Restricted Fantasy I Chapter 234: I Am, Also a Snake

"Wahahaha, I get to sleep with Kazuya!"

Kamizato Village, the shrine, night.

Inside what was supposed to be Yan Huan's bedroom, Aoi Ka, having changed into her pajamas, bounced happily on the tatami mat, kicking the unfolded bedding into a ssy pile.

Beside her, Kazuya had a slightly flushed face and tugged at her sleeve in embarrassnt.

"Don't say it in such a weird way."

Yan Huan didn't have pajamas, so he had rely changed into a white T-shirt and shorts. He rested his chin on his hand, wanting to put up one last struggle.

"Are you two really okay sleeping together? How about I sleep with Kazuya, and Aoi Ka, you sleep with the older sister?"

"No, no, no, I want to sleep with Kazuya! Besides, Kazuya's mom and dad aren't in the village, so my mama often invites him to stay over at our house."

"..."

Hearing Aoi Ka's words, Yan Huan could not help but freeze.

It suddenly reminded him of how, when they were little, An Le used to frequently invite him to sleep over at her house.

Back then, when she couldn't sleep, he would tell her little stories to coax her into slumber.

However, it seed he could not escape his fate tonight.

Forget it. Since he had already chosen to take a risky path, there was no point in being afraid.

"Alright then, you two rest well. I'm going back to my room."

Folding his arms, Yan Huan watched the two of them scurry into their bedding before he stood up to leave.

"Goodnight, big brother..."

"...Just brother is fine."

Being called "big brother" sohow gave him a bit of PTSD.

Yan Huan offered a faint smile. He glanced back at the two little ones lying in their bedding and gently pulled the cord to turn off the room's light.

Pushing the door open, he stepped out into the silence of the shrine at night. A few peach trees planted in the courtyard rustled softly in the nocturnal breeze.

Guided by the faint fragrance of peach blossoms, Yan Huan's gaze was drawn to a brightly lit room to the side.

That was An Le's room.

Placing his hand on the doorknob, Yan Huan swallowed a mouthful of saliva, hesitating for several seconds before finally pushing it down.

Click.

Inside, the room was bathed in a gentle, warm light.

The room had originally been vacant and completely bare, save for the two sets of bedding laid out neatly in the very center of the tatami mat.

An Le was lying in her bed, revealing only half of her small head and her two hands gripping the edge of the bedding.

She blinked her bright and sparkling eyes. Next to her bed, the clothes she had originally been wearing were folded in a neat stack.

This naturally caused his imagination to run wild, wondering what exactly she was wearing under that bedding.

"Xiao Huan..."

As soon as she saw Yan Huan push the door open, the bulging bedding squird slightly as she turned her head to look at him.

Seeing this, Yan Huan imdiately donned his expression managent mask. He walked into the room with a calm face and asked with a smile,

"Going to sleep so early? Is it because you don't have your mobile phone to play with?"

"N-No, it's not that..."

When they fell, their mobile phones had been lost sowhere. Yan Huan had searched the periter of the village that morning but had found absolutely nothing.

"I'm turning off the lights, okay?"

"Huh? Um..."

Click.

Perhaps because An Le was staring at him so intently, Yan Huan felt a bit unnatural and made the suggestion, hoping to use the darkness to sever her line of sight.

He was genuinely a bit worried now, afraid he was walking right into the lion's den.

What if he lifted the bedding to find her completely bare underneath, and then she blasted him with a dose of pleasure...

Yan Huan would have no choice but to clap his hands and start reciting holy scriptures.

"You're right, this is An Le, possessing tentacles, a Modifier avatar, pleasure manipulation, and superconductor..."

Should he call this digging his own grave, or finding fortune amidst danger?

Yan Huan did not know, so he could only muster his courage and walk toward the bedding.

In the darkness, he gently grasped the edge of the bedding.

Lifting a corner of it, he revealed the white inner lining of the shrine maiden outfit she was wearing.

He had almost forgotten—at least he had been able to borrow so old clothes from the villagers.

But there hadn't been anything in An Le's size, so now she could only sleep in the white inner layer of the shrine maiden garb, minus the red skirt.

