Daughter of Demeter Chapter 27 (32/43)

The first rooster crowed.

The narrow path leading to the Daphne Sanctuary was filled with breaths that seemed to barely suppress anger. Eyes full of fury glared at the sky continuously.

It was the dawn sky where the goddess's tears had not yet fully dried. The stars, scattered across the dark blue vault like pearls adorning Eos's head, were fading palely like salt dissolving in water.

Soon, the sun god would open the doors and step out. The deep blue east was gradually turning into a grayish-pink sky.

"Delphi, explain yourself!"

"Wicked Pythia, kneel before Ananke's feet!"

Eventually, the believers whose patience had reached its limit screamed and vented their anger.

The high priest, Eleusis, stood like a statue on the terrace atop a cliff carved into a hill.

Leaning on the railing, he quietly looked down at the shouting believers. The smell of sweat rose from the crowd. It was similar to the rank smell of livestock. A deep disgust flashed across his face for a moment.

At times like this, it feels like he can really see?

The young Sibylla, with her brown hair finely braided and half-tied, thought as she looked at the back of Eleusis, who was wearing a white chiton priestly robe.

Does he really possess the power to see through everything, blessed by the gods as the rumors say?

"This is truly a troublesome situation."

Eleusis pressed his temples. Perhaps because his eyes were closed, his neat and clean face looked benevolent. Even if he was furrowing his brows tightly like right now.

The proclamation of Thetis, who had newly become the king of Poseidonia, was quite effective.

"I, Thetis, daughter of Tyndareus, who has inherited the spear of the chief god Pontus and newly become the sole leader of Pontus, accuse the evil deeds of Delphi, called the holy land of oracles, before the name of Thalassa, the wise and just guardian deity of the sea and home."

She knew much more than expected. Even the behind-the-scenes of the behind-the-scenes, and the flip side of the flip side.

In particular, by revealing that Delphi had manipulated the altar of Nysa, which had struck terror into Poseidonia all this time, and the recent suspicious death of King Tyndareus from behind the scenes, she incited public outrage not only among the Poseidonians but also in neighboring countries.

Sibylla, who had been observing the mood, wet her lower lip with her tongue and then carefully opened her mouth.

"Um... Lord Eleusis?"

"Please, speak."

"A letter has arrived from the Cocinos clan."

Eleusis, whose gaze had been fixed outside, turned around in a half-circle.

"What did they say?"

"They said the additional resurrection devices ordered before have been completed and they will bring them."

"That's good."

Strength filled Eleusis's voice. The abilities of the Cocinos clan were always used crucially. Especially the resurrection devices they made were the best among them.

It is a principle to respond to a miracle with a miracle. It was a teaching that anyone who uses the name of a god must always keep in mind as a priority.

"I heard the new king of Poseidonia is being praised as the incarnation of Thalassa. I don't know what tricks she used, but she's undoubtedly a clever woman."

I heard that after falling off the cliff, she flew up as if she had wings... What kind of method did she use? Did she tie a rope to her body from the beginning and then jump? She must have fed the audience hallucinogens in advance.

Prince Perius had bought a large amount of hallucinogens from Delphi, so she might have used them.

"According to the investigators' reports, Princess Thetis originally had a quiet and introverted personality, but after returning from Haides, she acted like a different person. Not only did she dispose of Perius and Daducos without a trace, but she even publicly executed Gaius, the long-time powerholder and high priest, rooting out the remnants of his remaining forces."

"Is that so?"

Eleusis traced his lower lip with his index finger. It was a habit that emerged when he was lost in complex thoughts.

"We need to hear from her close associates. A princess who grew up only in the palace couldn't suddenly have blood on her hands like that. There must be an untold story hidden, different from what is known."

It is always so. The truth is hidden in someone's pupils. Because of that, being blind is considered all the more noble.

"Let's hold the Daphne Festival."

"Pardon? But it is still the season of the earth..."

"Deliver an oracle. Say that this year's earth is hotter than the sun god's breath, so this must surely be a sign that the Mother Goddess has shared deep affection with a subordinate god and conceived a new life. Proclaim that she will bestow the goddess's blessing upon all the lovers in the world who will bring love and abundance. This is the will of Ananke. On that day, let us show them a splendid miracle using the new resurrection device."

"I understand."

"There is nothing better than a festival to soothe public sentiment. Open the warehouses and prepare various foods and drinks, and also prepare pigs and sheep to be given as rewards."

"Yes, High Priest."

Eos yawns. The sun god was soaring powerfully, riding the sun chariot.

It's strange.

Seat, who used to come and pick a fight at the slightest thing, hasn't been seen at all lately. Furthermore, Nix's ravens have been quiet for the past few days. It was also unsettling that the things that used to come and stare with bright red eyes had tucked their tails and hidden.

Based on experience, it was certain that something was drawing Nix's attention. Something had discomforted him, or an event that would do so had occurred.

Eleusis looked up at the sky with his closed eyes.

Beyond the rising sun, cumulonimbus clouds were rumbling like chariot wheels. Like a conversation between gods glaring at each other with hidden claws.

Ψ

"Delphi is colluding with Nysa?"

"That is correct."

The goddess's face shone like a jewel despite having her back to the sun. The mystical dress that looked different depending on the viewing angle was dyed by grinding thousands of flower petals.

Her shoulders exposed outside the thin straps and her white calves visible through the slit were wrapped in a pearly radiance.

Ananke looked down at the ground from the dark clouds Uranos had created for her, wearing a displeased expression.

"It is true that Nysa is crossing the line."

"Furthermore, is this not Ananke's domain? They are selling the name of the god of fate and offering sacrifices to Nysa."

Usually, the thrones tend not to even glance at what happens in their own temples.

"That is somewhat annoying. Doesn't it make it seem like I've bowed my head to Nix?"

With an annoyed expression, she glanced below the clouds again. A blonde priest in white robes was looking up at the sky.

"Is that guy the leader?"

"It seems so."

"How peculiar."

Ananke furrowed her brows and observed him closely. Why? From that mere mortal, she could feel a very faint, yet distinct, aura of Erebus.

"Actually, the reason I asked to see you today is not because of him."

Ananke glanced sideways with her long eyes. Aris, who was sitting with his body lowered, looked tense with stiff shoulders.

"Did you perhaps know that Lady Gaia had a child?"

"What?"

Her face turned pale. It was a completely unexpected topic.

Living in the premonitions bestowed by fate, it was not easy for her to experience something shocking enough to cause a seizure. Even Gaia's disappearance gave her plenty of room to prepare her heart.

"Speak again. Gaia had what?"

"A child. It seems she gave birth to a daughter."

"A daughter? A daughter?"

Ananke's expression, which had been listening blankly, turned gravely serious, and then she suddenly asked.

"Not a Ceton?"

If it were a Ceton, she wouldn't be able to definitively state its sex already. It takes at least a thousand years to become an adult.

"That is correct."

Ananke looked down at the back of Aris's head with terrifying eyes as he bowed his head.

"Are you certain?"

"I came to ask you that."

"To ask?"

"Yes, please read her mind directly with those eyes that see through fate."

Ananke stroked her fingernails. Her eyes, as if gauging something, gazed into the void and murmured.

"Asking me to read her mind means that child is alive right now? And you know who it is?"

"That is correct."

Ananke's eyes turned red. She clenched her dress and bit her lip. As if the dark clouds had been agitated by her emotions, they howled with a rumble.

"Tell me everything from one to ten, as if pouring it into the grasp of Chaos. Where is that child? And how do you know this fact?"

The thunderclouds flashed. As if to prevent their secret conversation from leaking out in the first place, thick raindrops began to fall heavily.

Ψ

Psyche originally liked rainy days. The sound of the rain had a more effective calming effect on her mind than the lyre playing of the dazzling young god.

When angry dark clouds filled the sky, the suitors surrounding her mansion would look up at the sky with worried faces and disappear one by one.

At the entrance of the mansion, the bouquets they had discarded were piled up like a swarm of dead butterflies.

Psyche, now, reminisced about the memories of that day and thought.

If they truly intended to confess with their hearts contained in that scent, they wouldn't have been able to throw it away so easily.

"Miss, you must wake up quickly and pay your respects to the master."

Beyond the entrance of the room, where thin silk imported from the desert country hung like a curtain, the nanny's voice was heard.

She entered with her hands on her waist and urged with a fuss.

"Hurry! Have you forgotten that the master is stricter in the morning?"

Behind the nanny, the shadow of her father, the head of the senate, was seen striding closer. Psyche curled her back and jumped up.

Her father's displeased forehead made a deep furrow between his brows. He glared at her with contemptuous eyes, as if drawing a bowstring to shoot.

"Everything is your fault."

Anger surged up. The old patriarch was always like that. First, he would blame his wife, then the nanny for not serving her properly, and if that wasn't enough, he would come to his daughter and slap her cheek.

Smack!

At the crude sound of friction, the ivory mansion crumbled like a sandcastle. Like dirt swept away by a downpour, it collapsed in an instant, leaving only rubble.

In cases like this, it was always the women who died or were injured. High-ranking fathers would coincidentally be in safe places and only appear with their hands behind their backs after the bodies of the women who suffered the tragedy were collected.

