Chapter 723 --723

Chapter 723: Chapter-723

Heena grabbed her head, a sharp, blinding throb of pain radiating from her temples down to her shattered ribs. Every single nerve in her body was screaming.

This was the second time she had transmigrated into a vessel that was practically on the brink of death from a severe beating. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a shallow, agonizing breath. Honestly, it was a miracle she hadn’t fully synced with this body while the wooden canes were still striking her flesh. If she had been conscious during the actual assault, she would have snapped the guards’ necks and slaughtered her way through the estate’s courtyard, legal consequences be damned.

But right now, the brutal reality of her physical condition was the biggest hurdle. The original owner’s memories were still a fragmented, hazy mess in the back of her mind, but the pain was entirely, horrifyingly present. Just the thought of putting weight on her legs made her vision swim.

She opened her eyes and looked down at the miserable sum of belongings sitting in the mud beside her. Her anger immediately boiled over.

It wasn’t even a proper sack. It was just a pathetic, pitiful handful of items hastily thrown into a dirty, coarse rag and knotted clumsily at the top. When they had dragged her out, the guards had simply grabbed whatever meager possessions were lying in the corner of the shed and tossed them out with her.

She reached out with a trembling, bruised hand and pulled the rag open just enough to check inside. No silver. Not even a single dull copper coin. Those bastards had literally thrown her onto the street without a single piece of currency to her name.

The golden lion cub hologram hovered nervously near her shoulder, its digital ears drooping as it scanned her vital signs.

"Host, just throw it away!" the System pleaded, its voice laced with genuine panic. "We can figure something else out later! Your skeletal integrity is compromised. You are bleeding. You absolutely cannot carry anything right now!"

Heena snapped her head to look at the glowing AI, her dark eyes flashing with a cold, terrifying stubbornness.

"Are you entirely crazy?" Heena hissed, her voice a ragged, breathless rasp. "Where exactly are we going to buy anything? With what? The air? There is zero money in this bag. We are keeping it."

She didn’t wait for the System to argue. Gritting her teeth so hard her jaw ached, Heena reached out and grabbed the damp, muddy knot of the rag.

The back alley was completely deserted. The high, unforgiving stone walls of the wealthy estates loomed on either side, casting deep, freezing shadows over the mud. There were no passing merchants, no city patrols, and absolutely no one she could ask for help. She was entirely on her own.

Heena pressed her shoulder heavily against the rough, damp brick of the alley wall. Using the stone as a crutch, she pushed herself up. Searing, white-hot pain tore through her chest with the movement, forcing her to pause halfway up.

She closed her eyes, forcing herself to take three slow, calculated breaths. In. Out. In. Out.

When she opened her eyes again, the dizzying haze had settled just enough for her to focus. Clutching the miserable bundle in one hand, Heena leaned her entire body weight against the damp wall and slowly dragged her bare foot forward.

Step by agonizing step, sliding her shoulder against the rough brickwork to keep herself from collapsing, she began her slow, grueling march out of the alley.

The damp brick wall suddenly slipped from her grip. The world around her spun into a dizzying smear of gray and black, her vision fading so rapidly she couldn’t even tell if the sun was setting, if it was already deep into the night, or if her own eyes were simply failing her.

Her bruised legs gave out entirely.

Heena braced for the harsh, bone-shattering impact of the cobblestones, but the crushing blow never came. Instead, she pitched forward and collided with something soft, warm, and distinctly fragrant. A pair of arms caught her instinctively, the fabric of their sleeves rustling as they desperately braced to support her dead weight.

"Are you okay? Excuse me, ma’am?" a voice asked.

It was undeniably male—soft, melodic, and laced with polite, frantic concern. Before Heena could force her exhausted throat to form a single syllable in response, the last frayed threads of her consciousness snapped, and she plunged into complete, heavy darkness.

The void of unconsciousness, however, offered no peace. As her physical body finally shut down, the remaining cognitive blocks in her brain dissolved, and the shattered fragments of the original host’s memories violently merged with her own.

The full, pathetic picture of the girl’s life unfolded like a tragic scroll.

The original host was not just the daughter of a neglected concubine; her father had been a lowly commoner, a disposable pawn bought by the Lu family simply to warm a bed and then cast aside. He had died four years ago in quiet obscurity, leaving behind absolutely nothing but that tiny, struggling spice shop in the lower market district. Two years after his death, the weeping brother-in-law, Su Jin, had married into the main family, instantly identifying the timid, unprotected illegitimate daughter as the perfect target for his petty greed.

Because the matriarch refused to waste good silver on educating a concubine’s daughter, the original host had never been taught the refined arts of a scholar. She was kept locked away in the inner courtyards like a shameful secret. But she hadn’t been entirely idle; she had quietly absorbed basic accounting and ledger management by watching the estate stewards from the shadows. More importantly, she had managed to hoard a secret stash of exactly five silver coins, hidden away in a place the Lu family hadn’t bothered to check.

In this inverted, matriarchal society, five silver was not a small sum.

The memories expanded, painting a stark, brutal picture of the gender dynamics in this world. Men—referred to commonly as Mer—were the ones who carried and bore children. Because of their physical delicacy, their societal standing was a paradox of extreme vulnerability and fierce protection. On one hand, men of low birth were treated as literal commodities; they could be bought and sold in pleasure houses like playthings or slaves. On the other hand, a respectable man’s purity and reputation were his absolute lifelines. The societal laws were unforgiving: if a woman so much as touched a reputable man inappropriately and failed to take responsibility through marriage or compensation, it was a crime punishable by death.

Heena’s sleeping mind churned, processing the bizarre, rigid rules of her new reality. Why were the specific, lethal laws regarding a man’s reputation suddenly pushing to the forefront of her thoughts?

She didn’t understand the sudden emphasis until a shrill, panicked voice pierced through the dark void of her mind.

"Host! Host! Wake up! How long are you going to sleep?!"

The System’s digital shriek echoed off the inside of her skull. Heena slowly peeled her eyes open, letting out a sharp, ragged groan as she instantly reached up to grab her throbbing head.