Return of Black Lotus system:Taming Cheating Male Leads-Chapter 115 --

She turned to look at said system, who was now calmly sitting on the windowsill, eating a roasted chicken.

A whole roasted chicken.

Golden-brown, perfectly seasoned, still steaming.

Heena felt a vein throb in her temple. She really, truly wished she could grab him and choke him. Like, strangle this little lion until—

Wait. He was just code. Just lines of programming that materialized as a lion or whatever. You couldn’t actually kill code by choking it.

But this ’fucking foodie’ always—ALWAYS—had food. One time or another. Popcorn, candy, roasted meat, pastries, wine, exotic fruits. Where did it all come from?

And more importantly—whose pocket did the money come from?

Hers. Of course it came from ’hers’.

She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Where did you get the money to buy that chicken?"

The system paused mid-bite, clearly not expecting to be interrogated. He avoided her eyes. "My... salary?"

"Oh?" Heena’s voice went dangerously sweet. "Your salary. How interesting. Because if I’m not wrong—and I’m ’never’ wrong about money—you gambled away your entire salary last month. In fact, you gambled away your ’advanced’ salary for the next ’five years’. So please, ’enlighten me’—where the hell did you get money for that chicken?"

The system gulped—actually, visibly gulped, his little throat working—and swallowed his current bite of chicken. Then he very deliberately turned around, showing her his back, his fluffy tail twitching nervously.

"I... I got it from Lord God," he mumbled.

Heena slowly stood up from her chair.

She put one foot directly on the chair seat, leaning forward, eyes locked on the system’s turned back.

"You," she said slowly, each word dropping like a stone, "damn fucking ’bastard’. Do you think I am ’crazy’?"

The system’s ears flattened.

"Your Lord God," Heena continued, voice rising, "would suck the soul out of a host for a ’single’ contribution point. That miserly bastard charges us for ’breathing’ in these worlds. And you expect me to believe he ’gave’ you money? Out of the goodness of his nonexistent heart?"

She lunged forward and grabbed the system by the scruff of his neck, yanking him around to face her.

"You used my money again, didn’t you?" she demanded. "Didn’t you?!"

The system flailed in her grip, the half-eaten chicken falling to the floor with a sad ’thump’.

"I will return it!" he squeaked. "I will return all the money when I get my salary! I promise!"

Heena looked at him like she didn’t believe a damn word coming out of his lying little mouth.

"Uh-huh," she said flatly. "How many loans have you already taken from me? And how many—how ’many’—have you returned? Go on. ’Say it.’"

The system went very quiet.

Heena’s anger rose higher.

Literally—she was giving her ’life’ to earn money in these worlds, working herself half to death managing empires and preventing disasters, and this idiot was using her hard-earned gold to buy overpriced ’snacks’.

And the problem wasn’t even that he was using the money. The problem was the ’prices’ he paid for things.

That popcorn he was always eating? The kind you could get for two copper coins from any street vendor? He bought it for ’five gold’.

’Five. Gold.’

For ’popcorn’.

And don’t even get her started on the chicken. That thing was probably worth one silver coin at most—maybe two if you went to a fancy restaurant. But she was absolutely certain—’certain’—that this idiot had paid some ridiculous markup. Probably ten gold. Maybe twenty.

"How much," she asked, voice dangerously quiet, "did you pay for that chicken?"

The system tried to squirm out of her grip. "It was... a reasonable price—"

"’How. Much.’"

"...Fifteen gold."

"’FIFTEEN GOLD?!’" Heena actually screamed. "FOR A CHICKEN?! A ’CHICKEN’?! I could buy an entire ’flock’ of chickens for fifteen gold! I could buy a small ’farm’ for fifteen gold!"

"It was... specially prepared..." the system offered weakly.

"IT’S A ROASTED BIRD!" Heena shook him. "IT’S MEAT ON BONES! HOW SPECIAL COULD IT POSSIBLY BE?!"

"It had... herbs..."

"I WILL HERB YOU INTO NEXT WEEK!" Heena shouted, then stopped herself, took a breath, and forced herself to calm down.

She set the system down—not gently—and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Okay," she said, voice tight. "Okay. Fine. You know what? I’m deducting this from your future salary."

"But Host—"

"’All’ of your future purchases are being deducted," she continued. "Every single gold coin. I’m keeping a ledger. And when you finally get your salary back in five years—no, wait, with this chicken it’s probably six years now—I’m taking ’everything’."

The system’s ears drooped. "That’s not fair—"

"NOT FAIR?!" Heena’s voice climbed again. "You want to talk about fair? I’m sitting here drowning in paperwork that those noble bastards dumped on me as revenge, my secretary is on forced vacation because I was worried he’d literally die from exhaustion, and you—YOU—are eating a fifteen-gold chicken while I haven’t had dinner!"

She pointed at the fallen chicken on the floor.

"That could have been ’my’ dinner!" she said. "But no! You bought it with ’my’ money and ate it ’in front of me’ while I’m working!"

The system looked genuinely guilty now. "I... I didn’t think about it that way..."

"Of course you didn’t," Heena said, slumping back into her chair. "Because you never think about anything except your next snack."

She rubbed her face tiredly.

The system floated closer, cautiously. "Host... do you want me to... get you some food?"

"With what money?" Heena asked flatly. "You’ve already spent it all on overpriced chicken."

"I could... go to the kitchen? Ask the cooks?"

Heena waved a hand. "Fine. Yes. Get me something. Anything. I don’t care what it is as long as it’s actual food and not fifteen-gold luxury poultry."

The system zipped toward the door, then paused. "Host... I really am sorry."

Heena sighed. "I know. Just... please, for the love of everything, stop getting scammed by street vendors. If something costs more than five silver, ’ask me first’."

"Yes, Host," the system said meekly, then disappeared through the door.

Heena sat alone in her office, surrounded by mountains of paperwork, exhausted and hungry and so, so tired.

She looked at the documents.

They looked back at her, silent and accusing.

"I hate this world," she muttered, picking up her pen again.

But she started reading the next document anyway.

.

.

# A Midnight Visit

---

It was only in the middle of the night when suddenly she heard a knock on her office door.

Heena looked up in confusion. "Yes, come in."

She didn’t remember summoning anyone at this time. Like, she hadn’t allowed anyone to disturb her. And she definitely hadn’t asked for anything. At this hour, even most of the servants were on vacation—she’d given them time off after the whole proposal event.

Then she saw who it was.

As the door opened, Larus came inside carrying a tray of food.

He wasn’t wearing all his jewelry right now—none of the elaborate necklaces or bangles or earrings that usually adorned him. Instead, he was wearing a simple fur coat over what looked like comfortable house clothes. His hair was down, loose around his shoulders.

He bowed lightly. "Greetings, Your Maj—"

"It’s okay, it’s okay," Heena cut him off, waving her hand. "What are you doing here?"