Chapter 179: Chapter -179

Both Damien and the other consorts were completely dumbfounded by Heena’s harsh dismissal.

Heena noticed that Damien, in particular, was acting like quite a gentleman today. Too polite. Too controlled. Too… composed.

Definitely something suspicious was going on with him.

On the other side of the room, Damien was internally ’screaming’.

He was controlling himself so hard that he felt like his brain might explode. He literally wanted to climb onto the table, grab Heena by the shoulders, look her directly in the eyes and shout:

’ARE YOU CRAZY?! How are we supposed to test for paternity?! Even if we figure out a method, how many DAYS will it take?! We need answers NOW!’

But he didn’t dare.

Because he’d seen Heena’s eyes. Those cold, murderous eyes that promised swift and creative violence if anyone pushed her any further.

So he kept his mouth shut like the others.

Heena looked at all five of them with barely concealed irritation.

“Now get lost,” she said flatly. “I need to sleep.”

The consorts exchanged glances, then Kieran—always the bold one—spoke up carefully:

“Your Majesty, as your consorts, we believe we have the right to stay in this palace. With you. As is traditional—”

“Ah, SHUT UP!” Heena snapped, her patience completely gone.

All five consorts flinched.

“You can stay in the palace,” Heena continued, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “You can stay in the gutters. You can stay in a ditch. You can stay wherever the hell you want. But right now, you are standing in the ’Emperor Consort’s Palace’. This is the ’ruler’s’ palace where only ’I’ live with my ’primary consort’.”

She took a step toward them, and they actually backed up.

“No secondary consorts are allowed here,” she said coldly. “Even if you became my father, you couldn’t enter this place without my explicit permission. Do you understand?”

The System, floating nearby, looked at Heena with wide eyes and covered his mouth to keep from saying anything. He ’desperately’ wanted to point out that she was being unnecessarily harsh, but he knew better.

His Host was already frustrated beyond reason. Interrupting her now would be suicide.

The consorts wisely shut their mouths.

Heena glared at them for another long moment, then said with dangerous calm:

“Now get lost from here before I change my mind and have all of you whipped.”

The five consorts didn’t need to be told twice.

They practically ’ran’ out of the room, stumbling over each other in their haste to escape, moving as fast as they’d arrived—which was to say, very fast indeed.

The door slammed behind them.

Heena stood there in the sudden silence, feeling absolutely exhausted.

Then her eyes fell on her desk.

Specifically, on the enormous stack of documents piled beside her chair.

Documents that definitely hadn’t been there when she’d left earlier.

’That damn secretary’, she thought darkly. ’He must have dropped these off while I was gone.’

She couldn’t go back to sleep now. Not with all this work staring at her.

Great. Just great.

The System floated over cautiously and said, “Host, I’ve been checking something. The female lead’s attachment ratings to the male leads are quite low right now. And the male leads’ attachment to her, while higher than hers to them, still isn’t at the level where you absolutely cannot eliminate them—”

Heena turned to glare at him with such irritation that the System actually floated backward.

“How many times,” she said slowly, dangerously, “do I have to tell you the same thing? I. Cannot. Kill. The. Male. Leads.”

“But Host!” the System protested, clearly frustrated himself. “You could just make your aunt the powerful one! She already has connections and influence! And from what I’ve observed, she could easily—”

He rambled on and on, basically suggesting various ways to murder the male leads and have the Duchess cover it up.

Because honestly? The System was frustrated too.

If his Host couldn’t sleep, ’he’ couldn’t sleep. That’s how their connection worked.

And no matter what people thought about AI systems, he was basically human in his needs. He needed rest. He needed downtime. His processing power needed to recharge.

But he could only do that when Heena slept.

And now that she couldn’t sleep because of work and stress and annoying consorts, he was stuck awake too.

So yes, he was advocating murder.

Because murder seemed like a simple solution to a complicated problem.

Heena listened to his rambling for about thirty seconds, then interrupted with a deceptively calm question:

“System. Answer me something. If I kill the male leads, what happens?”

The System paused, then said confidently, “You win! The story ends! We complete the mission and—”

’SMACK!’

