Chapter 546: Chapter-546
Heena trembled slightly, her mind spiraling into the worst-case scenario.
What if this poison was being secretly fed to a member of the Imperial Family? If a prince, a consort, or even the Emperor himself fell ill and this specific herb was found in their tea, Heena could go ahead and kiss her head goodbye. Not only hers, but Grandpa Marcuset, Grandma, and everyone even remotely associated with the Vanguard.
If the charge was imperial assassination, not even her grandparents’ untouchable military status or Grandma’s hidden merchant fleets could save them from the Emperor’s wrath.
Heena took a slow, deep breath, forcing the panic down. When she looked back up at Samuel, her fox-like eyes had turned completely, ruthlessly cold.
"So," Heena said, her voice dropping into a deadly whisper. "You ordered all of these goods to be physically dragged here because you wanted to make a massive commotion? Wouldn’t it have been infinitely smarter if you had just left the inventory exactly where it was? We could have set a trap and done some quiet research to catch the thief red-handed!"
Samuel didn’t flinch at her cold tone. He simply shook his head, looking completely unbothered.
"I am not causing a commotion without a reason," Samuel replied smoothly. "I simply issued a public order to the managers. I told them I wanted the warehouse completely cleared out so it could be deep-cleaned, re-painted, and renovated to my exacting, luxurious standards. Moving the goods is just a temporary necessity. It is not a big deal."
Heena stared at him, blinking slowly. She looked at the towering mountains of grain and herbs currently suffocating her private courtyard.
"And you genuinely think that everyone in this capital is completely blind and crazy?" Heena asked, her voice dripping with sheer disbelief. "Who on earth decides to ’spring clean’ a massive commercial warehouse by dumping tens of thousands of pounds of raw inventory directly into their military mansion?!"
Hearing her frustration, Samuel’s lips curved into that familiar, brilliant, highly manipulative smile. He took a step closer, looking down at her with a glint of absolute cunning in his dark eyes.
"Well," Samuel murmured, his voice laced with rich amusement. "Everyone in the capital already firmly believes that your new fiancé is a spoiled, unhinged, lovesick lunatic."
He reached out, casually tapping the edge of his wooden clipboard against the side of a massive cedarwood chest.
"Since they already think I am completely crazy, Wife..." Samuel whispered, "you should just let me do some crazy things."
For a second, Heena just stared at him. And then, completely unable to stop herself, she raised a gloved hand to cover her mouth and actually laughed.
It wasn’t a cold, mocking scoff. It was a genuine, breathy laugh of pure disbelief.
’He is terrifyingly brilliant,’ Heena thought, her eyes shining as she looked at him. ’Now I truly understand why this bastard was written as the ultimate villain of the story.’
It was a masterstroke of psychological warfare. If they had tried to set a trap in the warehouse, it would have been incredibly difficult. The thief had obviously been operating there for months; they knew the guard patrols, the blind spots, and the shift changes perfectly. The thief was already comfortable there.
But by suddenly uprooting the exact inventory the thief needed and dumping it into the Marcuset mansion? Samuel had completely shattered the thief’s established routine.
Now, the thief was on a ticking clock. The month was ending. They needed those two jins of Aurawood to maintain their lethal supply. And looking from the outside, wouldn’t a desperate thief think it was infinitely easier to steal from a disorganized, chaotic pile of boxes guarded by an eccentric, idiot fiancé who didn’t know the first thing about inventory management?
Samuel watched the realization wash over her face, his own smile deepening.
"I think that person will definitely visit us here," Samuel said quietly, confirming her exact thoughts. "They are taking these specific herbs in a highly limited quantity, on an exact timeline every single month. This month, they haven’t been able to take their share yet, and the month is about to end. They are getting desperate. So, I am thinking... we just wait for them to come to us."
Heena nodded slowly. Then, without missing a single beat, she flawlessly slipped back into her character.
She violently shoved the wooden clipboard back into his chest, taking a step back and intentionally raising her voice so it would echo loudly across the bustling courtyard.
"You just cause me endless trouble!" Heena shouted, her tone dripping with the exaggerated annoyance of a spoiled noblewoman. "You are a huge, walking disaster! Fine! Just do whatever you want! How can I even say anything to stop you when you have your so-called ’Grandmother-in-law’ firmly on your side?!"
Samuel paused for a microsecond, his dark eyes flashing with absolute delight as he realized she was putting on a play for the household spies.
He instantly adapted, his cunning expression melting into a pathetic, highly exaggerated pout.
"Wife!" Samuel whined loudly, clutching the clipboard to his chest like a wounded puppy. "I am doing so much hard work to make our home beautiful, and you are not even praising me! I am doing this all for you!"
"You know what?" Heena yelled back, looking at him like he was the biggest idiot to ever walk the earth. "Absolutely none of these things are going into my courtyard! If you have so much guts to buy all this junk, then put it into your own courtyard!"
She dramatically waved her hand in front of her nose, her face twisting in pure disgust.
"Do you have any idea how much medicinal scent you are tracking into the house?!" Heena complained loudly. "God! It smells like a hospital out here!"
She whipped her head around, glaring at the stunned servants and laborers who were standing frozen in the courtyard, watching the ’lovers’ quarrel’ unfold.
"What are you guys just standing around looking at?!" Heena snapped, projecting her voice with absolute Vanguard authority. "Move! Put all of this junk directly into this man’s courtyard! I don’t want to see a single wooden crate in my sightline!"
She turned her fierce glare back to Samuel, pointing a threatening finger right at his chest.
"And let me make one thing perfectly clear," Heena declared, ensuring every single person in the vicinity heard her. "If even one bit of these expensive herbs or goods is destroyed because you left them out in the open, you will be held entirely responsible for it! Damn it... you act like you want to be a royal physician instead of a husband!"
With a final, dramatic huff of sheer exasperation, Heena spun on her heel and stormed off toward her own pristine pavilion, leaving Samuel standing in the middle of his chaotic trap, hiding a brilliant, entirely wicked smile behind his wooden clipboard.
As Heena’s furious footsteps echoed away down the stone corridor, the entire courtyard remained frozen in a state of absolute, terrified silence. The laborers and servants held their breath, completely unsure of what the eccentric, unpredictable fiancé would do now that he had been publicly humiliated by the Madam.
Samuel stood perfectly still amidst the towering piles of crates. He kept the wooden clipboard clutched to his chest, his head bowed slightly as if he were wallowing in the sting of her rejection.
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