I don't know what the Mother Goddess is doing. Without punishing all the irresponsible fathers in the world.

"It's so noisy, just get up already."

She opened her eyes again. No, she only lifted her eyelids slightly. She was so weak that was all she could do. It felt as if someone had placed a heavy rock on her eye sockets.

It felt like the back of her head was squelching into the floor like a mushy pumpkin. The severe headache was unpleasant. Her shoulders and limbs were broken and limp as if they had been crammed into a narrow box.

The surroundings were dark. There was no burning house, nor the sight of sunlight softly settling.

She knew it, but waking from the dream, her heart felt tight. It was the first time she missed her home. She desperately wanted to see her mother and nanny.

"Are you awake?"

At her feet, a man with the eyes of a starving beast was crouching and glaring this way. He looked like a hunter who lives in the forest, one she had only heard of but never actually seen.

Psyche pulled her chin down and checked his attire with narrowed eyes. She had heard that hunters wear bear skins, but disappointingly, he was just wearing an ordinary ivory tunic.

He glared fiercely as if asking what she was looking at. She was used to the goodwill men sent, but such hostility was unfamiliar to her.

She stared at the man silently, like a noble family's daughter taming a dog she had seen for the first time.

Of course, in Nysa, there was Seat who would pick a fight at the slightest provocation and mock with displeased eyes, but the reason she didn't consider that a meaningful experience was because he was a Ceton, not a human.

If he were an ordinary man, a human and not a god, his legs would inevitably buckle when looking at her.

Her eyes, accustomed to the dark, explored the surroundings. Her body bounced up and down, and she heard a rattling noise.

They were trapped in a cart made of a cage used to imprison beasts, being transported somewhere. A blanket was draped over the bars to prevent them from looking outside.

Then, suddenly, along with thumping footsteps, men's voices were heard.

"Hey, Ivar! Want some meat?"

"Keep the meat, just give me alcohol."

"That's not allowed. They said alcohol and fermented foods are not allowed."

"By who?"

"By Lord Asteril."

At the mention of her name, Ivar softened his fierce eyes. He wore a cowed expression like a scolded child.

Psyche gathered her legs and sat on the floor, which was unsanded and had rough wood grain.

“Who are you?”

“Ivar.”

“I asked who you are.”

“A fisherman from Triton.”

Psyche made a pathetic expression. It felt like having a conversation with a servant brought from a foreign country as a slave.

Feeling that she was looking down on him, Ivar asked bluntly.

“And who are you?”

“I am the daughter of the Aiates family, the highest noble house of Demeter. My father was the seventh President of the Senate, and my mother is the daughter of a house that produced countless magistrates.”

“I’m asking who *you* are, not your parents. Don’t you have a name?”

She stared at Ivar in silence. A reluctant voice slipped out.

“Psyche.”

“Psyche? Butterfly?”

“You idiot, it means breath.”

“Don’t you go showing your ignorance. In Poseidonia, it means butterfly.”

A brief silence ensued. The wheels continued to clatter over the bumpy road. Her tailbone throbbed from constantly banging against the floor. Psyche chewed on her lower lip.

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know.”

“Could you tell them to let me off here? I have somewhere to go.”

Ivar’s eyes widened as if he had heard something absurd, and then he burst into laughter.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Go where? You’re trapped in here with me.”

“Trapped?”

“Yeah. Can’t you tell just by looking? The men who spoke to me earlier are the ones watching us. Of course, even though they’re guards, they’re good guys. We’re the bad ones.”

“What are you talking about? What did I do wrong?”

“Didn’t you commit some huge crime? From what I overheard, if someone from Nysa finds you, they’ll tear you to pieces?”

Psyche’s eyes grew round. She firmly bit her trembling lower lip with her upper teeth.

She imagined Seart’s nails lengthening, his hand—sharper than a spear—piercing through her chest in a single strike.

“Anyway, if you want to live, just stay quiet and stay out of sight over there.”

“Why are you here then?”

“You must be quite a dangerous individual yourself. To think they’d assign me as your watchdog.”

“What?”

Watchdog? Doesn’t that mean sticking right by her side and keeping an eye on her? Don’t tell me she had to stay with this savage man all day?

“No! I hate men!”

“You hate men? Even Lord Kalian?”

Her breath seemed to stop. A shallow drumming sound echoed from her heart. That name alone brought to mind all the nights he stood there. As if a blue fog had settled in her mind.

“Even while you were unconscious, you were desperately searching for someone… It was Lord Kalian, wasn’t it?”

Psyche’s face flushed red.

“You said you hated men, but you’re laughing now.”

“He is a male god.”

“Right, Lady Asteril’s male god. Don’t harbor any delusions. Lord Kalian has no one in his eyes except Lady Asteril.”

“That’s just what you think.”

“What are you talking about? It’s Lord Kalian’s thought, how could it be mine? Go ahead and bring a thousand needles to pierce his heart. Can you pierce a river? Stop your futile struggles.”

Psyche touched her face. Ivar’s words felt like a dagger poking at the wound on her cheek.

The faint remaining scar stung. A shiver ran through her. She was scared. It hurt, and she was lonely. She still couldn’t understand why he had gone that far against her. Everything was full of things she couldn’t understand.

“Why are you watching me?”

“Because I’m a monster.”

“Monster?”

“A monster who might lose its reason and attack at any time.”

Blinking a few times to understand his words, Psyche recoiled in disgust and screamed.

“Go! Get away from me!”

Ivar chuckled.

“You were with the Maenads in Nysa, right? Then you should know well. We are usually milder than you’d think. However, when a target that stimulates our appetite and lust appears, we go on a rampage and change. At that point, we can’t even control ourselves.”

Psyche’s eyes, which had been staring at Ivar, gradually widened. Looking into his pale pupils, the women of Mount Nysa overlapped as if surfacing from the water.

“You…”

How could they put me with someone like this! How!

“Don’t overreact, idiot. I told you, we only rampage and change when a target that stimulates our appetite and lust appears, right? You are absolutely not that kind of target to me, so rest assured.”

Staring intently at Ivar, Psyche parted her lips slightly and whispered. Asteril. Startled by that tiny voice, Ivar’s pupils quivered and shook.

Veins began to bulge and protrude blue on his pale skin. Watching Ivar clutch his own throat, gasp for breath, and collapse to the floor, Psyche calmly asked.

“Whose blood did you drink? Seart’s, by any chance?”

Ivar lifted his head, breathing heavily. He had an expression asking what she was talking about. Psyche shot back.

“There must be a god who gave you blood. Who made you a Maenad?”

“A god? What are you talking about? I became like this because of cosmetics distributed in Delphi. They said there was something in them.”

“Delphi?”

Psyche bit her nails. The image of the Sibyl, sitting on a high tripod, looking down at a sleeping pilgrim with a wide, torn grin, came to mind.

As a crunching sound came from Psyche’s mouth while she chewed her nails, Ivar made a disgusted expression.

Fortunately, her random remark had calmed what had been on the verge of exploding.

“Anyway, don’t harbor any delusions. Lady Asteril and Lord Kalian are also somewhere in this procession.”

At his words, Psyche looked out through the gap in the window bars where light seeped in through a slightly flipped blanket.

A few swift-footed men ran past the cart they were riding in. One of the men held a wooden pole with a flag tied high on it.

Pedestrians who saw the flag depicting a flame stopped in their tracks and blinked their wide eyes.

The delivery procession of the Kokinos clan, which boasted the highest bounties recently, was not something one could easily see.

Anecdotes about them were as famous as the myths painted on red-figure pottery, but confirming their existence was as difficult as snatching Eos’s hair.

Without secrecy, survival was impossible. Mnemosyne’s principle had been faithfully upheld until now. Before heading to Delphi in such a grand procession.

Delphi, having gained independence from Aphrodisias, was geographically still located right in the middle of Aphrodisias.

From Aphrodisias’s perspective, it was like having a needle under their tongue, but since the income earned from pilgrims traveling to Delphi was not insignificant, they had no choice but to maintain the status quo.

On the day marking a month since leaving Nysa, Asteril’s party finally arrived in the tribal confederation of Aphrodisias.

The journey was long and tedious, but they couldn’t let their guard down. Flocks of crows would occasionally take flight from the shade of the dense forest, and then Aris, who had been lying on the cart, would quietly rise and disappear somewhere.

The crows that had persistently pursued them a few more times eventually vanished. It was around that time that the cicadas hiding in Aris’s hair also disappeared to the other side of the sky.

Only then did they realize that Ananke’s wide skirt had been wrapping around them, as if protecting them all along.

In the shadows where the dusk crept in, it felt as if Nyx’s heavy breathing could be heard. His furious, disgruntled lips and eyes red as charcoal vividly came to mind.

In his pale hands, Seart’s two eyeballs, retrieved from the water, were tightly gripped.

It wasn’t as if Kalian couldn’t feel his needle-sharp killing intent, but he walked quietly behind Asteril in his robe. Even if the ground beneath them were to collapse right then, the only existence he would protect was her.

