Chapter 257: Chapter-257

Heena waved her hand dismissively.

“Her mind only knows one type of scheming: domestic household drama. The most she could do is plant some stolen item on me and accuse me of theft to get me beaten or expelled. Or she could spread rumors that I’m trying to seduce the Master—whisper campaigns, that sort of petty nonsense.”

She leaned back.

“But do you know what happens when your enemy is hated by someone powerful?”

Hearing that leading question, the System looked confused and shook his head.

Heena explained: “Samuel and Maya absolutely despise each other. They can barely stand to be in the same room. So logically, whoever Maya hates, Samuel’s attention will naturally follow. It’s simple human psychology—the enemy of my enemy becomes interesting to me.”

Her smile widened.

“So the more Maya tries to destroy me, the more Samuel will become interested in why she’s so focused on eliminating one insignificant servant. The more she escalates her attacks, the more he’ll pay attention to me.”

She added: “And right now, do you really think that Driver Li managed to sneak out of my courtyard without anyone else seeing him? I would bet everything that by tomorrow morning, Samuel will come find me to make some kind of deal or arrangement.”

Hearing that confident prediction, the System looked at her with a mixture of confusion and admiration.

“Sometimes I don’t understand you, Host. Are you being too reckless, or too careful? Do you plan everything, or do you improvise constantly? I can’t tell anymore.”

Hearing that honest assessment, Heena looked at him and said simply:

“Listen. If I wanted to win through acting weak and pitiful, if I wanted to use tears and trembling to gain sympathy and protection, then I should have chosen the White Lotus route or the Green Tea Bitch route from the beginning.”

She shook her head.

“But I didn’t. I chose the Black Lotus path—and that means being ruthless, direct, and unapologetic about my strength. Right now, what I desperately need is powerful backup. And interestingly, that backup isn’t even Samuel himself.”

She explained further: “Right now, I just need Samuel as a stepping stone to escape from this hellish servant position. You remember, right? The original host Seera’s dying wish was to completely destroy Maya—to utterly ruin the woman who would have caused her death in the original timeline.”

Heena’s eyes hardened.

“And I want that too. I want to fulfill that wish. But right now, I cannot touch that bitch Maya at all—not directly. She has the Master’s protection, she has the household authority, she has everything.”

She continued: “Meanwhile, that old man’s eyes are constantly on me now. I can feel his disgusting stare following me everywhere I work. You know what they say: a pervert can never stop staring at his target.”

She made a disgusted face.

“And honestly, just think about it rationally: what kind of man marries a girl who’s not even a teenager if he’s not fundamentally a predator? A normal, decent man would be repulsed by the idea. Only someone with deeply twisted desires would pursue that.”

The System nodded in agreement.

Heena’s expression became thoughtful. “And you know what? My confusion about Maya’s family has only grown stronger. How can a family who supposedly loved their children so much—who treated sons and daughters equally, who were progressive and kind—how could they possibly allow their not-even-teenage daughter to marry an old man?”

She shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s genuinely revolting. What kind of story logic is this? So I want to know the truth. I need to understand what really happened with that family. And to do that, I need to get close to Samuel first. I need to become so closely connected to him that no one would dare touch me without his permission or knowledge.”

She laid out her plan: “So my strategy is: first, get to Samuel and establish that connection. Then, use that position to investigate Maya’s family and find out what really happened. There’s something missing from the official story, and I need to know what it is.”

Hearing all this explanation, the System suddenly perked up and said, “Oh! Host, I found something! The original Seera’s parents—they’re in the nearby market town!”

Hearing that, Heena’s eyes widened. “What?!”

The System nodded eagerly. “Yeah! But they come in disguise, so no one in the village knows who they really are. They run a tea shop in the market. If you want, you could go meet them tomorrow!”

Hearing that possibility, Heena raised her eyebrows thoughtfully and then said, “Nah, let it be. Not yet.”

Hearing that refusal, the System looked confused. “But why, Host? Don’t you want to know about the original Seera’s background?”

Heena explained her reasoning: “Because right now, I’m not completely sure whether Maya’s family and Seera’s family are working as two separate teams, or if they’re actually one team just pretending to be separate entities. There are too many coincidences, too many unclear connections.”

She continued: “So first, I need to build my own power base enough that I don’t need to give a damn about either family’s schemes or plans. I need to be in a position where I can investigate safely without being vulnerable to manipulation from either side.”

Understanding her caution, the System nodded.

Heena yawned hugely and said, “For now, I need sleep. Tomorrow will be complicated.”

She lay down on her sleeping mat, the wooden bar still firmly in place across her door.

And she literally fell asleep almost immediately—because when you’re truly exhausted, your body simply doesn’t have the energy to stay scared and alert all night. Sleep takes over whether you want it to or not.

—

**[Outside Heena’s Courtyard – Samuel’s Perspective]**

On the other side of Heena’s door, standing just outside her small courtyard in the darkness, Samuel was observing everything with calculating interest.

He looked at the closed door, then down at the ground near his feet where a groaning servant lay crumpled in pain.

His boot was pressed firmly against the man’s chest, pinning him down.

It was Driver Li, who had just stumbled out of Heena’s room moments ago—and run straight into Samuel, who had been watching and waiting.

Samuel looked down at the pathetic figure and said with cold amusement, “Quite interesting.”

And with that casual comment, he pressed down harder with his boot, making Driver Li gasp in pain.

Driver Li trembled and begged desperately, “My lord! My lord, please let me go! Please! I swear I’ll never do it again! I’ll never—”

Hearing that groveling, Samuel looked at him with utter disgust and said coldly, “You dare to assault a girl in her own room? You’ve got quite a lot of nerve.”

He reached down, grabbed Driver Li by the collar, lifted him partially off the ground with surprising strength, and then literally threw him against the nearby courtyard wall.

*CRASH.*

Driver Li hit the wall hard and slumped down, whimpering.

Samuel walked over calmly and said in a voice that was perfectly controlled but somehow more terrifying than shouting: “Whatever that girl told you to do, you’re not going to do it. You’re going to go back to whoever sent you here and tell them you couldn’t get near her. That you failed. Understand?”

Driver Li nodded frantically, too terrified to speak.

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