Return of Black Lotus system:Taming Cheating Male Leads

Chapter 404 --404

Heena looked up at the Third Groom, and her internal monologue came to a screeching halt.

Well, she thought, blinking slightly. He is a very pretty little man.

"Gorgeous" was honestly the only word to describe him. He had perfectly fair, flawless skin that looked as smooth as porcelain. His eyes were a normal, deep black, but they were large and doe-like, giving him an incredibly innocent, striking appearance. He was dressed in flowing, elegant robes, and even his fingernails were perfectly manicured and beautiful.

But what really caught Heena’s attention were his lips. They were so naturally red and perfectly shaped that Heena genuinely felt a sudden, petty flash of shame about her own lips, which were a slightly more natural, browner shade.

She caught herself lingering on his pretty face for a few seconds longer than necessary, purely appreciating the aesthetics.

Suddenly, a heavy, suffocating pressure hit the side of her head.

Heena felt a sharp stare boring a hole straight through her skull. She turned her head slightly and saw Samuel standing in the corner. Even with the wooden cat mask completely covering his face, the sheer, violently jealous glare radiating from his towering frame was palpable. It felt like he was a second away from drawing his broadsword and removing the pretty groom’s head from his shoulders.

Ah. Right,Heena thought, clearing her throat softly and shifting her gaze away from the Third Groom. I am already a married woman. I should probably stop staring at other men before my lethal husband actually commits a murder in Grandma’s study.

She turned her attention back to the pretty little man standing in the doorway. "So, what did you come here for?" she asked, her tone much flatter this time.

Unlike the arrogant Second Groom, the Third Groom did not smile smugly or try to force a fake familial bond. He simply stepped inside, lowered his doe-like eyes respectfully, and bowed with absolute, flawless grace.

"I greet my lady," he said, his voice soft, melodic, and perfectly polite.

Heena raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised.

Whenever Kavien called her "my lady," it was always dripping with sarcasm, followed immediately by some arrogant, manipulative nonsense. But this Third Groom? His greeting sounded entirely respectful. There was no hidden mockery, no smug superiority. Just a perfectly executed bow from a very pretty man.

Heena leaned back slightly on her silk cushion, her eyes narrowing as she studied him. A viper that acts perfectly polite is always far more dangerous than one that hisses out in the open.

Heena looked at him for a moment longer before gesturing toward the cushion across from her. "Sit down," she said, her voice calm and measured.

The pretty groom gracefully lowered himself onto the cushion, his movements as fluid as water. He offered her a gentle, breathtaking smile.

"My name is Orion, my lady," he said softly.

Heena paused. It was a literal, internal pause. She had kept her expression perfectly blank, not giving away even a single ounce of suspicion that she didn’t know who he was. But for him to just casually introduce himself? It felt like he had already figured out she had absolutely no idea what his name was.

She quickly masked her surprise, raising an elegant eyebrow instead. "Mr. Orion," she started, her tone cool and slightly sharp. "I do not remember asking you for your name."

Orion didn’t look intimidated in the slightest. His soft smile remained as he gently shook his head. "No, my lady, please do not misunderstand. I did not mean anything wrong by it. I just thought that since you recently suffered a terrible accident and do not remember many people, you might have naturally forgotten me."

Heena kept her gaze locked on him, her eyebrow still raised. "Oh? But aren’t you supposedly my groom? Shouldn’t I have remembered you, out of everyone?"

Hearing that, Orion’s smile deepened into something a little more knowing. "No, my lady. If you are having trouble remembering even your own grandmother, I certainly do not expect you to remember me. After all, even in our childhood, you always preferred to stay quite silent and just focus on your own things."

Heena tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. "Aren’t you clearly just saying that I was boring?"

Orion let out a soft, melodic chuckle, shaking his head again. "My lady, I would never say you were boring. In fact, I have always found you to be quite interesting."

Heena wasn’t buying the sweet act for a second. She leaned back against her cushion, crossing her arms over her midnight-blue silk dress. "I highly doubt you came all the way to my study just to praise me or analyze my childhood personality. So may I ask, what is your actual motive for coming here?"

Instead of getting defensive, Orion simply reached into the wide sleeve of his luxurious robes. He pulled out a beautifully carved, small wooden box and placed it gently on the low table between them.

"This is a soothing herbal ointment," Orion explained, his dark, doe-like eyes meeting hers. "It is said to be quite effective if you rub a little on your temples to ward off tiredness. Looking at you, my lady, you look quite exhausted from traveling all the way from the outer provinces to the capital."

Heena looked down at the small medicinal box, and then slowly brought her eyes back up to his pretty face. She didn’t reach for it.

Seeing her hesitation, Orion’s expression softened into something incredibly raw and honest. "I know you are not going to use it," he said softly, his voice dropping into an intimate register. "And yes, you are right. The ointment is just an excuse to come and meet you."

He leaned forward just a fraction, his gaze never leaving hers.

"I just wanted to know more about you," Orion confessed, his tone perfectly smooth but laced with intent. "During the welcoming celebration yesterday, you did not even look at me once. I realized you truly might not remember me at all. And I simply could not stand that... so I decided I needed to come here and leave a proper impression on my future wife."

Crack.

The sound was tiny, but in the quiet study, it sounded like a firecracker.

Heena didn’t even have to turn her head to know what it was. Over in the corner, Samuel had just gripped the wooden hilt of his broadsword so tightly that the wood had actually started to splinter under his massive fingers.

The phrase *"my future wife"* had just echoed through the room, and the lethal, terrifying shadow guard standing by the door was now practically vibrating with a murderous, unhinged jealousy that threatened to burn the entire estate to the ground.

Heena’s eye actually twitched.

Her initial amusement at Samuel’s jealousy evaporated entirely, instantly replaced by a sharp, burning irritation. She was trying to conduct a high-level psychological interrogation with a very dangerous, very pretty political opponent, and her supposedly brilliant, lethal husband was throwing a silent temper tantrum in the corner like a territorial guard dog.

What the heck are you doing?Heena mentally scolded him, her gaze darkening as she subtly glared at the tall figure in the navy robes.