A Snake’s Life Ch 94

Chapter 94

A maid, hands neatly clasped, stood before a large door, knocked, and entered the room. Inside was Neriah, sitting with poised composure as she leisurely sipped tea. However, the tea had not lessened in volume and had gone cold. When the maid entered, Neriah asked a question before anything else.

“How is the situation outside?”

“It remains the same.”

“I see.”

Though her tone was calm, her hands were trembling.

“A messenger of the gods… I don’t know about messengers, but it does seem he is truly favored by the divine. Of all places, he had to end up there.”

Her insides were boiling, but there was no point in raging now. Things had already unraveled beyond repair.

“…It seems even My Lady won’t be able to escape this.”

“Are you saying this is the end for me?”

Neriah responded to the maid’s cynical advice with a cold sneer. Her glare was fierce, but she quickly averted her eyes. As if resigned, she murmured,

“I suppose so. My family is the instigator, after all. Even if I renounced my lineage, it’s normal for three generations to be annihilated.”

Who could have guessed that the contract she had written, believing it was necessary, would end up being her downfall? The contract had been carefully composed to prevent any denials, but it had become a fatal poison. Because of the clearly stamped seal, she could not even deny it.

She found some comfort in the fact that the contract’s wording, written in coded language, had hidden the marquis’s name—but in the end, they had still been betrayed.

“Not through speech, but through writing… Was that a coincidence… or intentional…?”

The Empress ground her teeth in frustration. For the nobles suffering the hardships of prison, they were tempted with sweet promises: if they provided information, they would be freed. Since there were not enough cells, this method proved highly effective.

From that point on, it was the same cycle. Zerpell would imprison them, extract information, and release them. Some nobles even wrote down information before entering prison. In the end, one after another, they all fed information to Zerpell.

The marquis had yet to be captured, but as the Marquis of Franchia, being cast out of Ailfelt was only a matter of time.

“And I am no different…”

Neriah slowly opened her eyes after closing them for a moment.

“How is Aiden?”

“His condition is very serious.”

“…I see.”

She leaned heavily against the sofa as though all her strength had drained from her body. Though the room was still filled with lavish golden ornaments, everything now seemed shadowed and dim.

She had felt relieved when his body recovered, but as if mocking her, the suppressed illness returned with a vengeance. She heard his body was burning with fever and he could barely open his eyes.

“Is this a divine punishment? For defying the will of the gods and killing the serpent to cure Aiden’s illness?”

She scoffed with bitter sarcasm.

“I will take the Pope’s hand.”

“My Lady, that man is not to be trusted. The item mentioned in his letter—no one can verify whether it’s real. Even if it is genuine, the fact remains that he deceived the imperial family for years.”

The maid looked up, startled. For Neriah, who now stood at the edge of a cliff, taking the Pope’s hand felt like the only option left. She fixed her gaze on the letter resting on the table.

“There’s no place where power’s direction is as blatantly obvious as in the imperial palace. Just a few days ago, those nobles were begging for my favor, and now they’ve all turned their backs. One look at the deserted palace is enough to understand.”

Neriah no longer had the strength to be angry. Born as the daughter of a marquis, she had grown up weak in body but believed life would go smoothly after marrying the emperor. At least, until Zerpell appeared.

And even after his arrival, she had the emperor of the empire, the pope, her father the marquis, and the help of a mage by her side.

“Is the messenger of the gods truly so great? Believing in an unseen god… Then why has no blessing ever been granted to me…?”

“…”

Her personal maid silently bowed her head. She had served Neriah since the marquis’s estate and remained by her side even after entering the palace.

Neriah had grown up without ever lacking anything. Whatever she wanted always fell effortlessly into her grasp—be it the emperor’s affection or her position. And she never tolerated threats to that position. Yet she hated getting her hands dirty.

She had always desired to live as a noblewoman—graceful and dignified.

“Do you intend to accept the Pope’s proposal?”

The Pope had offered Neriah a single proposition. It was a dangerous gamble—one that could shake not only the imperial family but the entire foundation of the empire.

“If there’s no place left to retreat to, shouldn’t I at least struggle in my final moments? Whether I die or he does.”

“My Lady, the Pope’s proposition—”

“I know. But I am the Empress of this empire. And I would rather die than fall.”

It was an arrogant and self-righteous belief.

Neriah glared at the sanctuary within the imperial palace. Though protected by a barrier, making it appear as a vast forest, it was merely dead space in her eyes.

[Child. Wake up. Child?]

