NOVEL NEXT Chapter 381: Corpse Husband
Their laughter mingled in the night, a strange warmth filling the air between them. But then Cassius's grin faltered slightly. He closed his eyes, his body slackening.
"Ah...I think this is it. I'm...fading. Everything's blurry now...can't see straight anymore. I'll pass away soon…"
Her tail jerked nervously, her hands tightening into fists.
"But...before I die, there's one last thing I want. Just one more." He exhaled, his voice soft but insistent. "Can, you tell me...tell me your name."
Her lips parted, and for a moment she hesitated. Then her eyes narrowed slyly, and she leaned closer, a cheeky grin tugging her mouth.
"You won't...you won't give my name to the Grim Reaper when you meet him, will you?" She teased softly, her tone half-mocking, half-tender.
"Depends." He rasped. "If he's got a thing for lamia girls...maybe I will."
Her cheeks puffed out, her eyes narrowing with indignant fire.
"You better not!" She snapped, her tail thudding against the earth. "I don't mind if you whisper my name to the gods when you float up to heaven, but you better not go crawling to the devil and telling him!"
"...I've had unlucky luck enough already without you dragging me down to hell with your nonsense!"
But then, her anger softened into something gentler. She leaned closer, her gaze turning warm, voice trembling with unexpected tenderness.
"But since you're a man on your last dying breath and you want to know my name so much, let me humour you...is Nala."
"...Nala Vashira. I hope your ears are still working enough to hear it."
Cassius's lips curved faintly, his eyes half-lidded but gleaming as he looked at her.
"Don't worry. They are." He whispered, voice weak but steady. "I heard it. Nala...That really is a pretty name."
Her chest swelled with pride, and she straightened up, puffing her breasts forward and smacking them with a loud thwap of flesh against flesh.
"Of course it's pretty! It means 'Queen of Snakes' in my language. A name perfectly suited for someone as beautiful and magnificent as me, doesn't it?"
She expected him to answer, to roll his eyes, or tease her like he did. But for some reason he didn't answer at all and was silent.
"Hey, why aren't you—"
When she looked down to see what happened, she saw his eyes were closed. His chest had stilled. His lips no longer moved.
Her smugness faded instantly and slowly, dread filled her eyes as her smile cracked, slipped, and finally fell into a sorrowful frown.
She reached out with trembling fingers and poked his cheek lightly.
"…Oh." She whispered. "So you died."
Her throat tightened.
"I-I wasn't expecting that…" Her voice broke. Then she shook her head quickly, correcting herself. "No, that's not true. I knew you were going to die. But...now that you actually did, I...I don't know what to feel."
"I wasn't ready. You didn't even...even finish the conversation…"
Her hand lingered on his cheek as her voice wavered.
"You didn't even introduce yourself. I told you my name, and you just…" She let out a sharp breath through her nose, half a sob, half-frustration. "That's rude, you know. Very rude."
She expected him to retort back with something after she had called him out. But once again there was silence and she finally realised completely that he really had passed on.
The realization struck her heavily. He really wasn't going to reply. He really was gone.
Her eyes grew hot, her lashes wet, tears finally spilling freely. She rubbed at her cheeks quickly, bewildered by the wetness.
"Wow." She muttered, voice cracking. "I'm actually crying...I was just tearing up before, but now I'm really crying…" She sniffled, swiping her cheeks roughly with her wrist. "Guess it's true then. I really am sad that you're gone. And it's not even a joke anymore…"
She glared down at him through her tears, jabbing his cheek again with an angry poke.
"You little cheeky bastard...how dare you make me feel this way?!"
Her chest heaved, the tears falling faster as she babbled through her pain.
"I don't usually get this close to anyone, not so quickly! I always keep my guard up. The world is dangerous, especially for a beauty like me, so of course I'm careful!"
"But you, you sneaky snake, you managed to worm your way in! Not even ten minutes, and you made me laugh, made me cry...how dare you!" She poked his cheek again, harder, her voice breaking. "People say I'm the snake, but you...you're the real snake, you sneaky little serpent!"
Her vision blurred with tears, her words dripping sorrow and frustration in equal measure.
And all the while, Cassius, who had only been pretending, lay frozen beneath her hands, utterly floored.
He had expected her to scoff at his "death." to roll her eyes. He thought she wouldn't care if he passed.
But this, this raw, unfiltered grief, stunned him. She was crying, truly crying, and it pierced deeper than any acid wound.
He almost sat up right then, almost blurted out the truth to stop those tears. But before he could, she hiccuped, wiping her eyes with trembling fingers, and her words shifted again, cutting him in an entirely new way.
"A-And not only that..." She said, her voice trembling with indignant fury. "You made me cry, even though I don't even know your name! You made me regret not getting to know you better! And...And—"
She slapped her hands against her bare chest, which was still exposed, her breasts bouncing heavily.
"You saw these! My breasts! They're still out in the open, thanks to you! A part of me that was only meant for my lover, my future husband! And, well, my children someday too, when I breastfeed them."
"...But you, you went and saw them! You touched them! You buried your face in them!"
Her voice rose, half-sob, half-shriek.
"And now, because of you, I can't marry anyone else anymore! No one else can see them! I have to stay single forever! And it's all your fault!"
Cassius's eyes, still closed in his act, nearly popped open at her declaration. Inside, he reeled.
