My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 8

The past few years of pursuing Margarita have already dealt Yang Hao a heavy blow... He doesn't want to find himself in the end, having become the one who has given so much.

Therefore, this is something that must be seriously discussed... Yang Hao believes that his efforts are definitely not free, and conversely, he doesn't believe that marriage is a one-sided affair where one party makes sacrifices, but rather a mutually beneficial relationship where feelings develop. He has to have a serious talk with Miss Koschitch about this; he absolutely has to.

But before that... let's wait until Margarita returns, pull the city back from the brink of border war, and then—

"...well?"

Just as Yang Hao was contemplating his actions for the next few days, his phone vibrated several times. He paused, then took out his phone and discovered that it was a message from Miss Koschitch.

He quickly opened the message and read the text.

"Is it because of work, and because you didn't want to take your anger out on me, that you didn't have your usual contact last night? Heh, I understand. As for your question about whether there are such foolish people among the nobles of Ursus? Of course there are, but they're mostly below my status."

Huh? Is this good news? Yang Hao blinked and breathed a sigh of relief.

[And I've been thinking about it for a while. I think if we're going to continue developing this relationship, it might be better if we're more open and transparent.]

This? Miss Kosiché has offered to take things further? Yang Hao thought it would take several more months? Turns out—

[I've added you to my VIP list. If you'd like to come to Ursus and experience life here for yourself, you're welcome to come anytime. But you'd better let me know before you come—I've already had the Serpentscales lift their surveillance on you. That's what you wanted.]

"...Actually, what I meant was, don't secretly observe them, just let them stay at my house..." Yang Hao's lips twitched, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself. "But is this good news? If I wanted, I could go to Ursus right now to experience the local customs and culture? Hmm... After all, in the original world, people would live together for a long time before marriage to see if they could tolerate each other's flaws... Does this mean that we can live together before marriage?"

Yang Hao felt that his grand ambition of getting married before his 30th birthday was within reach. He happily muttered to himself the last sentence of the text message: "My gift is on its way and should arrive tonight." He felt that his bad mood of the past two days had vanished without a trace.

Just when he thought he had nothing left to fear, his phone started buzzing again.

"...what?"

I swiped my phone to take a look.

I'll be home this afternoon—I'll unpack and come over right away. You haven't changed your door locks, have you?

It was a text message from Margarita.

Chapter 19

It was around 4 p.m. on the 12th.

When Margarita finally returned home after a long and arduous journey, she threw all her gear on the ground without saying a word, then took off her clothes and rushed into the bathroom, intending to take a shower and wash away the grime before going over.

"Phew... hot water, hot water... I'm so hungry... the blood bag in the fridge—no, I can't drink that... I'll drink it later..."

Standing under the showerhead, feeling the comforting warmth of the hot water washing over her body, Margarita squinted her eyes. Turning off the shower, she squeezed some emerald-green, fragrant liquid from the shower gel dispenser and, while washing herself, reflected on her previous life.

In Margarita's memory, her life until she was 22 was a dark and silent one.

Born as a Sarkaz Blood Demon in a village in the vast wilderness of Colombia, she was secretly taken by her parents, who were also Blood Demons, to live in the civilian district of another mobile city.

However, as Sarkaz blood demons, they constantly endure criticism from others. After all, for them, with their infamous reputation, blood is a necessity, and blood must be obtained from hospital blood banks or directly from people.

Obtaining blood from wild beasts isn't out of the question... but most of the beasts outside the city are infected, and drinking their blood carries the risk of contracting Oripathy. Ordinary livestock isn't a bad option either, but their nutrition is still insufficient, and in some ways, attacking dangerous beasts is less desirable than...

...

The hospital's blood bank could only get expired blood, which couldn't provide enough nutrition for the Blood Demon. Newborn Blood Demons need a lot of nutrition, so naturally, her parents, having no other choice, went out of town to attack the residents outside and bring back the blood.

...In Margarita's early memories, her parents took turns leaving the house, leaving one adult behind each time. She loved her mother's long white hair and her father's short black hair. But one day, from the day she no longer needed highly nutritious blood to live and grow, the short black hair in her memory disappeared.

