Chapter 508: Chapter-508
Heena looked away, stubbornly refusing to meet Samuel’s intense gaze.
"Fine," she muttered, sticking to her fabricated excuse. "I was just trying to get healthy fast. That’s all." She kept her eyes fixed on the heavy silk blankets, absolutely determined to take her real secret to the grave.
Before Samuel could press the issue any further, the heavy oak doors swung open once more. Grandpa and Grandma Marcuset walked back into the room, having just finished saying their threatening goodbyes to the terrified physician in the hallway.
Grandma immediately rushed back to the bedside, her sharp eyes scanning her granddaughter’s pale face. "Are you truly okay? Is there something else wrong?"
"No, it’s fine, Grandma," Heena replied, forcing her voice to sound relaxed.
Grandma stared at her for a long, calculating moment. "Sometimes, I really doubt that you are a child of this family."
Heena blinked, genuinely caught off guard. "What?"
"Look at you!" Grandma scolded, her deep worry manifesting as utter anger. "In all these years, us old folks haven’t gotten sick even half as much as you do! From the moment you returned to this estate, you have collapsed God knows how many times. I can’t even count it on one hand anymore!"
Heena winced internally. She needed a quick deflection. "Oh, Grandma. It’s just... the weather changing. It caught me off guard."
"A weather change, really?" Grandma scoffed loudly, crossing her arms. "It has been quite a while since you arrived. Are you telling me your body is still not used to the climate here?"
Heena knew she was being cornered. The old woman’s intuition was far too sharp, and the nagging questions were getting too close to the truth. She needed to do something to divert her attention immediately. She decided to play the soft approach, shrinking back slightly and putting on a quiet, docile expression.
"Grandma, fine. I’m sorry..." Heena murmured softly.
Grandma narrowed her eyes, completely immune to the act. "Don’t you dare act like a pitiful child to try and distract me."
’Well, that didn’t work,’ Heena thought.
Realizing the soft approach was useless, Heena immediately dropped the act and switched to cold, calculated business. Her expression turned dead serious as she looked at her grandmother.
"Grandma, okay. I am truly sorry for making you worry," Heena said, her voice turning firm. "But right now, I want you to do something for me."
Grandma paused, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Now what?"
"I want you to go to the Vane estate," Heena stated smoothly. "I want you to go down south and find a cousin. We need to find the person who will inherit my position. A substitute to take over the family legacy."
Grandma froze, the angry scolding completely dying on her tongue. She looked at Heena closely, recognizing the sudden strategic shift. "Why do you not go yourself? You were the one who insisted on evaluating them personally."
Heena looked at her calmly, her tactical mind operating at full capacity. "Because I just realized something today while I was in the palace. It seems that it is not only the Empress who is out for my blood. The Emperor is also keeping a very close, cruel eye on me."
Grandma fell completely silent. The heavy weight of the political reality settled over the dimly lit bedchamber. After a long moment, the old woman slowly nodded. She knew the treacherous landscape of the capital better than anyone, and she knew her granddaughter had just spoken the absolute truth.
The heavy silence in the bedchamber was broken by Grandpa Marcuset’s low, rumbling growl. The old general practically vibrated with defensive fury.
"Let the Emperor look all he wants," Grandpa sneered, his massive hands resting on his belt. "If that snake on the throne tries to clip your wings while you are under my roof, I will personally march the northern cavalry right through his gilded front doors."
"That is exactly why I cannot leave the capital right now, Grandpa," Heena said, her voice remaining perfectly even. She looked between the two veterans, weaving her tactical web flawlessly. "If I suddenly disappear to the South, the Emperor will think the Vanguard is abandoning its post, or worse, plotting an uprising. He will use it as an excuse to seize our assets in the capital. But, Grandma... if ’you’ go..."
Grandma Marcuset’s sharp eyes glinted in the dim candlelight as she caught the thread of the strategy. "If I go, it is merely an old woman returning to her maiden home in the South to visit her brother. The Imperial Court wouldn’t bat an eye."
"Exactly," Heena nodded, leaning back against the pillows. "You can evaluate the Vane children without drawing the Emperor’s suspicion. You know exactly what kind of ruthless spirit it takes to survive in this family. Find someone with the eyes of a wolf, Grandma. Secure the Vanguard’s future."
Grandma Marcuset let out a long, heavy sigh. Her maternal instincts were warring violently with her tactical mind. She looked at her granddaughter’s pale face, the lingering shadows of exhaustion under her eyes, and the sheer, unyielding weight of the burden she was carrying.
"You are too smart for your own good, Seera," Grandma muttered, though there was a deep, undeniable pride in her voice. She stepped forward and gently squeezed Heena’s hand. "Fine. I will go to the Vane estate. The old man will stay here in the capital with the heavy guard to keep the Emperor’s dogs at bay."
She leaned in closer, her voice dropping into a stern, motherly warning. "But you will rest. You will eat your meals, and you will not touch another one of those ridiculous strength tonics. If I return from the South and find you looking even a fraction paler than you do right now, I will skin the physician alive and then deal with you. Understand?"
"Understood, Grandma," Heena replied obediently.
With a final, lingering look of worry, Grandma turned on her heel. "Come, old man. We have a southern convoy to organize."
Grandpa Marcuset grunted in agreement. He shot one last warning glare at Samuel—a silent command to protect their granddaughter—before following his wife out of the room.
The heavy, splintered oak doors were pulled completely shut.
The moment the latch clicked into place, the tactical, strong-willed mask Heena had worn for the last ten minutes completely dissolved. She slumped heavily into the mattress, letting out a ragged breath as the sheer, bone-deep exhaustion finally caught up with her.
From the side of the bed, a slow, incredibly dry clap echoed in the quiet room.
Heena didn’t even open her eyes.
"Bravo, Wife," Samuel murmured. His voice was a lethal mixture of awe and dark irritation.
Samuel let out a soft, exasperated chuckle, shaking his head.
"I thought I was decent at deflection, but wow," Samuel murmured, his dark eyes gleaming with a mixture of intense irritation and genuine awe. "I really cannot compare to you, huh? You just changed the subject so effortlessly and shipped the only real threat to your authority off to the southern province."
Heena’s breath hitched. A slight, involuntary tremble ran through her shoulders. She had thought her smokescreen was perfect, but Samuel had seen right through every single layer of it.
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