Orochimaru looked up at Yanbai innocently.
Gazing at Yanbai's figure up close, Orochimaru lost the ability to speak.
At first, fear had kept Orochimaru from looking directly at Yanbai.
Even while speaking to him at close range, Orochimaru had not dared to rest his gaze on Yanbai.
Orochimaru could only focus on the patterns on the robe draped over Yanbai's knees and the hand holding his own.
That slender, fair wrist casually displayed Yanbai's extraordinary strength.
So Orochimaru's first impression of Yanbai had been: This auntie has pretty hands, but they're so hard. He's holding my hand so tightly. It hurts, but it's so warm.
But now, when Orochimaru looked up, he saw a beauty radiant as the full moon.
Yanbai wore intricately patterned Chinese hanfu, with silver hair like moonlight and skin like white jade. His figure, graced with an ethereal air, left no room for envy.
That transcendent beauty spoke to humans of something beyond humanity.
Staring at Yanbai's godlike beauty and facing that motherly smile that seemed capable of putting anyone at ease, Orochimaru's wide, startled eyes began to tremble along with his body.
"I'm sorry..."
The young Orochimaru did not even know why he was apologizing.
Yanbai was baffled, unable to understand why the perfectly fine child had suddenly become so frightened again.
Did he have snake genes, giving him an animal's instinct for sensing danger?
Just then, a mouse darted out of a dark corner nearby. It stood beside them like a person and squeaked insistently at Yanbai.
Orochimaru stared in surprise at the remarkably intelligent mouse.
Yanbai listened quietly, then took a small cookie from a box beside him and placed it in the messenger mouse's empty front paws.
The mouse's soybean-sized eyes glistened as it accepted the cookie and squeaked. Then it held