It seems her father was in an accident. Now, only the mother and daughter are left, relying on each other. After a long period of hardship, Margarita's mother passed away in another accident.

...From that moment on, Margarita's heart was completely closed off, leaving only a colorless black and white world before her eyes. Unable to attend school and only able to read and write under her mother's tutelage, she lacked the ability to survive in human society. She might be able to learn, but before that, she had to survive.

Unable to find work to make a living, the destitute Margarita chose to give up on herself. She stayed at home, quietly waiting for the day the blood bank her mother left behind would disappear—perhaps after the blood bank was completely depleted, she would become a notorious beast, a notorious monster, in their eyes due to hunger?

"...How long have I been thinking about it since then? Hmm...I've almost forgotten." Margarita turned on the shower, washed off the soap, and stared at her ordinary figure in the mirror as she murmured to herself.

Margarita lived this life of self-doubt and despair from age 16 to 22. The day she discovered the blood bank had only a few bags of expired, foul-smelling blood left, she resigned herself to her fate—since her life was already this bad, what difference did it make if it got any worse?

She envied the short-lived Originium Bugs, and also the ordinary people whose lifespans were far shorter than hers... Every day she questioned the gods, why, while granting her a long lifespan, they also took away the loved ones she could rely on? She felt that her current life was no different from lying in a cesspool, so after accepting this kind of life, all that was left was to wait for death.

She calmly took out a bag of blood, intending to drink it, then curl up in bed and wait for the next day to arrive.

And it was then, accompanied by a piercing sound, that a man suddenly appeared in her freezer. Margarita stared in astonishment as the man, who had seemingly fallen from the sky, smashed through her cold, imposing door, and crashed to the ground, utterly destroying her meager remaining food. She was so terrified that she dropped the blood bag in her hand, and just stood there dumbfounded, watching the man emit a feeble, dying scream.

At that moment, Margarita smelled a delicious, sweet scent... She noticed a cut on the man's left forehead, running diagonally across his left eye and towards his left ear. The cut was bleeding profusely, fresh blood.

Is he food? Fresh food sent down by the gods for himself?

Margarita swallowed hard. She hadn't tasted fresh, nutritious, and vibrant blood in years. Thirst and the presence of readily available prey caused the blood of the Sarkaz Blood Demon to boil within her. She herself was unaware that, in the face of his wounded state, she had awakened a hunter's instinct.

“...Luckily I didn’t eat him back then…” She tied up her waist-length gray hair and tightened it with a shower cap. Margarita tested the water temperature in the bathtub with her toes, and after finding it comfortable and not too hot, she slowly sank in, soaking in the tub, her face flushed.

...

However, Margarita was ultimately not defeated by her predator instincts. She frantically picked up the blood bag from the ground, drank it down in one gulp, and then began to carry the man who had inexplicably fallen from the sky to her parents' long-unused bed. She then began to try to save his life with the meager knowledge she had learned from her mother.

Fortunately, his injuries weren't serious. After cleaning the wounds with alcohol and wrapping his face in sterile bandages like an almost airtight mummy, the man who called himself Yang Hao survived. From that moment on, a ray of light appeared in Margarita's dark world—a unique, colorful light.

Even now, Margarita doesn't know why she trusted him so much back then... Was it because his black hair resembled her father's? Or was it because she had given up on herself, had nothing left to fear, and therefore wasn't worried about losing anything?

She didn't know why she wasn't afraid of him back then, but she also knew that they had now left that city behind and were living new lives here...

...

...

Margarita wanted to build a family with him. A happy and fulfilling family.

But she feared she would suffer the same fate as her father, dying tragically during a work trip. She worried about what would happen to him if that were to occur.

so...

"I must find a job that I can do from the city!"

Margarita was determined to find a job within five years that would allow her to stay in the city without having to leave.

Chapter 20

Around 5 p.m., when Margarita changed into casual clothes and arrived at Yang Hao's house with a small bag, she found that Yang Hao did not seem to have returned yet.

