Chapter 524: Chapter-524
"Seera, my dear," Grandpa Marcuset attempted, his booming voice vibrating as the carriage violently drifted around a sharp corner, entirely uprooting a merchant’s fruit cart in the process. "Perhaps we should approach this with... a tactical mind? Murdering your husband in the middle of the prime merchant district might draw unwanted Imperial attention!"
Heena didn’t turn her head. She just continued to stare blankly at the front wall of the carriage, her voice dropping into a register so cold it could freeze fire.
"I am not going to murder him, Grandfather," Heena stated softly.
Grandpa let out a massive sigh of relief. "Oh, good. Because the paperwork for—"
"I am going to completely dismantle him," Heena interrupted, her fingers lightly tapping against her knee in a rhythmic, terrifying countdown. "I am going to break his legs, sell his internal organs on the black market to recoup my financial losses, and then use his skull as a paperweight for the new estate managers."
Grandpa Marcuset instantly shut his mouth, gripping the hand-straps even tighter.
He looked out the window as the carriage physically lifted off two wheels to take another sharp corner. The prime merchant district was rapidly approaching, and for the first time in his long, violent military career, the old general actually felt a twinge of profound pity for the enemy.
Samuel had no idea what kind of absolute monster he had just unleashed.
With a deafening screech of wooden wheels and a massive cloud of dust, the Vanguard carriage violently skidded to a halt right at the entrance of the capital’s prime merchant district.
The carriage hadn’t even fully stopped rocking before the door was kicked open.
Heena stepped out. She didn’t say a word. She just stood there on the cobblestones, the heavy black leather of her riding cloak swirling around her ankles. The terrifying, murderous aura radiating from her body was so oppressive that several nearby stray dogs immediately tucked their tails and ran for their lives.
Inside the carriage, Grandpa Marcuset cautiously peered out the window.
"I will, ah... I will secure the perimeter from here, Seera!" Grandpa announced, quickly pulling the velvet curtains shut. As a seasoned military commander, he knew exactly when a tactical retreat was necessary for his own survival.
Heena didn’t care. She cracked her knuckles, her fox-like eyes sweeping the bustling street.
Normally, the prime district was a chaotic mess of shouting merchants, wealthy nobles, and haggling scholars. But today, the entire street seemed to have completely shut down normal operations to cater to a single, localized epicenter of absolute financial ruin.
A massive crowd had gathered outside the Spring Blossom Silk Pavilion. Heena pushed through the throng of stunned onlookers, her cold, lethal glare parting the sea of people like a blade.
When she finally reached the front, her eye violently twitched.
Samuel was not just shopping. He was holding absolute court.
He was comfortably lounging on a massive, plush chaise lounge that had been dragged out into the middle of the street specifically for him. Two frantic merchants were actively fanning him with large palm leaves, while a dozen others were kneeling before him, desperately holding up rolls of the most expensive, glittering imperial silk, trays of blinding gold jewelry, and... literal topographical maps.
"No, no, no," Samuel was saying, waving his hand dismissively at a weeping merchant. "I told you, the peaks on that mountain range are entirely too jagged. My wife enjoys a smooth, aesthetic horizon when she drinks her morning tea. Bring me the deed to the Jade Cloud Mountains instead. I will buy that one."
"Right away, Young Master! Right away!" the merchant sobbed in sheer financial joy, scrambling away.
"And these silks," Samuel sighed, gracefully picking up a cup of exquisite floral tea from a floating tray. "They are decent, I suppose. Just pack the entire store and send it to the Vanguard estate. Put it on the Madam’s tab."
Heena felt her soul try to leave her body.
"Samuel," Heena whispered.
She hadn’t shouted. She hadn’t screamed. But her voice carried such a concentrated, terrifying dose of pure murderous intent that the entire street instantly went dead silent. The merchants froze. The fanners stopped fanning.
Samuel paused mid-sip.
He slowly lowered his teacup and turned his head. When he saw her standing there, cloaked in darkness and looking like a literal demon of debt collection, his face broke into a brilliantly shameless, blindingly handsome smile.
"Wifey!" Samuel cheered, completely ignoring the fact that she was currently deciding which of his limbs to break first. "You finished your tutoring session early! Perfect timing! Come, come, look at this map. I was just negotiating the purchase of a lovely little mountain for our summer retreat!"
Heena slowly walked toward him. Every step she took echoed loudly against the silent cobblestones. The merchants, sensing the impending arrival of the Grim Reaper, slowly backed away, dropping their silks and maps.
"A mountain," Heena repeated, her voice perfectly flat. "You are buying a mountain. With my money."
"Technically, I am buying a mountain with ’our’ money," Samuel corrected smoothly, entirely unbothered by her terrifying proximity. He gracefully stood up from the chaise lounge, brushing an invisible speck of dust from his crimson tunic. "Grandma said I should handle the domestic planning. A grand wedding requires a grand estate, and what is grander than owning your own peak?"
Heena stopped right in front of him. She looked up into his dark, sparkling eyes.
"Give me the jade token," Heena demanded softly, holding out her open, leather-gloved hand.
Samuel pouted slightly, looking genuinely wounded. "But Wifey, I haven’t even visited the antique district yet. There is a Ming-era vase I simply must have for the foyer."
"Samuel," Heena smiled. It was the same bright, completely unhinged smile she had given the Ninth Prince right before she violently body-slammed him with the System. "If you do not place that jade token into my hand in the next three seconds, I am going to discover exactly how many of those expensive silks it takes to physically mummify you while you are still breathing."
The System, safely hidden in her mind, let out a tiny, digital whimper.
Samuel looked at her hand. He looked at her terrifying, smiling face. He sighed, a dramatic, deeply put-upon sigh of a man whose artistic vision was being stifled by a cruel tyrant.
"You are so utterly lacking in romance, Seera," Samuel complained.
With a theatrical flick of his wrist, he reached into his tunic and placed the glowing green jade token gently into her palm.
Heena’s hand instantly snapped shut over the jade like a bear trap. She gripped her financial lifeline so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"Cancel everything," Heena snapped, turning her terrifying glare toward the trembling mob of merchants. "The mountain, the silks, the jewelry. All of it is canceled. If a single copper coin is billed to the Vanguard estate, I will personally ride my warhorse through the front doors of your shops. Do we understand each other?"
The merchants furiously nodded their heads, looking like a flock of terrified pigeons, and immediately began scrambling to pack up their wares and flee the street.
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