In the afternoon, Aiden returned to Rose Iron Prison and took a seat in his own chair.

Flandre and the wardens of other blocks had taken care of everything he could handle during his half-day absence, neatly stacking the remaining documents that required his personal review in the center of his desk.

Aiden began to process the documents and, when he came across the personnel-related files, he couldn’t help but think of his conversation with Rebecca that morning.

"You are the Warden of Rose Iron Prison now!?" Rebecca exclaimed.

"You should have known about this," Aiden said calmly.

"I see..." Rebecca’s expression turned somewhat odd for a moment, "but now I really don’t remember anything at all."

"Why the sudden desire to work in a prison?" Aiden bluntly asked for her reasons.

"I heard the work there is relatively laid-back. Given my current condition, it’s not very realistic for me to return to the front lines of the Bureau, so I want to switch to a simpler job."

"You might have some misconceptions about the job of a prison guard; honestly, though it’s not as dangerous as a Judge on the front lines, it’s not that easy either." Aiden laughed, "The prison needs to be manned at all times, and the workload can be quite heavy when staffing is short. Duty hours are irregular, and the work can be a bit monotonous."

Although Aiden had indeed made the work at Rose Iron Prison a bit easier through reform, at best, he had only made an intolerable work environment a bit more bearable.

In his previous life, he had encountered quite a few people who had the fixed impression that his job was "easy and suitable for retirement," but in fact, compared to a regular nine-to-five job, this one definitely could not be considered easy.

"No matter what, if you’re there, it will be easier for me to transfer over, right?" Rebecca said half-jokingly.

"What shortcuts? I’m just there to stamp approvals when someone is transferred in. The key is whether the old man will let you go or not," Aiden said seriously, "You should consider it a bit more before deciding."

...

The words still echoed in his ears.

Rebecca truly seemed intent on transferring to prison work, but to be honest, Aiden was quite hesitant to take her on.

Director Harold was already quite upset about his transfer from the Heretic Inquisition to work at Rose Iron Prison, and if a rising star like Rebecca were to be poached by this unit...

The old man might very well come over wielding a knife himself.

Moreover, based on his observations today, amnesia had a greater impact on Rebecca than he had imagined. Not to mention work, it seemed even her ability to manage her own life was somewhat affected.

The work in a prison generally has little margin for error; a momentary oversight can easily lead to serious consequences. In his assessment, Rebecca wasn’t ready to return to work in the Heretic Inquisition for the time being, nor was she quite fit for Rose Iron Prison. She probably did need some time to rest and adapt to her post-amnesia condition.

Not only that, but after seeing Rebecca, Aiden always had an indescribable sense of incongruity... 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

At that moment, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in," Aiden said casually.

Flandre entered the office and reported to Aiden, "Warden, someone from the Heretic Inquisition has arrived!"

"What!?" Aiden was startled.

Had the old man really come after him because of Rebecca’s matter?

But on second thought, Rebecca hadn’t officially submitted a request for transfer, and he had already mentioned it to Harold this morning. If the old man were to come after him, he would have to wait at least until Rebecca submitted her request.

"It’s the prisoner you mentioned before, the captured S-class fugitive, Presia," Flandre explained, "The Heretic Inquisition brought her in ahead of schedule."

"Now? They just notified us yesterday, shouldn’t there still be a day or two?" Aiden was somewhat surprised.

"The prisoner seems to have some discomfort and needed medical attention, so they suggested just sending her over here for a checkup ahead of schedule," Flandre sighed.

"So they’ve passed the hassle onto us," Aiden kind of understood now.

A prisoner’s health issue couldn’t be neglected, but someone like Presia, an S-level fugitive outside and marked with red as a high-risk inmate inside the prison, required significant security measures for a hospital visit. For the Heretic Inquisition Bureau, it was quite troublesome.

So they simply decided to send the prisoner to the designated prison ahead of time, as the prison also had a certain level of medical facilities.

"What are her symptoms now?" Aiden inquired about the details.

"Stomach ache," Flandre answered.

"Stomach ache?" Aiden immediately furrowed his brow; this sort of symptom was a common excuse used by prisoners feigning illness. However, if it had been mere pretense, the Heretic Inquisition Bureau should have seen through it and not been alarmed to the extent of transferring the prisoner prematurely.

"From what I’ve seen, it seems legit. When the prisoner was transferred here, her face was a bit pale, and she was covered with sweat..." Flandre described, "When the pain struck, she could barely stand up."

"Has she been taken for examination?"

"She has been sent already, and now we’re waiting for the result from the prison doctor—"

Flandre had only gotten halfway through when the office door was pushed open.

Aiden and Flandre looked over simultaneously, both a bit surprised; it was rare for a prison guard to enter this office without knocking, unless there was indeed an urgent matter to report.

Prison guard Isabella rushed in, panicked: "Warden, Head of the detention area, the new prisoner who was just sent to the medical ward for examination... suddenly started vomiting blood!!"

"Vomiting blood?" Aiden’s face immediately darkened upon hearing this.

It appeared that today’s issue pushed by the Heretic Inquisition Bureau wasn’t merely some trivial matter but a significant problem.

After exchanging a glance with Flandre, he immediately stood up from his seat, "Take us there to see!"

Upon arriving at the medical ward with hurried steps, Aiden saw at first glance the new prisoner, half-dead, lying on the bed groaning with a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth.

"Warden," the prison doctor noticed him.

"What’s the situation?" Aiden asked her.

"I suspect she swallowed something strange before," the prison doctor said gravely, "Her throat has lacerations, and there are signs of inflammation that seem several days old. I guess that after she swallowed it, there may not have been a problem at first, but then it got stuck somewhere for a while and started bleeding today..."

"Digestive tract foreign object?" Aiden was taken aback.

Several days old...

That meant the foreign object must have been swallowed by Presia during her detention by the Heretic Inquisition Bureau... No, it was also possible it happened before that.

The bureau likely had no clue about this, or else they would have definitely investigated what Presia had swallowed.

Bleeding in the digestive tract indicated the development of ulcers, and perforation would pose a life-threatening condition.

"Warden, this situation probably can’t be resolved naturally; surgery is required. We can’t handle it here; she needs to be taken outside," the prison doctor suggested.

After pondering for a moment, Aiden turned to Flandre, "Call prisoner 3340 over to take a look first."