Until our wedding anniversary.
I'd planned to surprise Sid at home.
But when he walked through the door, he found me collapsed on the bathroom floor, my body ice-cold, my neck covered in rows of tiny fang marks.
After I died, my soul didn't scatter. I watched the little white snake crawl off my corpse.
Its skin split open, inch by inch.
A flash of white light, and a woman in a white dress threw herself into Sid's arms.
He kissed her, eyes red-rimmed.
“Bianca, I'm sorry you had to pretend to be a snake all those months. Now that you've drained her lifeblood, you can finally have your human form back.”
Maya ran over too, beaming.
“Mama Bianca, you're finally back!”
That was when I understood.
The so-called spirit snake held the soul of Sid's first love, Bianca Lyell — the one that got away, the one who died young.
And I was nothing but a blood bag they'd kept alive for her.
In this second life, I would never again let them stand on my bones to build their happy little family of three.
I watched Sid bend over my hand, tending to the wound.
The white snake lay coiled in the Jade Terrarium, tongue flicking lazily.
The smugness in its eyes was barely concealed.
I pulled my hand back and slowly wiped the blood from my fingertips.
“If it likes biting people so much, maybe we should get rid of it.”
The room went dead silent.
Sid froze mid-motion.
Maya threw herself over the terrarium, her voice pitching high with panic. ：“No!”
Sid tamped down the alarm in his eyes and softened his voice.
：“Janet, she's just nervous in a new environment. Give her a few days and she'll settle down. Besides, Maya and I picked her out together as a gift for you. You wouldn't want to disappoint your own daughter, would you?”
I looked down at the two of them.
My husband.
My daughter.
Both frantic over a snake.
As though what I wanted to send away wasn't a pet.
But their real wife and mother.
After a long moment, I smiled.
“All right. Since you both put so much thought into it, I'll take good care of her.”
Sid and Maya both let out a breath, relief breaking across their faces.
Only the white snake in the terrarium lifted its head without a sound.
It watched me, tongue flicking once, slow and deliberate.
As if to say, “Smart choice.”
I watched it right back, my smile deepening.
Bianca.
This time around, let's take our time.
Sid carried the Jade Terrarium into the master bedroom himself.
I stood in the doorway, tone flat.
：“Does it have to sleep in our room?”
Sid's hands stilled.
“Bianca gets cold easily. The master bedroom has the most stable temperature.”
Maya wrapped herself around my leg, wheedling.
：“Mommy, Bianca's really timid. Please don't make her leave, okay?”
Timid?
She wasn't timid when she tore into my throat in the last life.
I walked to the terrarium and bent down to look at her.
The little white snake lay coiled neatly, like a ribbon of fresh snow.
The moment I leaned in, her jaws snapped open, lunging to bite.
I didn't flinch.
Two fingers closed around her throat, right at the kill spot—precise and unforgiving.
The snake's whole body locked rigid.
Her tail thrashed wildly, rattling against the terrarium walls.
Maya burst into tears.
“Mommy! You're hurting Bianca!”
Sid's face went white. He crossed the room in three strides.
“Janet, what the hell are you doing?”
I let go.
The snake immediately shrank to the bottom of the terrarium, its body trembling faintly.
Sid crouched down and murmured to it, his voice so gentle it could melt.
“It's okay, Bianca. Don't be scared. I'll protect you.”
My stomach turned.
In the last life, he never once spoke to me that way.
When I was pregnant and burning with a hundred-and-four-degree fever, all he said was that I was being dramatic.
