Return of Black Lotus system:Taming Cheating Male Leads

Chapter 531: Chapter -531

But this? This required delicate wrist control, perfectly balanced ink-to-water ratios, and constant, agonizing patience.

She pressed the brush to the paper. The ink instantly pooled, creating a massive, ugly black blotch that looked like a squashed spider.

Heena violently crumpled the paper and tossed it onto the floor to join the other five ruined sheets. She had to rewrite a single paragraph five to six times just to make it look somewhat legible, let alone possess the elegant, flowing grace expected of a noblewoman. The sheer inefficiency of the ancient world was driving her insane.

As she slowly ground a fresh stick of ink against the stone, her mind began to race again.

There had to be a way to control the imperial family, right? A lever she could pull? A weakness she could exploit?

But the harsh truth was, there really wasn’t. The Emperor had absolute authority, the Empress controlled the inner palace, and the civil scholars controlled the laws.

Suddenly, an image flashed into her mind.

’Wait...’ Heena paused, the ink stick hovering in her hand.

She remembered the ethereal, completely unbothered young man standing at the forefront of the green-robed scholars during yesterday’s court racing session. She remembered him calmly nodding when she dragged him into the argument over the sporting grounds.

The Prime Minister.

Heena frowned, aggressively searching through the original Seera’s fragmented memories. The storyline she had inherited was strictly from a tragic, side-character perspective. Because the original Seera had been trapped in her misery and later lived as an amnesiac servant, she had literally never met or interacted with the Prime Minister.

However, because the man was so astronomically famous across the empire, you didn’t need to meet him to know about him.

The capital was obsessed with him. You could walk into any teahouse and hear the gossiping scholars and swooning noblewomen recite everything about him—from his favorite blend of Longjing tea to the exact phrasing of the first book of laws he had authored. He was practically a cultural idol for the civil faction.

’That bastard is going to be a massive problem,’ Heena realized, a cold sweat breaking out on her neck.

She firmly decided right then and there: she was absolutely not going to try to butter that man up, and she was certainly not going to try to play political games with him.

Heena was a smart woman. She knew how to scheme, how to manipulate a trope, and how to bully a twelve-year-old prince. But she was also incredibly self-aware.

To become the Prime Minister of an entire empire at such a sickeningly young age, surrounded by cutthroat, elderly scholars who would gladly poison his tea for a promotion... that meant the man was not just a genius. It meant he was a ruthless, smiling monster wearing jade-green silk.

Heena literally did not have the political processing power to outsmart a man like that. She knew that if she tried to play 4D chess with the Prime Minister, he would see right through her modern-world bluff. One single wrong move, one misplaced word, and that cunning bastard would effortlessly twist it and use it directly against her to destroy the Vanguard.

’Avoid the Prime Minister at all costs,’ Heena mentally added to her survival checklist, right below ’Don’t let Samuel buy any more mountains.’ ’If I see green robes approaching, I am turning the other way.’

The digital System hovered over the desk, its glowing blue lion face twisting into a surprisingly serious expression. It tapped its tiny holographic chin with a paw, calculating alternative political routes.

[Host, what about looking into the older princes?] the System suggested, its voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper. [Like the Crown Prince, or the other legitimate children born directly to the Empress? Wouldn’t it be a good strategy to pit their own children against them? Or perhaps form a secret alliance?]

Heena didn’t even need to think about it. She immediately shook her head.

"No. I have already looked into it, and it is a complete dead end," Heena said, dipping her brush back into the inkstone with a sigh. "From my research, the bond between the Empress and the children she birthed is incredibly tight. If I dared to try and harm her, or even scheme against her, her precious sons would be the first ones in line to happily chop my head off."

She stared at the ruined calligraphy on her desk, her eyes cold.

"Besides, I absolutely do not want to take a chance on them. Do you know how ruthless the imperial bloodline is? When one of their half-brothers suddenly ’died’ of a mysterious illness a few years ago, those legitimate princes did not even blink. Do you honestly think they are good people capable of a fair alliance?"

Heena scoffed, waving her hand dismissively.

"I have been teaching that absolute terror of a Ninth Prince for days now, and I have never once crossed paths with his older brothers. Granted, I actively try to avoid them to preserve my sanity, but still... I do not want to see them. Their relationship with their parents is famously ’harmonious.’ Even if ninety percent of it is just royal pretense, it makes them untouchable. If I try to approach them, they will just use my head as a prize to show off their filial piety to their parents. I wouldn’t dare."

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The System floated down, landing softly on the edge of her inkstone.

[Well... then how about the imperial consorts?] the System offered. [Palace dramas are always full of ambitious concubines trying to overthrow the Empress! You could fund a rival consort!]

"Absolutely not," Heena rejected the idea instantly, shaking her head again.

"The Emperor has a profound, highly publicized love for his so-called Empress and her legitimate children. Even if some of those inner-palace consorts are cunning and ambitious, they are ultimately no match for her absolute authority. Partnering with them wouldn’t give me power; it would just drag the Vanguard down into the petty mud of the harem."

Heena leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. Her expression hardened into the strict, unyielding mask of a military commander.

"More importantly, System... I refuse to drag the Marcuset family into a battle for the throne."

The System tilted its head, clearly confused. In every novel in its database, the powerful military family always backed a prince to secure their future.

"Anyone who has my family’s military backing instantly becomes a prime candidate for the throne," Heena explained, her voice heavy with the grim reality of ancient politics. "But playing kingmaker is an absolute gamble, and the odds are terrible. Who knows what would happen if I backed a prince, fought a bloody civil war for him, put him on the throne... and then the bastard turns around and stabs me in the back because the Vanguard is ’too powerful’?"

She let out a bitter, cynical laugh.

"No thank you. I do not want my family anywhere near that cursed chair. Besides, do you know how a military family normally aligns with the throne?"

[Through marriage alliances?] the System guessed.

"Exactly," Heena nodded. "The powerful families send their daughters into the royal palace as Crown Princesses or high-ranking consorts to solidify the bond. But the Vanguard family? We literally have no immediate bloodline daughters available to marry off. I am already married to Samuel, and I am dying."

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