Mysterious Woman is So Gentle by Mila Chan
Mysterious Woman Is So Gentle By Mila Chan Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Arielle decided to get up to look around. But instead of turning on thelights, she chose to rely on her phone's illumination as she searchedevery corner of the room.

Hiss!

All of a sudden, she heard something odd that sounded like someonewas breathing rapidly.

It took a while, but Arielle managed to pinpoint the source of thesound. It came from her

bed and was only about three feet away from her.

What the hell is it?

Arielle hurriedly increased the brightness on her phone screen andshone it in the direction

of the sound

To her horror, it was a cobra angrily hissing away.

The cobra had long set its sight on Arielle as it reared itself up andstared at her with a pair

of piercing green eyes.

If she hadn't gotten up because the noise bothered her, Arielle wouldhave fallen victim to

the cobra’s venomous bite.

All of a sudden, the cobra launched itself toward Arielle, aiming for herneck.

Thanks to her training, Arielle had lightning-fast reflexes and dodgedthe cobra’s attack in the nick of time.

She then swiftly caught the cobra by its tail and flung it hard againstthe floor, knocking it

out almost immediately.

Eager to cut off the head of the cobra, Arielle whipped out the scissorsshe had initially kept under her pillow as a precautionary measure.However, before she could deal the finishing blow, Arielle was hit by asudden realization.

The snake was indeed a cobra, but it would never be found here in theNorth since its species

lived in the South.

This cobra couldn“t have accidentally crawled into my room. Someonemust have put it here! Arielle recalled the footsteps she had heardearlier and put two and two together. She

finally understood the intention of the person who had stood briefly onher balcony before

leaving

These people want me dead!

The wheels in Arielle’s head started turning as she thought about thepossible perpetrators

who could want to harm her.

Henrick thought very highly of her and was confident he could rely onher to climb the

ranks in the Nightshires. He was only too eager to pamper her, so therewas no way he could

have done it.

The only possibilities left were Cindy and Shandie.

Then again, Cindy was a clever and collected person. It was unlikely thatshe'd carry out such a plan on the first night of Arielle’s return. Thatmeant that Shandie was the most likely

perpetrator.

Arielle’s eyes narrowed at the thought of that, her gaze turning colderunder the

illumination of the moon.

Shandie Southall, you've grossly overestimated yourself. If you want medead, you're going

to have to try a lot harder!

The clock had just struck one, and the night was even darker thanbefore. Almost everyone in the villa had fallen into a deep slumber.

All except for Shandie. Shandie was wide awake and waiting to receivethe news of Arielle’s death. However, it had already been a few hours,yet there was still no good news for her. After waiting around for solong, Shandie could no longer stand it. She dialed Janet's

a

number and ordered her up to her room.

As soon as Janet stepped in, Shandie asked, “Did you not do as per myorders? If that's the case, you can wait for the police to come to you inthe morning!”

Janet panicked and immediately explained, “You've misunderstood, Ms.Shandie! I did as you instructed and bought the most venomous snake Icould replace. I had already set it loose in her room two hours ago.”

“Then why haven't I heard anything? If the snake had bitten her, she'dhave woken up, screaming in pain. My room is so close to hers, yet Ihaven't heard any screams,” Shandie replied with brows knittedtogether.

"That... I have no idea.”

“Could it be that the snake doesn't bite?”

Janet shook her head. “No, the seller assured me that the snake hepicked is very aggressive. He had even starved the snake for days, soit's guaranteed to attack any living body.”

Shandie was even more puzzled now. “So, what could have happened?”Janet scratched her head as she pondered. “The seller also said that thesnake's venom is

very potent. Without treatment, the victim will surely die. Perhaps thesnake had already bitten

her? But before she could react, the venom had taken effect, whichmeans she’s...”

“She's already dead!” Shandie interrupted with a glint in her eye.

“In that case, Ms. Shandie, should I replace an excuse to enter her room soI can check?”

“No need,” Shandie replied with a wave of her hands. “We have to keepthis on the

down-low. You'd only incur suspicion if you were to go to her room.Besides, what if she gets

sent to the hospital and they manage to revive her? I say we let thenight pass, make sure she’s dead, then collect her body the next day.”Janet nodded in agreement. “You're right, Ms. Shandie. It'd be moreprudent to wait till the

morning. She'd be long gone by then, and not even the best doctor, oreven God himself, would be able to bring her back to life.”

Shandie smiled gleefully, unable to contain the excitement bubblinginside of her. After a

while, she removed her necklace and handed it to Janet.

“You've done well, and this necklace is your reward. Feel free to let meknow if there's

anything else you need in the future.”

“Thank you, Ms. Shandie!” Janet exclaimed. The initial fear she had fromhaving murdered Arielle disappeared as soon as she saw the necklace.I don't think what I've done counts as murder anyway. After all, it wasthe snake that killed

her. My conscience can remain clear.

“All right then, you can go back now. I can finally have a good night'ssleep tonight,” Shandie

said as she shooed Janet out of her room.

In her head, Shandie had started to picture how she'd let things playout as soon as she woke up. She would pretend to stumble upon hersister's body, and when it came to the funeral, she'd cry a river of tearsfor all to see.

If my acting is convincing enough, people might even believe that Ihave empathy. Shandie knew the practice would come in handy,especially when she had lofty ambitions to

join the entertainment industry. With such stellar acting skills, gainingpopularity and fans

would be a piece of cake.

The more she thought about it, the happier Shandie got. The night wasindeed shaping up to be one of the best nights ever for her.

Her smile never once left her face, even as she turned off the lights andcrawled into bed.

Exhausted but happy, Shandie quickly found herself falling into a deepslumber. The cherry on top was the sweet dream that followed.

In her dream, Shandie was at a graduation ceremony where she caughtthe eye of Vinson.

He was so taken in by her talent that he publicly announced he wasgoing to marry her.

From then on, she steadily climbed the social ladder and lived happilyever after.

With a dream so beautiful, Shandie smiled in her sleep, blissfullyunaware that someone

had, at that moment, snuck onto her balcony.

As the night passed into the pre-dawn hours, there was nothing butpeace and silence. Everyone was still sound asleep when an ear-piercing scream suddenly broke the silence

and rocked the villa.

Even the birds in the trees outside were startled by the noise andimmediately flew away. “What's going on?” “What happened?”

“I don't know either. I only heard a scream, like a scream for help...”“Hurry! I think it came from Ms. Shandie’s room!" The housekeepershad all been jolted awake and hurriedly made their way to Shandie’sroom.

Thankfully, Shandie hadn't locked her door, so the housekeepersopened it with ease and

ran in.

To their horror, they found Shandie lying by her bed, convulsing wildlyand foaming from her mouth. Her face had turned blue, and it didn’tseem like she'd be able to hold on much

longer.

Everyone was dumbfounded, with one asking the same question theyall had, “What on earth is happening?”

A few seconds had passed before one of the housekeepers regainedher composure. She was

about to rush toward Shandie when another yelled, “Wait! Don’t goover yet! There's a snake on

the bed!”