Someone yawned. Everyone was unable to bear the boredom. The North Wind had torn at his own head, flown off somewhere, and hadn’t been seen for days.

He was originally a guy who couldn’t stand boredom the most. But more than anything, he seemed to be sick and tired of the sweltering heat characteristic of the season of fire.

For him, born in the northern lands of blizzards, the sensation of a hot breath blowing like wind toward a bonfire must have been an indescribable agony.

It was then that Asteril, who had been walking while looking down at her feet appearing and disappearing beneath the hem of her wrinkled dress, suddenly spun around. Kalian, seeing her suddenly stop, raised his eyes and halted his steps.

“But what did you mean back then? Emautu Splanknon.”

Kalian’s eyes widened slightly.

“Eranos Anteros. You said Anteros means companion, so I understand that… But Eranos? What does that mean?”

People of the Hecate clan brushed past Asteril, who was asking with an innocent face. Exhausted by the scorching heat, they wore expressions showing they had no interest in the two’s conversation.

“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

He had clearly whispered it into her ear while she was asleep, so he wondered how she could know.

“At first, your voice was so sweet that I thought it was a dream, but the more I thought about it, it didn’t seem like a dream. Besides, I have a good memory, so I don’t easily forget things once I hear them.”

Kalian feigned composure, but he was quite flustered.

“I’ve been thinking about it all along. Wondering what on earth it meant. I wanted to keep asking, but it just ended up that I’m only asking now.”

Someone giggled and spun around right above their heads. It was the North Wind, who hadn’t been seen for days and had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, laughing with a hand over his mouth like a child.

— Eranos is a term the almighty sovereigns affectionately use when they find a lover. It’s an expression used to call someone incredibly beloved, a word hard to utter in one’s right mind unless they’ve chugged a pithoi full of Orti’s honey wine. Did the Lord of Lethe actually use such a word?

Asteril’s eyes grew round. The North Wind, who had been whispering in her ear, flinched when Kalian shot him a murderous glare. Uh… For real?

He flew up into the sky in a hurry, like a raindrop bouncing off the ground. He felt a sense of crisis that if he got caught this time, he might actually be annihilated.

Unable to hold back the twitching corners of her mouth, Asteril took a step closer to Kalian.

“Then Emautu Splanknon… Mmph!”

Kalian’s hand hastily covered Asteril’s mouth.

Asteril spotted Aris walking over with his arms pillowed behind his head, beyond Kalian’s shoulder. Seeing the two with a peculiar atmosphere, he tilted his head and stopped walking.

“What, did you just say that, black-haired princess?”

They say a Ketos’s ears can hear even an ant passing gas over the mountain, and it seemed to be true. Come to think of it, he seemed to miss exactly the necessary things and only eavesdrop on these useless things, but anyway, it was self-evident that the clueless Aris had cluelessly interrupted once again.

“What? Emautu Splanknon?”

Aris snorted, grabbed his stomach, and roared with laughter.

“Where did you learn Ketos speech! Have you known Rian for a hundred years, a thousand years? Such words are only spoken to a lover you’ve held in your heart for thousands of years. Why? Are you trying to swear to feed him your one and only heart?”

“Is that what it means?”

“What? This is really… You were going to use it without even knowing what it means? Dare to use the ancient language of the Ketos? Anyway, what an utterly insolent wench. Splanknon… is a word meaning heart in your human language. In the Ketos tongue, it means breath. Emautu means master. In other words, the master of my heart. It’s also metaphorically referred to as the master of the soul, but anyway, it’s an expression you can’t just say anywhere to anyone. Do you understand?”

The corners of Asteril’s mouth twitched upward. Kalian was glaring at Aris with despair-filled eyes.

“Was that what it was?”

Asteril slapped Kalian’s arm with her hand, laughing, then shot him a sly glance.

Kalian avoided her gaze and then sent a gust of wind at Aris, as if venting his surging anger.

“W-what! Why are you doing this? Aaaagh!”

Aris waved his hands telling him to stop, but got swept away by the whirlwind to the other side of the sky.

As his dreadful scream faded into the distance, Asteril clicked her tongue as if it was a pity.

“Why take your anger out on innocent Lord Aris?”

“...”

“You must have already liked me a lot back then, huh?”

Sweeping a hand over his eyes in distress, Kalian glanced down at Asteril.

“Yes, you are my heart and my soul. If you understand, then don’t disappear from my sight.”

As if deciding to say everything he wanted to say since it had come to this, Kalian continued.

“Eranos, your body is mine, and even if I leave countless marks, it is not enough. It is not enough, and still not enough.”

"Why are you so intent on leaving a mark? Ah, I see. Are you worried that my face might suddenly change or I'll age overnight, and you won't recognize me?"

He looked at a loss for words. He had confessed to her countless times, yet she was still saying such things.

"Even if you became that boulder, I would never fail to recognize you. It would be impossible even if I tried. Must I explain from the beginning what kind of being Anteros is, my dear?"

"Then what if I become an invisible wind?"

"I can see even the wind."

"No, I mean... What if I become something unseen?"

"If it is you, as long as you exist somewhere in this world, my heart will feel it irresistibly. Whether you are visible or not is not what matters. What matters is that it is you."

"Are you saying you are confident you would recognize me no matter what I look like?"

Instead of answering, Callian caressed her cheek. Then, he pressed his lips against hers. Asteril recalled the moment he had entered her. It had only been a few days ago, yet it felt like an eternity.

She felt his lips against her collarbone. And the hot breath seeping into her skin. It was unfamiliar, yet familiar. It already felt like a distant memory when his body had always been cold, regardless of his emotions.

"Not now."

Asteril pushed his shoulder away and surveyed their surroundings. The procession had already left the forest far behind and was entering the valley.

Callian raised his head. His purple eyes stared intently into hers from mere inches away.

"Erannos, are you mine?"

"A priest is a body consecrated to a god."

"I am your god."

"That's right, my god."

There he goes with that strange logic again. He asked if she was his, yet he was saying he was hers. No matter the question, the conclusion was always drawn exactly as she wanted. It was an absurdly remarkable ability.

"You alone suffice as my priest."

As their lips brushed against each other like feathers, she burst into laughter. Through her parted lips as she laughed, his tongue slipped in, inhaling her giggling breath.

"That's right, you only need me."

Whispering thus, she subtly allowed her breast to fall into his grasp. As though not minding his kneading touch, she rubbed her forehead against his cheek. She could feel his sidelong glance.

Callian sucked her lower lip as if devouring it. Whenever he sucked hard on her swollen lips, she would twist her waist and slump down as if collapsing.

"Again, again..."

Asteril covered her mouth defensively. She could see his scolding gaze glaring at her. He flicked her forehead with his finger.

"Ow!"

Playful antics that would have been unthinkable when he was Keton came naturally now. It was because they no longer had to worry about her getting hurt or dying.

Frowning, Asteril relaxed her expression as she watched Callian's retreating back. His shoulders, as he walked leisurely, seemed to be laughing.

Perhaps that was as absurd a wish as hoping for the night sky to brighten. To have seen his smile, radiant as the sun.

Even so, she wanted to hold onto that hope. For there was no rule stating the moon reflected in the well would remain cold forever.

"Ematou Splanchnon."

Asteril rolled the syllables around her mouth as if melting ice. The sound of the words was quite beautiful. Master of my heart, my heart's... A gentle breeze of laughter escaped her.

Ψ

As they emerged from the valley, Iskis, who stood at the head of the procession, ran forward with a bright expression. Standing in the sunlit meadow, he looked down the slope and shouted back to his companions.

"A village!"

The people pushing the cart loaded with the resurrection device cheered. Someone shouted for mead, while others declared they were going to take a bath, massaging and wiping their sweaty necks. Everyone laughed loudly in joy.

Only Asteril stood rigid before the olive tree at the entrance of the slope and the small altar adorned beneath it.

The stone bowl on the altar, its incense long extinguished, was heavily stained with blood that could have been either pig or human, and the soil beneath the altar was discolored a dark reddish-black, littered with the remains of offerings.

A voice from the countless experiences she had endured over the years, known as the miracle of Cocytus, whispered in her ear.

This is the land where the god of eternal, deep slumber dwells. A damp sorrow, spread like mist over the lake, had spun a web, waiting for its next guest.

Even a slaughterer accustomed to wielding a cleaver cannot help but waver each time they meet the eyes of the beast.

Like a daffodil surviving on a cliff after a torrential downpour, Asteril's complexion instantly grew pale. She slipped off her sandals and stepped barefoot onto the earth.

From afar, the weary sound of mourning could be heard.

This land, eerie in its stillness, was a small, rural village on the outskirts of the southwestern Eatos mountain range.

Houses made of clay plaster mixed with straw were huddled together like a cluster of mushrooms. Most were low, single-story dwellings, with only two or three two-story houses in sight.

"Doesn't look like there's anywhere to stay."

Someone muttered in disappointment. In small villages like this, the community would usually seek out spare rooms to rent to outsiders temporarily, but that typically only applied to the two-story houses with attics.

"Let's at least find a temple."

A place generously open to all. Bluntly speaking, as long as it had a roof and walls to keep out the wind and rain, that was enough.

"So much for a bath..."

