It has been three months since I was reborn as a lizard in a martial arts world.

Or maybe it’s been about four months now.

In this short or long time, I have faced many crises.

And now, the most dangerous moment of all has arrived.

My heart.

My sins.

My secrets.

And now the Snake Queen will see them?

What I showed to Daengso-Yeong can be overlooked.

Who would believe her words?

That a beast, dressed in a black-and-white outfit that harmonizes like it had never seen before, was sweeping the yard with a broom.

But the Snake Queen is different.

She is a being of power.

Moreover, she is a being capable of human speech.

If she interacts with other humans, forbidden knowledge could spread.

And it could carry the wrong label of Komodo-Rania’s tastes.

No, let’s not get too worked up.

There’s no need for my heart to take the form of Maid Spino.

Of course, every time I meet my heart, it takes that form, but the heart is, after all, the essence of my mind—a shapeshifting being that approaches me in various forms.

In other words, it could take on another appearance besides Maid Spino.

Let’s focus on something else for now.

Thinking about this unnecessarily could make me see things that aren’t there.

“Focus your mind.”

The Snake Queen’s internal energy flowed into my body.

I shook off distracting thoughts as she instructed.

“Slowly inhale and then exhale.”

I inhaled and exhaled again.

It was a dark space where I couldn’t see a single inch ahead.

But instinctively, I could sense a large lake in this space.

I saw my own heart.

“That’s a large lake. I’ll come back to examine that later; first, there’s something I need to see.”

Immediately, my world flipped upside down.

Before me was a small snake.

It looked so much like Shweshwe that I could easily mistake it for him.

With its round head, it was quite adorable.

“Don’t stare so intently. That snake you see now is my past.”

So, this is what the Snake Queen looked like.

It seemed like it would make a peeping sound.

“The goal is not to overcome the heart but to experience it. You only need to watch my heart quietly.”

The plump little snake wriggled around.

Next to it was a slender snake.

The next thing that caught my eye was a young Kompi.

It was making funny sounds while caring for the Snake Queen.

The Snake Queen chirped as she ate the food offered by the Kompi.

Various species of lizards around them wore content smiles.

No, to be precise, they wouldn’t be lizards.

They were all small-sized dinosaurs due to applying shrinkage.

Though I couldn’t tell their species because of their small size, I could sense unusual power.

“…The small snake beside me is the Great Arhat.”

The Great Arhat.

The figure I saw bore a grotesque resemblance to a human-faced creature that clumsily mimicked human features.

In contrast, the one now visible before me was an ordinary snake.

At first glance, it looked like a peaceful daily life.

The Kompi had brought in the two siblings.

And the uncles were looking at them with fondness.

The Kompi taught them, and the Snake Queen and the Great Arhat grew robustly.

Time passed quickly.

Old Kompi vanished from the vision.

A woman with a familiar face appeared.

Her black hair resembled a watercolor painting of a waterfall.

Her skin was a near flesh tone of white.

At a glance, she might seem sharp, but even her gaze was beautiful.

She was the first human I met after coming here.

Baek Yeon-Yeong.

…No, it wasn’t her.

The woman before my eyes had red eyes.

Just like the Naja.

Yet, she didn’t look exactly like the Naja either.

Perhaps it was a blend of half Baek Yeon-Yeong and half the Naja.

“…I thought I had forgotten by now.”

At first, there was vigilance.

─ Oh my, what a cute little snake.

Then came curiosity.

─ What’s your name? Hmm, well, I haven’t decided yet.

And then, admiration.

─ You want to be like me? Haha, that’s at least a hundred years early. What? How old am I, you ask?

The Snake Queen’s emotions shifted rapidly in her heart.

That encounter must have been intense for her.

─ You want me to teach you martial arts? Well, I only know a few myself.

─ You have your protector, right? He must have some decent martial arts too. Oh, and I left something for him as well. Learn from him instead of me.

─ Oh dear. I lost. But I’ll tell you just once, alright?

The Snake Queen was begging for martial arts lessons.

And behind her, the Great Arhat looked frightened.

─ Martial arts is about confidence, you know?

─ You don’t need to bother with principles or phrases. …Of course, if I said that outside, they’d come at me with foam at the mouth.

─ But what can they do if they charge? They’ll all be defeated by me anyway.

