Hidden genius: Black belly snake

"Mmhmm. You are now free to leave." Freya waved her hand but suddenly stopped. "Wait. Take this and leave."

She then turned towards the maid standing on her right and mumbled something, inaudible to Tang Yue.

The maid nodded obediently and rushed inside. She returned after a few seconds holding a few things in her hand.

Tang Yue curiously peered over.

Lying quietly on the maid's hands and napping like a cutie pie was the small snow-white pup with a couple of dark blue streaks.

The poor thing seemed very feeble and tired. Tang Yue sighed as soon as she saw the beast pup.

In the midst of all of this chaos and drama, unfortunately, this innocent creature was the one who was hurt the most!

While Tang Yue was busy admiring the pup, the maid unexpectedly handed it over to her.

What! This is for me? Tang Yue gulped. 

Who wouldn't want a cute pup like this? That too a mutated low-grade beast pup?

She could already imagine Isabella's face if she came to know that the Empress had re-gifted such a precious thing to her.

But the maid was not done yet. She also handed her a heavy pouch. 

The pouch was slightly open, revealing a whole bunch of sparkling multi-colored gemstones just like the ones she had previously black-mailed out of Charlotte.

The snake's emerald eyes twinkled at the sight of heaped up glittering gems.

"You may keep these as compensation. Now leave." Freya indifferently muttered.

Tang Yue was stunned. Are you serious?

You can indeed say whatever you want about me if this is the compensation I am given later! 

Please feel free to say a few more derogatory words! 

She was genuinely impressed by Freya's attitude.

She knew that the Empress thought very poorly of her and still treated her like this? It was definitely praiseworthy. 

Everything was not so black and white it seemed. The Empress still had redeemable qualities within her.

Though things had not turned out just as planned, this outcome was not too bad either!

Tang Yue eagerly extended her hands and accepted the cute little pup and the brimming purse. 

Both felt very heavy. Quite a good haul indeed! 

Tang Yue bowed again to express her gratitude for the so-called compensation and quickly made her way out of the Empress chamber.

She didn't want to test her patience too much and linger any further.

She carefully bundled the snow-white pup in her arms and hurried over to the Zither palace.

Though the Zither palace was not a part of the royal palace, it was still well within the vicinity of the royal palace and within a walkable distance.

The pup cozily rested in Tang Yue's warm embrace and continued dozing off.

It only stirred slightly when the duo reached the Zither palace. 

The pup blinked its eyes open and innocently stared at Tang Yue with its dark blue orbs.

It licked her hand affectionately just like it had done back at the tea gathering and went back to sleep almost immediately.

Tang Yue sighed and rubbed the cute guy's head. "Why did they have to bring you into this?"

She called for Lotte, who seemed very relieved and happy to see her back.

"Lotte, please look after Little Blue for me." She mumbled.

The pup was busily napping from the effects of the drug. So all he had to do was watch over it every now and then.

She also instructed Lotte to not let anyone in for the next few days and settled cozily in her huge bedroom.

She was finally free to return to her favorite hobby, binge eating!

Every passing day only reminded Tang Yue of her inadequacy more and more. She wanted to strengthen herself as fast as possible.

"Which should I start with first?" The snake pondered, flickering her long forked tongue in and out.

All she had to do was binge eat but there was a not so obvious method to this madness.

After thinking for a while, Tang Yue decided to start with the common grade bristle wolf meat first.

She didn't want to consume the high-grade centipede meat or the mid-grade golden ape meat just yet, without first upgrading her evolve ability.

Without upgrading the evolve ability, it would be near impossible for her to finish either of the higher grade bloodlines.

In fact, she would have to kill a huge number of these higher grade beasts even to absorb half of the complete bloodline.

And this was precisely what the system had threatened her and severely warned her against.

So Tang Yue decided that it was best to save these two for another time.

Meanwhile, thanks to Charlotte, Isabella, and the Empress, she had a lot of gems in her disposition.

She didn't even have to step into the forests again to obtain more bloodlines.

She could now purchase a wide variety of common-grade and low-grade beasts and first focus on gaining beneficial attributes from these lower grade beasts.

This might also give her the required experience to boost her level and finally upgrade her Evolve skill.

As a vague plan started forming in Tang Yue's brain, the snake happily nodded and reverted to her serpentine form.

She then quickly swallowed whole the first bristle wolf, with the raw beast meat settling like a stone in her stomach.

And now, it was finally time to enjoy some peace and quiet, not to mention a good night's sleep.

Sleeping with your stomach full gives the best deep sleep! The snake grinned in satisfaction.

But as soon as she closed her eyes to sleep, a familiar image flitted across her mind, making her eyes flash open again.

Damn you, jerk! Tang Yue cursed.

She slithered under the blankets as if they would protect her from the memory of the madman and tried closing her eyes again.

But another face popped out this time around, Charlotte's angry beautiful face.

Damn you all!

Tang Yue burrowed her head into the soft bundle of pillows and cursed her miserable life.

Assholes! Perverts! Jerks! Can't you all just leave me alone?

Taking this as its cue, the system promptly chimed in, disturbing Tang Yue's already disturbed night time.

[Dumb little snake! Aren't you spinning the Lucky Wheel again?]