The two stepped into the Snake-People Tribe's main hall, where a host of the tribe's core elders and clan chiefs had already gathered.
When everyone saw Xiao Yan and Queen Medusa enter side by side, their fingers entwined, the entire hall fell instantly silent.
Every gaze fixed on their clasped hands, and an eerie stillness filled the air.
Queen Medusa swept her gaze across the hall, her cool eyes utterly unruffled.
She released Xiao Yan's hand and walked slowly to the throne at the center of the hall. But she did not sit. Instead, she turned around, her gaze flashing like lightning as it swept over everyone present.
"Everyone."
Her voice was cool and majestic, echoing slowly through the hall.
"I have an important matter to announce before you all."
The elders and chiefs exchanged glances, an ominous premonition stirring in their hearts.
Queen Medusa took a deep breath and turned to Xiao Yan. A trace of tenderness flashed in her eyes before she faced everyone again, her voice firm and unequivocal:
"Starting today, he—"
She raised her hand and pointed at Xiao Yan, enunciating each word:
"—will be my husband, and will rule the Snake-People Tribe alongside me!"
Boom!
Her declaration struck the hall like a heavy bomb, and the whole place erupted!
"What?!"
"The queen is going to marry a human?!"
"How can this be? Our Snake-People Tribe has never married outside the tribe, and he's a human, of all people!"
"Your Majesty, what of the ancestors of our Snake-People Tribe?!"
"Absolutely not! We firmly oppose this!"
The hall erupted in a tumult of objections, cries of shock, and heated discussion, so loud that dust sifted down from the ceiling.
The elders' faces turned ashen. Some slammed their hands on the table and leapt to their feet, some