"I'd be grateful just for a place to lie down."

Everyone muttered in deflated voices. Leuke and Iskis, who still lacked experience in leading their clan, gazed at Asteril as if pleading for help.

However, Asteril, whose nerves had been on edge this entire time, was too busy glancing around vigilantly.

It was then.

"Out of the way!"

A boy in a short tunic came running like the wind, shouting as he approached. Deftly dodging the men around the cart, the boy spotted Asteril standing in the middle of the procession and suddenly dashed straight toward her, his head down.

The two collided as if it were inevitable. Rubbing her left arm from the impact, Asteril saw the boy who had fallen flat on his backside and exclaimed in concern.

"Are you alright?"

The boy with brown curly hair gave a brief nod and scrambled to his feet. Just as he tried to shuffle his way to an escape, Callian twisted his body and snatched the boy's wrist with a swift motion.

Startled, the boy tried to pull his hand free. His palm was pitch-black with mud.

"L-let me go!"

The boy flailed in the air. However, it was impossible to break free from Callian's firm grip. Terrified, the boy shrieked like a little child and burst into tears.

Asteril suddenly felt a lightness at her wrist. She could tell that the boy, while crying his eyes out, was simultaneously observing the situation. Asteril abruptly slipped her hand inside the boy's clothes.

"What are you doing!"

"Your sleight of hand is quite impressive, but it wasn't enough to fool the eyes of the gods."

Dangling from Asteril's hand, who spoke in a tone of pity, was the twisted gold bracelet the boy had pickpocketed.

The boy immediately stopped crying. He shot her a vicious glare that seemed to say, *So what?*

"The god who was watching you is not a forgiving one. He will take something in return. Perhaps those wicked wrists of yours..."

The boy flinched, and the moment fear clouded his face, his legs gave out.

The boy, who had splashed face-first into a muddy puddle carved out by last night's downpour, scrambled frantically to his feet. Covered in muddy water, the boy steadied himself against the ground and immediately met eyes with Callian, who was staring down at him coldly.

Entranced by his beautiful face, the boy had stood there in a daze, but upon seeing the people of the Hecate clan encircling him, the color drained from his face.

Wailing loudly, the boy looked around for someone to help him. This time, his fear was genuine.

Finally, he sobbed out, "I'm sorry. So please don't cut off my hands."

A short while later, Asteril took the boy's hand and led him over to sit on a pile of sun-dried bricks. She placed a piece of bread in the child's hand and applied ointment to his scraped knee and elbow.

"It's a mixture of honey, yarrow, and snake venom. It should clear up in a day or two?"

"Sister... Are you perhaps a Sibyl?"

"A Sibyl?"

Wondering what that meant, Asteril recalled Melinoe referring to the priestesses of Delphi as Sibyls.

"That's right, something like that."

His eyes widening, the boy dusted himself off and stood up. Gesturing for them to follow, the boy led her and the rest of the group deeper into the village.

At the back of the village lay a low hill, much like a small knoll. Overgrown with wildflowers and weeds, a narrow, winding trail carved by foot traffic stretched along its slope.

A temple.

Someone whispered, holding their breath. At the end of the secluded path, a red-painted roof emerged from between the dense thickets. It was a temple with walls made of pebbles set in hardened mortar.

The wooden door, patched numerous times, was rotting and creaked heavily. Through the slightly ajar door, the murmurs of a crowd could be heard.

"This way, Lady Sibyl."

At the boy's gesture, everyone hesitated, but Asteril stepped forward without a second thought. Callian glanced at the gap in the door, then nodded to signal it was fine, sensing no apparent danger.

As Asteril grabbed the doorknob, she paused. On the rattling iron handle, two snakes and a staff were carved.

"This is a place consecrated to the god of healing and recovery. Before I was born, there was someone who managed the altar, but since he passed away, the adults take turns sweeping and pulling weeds. There's a sacred spring in the forest behind the temple where the goddess once bathed. They say that if you submerge yourself in it, foul diseases will vanish and wounds will heal in no time."

The boy's cheeks flushed slightly as he finished speaking. The child, who looked to be barely ten years old, was gazing up at her with eyes full of anticipation.

Asteril silently ruffled the boy's curly hair. When she asked, "May we go inside?" the boy nodded vigorously. "Of course!"

The moment the creaking door was pushed open, long shadows clung to their feet. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the cavernous darkness within.

The sound of wet, hacking coughs echoed from all around. The air was thick with a putrid stench. The whimpers of those in agony could also be heard.

Asteril covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve. Something blunt rolled across the floor, bumping against her foot before coming to a halt. Bending down, she discovered a broken figurine. It was a wooden effigy of a woman's body, but the head, arms, and legs had been chopped off, leaving only a rounded torso.

Thinking it bizarre, Asteril raised her head, only to freeze at the sight illuminated by the faint glow of a brazier deeper within.

Mutilated clay dolls and figurines dangled in clusters from the rafters. Somewhere, the piteous whine of an animal could be heard. Looking closer, she spotted a rabbit hanging among the statues, its limbs bound.

What in the world...

Just then, the sound of muttered prayers echoed from all corners.

"O God of Medicine, God of Healing! Please look upon this wretched body and have mercy..."

She finally grasped the situation. The villagers seemed to have a custom where, if a part of their body ailed, they would offer a figurine with that corresponding part mutilated.

They believed the God of Medicine would heal the patient's body just as he would piece the shattered statue back together. Sometimes, they even offered wounded animals as living sacrifices. Fortunately, it seemed they did not go so far as to use young children as sacrificial lambs.

Just as Asteril was about to step further inside, she suddenly felt someone grab her shoulder from behind, spinning her around and clamping a hand over her eyes.

"Callian?"

"Do not look. You don't need to see any more of this."

Callian frowned deeply at the foul stench wafting from within the temple. From the inner rafters hung things like clumps of patients' hair, rotting excised flesh, and extracted teeth.

The sick, who had sliced off parts of their own flesh as offerings, writhed on the floor, groaning in agony. Their eyes, merely waiting for death, were glazed over, weeping tears of blood in sheer despair.

Asteril gently held the hand Callian used to cover her eyes and fell silent.

The boy waiting outside the temple was sitting on a pile of firewood, casually dusting the dirt off his feet, when Asteril emerged with Callian.

"It's a curse. They say the almighty gods have laid a curse upon the village."

"The gods do not curse without reason."

"I know. It's because we didn't offer tribute to Pythia, isn't it? A Sibyl from Delphi told us so."

Every time the boy uttered the word "Sibyl," his gaze dropped to the ground.

"The spring is still red. The gods are still angry. What should we do? Since you are a Sibyl, Sister, please go to Delphi and ask the Pythia to lift the curse. Tell her we can show our sincerity after the harvest. Please ask for their forgiveness."

"The spring is red?"

To the village, the spring behind the temple was both a ritual site and a vital source of drinking water.

But one day, the spring water turned red. Following that, patients complaining of abdominal pain poured out of the village. The skin of the feverish patients turned black, their flesh began to rot starting from their hands and feet, and they breathed their last one by one.

"They say the well in the village over the hill turned red too. That village also didn't offer tribute to Delphi. The same curse has fallen upon them."

The boy who had brought Asteril to the spring spoke in terror. His brown eyes glanced sideways at the red-stained water, which looked like peeled apple skin.

Asteril stirred the spring water vigorously with her hand once, and seeing the Alkanna dye smearing her palm, she clenched her teeth.

"This is not a curse from the gods."

Someone had committed a truly blasphemous act. To exploit the name of the gods and threaten the people, they had poisoned the drinking water, driving them to their deaths.

Asteril pitched a tent in front of the temple doors, laid down straw and wool, and set up a makeshift clinic. It reminded her of the clinic she had built in the Agora of Triton. When the adults are sick, it is hard for the children to survive.

She affectionately stroked the boy's head once more. The curly-haired boy smiled anxiously.

The patients who had been hiding inside the temple out of fear came out one by one to the tent and lay in the shade, persuaded by Leuce and Ischys.

Feeling the soft sunlight and the wind blowing through the forest, they finally wore expressions of relief.

"If you drink this, the pain will lessen."

The patients who had been lying weakly drank the water mixed with asparagus and pain-relieving herbs, and then sat up.

They stared blankly at Asteril as she applied vinegar to their wounds and carefully wrapped the affected areas with linen cloth to stop the bleeding.

"The gods have not forsaken us. Thank you, Sibyl..."

Asteril silently held their hands or stroked their foreheads.

The patients were gentle and meek. They simply felt a sense of wonder. How could just the touch of this woman's hand make them feel such a warm and mystical energy?

"Why would the priestesses of Delphi do such a thing?"

Leuce muttered in a baffled tone. Asteril, who had taken a look around the village with Callian, narrowed her brows as she gazed at the Eatos Mountains in the distance.

"Geographically, this village is a gateway that pilgrims must pass through to reach Delphi. But from what I can see, Aphrodisias seems to have overlooked its importance, not even providing support, let alone managing it properly. It's probably a village that doesn't belong to the nine tribes Lady Melinoe spoke of."

"The nine tribes... Ah, the Council of Elders?"

