Samael, the Serpent of God - Chapter 2

Before the next treatment session, the nobles held a charity gala.

I received my first gold-embossed invitation.

I had Huo Zhi to thank for it.

Across the Empire and the stars, class lines were rigid. Nobles liked dealing only with nobles.

Events like this were their arena for fame and fortune.

I felt completely out of place.

My one consolation was the dining area.

It was free, overflowing with variety, especially desserts.

I went on a rampage through the strawberry sweets.

“Doctor Wen.”

It was Huo Zhi’s voice.

I remembered him standing at the center of the crowd moments ago, in the spotlight.

My mouth was full.

I panicked for a second.

“Is it good?”

His black military dress uniform emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist.

He casually took a small cake like mine and put it in his mouth.

The awkwardness in the air dissipated.

“Mr. Huo, your first treatment starts tomorrow. You’ll be available, right?”

I confirmed it with him.

“Mm.”

As he nodded, he handed me a medical case.

It contained a number of syringes.

“Powerful sedatives.”

Huo Zhi lowered his eyes. “You must have heard about them, Doctor Wen.”

“My alter is difficult. The sedatives will keep you safe.”

“Thank you for your trouble.”

He was excessively distant with everyone.

Especially me.

His words were cool, his expression cool.

Sometimes he couldn’t even be bothered to look at me properly.

Over the past half month, I had heard plenty of rumors while trying to understand Huo Zhi.

The duke’s son couldn’t show emotion, couldn’t fail, couldn’t go mad, and couldn’t have a scandal.

Among the three great families, Huo Zhi had become the eternal nightmare of the other children.

He was rigid and boring.

He wore that striking face while pretending to be expressionless.

His body was textbook-perfect, too.

Straight shoulders, a tapered waist, a flawless inverted triangle…

“What are you looking at?”

I swallowed my drool and moved my eyes away from the smooth line of his waist.

I pretended to be calm.

“I was thinking about what rabbits mean to your alter.”

“Oh.”

His answer was clipped.

“What do you think, Doctor Wen?”

I thought about it.

“Cute, soft, and fluffy?”

Huo Zhi’s gaze slowly dropped to my face.

“Exactly.”

For some reason, I saw a trace of amusement at the corner of his lips.

Not bad. He was giving me a little more emotion today.

But the next moment, Huo Zhi returned to his indifferent expression and went back to the center of the gala.

I carried a takeout box around the long banquet table, looking for food my friend would like.

Only a few minutes later, a commotion erupted in the middle of the hall.

The guards shouted warnings. “Lieutenant General Huo, stop immediately!”

“Stop immediately!”

I hurriedly pushed through the crowd.

What I saw was the complete opposite of Huo Zhi.

His alter had appeared.

The face of the man he was gripping by the throat was a blur. Blood spread across the floor.

The alter tilted his head slightly. The bright red blood made his skin look even paler, like a jade statue.

His voice was deep and arrogant.

He spoke to the man on the floor.

“A bastard should have the sense to go die.”

There was a wildness about him, something no system had managed to tame.

Terrified, I pulled out a sedative and risked my life to make him stop.

As he collapsed, those fever-bright eyes traced over me.

His lips curved.

Wickedness and elegance existed side by side.

“Hello, Doctor Wen Yu.”

He closed his eyes, and his entire body fell toward me.

He was heavy.

Huo Zhi’s public attack on his half brother set off a storm of interstellar opinion.

An investigation by the authorities found that Huo Zhi had acted for a reason.

His older half brother, Huo Zheng, who shared his father, had abused his authority to smuggle weapons, causing a group of capital ships to malfunction. Enemy fire destroyed them, killing many soldiers.

Under Imperial law, Huo Zheng should have been sentenced to death anyway.

Still, Huo Zhi had been wrong to attack someone in public.

Out of consideration for the duke, he spent only two months in prison.

During that time, my mentor came to see me.

He lowered his graying brows and said, “The duke praised your performance at the charity gala.”

“Brave, decisive, and completely unharmed.”

The emphasis was probably on the last word.

The previous doctors had all ended up in the hospital.

“The duke thinks I can get close to the alter?”

Whenever my mentor delivered bad news, he lowered his brows.

Sure enough, he sighed. “Yes.”

“The duke requires you to cure Lieutenant General Huo within six months.”

“The Empire doesn’t need a mad commander.”

In other words, he meant roughly the same thing as Huo Zhi: kill the alter.

“If you succeed, this is your reward.”

An unstamped certificate conferring the title of meritorious physician.

Few nobles had ever received that kind of lifelong honor.

And I actually had a chance.

My mentor said, “It may cost you your life. Think carefully.”

I answered at the same time.

“I accept.”

Everything I had ever wanted was right in front of me.

Every year, the Empire selected exceptional talents from the various states through the Galaxy Talent Recruitment Program and brought them into its top academies.

But after graduation, the path upward was brutally difficult for civilians.

What I wanted was now within reach.

I had to seize it.