Chapter 8
As soon as Bella spoke, everyone present finally understood the truth.
Had she followed the instructions properly, she might’ve had a healthy child. But her greed had doomed her.
The scandal made the wolf clan a laughingstock yet again. Rumors spread that Jacob was impotent, and that his wife had not only cheated on him but even resorted to using a crude fertility folk remedy from the lowly rat clan.
Jacob, already in a foul mood, would only grow more cruel to Bella after this humiliation.
A month later, just as I was shopping for cloth to make clothes for my babies and preparing to head home, I saw Bella cradling a basket to her chest and sneaking into a secluded alley.
Word on the street was that Bella had lost her mind. She was said to be snatching children from around the wolf clan.
I didn’t give it much thought. With a cheerful heart, I returned home, eager to welcome my soon-to-hatch little ones.
But the door to my room stood wide open, and the incubator was empty.
All three snake eggs were gone.
Panic surged through me. I suddenly remembered the green cloth covering Bella’s basket-it looked exactly like the handkerchief I’d left on my writing desk.
I grabbed the dagger Draco had given me for self-defense and sprinted toward the alley where Bella had disappeared. Deep inside, I found a dilapidated courtyard, where her eerie voice echoed.
“Babies, don’t be afraid. Mommy’s right here with you.”
I caught her off guard and pressed the blade to her neck, cold fury in my voice. “Bella, give me back my children.”
But when I looked down into the basket, my heart dropped.
The eggs had already hatched, and the baby snakes were gone.
Dead? Escaped?
As I stood frozen, Bella shoved me back and let out a crazed, maniacal laugh.
“They’re dead! My babies are dead! And now, so are yours! Isn’t it wonderful? Truly wonderful!”
My eyes burned with rage. I lunged forward, ready to drive the blade into her and avenge my children.
Suddenly, Draco burst in. A flash of silver streaked from him—a tiny snake, mouth wide, sank its fangs deep into Bella’s neck.
In an instant, she collapsed, coughing up blood, dead with her eyes still wide open.
The little silver snake slithered up my arm and coiled itself there.
“Mom,” it said, “I avenged you.”
It was Tristan’s voice. He had become my child once more.
I cupped him gently in my palms and kissed his forehead.
Bella’s death didn’t stir any waves.
My father, already disgraced by her actions, had long stopped acknowledging her as his daughter.
As for Jacob, he couldn’t have been more eager for her to disappear.
Seven days later, all three of my baby snakes took human form.
ID Bonus
The sky once again erupted in violet light and dazzling rainbow clouds. Birds filled the heavens with song-it was another divine omen.
Then, my entire body began to glow with golden light. In the blink of an eye, a shimmering emerald serpent’s tail extended from me, and my eyes turned a brilliant green.
A voice echoed from the heavens-it was the Celestial Emperor.
“Snake Immortal Clarice, for your mischief a thousand years ago-shattering the Celestial Furnace and plunging the Three Realms into chaos-you have now completed your ten lives of tribulation. You may return to Heaven and resume your post.”
Memories flooded my mind. I had once been a flower, a stone, a phoenix, a mermaid… In every life, Draco had been there, guarding me faithfully.
He could have ascended long ago. But in our final life, he gave up a thousand years of cultivation to save me.
Before I left, Draco held my hand and whispered, “Wait for me, Clarice. I’ll be with you in Heaven soon.”
The blessing of ascension rained down upon the earth. All the serpent beastkin knelt to receive the divine light.
“We respectfully bid farewell to the Snake Immortal. May she protect us for generations to come.”
In a flash of white light, I returned to Heaven and resumed my role as the Snake Immortal, guardian of the Celestial Garden.
Five hundred years later, I was curled up under the covers, enjoying a lazy nap, when a familiar fragrance drifted into my nose.
A warm embrace wrapped around me.
Then came a voice, deep and beloved.
“Clarice, I’m back. Everyone who ever hurt you… is gone.”
The End.