I slowly opened my eyes to the continuous calling voice. My body was floating high in the sky, and beneath me was a sheer cliff. Startled, I flailed as if I were falling. Then, a calming voice came.

[Child. Calm down.]

“Huh? Water Deity?”

Hearing the water deity’s voice, I regained my senses and looked ahead. The water deity stood before me in the form of a massive dragon. In the lake, I had only heard his voice and never seen his true form—so it was astonishing.

“You really are a dragon…”

Just as I had suspected, he was a dragon. Since I was a serpent, I’d wondered if he might be an imugi or a dragon. As I looked at him with curious eyes, the deity tilted his head slightly.

[What is it?]

[Ah, nothing. More importantly, is this the sky?]

Around me were fluffy white clouds drifting by. Below was the Ailfelt Empire, looking like a miniature model. The enormous imperial city now appeared small.

[Hmm… To be exact, this is a world within my consciousness. I’m asleep in the lake, but in the old days, I would watch over my lands from here and send down rain, making sure humans lived well.]

[I see…]

Worried I might fall, I lightly tapped the floor with my feet—but realized I had a tail instead. The floor made a soft tapping sound, like hitting a transparent barrier.

[So I’ve become a snake…]

[More importantly, child, is your body all right? For a while, it will be difficult to return to human form or even use your powers. You entered a state close to a rampage, so I subdued you temporarily. It seems you resonated with the children…]

The deity’s face darkened as he spoke. From his words, it was easy to understand which children he meant.

[The voices I heard… they were children? You mean… dead children, right?]

[Yes… those poor souls who still linger in the mortal realm. Did you meet them?]

[I wouldn’t say I met them, but I saw them near Aiden.]

Now it all made sense. The voices I kept hearing in the auction house must have belonged to dead children. Their words were filled with rage. Unless I’d gone mad, there was no way my own mind would conjure such furious whispers. If they were the voices of slain serpents—it all added up.

[No wonder they provoked me… I suppose they hated humans… But why could I hear them?]

It was strange. Kir had warned me, and I had never intended to bring back Aiden’s curse. Had I been influenced simply by being near him?

I tilted my head in confusion. Judging by the situation, the deity must’ve saved me. I thanked him.

[Thank you. Those voices were unsettling, but thanks to you, I stayed sane.]

I had even blurted out strange things without realizing. The deity observed me for a moment before speaking.

[No, it’s my fault… I should be the one thanking you. Thanks to you, no further damage has come to the forest. I’m also grateful that you got along with Kir. I’ve always felt guilty for making him protect the forest in my stead.]

The deity seemed engulfed in sorrow. It was understandable. The very person who served him had trespassed into the sanctuary and slaughtered serpents. Though he hid his despair, it was still evident in his eyes. I tried to lift his spirits.

[Don’t worry about the Pope. Master’s made sure he won’t trespass into the sanctuary again, and Kir is doing well with Aiden. Honestly, I’m the one being helped by Kir. And if anyone deserves your thanks, it’s Master, not me. I just reported what I witnessed. I’m pretty sure it was Master who took action.]

[Even so, your contribution remains the same.]

The deity smiled kindly as he spoke. When he bowed his head in gratitude, I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck with my tail. Being thanked by a god… it was a strange and amusing experience. I smiled sheepishly, but then remembered Aiden’s condition.

[Actually, I wanted to see you about that. You know Aiden, right?]

[…]

[A divine artifact! Do you have something like that?]

[…]

[Why aren’t you answering?]

[Fate truly is cruel.]

I anxiously thumped the floor with my tail. The deity’s reaction was unsettling. He lowered his gaze with visible difficulty. A heavy silence followed. I swallowed nervously, waiting for him to speak.

[There is a divine artifact. But it has already been tainted.]

[…What do you mean?]

[Kir told me. Your powers were stolen, weren’t they?]

[Yeah, they were.]

I had spoken to Kir about the church’s bell… The deity let out a deep sigh.

[Your power is unique. Because I gave it to you directly, it’s nearly identical to mine. If your power was stolen, they must’ve used a gift I gave humans long, long ago.]

[What are you talking about?]

Suddenly, the deity stood. He had been hunched down to match my eye level, but as he rose, I had to tilt my head far back to look up at him. Gazing up at the sky, he began to speak.

[Though it’s now called an empire, in the past, it wasn’t so. In fact, the land was barren due to a lack of rain.]

The deity began telling a story from long, long ago. It was a tale so ancient, it was impossible to guess whether it had happened decades or centuries before.