Rose Iron Prison, Warden’s Office.

"Here are the records of the prisoners who were admitted to the core area yesterday, a total of seventeen people." Prison Governor Flandre presented the report to Aiden.

"Thank you for your hard work... The number of people incarcerated has increased a lot lately." Aiden took the report and flipped through it, his expression growing grave, "Eight bloodline members?"

"It seems there’s been a heretical cult related to the bloodline active in Silvertown lately. The Heretic Inquisition captures blood cultist followers every time they destroy one of their strongholds." Flandre explained.

The frequency of female bloodline prisoners coming in these days was unusually high, and Aiden was quite certain that this had something to do with Mister Bloodcoat.

Using "The Rule" to force confessions, Aiden managed to root out several followers of the Blood Moon Cult in the initial period, but after that, he could hardly find any at all.

As he had feared, Mister Bloodcoat had already figured out a way to deceive the forced interrogations, which was to "sacrifice" the followers’ memories, making them believe they were indeed imprisoned for their crimes and not due to someone else’s instructions.

On top of that, the other side had increased their use of human wave tactics. Just this week, the number of bloodline prisoners had reached over thirty—Aiden guessed Mister Bloodcoat had specifically allowed some of the human followers to undergo the initial embracing ceremony.

Being so overt about it, it seemed the other party wasn’t planning on hiding it too deeply.

The human wave tactic had some effect; for Aiden, it was very difficult to find a legitimate reason to transfer all these prisoners, especially the female bloodline members of Earl level and above. There was almost nowhere in the vicinity of Silvertown that could accommodate them aside from Rose Iron Prison.

As for having them die in prison... that was absolutely unfeasible. Even a single prisoner dying abnormally or disappearing was a major issue for a prison, and with so many at once, he, as the Warden, could not escape investigation.

Mister Bloodcoat had discovered the rules of prison operation and was exploiting them. The order could become a tool for anyone, if used correctly.

However, to avoid being specifically targeted by him, these followers had no memories and no belief targeting Mister Bloodcoat, their only use was essentially that of a smokescreen, and Aiden knew that the truly dangerous prisoner was likely just one.

A smokescreen... With that thought, Aiden suddenly realized he shouldn’t be misled by habitual thinking.

Possibly, all these bloodline prisoners could be a smokescreen.

The truly dangerous one might not be a bloodline member at all.

Once he considered this, all the prisoners who had recently been incarcerated became suspects.

If things continued like this, it would be an endless defense.

"Call someone to bring over the prisoner from Cell Three." Aiden instructed Flandre.

...

During the yard time, Qiqimora and Lamia sat on a bench, watching the prisoners coming and going in the yard.

"Even if we say we should find out who’s acting suspicious... it’s really not clear at all." Lamia sighed, "That kid is just making things hard for us, we’re not Heretic Inquisitors."

"It’s not that we can’t tell who’s suspicious, it’s more that a lot of people seem quite suspicious." Qiqimora shook her head.

The core area housed many criminals who differed from ordinary people, and they had, to varying degrees, some psychological issues, which often manifested in their abnormal behavior and demeanor.

"The concept of suspicion is too broad. If we had to say, we ourselves are rather suspicious," Lamia suddenly revealed a sinister smile.

At this moment, some female inmates noticed her expression and shivered involuntarily, consciously widening their distance from her.

Ever since Camila tragically fell victim to Lamia’s ruthlessness, Lamia’s reputation as the "soap picker" boss had spread rapidly, and most prisoners kept their distance, lest they become her next target. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

However, there was also a small fraction of inmates who, for some inexplicable reason, began to approach Lamia voluntarily, even displaying an affectionate attitude, which left Lamia herself somewhat puzzled.

"Those Bloodline members must be connected to the Cult somehow," Qiqimora glanced into the distance.

Recently, there had been a significant increase in Bloodline prisoners in the jail, forming a considerable group capable of establishing its own gang.

"But the leader they’ve chosen probably has nothing to do with the Cult," Lamia said, "That Prince-level Bloodline doesn’t seem... particularly smart, but she does follow the rules pretty well in prison."

A group naturally needed a leader. In this prison, Bloodline members couldn’t use their abilities, but their lineage still conferred some physical self-healing capacity and some resistance to sunlight, so they maintained respect for bloodline as they did outside. The gang of recently added Bloodline inmates had appointed as their boss a Prince-level Bloodline with several years of experience in prison, named Ophelia.

Ophelia had been in the prison for a few years and was unlikely to have connections with the Blood Moon Cult. Moreover, this character surprisingly followed the rules, and the Bloodline gang, for the most part, only occupied the common room in groups and did not engage in any particularly outrageous behavior.

More importantly, Qiqimora and the others had seen Ophelia greeting Aiden, and judging by that interaction, Ophelia was another inmate who had been "tamed".

It was clear that these Bloodline members weren’t suspicious at all. Forming a small group in the prison because of their shared lineage and numbers was just a natural outcome.

The Blood Moon Cult had probably started sending disciples with erased memories into the prison, just as Aiden had anticipated.

"There have been quite a few watchful eyes in the prison lately," Lamia observed her surroundings sharply.

It wasn’t just her and Qiqimora; Daili and Presia had also been occasionally watching other prisoners recently, and this list included a Necromancer, as well as the Dragonkin who Lamia had attacked last time and the Prince-level Bloodline, Ophelia, seemed to have the same tendency.

"It looks like the warden has instructed more than just us," Qiqimora also noticed, "How many people does he have here, after all?"

"You can tell this kid has a thing for training others," Lamia smirked, "I wonder if he’ll have any inappropriate thoughts about us."

"Lamia, just a reminder. We’re also charmed by him into making a pact and doing his bidding," Qiqimora said, expressionless.

A whistle sounded, and the guards called back the inmates from their recreation, lining them up to return to their cells.

Passing by cell number three at the gate, Lamia turned her head for a glance at the inmate who had inexplicably greeted them last time and was surprised to find this person frantically dancing and laughing maniacally against the wall, a stark contrast from before.

"So this one really is a lunatic," Lamia said.

"Perhaps, it’s just intermittent outbursts," Qiqimora didn’t take the matter seriously.