Chapter 8
My imperial mother looked at me gently.
“Yuan’er, the dream has something to do with him.”
My tears froze halfway down my cheeks.
“What… do you mean?”
“You are afraid of snakes, so I never told you. I intended to reveal the truth when you married him.”
My heart leapt into my throat.
“What truth? What does any of this have to do with snakes?”
My imperial mother explained:
“This is a secret known only to the royal house of Sheng. Our line has stood strong across the Nine Provinces because we are protected by a snake god descended from Nüwa… namely Yujingzi, the man with a serpent’s tail whom you saw in your dream.”
“You were fortunate enough to save the deity during an outing as a child. That is why Sheng has suffered so few natural disasters over the past ten years.”
“Now the deity has taken the form of a monk, partly to receive the incense offerings of the mortal world and partly… most likely, for you.”
“Very few people know of this.”
The revelation struck me like a bolt of lightning.
The sky was falling!
“So that was why Imperial Mother asked him to crown me…”
“Then I-I treated the snake god that way? No wonder he torments me in my dreams every night!”
Even I could hear my voice trembling.
My imperial mother frowned. “Do you mean because your affections wandered and you fell for that prince from the Southern Territories?”
I wanted to cry, but had no tears left. “If only that were all!”
After returning to my estate,
I could not settle down.
I stood, sat, and paced back and forth.
In the end, I decided to find Yujingzi at Daoqing Temple.
No matter what it took, I had to make him forgive me…
My legs were already weak, and I could barely stand outside the temple.
How was I supposed to explain those strange dreams?
My imperial mother said they were connected to him. But I assumed that because I had always forced my love upon him, even the thought of him now turned indecent.
He could not be controlling the dreams.
Yujingzi was too serene and otherworldly, too free of desire. He could never wish to appear in dreams like those.
As I hesitated outside, his clear, gentle voice sounded.
“If the princess has come to meditate and worship the Buddha, why not enter?”
I glanced at Yujingzi in his kasaya, then guiltily lowered my head. I could never look at him as I once had.
I should worship first…
In the past, kneeling before the Buddha had always been a mere formality.
Now, I knelt on the golden prayer cushion with utter sincerity. I wished desperately that Yujingzi could hear the apology in my heart.
I closed my eyes and pressed my palms together, never noticing when the doors of the hall shut.
Something tickled against my silk stockings.
I wanted to reach for it, but forced myself to remain still.
In Sheng, a sincere prayer before the Buddha lasted the time it took one stick of incense to burn. I had come to repent and apologize for forcing myself upon him in the past. If I could not even show proper devotion now, I would truly be beyond redemption.
The tickling sensation grew stronger.
Something slipped beneath my cloak and slowly climbed my calf. It itched terribly…
I kept my eyes shut through the torment, but my clasped hands began to tremble.
Though it was only early spring, the air around me turned stiflingly hot. Each breath left my lips scorching, and my head began to spin.
“Hah… Hah…”
Sweat broke out on my forehead. Unable to endure any longer, I collapsed onto the prayer cushion.
I reached for my calf and pulled out the tip of a white serpentine tail.
All at once, a shadow fell over me.
I turned and found an enormous white python rearing behind me, taller than a man. Its dark blue, eerily cold eyes with vertical pupils stared fixedly at me.
I nearly fainted.
For a moment, I could not tell whether I was awake or dreaming!
The giant python coiled around me, its cold, forked tongue flicking against the side of my neck.
A violent shudder passed through my body.
I squeezed my eyes shut, stiffened my neck, and begged for mercy.
“I should never have defiled or humiliated you… I have turned over a new leaf!”
“I revere snakes with all my heart—I will worship you devoutly, offer incense, and restore the temple…”
“They say nothing is better than recognizing one’s faults and changing, and monks are supposed to be compassionate. Great Snake God, seeing how sincere I am, will you forgive me?”
Yujingzi’s coils tightened. “Revere them? Didn’t the princess say she hated snakes more than anything?”
All hope died in me. My own words had come back to haunt me.
“…I was young and foolish.”
“Was growing bored and casting me aside also the folly of youth?”
I tugged at the tail around my waist, my voice shaking. “If I had known what you were, not even ten times my courage would have made me approach you!”
His lips pressed into a thin line, and anger reddened his eyelids.
“You should regret loving and abandoning me, not regret coming near me!”
He looked so wounded that he struck the softest part of my heart.
Much of my fear subsided.
I hastily agreed with him. “Yes. I truly repent…”
When he said nothing,
I ventured cautiously:
“Could the Snake God… turn back into a man? I really am frightened.”
His gaze darkened, and his voice dropped to a low rasp.
“Mate with me.”
My eyes widened. “???”