Chapter 267: Chapter -267

“You MEAN you KNOW she’ll discover it, and you still ate them?! What are you going to do when that woman goes crazy and starts investigating?! By tomorrow morning, her first suspicion will definitely fall on you as the only person who could have done it!”

Hearing that panicked reaction, Heena looked at him and said with exasperation, “Sometimes I genuinely cannot understand whether you’re too smart or just a stress-addicted worry machine. Like, are you on MY side or are you on HER side?”

Hearing that accusation, the System looked hurt and said, “Of course I’m on your side, Host! But that’s not the point—”

“That IS the point,” Heena interrupted sharply. “From the moment we arrived in this world, I’ve noticed that you ALWAYS take her side. You’re always worried about what SHE’LL do, what SHE’LL think. What the heck is going on with you?”

Hearing that, the System looked flustered and said, “I’m NOT taking her side! But literally, what about the evidence? The fish bones? The investigation?”

Heena just rolled her eyes and said dismissively, “Ah, we can just say a cat ate the fish. Or a wild animal from the mountain came down. Whatever. I’m not going to get caught. Don’t worry about it.”

She stood up, stretched, and started heading back toward the household.

“Now stop whining and let’s go. I need to sleep before that 3 AM wake-up call.”

The System floated after her, muttering worriedly to himself, but Heena ignored him completely.

She was full, she was satisfied, and she’d gotten her revenge on Maya in a way that would cause maximum distress.

Perfect.

It was only the next morning that the System truly understood the full extent of what Heena had done.

At five in the morning—yeah, because that bitch Maya woke up at five every day—Maya had already locked the kitchen so she could control all the food preparation.

But she was clever enough to leave the water pots outside for Heena to fill, because she didn’t want to give Heena any excuse to rest or avoid work.

So as usual, Heena went to the river in the pre-dawn darkness to fetch water.

She was filling the large clay pot, bending over the riverbank, when suddenly she felt a sharp stiffness in her neck and shoulders—a pain so intense it made her gasp.

She paused and grimaced, setting down the pot she’d been filling and touching her shoulder with her other hand.

The area was hot to the touch, inflamed and tender.

And then she felt it—a sudden wave of dizziness so severe that she stumbled and nearly fell directly into the river.

She caught herself at the last moment, controlling her balance, but her vision was swimming and her head was pounding.

The System appeared immediately, looking alarmed. “Host! Are you okay?!”

Heena shook her head, breathing carefully. “No, it’s not fine. But I’ll manage.”

Actually, it was NOT fine, and Heena knew it.

This body—the original Seera’s body—was already weak from malnutrition and overwork even before Heena had transmigrated into it.

And if you looked carefully at the structure of this body, there was a congenital issue: at the back of the neck, just where the skull met the spine, there was a slight gap between two of the cervical vertebrae.

It must have been present from birth—a minor skeletal abnormality that normally wouldn’t cause problems.

But the only dangerous side effect of this condition was that if you did extremely hard physical labor that put constant pressure on the neck, or if you bent your head down too much while carrying heavy loads, or if you didn’t sleep properly on a supportive surface—it could develop into severe cervical spine problems.

It could turn into chronic pain, nerve damage, even complete paralysis if left untreated.

And the original Seera, before Heena arrived, had been carrying impossibly heavy water loads on her head every single day for over a year.

Now it seemed like there was actual structural damage—possibly a hairline fracture or severe inflammation of the surrounding tissue.

If this continued, Heena could end up with a life literally worse than death—chronic, untreatable pain that would leave her bedridden or crippled.

In a normal modern world, she could take medication, get physical therapy, manage the condition even if she couldn’t fully recover.

But here? In this primitive setting where she was forced to do backbreaking labor, sleep on the hard ground, and had no access to medical care?

And where the work demands would never decrease, where she’d have to keep carrying water and doing heavy lifting just to survive?

If she wasn’t extremely careful, God knows what would happen to her.

And on top of that, these people had ancient, superstitious mindsets. If Heena started showing symptoms like dizziness, vomiting, loss of balance—instead of recognizing it as a medical condition, they would think she was possessed by evil spirits or cursed.

They would literally kill her to “cleanse” the household of bad luck.

Heena wasn’t exaggerating. She’d seen it happen multiple times in ancient-setting worlds.

And given the hatred Maya had toward her, Heena wouldn’t put it past that woman to use any excuse—including supposed “spirit possession”—to justify getting rid of her permanently.

Heena waited several long moments for the dizziness and pain to subside slightly.

Then she stood up carefully, picked up the filled pot, positioned one on her hip and carried two in her hands—

And it HURT.

Every step sent jolts of pain through her neck and shoulders.

She had to stop and set the pots down on the ground three or four times during the walk back to the house, resting briefly before continuing.

This was the first time since arriving in this world that Heena had needed multiple rest breaks just to complete the water-carrying task.

After she finally reached the kitchen area and was setting down the water pots outside the kitchen gate—because Maya had locked the actual kitchen—she heard sudden sounds from Maya’s courtyard.

Wailing. Crying. Someone screaming like someone had died.

Heena paused, and a small smirk crossed her face for just a fraction of a second before she quickly transformed it into a shocked, concerned expression.

She straightened up and rushed toward the commotion.

As Heena entered Maya’s personal courtyard, she saw the Mistress on the ground near the ornamental pond, crying hysterically, looking toward the water.

Standing beside her was a new servant girl—recently hired by Maya to be her personal maid because literally Maya couldn’t dress herself or do her own makeup without help.

This was the same servant girl who’d helped Maya hide food from the kitchen. The same one who, in the original story, would later become Seera’s “helper” when Seera became a concubine, only to betray her and actively assist in poisoning her to death.

This girl was genuinely a snake, someone who couldn’t handle seeing others live better lives than her own miserable existence.

Heena rushed forward with a perfectly performed expression of concern and said, “Madam! What happened? Are you alright?!”

Then her eyes turned to look at the servant girl with sudden anger.

In one swift motion, she raised her hand and slapped the girl hard across the face.

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