"It seems they despise any tribal village that isn't part of the Council of Elders, and don't properly provide food or relief supplies. Delphi has exploited that. They're waging a psychological war to make them submit to them willingly."

Asteril spoke as she watched a spider crawling across the shaded ground.

"If you want to show a miracle, first find those who have fallen into despair. It's a typical principle of those who mimic divine power. Though I believe that the more they rely on such tactics, the less they have experienced true miracles."

Leuce looked at Asteril, who wore the sunlight filtering through the leaves like a floral crown. She lost herself as if looking at a goddess enveloped in radiance, then muttered.

"That's right... Humans are foolish creatures who cannot recognize a miracle even when it's right before their eyes."

Ψ

Five days later, the chief of the village of Phrear hosted a small festival and officially invited Asteril's party.

He said he wanted to express his gratitude for their good will in purifying the sacred spring and caring for the village's patients.

Avoiding the midday heat, around sunset, the chief set a table in his front yard.

The young men slaughtered and prepared a plump piglet and a hen, while the women spread honey on freshly baked bread, sprinkled salt lightly over it, and placed it on clean earthenware. Next to it, a basket was piled high with dried fruit.

Finally, wine diluted with water appeared, sloshing in a large jar. Everyone burst into joyful laughter.

Fire caught on the mountain-high pile of firewood. Asteril danced with the people in front of the crackling bonfire.

An old woman who had lost sight in one eye relaxed her lips into a smile, as if smiling for the first time in a very long while, when Asteril took her hand and laughed. An old man who had lost a leg let out a hearty laugh when Asteril stroked his shoulder, sat beside him, and shared a conversation.

"It's a village with many elderly people. I heard Cocytus, where you used to live, Lady Asteril, was also a village of the elderly? A border village where the elderly on the verge of death left their homes so as not to be a burden to their children came to be named Cocytus, and later, even their children followed them there to live, making it a proper city."

Callian, who had been standing with his arms crossed, glanced sideways at Leuce, who had approached him and started talking. When she met Callian's eyes, she smiled softly.

To think she would be sharing a quiet conversation while looking at a bonfire with the King of Hades—it would have been unimaginable during her days at the detached palace of Lethe.

"The alcohol is delicious."

In her hand, she held a Kyrites cup filled with apple wine.

Callian turned his gaze toward the bonfire. Asteril's face was also flushed from the alcohol.

How much had she had to drink? It seemed that when she got drunk, she would dance with a radiant smile like a peach blossom swaying in the wind.

From all around, hazy gazes were drawn to her as if bewitched. It was inevitable that eyes would be drawn to her. For his Anteros was an existence that made both night and day bow down.

Just then, an unfamiliar young man approached and held out his hand to Asteril. His palm, illuminated by the bonfire, looked warm, and Asteril grabbed his hand without a hint of vigilance.

The two quickly became intimate, giggling and spinning around as they danced to the sound of the aulos.

Callian stared intently at the young man's hand as he held Asteril's, spun her around, pulled her toward him, and even caught her stumbling body. His closed lips twisted the muscles of his cheeks along with his darkened gaze.

"Callian?"

Asteril looked at him with surprised eyes as he suddenly appeared. The young man stepped back with an awkward expression. A chilling cold could be felt from the corners of Callian's eyes.

"Hello?"

Of course, there was no way he would get an answer. Cold sweat ran down the young man's back as he met those silently staring eyes.

The young man offered his hand as if to shake hands, within the limits permitted by the emotionless gaze Callian was throwing. Asteril watched the two with a nervous expression.

As far as she could remember, Callian was not a man who shook hands or hugged anyone. He had probably never done either in his entire life. Whether the subject was a human or a Ceton, a single cold glance was enough for his initial greeting.

The young man seemed to realize this as well, scratching his head and withdrawing his hand. A sharp gaze fixed onto the back of his hand gripping his clothes.

Cold qi bared its fangs. It was an attitude that declared it would readily slice off that careless human man's wrist the moment its lord gave the command.

Fortunately, Callian let the young man go safely. The young man, turning away reluctantly, tilted his head in confusion. He rubbed his eyes with both hands and stared at the bonfire.

Did I see a ghost? The man who had appeared out of nowhere was handsome enough to send chills down one's spine. Could the god of wine and festivals have dropped by briefly, pretending to be human?

His scalp tingled. Whatever the case, he was lucky. The moment he met those amethyst eyes, he thought he might die today, yet here he was, alive.

"What's wrong?"

Asteril tilted her head, observing Callian's expression. His gaze drifted toward her nape, damp with sweat. A fragrant scent of apple wine wafted from her flushed cheeks. He grabbed her wrist and brought it to his ear.

Thump, thump.

Her heartbeat, pounding in time with the drumming, echoed as if it were about to explode.

"Your heart is beating too fast."

"My heart?"

"Just like when you are with me."

His voice, usually a smooth baritone, sounded a bit rough. The uniquely sensual feeling that melted her ears was still there, but she could sense a different emotion.

"Ah..."

She seemed at a loss for words.

"No way. Didn't you mishear it because of the drumbeats?"

Callian's eyes shook like the biting winter wind that had flown around screaming in front of the palace of Lethe.

"I must be a little out of breath from dancing."

It felt as if a part of her chest had been carved out, as if sliced by a knife.

He let go of her hand as he watched Asteril avoid his gaze and bite her lower lip. The cold sweat transferred from her hand was moistly soaked into his palm.

She was a woman who could feign innocence and make up excuses effortlessly. Even when she lied in jest, it was so seamless that even he could not easily distinguish it.

Seeing her so flustered instead made it impossible for him to ask her anything.

He did not know what to call this feeling. However, he thought it might be similar to the feeling of all the blood draining from his body.

Callian spotted the young man looking delighted as he stared at the bonfire by himself.

His steps moved naturally. His stride gradually narrowed and quickened. His eyes brimmed with murderous intent.

Asteril's eyes widened as she saw the cold qi at his fingertips transform into a blade.

No way.

She hurriedly chased after him and grabbed his wrist as if to stop him.

"Callian! What are you doing?"

The eyes of the man who turned around were completely empty. Callian looked down at her out of focus.

"How dare he."

It was a voice devoid of any emotion.

"He is the one who made your heart race."

Asteril blinked blankly and asked back.

"So? Don't tell me... you're going to hurt him?"

He stared at the young man with half-closed eyes, as if newly realizing what he had been about to do.

It was an expression she hadn't seen in a long time. Eyes that looked bored but were already foreseeing the opponent's death.

"That person hasn't done anything wrong."

He might not have done anything wrong yet. But he was a being who would soon commit a wrong. No, his very existence would become a wrong.

A madness, like Erebus shrugging off its crouched body, flashed in his eyes. It was fleeting, but it was enough for a Ceton. With just a single glance, a massive amount of blood would pour out like a fountain.

He was a being who had never hesitated about anything. He always acted only on the essence of things, straightforwardly like a Ceton. The same went for conversations.

"Wait. Listen to me. I told you it's not like that!"

Speaking without meeting her eyes, and beating around the bush like this, were both firsts for him.

"I cannot help it if you hold someone else in your heart, but I cannot stand by and watch someone else try to steal your heart. Before you come to favor that man..."

Uncharacteristically of Callian, he was speaking incoherently. He didn't even seem to know what he was saying.

"I don't hold him in my heart. Not at all! I don't even know his name. He means nothing to me!"

Asteril wrapped her arms around Callian's waist.

"My heart didn't race because of him. It was because of you. Why don't you know that?"

He finally opened his narrowly folded eyes and looked down at her.

"That person is the chief's son. The chief is also a patient whose wounds I treated. He came to give thanks on behalf of his father, and that's, well... he said something unexpected..."

"Something unexpected?"

"It's..."

This time, she didn't need to put her ear to her wrist to know. Her heart, which had averted its gaze, was racing again. Like a butterfly that had fallen into the water and barely escaped, shaking its wings.

"It's just that it was a rather sudden story."

"What could be more sudden than this between you and me?"

"There is."

She whispered. She swallowed hard. She was nervous again. She puffed up her lungs greatly, let out a long breath, and then wore an expression as if she were dizzy.

"If you don't intend to drive me crazy again, then tell me now."

Asteril moved her lips and hesitated. Unaware of his persistent gaze piercing her pursed lips.

"So... Mmph!"

Kalian grasped her chin and lowered his body. The words she had not fully spoken were swallowed into his mouth. Her fragile breath burst like air bubbles as she gasped and struggled.

With one hand supporting the back of her head, he sucked, flicking his tongue between her slightly parted lips.

Her unfocused eyes gazed blankly, her head tilted back. After pausing briefly, Kalian slowly stroked her swollen lips with his hand, his gaze languid.

"So... what were you trying to say?"

Asteril gazed at his smooth nose bridge and lips with drowsy eyes. She could not focus her thoughts. She answered as if entranced.

"Gamos."

"Gamos?"

"They said they would prepare our Gamos."

He seemed to be thinking about what that meant. It was a word that did not exist among the Ketons.

"I mean a wedding ceremony."

At her words, spoken with her tilted head trembling, Kalian's eyes widened.

