I was transported to a world of beast-men and adopted by the Serpent King. But then he found a new human female, one who could stomach raw meat. She called me delicate and spoiled. The King started forgetting to feed me, showering all his affection on the newcomer. My vision was blackening from hunger when I caught the scent of cumin-roasted meat on the wind. My mouth watered so much the drool was practically dripping from my chin. Following the aroma, I found a stash of wild barbecue and began to devour it through my tears. Suddenly, a net dropped from the sky. A beast-man shouted, "Chief! We caught something!" A fluffy little black puppy stared at me, its tail wagging furiously. Wait a second… isn't that my dog, Buddy? 1 It was the third day Kael had cut off my food supply, and the hunger was unbearable. The table in my room was piled high with raw, bloody meat. I clutched my stomach, retching at the sight, when my nose twitched. I smelled it—the rich, smoky aroma of cumin-dusted barbecue. … Three days ago, we were celebrating our formal engagement. A human girl stumbled into the ceremony. The moment she saw Kael’s half-human, half-serpent form, she threw herself at him, clinging to his massive tail. She stroked his scales, shouting, "Oh my god, a real naga! And two tails! So smooth, so delicious… I could just eat you up!" Kael, cold and obsessive about his personal space, was disgusted. He was about to drag her away to be food for the others. I couldn't bear it. I persuaded him that we couldn't just eat people. So instead, he gave the girl to one of the other serpent-men. But then, things started to change. I'd be sharing a story with Kael, only to find his gaze fixed on the other woman. Her name was Zara, and she was… unrestrained. She embraced the local customs with a wild enthusiasm, eating raw meat and drinking blood from the kill. Like the other serpent-folk, she refused to wear clothes. She would plop herself down on the laps of males who already had mates, laughing it off. "We're all friends here! Don't be so stingy, 'sis'." The serpent females said nothing, but they quietly found new husbands. In private, they came to me to vent. "Anne, it seems only the King can resist that female. I guess our exes just didn't love us enough." "The King is so loyal. Only a truly powerful male can resist temptation and devote himself to his mate. You're so lucky." I went to Kael, suggesting that for the sake of harmony within the tribe, we had to send Zara away. He didn't speak, just sat silently in the hot spring. "I'll go," he finally said. I nodded, my tone relieved. "Good. I'll go make it clear to her right now." Kael turned his head, his eyes flashing with impatience. "I meant you should go. Go back to our room and cool your head. Picking fights with other females… it doesn't align with that 'respect for women' you're always talking about, Anne." My steps faltered. I tripped, falling into the tall grass, and stayed there for a long moment, my mind reeling. Kael, who had only ever spoken to me with tenderness, what had happened to him? When I finally pulled myself to my feet, I heard splashing from the hot spring. I looked back just in time to see Zara surface, a bright, triumphant smile on her face. "Hey! Thanks for covering for me! If she'd found out, I'd have been in big trouble." A faint blush crept up Kael's neck as he pushed her away. "That's enough. Don't come here again. This spring is for my mate and me." Zara pouted, wrapping her arms around his serpentine tail and whining coquettishly. "But I don't want to bathe with anyone else. I like you. And you like me too, don't you? You're already… reacting. Besides, you've got two to spare. One for me, and one exclusively for her." She went on, her voice dripping with mock sympathy. "Your fiancée is just too demanding. Why can't she adapt? This isn't the modern world, you know. She should respect your culture. Powerful males like you are meant to have many lovers. Liking just one is so boring! I can accept that. She's just too delicate." A sharp pain lanced through my chest. I leaned against a tree for support, staring at them. Kael had chosen his name just for me, to complement mine. He had carved this very spring from the rock with his own hands. He couldn't possibly agree. But Kael was silent, a thoughtful look on his face. The girl smiled and slipped back beneath the water. He didn't refuse her. My legs felt weak as I stumbled toward the spring, my eyes locked on Kael's. 2 "Get her out of there." Kael’s jaw tightened. His body was tense as he told me, in a strained whisper, to leave. I didn't budge. I grabbed a rock from the edge of the spring and hurled it at the dark shape moving beneath the water. Kael instantly snatched the woman from the depths, shielding her with his body. The rock slammed into his back. He grunted in pain, but his first words were for her. "Are you okay?" Zara, perched on his tail, wiped her mouth and smirked at me. "I'm fine. But look at your fiancée, about to throw a tantrum. You've really spoiled her. Real human females aren't like this, you know." Only a chosen mate was allowed to touch his tail, yet he had let Zara explore it freely. I reached for another rock, but he whipped his tail around, striking my arm with a sharp crack. The searing pain brought tears to my eyes, and I instinctively looked to him for comfort. Before, if I so much as got a paper cut, he would rush to lick the wound clean. This time, Kael just stared at me, his eyes filled with condemnation. The next second, his back went rigid, and his ears flushed crimson. Zara let out a throaty laugh. "What? All I did was give you a little squeeze. You're so sensitive, it's cute. Your fiancée never did that for you? She's such a prude." He was completely lost to his own body, his eyes clouded with lust. "I'm going to call your name three times," I said, my voice low and shaking. "If you don't stop, I'm leaving." The first time. Kael frowned and turned, as if to say something, but Zara silenced him with a kiss. The second time, he tried to rise from the water. She hooked her arm through his. "She's just jealous. Are you really going to let a woman boss you around? Are you even a man?" The third time, he didn't even look at me. He just pulled her into his arms. I turned my back on them, tore the engagement circlet he had made for me from my head, and threw the pieces to the ground. 