Heena reached out and slapped him on the head so hard he spun in a complete circle.

“You DAMN IDIOT!” she shouted, her exhaustion making her less patient than usual.

The System clutched his head, looking offended.

“If I kill the male leads,” Heena explained with forced patience, speaking slowly like she was addressing a particularly stupid child, “one of two things happens. Either this world collapses entirely—which kills ME along with everyone else—or, if I somehow avoid that, the world’s narrative will just find REPLACEMENT male leads.”

She pointed toward the door where the five consorts had fled.

“We’re in a transmigrator system world,” she continued. “This is a harem novel. Male leads aren’t unique individuals—they’re ’roles’. Kill these five? The world will just designate five NEW male leads to fill the positions.”

She leaned closer to the System.

“And what if those new male leads are MORE powerful? What if they’re actually competent? What if I get stuck dealing with people who are WORSE than these five idiots?”

The System opened his mouth, closed it, then said weakly, “But… Host… you could at least punch them once? For disturbing you?”

Heena’s expression shifted into something absolutely evil.

A slow, vicious smile spread across her face.

“Oh,” she said sweetly, “do you think I’m going to let them sleep peacefully after disturbing me at night?”

The System looked confused. “What do you mean?”

Heena’s smile widened. “System. We have points to spend on the system menu, right? Open the screen.”

The System, now curious and slightly nervous, pulled up the translucent interface that showed various purchasable items and services.

“What are you—” he started.

“Shh,” Heena said, already scrolling through options. “Let me work.”

She selected several items, confirmed the purchases, and then pulled up the surveillance screen that showed the five consorts’ location.

The bastards had traveled fast—they were already back at their shared palace. Well, “palace” was generous. Heena had stripped most of their privileges, so now they had five rooms in what was basically a glorified dormitory. Nice rooms, sure—basically presidential suites—but still. Shared quarters. Shared building. Very different from the separate palaces they’d enjoyed before.

On the screen, they could see Raphael reaching his door first.

He opened it and—

“AAAAHHHHHH!”

His scream echoed through the building.

The other four consorts rushed over immediately.

“What happened?!” Kieran demanded.

“Are you alright?!” Adrian added.

They crowded around Raphael’s doorway and looked inside.

And then they all screamed too.

Because Raphael’s room—his beautiful, expensive, carefully decorated personal chambers—was now filled with ’pigs’.

Live pigs.

At least a dozen of them, rooting around, eating hay that had been scattered on the floor, making pig noises, leaving pig… evidence… everywhere.

“WHAT THE—” Damien started.

“WHY ARE THERE PIGS IN MY ROOM?!” Raphael shrieked.

They heard another scream from down the hall.

Lucian had opened his door.

More pigs.

Then Adrian opened his—pigs.

Kieran’s room—also pigs.

Damien slowly, fearfully, reached for his door handle and opened it.

’Oink oink.’

Pigs. So many pigs.

All five rooms. Completely filled with farm animals.

“WHO DID THIS?!” Kieran roared.

From the surveillance screen, Heena and the System watched the chaos unfold.

The consorts were running around, shouting, trying to herd pigs out of their rooms while the animals just ignored them and continued eating hay and making messes.

Raphael was crying—actually crying—as a particularly large pig knocked over his expensive religious altar.

Adrian was chasing a pig that had somehow gotten into his wardrobe and was now covered in his finest silk robes.

Lucian was standing frozen in shock as pigs rooted through his book collection.

Damien had given up entirely and was just standing in the hallway with his hands over his face.

Kieran was trying to physically lift a pig and carry it out, but the pig was ’not’ cooperating and kept squealing and kicking.

Heena was laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her face.

“Oh my god,” she gasped between laughs. “Look at Raphael! He’s trying to pray the pigs away!”

The System, despite himself, was also laughing.

“Host, this is—this is brilliant!” he wheezed. “How did you even—”

“System shop has a ’pest delivery’ service,” Heena explained, wiping tears from her eyes. “Usually for rats or insects for people you don’t like. But I paid extra for farm animals. And I specified that they should be well-fed and comfortable, so they’ll stay there for HOURS before they get hungry enough to leave on their own.”

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