Chapter 232 --232
And she was not surprised. No matter how much she hated Damien, the truth was—this bastard had the most efficient spy and intelligence network in the empire. So she knew he would find out eventually.
But so what? If she didn’t accept it, what could he do?
Heena looked at him and said, "No, there is also a difference between you and him. Do you want to know?"
Hearing that, he raised his eyebrows. And no one would say that his hand had just been stabbed—blood was still oozing out, but he acted like nothing had happened. What type of personality was this?
Heena leaned forward into his face and said, "At least he is a human, not like you—a pest and a bloodsucker."
Hearing that, Damien’s smile paused for a moment.
Then he looked at her and said, "Your Majesty, do you really think I am like those other fools? That if you strip away my power, I would be weakened? You know, right, that I never had my family’s support. Nor do I have someone I hold dear that could stop me."
Hearing that, Heena looked back at him with a smile. And this time her smile was so bright.
She looked at him and said, "And you also know, right, that there is also no one who can stop me. Because just like you, I have no one I am willing to die for."
Hearing that, he paused and looked at her and said, "Looks like you really do not love our so-called Emperor Consort that much."
Hearing that, Heena looked at him and said, "It’s not that I don’t love him. It’s just that I find you too worthless to even waste my breath on."
With that, she fixed her coat, turned around, and grabbed the doorknob.
"And Damien, next time if you pull this stunt again, I promise you, on my word, that this time the knife would not be ’on’ your neck—it would be ’inside’ your neck."
With that, she left.
Damien stayed in the room and burst into laughter.
"Ha! You cannot understand how this woman is getting more and more interesting!"
---
On the other side, Heena was walking when suddenly Secretary Chen came from the other direction and crossed paths with her.
He paused, bowed to her and said, "I greet Your Majesty."
Heena looked at him. She didn’t really understand—she had given him vacation time, told him to rest. Then why did this bastard always look like he was on the verge of death? Like, what type of panda was he?
She looked at him and said, "Did you not sleep again?"
Hearing that, he looked at her and said, "Nah, I slept, Your Majesty."
Hearing that, Heena asked, "Then why is your voice so unenergetic? At least stop making my whole palace gloomy."
Hearing that, he sighed and said, "There is nothing interesting, Your Majesty. You have not cut someone’s head off in such a long time. When you woke up, I thought that I would at least see some bloodbath, but no. You did not even have a proper argument with the nobles. You have not hit someone with a slipper yet."
Hearing that, Heena paused. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. When did I hit someone with a slipper?"
Hearing that, he looked at her seriously and said, "That’s it, Your Majesty. You ’should’ hit someone with a slipper. See, I am even carrying one in my pocket."
And literally, he took out a slipper. A fluffy one.
"Wait, is that a bathroom slipper?" Heena asked.
He looked at her and said, "Yeah, Your Majesty."
"And why is it in your pocket, Secretary?"
He looked at her like she was stating the obvious. "To go to the bathroom, Your Majesty."
Hearing that, Heena rubbed her eyebrows and said, "Why do you need to carry a slipper in your pocket if you want to go to the bathroom?"
"So that I can change into it, Your Majesty."
"Then why is it only one slipper?"
"I can hop on it, Your Majesty. I forgot the other one. Actually, I did not forget—I think I dropped it somewhere. Actually, I have put it somewhere."
Hearing that, Heena looked at him and said, "Wait, okay. In the whole palace, even if you go anywhere for the bathroom, there are thousands of slippers you could wear. Every bathroom has at least 5 to 6 pairs of slippers outside. And not only that, even if the world suddenly became bleak and all the palace slippers were swept away by a tsunami or tornado—even though we live in the middle of the city where it cannot happen—but still, still, Secretary, there are thousands of servants you can ask for—"
The Secretary interrupted, "Your Majesty, you are again counting the noble families as servants."
Heena said, "Shut up, I am not finished yet. Why is it that you cannot go to the bathroom without slippers? And this is the palace—the imperial palace of the most powerful empire on the continent. Our bathrooms are so clean that you can literally see your face in the floor. What the heck is this?"
Hearing that, he said seriously, "Your Majesty, I always stay prepared."
Hearing that, Heena shook her head and said, "No, this is not called preparation. You just wanted to have a slipper ready so when I am angry and fighting with nobles, you would give me the slipper and I would hit them with it. Isn’t that so?"
Hearing that, Secretary Chen turned his head away like he didn’t want to be caught.
Yeah, that was exactly his plan. And Heena knew it. Because she had seen his face last time when one noble slapped another with a slipper—she’d seen the expression on Chen’s face and knew he wanted to orchestrate the same thing.
Heena grabbed her head in exasperation and said, "Is all the work done?"
Hearing that, he shook his head.
Then Heena said, "So why are you wandering around here? Go and do your work."
Hearing that, he said, "Well, today the Emperor Consort is coming back. And I believe he would have brought some... souvenirs."
Heena interrupted, "Shut up. No, he did not. He went for negotiation. He went to talk, not to bring someone’s head."
Hearing that, Secretary Chen looked literally heartbroken, like someone had pulled his plug. He turned around, walking unsteadily.
Seeing this, Heena asked, "Where the heck are you going now?"
He sighed and said, "To work, Your Majesty."
Heena said, "You have not said goodbye yet."
Hearing that, he made an expression like ’what a troublesome woman’ and said, "I am going now, Your Majesty. Goodbye."
Heena now literally wanted to slap this bastard. Did he literally climb on her head? He was not like this before, or was he? Ah, whatever.
---
Soon the carriage carrying Larus arrived at the palace gates, and now Heena needed to go greet him.
As she walked outside the palace corridor and stood in front of the main gate, every servant was surprised. You did not often see the ruler of this country come out of their palace office just to greet a consort, right?