Embrace the Serpent - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

He moved closer to me.

I could not help closing my eyes.

When I opened them again, I was already back at the Princess’s Residence. The maids brought warmed ginger soup and attended me as I drank it.

“That King of Western Shu truly harbors no good intentions. He summoned the princess into the palace, only to make her fall into the lake.”

Only after asking carefully did I learn that I had been brought back by maids from Western Shu, soaked through and wrapped in brocade.

They said the King of Western Shu had gotten drunk and made me wait in the garden the whole time, and that I had been frightened by a pet in the garden, fallen into the lake, and fainted.

They spoke with such certainty that I began to feel confused. Clearly, I had been in the hot spring with that young man…

When I closed my eyes, I had vaguely heard him say, “Remember, my name is Yuan Lang.”

What was a dream, he insisted was real; what was real felt instead like a dream.

Even late into the night, with the bright moon hanging high, I was still thinking:

Had that kiss ever landed?

That night, Yuan Lang did not enter my dreams. But early the next morning, news arrived.

The King of Western Shu had summoned the Great Zhou marriage-alliance envoy into the palace.

The envoy was overjoyed. Carrying His Majesty’s imperial edict, he knelt before me and wept aloud. “This old minister will surely not fail His Majesty’s and the princess’s high hopes.”

I had a maid help him up. “My lord, be careful in all things.”

The envoy, tears streaming down his aged face, entered the Western Shu Royal Palace-only to be carried back out.

He bitterly cursed the King of Western Shu for actually keeping pythons in the main hall. No wonder the princess had been frightened.

At the same time, he brought back two pieces of news.

First, the King of Western Shu was willing to form a marriage alliance with Great Zhou, joining in a hundred years of amity.

Second, the wedding date was set for ten days later.

The maids from the Western Shu Royal Palace followed behind the envoy, filing into the Princess’s Residence with the wedding garments in their arms.

Western Shu’s customs were open, and the young women here dressed quite boldly.

The upper garment was barely longer than a little under-bodice, and below was a long skirt. Both hem and skirt were adorned with silver pieces and gemstones, revealing a slender strip of waist.

Without even trying it on, I dismissed the Western Shu maids.

That night, my nightmare came again.

Yuan Lang slithered brazenly into the room, his nimble serpent tail lifting the tucked-in corner of my quilt as he insisted on squeezing in beside me.

His serpent tail tentatively coiled around my ankle. I kicked it away, but it refused to give up and wrapped around my knees instead.

He reached out to touch my face, his breath spilling against the side of my neck. “The king has only just met the envoy, and you already want to renege?”

“You clearly already…” My voice grew softer and softer, until even I was no longer certain.

Seeing my guilty conscience, Yuan Lang’s serpent tail became even more forceful. It eased my legs apart, leaving me flustered and at a loss.

Yuan Lang gave a soft hum. “That booklet of yours clearly drew it this way.”

Booklet?

He had seen my Fire-Aversion Manual.

So ashamed and furious I wished I could die, I grabbed the tip of his tail, only for it to coil around me as if trying to please me.

“You are not allowed to speak.”

“What a heartless thing.” Yuan Lang smiled.

“Jiaojiao.” He leaned closer to me. “You still owe me a kiss.”

My name is Zhou Chan. Jiaojiao is my childhood name.

Aside from my late father and mother, no one else knew that name.

My heart was filled with confusion, but Yuan Lang would not let me ask.

He drew near and carefully traced the shape of my lips.

So lightly it was like a feather brushing past, carrying an unbearable itch.

I tilted my head up.

And that serpent tail quietly loosened from my knees, coiling around my wrist and slipping into my sleeve.

By the time I came back to my senses, my calf was already resting on his serpent body.

Biting the tip of my tongue, I abruptly shoved him away. “In ten more days, I am to marry into the Western Shu Royal Palace.”

“Do you truly want to be Princess Consort?” Yuan Lang’s serpent tail hooked around my fingertip. “If I ask the king for you, he will certainly give you to me.”

He lifted my chin, his vertical pupils fixed on me. “Will you choose me?”

Without the slightest hesitation, I refused him.

At the end of this dream, Yuan Lang was furious and exasperated, his serpent tail binding me so I could not move.

When I was so uncomfortable that I began to cry, he slipped an emerald-green bracelet onto my wrist.

He said it was a wedding gift.

I did not believe he could be so kind.

Sure enough, the next morning, I heard a maid scream. She was pointing at my wrist.

An emerald-green snake raised its head and flicked its tongue at her.

I pinched it at its vital spot and flung it toward the floor, but it wound itself around my fingertip instead.

The snake’s body was icy-cold and unbelievably docile.

As if possessed, I kept it.

As the wedding date drew near, the envoys and maids in the Princess’s Residence all became especially busy.

After escorting me into the Western Shu Royal Palace for the marriage, the envoy would return to Luoyang. These past few days, he had been busy negotiating the matter of ceding cities with the Western Shu ministers.

As for the maids, they would remain in Western Shu with me. These past few days, they had been busy sorting through the dowry I had brought from Luoyang.

Only I remained idle, leisurely embroidering my red bridal veil.

On the night before the wedding, Yuan Lang came again to disturb my peaceful dreams.

He coiled around me and woke me, saying he would give me one last chance. “After tonight, there will be no possibility left between Jiaojiao and Yuan Lang.”

I wished I could spit at him. “I am the Princess of Great Zhou. It is perfectly right and proper for me to marry the King of Western Shu in a marriage alliance.

“It is clearly you who keeps entangling yourself with me!”

I had not even finished being angry when Yuan Lang seemed to lose his temper first. With a sweep of his tail, he pulled me into his arms.

His body was terrifyingly hot. He cupped my face and caught my lips with his, only for me to bite down hard on the tip of his tongue.

The taste of blood spread through my mouth. I saw Yuan Lang’s iridescent pupils turn vertical. He raised his hand and touched my lips. “Sharp teeth and a sharper tongue.”

My whole body trembled as he bit down on my wrist. “Princess Consort, you truly are impressive.”