Chapter 196: Chapter-196

He sat down in a nearby chair to keep watch, making sure no one disturbed her rest.

She needed it.

She’d executed someone today. Had threatened powerful nobles. Had played dangerous political games all morning.

All to protect him.

The least he could do was let her sleep in peace.

Larus picked up a book from the side table and began reading quietly, occasionally glancing over to make sure she was still sleeping soundly.

Outside the chambers, guards stood watch with instructions that the Empress was not to be disturbed under any circumstances.

And for the first time in what felt like weeks, Heena slept deeply—dreamlessly—her headache finally fading into nothing.

Protected by her husband’s watchful presence.

Safe, at least for these few hours, from the endless demands of ruling an empire.

.

.

.

’Host… host… HOST!’

Heena heard the familiar voice calling her. She frowned, trying to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt like they were glued shut. She really didn’t want to wake up.

She finally managed to rub her eyes open and saw the System floating directly in front of her face.

She looked at him groggily and said, “Can you not let me rest for one hour? What, has the whole world been destroyed?”

The System looked at her with hesitation.

Seeing his expression, Heena raised her eyebrows. “What?”

The System said carefully, “Um… Host… it’s already been ’fifteen hours’ since you fell asleep.”

“WHAT?!”

Heena jerked fully awake. She looked around and realized she was lying in her bed—not on the sofa where she’d fallen asleep. She looked at the window and saw it was completely dark outside.

When she remembered falling asleep, it had been daytime. Early afternoon, maybe.

Now it was deep night.

Heena touched her head experimentally. It felt… so much better. Light. Clear. No pain at all.

She looked around her room and noticed something else: her vision was sharper. Clearer. Like someone had put clarifying drops in her eyes. No blurriness, no haziness, nothing.

As she got down from the bed, she couldn’t understand what had happened. She didn’t remember taking any medicine. And because her body was naturally strong from cultivation and transmigration, normal sleeping medicine wouldn’t work on her. Could someone have used sleeping magic? But she would have noticed that…

Her hand, which had been touching her head, paused.

She looked at her palm. There was oil on it.

She touched her head again. More oil.

Then she remembered: before she’d fallen asleep, Larus had been massaging her head with that mustard oil.

’Damn,’ she thought. ’This man is literally… something else.’

She sighed, then looked at the System. “Okay, so what happened? Why were you shouting at me like that?”

The System hesitated. “Um, Host… actually, the servants came many times to ask if you wanted food, but you were sleeping so soundly that they didn’t dare wake you. And it’s already been fifteen hours, so I thought you might be thirsty or dehydrated or something—”

“Oh.” Heena pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yeah, okay—”

“And also—” the System continued.

Heena looked up at him. “Also?”

The System repeated nervously, “Um… also, the male leads are outside waiting.”

Heena immediately lay back down on the bed. “I’m not interested in seeing them.”

“That’s okay, but Host, you know you need to work too, right? Secretary Chen—”

’KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!’

“YOUR MAJESTY! YOUR MAJESTY!”

Secretary Chen was shouting from outside.

Heena sat bolt upright. ’Now what?’

She stood up and called out, her voice full of annoyance and anger: “YES?!”

The door opened and Secretary Chen entered, bowing. And honestly? You couldn’t tell this was the same person who’d been shouting desperately outside just moments ago.

He looked at Heena with a pleasant smile and said, “I greet you, Your Majesty.”

Heena nodded tiredly. “Uh-huh.”

Secretary Chen continued cheerfully, “Oh, you were sleeping, Your Majesty?”

Heena literally wanted to choke him. “Yes. I was.”

“Ah,” Secretary Chen said with that same pleasant smile. “After killing someone, you slept so peacefully. Truly admirable, Your Majesty.”

Heena looked at him flatly. “Are you taunting me?”

Secretary Chen looked innocent. “How would I dare, Your Majesty?”

Heena raised her eyebrows. “What happened now?”

He looked at her, still smiling. “Nothing, Your Majesty. You were sleeping and resting, which is good. But the paperwork still needs to be done.”

“I hired you for that,” Heena shot back. “I gave you high pay for exactly that reason.”

Secretary Chen’s smile didn’t waver. “Your Majesty, you give me pay for doing my work. But I’m also cleaning up your messes. The ruckus you caused—” his smile was still perfectly in place, “—has already created quite a bit of… imbalance… in the political situation.”

Heena sat back on the sofa and took a glass of water, drinking it while her neck ached. She looked at him. “Uh-huh. Now what?”

He shook his head. “Ah, nothing major. People are just saying that Her Majesty has lost her mind and now doesn’t care about anyone and just kills people whenever she’s angry.”

Heena looked at him. “Well, I ’am’ the Empress, so I don’t think it’s a big deal. And I gave you and your department resources to handle this type of gossip, Secretary Chen. Do you really think the high pay I give you is just for sitting down and signing paperwork?”

Secretary Chen bowed. “Of course not, Your Majesty. How could that be?” His expression became more serious. “But literally, Your Majesty, right now you need to handle ’them’.”

“Nobles?” Heena waved dismissively. “I’ll handle them.”

Secretary Chen interrupted quickly, “No, no, no, Your Majesty. Not the nobles. You need to handle your ’aunt’ who is outside literally about to break down this door.”

Heena literally shot up from her chair and started frantically fixing her hair.

And listen—Heena herself wasn’t scared of that woman. But this ’body’ was scared of the Duchess. And because Heena inhabited this body, she inherited some of that instinctive fear whenever the Duchess was mentioned.

Heena turned to Secretary Chen and said hurriedly, “Tell her I’m not here. No—say I died. No, no—say I went to inspect the borders. Whatever excuse you think of, just—”

Before she could finish, the door ’swung open’ with dramatic force.

Heena’s face went pale.

The Duchess entered with a smile.

And right now, she was wearing a ’proper dress’—formal robes with elaborate embroidery. And she was carrying a fan in her hand.

’Oh no.’

Because whenever the Duchess wore proper formal attire with a fan, you should know you were absolutely ’done for’.

Heena looked at her and said with forced cheer, “Aunt! You’re here!”

The Duchess looked at Heena and said sweetly, “Uh-huh. Your Majesty, how are you?”

That wasn’t a question. That was a ’warning’.

But Heena answered anyway: “I’m fine.”

The Duchess smiled wider. “Oh, is that so? So, Your Majesty, I heard quite an interesting rumor. Would you like to hear it?”

Heena gulped. “What rumor, Aunt?”

The Duchess opened her fan and began fanning herself gracefully. “Oh, it’s really nothing major. Just—” she paused dramatically, “—some people are saying that you’ve gone completely crazy and killed someone in the courtroom without any reason.”

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