"So while imagining that... my heart just started pounding like that."

Every year during the season of earth, the Daphne Festival is held in Delphi, where any couple who had their Gamos at Aphrodisias can participate.

Newlywed couples could request a blessing from the Sybil who oversees the Daphne Festival. The Sybil would select just one couple from many and personally take them to the sanctuary to bestow a blessing.

"The village chief's son suggested we have our Gamos and then attend the Daphne Festival. I told him I wanted to meet the Pythia of Delphi. He said even meeting the official Sybils is difficult, but the Pythia, the highest priestess, cannot be seen at all unless you've reserved a date from three years ago. He said royalty and nobles—those with high status and overflowing wealth—are lined up waiting. But if we're selected as the couple to receive a blessing at the Daphne Festival, we could personally welcome a great Sybil second only to the Pythia. And if we're lucky, the real Pythia might even come and bestow a blessing."

Asteril hugged Kalian's neck and lifted her heels.

"Anyway, that's what's important right now."

Asteril, with her head tilted back, hesitated. His throat was touching her forehead. Asteril stroked his shadowed throat with her hand.

"That you were jealous just now."

"Jealous?"

"What were you thinking when you looked at that man? Before I could like it... what were you planning to do?"

Kalian moved his gaze to look at the village chief's son again.

For a moment, reason fled and he imagined ripping out that profane man's throat in an instant, crushing it in his grip like a watermelon. But on second thought, this body is different from when he was Keton. Such brute strength would be impossible.

"I would have killed him."

His eyes gazed intently at her.

"Because I thought he had stolen your heart."

Asteril stared blankly at him, the playfulness gone from her face.

"Whether Keton or human, I alone am sufficient as the man by your side. Is that not so, my dear?"

His questioning eyes were visible. With the lips that had spoken of killing the village chief's son as if it were natural.

In that moment, she recalled a night when he had held her tight as if binding her so she couldn't escape, their bodies intertwined.

A rough coupling where he silenced her moaning mouth and gripped her breast as if to burst it, forcing his hot and hard desire inside.

He had grabbed her hips as she tried to crawl away on all fours, dragging her back. With every squelching sound, he inhaled deeply. Try to run, my dear. Each time, I will catch you and bring you back.

Squelch!

Her whole body shook as if being nailed, her eyes rolling back. She could feel his breathing grow more excited as he thrust his member into her as if punishing her.

His possessiveness, appearing occasionally like a tattoo, makes her realize what he is.

"Do you find someone like me terrifying?"

A voice steeped in darkness flowed out ominously. She shook her head.

"No."

"Are you not afraid or repulsed?"

A voice that sounded ecstatic just to hear asked in a low breath, as if their bodies might overlap at any moment.

"Not at all."

"..."

"Rather, will you despise me?"

"Despise? You?"

"A mere mortal is trying to monopolize the almighty Keton."

He slightly parted his rose-colored lips and whispered. Innocent as a wildflower, you know nothing. You are still like a young deer that has only played in a safe forest.

"You are a being who doesn't even know what monopoly means."

"..."

"You don't know what I endure. You don't know what I desire. You don't know what my possessiveness and obsession crave of you. It would be better not to know. The most viscous desire pooled within me would be nothing but horrifying to you."

"Tell me."

"..."

"Tell me everything, so that even your darkness can become mine."

His gaze, which seemed to pierce through her inner thoughts, lowered his eyelids slightly.

"My madness sometimes sees you screaming, losing consciousness, and crying."

His sunken voice whispered even lower.

"I see you in the darkness, excited even by kisses that feel like strangling and sadistic caresses, your eyes rolled back as you gasp."

His leisurely spoken voice exhaled a somewhat excited, ragged breath.

"I see you, tamed by my violent desires, wrapping your naked body around me and begging to be loved. Even when I don't stop thrusting and withdrawing until you faint, even when we do nothing but couple for days without eating or sleeping, I see you helplessly tamed by my touch, weeping."

She felt her body growing wet. He had whispered countless sweet words until now... but never had his violent desires struck her so starkly as now.

"Do you understand why Keton's countenance is beautiful?"

"..."

"Because my mind is not in its right state like this. To us, madness is like a bolt of lightning that strikes at any time."

Asteril wrapped both arms around Kalian's neck.

"Then I've found the right partner. Because my head is also filled only with thoughts of you."

"You? What thoughts?"

"Actually, these days I've been imagining having our Gamos with you."

At her words, Kalian wore a puzzled expression. He seemed flustered that it wasn't as sensual as he had expected.

That made sense. She herself felt contradictory emotions. To think she would become so obsessed with such a formal ceremony and formal words.

"I imagined us wearing ceremonial clothes in front of many people, kissing each other, then formally vowing to become husband and wife, and you willingly bowing your head to the King of the Underworld and my sisters for my sake."

His expression gradually became peculiar.

"You went with me to the Agora to buy me pretty jewelry and cloth, and passersby would gaze at you in awe again. But you'd hold my hand tenderly, whispering the poets' love songs and laughing."

"You..."

Kalian stroked Asteril's hair as if combing it. He felt as if his head, which had been full of all sorts of dirty imaginings, was being forcibly washed away.

"Do you want to see me acting like a human?"

"Of course not. Among married men, how many would actually do this to their wives?"

"I think I'm already acting that way."

Asteril hesitated, then "Ah?" as she gazed into empty space.

"Is that so?"

"..."

"But that's different. Should I say it's very Keton-like? Ah, don't misunderstand. If I had met a human man instead, I wouldn't have dreamed of such things at all. It's because you are Keton that I imagined it."

Kalian looked over her shoulder for a moment, then seemed to organize his thoughts and gazed into Asteril's eyes.

"What do we need to do?"

"For what?"

"That Gamos thing."

"You want to do it? The Gamos?"

"Weren't you dreaming of me becoming an ordinary human man? It wouldn't be bad to try being that for a day or so."

The voice flowing softly from above her head sounded as tender as a harp on some night.

"Kalian!"

Asteril screamed with joy and hugged his neck. He seemed momentarily surprised by her reaction but soon tucked her hair behind her ear.

To him as a Keton, the human way of loving might have sounded childish and cumbersome. He had even spoken negatively about the institution of marriage before.

Standing under the shade of a tree with his arms crossed, Kalian looked at a glance like an ordinary young man. Though to call him ordinary, his face reflected in the bonfire was unrealistically beautiful, as if a statue of some male god had been placed there.

Asteril touched her lips where his breath remained. Not cold, but warm. Kalian, whose eyes had been fluttering as if drowsy, looked puzzled when he met her gaze.

Between the two, the shadow of the blazing bonfire flickered like flames on the ground. Drunk people walked with their arms around each other's shoulders, carrying on mismatched conversations.

Asteril covered her mouth with both hands, then cupped them like a trumpet and called his name.

"Kal-i-an."

He gazed quietly at her in the same posture as before. With his back to a large olive tree, arms crossed, head tilted ever so slightly.

By his reaction, it seemed he couldn't hear well. Just then, a breeze carried on the night air blew from behind, as if encouraging her.

She didn't know what courage possessed her. Alcohol had a way of making even the most deceitful human heart honest.

"I love you, very much."

His eyes widened in surprise. Even from this distance, his dilated pupils seemed visible.

Asteril turned abruptly with a flushed face. She heard the sound of his crossed arms dropping.

People looked back and forth between her and him, then began murmuring again and focused on their own conversations.

As if announcing the end of the festival, the sound of the aulos performance was growing like a shout.

Ψ

The people of Phreare village were excited about the celebration they hadn't had in a long time. How long had it been since the last Gamos? This special ceremony that made everyone excited proceeded in a boisterous atmosphere.

The older women started by preparing the bride's attire. They gathered behind the temple and spread out in a row the silks, colorful threads, and pearls they had carefully stored in their homes, as if displaying them.

Asteril blushed with her arms raised as if cheering, completely naked. She didn't mind having her measurements taken, but did they really have to strip her completely naked in front of so many people?

Leuke, sitting on a large rock by the spring watching, pouted enviously, and suddenly declared with determination that once this was over, she too would have a Gamos, even if she had to drag Ischys by the hair.

"I like white."

At Asteril's words, the women who had been fighting over the cloth looked at her with wide eyes.

"Isn't that too ordinary? With your fair skin, red would suit you very well."

"Instead, please make it a very splendid white."

"Splendid white?"

"I've only worn white clothes my whole life, but I've never worn splendid white clothes."

The women had blank expressions for a moment, then exchanged glances. They rolled up the cloth under their arms, then smiled broadly, telling her to leave it to them.

"Then what about the groom?"

"He looks good in anything, but if he wears cloth the same color as his hair or eyes, he'll look incredibly noble. I mean blue clothes dyed with ground shells, or purple tones."

As soon as her words ended, the women organized the cloth and stood up. They walked away with terrifying expressions, arguing about the ceremonial attire until the end.

Asteril smiled with dimples. The women of Aphrodisias liked precision and did everything with a sense of responsibility.

The night before the Gamos, the village chief's wife came with a torch.

The village chief had temporarily given them a place to stay, with a partition inside to separate the sleeping areas.

