Chapter 677 --677

Chapter 677: Chapter-677

"She knew one thing for sure," Heena continued, her dark eyes flashing. "Today, her family might support a divorce. But tomorrow, the moment the money ran tight, they would start blaming her. No matter how much she earned on her own, they would never truly support a disgraced daughter. And it wasn’t like she didn’t try to leave, Madam Gu. She tried to be financially independent. She tried to work. But her own family bound her. Her own parents, her own brothers, shackled her so tightly to their ’reputation’ that she couldn’t take a single step forward."

Heena picked up her teacup, holding the warm porcelain between her cold hands.

"So, she chose a path that no one else had the endurance for. She chose to become something her husband eventually didn’t even dare to touch," Heena murmured. "And the absolute relief finally came when her children turned six."

Madam Gu blinked, completely stunned. "Six? They were just infants."

"They were," Heena smiled fiercely. "But when they turned six, they were old enough to stand in front of her. When the husband raised his hand, the children stepped between them. From that day on, no one in that house dared to lay a finger on her, because her children became her absolute, unbreakable shield."

Heena took a slow sip of her tea, the memories slowly retreating back into the shadows of her mind, leaving behind the sharp, calculating warlord.

"I wouldn’t say her life magically got perfect, or that the trauma vanished," Heena concluded, setting the teacup down with a definitive ’clink’. "But to this day, that woman is the absolute idol of her children."

Heena leaned across the cedar table, the intense, predatory focus returning to her gaze as she looked directly at the Prime Minister’s battered wife.

"And anyway, I am not sitting in this pavilion telling you all of this sentimental nonsense for my health," Heena said, her voice dropping into a low, lethal hum. "I am telling you this because you are standing at the exact same crossroads, Madam Gu. You can stay here and eventually die a victim. Or, you can take my hand, take my name, and become the regent of the civil court."

"What do you want?" Madam Gu asked, her voice tight with disbelief. "Do you want me to pity the story of that woman?"

"No," Heena scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. "I am just saying I know you cannot be exactly like her. You don’t have children to anchor you yet. But there is something you desperately need to know."

Heena casually pointed a slender finger toward the edge of the lotus pond. "Your so-called lovely husband has already gotten himself a new girl. He is actively preparing to replace you. So tell me, Madam Gu... how long do you genuinely think you will survive in this house?"

Madam Gu froze. She stared at the young warlord, her mind completely spinning. She truly could not understand this woman. First, the Vanguard Madam had saved her. Then, she offered to help her. Now, she was aggressively trying to adopt her. It was complete, unadulterated madness. No sane human being in the Great Dynasty would actively seek to adopt a woman who was a decade older than them. Yet, Heena was doing it without a single ounce of shame.

"If you want to protect me, why not just adopt me as your sworn sister?" Madam Gu negotiated, desperately trying to cling to some semblance of normal societal hierarchy.

"And give my idiotic, estranged father the legal authority of an elder over you?" Heena scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Nah. If you are my sister, the extended family can dictate your life. If you are my daughter, ’I’ have absolute authority. No one can touch you."

Madam Gu opened her mouth to argue, but Heena suddenly stood up and walked closer to her.

"People in this capital love to say that children with bad blood will always succumb to their bad genes," Heena said, her voice dropping into a solemn, commanding tone. "They say whichever bloodline is more vicious will overpower the other. But I will only tell you this one thing: there is absolutely no tree in this world that cannot be cut down, and there is no wild animal that cannot be tamed. The only thing you need is your own absolute, unbreakable stubbornness."

Heena looked down at the battered woman. "The child you will legally have to secure your regency—yes, it will technically share its father’s blood. Maybe the boy will be stubborn. Maybe he will have the instincts of a cheater, or a cruel man. But the one who is going to educate him, discipline him, and raise him... will be ’you’."

Madam Gu blinked in total bewilderment. "I do not understand what you mean. Child? Education? I am not pregnant—"

Heena casually picked up her lukewarm porcelain teacup and abruptly tossed the remaining liquid straight out into the lotus pond. She completely ignored Madam Gu’s confusion, instead raising her wrist and staring at it as if checking an invisible watch, then taking a slow, deliberate sniff of the air.

"Oh," Heena noted cheerfully. "I was bringing up your impending widowhood because, right about now, your husband is likely convulsing on the ground."

Madam Gu stared at her. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, yeah," Heena said calmly, wiping a drop of tea from her thumb. "He probably had a massive, catastrophic paralysis attack just a moment ago. If my timing is correct, in about ten seconds, one of your servants is going to come sprinting across that bridge screaming that the Master has collapsed."

Madam Gu’s jaw dropped. "I... I don’t understand. What did you do—"

Before the Prime Minister’s wife could even finish her sentence, the frantic, thundering sound of footsteps echoed across the wooden bridge.

"Mistress! Mistress!" a terrified maid shrieked, her face completely devoid of color as she sprinted toward the pavilion, tripping over her own skirts. "My lady, the Master! The Master has collapsed in his study! He can’t breathe!"

Madam Gu completely froze. Her blood ran ice-cold. She slowly turned her head to look at the Vanguard Madam.

Heena let out a soft, lazy yawn, completely unbothered by the sheer treason she had just committed in broad daylight. She met Madam Gu’s terrified stare and simply mouthed, ’’See?’’

Then, in a fraction of a second, the cold-blooded, calculating assassin vanished entirely.

"Oh, heavens! What a tragedy!" Heena gasped loudly. She immediately slapped a protective hand over her perfectly flat stomach, her face twisting into an expression of flawless, fragile maternal panic. "What are you doing just sitting there, my lady?! Let’s go!"

Grabbing the stunned Madam Gu by the wrist, the capital’s most dangerous warlord perfectly played the role of a terrified pregnant woman, rushing dramatically out of the pavilion to go inspect her handiwork.

They rushed through the sprawling corridors, bursting into the frantic chaos of the Prime Minister’s inner courtyard. But the moment they reached the heavy oak doors of the master bedchamber, Heena abruptly stopped.

Playing her role to absolute perfection, the Vanguard Madam placed a protective hand over her stomach and let out a breathless, delicate sigh. She casually stepped into the center of the doorway, using her own body and the sheer intimidation of her presence to physically block a group of panicked servants trying to rush inside.