NOVEL NEXT Chapter 386: Let's Get Married Darling!
Nala didn't know what to do with herself. Her entire life, she had been the one who made others squirm, the shameless, eccentric lamia who said things no one else dared to say, who threw her antics like a net and watched people flail.
She was the one who bullied, who teased, who left people sputtering and retreating in embarrassment.
But now?
Now it was completely reversed.
This man, this infuriating, smug, impossible man, was pulling all the strings. He'd cornered her, mocked her, replayed her most shameless words back at her, and the result was a heat in her cheeks so strong she wanted to roll across the ground just to bury her face in the dirt.
She wanted to bash her head against the nearest tree until the memories of what she'd said were erased.
It was the first time in her life she had ever felt like this, and she hated it.
She preferred to be in control. To be the one smirking while others flustered, not the other way around. To tease, not to be teased.
And yet here she was, captured in his arms, her tail still pinned in his grip, unable to wriggle away, drowning in humiliation.
For a split second, she even thought, 'Maybe I should just faint again. Like before. Just flop and escape this nightmare.'
Her lip trembled, eyes threatening to water from the sheer mortification.
But then, in that haze of panic, a thought struck her like a lightning bolt. A realization so sharp and clear it made her freeze.
'Wait a minute...I don't even need to feel this way.'
Her breathing steadied. Slowly, her blush shifted, still there but tempered with something else, something sly. Because she had just remembered something very important.
Humans didn't like lamias.
Not really. Not as partners. Not as wives. Not as lovers.
The truth was like every species, humans preferred their own kind. Humans with humans. Elves with elves. Ogres with ogres. The list went on.
Sure, sometimes there were exceptions. Interspecies relationships weren't unheard of. But even then, they usually happened when the species looked close enough to human.
Like a cat-girl, with her soft ears and tail. A bunny-girl, with her twitching nose and fluff. Maybe even a fox-woman.
But all of them still had human legs, human frames...Close enough to pass.
But lamias?...Never.
From the waist up, they could pass.
But from the waist down, they were serpents, scaled and coiled and utterly alien.
Humans recoiled, every time. No exceptions. In all of history, there were only myths, legends of lamia-human love, but those were just that, stories. Fantasies. Nobody believed them.
And so, Nala realized, as much as Cassius smirked and called her his wife, he wasn't serious. He couldn't be serious. He was just teasing her.
Which meant...she had leverage.
Her eyes widened as it sank in. 'That's it. That's how I turn this around.'
Even if it stung, because yes, deep down, she knew he wouldn't ever truly want her as his wife, it still gave her an opening. A way to stop being the embarrassed one, to flip the game back on him.
A slow smile spread across her lips. Her tears dried before they could even fall. She tilted her head toward him, and Cassius, sharp as he was, immediately caught the change in her expression. His smugness faltered into suspicion.
"…What are you plotting now?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.
She didn't answer. She slithered closer, coils dragging silently over the grass.
Before he could react, her tail lashed out, not in anger, but with calculated grace. She wrapped herself around him again, smooth and firm, until he was bound tight in her coils.
Not squeezing to hurt, just enough to hold. Just enough to make sure he couldn't escape.
Her face then leaned in close, that knowing smile still curved across her lips. Her eyes glittered with mischief.
"Well, well…" She murmured, her voice dripping with confidence now. "Look who's the one caught now."
Cassius blinked at her, completely caught off guard by the sudden shift. One moment she had been wailing about wanting to drown herself in the lake, and now she was leaning into him with that sly smile plastered on her lips.
He opened his mouth, ready to ask what on earth she was pulling this time, but before he could get a word out Nala beat him to it.
Her eyes softened, and she whispered with a bittersweet smile.
"Actually, Darling...I should apologize for earlier. For how I acted as if I didn't want to be with you...as your wife. For running away like that."
Cassius stiffened at the word "Darling." She hadn't called him that since before she fainted, and hearing it again completely threw him off balance.
But what truly unsettled him was the sorrowful look she gave him—he could tell it was forced, but it was there all the same.
"I wasn't running because I didn't want you." She went on, her voice dipping lower. "The truth is...I was just shy. Too embarrassed to hear you say those words."
"You see, I'm completely inexperienced in matters like this. Love, marriage, romance...all of that is new to me. I've lived twenty-three years without ever once imagining something like this for myself."
Her tail tightened around him, forcing him to stay still.
"So when you said those things, it completely caught me off guard. It scared me, Darling. That's why I ran."
Cassius raised a brow, skeptical but curious where she was going with this.
But then her lips curved, her eyes glinting with a mischievous light as she leaned closer and said.
"But now...now I've realized something." She paused, tilting her head, letting the silence stretch until Cassius found himself leaning unconsciously closer just to hear the words. "Even though we've only just met...even though I don't even know your name yet…" She closed her eyes, her voice dropping into a murmur. "I realized that you're the one for me."
Cassius froze, his eyes widening. He had expected denial, teasing, maybe even another outrageous attempt to wriggle free, but not this brazen confession.
Nala, seeing the genuine shock on his face, thought triumphantly to herself, 'Perfect. Everything's going perfectly.'
"I mean, come on." She continued breezily. "Who else would burn his entire back for me? Who else would smile through such pain, just to keep me from being scared? Men like that don't exist anymore."
"...Especially since the market for good men these days is so scarce, Darling, and yet here you are. An exception among exceptions."
Cassius felt his lips twitch. 'Market for good men?'
But she wasn't done. She tilted her head again, smiling brightly.
"Not to mention, you're fun. So fun. Talking with you feels like I've known you my whole life, even though it's only been minutes. And you don't flinch at my words, don't pull back, don't look at me with those awkward eyes everyone else does."
"...No, you reply, you push back, you even outdo me. Do you know how rare that is?"
Cassius couldn't deny that her words warmed him, even though he knew she was scheming.
"I always thought I was the shameless one." She admitted with a chuckle. "But then I met you. And you're just as shameless as me. Maybe even worse. That's why..." She leaned in so close her breath brushed his lips. "...we were made for each other. It's like the stars themselves aligned for us to meet."
Cassius narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He could feel it now, she was building up to something.
And indeed, Nala's gaze sharpened, her smile turning knowing. Time to land the final blow, she thought, even though it stung to admit what she was about to say.
But the thought of flipping this situation around filled her with glee.
She pressed her palm flat against his chest, her tail squeezing tighter around his waist as she whispered,
"That's why...I think we should be together. Not just as lovers, not just as some passing fling. But as husband and wife."
Cassius flinched.
"Yes." She went on, her voice smooth, confident, teasing. "A married couple who promise to live with and trust each other for the rest of their lives. Isn't it perfect, Darling? Can't you already picture it?"
And before Cassius could stop her, she barreled ahead, painting the picture with sparkling eyes.
"We'd live in a little cottage, just the two of us. I'd be the housemaid, cooking and keeping everything warm and nice. You'd work the farm, strong and dependable. And then..." Her smile widened, dreamy. "...we'd have children. So many children."
"Some would be human, some lamia, and some...a perfect mixture of both. They'd slither and run around everywhere. A noisy, happy, beautiful family."
She actually blushed, biting her lip as if the image genuinely made her happy. But then she quickly shook her head and covered it up with another sly grin.
"That's why..." She whispered, leaning so close now her nose nearly brushed his. "...we should just get married, Darling. Don't you think that's a perfect idea?"