Before sleeping, Asteril was burning myrrh and rose scent in front of the door, offering a simple ritual to the goddess. Kalian was out, apparently having something to discuss with Aris.

The village chief's wife sat on a chair woven from ash wood, covered with sheepskin. She warmly held Asteril's clasped hands that were offered to her.

"The wedding ceremony originally begins the night before the bride and groom move to a new home. But since you two already share a room like a married couple, there's no need to move. First, we must offer a sacrifice to Lady Ananke, who guards the Gamos. Please give me something you've used since childhood or something you cherish."

Asteril removed the twisted gold bracelet from her wrist and handed it over.

"My mother gave this to me."

"The craftsmanship is truly beautiful."

The village chief's wife carefully wrapped the bracelet in cloth, then raised it high above her head and bowed in respect.

The most important ritual before holding the Gamos was the purification ritual where the bride bathed.

Originally, water had to be fetched from the Kallirhoe5), called the Spring of Ananke, to wash the body, but the true location of Kallirhoe had long been buried in legend.

Instead, each village fetched water from its clearest spring using a sacred jar called a loutrophoros6) to perform the bathing ritual.

The women selected to fetch the water moved to the spring following the aulos players, holding torches. The water jar, the loutrophoros, was bulging in an egg shape, with a long, slender neck and two handles on either side.

Later, a painter would paint the scene of the Gamos and the Kallirhoe procession onto this special jar.

Asteril bathed with the spring water brought in the jar, hugging herself and shivering. It was spring water fetched from the deep forest in the middle of the night, so it was bound to be freezing. The North Wind watched from behind, clicking his tongue with a look of pity.

When the wedding day arrived, the area in front of the couple's temporary dwelling began to bustle with people from dawn.

Women and boys wearing flower crowns decorated the house with olive and laurel leaves.

Asteril was forced to wake up by the women who burst through the door. Kalian, who had been lying next to her, was dragged out barefoot without knowing why.

Of course, he had obediently allowed himself to be dragged out, but the sight of him being dragged away like a prisoner with both arms held was enough to make those who knew his true identity burst into laughter.

"Sleeping together the night before the Gamos!"

Kalian gave a look asking what the problem was. He glanced toward Asteril's quarters where a short scream rang out, but flinched and stiffened when the village chief's wife scolded him.

"No, no! You mustn't look at her. Come now, this way, hurry this way. The groom-to-be must also get dressed up."

"Dressed up?"

"The bride is also getting ready right now, isn't she? The groom must look the part as well."

More women poured out from somewhere. His expression wasn't exactly pleasant as he was dragged away again, his arms and shoulders seized by their hands. In his entire life, he had never been dragged around like an ox with a yoke around its neck.

Even the great patriarch Lord Uranos had lamented that his son was the most difficult.

Aris clutched her stomach and laughed until she had trouble breathing, panting like a fish out of water. Her giggling laughter was filled with ecstasy.

Asteril wore a dazzling white dress and a splendid flower crown on her head. Then she covered her face with a veil finer and whiter than flour.

She continuously ran her hands over the white silk finely coated with pearl powder and let out exclamations of admiration. The fabric sparkling in the sunlight shone and rippled like silver submerged in water.

"It's as white as snow, but incredibly splendid and beautiful, isn't it?"

"It really is. It's so pretty."

As she stepped out of the room, the women draped a red fabric embroidered with gold thread patterns over her shoulders. They burst into laughter, saying she was so beautiful she looked like a goddess.

In the village center where the well was, food and wine were generously laid out on a long table.

The curly-haired boy who had picked pockets volunteered as the amphithales7). He handed out sourdough bread from a basket, offering the guests a spell-like phrase as a greeting.

"I have avoided the worst and found the best."

As wine cups were passed around, a boisterous atmosphere formed. Everyone was laughing heartily while showing off the wedding gifts they had brought.

Leuke jumped up and held a small jar high.

"My gift is the best! Lady Asteril, Lord Kalian, look forward to it! This is a secret medicine passed down in our clan... Mmph!"

Iskis hastily clamped his hand over Leuke's mouth. He flashed an embarrassed smile at the gathering.

"My lover is a bit drunk."

The middle-aged women smirked with knowing looks and glanced at Iskis. Iskis bowed his head deeply, his face flushed red.

Asteril sat in the bride's chair, casting her gaze diligently through her veil.

Finally, she saw Kalian standing in front of the largest and widest oak table. Expressionless, he was surrounded by villagers tossing jokes at him.

He wore a high-quality tunic and draped a chlamys dyed with blue and red pigments over his shoulders. His hair was tied with a leather cord woven with gold thread, and he wore a crown of fresh olive leaves on his forehead.

It was the first time seeing Kalian dressed so splendidly. If he only put on a golden helmet, he would be worthy of being called a god of war.

Asteril unconsciously fiddled with the Himeros petal hanging around her neck. Her heart pounded as if it would explode.

When he, as perfect as a statue, saw her, his gaze fixed on her like a nail driven in. The village maidens were all staring at him with dreamy expressions.

He walked over, captivating everyone's attention like a male god descending stairs made of clouds.

"Now, the groom shall kiss the bride!"

The village chief shouted with a laughing voice. A sensual body odor mixed with musk emanated from Kalian as he reached out his hand.

It seemed someone had applied the fragrant oil meant for the bride's body onto his body as well. Come to think of it, since he was more beautiful than the bride, it was plausible they would play such a prank.

Kalian looked down at the veiled Asteril and whispered.

"For some reason..."

"..."

"My heart is racing."

The two people's pupils swayed, losing their direction. Then they became bound to each other.

"Even a heart made of earth can beat like this?"

"But that breath is yours."

This time, Asteril spoke.

"I don't know why I'm crying."

"Don't they say humans are beings who cry even when they're happy?"

"Maybe it's because what I thought would be sad has turned into happiness? Or perhaps it's the wistfulness that happiness brings. I never imagined I would be able to hold the Gamos like this, receiving everyone's blessings with you. I'm definitely happy, but... I don't know. Too many thoughts and emotions are intersecting."

"This is what you wished for. Shouldn't blazing ecstasy surge up like a spring?"

"Humans aren't living creatures that feel only one emotion in a single moment. Happy yet sorrowful, sad yet relieved, joyful yet regretful... It's like clear and muddy river waters merging and separating."

Kalian slightly lifted the veil and gave her a light peck. It was a plain kiss, yet filled with a feeling of affection.

Applause poured out. Jeers and cheers followed. He glanced around, then this time overlapped his lips deeply, making a loud smacking sound.

The two, having exchanged breathless gasps, stared intently at each other. Kalian spoke.

"I have inhaled all of your sorrow just now. So rejoice wholly. For you have become the wife of the most arrogant man, just as you wished."

Kalian lifted Asteril high into the sky. She placed her hands on his shoulders, looked down, and burst into laughter.

Before long, the village chief and his son drove up a four-wheeled carriage. The carriage drawn by mules and oxen would carry the bride and move slowly to the house with the bridal chamber.

Originally, they were supposed to go to the groom's house where his parents would be waiting, but it was out of the question to bring Uranos and Ananke to this occasion...

"Come now, let us go."

A woman wearing a red cloth on her head, symbolizing the groom's parents, approached, placed a grill and a sieve in Asteril's hands, and spoke.8)

Asteril cast a questioning gaze through her veil. Who is this? Is one of the villagers acting as the groom's parents?

"It's different from custom, but since your parents are not here, let us move together. Truly, I am no different from your mother."

It was a powerful yet gentle voice. It felt like it seeped into her mind like spring water. She knew this feeling well.

This was the voice of an omnipotent being.

Asteril boarded the four-wheeled carriage, tightly grasping the grill and sieve in both hands.

Aulos players followed behind, and the villagers sang congratulatory songs and danced. People waiting by the roadside threw walnuts and dried figs.

Young boys and girls brought and gifted wedding cakes made of sesame and honey symbolizing fertility, quince fruits, date fruits, and more.

The four-wheeled carriage was filled with flowers and food, giving off a fragrant scent.

But Asteril couldn't focus on anything. Her eyes were only on the woman in the red cloth walking alongside the carriage.

She hadn't noticed earlier due to nervousness, but she soon remembered the owner of the voice.

"I greet the great God of Fate, Ananke."

When Asteril whispered in a lowered voice, she laughed, shrugging her shoulders slightly as if amused.

"We are not gods, but Ketons. Your mother was the same."

"Do you know my mother?"

"How could I not know her, who was my one and only friend and will be my eternal friend? Of course, provided that the her I am thinking of is indeed your mother."

"I thought Lord Ananke... would know everything."

"About what? Your existence?"

"..."

"Gaia loved the King of Demeter. When Nyx found out about it, she led Thanatos and invaded Demeter. Ketons had never intervened in human affairs to that extent. As a result, Demeter was devastated... And that young king likely lost his life during the battle."

It was a story the Queen Mother had told her many times. At the time, she was too young, so her brother took on the role of regent king, and he died in battle against the Hades army.

The Queen Mother had longed for her only brother for the rest of her life. Even more than her prematurely deceased husband.

"The reason I came here..."

