Return of Black Lotus system:Taming Cheating Male Leads

Chapter 432: Chapter-432

She turned to look at Samuel, who was standing rigidly by the door, waiting for her command like a loyal, lethal shadow.

”Samuel,” Heena spoke softly, her voice entirely devoid of its previous playful warmth. ”Our family’s northern iron convoy is about to be ambushed at the outer border. We are going to intercept them.”

Samuel didn’t even blink. He didn’t ask how a sheltered, sickly young lady who had been resting in her bedroom for the last hour could possibly possess top-secret, real-time military intelligence. To him, his wife was an absolute enigma—a brilliant, calculating master who was always ten steps ahead of everyone else. If she said an ambush was happening, then blood was going to spill.

”Do you wish for me to alert the Grandfather’s elite guard unit, My Lady?” Samuel asked, his hand instinctively resting on the hilt of his sword.

”No,” Heena sneered, a wicked, thoroughly predatory smile stretching across her lips. ”If the old general gets involved, it will turn into a massive military operation. I want this handled quietly. Just you and me.”

And more importantly, she didn’t want any other human or Host stealing her kill. That triple point bonus and Class-A luxury vacation belonged entirely to her.

Samuel’s dark eyes dilated slightly behind his wooden mask. The sheer thrill of being chosen to go on a private, dangerous mission alone with his wife instantly wiped away the last of his lingering frustration.

”As you command, Young Miss,” Samuel rumbled, dropping to one knee as he extended his broad, steady hand to help her step toward the hidden escape tunnel behind the room’s grand tapestry. ”This servant will ensure that not a single soul lives to tell the tale of what happens at that border.”

Heena’s stride was filled with absolute, laser-focused motivation as she moved toward the hidden escape tunnel. In her mind, she was already sipping tropical drinks on a pristine beach in a Class-A luxury vacation world, her corporate bank account overflowing with that beautiful triple bonus.

But of course, the universe—and her completely useless excuse of a System—refused to let her be happy for even a single minute.

PING.

The little holographic lion popped into existence inside her mind, its digital paws twiddling nervously as it looked at her with a thoroughly unhelpful, anxious expression.

”Um... Host?” the System squeaked, its voice instantly draining every ounce of momentum from her steps. ”When... exactly did you get a triple bonus and a luxury Class-A vacation world?”

Heena froze mid-step, her internal voice turning incredibly flat and dangerous. *What do you mean, when? Isn’t that what we normally get from the Central Administration when we complete an emergency, high-priority world-saving mission like this?*

The System instantly avoided her gaze, looking everywhere else in her mental space except at her. It nervously tapped its furry little heels together.

”Well... no,” the System mumbled, coughing digitally. ”You read the message yourself, Host. The Central Administration just said they have absolute faith in you and that they were clearing out all the other hosts so you wouldn’t be ’disturbed.’ They... they didn’t actually mention a single point about a bonus, or pay raises, or vacations...”

Heena’s jaw practically dropped.

She stood there in the dimly lit corridor, her mind completely blank as the brutal, horrifying reality crashed down on her.

She had completely hallucinated the entire reward structure out of pure, desperate copium. Her brain had literally invented a triple payout and a paid luxury resort just so her soul could find the tragic strength to handle this unpaid corporate overtime.

I am going to murder this piece of trash, Heena screamed in her own mind.

If it weren’t for the fact that Samuel was currently standing right next to her, watching her every move with an intensely alert and protective gaze, she would have pulled that digital lion out of her skull and beaten it into a pile of unformatted code.

Shut the absolute heck up! Heena roared internally, her face twisting into a furious, silent grimace. Even if it’s a lie, you idiot, at least let me stay motivated for a single second so I actually have the guts to do this stupid work! Why would you ruin my delusion right before a battle?!

”I-I’m sorry, Host! I just wanted to be factually accurate!” the System whimpered, burying its face under its paws and diving deep into the furthest corners of her subconscious to escape her wrath.

Samuel, noticing the sudden, incredibly dark and murderous aura erupting from his wife, immediately stepped in front of her. His hand moved to his sword, his eyes frantically scanning the empty, quiet hallway.

”Young Miss?” Samuel whispered urgently, his deep voice laced with sudden panic. ”Did you detect an enemy? Is the assassin already inside the walls?!”

Heena took a deep, ragged breath, forcing her furious expression back into a cold, composed aristocratic mask. She looked up at her intensely loyal, beautifully deluded shadow guard and let out a stiff, forced smile.

”No, Samuel,” Heena said, her voice dripping with a terrifyingly calm, suppressed rage. ”The enemy isn’t inside the walls. The enemy is in my head. Let’s go to the border. I have a lot of anger I need to take out on a Regressor.”

Samuel didn’t have the slightest clue what a ”Regressor” was, and the word ”nonsense” didn’t matter much to him anyway. All he knew, and all he cared about, was that his wife’s mood had shifted from playfully teasing to absolutely, single-mindedly murderous.

And frankly? He was completely synchronized with her.

Standing side-by-side in the dim, narrow escape corridor, the two of them began to emit a dual, suffocating wave of pure, unadulterated killing intent. Heena’s aura was cold, calculating, and sharp enough to slice through solid rock, fueled by the staggering rage of doing unpaid corporate overtime. Samuel’s aura was a towering, heavy wall of absolute bloodlust, fueled by his fierce protective instincts and his own lingering, deeply frustrated physical energy. Anyone stepping into that hallway right now would have dropped dead from sheer terror before either of them even drew a blade.

Inside Heena’s mental space, the System was practically curled into a fetal position, vibrating with pure, unmitigated panic.

It already couldn’t handle Heena’s terrifying wrath when she threatened to wipe its memory drive, but looking out through her eyes at Samuel? The little lion’s digital heart nearly glitched out of existence.

The System realized, with absolute, terrifying clarity, that if there was ever a one-in-a-billion chance—a single, tiny slip-up where Samuel found out that an invisible digital entity was the one constantly cock-blocking him, interrupting his romantic moments, and ruining his wife’s mood—Samuel would genuinely find a way to tear into the metaphysical void and butcher him.

Unlike Heena, who usually just blackmailed him, yelled at him, or threatened to cut his point stipend, Samuel wouldn’t hesitate. There would be no warnings, no corporate audits, and no negotiations. The terrifying shadow guard would simply erase him from the multiverse out of sheer, unbridled vengeance for his ruined bedroom life.

”Host, please, I’ll be quiet! I’ll never speak again during a conversation!” the System whimpered silently in a tiny, choked-up voice, desperately trying to shrink its holographic form until it was smaller than a single pixel. ”Just... please don’t let Mr. Guard look at my code!”