CHAPTER 22: AH, WHERE IS THIS COMING FROM?

I just spurted something deep and it left me feeling uncomfortable inside.

Would anything even change if I said such things? All he cares about is how to consummate and make me carry his snake babies. I’m not sure he was interested in my thoughts.

But then I got a reaction from him. One I wasn’t expecting.

Damar’s brows lowered, but not in anger this time. It was more like confusion... then irritation.

What was he thinking? His shift in emotions was making me uneasy.

"You speak nonsense," he suddenly said, but the way he leaned down, closer, as if smelling the truth on my skin, made my breath hitch. "Utter nonsense."

I stiffened, pressing my elbows tighter to my chest. He didn’t have to say it twice.

"No one would reject you," he continued but I narrowed my eyes.

He has no idea what Arinya has had to go through. What makes him so confident?

"And no one has ever accepted me either," I said, my eyes fixed on those emerald serpentine eyes of his.

"Those males who turned you away... they are fools." He said, which almost made me laugh. Why so serious? "Blind, weak-willed fools. They should be ashamed. Females are precious," he added. "And Arinya is the most precious, so they should’ve cherished you."

His words made me pause for a second, my heart thumping at such affectionate words said with such a cold tone.

"Damar—"

"And if any of them came here right now," he added, tail twitching dangerously behind him, "I would bite them."

I blinked, taken aback.

"B-Bite them?"

He definitely seems like the type to do so.

"I’ll poison them," he clarified plainly, as if that helped, while his tongue slithered out and in so fast that I could barely see it.

I gulped and said,

"That’s not gonna help anyone. Not even me!"

If anything, they’ll only curse at me and blame me for bringing in a snake to poison the village folks.

But Damar ignored me.

He suddenly wrapped his tail around me and took me back to the water.

What was he planning now?

He’s not going to suddenly drown me, is he? I gulped, frightened but then he turned to me, pressing his body against mine and hissed silently.

The hissing sent shivers down my spine as it somehow felt like this snakeman was going to devour me, but he didn’t. Instead, he lowered his face until his forehead rested against mine, his wet silver hair falling to the side like single-strand curtains, glistening with the light that reflected from the water.

I could barely focus, having this handsome man, I mean handsome snakeman so close and acting all... romantic.

His icy-cold eyes stared into mine with no trace of warmth, but for some reason, I felt... secure.

"Arinya," he called, voice barely above a whisper, "I do not want you to say such things again."

What... things?

"I do not want you to speak as if you are unworthy."

Ah, where is this coming from? The conversation is suddenly taking a turn.

Damar seems too loyal towards someone who had yet to accept him. Or is this his way of getting closer to me?

Offering his entire trust and putting me high on a pavement, above every other female?

He did trust me once and let me go, looking forward to our agreed meeting. Ahem, the one I had completely forgotten but still ended up meeting him.

This trust... I raised my hand and touched his face, his wet, silky hair, and then his lips, my thumb softly brushing against that porcelain-like skin and soft lips... No one has ever trusted me so much.

No one has ever spoken up for me either.

No one... Had ever said I was worthy, whether it was in my last life, or as Arinya.

So, I cannot help but feel the weight of this snakeman’s words. It completely shatters the fear in my heart towards his kind. Well, almost completely.

But—I swallowed, my throat suddenly feeling tight—It made me feel warm inside.

I can’t believe a snake is making me feel warm, how tragic, haha, and... How sweet.

"I—It’s not that I’m being dramatic," I muttered, finally able to tear my gaze from him. "It’s just what it is. They never even bothered to really look at me. They just decided I wasn’t it." I said, and in a whisper, added. "All of them."

Those words carried a weight. A painful weight of being an outcast and rejected multiple times.

His fingers brushed my cheek, rubbing gently at a stray droplet of water.

"They never looked," he said, suddenly agreeing with me, his eyes narrowing, "...because they were too arrogant to lower their heads. To see you closely. Arinya," he suddenly smiled, one that stole my breath away. "I see you."

I wanted to gulp but even my throat had gone dry, as if I was dehydrated in the middle of a lake.

But, excuse me, why is he suddenly poetic?

He lifted my chin with a slow, deliberate movement, the smile completely vanishing like it had never been there.

What I would do to see such a beautiful smile from this snakeman.

"You are desirable," he murmured, staring into me like he could see my core. "Too desirable and attractive. I could barely keep myself still the first moment I scented you."

"That..." I began to sweat nervously and pursed my lips. "...was because I peed on you."

"I told you it’s not because of the pee." He said, not like he ever took the time to explain to me what the scent he was attracted to was.

But... I sniffed my arm again, still couldn’t get the scent... Now that I’ve washed up, it seems the scent is still there.

So I can assume it’s not a real physical scent like perfume of flowers. If he insists there is a scent even now, then I guess there is a scent. But I just can’t smell it.

His tail slowly loosened its grip around my waist.

"I’m not lying to you," he said quietly. "I am not mocking you. Why do you doubt yourself? I have never met a female in denial like you before."

And I assume you’ve met a ton of females.