3 Back in our room, I started packing. Knitted dresses, soft cotton skirts, and even the clumsily stitched undergarments he had made for me. I spread them out on the bed. Staring at the clothes Kael had sewn with his own hands, a bitter, delayed sorrow washed over me. Tears streamed down my face. He had found me when I first arrived in this world. The powerful Serpent King, who used his lethal tail—a hunter's weapon—to playfully weave flower crowns for my hair. In this world of casual nudity, he had listened to my descriptions and painstakingly found fabric to make me clothes. Here, eating raw meat was the norm. When he saw me retching at the sight of bloody flesh, he had wracked his brain, listening to my descriptions of cooking, trying to create fire with sticks, even capturing lightning in a jar. He learned to roast meat for me. A cold-blooded serpent, going against his very nature, enduring the searing heat of the flames. His arm was covered in burns, all for me. He respected my customs. He took care of me. So when he knelt on one knee, in the human way, and offered me the mate's circlet, I had said yes. "Anne," he had promised, "I will be loyal. You will be my only female. You fear the pain of childbirth and don't want children, so I will forsake my own desire to reproduce. For you, I will accept the rules of your human world." Now, those promises were like wounds that had just started to bleed, tearing me apart. I wanted to scream. I bit down on my own hand, trying to steady my breathing, but my sobs were uncontrollable, my whole body shaking. How could he stop loving me, just like that? Because of her? The new arrival? Was that all it took? I packed quickly, needing a clean break. But as I slung the bag over my shoulder, Kael appeared in the doorway, still dripping from the spring. The lust had faded from his dark eyes. They were fixed on my bag, a vein throbbing in his arm. "Where are you going? Are you this jealous? We didn't go all the way." I raised my hand and slapped him, a light, sharp sound in the quiet room. "In my world, emotional cheating is still betrayal. I don't accept it. The engagement is off. I'm leaving." 4 Kael calmly rubbed his cheek. Then he took my hand, the one I’d slapped him with, and gently squeezed it. "Don't you remember, Anne? You can't go back. We searched everywhere when you first arrived. We tried every method. You can only stay here. What home do you have to go back to?" He laid the cruel truth bare. My face was a cold mask. "I can go to another tribe," I said, refusing to admit defeat. "A place where I'll be respected." A playful voice interrupted us. Zara came running up, throwing her arms around Kael. "See? I was right! She's threatening to leave. In human society, that's just a tactic to make you want her more. Let her go. She'll be back." Kael cut her off. He pushed me back into the room and called for the guards. "No. It's too dangerous outside. Even if she's just throwing a tantrum, I won't risk a female's safety." Such noble words. After that day, I was under house arrest. Kael brought me food every day. Raw meat, raw greens. Still dripping with warm blood. The sight made me physically sick. It was Zara's idea. A test of submission, she'd called it. Every day, after I finished throwing up, I would give the meat to the guards. At first, they pitied me. Then, their pity turned to disgust. "When she was the only human, I thought they were all this delicate. But since Zara arrived, I see now this one is just spoiled." "Everyone else can eat raw meat, go without clothes, drink from the river. But Anne has to be special. Always going on about hygiene and parasites. What parasites? I've never seen any. She's just fussy." "Shh, don't let the King hear you. He gets angry. She's been on a hunger strike for days, and it's making him miserable. Who knew a female could be so self-destructive?" It was the third day Kael had cut off my food supply, and the hunger was unbearable. My stomach was a knot of agony. I huddled in the corner, staring at the pile of rotting food, the flesh still clinging to the bone. It was disgusting. But I was so hungry. If I didn't eat, I would die. I didn't even have the strength to run. I reached out a trembling hand, fighting back the nausea, ready to grab a piece of meat. But then, a scent hit me. Rich, fragrant, and unmistakable—the smell of cumin-roasted barbecue! A sudden surge of energy shot through me. I stood up and followed the smell. It was coming from the bushes just outside the tribal grounds. 5 But there were two guards at the door. They were yawning, waiting for their shift to end. I gathered up the day's portion of raw meat and approached them, my voice soft. "Here, you can have this. Not just today, but every day. Just… let me step outside for a minute." They were hungry, but they shook their heads, urging me to go back inside. They didn't trust me. "My Lady, if you don't eat a single bite, the King will have our heads," one sighed. "If you'd just be reasonable, even a small mouthful would be enough. We're stuck here guarding you, and we're going to miss the matchmaking festival tonight." That was my chance. The two guards were staring wistfully at the distant celebration. I steeled myself, picked up a slice of meat, and took a small bite, swallowing it down before I could vomit. Their faces lit up. "My Lady, you're finally eating! We have to report this to the King!" They were so excited they took off without a second thought, the half-eaten piece of meat in hand as proof. The moment they were gone, I bolted out the door, following the rich aroma of barbecue to a small clearing behind a thicket of bushes. There, on a large leaf, was a pile of freshly grilled meat skewers. They were still steaming. I threw myself at them, stuffing my face like a wild animal. Each bite was heaven, so delicious it was explosive. Tears streamed down my face as I ate, my sobs muffled by the food. Then, I heard a rustling sound behind me. I looked up, suddenly alert, just as a net dropped from the sky.
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