Yan Huan breathed a sigh of relief and slowly lay down in the freezing bedding.

An Le's body temperature seed to be on the lower side, or perhaps she just hadn't been lying there long enough. Regardless, there was no warmth in the bedding at all. Even as Yan Huan settled in, he could vividly feel the chill of the night.

"Phew..."

Yan Huan let out a long breath and fully settled into the icy covers, yet his heart refused to relax.

Rustle... rustle...

A second later, from the darkness on An Le's side, Yan Huan heard the sound of the bedding shifting.

She had turned to face him.

Even in the pitch black, Yan Huan could feel her intense, burning gaze.

He was dood.

Keeping his expression managent mask firmly in place, Yan Huan felt his heart racing as he prepared to take the initiative and change the subject.

Doing this had two benefits: first, he could gather information; second, he could divert An Le's attention, preventing her from losing control and escalating things ahead of schedule.

"An..."

Unexpectedly, just as he opened his mouth, An Le spoke up first.

"Xiao Huan... can I ask a favor of you?"

Here it cos!

Yan Huan's nerves pulled taut, but keeping his calm exterior, he turned his head slightly toward her.

Having adjusted to the darkness and aided by the bright moonlight filtering in from outside, Yan Huan could faintly make out the contours of her face.

She lay on her side, inching a little closer to him, her already impressive curves pressing into the little space remaining between them...

"Mhm, of course..."

Yan Huan kept a close eye on her movents, vigilant of any sudden developnts.

"Xiao Huan, could you..."

An Le pursed her lips and asked with deep shyness,

"Could you tell

a little story? Like... the ones you used to tell to coax

to sleep when we were kids?"

"..."

Yan Huan, who had been bracing himself for an assault, was stunned by her words.

Just... that?

For a mont, he could not figure out her angle, but the fact that she wasn't blasting him with pleasure manipulation was definitely a good thing.

He had intended to change the subject anyway. If doing this could lift her depressed spirits, all the better.

Thinking this, Yan Huan gave a slight smile and said,

"Alright then... I'll tell you the story of the Ugly Duckling."

In truth, Yan Huan considered his storytelling skills to be rather average. He had never been a romantic in his past life either, otherwise he wouldn't have been single since birth.

Thus, from his ti in the South Ward up until now, his storytelling technique remained mostly clumsy and dry.

At first, Yan Huan was a little absent-minded, still unable to grasp An Le's true intentions.

But as he began to weave the tale, the cramped room seed to fall into a deep tranquility, as if nothing else existed in the world but the story of the Ugly Duckling.

"In the end, the ugly duckling transford into a swan with pure white feathers... So, this story tells us that true gold will always shine..."

A long ti passed. Even as he was about to wrap up, An Le hadn't shown a single reaction.

Feeling puzzled, Yan Huan could not help but turn his head to look at her.

"I'm finish—"

He was just about to speak with a smile when he abruptly froze.

Because the girl beside him was simply gazing at him in total silence.

Tears spilled from the corners of her unblinking eyes, gathering at her chin before dropping silently onto the pillow.

Yet she hadn't even blinked, just staring at him in a daze.

It was a gaze Yan Huan found intimately familiar.

Because when they were children and used to share a bed, she had looked at him like that countless tis.

But only right now—only at this mont, for so unknown reason—was her face covered in tears.

"..."

Watching those crystal-clear tears catch the moonlight, the smile on Yan Huan's face gradually faded without him realizing it.

Like flowing water, it washed away the mask of expression managent covering his face.

"An Le..."

He murmured involuntarily, snapping the entranced girl out of her daze.

She hurriedly raised a hand and awkwardly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Sorry... I... I'm just so happy. It feels like Xiao Huan and I went back to the past, so..."

"..."

After wiping her tears away, she offered a silly smile.

"Xiao Huan must... must think it's weird. We're both so grown up now, but I'm still clinging to things from our childhood..."

"...No."

Yan Huan only felt...

A sense of guilt?

Because he had laid down with his guard up, never expecting things to turn out like this.

Right now, looking at An Le smiling through her tears, Yan Huan could not sense the "happiness" she spoke of.

