Watching as the Myriad Snake Queen sat on Yan Zhen’s lap, Yun Xiu felt a sour twinge in her heart. But she knew this was just Yan Yan acting spoiled with her own father and had nothing to do with the Myriad Snake Queen herself, so she held her tongue.
The Myriad Snake Queen herself, however, was utterly mortified and annoyed. Even in her previous life, she never would have sat on Yan Zhen’s lap like some little girl!
“Yan Yan, get down from there! What kind of decorum is this?”
She had lost count of how many times she’d snapped at her daughter like this.
Emboldened by her father’s support, however, the little princess shot back without fear:
“What’s the big deal? Father Emperor is this baby’s father, and he’s Mother Concubine’s husband too! It’s not weird at all for a wife to sit on her husband’s lap~ Aunt Zi does it all the time, sitting right in Father Emperor’s lap face-to-face, arms wrapped around his neck, even smooching. They’re so lovey-dovey~”
At those words, an unwelcome image flashed through the Myriad Snake Queen’s mind. Her cheeks flushed faintly as she inwardly cursed Zi Xunyi for being so careless—letting the child catch her like that.
“She’s her, and I’m me. Get down right now, or I’ll send you back to the sea of consciousness to watch the show.”
“Mother Concubine, you big stingy-pants~ This baby’s gonna tattle to Father Emperor that you’re bullying his daughter!”
“Heh, This Queen isn’t scared of him anymore.”
“If Mother Concubine keeps this up, you’ll lose both this baby and Father Emperor…”
“Enough chatter—are you getting down or not?”
“Nope! This baby wants to sit on Father Emperor’s lap!”
Unlike Yan Zhen, that total pushover for his daughter, the Myriad Snake Queen had no intention of indulging her. She immediately forced Yan Yan to disconnect, reclaiming control of her own body.
Earlier, after Yan Yan had possessed her body and gone scampering around the palace, the Myriad Snake Queen had wisely built in a “forced switch” safeguard.
With a shift of consciousness, the fiery red streak vanished from amid her hair. Her eyes reverted to their blood-red vertical slits, and an aura of regal authority radiated from her once more—the very picture of a clan queen.
But no sooner had she switched back than regret hit her like a thunderbolt.
She was still perched squarely on Yan Zhen’s lap, his hands steady on her waist. A wave of faint shame washed over her, her body beginning to warm despite herself.
In her previous life, she and Yan Zhen had coupled in positions just like this, more often than not.
—I’ve got to get up, and fast!
That was her thought—but then she felt it: something hot and insistent wedged right between her thighs, its scorching heat seeping through layers of fabric to convey its owner’s churning desire. She froze, startled into stillness.
—Yan Zhen?
Shock coursed through the Myriad Snake Queen. He clearly hadn’t noticed her return, which meant… this reaction was meant for Yan Yan?
No, wait! Yan Yan was borrowing her body, and with contact this intimate, how could a hot-blooded young man like Yan Zhen not respond?
Coming back to herself at last, the Myriad Snake Queen first heaved a quiet sigh of relief—then tensed right back up.
Now what?
Jumping up abruptly would expose Yan Zhen’s awkward state and humiliate him.
But staying put… she might end up soaked herself.
Her dignity, or her husband’s? The Myriad Snake Queen wavered, mulling it over for a long moment before deciding: better to calm Yan Zhen down first. After all, she had plenty of experience in such matters.
Her full, plush thighs clamped down tight. She rubbed them softly against him, squeezing in a steady rhythm. Hidden beneath her sleeve, her fingers scraped lightly at the blunt tip with her nail bed, teasing with precise control.
Yan Zhen shivered violently. His arms tightened around the Myriad Snake Queen, seizing her scaled wrists—he clearly wanted her to stop.
She ignored him. Instead, her nail parted the fabric, letting the pad of her finger take over with direct, skillful strokes and presses. Back in her previous life, it was these “special techniques” that she and Zi Xunyi had used to hold their own against Yan Zhen’s prowess.
