Chapter 499 --499
The old woman’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, before narrowing in deep, calculating thought. "The Vane family... yes. My younger brother has a sprawling estate in the southern province. There are dozens of children in that branch. But they are scholars and merchants, Seera. They are not soldiers."
"A soldier can be forged," Heena replied coldly, remembering the crying prince in the courtyard. "A sharp mind and a ruthless instinct cannot. I want to visit the Vane estate. I want to personally evaluate your cousins’ children. If I find one who has the eyes of a wolf, I will bring them back to the capital and officially adopt them."
Grandpa Marcuset let out a low hum, stroking his white beard. "It is a bold move. Adopting an outsider into the main bloodline will cause an uproar in the noble courts. The Emperor will be furious that you are actively securing the title away from his grasp."
"Let him be furious," Heena scoffed, her fox-like eyes glinting dangerously in the firelight. "By the time I am done training the heir, the Emperor won’t have the courage to even look them in the eye. Grandma, send a letter to the south. Tell them the Vanguard is coming to visit."
The grandmother paused. A sudden, terrible sinking feeling twisted deep inside her chest—an instinctual, gripping dread that something precious was slowly slipping through her fingers, even if she couldn’t grasp exactly what it was.
She looked at Heena, her sharp eyes softening. Slowly, she raised her wrinkled hand and gently cupped Heena’s cheek.
"You know, child," the old woman said, her voice trembling with a rare, raw vulnerability. "This family name... it does not truly mean anything. We built this power and this legacy because we wanted our children to be safe and happy. Right now, you are the absolute only reason we are proud. So, if you find this burden too troublesome, if the capital is too suffocating... it does not matter. We can just leave. We can throw the Vanguard title away and go somewhere far from here."
Hearing the desperate weight in those words, Heena slowly raised her own hand, gently resting it over her grandmother’s frail fingers. She leaned into the warm touch.
"Grandma," Heena said softly, her dark eyes completely resolute. "If we run away, it wouldn’t just be our family that breaks. The Vanguard was not forged solely by Grandpa’s strength. It was built upon the blood, the bones, and the ultimate sacrifices of thousands of soldiers who trusted him. If the Vanguard family completely vanishes, the ones who truly lose won’t be the Imperial Family."
Heena gently lowered her grandmother’s hand, holding it firmly.
"It would be the millions of commoners who believe in us. The people living on the brutal borders, still safely sleeping at night only because they are guarded by Vanguard steel. I know you love me. I know you love Father, and you love this family. I know that for my sake, you would rather burn this entire empire to the ground than let me suffer."
Heena’s voice dropped, carrying a chilling, absolute certainty. "But, Grandma... I can die. You can die. Grandpa can die. Every single one of us can perish. But this family cannot. This family is the absolute last resort, the final beam of light for millions of people in this empire whose cries no one else will listen to except the Vanguard."
The room fell into a heavy, awe-struck silence.
Grandma let out a long, shuddering sigh. She looked at her granddaughter, her eyes glistening with a mixture of overwhelming pride and profound sorrow. "I never thought my little girl would grow up to be so terribly smart."
The heavy emotional atmosphere lingered for exactly two seconds before Heena completely shattered it.
A wicked, utterly shameless smirk spread across Heena’s face. "Yeah, yeah. You can butter me up with sweet words all you want, old lady, but I am absolutely not going to help you cover up the fact that you’ve been stealing Grandpa’s private wine money."
The grandmother’s tearful expression instantly vanished, replaced by sheer, terrifying outrage. *"You—!"*
She lunged forward and ruthlessly grabbed Heena by the ear, twisting it.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Heena yelped, though she was laughing.
"Wait a damn minute!" Grandma suddenly froze, her eyes widening in realization. She glared at her granddaughter. "Did you raid my secret stash in the floorboards too?! How the heck did you even do that?!"
Before Heena could answer, Grandpa Marcuset slammed his fist on the table, his eyes wide with betrayal. "You’ve been stealing my wine money?!"
"Oh, shut up, you old coot! You spent my fabric allowance on a new broadsword last month!" Grandma roared back, completely abandoning Heena to turn her wrath on her husband.
As the two legendary figures of the empire instantly devolved into a chaotic, screaming marital dispute, Heena just smiled, rubbed her stinging ear, and smoothly stood up.
"Alright, I am retiring for the day. You guys have fun fighting!" she called out cheerfully, quickly rushing out the door before either of them could drag her back into the crossfire.
Samuel silently detached himself from the shadows of the room and followed right behind her.
They walked down the quiet, dimly lit corridor of the estate. The adrenaline of the palace and the emotional weight of the conversation were rapidly draining from Heena’s body, leaving behind a bone-deep, crushing exhaustion. The aggressive painkillers were completely spent, and the dull throb in her skull was creeping back in.
"Ah, damn," Heena muttered, her shoulders slumping as she rubbed her temples. "I am so freaking tired."
The very second the words left her mouth, Samuel closed the distance between them. Without a single word of warning, he wrapped one strong arm around her back, hooked his other arm under her knees, and smoothly swept her completely off her feet.
Heena gasped, her stomach dropping as she was suddenly hoisted into the air.
She stared up at him in absolute, wide-eyed shock, perfectly cradled against his broad chest in a flawless princess carry.
*What the absolute fuck?!*
Heena stared up at him in stunned disbelief. "Put me down," she muttered, keeping her voice low so it wouldn’t echo down the quiet corridor.
Samuel didn’t even break his stride. He looked down at her, shook his head, and flashed a brilliant, infuriatingly calm smile. "Definitely not."
"Have you gone completely crazy?" Heena hissed, her hands automatically bracing against his broad, solid shoulders. "What do you think people are going to say?"
Samuel merely shrugged, casually shifting his grip to pull her even securely against his chest. "Well, I am not some high-ranking nobleman that anyone actually knows. No one is going to care. I don’t have any reputation to lose."
"But **I** do!" Heena shot back, her fox-like eyes narrowing into a sharp glare. "I am the Vanguard family heiress. Do you honestly think I don’t have a reputation to protect?"
Samuel paused for a fraction of a second, tilting his head as he looked down at her. His smile widened into something entirely shameless. "Uh-huh. The reputation you are talking about? Well, it works out perfectly. I don’t have one, and yours is already quite bad... so, it’s fine."
He resumed walking right down the center of the main estate corridor.