"Now Maya has to deal with a suspicious, angry husband who’s going to watch her every move. That should keep her too busy to scheme against ME for a while."

"And it might even interfere with her developing relationship with Chen Yifan," the System added. "If the old Master is watching her constantly, she won’t be able to meet with him privately."

"Exactly," Heena confirmed. "We’ve bought ourselves some time and created division in the enemy camp. Classic strategic move."

She lay back down, getting comfortable again.

"Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to enjoy this peaceful morning while my dear father-in-law and mother-in-law tear each other apart."

From across the compound, the shouting continued, getting even more heated.

Heena smiled and pulled the blanket back over her head.

’Sometimes,’ she thought contentedly, ’the best revenge is just sitting back and watching your enemies destroy each other.’

’No need to get my hands dirty when I can use their own paranoia and jealousy as weapons.’

’This is going to be a good day.’

Heena had just closed her eyes, finally settling back into comfortable sleepiness, when suddenly Samuel came back into the room and shook her shoulder.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don’t go back to sleep! This is actually quite entertaining! You need to come see this!"

With that, he practically pulled her up from the bed.

Heena grumbled in deep irritation—she was NOT a morning person, especially when she’d been woken by shouting drama—but she also had to admit she was curious about what nonsense was unfolding.

’Fine,’ she thought grudgingly. ’I’ll go watch the show. But someone better have brought snacks.’

She threw on an outer robe and followed Samuel out to the courtyard where the commotion was coming from.

What greeted her was absolutely ridiculous.

This old couple—and yes, she would absolutely call them OLD, because regardless of their actual ages, the gap between them was practically a century, like these idiots should never have been married in the first place, but whatever—this old couple was having a spectacular public meltdown.

The old Master, who normally tried to maintain some veneer of dignified merchant-class respectability, currently looked like he should already be in his coffin based on how red and apoplectic his face had become from shouting.

Right now, forget about being a refined noble or wealthy merchant or whatever nonsense he usually pretended to be—he looked like a proper old man having a complete breakdown.

Heena stood on the side of the courtyard, observing the chaos.

Samuel was standing beside her, and somehow he’d managed to procure some roasted chestnuts and a small jar of preserved plums—snacks, apparently, for watching the family drama unfold.

He was casually eating them while watching the scene like it was theatrical entertainment.

Heena looked at him and said with a soft, slightly accusatory tone, "Aren’t you enjoying this a bit TOO much?"

Hearing that question, Samuel looked at her with a completely shameless expression and said, "Well, you know what they say—company influences company. There are always people who get affected by bad influences around them."

He popped another chestnut into his mouth.

"So of course, living with YOU, how can I be expected to maintain normal, proper behavior? You’re clearly a terrible influence on my character."

Heena looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said with dangerous sweetness, "Oh, so MY company is BAD, is it? You’re saying you don’t appreciate my delightful presence?"

Hearing that threatening tone, Samuel just slightly bumped her shoulder with his own and said with a grin, "Shut up and enjoy the show. Here, have some chestnuts."

He offered her the bag.

Heena took some, because she was hungry and they smelled good, and turned her attention back to the spectacle.

The old Master was standing in the center of the courtyard, holding the crumpled anonymous letter in one shaking hand, his face twisted with rage and betrayal.

"Explain to me, wife! EXPLAIN how you were seen having intimate conversations with this Chen Yifan! Multiple times! In public places!"

Maya was on her knees—she’d actually dropped to her knees in the classic pose of a wronged woman pleading for understanding—crying dramatically with tears streaming down her face.

"Husband, I swear to you, I’ve done NOTHING wrong! I don’t even know who this person is talking about! Someone is spreading malicious lies to destroy our marriage!"

She clutched at the old Master’s robes.

"You have to believe me! I would NEVER betray you! I’m a faithful, devoted wife! Someone is trying to frame me!"

The old Master yanked his robes away from her grasp.

"Then explain the DETAILS in this letter! It describes exactly where you were, what you were wearing, who you spoke to! These aren’t vague accusations—these are specific observations!"

"They’re LIES!" Maya wailed. "Fabrications! Someone who hates me must have—"

Her eyes suddenly swept across the gathered servants and family members who’d come to watch the commotion.

And her gaze landed directly on Heena, who was standing there calmly eating chestnuts and watching the show with obvious interest.

Maya’s expression transformed from pitiful pleading to venomous accusation in an instant.

She pointed directly at Heena with a shaking finger and shrieked, "It must be THIS wench! SHE must be the one who wrote that letter! She’s trying to destroy my marriage, to break apart our relationship!"

Heena, who had just been peacefully enjoying her breakfast chestnuts and morning entertainment, felt her eye twitch with annoyance.

She looked at Maya with the flat, unimpressed expression of someone who’d just been woken up too early and was already running out of patience for stupid people.

"Excuse me," Heena said in an utterly irritated tone, because really, she’d just been dragged out of bed for this nonsense, "have you completely lost your mind? Do you REALLY think I have so much free time that I follow you around watching everything you do?"

She gestured broadly at Maya.

"Come on, use your brain for once. There’s no evidence pointing to me, you idiot."

Then she turned to look at the old Master and said with exaggerated patience, "Father-in-law, tell me honestly—did you see me? Did I personally come to you and tell you about any of this?"

Hearing that direct question, the old Master shook his head and said, "No. You didn’t speak to me about it."

Then Heena looked back at Maya and spread her hands. "So HOW exactly did you know about ’all this nonsense,’ as you so eloquently put it?"

The old Master, catching onto Heena’s logic, said, "I received an anonymous letter. It was left in my study sometime during the night."

Hearing that information, Maya immediately latched onto it and pointed at Heena again, her voice shrill with accusation: "SEE! A LETTER! It was YOU! You’re the only one who knows how to write! You must have written it!"

Hearing that absolutely idiotic accusation, Heena looked at Maya like she was the stupidest child in the entire world.

"Excuse me," Heena said slowly, as if explaining something to a particularly dense student, "even though I DO know how to read and write a FEW words and characters, that doesn’t mean I wrote every single anonymous letter that appears in this household."