Perhaps that was an expression of overconfidence.

But her words didn’t feel like empty bravado.

Even if it was merely a vision, I could feel her profound internal power.

Baek Yeon-Yeong.

Or rather, it might be the internal power of someone beyond her.

─ Just give a strong shout and think.

─ I’m the head, I’m the best.

The Snake Queen pointed to the sky with one hand.

─ With that thought, stab! …What? I can’t explain worth a damn?

That might be a common trait among those with great power.

She was similar to Baek Yeon-Yeong.

She couldn’t explain.

“I still don’t understand what that means.”

As the Snake Queen said, it’s a terrible thing.

“To just shout and think that you’re the greatest. …After having seen her, how could I think like that?”

It was only possible for that woman to think of herself as the strongest.

The Snake Queen may have become very strong compared to her past, but she wouldn’t think of herself as the strongest.

After all, she had seen her master.

…But, is this my heart?

No.

This is her past.

And this was what the Snake Queen wanted to show me.

“…I thought I had forgotten, but I was deceiving myself.”

Time continued to pass.

“So, I tried not to face it.”

Rising to the throne and fighting numerous beasts.

Thus, the Snake Queen spent her days alone in the temple.

“…I thought I had already forgotten everything.”

The Snake Queen avoided facing her heart.

Although she was called a queen, her power wasn’t that great.

There were three beings on the side of the King of Birds.

Including the Cockatrice, there were four.

There could be even more than that.

Meanwhile, the Snake Queen had no beings under her command.

Because of her past, she couldn’t expand her forces.

To be precise, she had refrained from forming a force due to the memories of all the young dragons being killed.

The throne was not something she sought for herself.

She ascended because her master had commanded her to.

After all, those were her master’s last words.

Though a force was formed by gathering those who disliked the King of Birds, that was all it was.

The Snake Queen had little involvement with them, and they didn’t serve her much either.

There was only a common enemy.

The Snake Queen said she hadn’t overcome her heart.

No, at least the Snake Queen I saw was trying hard to overcome her heart.

During that time, she had contacted the young dragon, whom she hadn’t met in a long time, and had allied with the former King of Birds. Though not many, she had also summoned all the sword dragons under her command.

She faced her past.

If this isn’t overcoming her heart, then what is it?

So please, don’t show such a sad face.

I’ll take care of the Great Arhat.

One-on-one would be impossible, but at least I can take on one wing.

The corners of the Snake Queen’s mouth lifted.

“…So this is what your voice sounds like.”

My voice?

What does that even mean?

I hadn’t said anything, and even if I did, it was just a “gak-gak” sound.

“Ah, it sounds wonderful. If I can hear your voice, at least I won’t have to worry about not being able to sleep.”

This place is a shared vision between the Snake Queen and me.

Just as I can peek into her heart, she can read my thoughts.

…Wait, I didn’t think of anything strange, did I?

“Do you think I can read all your thoughts? If we were in union, maybe, but for now, all I hear are your thoughts as they come.”

I don’t understand that concept of union.

…And despite that, she seems to read my mind quite well.

“Well, it’s done. My heart is finished. What remains is your heart.”

*Gulp.*

I swallowed hard.

I felt like I wanted to throw a tantrum.

But I couldn’t.

The side effects of the elixir wouldn’t only apply to me.

If I concealed my heart, the Snake Queen would suffer too.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

But even then, the vision wouldn’t be obscured.

What appeared was a vast lake.

It was my own world.

Yeah, I shouldn’t worry too much.

Just because it’s called a heart doesn’t mean it can’t take on another

 form.

…Please.

Before long, a splash erupted.

─ Kraaah!

Emerging from the lake was… as expected, that creature.

“…What in the world?”

The Snake Queen gasped in shock.

She covered her eyes with both hands.

But her fingers were slightly parted.

Should I consider it a small mercy? My heart made eye contact with the Snake Queen before diving back into the lake.

The real absurdity was that, despite being a heart, it was blushing.

No way, does she think I have a preference for such things?

Let’s go!

I like humans!

What lizard in the world would like something like that!

─ Kraaaar…

The Miss Heart poked her head out of the lake.

Get back before you shoot that hideous beam.

…And don’t give me that pitiful look.