They Said the Serpent Was a Prank, but I Found the Scales This Morning Chapter 05

They Said the Serpent Was a Prank, but I Found the Scales This Morning Chapter 05

A wave of startled cries rose around them.

Beneath the veil, Everett saw a face flushed with shy delight, and his pupils shrank.

“Why is it you?”

His reckless action sent a shockwave of panic through the crowd.

The wedding chaperone beside the bride was the first to react.
Panicked, she tried to shield the veil.

“What kind of groom lifts the veil before the ceremony is even finished? Mr. Hale, you’re far too eager for your own good.”

But Everett seemed to have become someone else entirely.

He grabbed Tessa’s arm and demanded in a low, harsh voice, “Why is it you? Where is Maren?”

Tessa had never seen him like this before. She froze in fear, her eyes quickly reddening.

Clutching the veil, she said pitifully, “Maren never came back. Mom was afraid we’d miss the auspicious hour, so she told me to do what we discussed last night and stand in for her first.”

“That’s absurd. A marriage is not something one sister can take over for another.”

Everett was furious, his face terrifyingly cold.

But just as he turned to leave, he remembered that the old mountain chapel had been empty when he passed it.

Behind him, Tessa caught his sleeve and bit her lip, pleading.

“Maren must have heard the Serpent Lord was powerful and had mountains of gold. She made up her mind to marry him, so she never came back. She was never sincere about marrying you.”

“The ceremony time is almost over. So many neighbors and relatives are waiting for the reception, and Mom and Dad are still waiting for the family blessing. Everett, why don’t we just get through the wedding for now? Otherwise, my family will become a laughingstock.”

Everett looked back.

The long reception tables had already been set.

Many of the guests, having no idea what was going on, laughed and urged the groom to hurry up, exchange vows, greet the families, and take his bride home.

But in the next moment, he pulled his sleeve free with a violent jerk.

“The person I came to marry today has always been Maren. She must have learned the truth about that joke and hidden somewhere because she’s angry with me. I have to find her.”

Ignoring the stunned looks around him, he strode straight toward Elder Whitcomb.

“Elder Whitcomb, where is Maren?”

“I know she feels wronged. I know she’s angry with me. But today is our wedding day, and we can’t delay it. Please ask her to come out. Once we’re married, she can punish me however she wants. I’ll take all of it without a word.”

Elder Whitcomb froze. “The Ellis family’s older girl? Isn’t she standing right there, waiting to marry you?”

Everett could no longer restrain his anxiety.

Forgetting all manners, he raised his voice to a roar.

“Please stop helping Maren put on this act. All that talk about mountain beasts escorting a bride and the Serpent Lord taking a wife, she only asked you to say that because she wanted to use some old folklore to get back at me, didn’t she?”

The crowd went silent all at once.

Elder Whitcomb looked at Everett’s anxious face in surprise, then seemed to understand something.

His silver brows slowly lowered into a grim frown.

“Boy, who told you it was only a legend?”

“The settlement records have always said that the Serpent Lord has guarded Raven Hollow for a thousand years.”

“In the past, to repay him, the families here would send a woman into the mountains once every hundred years to serve at his side.”

“Every single time, without fail, he sent her back to the chapel.”

“There was also a message left behind. It said the Serpent Lord had no interest in women.”

“If one day he wished to take a wife, he would leave a serpent mark on the wrist of the woman he chose.

“If she already loved someone else, then having that man wash the mark away would count as her refusal.”

“And yet, to this day, I have never heard of any woman in Raven Hollow bearing that mark.”

Before the elder could finish, Everett’s mind was already roaring.

His face turned deathly pale. His gaze trembled blankly for a moment, then sharpened all at once.

“No. That’s impossible. It’s ridiculous. How could I believe in something like that?”

“Elder Whitcomb, I know Maren must be furious with me. But she waited five years for this day. I have to find her.”

With that, he turned and left in a hurry, his steps frighteningly unsteady.

Just then, a cry of astonishment came from inside the Ellis house.

“Mr. Hale even prepared four more chests of dowry worthy of yours under the bed?”

“Are these real? I’ve never seen this much gold and jewelry in my life.”