"I’m being strategic. If I fight back now, they’ll just make my life worse—or kill outright. But patience is a weapon too."
She looked at the System.
"Tomorrow night, we settle accounts."
---
At exactly 2 AM the next night, the System appeared and whispered, "Host, it’s ti."
Heena changed into her darkest servant’s garnts and covered her face with a cloth mask.
Moving silently through the dark household, she positioned herself outside the old woman’s bathroom area.
She waited.
Soon, she heard shuffling footsteps—the old woman stumbling out of her room toward the outdoor bathroom, half-asleep and grumbling to herself.
Heena could hear her muttering: "Useless girl... tomorrow I’ll beat her even harder... teach her a lesson... lazy thing... probably trying to seduce the Master... I’ll make sure she suffers..."
The old woman finished using the bathroom and stumbled out, still muttering curses about Heena.
That was when Heena struck.
She jumped out from the shadows, imdiately covering the old woman’s mouth with one hand to muffle any screams.
"MMMPH?!" The old woman’s eyes went wide with shock and fear.
Heena had grabbed a thick wooden stick—similar to the one the old woman used to beat her—and she started hitting the woman with controlled, deliberate strikes.
’WHACK.’ Across the back.
’WHACK.’ Against the shoulders.
’WHACK.’ On the arms when the woman tried to defend herself.
"MMMPH! MMMMPH!" The old woman tried to scream through Heena’s hand covering her mouth, her voice muffled.
’WHACK. WHACK.’
Heena knocked her to the ground and stomped on her leg—not hard enough to break it, but hard enough to cause serious pain.
The old woman managed to partially pull Heena’s hand away from her mouth and gasped out: "Who—who are you?! Help! HELP!"
But her voice was weak and hoarse from being woken suddenly, and the servant quarters were far from the main house. No one could hear her.
Heena imdiately covered her mouth again and continued the beating.
’WHACK.’ Against the ribs.
’WHACK.’ Across the back again.
The old woman was crying now, tears streaming down her face, making muffled sobbing sounds.
"Mmmph... please... mmmph..."
But Heena was rciless.
She beat her for a full minute—which felt like an eternity when you’re on the receiving end.
’WHACK. WHACK. WHACK.’
Every hit was payback for the abuse Heena had endured. For the insults. For the beatings. For the impossible work and cruel treatnt.
The old woman went limp, barely conscious, just whimpering in pain.
Finally, Heena delivered one last hard kick to the woman’s side, sending her sprawling into the dirt.
The old woman groaned weakly: "Help... soone... help ..."
But her voice was barely a whisper now.
Heena leaned close and whispered in a disguised voice, "This is what happens to those who abuse the innocent. Rember this pain."
Then she vanished into the darkness.
The old woman lay there, sobbing and groaning: "Who... who was it... why... help... please... it hurts... everything hurts..."
She tried to crawl back to her room, crying the whole way: "Help ... soone help... I’m hurt... please..."
But no one ca. No one heard her.
It took her nearly twenty minutes to drag herself back to her quarters, leaving a trail in the dirt where she’d crawled.
---
’’[Back in Heena’s Room]’’
Heena slipped back into her room, quickly removed her mask and dark outer clothing, and hid them under her sleeping mat.
The System was absolutely delighted, floating around excitedly.
"Host! That was PERFECT! Did you see her face? She was so scared! She had no idea what hit her!"
Heena smiled with deep satisfaction as she lay down on her mat, wincing slightly at her own injuries but feeling so much better emotionally.
"Tomorrow morning," she said quietly, "that old woman is going to be in so much pain she won’t be able to beat anyone. And she’ll have no idea who did it."
She closed her eyes, finally feeling like she could sleep peacefully.
"She’ll be terrified, paranoid, looking over her shoulder. And every ti she thinks about hitting , she’ll rember this pain and think twice."
"You’re brilliant, Host," the System said admiringly.
"I know," Heena said with a small smile. "Now let sleep. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow—and I need to look innocent when they find her injuries."
"Goodnight, Host," the System whispered.
Outside, in the darkness, the old woman finally made it to her room and collapsed on her bed, crying from pain and fear, her entire body covered in bruises, completely confused and terrified about who had attacked her and why.
Justice, Heena thought with deep satisfaction, sotis had to be delivered personally.
And she’d barely even started.
.
.
But even though the old woman wasn’t there to wake her up, Heena still woke up at the usual ti and went to fetch water.
However, today was different.
Today she only brought 40 liters of water instead of the usual 80 liters—and that was more than enough for what was actually needed.
Most of that excessive water had always been used by the old woman herself for her own bathing and washing. But now that she was bedridden so badly, Heena didn’t see any reason to break her back carrying unnecessary weight.
She was calmly working in the kitchen, preparing the morning al, when suddenly a sharp, imperious voice rang out:
"YOU there! Maid! Servant girl!"
’Oh God,’ Heena thought, wincing internally. ’This voice. I’ve heard this shrieking tone exactly twice now and I already feel like my ears are bleeding.’
She turned around calmly.
Standing there was the Mistress of the household—the original female lead of this story—looking absolutely furious despite her beautiful appearance.
The woman was wearing expensive silk robes in pale pink, her hair perfectly arranged with jade ornants, her face painted with delicate makeup. She looked like a porcelain doll—flawless and refined.
She stared at Heena with cold anger in her eyes and demanded, "What were you doing last night?"
Hearing that, Heena imdiately bowed respectfully, keeping her eyes lowered in the proper servant manner.
"I apologize to the Mistress for not responding imdiately. This servant was very sick last night, so I was sleeping in my quarters."
Hearing that, the woman scoffed loudly, her beautiful face twisting with contempt.
"How convenient! The servant was ’sick’ and ’sleeping.’ Do you know what happened last night?"
Heena shook her head, maintaining her innocent expression.
"I apologize, Mistress, but I truly do not know what occurred last night. I was too exhausted and ill from yesterday’s work to notice anything."
Hearing that, the Mistress walked forward quickly—and without warning, raised her delicate hand and slapped Heena hard across the face.
’SLAP.’
The force of it made Heena’s head snap to the side, her cheek imdiately reddening.
Heena bit down on the inside of her cheek to control her rage, then forced herself to bow again and say in a trembling voice:
"Mistress, has this lowly one made so mistake that has angered you? Please tell clearly, as I do not have much brain to understand what I’ve done wrong."
Hearing that, the woman looked at her with narrowed eyes and said coldly:
"Don’t try to play innocent and act smart with . There are only a few people living in this household. Last night, Granny Wang was brutally attacked and injured. And it must have been you."
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