The Severed Tail

My name is Phoebe, and I am the current Saintess of the Snake Clan. At this moment, I am curled up on the cold stone altar, the burning pain from my Innate Snake Venom leaving my body still lingering at my fingertips. My daughter, Maria, has been unconscious for three days. The clan elders say that only my Innate Snake Venom can temporarily suppress the cold ailment inside her body, but each time I refine it, my cultivation level will regress by one step. But as long as Maria can survive, what is this price compared to that? I carefully put away the jade bottle containing the pale purple venom, then stood up to check on Maria. Just as I reached the bedroom door, I heard familiar voices coming from the living room. He is my husband, Erik Zamora. "Eva, hold on a little longer. Phoebe has just refined a batch of venom. We'll inject it soon, and you'll recover quickly." Erik's voice carried a tenderness I had never heard before, a tone I had never experienced in the five years since I married him. My footsteps suddenly stopped, my heart gripped tightly by an invisible hand, making it hard to breathe. Eva, the flawless first love Erik has held deep in his heart. She was recently diagnosed with a rare blood disease. Erik Zamora was so worried that he didn't sleep for days and nights, but I never imagined he would set his sights on my Innate Snake Venom. That venom was extracted at the cost of my cultivation level, all to save Maria! Suppressing the fury burning in my chest, I pushed open the door and walked in. In the living room, Eva Stafford lay on the sofa, her face pale, while Erik Zamora held a jade bottle, preparing to inject her. The jade bottle looked exactly like the one I use to store the venom. "Erik, what are you doing?" My voice held a barely perceptible tremor as my eyes locked onto the jade bottle in his hand. Erik Zamora looked at me, a flicker of panic crossing his face before he quickly resumed his usual cold indifference: "It's nothing. Eva isn't feeling well, so I gave her some medicine." "Medicine?" I sneered, stepping closer to him. "You know full well where that medicine came from!" "That is the innate snake venom I used to save Maria. How dare you give it to her?" Eva Stafford spoke weakly, "Phoebe, I'm sorry. I didn't know Erik was using your things. Please don't be angry. I won't use it anymore." She spoke, still trying to push away Erik Zamora's hand, yet there was not a trace of remorse in her eyes. Erik Zamora shielded Eva Stafford behind him, staring coldly at me. "Phoebe, Eva is my life; she cannot be harmed." "Maria has you, so even without the venom, she will be fine. But Eva is different—she's just an ordinary person." "Just an ordinary person?" I couldn't believe my ears. "Maria is your daughter too! How can you be so biased?" "Daughter?" Erik Zamora sneered, "The only reason I married you was because the Innate Snake Venom of the Snake Clan's Saintess could cure Eva." "Now that Eva's illness is nearly cured, you have no use anymore." His words were like a sharp blade, piercing my heart so deeply that I could barely stand from the pain. So, in his eyes, my five years of marriage were nothing more than a transaction.