Perhaps there was a little bit of it, but what he felt most was a profound sadness.

For so reason, at this mont, Yan Huan desperately wanted to soothe that deep sorrow.

And so, without wearing his mask, he raised his arms and voluntarily hugged An Le over the bedding.

"Nnh..."

Though the physical distance wasn't completely closed, An Le's pupils shrank slightly, and she let out an adorable sound.

"We're... in that kind of relationship now, right? So, can I hold you?"

Hearing Yan Huan's voice by her ear, An Le's lips trembled slightly.

The tears she had just wiped away surged forth from nowhere once again. Biting her lip, she gave a gentle nod.

"Xiao Huan, you can do whatever you want to ..."

"Please don't say weird things like that..."

Yan Huan chuckled helplessly. However, where An Le could not see, his expression was incredibly complex.

But because An Le had no feeling in her limbs whatsoever, and with the thick bedding between them, she could not sense his touch clearly at all.

So, in the next second, she summoned her courage, lifting her arms to wrap them over Yan Huan's, deepening the embrace.

This was not Yan Huan's first embrace.

Within the hypnosis earlier, Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi had both held him.

Ye Shiyu's hugs were always enough to suffocate a person, as if she wanted to swallow him whole.

But An Le's embrace felt incredibly unique.

It was as though his body was so sort of precious treasure, sothing she had to touch carefully for fear of breaking it.

Only at this mont did Yan Huan realize that his previous vigilance against An Le...

Was basically treating her as if she were Ye Shiyu.

And in the exact second his guard lowered just a fraction, everything about the girl translated into sensation, flooding into Yan Huan's brain.

The faint scent of the hair at her temples, her impressive softness, her slightly cool body temperature...

Every single detail acted as fuel, tossed into the furnace of Yan Huan's lower abdon, where it ignited into a raging inferno.

This is bad!

At that mont, inside Yan Huan's brain command center, several little Yan Huans were thrown into total chaos.

'We can't! She's our childhood sweetheart! We treat her like a younger sister!!'

'Exactly, exactly...'

'But all I did was tell her a story, and she...'

'Then why did she use her Modifier to do that kind of stuff to us earlier?'

The group of little Yan Huans shoved each other at the front of the command center, passionately analyzing the current situation.

But right behind them, the Little Head little Yan Huan had climbed onto the command podium unnoticed. 'Quiet, all of you!!'

'Huh?'

The other little Yan Huans, who had been pulling at each other's hair and clothes, all turned to look. They saw Little Head Yan Huan flashing a confident smirk.

'It is ti to purge the toxic atmosphere in this brain!'

'Toxic atmosphere?'

'That's right! What flat-chest faction? Heh... absolute nonsense!!'

Little Head Yan Huan sneered, then leaped down and approached the control console. Like a pilot commandeering a ch, he placed both hands on the heavy levers.

'Oh no!! He's... he's going to...'

The other little Yan Huans paled in horror, but Little Head Yan Huan ignored them entirely. Shoving the levers forward with all his might, he broke into maniacal laughter.

'You flat-chest faction scumbags who go against basic instinct!! Go to hell!! For the big-boob faction!! My mission here is done!!'

'Don't do it! If... if you do that right now— Aaaaaahhhh!!'

But it was too late. With Little Head Yan Huan's forceful push, the entire brain command center erupted in blinding light.

It was going to explode!!

"..."

Back in the room, Yan Huan's expression suddenly froze, and his body locked up completely.

In his arms, An Le also paused slightly. She seed to have felt sothing against her lower abdon.

Given her rich wealth of theoretical knowledge, she instantly realized what it was and hurriedly looked up at Yan Huan.

"Xiao Huan..."

"!!"

Hearing this, Yan Huan imdiately let go of An Le and scrambled backward a bit.

"Sorry..."

At his apology, An Le's face grew slightly flushed. Pursing her lips, she whispered,

"It's okay... No... Rather... I'm really happy."

'Doesn't this an Xiao Huan actually likes my body?'

With this thought, An Le's heartbeat quickened slightly.

She stole a glance at Yan Huan and said nervously,

"Xiao Huan can do anything you want to . So... if you can't hold it in, we c-can... we can do it now..."