Her house wasn't far from Yang Hao's, only about a block away—although she had initially considered living together, it seemed wise for a Sarkaz blood demon to avoid living with people of other races before truly establishing a relationship...

Margarita's current Sarkaz neighborhood is alright, but if she were to reveal her Blood Demon identity elsewhere, she'd likely be bombarded with suspicion, fear, and distrust within days. She doesn't care herself, but she doesn't want Yang Hao to suffer the same unnecessary misfortune.

"Hey...nobody's home? The lights aren't on...sigh, if they don't come back soon, the snacks I bought will get cold!"

Margarita blinked, patted the still-warm snacks in her small bag, then took out a keychain from her pocket and skillfully found the key to Yang Hao's house.

She has a key to Yang Hao's house, and Yang Hao has a key to her house, just in case, well, just in case.

Margarita skillfully opened Yang Hao's front door, went inside, turned on the hallway light, and then locked the door. She took off her boots at the door, put on her sandals, and then walked into the living room.

"Ugh...so dirty..."

Then, after she turned on the living room light, she immediately saw what was on the living room table—it must have been the takeout he had left over from lunch.

Margarita shook her head helplessly, put the small bag on the sofa, took her apron from the kitchen, and then, holding a rag in one hand and other cleaning tools in the other, began to clean Yang Hao's house.

"Huh? What's this? A tissue...?"

"...Did he eat barbecue skewers for lunch today? Huh? What are these...jelly?"

"This? Hmm... Did he work here before? The dust on it looks like it was scraped off the stone?"

While cleaning the living room, Margarita also kept an eye on Yang Hao's recent life. They hadn't seen each other for several weeks, and Margarita could only learn about what had happened to Yang Hao through these small details.

And this is the most insurmountable divide between the messenger of natural disasters and the company's general manager. One is out there, the other inside. One may be away for more than ten days and may not return, and his life is in danger, while the other can live a comfortable and safe life without ever leaving the city.

This...it's no longer just a trench, it's a conflict like a chasm! Margarita thought to herself with distress. Even if she were to start a family under these circumstances, with her constantly away working, she figured her children wouldn't even consider her their mother...

I must prevent that from happening! With that thought in mind, Margarita packed the last piece of trash into a plastic bag and then threw it into the trash can.

"Phew... all done—now I just wait for him to come back? Hmm..." Margarita nodded, went back to the kitchen to hang up her apron, and washed her hands. She realized that time wasn't passing as quickly as she'd expected. "Eh... well, let's take a look around then?"

Thinking that she had nothing better to do than stay idle, she decided to look around and see if there was anything she could help with. After wiping her hands clean with a towel, Margarita began to wander aimlessly around Yang Hao's room.

"The shower gel in the bathroom is almost gone? Hmm..."

"What's with this blanket...? Huh? What's this? A book?"

Margarita found many things she had never seen before in Yang Hao's house. Looking at the book in her hand with its cover covered in various engineering terms she couldn't understand, Margarita chuckled dryly and put it back.

Yang Hao's home was almost exactly the same as when she left, which put Margarita at ease.

She had expected to encounter something strange when she returned. For example, that there would be several pairs of women's shoes in his house, or that his bedroom would smell strangely of perfume—Margarita herself didn't use perfume, and she hated the smell of it.

This would bring her bad memories. After all, she remembered that every time her parents returned from hunting, they would use a strong perfume to cover up the smell of blood on them—but there was no need for that here. Yang Hao didn't care that she needed to drink blood to survive, and naturally, she didn't need to hide anything from him.

Hmm... Although Margarita felt their relationship was good enough... but as expected? She still had to—

"—"

"Huh? You're back—"

Hearing the sound of a door opening in the corridor, Margarita trotted over like a cat, welcoming Yang Hao's return.

She didn't hate herself this way; if she could, she wished she could be his cat forever.

不 ...

It doesn't matter what he becomes, as long as he doesn't leave me.

Chapter 21

"Welcome back!"

