Chapter 581: Chapter-581
She scrambled to her feet and rushed toward it. But in her blind panic, her foot caught hard on the hem of her own heavy, dirt-caked silk robes.
She violently tripped.
With a yelp, the Third Wife went completely airborne, her hands wildly flailing. She knocked the table, launching the heavy porcelain jug straight into the air like a catapult.
A massive wave of freezing water splashed directly onto Heena’s face. A split second later, the heavy jug flew through the air, violently hurtling toward Heena’s head.
"AHHH!" the System shrieked, diving out of the way just as the ceramic jug smashed into the floorboards mere inches from Heena’s ear, shattering into pieces.
The digital lion floated up, clutching its chest in sheer horror. "Damn this woman! Is she trying to save our girl or finish the assassins’ job?!"
But the violent splash of water did exactly what it needed to do.
Heena gasped, her chest heaving as the cold water shocked her system. Her heavy, burning eyelids fluttered open. She let out a muffled groan, trying to lift a hand to grab her throbbing head. "Oh... damn it."
The paralysis was finally starting to weaken, but her body felt like it was encased in lead, and the feverish, boiling heat of the aphrodisiac was roaring through her veins.
"You’re awake!" the Third Wife gasped, scrambling over to her.
As Heena’s blurred vision focused, she saw that the pristine, doll-like noblewoman was completely unrecognizable. Her collar was torn open, exposing the dark, ugly bruises on her collarbone. Her usually flawless, elaborately styled hair was completely clumped with sweat, dirt, and dead leaves, hanging in a tangled, chaotic mess around her pale face.
Heena couldn’t form a full sentence. Her throat felt like it was lined with hot coals. She looked at the woman, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
"You..." Heena forced the word out, her breath scorching hot. "...hot."
The Third Wife’s eyes went wide. "Hot? Yes, hot! Right, water! You need more water!"
She frantically spun around, but the jug was shattered, and the water was rapidly soaking into the floorboards. "What should I do? What should I do?!"
Her panicked gaze darted around the room and landed on the closed bathroom door. Because the guest pavilions didn’t have modern plumbing, water had to be manually brought in. She lunged for the door and slammed it open.
The bathroom was incredibly cramped, barely large enough to fit the massive wooden bathing tub sitting in the middle of the room.
The System hovered over Heena, looking toward the dark room. "Host, isn’t that just a giant boiling pot? She’s going to cook you!"
But when the Third Wife plunged her hands into the tub, she gasped. The water was absolutely freezing. It was stagnant, leftover water that had likely been sitting there for three or four days, forgotten in the rush of the banquet preparations. It wasn’t clean, but right now, it was a lifeline.
Suddenly, the heavy, rhythmic thud-thud-thud of armored boots echoed from the courtyard outside. The Prime Minister’s guards were searching the guest pavilions.
The Third Wife’s face completely drained of color. She hurriedly wiped her wet, freezing hands on her robes and rushed back out to Heena.
She didn’t have the strength to carry the Vanguard Madam again. Her ribs were broken, her arms were shaking, and time was completely out. So, she did the only thing she could.
She grabbed Heena firmly by the ankles.
And she pulled.
"Wait—" Heena’s mind screamed, but her mouth couldn’t move fast enough.
The Third Wife violently dragged Heena across the wooden floor like a sack of potatoes.
THUMP.
Heena’s head slammed violently over the raised wooden threshold of the bathroom door.
CRACK.
Her right hand caught hard against the leg of a wooden stool, nearly dislocating her shoulder as the Third Wife kept pulling without looking back.
By the time they reached the side of the wooden tub, Heena’s mind was an absolute string of violent, murderous curses. ’I should have just let the assassins stab me! I would have suffered less!’
The Third Wife dropped Heena’s legs, panting heavily. She grabbed Heena by the shoulders, desperately trying to haul her up into the high wooden tub. She pulled, pushed, and strained, but Heena’s armor-clad body was simply too heavy. She only managed to get Heena halfway up, her torso awkwardly slumped over the thick wooden rim of the tub.
The heavy footsteps outside were getting closer. Someone shouted a command in the courtyard.
The Third Wife looked at Heena, hanging halfway over the freezing water, and bit her lip.
"I am so sorry, My Lady," the Third Wife whispered, a deep, genuine apology in her eyes.
Heena suddenly had a very, very bad feeling.
The Third Wife braced one hand firmly against Heena’s back to make sure she didn’t slide backward onto the floor. Then, she bent down, grabbed Heena’s heavy boots, lifted them straight into the air, and violently shoved.
"HOST!" the System screamed.
Heena went flying headfirst over the rim.
SPLASH!
She plunged directly into the freezing, stagnant water. The icy liquid flooded her ears and rushed up her nose. The bone-chilling, absolute freezing temperature of the water hit her boiling skin like a physical blow.
Her eyes snapped wide open beneath the water. The suffocating heat of the aphrodisiac collided violently with the freezing water, and in that instant, the terrifying shock finally, completely woke her paralyzed senses back up.
The freezing water was an absolute miracle for her burning, drug-laced veins, but it was an immediate death sentence for her lungs.
Beneath the dark, icy surface, Heena’s eyes were wide open. The violent shock of the cold had successfully shattered the chemical fog clouding her brain, snapping her consciousness to full, terrifying attention. Her mind furiously screamed commands at her body—Kick! Grab the rim! Stand up!—but the neurotoxin still held her muscles in a crushing, leaden grip.
She couldn’t move her arms. She couldn’t thrash. She was sinking like an armored stone to the bottom of the wooden tub.
Bubble... bubble... bubble...
A thin stream of air escaped her lips, floating toward the surface as her lungs began to violently contract, desperately screaming for oxygen.
Above the water, the Third Wife leaned against the doorframe, panting heavily. She wiped a streak of dirty sweat from her forehead, letting out a ragged sigh of relief. Okay. Good. I did it. She is hidden.
She looked toward the tub, expecting the fierce Vanguard Madam to immediately shoot out of the water, completely cured and ready to fight.
One second passed. Two seconds. Three.
The surface of the water remained completely undisturbed, save for a few pathetic, tiny bubbles popping at the top.
The Third Wife’s eyes widened in sheer horror.
Damn it! She had forgotten the General couldn’t move!
"My Lady!" the Third Wife shrieked, completely forgetting to keep her voice down.
She scrambled across the wet floorboards and threw herself over the edge of the high wooden tub. Plunging half her own body into the freezing, stagnant water, her hands desperately blindly grasped through the dark water until her fingers tangled in the thick collar of Heena’s robes.
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