Chapter 638: Chapter-638
Heena frowned. "You literally just said that I do not look like someone who would wear a hairpin."
"Yeah, I know," the Third Wife smiled mysteriously. She reached out. "Give me your hand."
Heena raised her right hand, her expression completely skeptical. "Excuse me?"
The Third Wife caught Heena’s wrist and, in a swift, practiced motion, slapped the piece of gold against Heena’s forearm. With a sharp clack, the gold immediately curled around her wrist, forming a tight, beautiful bracelet.
Heena raised her eyebrows. While a slap-bracelet was incredibly common in the modern world she had originally come from, seeing the mechanism replicated in this ancient era was actually quite impressive.
"It is soft metal," the Third Wife explained quietly. "I made it myself a really long time ago, when I was bored in the manor. But I have absolutely no use for it."
"So you mean you are giving me a leftover?" Heena deadpanned.
The Third Wife shook her head. "It is not a leftover, my lady. It is something I made and simply never found a worthy owner to give it to."
Heena looked at the intricate gold links. "Fair enough."
The Third Wife pointed to a small, hidden ruby embedded in the center of the bracelet. "When you pull that, the internal wire tightens, and the bracelet will straighten out and lock into a hairpin."
Heena immediately pulled the ruby. With a sharp snap, the gold bracelet uncurled and locked into a perfectly straight, rigid golden rod. She inspected the clever internal wire mechanism, then casually rubbed the tip of the hairpin against her palm.
"What are you doing, my lady?" the Third Wife asked, bewildered.
"Checking if I can stab someone with it," Heena replied matter-of-factly.
"Getting blood on your wedding day is not auspicious, my lady," the Third Wife warned.
"Yeah, yeah," Heena waved her off. "Well, I need to know if this is actually a useful gift or not."
The Third Wife crossed her arms. "Are you actively insulting my gift in front of the person who gave it?"
"And if I do insult it, so what?" Heena laughed.
The Third Wife merely shrugged, entirely unbothered by Heena’s feral lack of manners. "Well, you are right to check. It is not sharp right now. But if you want, I can make the tip sharper for you later."
"Yes," Heena nodded instantly. "Make the tip sharper."
"Why?"
Heena looked at her, entirely serious. "Make two copies of this. Give one to me, and keep one for yourself. It will be very good for you to have a way to stab someone without carrying an obvious weapon in that manor of yours."
The Third Wife paused. A dark, terrifyingly pragmatic light flickered in her eyes. "That... is actually a brilliant idea. My lady, how can you be so brilliant?"
"It is not that I am brilliant," Heena replied bluntly. "It is just that you are dumb."
Hovering invisibly nearby, the System completely face-palmed. "Come on, Host! At least have some shame! She gave you a handmade gift and you are literally calling her dumb to her face!"
But the Third Wife didn’t look offended at all. Instead, she let out a genuine, quiet laugh. "Well, that is good to know."
She hesitated for a moment, her gaze dropping to the floor. "My lady... do you happen to know my name?"
Heena paused. She actually didn’t. She knew from her intelligence reports that the Prime Minister’s wife was named Gu Chenrui, but she had never heard the woman introduce herself.
"Gu Chenrui?" Heena guessed, raising an eyebrow. "Do you want me to call you that? But honestly... I don’t really want to."
The Third Wife completely froze. Heena’s blunt honesty had hit a deeply buried, painful nerve. The name Gu Chenrui had never brought her a single moment of happiness. Her parents had given it to her because they desperately wanted a son after her. Her uncles had only used it when they wanted to exploit her for political gain. And since marrying into the Prime Minister’s manor, she had completely lost her name, only ever being called ’Wife’ or ’Madam’—except when the Prime Minister wanted to taunt her or beat her.
"No," the Third Wife said softly, her expression downcast. "It’s okay. Please don’t call me by that name."
Heena looked at the woman’s profoundly depressed expression. She sighed quietly.
"Want a new name?" Heena offered casually.
The woman looked up, startled.
"Zoya," Heena declared.
"Zoya?" the woman repeated, her brow furrowing slightly. "That is a... quite different name."
"Well, if you like it, take it," Heena shrugged. "If not, then I can just call you by your maiden name."
"No," the woman shook her head quickly. "It is quite a good name. Zoya... Zoya... Zoya."
She repeated the name softly, and with every repetition, a tiny spark of actual life returned to her weary eyes. It felt clean. Unburdened.
"Well," Heena said, leaning closer, her voice dropping to a casual, conversational whisper. "Now that you have a new name, I think you should probably stop wearing that poison, you know. I did not realize you had such a strong suicidal tendency."
Zoya completely froze, her breath catching in her throat.
"Even if you want to die," Heena continued, waving a hand in front of her nose, "how about staying away from me? Actually, your so-called perfume is making my head dizzy."
"M-My lady," Zoya stammered, absolute terror washing over her. "What are you talking about? Poison?"
"The perfume you are wearing," Heena stated flatly. "It’s called Violet Lily. It is one of the more dangerous poisons. Actually, it’s not that chemically dangerous on its own, it’s just incredibly difficult to detect, which makes it highly lethal. We call it the invisible killer."
Zoya trembled violently.
"Don’t worry," Heena offered unhelpfully. "You won’t die in one or two days. You will definitely die within thirty days, at least. Or maybe you’ll survive a full month if your immune system is strong."
"Host," the System interjected. "Thirty days is a month."
’No, this month has thirty-one days,’ Heena corrected mentally. ’So she might survive one day more.’
"Are you... are you sure?" Zoya whispered, her face completely drained of color.
"Of course I am," Heena scoffed. "I know this poison quite well."
"But... but I checked everything!" Zoya panicked, her hands shaking as she touched the collar of her robes. "I checked my food, my clothes, the perfume bottle... I used the silver needle! I did not see any reaction!"
"Not all poisons change color with silver, fool," Heena rolled her eyes at the ancient, flawed method of poison detection.
She looked at Zoya’s terrified face. "Well, I don’t think you are generous enough to willingly wear something your dear husband gave you, right?"
Before Zoya could even process the horrifying implication of that question, Heena heard a group of generals loudly shouting her name from across the courtyard.
"Well, I need to go," Heena announced casually, turning her back on the completely paralyzed woman. "Looks like my uncles are calling me."
And with that, Heena just walked away.
Zoya stood frozen in the shadows, her world violently collapsing around her.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter