Chapter 537: Chapter 538: The Gift That Cannot Be Accepted_1
The next day, Rose Iron Prison.
"Morning, Warden. How was your vacation?" Flandre greeted Aiden with a smile.
"Hmm, not bad. Spent a few days at Mirror Lake in Qing Shui City, boating, fishing, even visited an ancient ruin, where the skeleton of a giant dragon lay." Aiden replied without a change of expression.
"Ah, I went there with my husband on our honeymoon twenty years ago!" Flandre said with nostalgic laughter, "There’s a stream on the hill by Mirror Lake where you can go rafting. Did you go there?"
"I did, it was really exciting. Felt like I was going to be thrown out of the boat several times." Aiden nodded with a smile, thinking to himself that his actual vacation was much more thrilling than this.
This was the story Aiden had prepared. He talked about visiting the famous tourist destination of the autonomous state, even having the secret police prepare some scenic photos just in case, but what he really did was blow up a military research base in a border city near the war zone in Gistas.
"By the way, I just heard that you brought a dog and left it in the old warehouse?" Flandre suddenly asked.
"An acquaintance suddenly came over yesterday to have me look after it, and I couldn’t refuse. I was worried it might chew things up if I left it at home, so I brought it here for the time being."
"It’s fine in the warehouse, but dogs other than police dogs really shouldn’t be brought into the cell block." Flandre reminded him.
"Of course, I’ll make sure it stays put. I’ll take care of feeding and walking it when I take a break at noon. You all mustn’t approach it carelessly; it’s not familiar with people, and it could cause quite a hassle if it bites someone." After finishing, Aiden instructed on a few work matters before heading to his office.
Veronica had already been waiting at the door for a while.
Aiden opened the door to his office and spoke tersely to Veronica, "Report."
"All the remaining work during your absence has been reduced to these documents, which all require your handling," Veronica indicated a small stack of files on the table, "I’ve already organized them according to the deadlines for processing. And these are the letters that require your response; they’ve also been sorted by date."
"Good work." Aiden said sincerely. Veronica was meticulous and a good secretary, "And these are?"
He pointed to several beautifully wrapped boxes on the table.
"These..." Veronica paused, looked away, and said in a soft voice, "are gifts from that lady..."
Aiden glanced back at Veronica, silently smiled, clearly aware of the awkward emotion she couldn’t quite hide.
"Let me see... hmm? Lipstick marks?" Aiden picked up a box and noticed the red lipstick mark on it, giving the gift a flirtatious suggestion that set the imagination wandering.
Veronica pouted quietly behind Aiden.
Sure enough, mature women with such allure are more attractive to men... but with her own attributes, she feared it would be difficult to emulate, not to mention that face had a gap she could never hope to bridge...
Unaware of Veronica’s internal monologue behind him, Aiden proceeded to unwrap the elegant package and opened the box to take a glance inside.
Veronica, not daring to come too close, could only stand on tiptoe, stretching her neck to see, but still couldn’t discern the contents of the box.
Aiden looked at one box and then moved on to the next, only inspecting each momentarily before putting it back.
Veronica couldn’t see anything and could only fret from where she stood.
Aiden glanced at two items before stopping and sitting down to start working on documents. Accidentally looking up, he noticed that Veronica was still standing in her original spot, hesitating as if she had something to say.
"Is there anything else?"
Aiden smiled, "Want to know what’s inside?"
Veronica puffed her cheeks slightly, "Chief, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you..."
Aiden didn’t continue teasing Veronica and gave the answer straight away, "The first box contains a tie and a tie clip. The tie is diamond-studded and must be quite pricey. The second box has a piece of artwork that seems to be made of mithril and gemstones."
Veronica’s eyes widened a bit.
These gifts really must have cost a pretty penny. In comparison, the bottle of wine she had given the day before, although a decent brand, could hardly be considered a luxury.
There’s no way she could compete, financially she was completely out of her league... Veronica felt a wave of disappointment.
"Why didn’t you look at the rest of the items?" Veronica asked tentatively.
"After seeing the first two, I have a pretty good idea about the price range of these gifts," Aiden replied nonchalantly, "These aren’t gifts that I can accept."
"Eh? Why not?" Veronica asked, surprised.
"What do you mean why not? If the prosecutor’s office found out about me accepting these kinds of gifts, I’d be sued immediately. Then, I would have to ’go to work’ in a men’s prison," Aiden said, shaking the gift box, "And even without that, I wouldn’t accept such valuable items from a stranger. Believing in a free lunch will lead to losses."
Only then did Veronica suddenly remember that according to the autonomous region’s law, a stranger like the lady with flowers giving gifts or money exceeding a certain value to a public servant like Aiden constitutes bribery as soon as it is accepted.
In reality, Aiden could never accept the gifts the lady with flowers had sent. When she asked Veronica to relay the gifts, Veronica had every reason to inquire clearly about the items and then righteously refuse them.
Veronica realized that she always got flustered by the lady with flowers’ aggressive demeanor as if she intended to fervently pursue the prison warden, causing her to forget such important matters.
"That lady will come today as well, won’t she?" Aiden asked.
"Yes, I informed her yesterday about your return and told her to come over after work," Veronica answered.
"This time, I’ll meet her myself. I need to return these gifts to her..." Aiden spoke and paused, then observed Veronica for a while before adding, "You seem a bit happy, huh?"
"No, not at all!" Veronica vehemently denied it while touching her face, worried that she might have inadvertently shown a smile.
"Let’s focus on work for now." Aiden glanced at the clock, "Could you go to the cell and bring Halo to the meeting room?"
"Understood." Veronica saluted.
"In such a hurry to send me back?" The specter of the goddess of vengeance appeared beside Aiden, pretending to throw an arm around his shoulder, "Actually, I find it quite interesting to stay with you."
"Having no privacy at all before you and enduring your mood-breaking sudden appearances is more than I can take," Aiden exhaled, "Go back into that body of yours and behave!"
