Chapter 488 --488
The System gasped, visibly struck in its digital pride. It narrowed its eyes and fired back, ’[Ha! Well, at least my partners don’t tragically die in every single world!]’
Heena’s hand paused on the table. "You fucking moron," she hissed, instantly going for the throat. "At least I wasn’t brutally rejected by some floating, literal globe that doesn’t even possess a heart!"
’[At least I am not shooting my own husbands with a gun!]’ the System shrieked, fully escalating the war. ’[Or sending them away to isolated monasteries! Or torturing them so badly that they refuse to leave any heirs!]’
"At least I am not a degenerate gambler!" Heena shouted back.
’[At least I am not a shameless lecher who fawns over half-naked male models in black-market brothels!]’
That struck a very sensitive nerve.
Heena slowly turned around to face the glowing lion, her fox-like eyes narrowing into absolute, murderous slits. "A System as completely useless as you has no right to speak to me about shame. Who was it, exactly, that blindly followed a female system into a Level-9 Apocalypse World, got completely scammed, and then came crying to me to save his pathetic digital life?"
The System instantly froze. The holographic popcorn bucket vanished. ’[...You cannot bring that part up. That is classified.]’
"You decided to start dragging out our past history," Heena said with a cold, terrifying smile. "So I naturally assumed you wanted to hear all of it."
Internally, just thinking about that specific mission made Heena want to strangle the glowing cat. It was hands-down the most irritating, infuriating catastrophe of her entire transmigration career. Going to an apocalypse world wasn’t the issue—she was a veteran agent, she could handle the undead. The problem was that this idiot System had actively dragged her into that specific timeline just because he had a massive digital crush on a female system.
That female system had completely manipulated him, used him for points, and left them for dead. This bastard’s romantic delusions had nearly gotten Heena torn apart by a horde of mutated zombies. It was only after she had literally beaten him senseless in their shared mental space that he finally snapped out of his delusion.
Even now, looking at his stupid lion face, she really, ’really’ wanted to kill him.
Heena stood up, thoroughly exasperated, and swung her bedroom door open.
She immediately halted, taking a sharp step backward. Standing right in front of the door, completely silent and still, was Samuel.
"Are you trying to scare me to death?!" Heena snapped, clutching her chest. "What the heck? Why are you just standing out here like a silent pillar?"
Samuel didn’t look apologetic in the slightest. Instead, a brilliant, thoroughly satisfied smile spread across his face. "Good morning, Wife."
Heena took another step back, narrowing her eyes in deep suspicion. "What the heck do you want now?"
Samuel immediately deployed a deeply wronged, entirely unfair pout. "Come on, Wife. Why are you giving me such a harsh gaze? It is not like I did anything wrong. Is it a crime that I just wanted to see my beautiful wife first thing in the early morning?"
Heena crossed her arms tightly over her chest, utterly unamused. "Listen carefully to me, Mr. Samuel—"
"Aren’t you going to call me Husband?" Samuel interrupted smoothly.
Heena smiled at him—a terrifying, completely empty smile. "Should I just call you ’Ex-Husband’ instead?"
Samuel merely chuckled, completely immune to her threats. "Well, an ex-husband still has the word ’husband’ in it. So I really wouldn’t mind."
Heena let out a long, long sigh, looking up at the ceiling. She didn’t know whose cursed face she had inadvertently seen right after waking up, but it had clearly doomed her day. Between the idiot System and her idiot husband, her irritation was already reaching critical mass.
She just shook her head, pushed past him without another word, and started walking briskly toward the dining hall.
She needed to eat breakfast immediately. God only knew how long the Imperial Court was going to keep her standing around hungry today. But more importantly, she needed to eat something savory ’now’, because she knew exactly what awaited her in the palace.
The Imperial Palace had a deeply annoying culinary culture: they were utterly obsessed with sweets. Whenever you visited, the palace attendants would endlessly serve you sweet cakes, honeyed pastries, lotus sweets, and lightly sugared teas.
Heena was never a massive fan of sweets. She could handle a small amount of chocolate or a light pastry, but a steady diet of pure sugar made her nauseous. When she drank water or tea, she vastly preferred eating something spicy, sour, or heavily seasoned. The thought of sustaining herself on sweet palace cakes all day was deeply unappealing.
She specifically remembered ordering the kitchen maids to prepare something heavy, rich, and savory for her this morning—maybe some roasted chicken or a heavily spiced stew. She quickened her pace down the corridor, genuinely hoping they had listened.
As Heena stepped into the grand dining hall, the heavy, mouth-watering aroma of roasted garlic, crushed chilies, and rich, savory soy hit her senses. She let out a rare, genuine sigh of relief. The kitchen maids had actually listened.
Laid out on the long mahogany table wasn’t the usual morning spread of delicate lotus porridge and sweet, sticky buns. Instead, there was a massive spread of perfectly glazed roasted chicken, a steaming bowl of heavily spiced chili broth, and plates of savory, pan-fried meat dumplings.
Samuel walked in right behind her, taking one look at the deep red, chili-oil-covered dishes and raising an elegant eyebrow. "Wife, it is barely past dawn. Are you actively planning to burn a hole through your stomach before you even face the Empress?"
Heena completely ignored his teasing, pulling out her chair and picking up her silver chopsticks. "If I am going to deal with the venomous snakes in the Imperial Court today, I need to make sure my own blood is boiling enough to match them."
Grandpa was already seated at the head of the table, casually polishing his massive broadsword with a cloth. He looked up, his terrifying, battle-hardened face breaking into a wide, approving grin. "That’s my girl! Eat up. Let the capital nobles choke on their delicate sweet tea. A Vanguard heir needs meat!"
Grandma sat adjacent to him, delicately sipping a cup of herbal tea. She eyed Heena’s outfit—the sharp, wine-colored silk, the dark under-robe, and the lethal, fox-like eyeliner. A slow, deeply wicked smile spread across the old woman’s wrinkled face. "You look absolutely ready to ruin someone’s life today, Seera. It is a very good color on you."
"Thank you, Grandma," Heena said, casually tearing into a piece of spicy chicken.
The intense heat of the chili immediately flooded her senses, grounding her. The aggressively strong painkillers she had swallowed earlier were working perfectly, suppressing the brain tumor’s blinding agony and replacing it with a cold, sharp, artificial clarity. She felt completely numb to the pain, which made her mind terrifyingly clear.
Samuel gracefully took the seat next to her.
He didn’t complain about the spicy food. Instead, he quietly picked up a pair of long serving chopsticks and began meticulously placing the best, most tender pieces of chicken directly into her bowl.