novelraw Chapter 180: chqapter-180
Chapter 180: chqapter-180
The System was completely dumbfounded.
He ’knew’ that Heena loved money. Like, seriously loved it. For most people, money was something you earned to save, to enjoy life, to spend on luxuries and entertainment.
Heena was completely different. She earned money, she used it strategically, but she never ’wasted’ it. Every expenditure was calculated. Every purchase was justified. She hoarded points and currency like a dragon hoarding gold.
So hearing that she’d just spent a significant amount of money at the system shop to buy farm animals for a petty revenge prank was... shocking.
The System looked at her and asked, "But Host, why didn’t you just buy actual pigs? You’re an Empress! Wouldn’t it be easier to just order servants to deliver real animals?"
Heena burst into laughter and said, "Have you forgotten what type of animals the system shop sends?"
The System paused, then slapped his own forehead in realization.
"Damn it, I forgot!"
And then he also burst into laughter.
Because here’s the thing about system shop animals: only the ’intended target’ could see, hear, or smell them. They were like advanced holographic projections with physical properties, but completely invisible to everyone else.
So of course the servants hadn’t rushed to help when the consorts started screaming about pigs in their rooms—because the servants literally couldn’t see or hear anything wrong.
From their perspective, the five consorts were just standing in their perfectly normal rooms, screaming about invisible animals like lunatics.
Heena had paid quite a high price for this feature specifically. The "perception filter" cost extra, but it was absolutely worth it for the chaos it would cause.
And it also confirmed one thing for the System: Heena ’really’ hated these five consorts.
Like, "willing to spend actual money on petty revenge" levels of hate.
---
While Heena was unable to sleep, working through documents with grim determination, the five consorts were having an even worse night.
They’d tried to escape to other rooms in their shared palace.
But every single room was the same.
In Kieran’s secondary bedroom: literal ’scorpions’ covering the bed. Hundreds of them, scuttling across the sheets, the pillows, crawling on the walls.
In Adrian’s study: ’snakes’. Everywhere. Draped over furniture, coiled on the desk, slithering across the floor.
In Damien’s meditation room: ’rats’. Giant ones. Making horrible squeaking noises and running in circles.
In Raphael’s prayer room: ’spiders’. Massive ones. Weaving webs across the altar, crawling on the religious texts.
In Lucian’s library: ’cockroaches’. Flying ones. The worst kind. Everywhere.
All of them disgusting. All of them terrifying. All of them completely invisible to everyone except the five consorts.
No matter how many times they shouted for help, no matter how many servants came running, the servants just looked at them with blank, slightly concerned expressions.
"Your Highness, the room appears clean to me."
"I don’t see anything, Your Highness. Are you feeling well?"
"Perhaps you should rest, Your Highness. You seem... stressed."
And because of Heena’s recent change in management style—because she’d stopped giving the consorts special treatment and attention—the servants’ attitudes had shifted accordingly.
Servants always reflect their master’s manners. When Heena stopped caring about the consorts, the servants followed suit.
So now, instead of frantically trying to help, they just looked at the screaming consorts with polite confusion and increasing skepticism.
"I’m telling you, there are PIGS in my room!" Raphael shrieked.
"I don’t see any pigs, Your Highness," the servant replied calmly.
"ARE YOU BLIND?! LOOK!"
The servant looked. Saw nothing. "Your Highness, with all due respect, there’s nothing there."
"I’m not CRAZY—"
"Of course not, Your Highness. Perhaps you should sleep. It’s been a stressful day."
And then—and this was the part that truly shocked the consorts—the servants would just ’leave’. Without being dismissed. Without waiting for permission.
They’d bow politely, say "Goodnight, Your Highness," and walk out.
As if it were any other normal evening.
In the past, servants would never have dared. The consorts could have had them punished, even executed, for such disrespect.
But now? Now the consorts didn’t dare retaliate. Because they’d have to prove the servants were wrong first. And how could they prove there were invisible system-generated animals everywhere when nobody else could see them?
If they pushed too hard, if they punished servants for "failing" to see things that weren’t visible, word would spread. People would think they’d lost their minds. Their reputations would be destroyed.
So they just had to... endure it.
While invisible pigs, scorpions, snakes, rats, spiders, and cockroaches made their lives absolutely miserable.
---
On the other side of the palace, Heena sat at her desk, methodically working through documents, signing and reading with mechanical efficiency.
Meanwhile, Larus stood on the balcony of their chambers, looking up at the starry sky. The palace grounds stretched out below him, beautiful and vast and almost dreamlike in the moonlight.
No matter how many times he saw this view, he couldn’t quite believe it.
This place belonged to him now.
A few weeks ago, he’d just been a prince from a small kingdom, coming to this empire as a curiosity seeker. He’d wanted to see the famous empire ruled by a woman—something he’d read about in stories but never witnessed firsthand.
He’d never thought he’d become the co-owner of it all.
Well, "co-owner" was probably the wrong word. "Partner" was more accurate. But still—the ’scale’ of it was overwhelming.
The Lavender Palace alone was larger than his entire childhood home. And Heena had given him the Pearl Territory, which generated more wealth in a month than his birth kingdom made in a year.
It was surreal.
He sighed, closing his eyes as cold night air brushed past his face.
"Will everything go well?" he murmured to himself.
The question hung in the air, unanswered.
Tomorrow would bring the patriarchs. The investigation. Confrontations and revelations.
He could only hope that Heena’s plans—whatever they were—would succeed.
Because he trusted her. Completely.
Even when he didn’t fully understand what she was doing.
---
The next morning arrived far too soon.
Heena had only managed to sleep for about one hour before a loud, urgent knocking on the door jolted her awake.
She opened her eyes, disoriented, and looked outside.
It was barely dawn. Maybe 5 AM. The sun hadn’t even fully risen yet.
’Who the hell—’
"YOUR MAJESTY!" A servant’s voice, urgent and nervous. "The patriarchs of the four ducal houses have arrived! They’re requesting an immediate audience!"
Heena felt her eye twitch violently.
She sat up, looking murderous, her hair disheveled from one hour of inadequate sleep.
"They WHAT?!" she shouted back.
"They’ve arrived, Your Majesty! All of them! They’re in the main reception hall and they’re requesting—"
"IT’S FIVE IN THE MORNING!" Heena roared.
"Yes, Your Majesty, but they’re very insistent—"
Heena stood up from her chair.
Her waist made a sound.
Not a dramatic sound. Just a small, quiet ’pop’ that somehow conveyed the complete opinion of her spine regarding the last six hours spent hunched over documents.
She straightened slowly, pressing one hand to her lower back with an expression that would have alarmed anyone who had ever assumed the Empress was made entirely of iron.
’Celste body’, she thought darkly. ’Strongest constitution in three realms. Can survive poison, sleep deprivation, political assassination attempts.’
’Cannot, apparently, survive a bad office chair.’
She rolled her shoulders, decided the pain was irrelevant, and looked at the servant standing anxiously by the door.