The Fake Bride Offered to the Snake God - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

We went to the Royal City.

It was the first time Semyre had ever gone so far from the Serpent Lair.

Draped in a black cloak, he walked through the crowd with a face so cold he looked like someone owed him a mountain.

Norn followed behind us and asked me in a whisper, “Is he feeling sick?”

I glanced at Semyre’s tense hand.

“He’s afraid of crowds.”

Semyre said flatly, “I can hear you.”

Norn immediately shut his mouth.

The Royal City Witch lived in the Old Bell Tower.

She handed Livia’s belongings over to us.

There wasn’t much.

A cracked hair comb, a letter that had never been sent, and a tiny cloth shoe.

The shoe was very old, its edges worn through.

The witch said, “She made this for the child.”

Semyre sat there for a long time.

He didn’t cry.

Maybe snakes didn’t cry.

But his fingertips stayed pressed to that little cloth shoe, his touch so light, as if he were afraid it would shatter.

I stood by the door and didn’t rush him.

The setting sun spilled into the bell tower, stretching his shadow out long across the floor.

After a long while, he opened the letter.

The paper had already yellowed with age.

There were only a few lines written on it.

Semyre, I didn’t lie to you.

I wanted to come back.

If I can’t, don’t wait for me too long.

And don’t hate yourself.

I heard Semyre draw in a very soft breath.

He folded the letter, placed it back in the box, and then turned to look at me.

“Ailia.”

I walked over.

“Mm.”

“I want to go home.”

Something in my chest softened.

“Back to the Serpent Lair?”

“Mm.”

He paused.

“With you.”

The road from the Royal City back to Yuehuai Mountain was long.

We hired a carriage.

Norn slept sprawled every which way inside, still clutching the candy he’d bought in the Royal City.

I sat by the carriage door, letting the wind brush over me.

Semyre sat beside me, his cloak hiding half his face.

When we reached the edge of Yuehuai Grove, he suddenly said, “Three hundred years ago, I couldn’t send her home.”

I didn’t answer.

He looked toward the distant outline of the mountains.

“This time, I’ll send you back.”

“Back where?” I asked.

Semyre looked at me.

“Wherever you want to go.”

His words sounded plain.

But I knew how hard they were for him to say.

He had once been abandoned, deceived, and trapped in the Serpent Lair for three hundred years.

So he could have kept me locked at his side.

He could have used the fact that he’d saved my life, or the old bloodline, or love-anything at all.

But he didn’t.

I reached over and gently hooked my fingers around his.

“Then let’s go back to the Serpent Lair first.”

Semyre lowered his eyes to our hands.

“First?”

“Mm.”

I smiled.

“We can go somewhere else later.”

He tightened his hand around mine.

“All right.”