Right then, Ivy Shen let out a banshee scream, all dignity out the window. The servants started gossiping like crazy, but in the end, it all boiled down to two words: "Total idiot!"
Old Steward Liu, knees cracking, finally hustled in. "Miss..." he called, rushing over. Seeing Ivy shaking and ugly-crying, he grabbed her shoulders. "Miss, what happened? Don't freak out, I'm here!"
Ivy spun around and latched onto Steward Liu's arm like she was drowning. "Steward Liu, wuwu, who touched my legs?! What is this monster thing?!" As she wailed and thrashed, that black 'thing' under her quilt swung around like it was alive.
"Miss, this... uh..." Steward Liu stammered, totally lost for words.
Suddenly, the abacus clattered—Caleb Miles strolled in, clutching it, and snarked, "Seriously? You can't even recognize your own tail? That's next-level dumb."
Ivy froze mid-sob, face a mess of tears and snot. "This... this is a tail?" she croaked. Then she wailed even louder: "No freaking way! What kind of mutant tail is this? Am I a giant black silkworm freak now? Who gets a tail this fat and ugly?!"
The commotion brought Adrian Night, Lucian Vane, Caleb, and Liam Willow to the doorway. Adrian just tossed out a cold, "Idiot," and walked off. Lucian and Caleb hung around for a second, shrugged, and bailed—clearly, this was way too lame for them.
Liam Willow glanced at Ivy, who was sobbing her guts out, and couldn't help stepping inside. Meanwhile, Steward Liu barked at the servants to clear out.
"Wife..." Liam Willow called softly, approaching the bed.
"Wuwu, I know, I know I'm a snake now. It's not like I expected a pretty tail or anything—okay, maybe I did want a gorgeous white one like Lady White Snake, sue me! But this? Did I really get the glitchy model? Why does it have to be so ugly?!" Ivy wailed, staring at her disaster of a tail.
Right now, there was this chunky, mutant tail under her. Actually, could you even call it a tail? It was only half as long as everyone else's—and definitely not a proper snake tail. The visible part was wrapped up tight in black, silkworm-like threads, and no matter how much she yanked or scratched, it wouldn't budge. It looked like a giant black silkworm cocoon—just gross and freaky.
"Miss..." Steward Liu looked at her, then at Liam Willow, and finally sighed. "You've always been like this since you were little."
"Huh?" Ivy stared at Steward Liu, totally stunned. Suddenly she remembered that woman laughing at her on the street—wait, everyone was laughing at her tail. So they're not the monsters... I'm the freak here?!
"Don't worry, wife. We barely ever use our tails anyway, and hey, you can't judge a snake by its cover," Liam Willow said, trying to comfort her.
"I'm a monster? Seriously? Not only did I transmigrate into a snake, now I'm a defective snake too? Can I get a refund on this body?!" Ivy muttered, half crying, half roasting herself.
"Steward Liu, change me back! I don't want this freaky tail—I want my legs!" Ivy glared at the stubby, mutant tail like it was her mortal enemy.
"Uh... that might take a few days, I'm afraid!"
"Huh? Why?"
"Miss, you're on your period—of course your tail's out!" May, the night maid, piped up, blunt as ever.
"What? You mean I'm on my period? In this snake body?!"