Sure enough, she hadn't even had those kinds of thoughts earlier.

But now, things were about to blow up!

Yan Huan originally wanted to bla the biological drive for fertility, but thinking about it carefully, at his age, if he had no reaction while cuddling so closely with a girl...

That would an there was sothing seriously wrong with him.

But right now...

Here?

Yan Huan swallowed a mouthful of saliva and looked at the girl in front of him.

He could faintly see the shadows still lingering in the depths of An Le's eyes...

"...Didn't we agree to do it on the last day of the school trip? Besides, the environnt here is... pretty crude. The first ti is really important, right?"

"Th-That's true... It's only a few more days anyway..."

Hearing this, An Le nodded with a blushing face. She threw an awkward glance at Yan Huan's lower half.

It seed she was reminiscing about what she had felt just monts ago...

Then, she asked anxiously,

"Th-Then is it better if I don't get too close to Xiao Huan right now... Or, should I use other thods to help Xiao Huan... t-take care of it?"

Other thods?

Yan Huan swallowed heavily, thinking to himself that An Le really was an experienced driver in theory; she knew absolutely everything.

It actually made him quite embarrassed.

"J-Just turn around and go to sleep."

"Oh, o-okay..."

Hearing Yan Huan's refusal, An Le pursed her lips, carefully shot him a glance, and obediently turned her back to him.

Yan Huan couldn't shake the feeling that she had been left wanting more.

Not wanting more of that kind of thing, but sothing else.

Looking at her quiet back view, Yan Huan hesitated for a mont before gently reaching out and poking her shoulder.

"..."

Huh?

No reaction?

There was no way she could have fallen asleep this fast, right?

Yan Huan blinked and poked her a few more tis, but she remained completely unresponsive.

Frowning, Yan Huan finally realized that sothing was wrong.

It was just like...

Similar to this morning. When he touched her shoulder back then, she had kept her eyes closed and didn't react at all, right?

Yan Huan swallowed hard. Forcing himself not to speak, he leaned up slightly and carefully felt along her arm.

He moved his hand up and down, eventually grasping her entire arm lightly, yet she still acted as if she noticed nothing at all...

At the head of the bed, Myau-chan and Little Finger both materialized. Although they could not see each other, they were both watching Yan Huan's current actions.

Little Finger flicked its tongue. Looking at An Le, who had opened her eyes while turned away, it initially wanted to warn her...

But in the end, it said nothing, allowing Yan Huan to touch her and discover the truth for himself.

"ow?"

anwhile, Myau-chan watched as Yan Huan felt his way from her shoulder all the way down to her forearm, while An Le remained completely motionless...

Seeing Yan Huan's eyes widen in absolute horror, it let out a soft ow.

"...An Le?"

After confirming multiple tis that neither her arm nor her freezing foot—which he had nudged with his own beneath the bedding—showed any signs of feeling,

Yan Huan finally could not hold back anymore and called out to An Le.

"Mhm, what is it, Xiao Huan?"

As expected, An Le hadn't been asleep at all.

The mont she heard Yan Huan call out, she imdiately turned her head.

Turning around, she saw a wide-eyed Yan Huan holding her arm, lightly pinching it—sothing she hadn't felt in the slightest.

"!!"

An Le's pupils shrank. Terrified that Yan Huan would discover her abnormality, she subconsciously yanked her arm back and scooted away.

"...An Le, you..."

"I-I was just a little sleepy, Xiao Huan... I dozed off, so... I didn't feel it."

"Really?"

Yan Huan narrowed his eyes, not believing her in the slightest.

She had zero feeling in her arms or legs, and she expected him to think this was normal?

"Really, Xiao Huan."

He wanted to question her closely, but the girl clutching her arm before him suddenly radiated a deeply dangerous aura.

"ow!"

Myau-chan's tily warning echoed out, prompting Yan Huan to snap his mouth shut imdiately.

This probing had struck An Le's bottom line of fearing being exposed. If he continued to ask, he would either be pumped full of pleasure manipulation, or her Modifier would undergo a further evolution.

"...I see."

And so, no matter how unwilling Yan Huan was to let it go, he had no choice but to nod.