For all his prodigious talent, even Yan Zhen couldn’t withstand the vise of her thighs combined with the exquisite dance of her fingertips. He held out for a time, then crumbled.
The Myriad Snake Queen caught the release in her hand, wrapped it in mystic power, and slipped it into her sleeve.
She thought that was the end of it—until she realized Yan Zhen was still rock-hard, showing no sign of softening.
“…”
Biting her lip to stave off frustration, she steeled herself to keep guiding his body and mind, lest her earlier efforts go to waste.
“Wait, She Ji!” Yan Zhen had caught on now—the woman in his lap was his future wife, not his future daughter. His mental voice echoed straight into her mind. “Stop that—we’ll get caught!”
—You idiot! Don’t send me mental messages—Yan Yan’s still in my sea of consciousness!
The Myriad Snake Queen’s face drained of color. Sure enough, an instant later, Yan Yan’s mental fluctuations pulsed from between her brows:
“Father Emperor, Mother Concubine—what are you two sneaking around doing?”
Pure curiosity laced her words.
—We’re done for!
Yan Yan’s voice yanked Yun Xiu’s attention from the performance below to Yan Zhen and the Myriad Snake Queen. She instantly clocked the shift: the queenly aura so unlike Yan Yan’s, those blood-red vertical pupils, the jet-black hair—all the Myriad Snake Queen’s true features.
“She Ji, you’ve switched back with your daughter, haven’t you? So why are you still camped out on Yan Zhen’s lap?”
The Myriad Snake Queen’s expression grew awkward:
“I just switched back.”
Yun Xiu’s brows furrowed:
“Then get off.”
“I-in a second.”
She said it, but she didn’t budge.
Standing up now would lay everything bare—including her own damp state.
Yun Xiu glanced at Yan Zhen. His face was flushed crimson, and realization dawned on her in a flash.
“You two… you couldn’t have—”
The Myriad Snake Queen nibbled her lip, then resolved herself and sent Yan Zhen a mental command:
“Kiss her. Now.”
Yan Zhen froze:
“Huh?”
“Pull her down with us! If we’re all embarrassed together, we can just pretend nothing happened!”
“But—”
“Hurry up! This Queen will not lose face in front of her! If we’re going down, we go down together!”
“…”
—Damn the consequences.
Yan Zhen lunged forward, wrapping an arm around Yun Xiu’s slender waist and yanking her toward him. Before she could react, his lips claimed her soft pink ones.
“Mmmph~”
Yun Xiu’s lovely eyes flew wide. She squirmed lightly at first, but Yan Zhen pressed on relentlessly, plundering her mouth until she yielded, kissing him back.
No longer bothering to hide, the Myriad Snake Queen bit her own reddened lip and began grinding her hips—anything to wrap this absurdity up fast.
The snake-fighting spectacle on stage wrapped up just as the fiasco in the booth finally petered out.
The Myriad Snake Queen rose first from Yan Zhen’s lap, smoothing her dress back into flawless order and reclaiming her icy, unapproachable poise. Yan Zhen let go of Yun Xiu, a flicker of apology in his gaze. Yun Xiu’s cheeks burned scarlet as she shot him a resentful glare.
By silent accord, the three said nothing more about it. They settled primly onto the sofa and turned their attention to the next act—utterly forgetting Yan Yan in the process.
“…”
Utterly ignored, Yan Yan moped in her mother’s sea of consciousness, glumly doodling little circles to herself.
It wasn’t until the second performance ended that the trio came back to their senses and remembered to ask Yan Yan where she wanted to go next.
She perked right up, bubbling with excitement:
“This baby wants to go soak in the Tree Serpent Hot Spring!”
The Myriad Snake Queen dashed cold water on that in an instant:
“And how exactly do you plan to bathe looking like that?”
“Um… then this baby wants to do the Snake Boat Race!”
Another icy splash:
“And how do you plan to paddle a boat looking like that?”
“…”
Yan Yan went back to doodling circles in her mother’s sea of consciousness.
