Chapter 504: Chapter-504
Watching it all from the shadows of the bedside, the System was trembling slightly.
It was not the first time it had witnessed this horrific scene. But somehow, every single time the pain struck, it felt terrifyingly new.
When the System was first created, a purely digital entity composed of code and logic, it had genuinely not understood human suffering. It used to wonder why humans reacted so intensely, with such raw, primal screaming, to a pain they had already experienced over and over again. Logically, shouldn’t the body adapt? Shouldn’t the mind build a tolerance?
But living inside Heena’s mind had taught the System a brutal truth. Experiencing something repeatedly did not diminish its cruelty. Heena had suffered and died from a brain tumor in her past life. She knew exactly how this felt. Yet, knowing the pain intimately did not make it hurt any less. The agony could be temporarily masked by drugs, but the sheer, crushing reality of it could never be erased.
The System hovered near her pillow, its holographic form flickering with distress. It desperately wanted to do something—to bypass its protocols, to numb her nerves, to heal the rotting tissue in her brain. But it couldn’t. Literally intervening in her physical biology went strictly against the universal transmigration laws. Doing so would trigger an immediate system purge, and the resulting backlash would instantly destroy whatever fragile life Heena had left. It was utterly, hopelessly powerless.
On the physical plane, the young Madam of the Marcuset family lay in a medically induced collapse, surrounded by terrified servants and a sweating physician.
But deep within the recesses of her own unconscious mind, Heena was somewhere else entirely.
She stood in the center of a vast, pitch-black void. There were no walls, no ceiling, and no floor, just an endless expanse of absolute, silent darkness.
She looked down at herself. The heavy, restrictive layers of the deep wine-colored silk robes were gone. The leather boots and the heavy steel sword at her waist had vanished. Instead, she was wearing the clothes from her original, first life—an oversized, faded black hoodie, a comfortable pair of loose sweatpants, and her long hair pulled back into a messy, practical ponytail.
She looked around, finding absolutely no one.
Instead of panicking at the unnatural emptiness, Heena just closed her eyes, let her shoulders drop, and took a long, incredibly deep breath.
The air filled her lungs effortlessly. There was no sharp spike of agony behind her eyes. There was no nausea churning in her stomach, no heavy ache in her bones, and no metallic taste of blood and painkillers in her mouth. Her mind was perfectly, beautifully clear.
’Damn,’ she thought, letting the breath out in a long, shaky sigh. ’I can actually breathe here.’
If this absolute, painless nothingness was death, Heena genuinely considered it to be heaven. She stood perfectly still, entirely immersed in the profound, intoxicating silence, wishing she could just stay in this void forever.
Then, the silence shattered.
"Are you the host who I gave my body to?"
Heena froze. She knew that voice. It was impossible not to know it, because it was the exact same voice she had been speaking with every single morning, every single day, ever since she woke up in this brutal world.
She slowly turned around.
Standing a few paces away in the darkness was a young girl, no older than fifteen. Her face was identical to the one Heena saw in the bronze mirrors every day, yet it lacked the cold, ruthless edges and the heavy exhaustion that Heena carried. Instead, there was a bright, playful glint in the girl’s dark eyes.
She was dressed beautifully in a delicate, navy green robe lined with pristine white silk underneath, elegantly accented with small, glowing pieces of polished amber.
It was Seera. The original owner of the body.
Heena stood perfectly still in the endless black void, her hands shoved deep into the pockets of her faded hoodie.
She stared at the fifteen-year-old girl standing before her. The original Seera.
Instinctively, Heena’s sharp, fox-like eyes studied the girl who had once owned the body she currently occupied.
"Yeah," Heena finally answered, her voice echoing softly across the absolute silence. "I’m the one."
Seera tilted her head, the delicate amber ornaments on her navy green robe swaying without making a sound. The playful glint in her eyes danced as she looked Heena up and down, taking in the oversized hoodie, the loose sweatpants, and the thick glasses that framed her tired eyes.
"You look... very different than I imagined," Seera said, her voice light and entirely devoid of malice. "I thought the soul of a terrifying Vanguard general would be ten feet tall and wearing armor made of bones."
Heena let out a short, dry exhale that was almost a laugh. "Sorry to disappoint you, kid. I’m just a normal person who got thrown into your mess. I’m not exactly a noble lady."
Seera took a few steps closer. Despite the tragic reality of her death, she didn’t look angry, resentful, or burdened. She looked incredibly light.
Seera tilted her head, taking in Heena’s completely slouched, casual posture. "You look so relaxed."
"I am," Heena replied smoothly. "I’m not exactly a noble lady, nor are we in some stuffy imperial palace. So, I’m certainly not going to stand at attention and salute you."
Seera smiled brightly, the tension in her small shoulders melting away. "You look so young."
Heena paused, looking at the girl deadpan. "Well, I do look young. But believe me, kid, I am as old as your ancestors."
Seera’s eyes widened in sheer shock. "Really?"
Heena snorted. "Nah, I’m joking. Duh."
Seera let out a breath, her parted lips curving into a small pout as she rubbed her mouth. "Oh. You joked. You completely caught me off guard."
Heena just stood there, staring at her calmly. "Well, I actually wasn’t joking. Maybe not your ancient ancestors, but I can confidently say I am at least as old as your great-great-grandpa."
Seera’s jaw physically dropped. She stared at Heena in utter bewilderment, eventually covering her mouth with her hands. "You... you are so beautiful."
Heena nodded without missing a single beat. "Yeah. I was born beautiful." She paused, narrowing her eyes at the girl.
Seera scowled slightly. "Aren’t you praising yourself a bit too much? You are supposed to praise me back."
Heena just shrugged her shoulders. "Well, considering I have to look at your exact face every single morning in the mirror, whether I’m bathing or just walking into the washroom... I really don’t think I need to praise you."
Seera looked deeply offended. "Isn’t it proper etiquette to praise someone when they praise you?"
"Etiquette?" Heena scoffed. "If a monkey praises me, I’m not going to politely praise it back. Like, ’’Oh, thank you, you’re a very beautiful monkey.’’ No."
Seera’s eyes widened indignantly. "Are you calling me a monkey?!"
Instead of answering, Heena closed the distance between them. Seera instinctively shrank back, a flicker of genuine fear crossing her eyes as Heena raised her hand.
’Smack.’
Heena ruthlessly flicked Seera right on the center of her forehead.
"So," Heena said, her voice dropping into a dangerously calm register. "You know perfectly well how to act like a normal, annoying child. Huh?"
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