Heena’s mind was fragmenting, thoughts scattering like broken glass.

’System,’ she thought desperately. ’Open the memory. Now.’

"What?!" the System yelped. "Host, you’re POISONED! This is not the time—"

’This is the PERFECT time,’ Heena argued through her mental link, her consciousness already slipping. ’I’m already in unbearable pain. The memory unlock will hurt anyway. Might as well... combine them... get it over with...’

Her logic was sound even if absolutely insane.

The System trembled but obeyed. "Of course you would think this way! You’re already dying, so why not add MORE pain?!"

"Open it," Heena commanded, her mental voice weak but firm.

And with that, the System initiated the forced memory unlock sequence.

The effect was immediate and catastrophic.

Heena SCREAMED—a sound of such pure, concentrated agony that it seemed impossible a human throat could produce it.

Her body convulsed violently in Samuel’s arms, back arching, every muscle seizing.

The scream was so loud, so piercing, that it echoed through the entire household.

Servants froze in their tasks. Guards came running. Even Maya, sitting in her quarters, heard it and smiled with satisfaction.

Samuel’s face went from white to absolutely ashen.

"CALL THE PHYSICIAN!" he roared, his voice breaking. "NOW! GET THE PHYSICIAN HERE NOW!"

Servants scrambled to obey, running in all directions.

Samuel carried Heena to their bed, laying her down as gently as possible despite her thrashing.

Blood continued pouring from her mouth in alarming quantities, staining the bedding, her clothes, Samuel’s hands.

And she was grimacing in such obvious, terrible pain that just LOOKING at her made it clear how severe her suffering was.

Her face wasn’t just pale—it had gone beyond pale, beyond blue, to something approaching the color of a corpse.

Gray. Lifeless. Dead.

The household physician arrived first, rushing into the room with his medical bag.

He took one look at Heena—the blood, the convulsions, the deathly pallor—and actually TREMBLED.

"I... I don’t know..." he stammered. "This is beyond my skill! I’ve never seen—"

Samuel literally grabbed the man by his robes, pulled out a knife, and pressed the blade to the physician’s throat.

"HEAL HER," Samuel commanded, his voice deadly calm despite the murderous fury in his eyes. "Or I swear to every god that exists, I will end you right here."

The physician was shaking so badly he could barely speak. "I-I cannot! I don’t have the knowledge for this type of poison! Please, young master—"

Samuel released him with disgust and shouted to his guards’

"Send for MY private physician! The one I keep in the city for emergencies!"

"Send riders to my friend Master Zhao’s household—demand his personal doctor come immediately!"

"Send to EVERY physician within ten miles! I don’t care what they cost! GET THEM HERE!"

The guards scattered to execute his orders.

Within an hour, the room was crowded with physicians—nearly TWENTY of them, all summoned by various messengers.

And when such a large gathering of medical practitioners assembled—no matter how varied their individual skills—collectively they had enough knowledge to identify and begin treating the poison.

They recognized the symptoms’ Dragon’s Breath poison, mixed with Widow’s Tear extract, combined with ground Nightshade root.

A sophisticated, expensive, deadly combination.

"We can counteract the poison," the lead physician announced. "But it will take time. We need to administer multiple antidotes in sequence—"

"Then DO IT," Samuel commanded.

The physicians began their work, preparing various medicines, mixing compounds, coordinating their efforts.

But there was a significant problem.

While they could treat the POISON, they had no way to address Heena’s PAIN.

Because this era had no painkiller injections, no morphine, no modern analgesics.

The only pain relief available was herbal medicines that had to be taken orally.

And right now, Heena was clenching her teeth SO tightly—her jaw locked in a rictus of agony from both the poison AND the memory unlock—that they couldn’t pry her mouth open even forcefully.

Several physicians tried. They attempted wooden tongue depressors, tried to force her jaw with their hands, even considered using metal implements.

Nothing worked.

Her teeth were locked together with the strength of absolute desperation.

"We need to get the antidotes into her," one physician said urgently. "But if we can’t open her mouth—"

"Try through the nose," another suggested. "Liquid medicine, very thin consistency, poured carefully—"

"Too dangerous," a third countered. "If she inhales it into her lungs—"

They argued among themselves while Heena continued convulsing, continued bleeding, continued dying.

Samuel stood by the bedside, gripping her hand—the only part of her he could hold without interfering with the physicians’ work.

His face was a mask of controlled terror.

"Please," he said quietly, addressing Heena even though she probably couldn’t hear him. "Please don’t leave. Please hold on. Just a little longer."

His thumb stroked across her knuckles.

"I know you’re strong. I know you’re a survivor. So survive THIS. Survive for me."

Inside Heena’s fragmenting consciousness, two battles raged simultaneously.

The physical battle against the poison destroying her body.

And the mental battle as Seera’s locked memories came crashing through her awareness like a tidal wave of fire and glass.

Images. Sensations. Emotions. Truths.

All of it pouring into her mind at once, each memory searing itself into her awareness with excruciating clarity.

She saw’

Why the difficulty level had never matched the apparent objective.

Why she—the Black Lotus—had been sent here specifically.

"Oh gods," Heena’s mind whispered as the final pieces fell into place. "Oh gods, this is so much worse than I thought." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Outside, in the physical world, her convulsions were beginning to slow.

The physicians had managed to administer some medicine through her nose, carefully, drop by drop.

Her bleeding was reducing.

Her color was marginally improving—from corpse-gray to merely deathly-pale.

But she still wasn’t conscious.

Still wasn’t opening her eyes.

Samuel refused to leave her side, even when hours passed, even when night fell, even when the physicians suggested he should rest.

"I’m not leaving," he said flatly. "If she wakes up, I’m going to be here."

’When’ she wakes up," he corrected himself firmly. "WHEN."

.

.

.

Well, it didn’t take long for the household chaos to reach its peak.

Three days.

Yeah, it took approximately three days while Heena remained in a coma.

To the outside world—to the servants, to the neighbors, to the gossiping townspeople—it looked like a tragic accident had befallen the young master’s wife, and now the entire household was in disarray dealing with the crisis.

But the truth was far more calculated.

Heena had planned everything meticulously. But she had deliberately NOT told Samuel about the complete scope of her plans.

And Samuel, who was far from stupid, had suspected she was keeping secrets. That’s exactly why he had stationed some of his personal guards around Heena’s usual locations in the household.

But because this wasn’t some wealthy noble estate with unlimited resources, Samuel didn’t have many guards available. Most of them were always with HIM for his personal protection when he traveled for business.

There were only a few guards left to spare.

And none of them had thought to check something as mundane as tasting Heena’s RICE. They’d checked the tea, checked the soup, checked the side dishes—but somehow forgot the simple bowl of plain rice.