Ananke lowered the red cloth she had been wearing on her head. The pupils glancing toward Asteril were glowing red like blood.

The eyes that read fate. The power to see through truth and falsehood. Asteril felt as if the veil before her eyes had vanished.

"Because I wanted to meet you once more and confirm."

"Confirm... what?"

"Whether you are truly Gaia's daughter, and whether you are qualified to inherit her legacy."

Ananke's pupils returned to a black and deep color, like the innards of chaos.

"You closely resemble the appearance of that King of Demeter. To think I'm only realizing this now... I can tell at a glance that you are of that man's bloodline."

"Have you ever met him?"

"I only caught a fleeting glimpse of him when I secretly followed and watched Gaia a few times."

Ananke let out a shallow sigh as if reminiscing about the past.

"There are exactly three fates and souls in this world that I cannot read. One is Gaia of the Earth, another is my son Kalian, and the last is Nyx, who has lost her harmony."

"..."

"But recently, one more was added. That is you, Princess of Demeter."

Ananke harbored a smile.

"Isn't it fascinating? The fact that all three whose fates I cannot see are connected to a single person? And you, at the center of it all, are full of mysteries, as if wrapped in the thickest veil. Originally, Gaia was the only one whose fate I could not read. If you are Gaia's daughter, this phenomenon can be explained."

"I..."

"You are my son's Anteros."

Asteril stopped breathing. No, it felt like her breath had stopped. Ananke held Asteril's hand as if telling her not to worry.

"You are my son's one and only companion, and the child of my closest friend. If Gaia were alive, she surely would have asked me to be your godmother. Just as I did for Gaia. Therefore, as of today, I volunteer to be your godmother and will treat you as my daughter."

Her chest felt like it was burning. The blood coursing rapidly through her veins pierced her heart and pounded loudly. Before she knew it, her cheeks were endlessly soaked with tears.

"Me... Do you not resent me?"

"..."

"Do you not hate me? How can you accept me like that? Because of me, Kalian..."

"It would be a lie to say otherwise. Honestly, I resented it at first."

Asteril looked down and shed tears. Her veil became damp, but she couldn't bring herself to lift her head.

"But I respect my son's choice. Just because he is my child, I do not want to control or pressure his future path according to my will."

Her voice held pride.

"I have made up my mind to protect your love. If Kalian loves you, then I too will love you, and if you are thereby happy... I will merely etch that sight into my memory forever."

Rattle, rattle. The sound of the wheels drawn by the donkey rolled on, slapping against her choked heart.

"Do you... really think I am truly Gaia's daughter?"

"Yes, I do. So do not cry. Even if my premonition is off and it turns out Gaia is not your birth mother, my affection for you will not change. The moment you became my son's Anteros, you became no different from my own daughter."

She reached her hand into the carriage and grasped her damp hand. Asteril, who had only been shedding large drops of tears, bowed her head and swallowed her sobs.

Before long, the four-wheeled carriage arrived at the bridal chamber, Thalamos. Adorned with olive leaves and flowers arranged in the morning, it looked even more splendid.

The Hecate clan, including Leuke and Iskys, held hands and sang a wedding song at the top of their lungs.

O, Goddess of Radiance who squeezes the honey of love and desire.

Here, the two most beautiful and excellent people are about to weave a single fabric with the thread of fate.

Please stroke them with your hands of blessing. Bestow good things upon them and take away the bad.

From somewhere, a hearty laugh was heard, and several men were seen bringing Kalian, supporting him by his arms.

Asteril was so surprised that she forgot to hold anyone's hand and hopped down from the four-wheeled carriage alone.

"Kalian?"

The wreath on his head was crooked, and he had lost his shoes somewhere; his bare feet were covered in dirt.

The village youths kept pouring alcohol into the cup held in his hand and repeatedly slapping his back. The men of the Hecate clan, seeing this sight, were horrified and couldn't keep their mouths shut.

Truly, the more ignorant, the braver. The bravery of those who cannot see even an inch ahead... is truly impossible to catch up with.

An empty pithos rolled under Kalian's feet. In his right hand, he held a bow overlaid with deerskin.

Asteril picked up and threw her veil, stomping her feet in anxiety. Ananke stood with her arms crossed, watching with a face full of interest.

"My son normally takes after me, so he should have a constitution that wouldn't flinch even if he drank as much as seawater, so why does he look like that?"

"T-That is..."

Asteril whimpered and covered her face.

"I did it."

As she mumbled so tiny, Ananke glanced sideways and raised an eyebrow.

"I wanted to see Kalian drunk. So when I molded the clay doll, I made him with a weak constitution for alcohol..."

Ananke burst into laughter. It was certainly funny. To think that brazen Kalian would be staggering so helplessly.

"Now, now, the groom must pass the archery test to take the bride into the bridal chamber. Traditionally, a man should be adept with spear and axe, but isn't tonight a night where you must focus on aiming and releasing?"

Hahaha.

The people surrounding the bride and groom laughed with flushed faces. Kalian held the bow and rubbed the area around his eyes with one hand, pressing down. His vision seemed unclear.

His breathing also seemed to have quickened slightly. He was seen taking deep breaths repeatedly.

Asteril looked around and urgently signaled to the North Wind, who was sitting with his tail curled on the olive tree.

- Nodos! Does Kalian even know how to shoot a bow?

- A Keton shooting a bow?

- Then what do we do? Isn't it his first time?

- What do you mean what do we do, what is there to worry about? If he's a Keton, even a newborn baby would shoot and hit every single grape on the vine beyond the field the moment they first hold a bow, right?

Asteril couldn't hide her anxiety as she watched the North Wind floating leisurely with his arms pillowed behind his head. However, Ananke stood next to her, curling the corners of her mouth up, with an expression that said she was dying of amusement.

Kalian, holding the bow with unfocused eyes, stared blankly at the round targets swinging beneath the branches as if tied to plumb bobs.

He aimed the bowstring with a flawless posture. It was an elegant and clean posture, unlike someone who had been staggering just a moment ago. Exclamations of admiration flowed from here and there.

"Is he really drunk?"

"The groom is so cool that it's no fun."

Thwip.

The moment the targets hanging from the swaying branches overlapped in a line, a single arrow pierced right through the center of each target in succession and flew in a straight line.

Silence fell.

Everyone gaped in shock and then looked at each other. Even after rubbing their eyes and looking again, what they saw was correct.

Kalian tossed the bow away as if discarding it. The bowstring, unable to withstand the recoil, had snapped.

The judge climbed up the tree and dropped the targets hung by strings. The gathered people stretched their necks, checked the pierced targets, and lost their minds once again.

Kalian, walking unsteadily, leaned his head on Asteril's shoulder. He glanced at Ananke and sighed, as if asking why on earth his mother had come here.

Ananke smiled mischievously, then turned sharply and walked into the crowd. *I had a lot of fun, kids.* A voice mixed with laughter echoed in their minds, and soon she disappeared into the clouds that spread out like the hem of Eos's dress.

"Are you dizzy?"

"..."

"Kal?"

"..."

"Are you asleep?"

Is he really sleeping like this? Seeing as his shoulder wasn't heavy, it seemed he was keeping his body tense...

"Kalian?"

"..."

"I'm going to have a drink too."

When she tried to push his shoulder slightly and leave, she felt the grip of a hand snatching her arm. Asteril tightly suppressed a laugh as she watched him act exactly as expected.

"Why?"

"I'll go with you."

"No. You're drunk."

"That's why together..."

He seemed not to know what he was spouting. Kalian kept his eyes closed and let out a long breath.

"I want to hold you."

Asteril pulled his head to her chest and held him gently. She even patted his shoulder comfortingly.

He looked at her with a look of dismay, as if asking if she thought he was a three-year-old baby.

"You mean holding me like this?"

"Something else."

"Like what? But can't I just go have a drink too? You smell like alcohol, so I want to drink."

"..."

"I won't get drunk."

At her voice mixed with laughter, Kalian couldn't lift his head. He seemed to know that he was drunk. And that he was deeply embarrassed by it.

"Am I pretty?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

"How much?"

"..."

"Hmm? How much?"

Kalian's eyes, as he raised his head, were red. He grasped her cheek and stared intently into her eyes.

"This much... to the point where I cannot take my eyes off you."

The flowers decorating the surroundings flickered and reflected in his fiery eyes. It was something he wouldn't easily say normally.

- Our lives are like one grand fabric, aren't they.

Ananke's profound whisper seemed to echo from beyond the massive tapestry hanging at the entrance of the bridal chamber.

On the tapestry, the Tree of Life reaching up to the sky stood solitary, spreading its crooked branches to the ends of the world.

Asteril held the head of Kalian, who had slumped against her chest without her realizing, and whispered.

"Do you love me?"

"..."

"How much do you love me?"

He exhaled his warm breath into the air and let out a long sigh.

"Kalian?"

The sound of his sleeping breath came evenly. Asteril muttered with a sullen face.

"Idiot."

She couldn't hear the one thing she wanted to hear the most. I shouldn't have made him with a weak constitution for alcohol.

A sigh escaped her at the surging regret.

What could she do? Humans, who were nothing more than a single thread, were beings destined to always overturn their regrets.