She wasn't joking. She meant it. Her conviction rang clear in every word. For all her shameless boasting and absurd bravado, she was pure-hearted in this—so pure that she was truly ready to sacrifice marriage itself just because he had seen a part of her she deemed sacred.
And for the first time that night, Cassius felt something far heavier than amusement, lust, or even shamelessness.
He felt guilt. Guilt for tricking such a pure hearted girl.
He had toyed with her, milked her reactions for his own amusement, but now watching her tears spill raw and unfiltered, he couldn't stomach it. He nearly sat up, ready to break the act and reveal the truth.
But then, her voice stopped him once again.
Nala sniffled, rubbed her cheeks dry with her palms, and curved her lips into a wry, bitter smile.
"But...I guess it doesn't matter anyway." She whispered softly. "It's not like anyone would ever marry me anyway."
Cassius froze. His eyes opened a slit beneath lowered lids, confusion flickering through him.
Just moments ago this girl had puffed her chest, boasted endlessly about her beauty, even claimed it was her duty to flaunt how irresistible she was.
And she was gorgeous, staggeringly so, the kind of beauty that could topple cities if she ever wanted it to. Yet now...she sounded like she truly believed no one would ever want her.
Her voice grew low, wistful. "Humans look at me, at my face, my chest, and they're drawn in. But the moment they see my tail, they scream, they run. To them, I'm a monster the instant I move."
Her tail twitched behind her, curling on itself. Her eyes glistened.
"And my own clan, other lamia, people who look just like me, they're no better. They whisper that I'm cursed. Because my tail isn't green, or brown, or patterned like theirs...Because mine is white."
"To them, that's a curse. They treat me like I bring bad luck just by existing." She laughed faintly, brittle as glass. "So what am I supposed to be? To humans, I'm a monster. To lamia, I'm cursed."
"...It's like the gods stitched the perfect blend of ugly and beauty together just for me."
Cassius's chest tightened. The words made no sense to him. She was radiant, intoxicating, more alive than most of the people he'd met in his wandering. He couldn't fathom how her own people could see her as anything but extraordinary.
Nala bit her lip, her gaze falling to him.
"But maybe...maybe that's why I should just make you my husband instead."
Cassius almost bolted upright. His heart skipped.
'Did she just—?'
Her tone was almost casual, almost teasing, but behind it lay a strange sincerity.
"Just, think about it." She said, sniffing. "I've already shown you my naked body. That basically makes me your partner anyway. So in a way...that means I'm your wife now."
"And if anyone ever asks me if I had a husband, I can say yes. I had one. He was a brave man who tragically died saving me."
Her eyes lit up as the idea solidified, and she actually sat straighter, patting herself on the chest proudly.
"Yes! That's perfect! It saves me from pity. People won't look at me like I'm a sad, lonely snake who could never find anyone. Instead they'll think, poor Nala, she had a noble husband who died for her!"
"...How tragic, how romantic! What a wonderful story."
Cassius's mouth nearly unhinged. 'She was, making him into her dead husband?'
Nala nodded enthusiastically, completely lost in her own scheme.
"And of course, you weren't just any man. You were a noble. Yes, a powerful noble, with riches and influence, someone who could walk into the king's castle whenever he wanted."
"But instead of marrying some princess, you fell in love with me, the lamia girl with the white tail. Doesn't that make the story perfect?"
She clasped her hands together with gleeful pride.
"Nala, you genius! How can you be so brilliant!?"
Cassius had to bite his tongue to keep from bursting out laughing. She was patting herself on the back like she had just invented fire, while casually binding his corpse into holy matrimony.
She then looked down at him again, smiling brightly now, her eyes glowing.
"That's settled then. From now on, you're my husband. Even if you're already dead, even if we didn't exchange rings or vows, it doesn't matter."
"I was with you in your final moments, just like any wife would be. That makes it official." She jabbed her finger into his chest, sealing it with authority. "From here on out, you're my husband, and no one can change that."
Cassius nearly choked on his own breath, the urge to laugh bubbling like acid in his throat. She was mad. Delightfully, absurdly mad.
But then, she tilted her head, her expression shifting. Her gaze softened, and what came out of her mouth next sent him reeling.
"…But it's just a shame." She whispered. "It would've been nice if you'd given me some children first."
Cassius's soul nearly rocketed from his body.
Nala's cheeks warmed faintly as she rambled on, her voice half-dreamy, half-mournful.
"Even if you weren't here anymore, I could've carried your child. I've always wanted children. But because of what I am, I never had the chance. No one ever wanted me. I never thought I'd get the opportunity."
"But then...tonight, I had the chance, didn't I? I could've mated with you. I could've had your child. Carried on your legacy, kept a piece of you with me forever."
Her hands slid instinctively to her belly, pressing against it as though imagining the possibility.
"And now...now it's too late. Gods, that was a bad decision...I should've simply let you go all the way with me instead of just playing around with my breasts...What a loss, what a loss, indeed."
Cassius lay there, silent, his mind spinning in utter disbelief.
A moment ago he had been her "shallow, perverted idiot." Now he was her husband, and she was lamenting not having his children, all while he was supposed to be a corpse.
How in the world did everything change up so quickly?
If making girls fall for him was this easy, then he might as well fake his death all the time to create himself a mega-harem and write a book on this pick-up method...