calmly, "As you probably already know."
"Would you be interested in making a deal with me?" Sophie asked.
"Sorry, the price you quoted before is way beyond my means."
"I could trade for something you might be able to afford..."
"Let me be honest, I do not intend to trade information with you for the time being," Aiden interrupted her.
"Why not?" Sophie didn’t show much surprise.
"Two reasons, first, I asked around with some acquaintances about your organization, and it seems... your reputation isn’t exactly stellar," Aiden spoke while observing Sophie’s expression.
Sophie kept a neutral face, but didn’t object.
"Seems like those ’rumors’ are mostly true," Aiden smiled, "and the second reason, as you’re well aware, if I really wanted to know some information now, I could ignore your resistance and pry it right out of your mouth, considering I don’t plan to ’collaborate’ that deeply with Smiling Scale anymore."
Having heard from the Witch’s Gathering about their viewpoint on "Smiling Scale," Aiden had decided to avoid deeper contact with the organization as much as possible.
The organization was very aggressive in their pricing for information and also attempted to probe secrets from his side. This was hard for Aiden, who was guarding Melifilia, not only because it was difficult to afford the cost of trading information but also because it carried the risk of leaking his own secrets.
This watering hole might provide a drink for anyone, but there are dangerous snakes hidden beneath the surface.
Although he was eager to find some help to change his current circumstances, he couldn’t make rash decisions. Compared to this profit-driven "neutral" intelligence organization, the Witch’s Gathering, which he was now getting closer to, was more trustworthy.
"So it is," Sophie murmured softly.
"You expected such an answer from me, so why bring it up?" Aiden asked.
Sophie was silent for a long while, pondering.
Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke as if making up her mind, "Then, what if I’m willing to teach you the divine language I possess?"
Aiden frowned upon hearing this, "Are you serious?"
"Serious," Sophie did not avoid Aiden’s gaze, "You are welcome to rewrite ’no lying’ in The Codex. My answer remains the same."
"Am I to understand that this is an offer you’re making personally..." Aiden paused, "or rather, are you planning to betray your organization?"
Sophie had once told him that "Smiling Scale" had a rule against sharing the divine language externally.
In this meeting, Aiden could distinctly feel a different aura surrounding Sophie than the last time they spoke in his office.
"You can consider it a personal request," Sophie stated earnestly, "If you’re uncertain, you can write in The Codex..."
"You can finish stating your intentions first; if I find it necessary, I will certainly verify it again," Aiden became formal as well, "What exactly do you want to do? You mentioned earlier... offering a price I might be able to afford?"
"I hope you can find a way to save Susan’s life," Sophie stated distinctly.
"Save your body double?" Aiden squinted, "I recall you previously said your organization had offered a price she was willing to die for in your stead..."
"But I never said that’s what I hoped for," Sophie exhaled, "If possible, I actually prefer for her to live."
Aiden scrutinized Sophie’s face carefully; he hadn’t yet written the rule "no lying" in the Wordless Code, but he felt her words were likely true. In a situation where he could use The Codex to verify at any moment, lying didn’t seem to have much purpose.
"You’re close to her?" Aiden inquired.
"At least not so indifferent as to truly leave her to die," Sophie responded.
"But when you first came in, you didn’t even mention this," Aiden noted.
"Actually, I’ve been hesitating before coming in, whether I should fully comply with the organization’s plan..." Sophie lowered her eyes, "Now, I just regret it."
"You had a change of heart just from a few days in prison?" Aiden teased, "It seems my prison is quite effective in reforming people."
"It’s just that seeing you and that jailer miss reminded me of some things from the past. As an information broker, you essentially don’t have people you can truly trust, but Susan is one of the very few people I can trust," Sophie looked at Aiden, "Just one question, are you interested in making a deal with me personally, not with Smiling Scale?"
"One piece of divine language is a rather generous offer," Aiden nodded, "Let’s hear the details."
