I Slept with the Snake-Man for a Night, But He Said I Came to Take His Life - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I have a particular flaw.

The more someone tries to stop me from investigating, the more I want to dig.

Early on the fourth day, taking advantage of Kang Shiyu leaving to meet an inside contact from Blue Crown Company, I snuck into his study.

You can’t blame me.

A mysterious snake-man had been looking for me for years for no apparent reason, acting as if he were ready to die for me at any moment.

Anyone would be curious.

The study was immaculate.

So tidy it looked like a showroom.

In the third drawer, I found a kraft paper envelope.

Inside was a complete dossier on me.

From my transfer records at the orphanage to my part-time jobs in college, my internship files at the newspaper office, and even which broadband provider I switched to when I moved last year-he knew everything.

My scalp prickled as I looked through it.

It wasn’t sweet.

It was terrifying.

Just as I was about to curse him out, a very old photograph slipped out from the bottom of the envelope.

The corners were curled, clearly handled many times.

The picture showed me at sixteen.

Wearing a faded school uniform, I was squatting by the lake, flashing a cliché peace sign at the camera.

In the bottom right corner of the photo, a sliver of black fabric peeked out, half-hidden behind me.

My expression shifted instantly.

I clearly remember going to the lake alone that day.

At least, that was what I had always believed.

I flipped the photo over.

There was a line of faint writing on the back.

“She said I look good, so I don’t have to die.”

The handwriting was incredibly steady.

Yet it radiated a sense of suppressed madness.

My heart gave a sudden, sharp squeeze.

Right then, the study door opened.

Kang Shiyu stood at the doorway, his suit jacket still on, shoulders carrying the chill from outside.

When he saw the photo in my hand, his face darkened visibly for the first time.

“Who gave you permission to come in here?”

“And who gave you permission to investigate me so thoroughly?”

I slammed the envelope onto the desk.

“Kang Shiyu, you call this being a ‘savior’? This is called being a stalker.”

He didn’t explain. He simply walked over, intending to take the photo back.

I took a step back.

“Don’t touch it.”

“Chuji.”

“Don’t call me that.”

The words were out before I could think. I even surprised myself.

It wasn’t just anger.

It was more like an inexplicable sense of grievance.

I hate being kept in the dark.

I especially hate it when others make decisions for me.

From childhood to adulthood, the orphanage director decided how I should live, my ex-boyfriend decided what kind of girlfriend I should be, and my editor-in-chief decided what articles I should write.

I loathe this kind of condescending protection.

“You looked for me for so many years. Why didn’t you show yourself?”

“Because you weren’t supposed to have anything to do with Aberrants ever again.”

“And now?”

“Now, they were the ones who touched you first.”

“So that gives you the right to lock me up here?”

Kang Shiyu was silent for a few seconds.

“I am not locking you up.”

“You just didn’t lock the door.”

I looked at him, my nose feeling a bit stingy, but my tone grew sharper.

“But you don’t say anything. You shoulder everything yourself. What makes you think I’ll be grateful?”

Those words were like a blade.

They finally sliced through a layer of his calm.

He looked at me, his voice dropping low.

“Because it’s the only thing I know how to do.”

I froze.

“I failed to protect you before.”

“Every single thing I’ve learned since then was so I wouldn’t lose you again.”

The room became excessively quiet.

I wanted to keep yelling.

But my throat felt blocked.

What people fear most isn’t toughness.

It’s when a tough person suddenly lays their vulnerability bare before you.

I looked away, forcing my emotions back down.

“Explain it clearly first. What exactly happened when I was sixteen?”

Kang Shiyu leaned against the desk, as if weighing where to begin.

“I had just escaped from the laboratory back then.”

“Blue Crown?”

“Its predecessor.”

“They wanted to create a drug that could control the breeding and estrus cycles of Aberrants. I was one of the samples.”

My fists clenched as I listened.

“After escaping, I hid in a drainage tunnel beneath the old lake.”

“That night, you climbed over the school wall to skip class. You saw men dumping chemicals into the lake from the bridge.”

A corner of my memory was suddenly pulled back.

I remembered seeing several men on a rainy night.

I also remembered being young and hot-headed back then; I had picked up a stone and smashed their car window.

Then I had chased them all the way to the lakeshore.

“You didn’t save me.”

Kang Shiyu looked at me and corrected me softly.

“You saved me first.”

I hadn’t known what was hidden in the lake that day.

I just didn’t want people dumping strange things into the water.

In the end, that group saw me and pushed me straight in.

I didn’t remember what happened after that.

Kang Shiyu said he was the one who held me up underwater and brought me to the shore.

He was also the one who endured the effects of the drugs to drag the pursuers down to the bottom of the lake.

But he had already been injected with an unstable Reproductive Inducer at the time.

After skin-to-skin contact with me, a very troublesome mark was left within his body.

I didn’t understand.

“What kind of mark?”

He fell silent for a moment.

“In the Snake Clan, it’s called a Fated Bond.”

“What does ‘Fated Bond’ mean?”

“Once confirmed, one is affected by the same person for a lifetime.”

“If she lives, I can live.”

“If she doesn’t want me, it becomes harder and harder to endure.”

My mind went blank for a second.

“Then all these years…”

“Yes.”

“You’ve been enduring?”

Kang Shiyu gave a small smile.

“You could say I’ve been managing well enough.”

Who would call it “well enough” when they’re pressing their brow in the middle of the night as if the pain is splitting them apart?

I suddenly understood.

He wasn’t stalking me.

He was staying in the closest possible place where he wouldn’t alarm me, surviving on just a hint of my scent.

This realization made me feel numb.

It also made me angry.

I gripped the photo tightly and stared at him.

“Kang Shiyu.”

“Are all you snakes this good at acting?”

“It depends on the person.”

“Then what are you acting like now?”

“Acting decent.”

He looked at me, a hint of mischief finally surfacing in his eyes.

“Otherwise, you’d think I have improper intentions toward you.”

I sneered.

“Don’t you?”

He paused for two seconds.

Then he gave a very soft, “Yes.”

“I do.”

The tips of my ears burned hot instantly.

To make matters worse, he added one final blow.

“I’ve had them since I was sixteen.”

My anger completely lost its momentum.