"Oh? Margarita, you're here so early... I thought you'd be arriving later."

Taking off his boots and carrying a bag, Yang Hao, covered in sweat, looked at the Sarkaz Blood Demon girl who had come to greet him upon his return, and felt a complex mix of emotions.

Margarita, his former love interest, now his best friend. This messenger of disaster, who has a key to his own house, is now dressed casually and waiting for him at home—once upon a time, Yang Hao desperately hoped that this scene would continue after they confirmed their relationship, but now... perhaps it's better to treat it as a wishful thought from the past.

"Why don't you come in and have something to eat first? We can talk about work later?"

"Well, let's talk about it after we eat. Sigh... this city is going to be in trouble again."

"Something's in trouble? Huh..." Margarita seemed unaware of what was happening in the city. She muttered to herself, "Everyone in the city seems rather uneasy lately," as she took two steps forward and took the bag from Yang Hao's hand. "Then—where do I put this?"

"Just put it on the table. Sigh, I've been waiting for that smoked meat you mentioned for so long!"

"I've already brought it over! And I even bought you some snacks, like flatbreads and kebabs."

Their conversation was as ordinary as that of very close friends, but now, as the blood demon girl turned and left, humming a song in a good mood, she seemed to be someone far above them. Their relationship was thus ambiguous and unclear.

Yang Hao shook his head, putting aside the wild thoughts in his mind. He decided that tonight, for the last time, he would confirm Margarita's thoughts with her.

...If she still wants him to wait, then they can only be friends from now on. Yang Hao can't live that long; he needs an answer... He's almost 30, and if he waits any longer, he really can't.

For Margarita, ten years for the Blood Demon might be roughly equivalent to ten months for an ordinary person. But for Yang Hao, those ten years were a truly significant decade. How many decades does one have in a lifetime? Six? Seven? Eight? He's already lived through almost three decades. And currently, although he has considered the various issues that would arise after starting a family with Margarita, the matter of immortality...

After all, how should I put it? In Yang Hao's eyes, immortality is... a very heavy burden. Is there anything more painful than becoming an immortal and watching your former relatives, friends, or partner slowly grow old and die, while you are powerless to stop it and can only silently shed tears? It seems not, right?

...Perhaps Margarita is also considering this? Come to think of it, a blood demon and an ordinary person...it's practically impossible for two people to be involved together.

But then again, the blood from the general store seems to have the effect of turning people into vampires? He sighed, thinking to himself that it wasn't clearly stated on the label whether becoming a vampire would actually grant one a longer lifespan.

[Completely eliminate the blood-sucking creatures' craving for blood]

[Transformed into a vampire]

This is what Yang Hao has figured out so far: the effect of that small bottle of blood.

But there are just too many places to play word games here.

For example, after turning a user into a vampire, his lifespan is not increased; he can only live for 80 years like an ordinary person.

For example, after transforming into a vampire, the effect of "suppressing the craving for blood" doesn't appear? After all, it makes sense; when you're drinking blood, you're still an ordinary person! Ordinary people aren't considered blood-sucking creatures, so naturally, it won't help you satisfy your craving for blood, right?

...And there are all sorts of other issues. Things like "transforming into a vampire without self-awareness," "having a shorter lifespan after transformation," and "having both human and vampire weaknesses coexisting after transformation," etc...

Given that the only confirmed connection at present is that "vampires will completely overcome their thirst for blood after drinking this bottle of blood," Yang Hao simply cannot risk drinking the blood himself and then anxiously await the final result.

The best way to bring despair to someone is to smash their hope to smithereens just as it's about to arrive. Yang Hao thought that pulling Margarita out of her gloom, who would only cling to him and wail, was trouble enough already; if things escalated to an even worse situation because of his blood-drinking... he might as well commit suicide.

"Yang Hao—?"

"I'll be right there."

She couldn't wait any longer? Yang Hao sighed, smiled wryly, and stepped into his own hallway. He went to the kitchen to wash his face and cleaned Margarita's right wrist, which she was going to suck later. Then he returned to his living room.