Chapter 234 --234
Hearing that, he smiled and said, "Smart? Me? Oh, please. Of course not. If I was smart, I would have handled those nobles properly before you returned."
Hearing that, Heena sighed as she grabbed his arm and said, "It’s not your fault. These old bastards are like this. Do you know, when my mother first married here, they acted the same way."
Hearing that, Larus perked up, because Heena rarely talked about her parents, so of course he wanted to listen.
Heena noticed his interest and flicked his forehead, saying, "Don’t look so interested, because I’m not telling you more."
Hearing that, he looked at her with exaggerated grief and said, "What? Can I not even hear about my mother-in-law now? That’s wrong."
Hearing that, Heena looked at him and said, "Yeah, yeah. Says the person who made me look like this." She gestured at her disheveled appearance and the marks all over her body.
Seeing this, a cheeky grin formed on Larus’s face as he looked at her from top to bottom and said, "Well, I am not guilty of this."
Hearing that, Heena looked at him incredulously and said, "Excuse me?"
He leaned closer and said, "Well, you are excused. But now tell me one thing."
Hearing that, Heena looked at him and said, "What?"
He pointed at her clothes that were scattered on the ground and said, "Where did that blood come from?"
Only then did Heena notice that when she’d stabbed Damien earlier, she hadn’t looked at her clothes carefully. Today she’d been wearing a light cream-white outfit, so when she’d stabbed him, blood had splattered on it and she hadn’t even noticed in her rush.
"A dog got injured and the blood got on this," Heena said smoothly.
Hearing that, Larus raised his eyebrows and said, "A dog?"
Hearing that, Heena nodded.
He said, "In this palace?"
Hearing that, Heena thought quickly—’yeah, there are no dogs here’—but she looked at him and said, "There are hunting dogs."
Hearing that, Larus nodded slowly and said, "But the hunting dogs are kept on the other side of the palace, far from the Empress’s quarters."
Hearing that, Heena looked at him with the most innocent gaze and said, "Do you think I am lying?"
Hearing that, he burst into laughter and said, "Anyway, if you say it’s dog blood, then it must be dog blood. And who cares if this dog can walk on two legs?"
Hearing that, Heena burst into laughter.
On the other side of the palace, Damien was fuming as he got his hand bandaged. ’Damn, who is talking badly about me?’
---
Larus looked at Heena and said as he moved closer, appreciating her beautiful form, "Um, let’s go for another round."
Hearing that, Heena looked at him and said, "Well, not a bad idea."
And then they were at it again.
Only the next day did they finally emerge from the room.
---
’’[Secretary Chen’s Wake-Up Call]’’
And well, you could say that Secretary Chen was beyond frustrated.
He didn’t make a loud noise by shouting or anything crude like that. No, he was far more creative.
He simply took a large steel plate and stood directly in front of the Empress’s palace entrance. He held the plate high above his head, then removed his hands, letting it fall to the ground with a deafening ’CLANG’.
Inside the bedroom, Heena ignored it the first time.
Then it happened again. ’CLANG.’
And again. ’CLANG.’
He dropped the plate seven times in total, and literally, Heena felt blood rushing to her head as she finally opened her eyes.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" she shouted from inside. "Do you only have plates in this palace?! Is this the only way to wake someone?!"
Secretary Chen looked at her with an innocent smile as she emerged, disheveled and furious, and said, "Oh, Your Majesty, you’re awake!"
And with that, he lifted the plate again and let it fall to the ground, making another splitting sound.
’CLANG.’
Then he said cheerfully, "Oh my, look at how clumsy I am!"
With that, he picked it up again and threw it on the ground with even more force.
’CLANG.’
Even the guards nearby covered their ears. They wanted to remove him, but they didn’t dare touch him because the Empress had once ordered that no one was allowed to physically interfere with Secretary Chen’s... methods.
Heena looked at him, then at the plate. She recognized it—it had been a completely new plate, beautiful and decorative, part of a gift set that had arrived just last week. It had been placed carefully in the kitchen storage.
But now it was so dented from being dropped repeatedly that it looked like a truck had rolled over it.
Heena looked at him, then at the plate, and said, "What happened to that plate?"
Hearing that, he looked at the plate, then deliberately dropped it again and said, "Ah, Your Majesty, my clumsiness."
’CLANG.’
Heena grabbed his collar and pulled him close, saying, "If your ’clumsiness’ continues one more time, I promise you, I will make that plate’s shape match your face. You understand?"
Hearing that, he looked at her without any fear and said calmly, "Your Majesty, if you do not get into the office within twenty minutes, the nobles are going to throw plates at ’you’ within two days."
Hearing that, Heena looked at him and said, "Are you threatening me?"
He looked back seriously and said, "It’s not me threatening you. It is the whole commonwealth—the commoners, the people, the citizens who live in this empire. Because if you do not handle the governance properly, everything will fall apart. Then it’s civil unrest, then it’s famine, then it’s riots, then it’s hunger strikes, and God knows what else—"
He covered his ears dramatically and shouted, "And then they will directly burst into rebellion!"
"SHUT UP!" Heena yelled. "Fine! I’ll go to the office! Just say clearly that you want me to work instead of making it sound like I’ve killed someone!"
Hearing that, he looked at her seriously and said, "Your Majesty, you ’have’ killed my ancestor."
Hearing that, Heena looked at him confused and said, "Huh?"
He continued dramatically, "Your Majesty, you remember my 139-year-old grandmother, whose birthday was about three years ago?"
Hearing that, Heena tried to recall, but honestly, who remembers every single servant’s family member? She looked at him blankly and said, "So? Did she die?"
Hearing that, he shook his head sadly and said, "Because of you, I missed her birthday. You gave me so much work that I couldn’t attend. And do you know what happened? She was so angry that she refused to blow out her birthday candles that year. She missed her birthday forever!"
Hearing that, Heena looked at him incredulously and said, "She is 139 years old. If she’d actually blown out those candles with full force, are you really sure she wouldn’t have blown out her own fake teeth?"
Hearing that, he looked offended and said, "I’m not joking! This is serious!"
Hearing that, Heena looked at him and said, "Enough. Fine, I’ll go beg at your grandmother’s grave for forgiveness. Happy now? Now let me get ready for work."