"There, there, dear. Don’t cry. You didn’t do anything wrong."
Another woman brushed dirt off Heena’s clothes. "Are you hurt badly? Should we call the physician?"
Heena shook her head, playing her role perfectly. "N-no, I’m fine. Thank you, Aunties. I just... I didn’t an to cause trouble. I was only worried about the Mistress..."
"Of course you were, dear. You’re a good girl."
The crowd’s anger toward Maya was palpable now.
"Mistress, you should apologize to this girl!"
"Yes! Apologize!"
"She works so hard and you treat her like garbage!"
Maya was trapped. Her face was burning with humiliation and rage, but she was completely outmaneuvered.
If she refused to apologize, she’d look even worse—a heartless mistress with no compassion.
If she tried to explain about the fish, she’d look petty and ridiculous—crying over fish while mistreating a human being.
If she tried to assert her authority and punish Heena anyway, the entire village would turn against her and gossip would spread like wildfire.
She had no good options.
Finally, through gritted teeth, Maya forced out: "I... I may have overreacted. The girl... she startled when she struck my servant."
It wasn’t a real apology, but it was as close as she could bring herself to give.
Auntie Chen snorted. "That’s not much of an apology, Mistress. But I suppose it’ll have to do."
The crowd slowly began to disperse, though many won stayed close to Heena protectively, making sure Maya didn’t try anything else.
Heena kept her head bowed respectfully, the picture of a humble, wronged servant who was too kind to hold a grudge.
Maya stood there, surrounded by her destroyed pond (now missing its precious fish), her crying personal servant, and the judgntal stares of common villagers who clearly thought she was a terrible person.
For the first ti since marrying into this household, Maya felt genuinely powerless.
She couldn’t punish Heena without public backlash.
She couldn’t admit the fish theft without looking foolish.
She couldn’t even retreat to her chambers without looking weak.
She was completely, utterly defeated.
And Heena, supported by kind village won who thought she was an innocent victim, allowed herself one more tiny, hidden smile.
’Checkmate, you fool.’
’You wanted to play gas with food and power?’
’Welco to playing against a Black Lotus.’
’This is what happens when you underestimate your opponent.’
As the crowd finally dispersed completely and Heena was released to return to her work, she walked away with careful, pained steps—maintaining her injured, pitiful appearance.
But inside, she was singing victory songs.
The System appeared beside her, looking absolutely stunned.
"Host... that was... that was BRILLIANT. You planned all of that?!"
Heena didn’t respond out loud—too many people might still be watching.
But she gave the tiniest nod.
Every single elent had been calculated: the timing, the location, the route she took, the crowd that would naturally gather, the cultural values that would make them side with a hardworking servant over a pampered mistress.
All of it planned.
All of it executed perfectly.
Maya had tried to destroy Heena through starvation and isolation.
But Heena had turned the tables completely, making Maya look like a cruel villain while positioning herself as a sympathetic victim.
And as a bonus? She’d gotten a delicious al of expensive fish, hit that snake ili several tis with a legitimate excuse, and created a situation where Maya would have to be extrely careful about how she treated Heena going forward.
The village won would be watching now. Any further mistreatnt would be noticed and judged.
’Not bad for a night’s work,’ Heena thought with satisfaction.
.
.
30 minutes later.
Heena was calmly hanging up clothes to dry—the ones she’d just finished washing at the river—when she heard footsteps approaching from behind.
She was standing in front of the rope lines strung between two posts in the servants’ courtyard. There were no fancy drying racks or washing machines in this era, of course. Just simple ropes tied at shoulder height where you could drape wet clothes to dry in the sun.
As Heena was thodically hanging up a shirt, carefully smoothing out the wrinkles, she heard those deliberate footsteps getting closer.
She turned around to see Samuel standing there, watching her with that calm, unreadable expression he always wore.
He looked at her for a long mont, then said evenly, "You caused quite a commotion this morning."
Hearing that observation, Heena looked at him with perfectly innocent eyes and said, "I don’t know what the young master ans."
A small smile appeared on her face—polite, servant-like, giving nothing away.
Hearing that denial, Samuel suddenly reached into his robe pocket and pulled out sothing small.
A fish bone.
He held it up between two fingers and said, "Well, maybe this will refresh your mory."
Hearing that, Heena looked at the fish bone, and her smile didn’t waver at all. She said cheerfully, "Oh! Do you want to eat fish, my lord? I can ask the kitchen to prepare so for you if you’d like. Though with the Mistress’s current vegetarian requirents, it might be difficult—"
"Stop," Samuel interrupted, looking at her with amusent and frustration mixed together. "Stop pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about. It was YOU who took those fish last night, wasn’t it?"
Hearing that direct accusation, Heena looked back at him and said calmly, "Master, I think you’ve mistaken for soone else. I was sleeping in my quarters all night."
And Heena was absolutely sure of her position here.
She had complete faith in herself and her precautions.
She KNEW that when she was at the back mountain roasting those fish, there had been absolutely no one around her. If there had been anyone—even soone hiding and watching from a distance—the System would have detected them imdiately.
You could be the absolute best at stealth and concealnt techniques, the most skilled spy in the world, but that didn’t an modern high-tech scanning equipnt couldn’t detect your presence.
So no, Samuel had NOT been there watching her cook the fish.
Maybe he’d found this fish bone sowhere in Maya’s courtyard after the discovery. Maybe he’d even seen Heena leaving the area with the fish initially.
But that didn’t an he had proof she’d actually eaten them.
And even if he DID have proof sohow—so what? What could he actually do to her with that information?
She looked at him and said pleasantly, "Master, do you need anything else? I have quite a bit of laundry to finish before the Mistress checks on my work."
Hearing that deflection, Samuel looked at her, and this ti a genuine smile arose on his face—not the cold, calculating smile, but sothing closer to real amusent.
He said, "What decision have you made, Lady Seera?"
Hearing that formal address and pointed question, Heena looked at him as she continued hanging clothes and said, "What do you an by that, Master? I don’t understand what decision you’re referring to."
Hearing that continued pretense of ignorance, he looked at her seriously and said, "Don’t try to be overly clever with ."
Heena smiled and said, "Of course not, Master. But I genuinely don’t understand what you’re asking about."
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