Chapter 29 You Can Cry a Little Louder_1

Several days later in the afternoon, Aiden sat in his office, dealing with paperwork.

He came across a leave application from the general prison area and gave it a brief look, only to surprisingly find that it had been submitted by the old woman who had helped him find the gold pocket watch that had flowed into the black market. She wanted to leave the prison temporarily for one day next month, escorted by prison guards, to attend her son's wedding.

It was this inmate who had written a letter to her son, who dealt in illegal gold trading in the black market, on behalf of Aiden, which allowed Aiden to quickly track down the whereabouts of the gold pocket watch, enabling the prosecution to obtain critical evidence to arrest Jaron Lorton.

Not just any inmate could apply for leave to visit family. The inmate not only had to provide a reason that required their presence outside of prison, but they also needed an impeccable record of good behavior while incarcerated—and it would be best to have a meritorious service on the record.

No wonder this family went to such lengths to improve the old lady's treatment level, willingly handing over valuable goods without compensation and providing witnesses to identify the origin of the evidence. It was all to ensure the old lady could attend her son's wedding next month...

After pondering for a moment, Aiden stamped the approval seal on the old woman's application form, signed his name, and set it aside.

Then he leaned back in his chair, ready to sneak in a brief rest amidst his busyness.

Speaking of which, Veronica's application for a retrial had also been submitted for some time now, and there was no telling when it would get approved.

From his coaxing of the lame Bruce Cain into turning himself in to the prosecutor's office to facilitating behind the scenes for the prosecution to smoothly take possession of the evidence and its sources, and finally, to Jaron being arrested, with Aiden, as the "mysterious informant," playing a role in the background, the news that the city councilman's son had committed murder and framed someone else quickly dominated the pages of major newspapers.

In short, he had done everything he could, and the situation had developed exactly as he had anticipated.

However, the review of a retrial indeed took time, and these days Aiden had been waiting for a response.

Naturally, Veronica was even more anxious than he was.

According to Fille, who shared a room with Veronica, these days Veronica was either pacing back and forth in the cell with an irritable expression or leaning against the iron bars, staring longingly in the direction of the door.

Especially when Aiden personally came to inspect the core area, Veronica would press tightly against the iron bars, practically wishing she could squeeze her body thin enough to slip through the bars, her eyes blazing as she stared at Aiden, asking if there was any reply to the application for a retrial.

In Fille's exact words: "That girl has almost turned into a 'waiting wife' statue in front of the cell door."

Aiden indeed understood the girl's feelings; after all, it was a matter of her life or death, but at the moment, they had no choice but to wait.

Just then, someone knocked on the office door, and Aiden called out, "Come in." Flandre, the warden of the core area, hurried in and immediately handed over a file bag.

"Warden, this has been sent from the prosecutor's office. It requests that Veronica Wolfie open it herself!" Flandre said, panting.

Aiden immediately sprang from his chair, rounded his desk in long strides, and snatched the file bag to look it over.

"Let's go to the core area!" he said, taking the lead and striding out of the office.

"Hurry, hurry!"

At Aiden's urging, the duty guards proceeded to unlock each level of security on the prison block door.

Afterward, Aiden entered the core area and headed straight for cell thirteen. The female inmates in the preceding rooms barely had time to react with the usual insults when they saw Aiden flash past their doors.

"Warden!?" Veronica heard the sound of the door opening and appeared at the front in an instant, her eyes filled with eager anticipation. "Has it arrived?"

Aiden didn't speak; he just shook the file bag in his hand and upon reaching the door, stuffed it through the bars. "Hurry up and take a look! This thing needs to be opened by you personally."

"Oh! It really came then," Fille, who shared the room, jumped down from the bed and moved closer with interest. "Does this mean you're getting out of here?"

"It all depends on the result of the application," Aiden replied calmly.

The review process in this world was somewhat similar to the one in his previous life; from the reply to the application for a retrial, one could generally figure out the final outcome.

A retrial, put simply, was actually about overturning the previous court decision, so its review was extremely strict and cautious.

If the application for a retrial was approved, it basically meant that the previous trial was deemed problematic. On the contrary, if the application was rejected, it would be flatly and unequivocally turned down.

Veronica snatched the file bag and ripped it open. Just as she was about to pull out the papers inside, her movements suddenly halted, and hesitation appeared on her face.

"What are you doing?" Aiden was taken aback.

"Hurry up and look!" Fille urged from the side.

Veronica looked up at Aiden and, swallowing nervously, finally reached out a trembling hand and handed the file bag to Aiden: "You... help me take a look please."

"Do you think this is a lottery to try your luck?" Aiden didn't stand on ceremony and directly took the documents out of the file bag.

Veronica turned away, took a couple of steps into the cell, closed her eyes, and waited for Aiden to tell her the result.

The psychological shadow cast by her wrongful imprisonment had not completely faded, and now her mind was preoccupied with what to do if the document stated "rejected," making her feel somewhat dizzy for a moment.

Aiden quickly glanced over the boilerplate at the beginning and went straight to the result: "...The applicant's reasons for the retrial are sufficient, the application for a retrial is accepted."

"Hey, it's been approved!" He looked up and shouted firmly at Veronica.

The approval of the application for a retrial basically confirmed Veronica could overturn her conviction.

But Veronica still didn't utter a word and remained still, with her back to him.

"Veronica?" Aiden called her name with a touch of confusion, "I said the application has been approved."

"Yeah, I heard..." Veronica nodded slowly and replied in a very soft voice.

Aiden furrowed his brows—that response was way too subdued for what was understandably a long-awaited result for Veronica.

He gave Fille, who was standing inside the cell, a look, signaling her to go over and check.

Fille got the hint, tiptoed around to Veronica's side, and took a glimpse at her face.

Then, as if startled, Fille's eyes widened, and she tiptoed back to the front of the cell and smiled at Aiden.

"She's crying! Crying her eyes out!" she whispered to Aiden.

Aiden blinked and then exhaled deeply, smiling at Veronica: "If you want to cry, cry louder, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Hmm..."

With a sob, Veronica responded, then lifted her face as if to vent all the frustrations accumulated over the past days and began to wail loudly.