They Said the Serpent Was a Prank, but I Found the Scales This Morning Chapter 07

They Said the Serpent Was a Prank, but I Found the Scales This Morning Chapter 07

Everett looked at Tessa’s tear-streaked face as if she had said something utterly strange.

His refusal was immediate.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re Maren’s sister. I’ve always treated you like a sister. How could I ever marry you?”

Tessa stared at him in disbelief.

Her whole body went rigid, as she bit her lip so hard it nearly bled.

Just then, Frank came forward with several relatives to block Everett’s path.

His face was a mask of cold fury, his voice dropping into his voice.

“Don’t forget yourself, Everett. The betrothal paperwork and the formal agreement you signed all carry Tessa’s name. Do you intend to disgrace our family and call off the wedding in front of the entire settlement?”

Everett’s gaze swept over the crowd, a sickening realization finally washing over him.

From the very beginning, the Ellis family had secretly planned to let Tessa truly replace Maren.

Fury surged through him.

Everett’s face turned ashen with rage.

“You had such a filthy scheme hidden behind your backs. You don’t deserve to call yourselves parents.”

“I, Everett Hale, swear this now. The only woman in my heart is Maren. If I cannot bring her back, I will never marry another woman in this life.”

With that, he tore the bright red wedding sign hanging at the Ellis family’s front door in half, stepped over it, and headed into the mountains without looking back.

…

At the same time, deep within the forest, inside the hidden mountain cave estate.

I sat on the edge of a carved dark wood bed, staring at the man only a foot away from me.

I had no idea that the grand wedding feast at the foot of the mountain had already turned into a complete farce.

Nor did I know that Elder Whitcomb had been right.

Not long ago, I had exchanged vows with the Serpent Lord before heaven and earth.

The marriage was complete.

Today was destined to be a very long day.

Ever since the mountain beasts escorted me at dawn, I had wondered if I had fallen into a dream.

After all, who could have imagined that the Serpent Lord of legend, the primordial protector whispered to command a hundred beasts and guard our valley for ten centuries, would look like such a young and breathtakingly handsome man?

And when we drank the ceremonial wedding wine, I noticed that the tips of his ears were even redder than mine.

Now, as he set down the glass, he lifted his eyes to me and spoke in a low voice.

“My name is Cael Vane.”

“From this day on, you are my only wife.”

Listening to his calm voice, I did not know why my nose suddenly stung.

Cael leaned toward me, but his lips stopped just before they touched mine.

His dark eyes hesitated. “Are you unwilling?”

I shook my head.

“No. I just…”

I only did not understand why he had chosen me.

Before seeing Cael’s true form, I had already prepared myself for the worst: to be drained of life by some monstrous abomination.

Over the next three full days and nights, in hours when I could no longer tell dusk from dawn, I asked him that question many times.

Sometimes I was clear-headed.

Sometimes I drifted into a dreamless haze.

Sometimes I ached.

Sometimes I trembled with pleasure.

I still remembered one of those moments, though I no longer knew which time it was, when the skin he had touched burned as if it had caught fire.

In a daze, I murmured, “Why did you choose me?”

At that time, Cael only lowered his head and took what he wanted, giving me no answer.

It was not until the fourth day, when I finally woke fully from that long, wild blur, that he told me.

It turned out we had not met for the first time.

I had once saved him in the mountains.

Years ago, Cael had been gravely wounded while holding back an earthquake that would have destroyed Raven Hollow.

His spirit had been badly damaged.

To recover, he returned to his earliest serpent form and slept deep in the forest.

That day, I had gone up the mountain to gather herbs when I happened to see an outsider, a poacher, setting a cruel barbed cage trap forbidden by the settlement.

He meant to skin a thin little snake and sell it for medicine.

I remembered Elder Whitcomb once saying that the mountains had primordial essences, and animals had hearts.

When I saw that harmless little snake struggling for its life, I hid in a tree, gathered my courage, and fired my slingshot at the poacher’s hand, giving the snake a chance to escape.

The hazy memory slowly came back to me.

I was shocked, and a little embarrassed.

I never thought that small, unremarkable black snake had been Cael.

“But I was only nine that year.”

Cael nodded.

“You were too young. If I had repaid you with a lavish gift then, I feared it would only draw greed and danger to you. So I decided to wait until you were old enough to marry and prepare a dowry worthy of you for you.”

“But you waited five years for him.”

He paused.

“And I waited five years for you.”

Then he added, “That day, while Tessa planned to trick you after you fell asleep sewing your wedding dress, I was the one who deliberately placed the page with the serpent mark in front of her.”

I froze.

Then, suddenly, I understood everything.