Return of Black Lotus system:Taming Cheating Male Leads-Chapter 121 --

That landed like a slap.

"Your Majesty," Kieran said, voice strained, "we are not useless—"

"Then prove it," Heena said simply. "Stop telling me what you are and ’show’ me. Because right now, all I see are five men who treat their marriage like a burden and their empress like an obstacle."

She picked up her pen.

"You have one week," she said. "Decide what you want. If you want to stay married and actually try to make this work, then come to me with a plan for how you’ll contribute. If you want out, then start preparing your families for the political fallout."

She looked up at them one last time.

"But I’m done with this middle ground where you get all the benefits of being imperial consorts without any of the responsibilities. Choose. One week."

She went back to her paperwork, effectively dismissing them.

The five consorts stood there for a moment, clearly not knowing what to say.

Then, one by one, they filed out.

The door closed behind them.

Heena set down her pen and rubbed her temples.

The system floated beside Heena with a slightly confused look on his small face. "Um, Host... if I’m not wrong, you don’t really have any sympathy or pity or any type of love to give to anyone. You’re kind of a... well, excuse me for saying this, but you’re a bit of a cold character."

"Excuse me?" Heena looked at him sharply.

The system quickly covered his mouth with his paws, then said nervously, "Um, I mean, Host, it-it-it isn’t like those five deserved that much of your time. You talked to them for so long! I can’t understand your actions right now. Usually you just shut them down in seconds."

Heena looked at him, yawned, and said casually, "Ah, that. I was just passing time."

The system’s head tilted in confusion. "Huh? Passing time? But for what, Host?"

Heena looked at him like he was being incredibly dense. "Do you know how much time it normally takes me to deal with them?"

The system thought about it. "Well, normally it takes you about 30 seconds to completely shut them up and send them away. But right now—" he looked at his tiny watch, "—it took about 20 minutes!"

He looked up at her with shock. "Host, that’s... that’s so unlike you!"

A sly smile spread across Heena’s face. "But you see, I prepared a surprise for them. So of course they needed to be kept away from their offices and their people."

The system blinked. "A... surprise?"

---

’’Meanwhile, Across the City’’

The five consorts didn’t know—couldn’t have known—what Heena had orchestrated while they were standing in her office being lectured.

In the northern military headquarters, Kieran’s office was currently being "visited" by a team of Heena’s personal agents dressed as routine inspectors. They moved with practiced efficiency, photographing documents, making copies of troop movement records, cataloging supply chain information. Every paper that touched Kieran’s desk was now also touching Heena’s intelligence network.

"Is this legal?" one of the younger agents whispered.

"Does it matter?" the team leader replied, carefully placing a copied document back exactly where it had been. "The Empress signed the authorization. That makes it legal enough."

---

In the Merchant Council headquarters, Adrian’s private office was experiencing a similar "coincidence."

A group of clerks—all secretly on Heena’s payroll—were conducting an "inventory audit" that somehow required them to review every contract, every trade agreement, every financial ledger in the building.

"This contract with the Eastern Trading Company," one of them said, holding up a document. "Mark it. The Empress will want to see this."

"And this one with the Marus Kingdom that was rejected last year," another added. "She’ll definitely want this one too."

They worked quickly and quietly, leaving everything looking untouched while walking away with copies of everything important.

---

At the Intelligence Network’s main office, Damien’s carefully organized files were being subjected to what the official paperwork called a "security review."

The irony was not lost on anyone involved.

"He’s got files on everyone," one of Heena’s agents muttered, flipping through folders. "Including the Empress."

"Copy everything," the lead agent said. "If he’s been spying on Her Majesty, she has a right to know what he knows."

"This feels like we’re stealing from a spy master," someone whispered nervously.

"We’re not stealing," the lead agent corrected. "We’re conducting authorized intelligence oversight. Completely different."

---

At the Grand Temple, Raphael’s private study was being "cleaned" by a new team of temple servants who were very thorough about dusting every shelf, organizing every book, and coincidentally reading every piece of correspondence they found.

"Look at this," one of them said, holding up a letter. "He’s been counseling Lady Seraphina privately for months. The Empress will want to know about this."

"And these financial records for temple donations," another added. "Some of these numbers don’t add up. Mark them."

They moved through the study like ghosts, leaving no trace of their presence except for the information they carried away.

---

As for Lucian’s... wherever Lucian kept his things... well, Heena’s people were still trying to find his actual base of operations. But they’d managed to locate three of his safe houses and were currently "accidentally" discovering all sorts of interesting documents during "routine property inspections."

---

’’Back in Heena’s Office’’

The system was staring at Heena with his mouth hanging open. "Host... you... while they were here, you were..."

"Raiding their offices?" Heena finished, still smiling. "Not officially, of course. No official decree. No formal raid. Just a series of very convenient ’inspections,’ ’audits,’ and ’security reviews’ all happening at the same time."

She leaned back in her chair, looking very pleased with herself.

"It’s not stealing if I’m the Empress and everything in this empire technically belongs to the crown anyway. I’m just... reviewing my own assets."

"But Host," the system said weakly, "they’re going to notice—"

"Notice what?" Heena asked innocently. "That their offices were cleaned? That routine inspections were conducted? That standard security protocols were followed?"

She picked up a report that had just been delivered—a summary of what her teams had found so far.

"By the time they realize what happened, I’ll have copies of every important document they own. Every secret. Every scheme. Every piece of leverage they thought they had."

The system looked at her with something between awe and horror. "Host, you’re terrifying."

"Thank you," Heena said pleasantly. "I work very hard at it."

"But why did you need to keep them here for 20 minutes?" the system asked. "Couldn’t you have just... I don’t know... dismissed them quickly?"

"Because," Heena explained patiently, "if I’d dismissed them in my usual 30 seconds, they would have gone back to their offices immediately. And my people needed time to work. Twenty minutes was the minimum to ensure thorough document collection."

She looked at her report.

"Besides, I got to lecture them about their failures as husbands. That was personally satisfying."

"So you were killing two birds with one stone?" the system asked.

"More like killing five birds, stealing their nests, and making copies of all their eggs," Heena corrected. "Multi-tasking is important when you’re running an empire."