Return of Black Lotus system:Taming Cheating Male Leads

Chapter 435: Chapter-435

’They won’t find out if we move fast enough,’ Heena replied coldly, ripping off the restrictive, heavy layers of Seera’s aristocratic gown.

She slipped into the sleek, dark male garments. The fit was exceptionally good—snug around the waist, flexible at the shoulders, and entirely devoid of any useless decorative lace that could catch on a branch or a blade. She tied the leather bracers tightly around her wrists, tucked her hair up, and threw on a wide-brimmed black traveler’s hat, pulling the shadow of the brim low over her eyes.

When she stepped out from behind the curtain, she looked like a completely different person. She looked like a lethal, strikingly handsome young mercenary lord from a high-tier martial world.

Samuel, who had been guarding the shop entrance with a dark, suffocating aura that kept all the other customers huddled in the corners, turned his head. The moment his dark eyes landed on Heena’s new silhouette, his pupils visibly dilated behind his wooden mask. His breath hitched, his heart hammering so loudly against his ribs that the System’s radar picked up the acoustic vibration.

’What on earth is this man thinking now?’ Heena thought, her brow twitching as she tossed a heavy gold coin onto the counter, completely ignoring the shopkeeper’s breathless bowing.

The shopkeeper stared at the heavy gold coin spinning on the counter, then looked up at Heena. Because her wide-brimmed traveler’s hat was pulled low and her heavy traveling cloak shadowed her figure, her face was completely obscured. In the bustling capital, plenty of noble ladies wore wraps or veils to hide their identity, making it impossible for the man to determine exactly who she was.

Swallowing hard, the boss cautiously asked, ”My Lady... if you are not angry, could you perhaps tell me... why do you need such clothes in such a rush?”

Heena paused at the threshold, glancing back over her shoulder. Under the shadow of her brim, a dangerous, razor-sharp smirk tugged at her lips.

”I am going to catch my cheating husband,” Heena declared, her tone flat and completely icy.

The shopkeeper’s mouth fell open in absolute shock.

Right behind her, Samuel froze mid-step. Behind his wooden cat mask, his dark eyes dilated to the size of saucers. His heart skipped a beat before hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs. He—who had just spent the last hour desperately trying to coax his wife into finishing what they started—had just been labeled an unfaithful, cheating dog! He was double shocked, completely paralyzed by her sheer audacity.

Before Samuel could even open his mouth to protest his absolute innocence, Heena turned on her heel and rushed out into the bustling marketplace alley.

Left behind in the shop, the boss’s expression instantly shifted from terror to one of profound admiration and understanding. He let out a low whistle, nodding to himself. ’Ah! No wonder she needed high-speed, lethal mercenary gear!’ He completely understood why this mysterious lady had to sprint off. Of course, catching a filthy, cheating husband required the absolute best mobility a tailor could offer! The shopkeeper secretly wanted to abandon his counter and follow her just to watch the glorious drama unfold.

However, his eyes fell back onto Samuel, who was still standing in the doorway like a towering, suffocating pillar of dark, murderous aura.

Feeling the freezing chill radiating from the massive shadow guard, the shopkeeper instantly bolted behind his counter and didn’t dare to move a single muscle as Samuel finally turned and leaped out of the shop to chase after his fleeting wife.

’I remember it was this way,’ Heena thought, her boots clicking sharply against the cobblestones as she navigated the crowded back alleys with practiced precision.

The System floated frantically beside her ear. ’’”Host! Host, where are you even going?! The iron convoy is in the complete opposite direction of this district!”’’

”Shut up and bring up the map matrix,” Heena barked in her mind. ”Filter it to show the custom green signal I pinned during my initial sector scanning last week.”

The System let out a little beep of compliance, hurrying to project the interface. Heena’s eyes locked onto the green marker. It was buried right at the intersection of two overlapping residential zones. She accelerated her pace, her dark cloak cutting through the air like a blade—until she suddenly skidded to a halt.

A dead end. A massive, towering stone wall blocked the path entirely.

”Damn it,” Heena muttered, her eyes narrowing as she measured the height of the brickwork.

Samuel materialized directly behind her, his breath a little uneven, his dark eyes burning with a mix of confusion and intense, lingering shock from her earlier ”cheating husband” comment. ”Young Miss... what are you doing here? Why did we come to a—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Heena spun around, grabbed his sturdy shoulders, and pushed him squarely against the stone wall. ”Stay completely still and hold your posture.”

Samuel’s entire body went rigid, his mind short-circuiting at her sudden proximity.

Heena didn’t waste a single millisecond. She took ten rapid steps backward, locked her eyes on the target, and sprinted forward at full speed. Before Samuel could even process what she was doing, she launched herself into the air, planted her boot firmly on his shoulder to use him as a human springboard, and caught the lip of the high stone wall with her hands. With a flawless display of core strength, she hoisted herself over the edge and dropped down into the alley on the other side.

She turned around, peering back over the high wall at him. ”Come up. Hurry.”

Samuel stared up at the empty ledge where she had just been, a look of profound disbelief on his face. ’Did she really just use me as a step-stool and then look at me like I’m the idiot?’ How on earth was a man of his massive frame supposed to scale a smooth stone wall with no leverage?

But Heena wasn’t waiting around for a romantic sports-day moment. She turned her back and began checking her coordinates.

Seeing her walking away, Samuel let out a sharp, commanding whistle that echoed through the alleyways. In less than a second, six elite Shadow Guards materialized from the darkness. One of the shadows immediately knelt, locking his hands together to form a step for his commander. Copying Heena’s exact technique, Samuel stepped heavily onto the guard’s hands, launched his massive body over the wall, and landed gracefully on the other side.

The Shadow Guard who had just been used as a trampoline stared at the wall in utter disbelief. ’What the heck? Is stepping on people a new tactical trend?’ Still, being a highly trained martial artist, he silently scaled the wall himself, cloaking his presence so deeply that the commoners around them wouldn’t notice a thing.

Samuel caught up to Heena’s side, his eyes scanning their drab, unglamorous surroundings. ”Where exactly are we going?”

”Just shut up and follow me,” Heena replied, her voice dropping into a much harsher, no-nonsense mercenary register. ”Stop muttering so much. We’re on a clock.”

She tracked the glowing green light on her internal map. It was pulsing brightly just past the immediate row of commercial storefronts. Directly ahead of them was the rear entrance of a bustling butcher shop.