Chapter 725 --725

Chapter 725: Chapter-725

The System buffered, its digital ears drooping slightly. "Well... yes, but—"

"Secondly," Heena continued, her thoughts cold and calculated, "what could he possibly extort from me? I am a kicked-out, penniless daughter who just got thrown into the mud. There is absolutely zero leverage he can use against me, and no grand favor he can wring out of my current status. I have nothing left to steal. Third, I am going to drop my family surname anyway. I was kicked out of the estate. I am just Heena now. Using my real given name is perfectly fine."

"But Host!" the System wailed, completely hung up on the societal implications of this gender-reversed world. "Partnering? Marrying someone new? You just got here! We don’t know his background!"

"Shut up," Heena ordered sharply, cutting off the AI’s dramatic rambling. "Just shut up and see what this man says."

In the quiet of the physical room, the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Ren stood absolutely frozen by the doorway. His knuckles were turning white as he gripped the edges of the wooden tray. He slowly walked forward and set the steaming clay bowl of medicine down on the small table, keeping a very careful, respectful distance from the bed.

He looked at the five silver coins, the crumpled property deed, and finally, up at Heena’s dark, unreadable eyes.

Ren didn’t flinch. Instead of shrinking back or looking grateful for the protection she offered, his dark eyes hardened. The trembling in his hands completely vanished, replaced by a fierce, undeniable stubbornness.

He looked up, meeting her terrifying gaze head-on.

"It looks like you misunderstood something, my lady," Ren said, his voice shedding its earlier nervousness and settling into a cold, firm dignity. "I saved you because that was my absolute duty as a physician. I am not some tool you can just pick up to use for your schemes, nor am I a toy that you can claim just because it is convenient for you."

He gestured sharply toward the steaming bowl on the table. "Take your medicine, and you can go."

"See?!" the System shrieked in Heena’s mind, frantically flying in circles around her head. "See how he is speaking to you?! Oh my God, you just got completely rejected by a lower-market herbalist! Host, your charisma stats are in the gutter!"

Instead of anger, a genuine, undeniable wave of amusement washed over Heena. In a world where men were supposedly weeping, delicate flowers, this back-alley apothecary had a spine made of pure steel. She smiled inwardly, and a faint, sharp smirk curled onto her lips in the physical world.

Ren narrowed his eyes at her expression, clearly on guard. "What are you smiling at, my lady?"

"Nothing, my lord," Heena replied, a touch of genuine respect bleeding into her raspy voice.

Gritting her teeth, Heena pushed the blankets aside and forced herself off the bed. Searing pain lanced through her bound ribs, making her vision swim for a fraction of a second, but she pushed through the agony and planted her bare feet flat onto the floorboards. She had to admit, the man’s medicinal skills were exceptional; the fact that she could stand at all after the brutal beating the original host took was a testament to his talent.

She reached out and picked up the clay bowl. Without a second thought, she tipped it back and gulped the dark, boiling liquid down in one continuous sip.

It was vile. It tasted like boiled dirt, rotting tree bark, and pure ash. If it weren’t for her absolute, iron-clad control over her own image, she would have violently spat it across the room. Her knuckles turned bone-white as she gripped the clay, her jaw locking tight to suppress a grimace. She placed the empty bowl back onto the wooden table with a sharp clack.

"You saved my life," Heena said, her voice strained but remarkably steady. "And that is a favor I cannot adequately repay you today."

She looked down at her coarse linen tunic. Normally, in a situation like this, a noblewoman would grandly produce a flawless jade pendant or a heavy silver crest to grant as a token of debt. But she had nothing. Her pockets were empty, and her aristocratic status was gone.

Her hand brushed against her collarbone. Resting against her skin on a frayed string was a tiny, worn wooden lock—a cheap, insignificant charm placed on the original host by her late father when she was a child. It wasn’t even worth a fraction of a copper coin.

Heena reached behind her neck, snapped the frayed string, and pulled the small wooden lock free.

She held it out to Ren. He looked at the cheap, battered piece of wood sitting in her pale palm, his defensive posture faltering in sheer confusion.

"It is my only precious treasure right now," Heena said softly, her dark eyes locking onto his with an intensity that made the air in the small room feel incredibly heavy. "Keep it. With this, no matter where I am, as long as you ever need me... I will appear."

Ren stared at the cheap wooden lock, his brow furrowing. He opened his mouth to firmly reject the offering, entirely unwilling to accept anything that could be misconstrued as a binding promise from a noblewoman.

But Heena did not give him the chance to speak.

She stepped past him, leaving the tiny wooden charm resting on the edge of the wooden table. When she reached the doorway, she paused. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her bound ribs, she reached up and calmly adjusted the collar of her coarse linen robe, smoothing the cheap fabric with the exact same terrifying grace she used to wear imperial silk.

She turned her head slightly, looking back over her shoulder.

"My lord," Heena said, her voice quiet but carrying an undeniable, heavy weight. "It is good to have self-respect and dignity. But in order to preserve them, you do not need to play with your own life. The pendant I leave behind is not a trap, nor is it a heavy debt intended to bind you. It is merely a small token of thanks that any normal person would give to a skilled physician."

She offered him a faint, respectful nod. "I simply do not have much else to give you right now."

It was a perfectly executed, breathtakingly dramatic exit. Ren stood frozen by the bed, his dark eyes wide as the weight of her words settled over the quiet room.

But inside Heena’s mind, the atmosphere was entirely different.

"Come on, shame on you!" the System shrieked through their telepathic link, the golden lion cub hovering right next to her ear and wildly gesturing at her pocket. "You have five whole silver taels in there! Five! You aren’t giving him a single copper coin, and you have the absolute audacity to stand there looking dramatic, talking about how you ’do not have anything’ to give! Shame on you, Host!"

Heena kept her physical face perfectly stoic, maintaining her cool, mysterious aura for the apothecary.

"Shut up, you idiot," Heena snapped back mentally, rolling her eyes in the safety of her own mind. "Why on earth would I waste my actual money? I only have those five silvers to my name right now. Capital to start a business is capital. Giving a token costs me nothing, but giving away my silver means we starve in the streets tomorrow."