But he was growing increasingly certain that An Le's side effects had already beco incredibly severe.

"Um... let's sleep, Xiao Huan."

Seeing Yan Huan drop the subject, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and lay back down.

As if to prevent a repeat of what had just happened, this ti she chose to sleep facing him.

"..."

Seeing her lie down, Yan Huan slowly did the sa.

Watching Yan Huan settle back down, a shy little smile touched the corners of An Le's lips.

After looking at him for a long ti, she suddenly said,

"Xiao Huan, I'm really happy tonight... I truly am.

"Out of all this ti, this has been the happiest... my absolute happiest day..."

Yan Huan paused slightly. When he looked up, An Le had already closed her eyes, ready to fall asleep.

Leaving Yan Huan alone, his mind in a ss, completely unable to sleep.

In the silent night, the restless Yan Huan struggled for a long ti before finally sinking into dreams.

Rustle...

Familiar sumr sunlight beat down on the familiar sandy ground of the South Ward. It was as if ti had solidified, transporting Yan Huan straight into the past.

This ti, with dreamy eyes, Yan Huan observed his surroundings.

It was still that sa rundown slide. It was still that sa boy and girl who were practically inseparable.

Except right now, the girl's spirits were incredibly low. She looked as though she wanted no one to co near her.

That was An Le...

"An Le, do you want to go catch fish?"

"...I... I don't really want to..."

"Then, do you want to go check out the orphanage?"

"..."

An Le shook her head in refusal.

It was only at this mont that Yan Huan suddenly rembered...

In the beginning, An Le hadn't been the adorable girl from his mories who always followed him around.

In the very beginning...

Because she was bullied, because she was slandered, because she had no friends—she was completely closed off.

Even when he took her out to play, she had been exactly like this: not saying a word, unable to muster interest in anything...

Right. How could she have been like that from the very start?

But then, how exactly did he...

What had he said to her to make her change into the girl he rembered?

"..."

Yan Huan watched with his own eyes as his younger self looked at the completely unresponsive An Le, who was rely hugging her knees. The little boy was wracking his brain, trying everything he could to make her cheer up.

"How about we try playing house instead?"

It wasn't until dusk began to fall that little Yan Huan, feeling utterly out of options while sitting on the slide, listlessly muttered that suggestion.

"..."

Perhaps because Yan Huan had been talking for so long without receiving a single reply, she started to feel guilty.

So, when he finally uttered those words, An Le showed her first hint of a reaction.

"What is playing house?"

"Uh, how do I explain this... For example, right now I'm the husband, and you're my wife, and then, the two of us run a ho together!"

"Husband... wife... a married couple..."

An Le chewed on Yan Huan's words, and suddenly rembered a private matter between her parents that she had accidentally stumbled upon.

Instantly, her face turned bright red.

With wide eyes, she jerked her head to look at the little Yan Huan sitting beside her.

Then, she nervously turned her head back away.

"So that ans... X-Xiao Huan is going to be my husband?"

"Uh... yeah, that's what it ans."

Little Yan Huan blinked, but seeing that the An Le in front of him had finally given a reaction, he nodded and agreed.

"I'll be your husband, and you'll be my wife."

An Le stared blankly at the smiling boy before her. Her previously dark, shadowed eyes finally sparked with a beautiful, radiant light.

But off to the side, at the edge of the sandy ground.

The grown-up Yan Huan watched as the silhouette of his younger self—the one who had just spoken those exact words—gradually twisted and distorted...

His smiling little body slowly transford into a grotesque, massive white snake covered in scales.

Yan Huan watched helplessly as the giant white snake expanded rapidly, then unhinged its bloody maw toward the young An Le in front of it.

Yet, the young An Le remained exactly the sa, gazing at "him" with starry eyes and a slightly flushed face.

"Do... you... want... to... play... house..."

Faced with the sheer ferocity before her, An Le finally broke into a bright, cheerful smile. Then, she nodded and extended her little finger...

"Mm!"

Yan Huan stared dumbfounded at An Le holding out her little finger. In an instant, his back was slick with a dense layer of cold sweat.

Those words were the curse itself.