The Fake Bride Offered to the Snake God - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

When the silver arrow came shooting at me, I honestly hadn’t figured out how to dodge it.

All I was thinking was that I needed to stall.

Stall until Semyre could stand again.

Or until Norn woke up and ran on his own.

But the arrow never touched me.

A serpentine shadow burst out from behind the Black Lotus and crushed every silver arrow to pieces.

Semyre was half-kneeling in front of me, blood still pouring from his chest.

He looked back at me.

“So when you said you could trick them, you meant putting on her clothes and coming here to die?”

I said quietly, “It worked pretty well.”

I made him laugh despite himself.

“Shut up.”

Malo looked at us and suddenly began to clap.

“How touching.”

He lifted a hand.

The knights raised their Silver Bell artifacts.

Not just one.

More than a dozen Silver Bell artifacts rang at the same time.

Semyre’s body went rigid.

I saw silver chains surface beneath his scales, burrowing toward his bones like living things.

He let out a muffled groan.

His serpent tail smashed heavily into the pool.

Malo smiled.

“My lord deity, the Temple did not spend three hundred years studying you for nothing.”

“When your Divine Bone was in our hands, we already knew that what you feared most was not silver.”

He looked at me.

“It was her voice.”

The Silver Bell artifacts in the knights’ hands rang again.

Livia’s voice came from within the chimes.

“I never loved you.”

“Semyre, you are so easy to deceive.”

“Does a monster deserve to speak of love?”

Every sentence was like a blade.

Semyre lowered his head, his fingers digging into the stone.

I reached out to cover his ears.

But he caught my wrist first.

“Don’t listen.”

He was in so much pain that he could barely stay upright, yet he still remembered to tell me not to listen.

My eyes stung.

“Semyre.”

He did not raise his head.

I took a deep breath and pressed a Silver Bell to my ear.

All the noise flooded into my mind at once.

The pain made my vision go black.

But this time, I did not let go.

I heard Malo’s voice, much younger than it was now.

“Holy Maiden, as long as you say you never loved him, we will spare that child.”

Livia’s voice trembled.

“What child?”

“The child in your womb.”

My eyes flew wide open.

By the pool, Semyre also lifted his head.

Malo’s expression changed drastically.

I kept shaking the bell.

Livia’s broken sobs came from the Silver Bell.

“Semyre, don’t believe it.”

“I did not lie to you.”

“I love you.”

When those final three words came out, the entire Serpent Lair fell silent for an instant.

Semyre froze there.

Like a snake trapped for three hundred years, hearing the sound of its chains breaking for the first time.

Malo roared, “Seize the bell!”

The knights charged forward.

Before I could step back, Semyre suddenly took my hand.

His palm was very cold, and covered in blood.

“Ailia.”

“Mm?”

“This time, don’t decide for me.”

I froze for a moment.

He looked at me, his gaze clearer than it had ever been.

“Ask me.”

I understood.

It was not that he did not want to be saved.

He simply could no longer bear someone else enduring everything for him in the name of doing it “for his own good.”

I tightened my grip on his hand.

“Semyre, what do you want to do?”

He smiled faintly.

The tips of his fangs showed.

“Bite the liar.”