Inside the Rose Iron Prison, in the dispensary of the medical room.
“…Based on the experiments with the white mice and rabbits, it seems that these drugs indeed enhance the sensation of pain. When applied to subjects who’ve had their pain receptors dulled, it can partially restore their sense of pain,” reported Melusine, holding a sheet of the test report in front of Aiden, who was seated across from her. “We’ve identified a few primary ingredients, all of which are fairly safe, with no apparent side effects or adverse reactions so far.”
“Let’s observe for a few more days. If everything looks good, we’ll use it on Evangeline,” Aiden nodded.
To ensure that the “pain-inducing potion” given by Lamia was safe enough, he had intentionally set aside a portion of the potion for Melusine to analyze and test on animals.
Melusine stared at Aiden for a moment before hesitantly speaking up, “Warden…”
“Yes?”
“Can you tell me now? Where exactly did this potion come from?” Melusine asked cautiously.
As an expert in alchemy, she could tell that the potion Aiden gave her was beyond what an ordinary witch or alchemist could create—at the very least, it was far beyond her own capabilities.
Naturally, she was quite curious about its origins.
“it's a potion crafted by Lamia. Is there a problem with it?” Aiden smiled.“Did… did you buy this from the black market?” Melusine froze for a moment.
There were quite a few potions on the black market that claimed to be made by the “Queen of Alchemy” Lamia, but the genuine ones were likely less than ten percent.
Melusine herself had also sold potions claiming to be Lamia’s, but being her apprentice, she could at least achieve about seventy to eighty percent of Lamia’s technique, which made her a relatively honest seller in this regard.
However, the craftsmanship in this potion surpassed her own skill, making it highly likely to be authentic. She couldn’t help but wonder if the warden before her actually had an eye for identifying genuine potions…
But Aiden shook his head. “No, I got it directly from Lamia herself.”
“From her personally?” Melusine was stunned. “You… you’re in contact with that monster?”
“I’m currently in contact with the core members of the Witches’ gathering.” Aiden took a token from his coat pocket—a symbol of his connection to a Grand Witch—and gave it a light wave, his face curling into a cryptic smile. “Oh, and Lamia asked me to pass along her regards to you. She hopes you’ll be released soon so that the two of you can have a nice ‘reunion’ as master and apprentice.”
“She already knows I’m here!?” Melusine face turned pale.
She had been expelled from Lamia’s tutelage for using her master’s name to peddle potions. But this "expulsion" was not a peaceful dismissal; rather, Melusine had fled under the cover of night, narrowly escaping being butchered and eaten by Lamia.
“That’s right. But it wasn’t me who told her—it was another Grand Witch who dug up the information.” Aiden shrugged, attempting a bit of comfort. “At least, for the moment, she doesn’t seem inclined to break into the prison to kill you. So Relax.”
“Wait… so that means if I get out, it’s a one-way ticket to the grave?” Melusine suddenly grasped the gravity of her situation.
“No need to think so far ahead. Given your circumstances, unless you achieve some monumental accomplishment or there’s a nationwide amnesty, there’s no way you’re leaving this prison.” Aiden sneered. “Have you forgotten you’re still on death row? I just pulled some strings to delay your execution. You’re still barred from sentence reduction, so unless you keep delivering results, I can’t guarantee your survival when the time comes.”
“Everyone else working for you gets their sentences cut down to less than ten years… doesn’t this seem a bit harsh?” Melusine looked rather displeased.
“What crime did you commit? And what crimes did they commit?” Aiden raised an eyebrow. “They weren’t sentenced to death in the first place. As for you… you could grow a few more necks, and it still wouldn’t be enough for the gallows. You should be thankful you’re still alive. What more do you want?”
Melusine was momentarily silenced.
“I doubt you’d be content to stay in this prison forever, so consider this a warning. Behave, and I’ll keep my promise to let you hold on to your life. But if you make any more trouble and I catch you… I’d imagine by then, you’ll be wishing I’d just put you out of your misery.” Aiden said, waving the vial of pain-inducing potion before her.
Melusine caught Aiden’s veiled message: her value to him lay mainly in her role in treating Evangeline. Now that Aiden was connected to Lamia herself, her role could be replaced at any time. The only reason Aiden kept her alive was to honor a past promise, but if she stirred up any more chaos in the prison, he wouldn’t hesitate to end her.
Truthfully, even after her imprisonment, Melusine had never fully submitted to this man; she simply hadn’t seen any hope of overturning her situation and had chosen temporary compliance. But given a chance, she was ready to escape at any moment.
Yet now, it seemed that her chances of finding that opportunity were growing slimmer by the day.
After a long silence, Melusine forced a sycophantic smile. “Warden, you’re a bit too suspicious, don’t you think? I’ve already turned over a new leaf…”
“I don’t care if you’ve turned over a new leaf or not; it doesn’t change the crimes you’ve committed. Just keep yourself in line here, and that’ll be enough,” Aiden interrupted her bluntly.
“Yes, yes…” Melusine didn’t dare talk back. “Then, may I make a small request?”
“Say it straight. But if you’re asking whether you’re allowed, the answer is no.”
“I only… wanted to request a slight upgrade in my treatment level.” Melusine put on a carefully cautious expression. “You see… I’ve done quite a bit for you already, yet my current treatment is still the same as any ordinary inmate.”
“You’re still in the observation period from your last offense. Your treatment level was supposed to be at the lowest; having it restored to the ordinary inmate level was already a rare exception.”
“It’s… been over a month now. Is my observation period really that long?”
“Don’t rush. You’ve got another month or so left. Your accomplice, Ophelia, is still under observation too; no way it’s going to be any shorter for the main culprit.” Aiden replied coolly.
As he spoke, he suddenly remembered the vampire princess, who, surprisingly, had been uncharacteristically obedient since her last incident. Perhaps the disciplinary measures had indeed had an effect on her.
But from what Aiden knew of Ophelia, she was prideful, with limited wit to match. She was most likely harboring her resentment, and was simply biding her time.
From his experience, people like her rarely held back for long; it was only a matter of time before she lashed out again.
Recently, however, Aiden had just acquired a new golem core, and he hadn’t yet had a chance to test the performance of his upgraded mercury golem. Frankly, at this point, he was almost hoping one of the prisoners would act up soon and give him something to do.