Inside Hephaestus' temple, night had fallen.
The moonlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the room and the beautiful girl lying on the bed.
She wore a thin nightgown, her long golden hair cascading over the pristine white bed.
The moonlight highlighted her delicate features, her eyelashes trembling slightly, her lips tightly pressed together as if caught in a nightmare.
Indeed, she was dreaming, reliving the moment many years ago when she was first born.
On that stormy day atop the highest peak of Olympus, her own mother, the noblest of goddesses, had thrown her down from the mountain.
The girl woke with a start, her amber eyes, identical to Hera's, wide open as she sat up abruptly, gasping for air.
At that moment...
"Master Hephaestus, are you alright?" A worried maid, a god-crafted automaton created by Hephaestus herself, entered the room.
Seeing the girl's face, which bore a striking resemblance to Hera's, the maid's expression changed.
She trembled and lowered her head, unable to continue looking.
At this moment, the girl wasn't wearing her usual mask.
One side of her face was flawless, while the other was marred by a birthmark that looked like burning flames.
This girl, who appeared to be a miniature version of Hera, was none other than the god of fire and craftsmanship, Hephaestus.
Hephaestus didn't speak, her eyes coldly fixed on the automaton for a while before she hesitated.
Eventually, she didn't dismantle it as she usually would.
Instead, she picked up a black half-mask from beside the bed, covering the marred side of her face. Her voice was icy as she asked, "How long was I asleep?"
"Master Hephaestus, you just lay down..." The maid's voice trembled as she replied, her head still bowed.
The maid feared for her fate, expecting Hephaestus to dismantle her.
In Hephaestus' eyes, these
(dolls) automatons were imperfect and shouldn't exist in this world, despite being almost indistinguishable from humans.
But Hephaestus had once created the perfect automaton, Pandora, the first woman in Greek mythology, given to humanity by the gods.
"Help me up," Hephaestus ordered coldly after a moment of silence.
The maid, frightened, glanced up at Hephaestus,
And seeing her indifferent gaze,
Despite her fear, she carefully lifted Hephaestus.
As she did, the goddess' flawless legs were exposed in the moonlight.
Hephaestus' legs were her most beautiful and noticeable feature, yet also the reason she could never forgive Hera.
Once capable of running, she could no longer use them to stand after that fateful day when Hera threw her from Olympus.
The maid carried Hephaestus to another room, dressed her, and placed her in an exquisite wooden wheelchair, pushing her out.
In the temple's corridor, the other automatons, who had been chatting in groups, fell silent, trembling and lowering their heads as Hephaestus passed, not daring to meet her gaze.
Hephaestus was known for her volcanic temper, unpredictable as an erupting volcano.
"Has Hera's follower arrived?"
As the maid cautiously pushed Hephaestus through the corridor, the latter suddenly asked.
The maid hesitated, then quickly replied, "Not yet, but he should be close. A sister saw him approaching on Pegasus."
Hephaestus nodded slightly, her expression mocking yet complex. "Athena told me about it early on, but I still can't believe my mother, who has avoided me for centuries, would come to see me because of a mere mortal."
The maid kept her head down, not daring to respond, knowing a single wrong word could be dangerous.
At the same time, she also felt a twinge of pity for the boy she had yet to meet.
What Hera didn't know was that Hephaestus' unexpected willingness to meet Promise wasn't due to her request.
Athena had already approached her about Promise's situation half a year ago.
Few knew that Athena and Hephaestus had always had a good relationship.
Perhaps it was because Hephaestus helped bring Athena out of Zeus' head, or maybe Athena simply admired her skills.
Hephaestus, the god of fire and craftsmanship in Greek mythology, was also the god of sculpture and art.
Most of the Olympian gods' temples were designed and built by her.
For example, the blooming temple of Demeter, or the magnificent underworld temple of Hades.
Moreover, because of their good relationship, Athena once asked Hephaestus a question that most people wouldn't dare to ask.
That was why she agreed to the marriage given to her by Hera, the marriage with the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite.
Hephaestus's answer was simple: because Aphrodite was universally acknowledged as the most beautiful goddess, while she herself was recognized as the ugliest.
Thus, she wanted to see if the most beautiful goddess was truly as beautiful as claimed.
Later, Hephaestus caught Aphrodite in a tryst with the god of war, Ares, trapping them both in a net and exposing them naked before the other gods.
From that day on, Aphrodite never came to see her 'husband' again.
"It's been so long since I last saw my mother, so long that... I almost thought I'd forgotten about that past."
That nightmare.
As Hephaestus spoke, her voice was so cold it made the maid behind her shiver, yet Hephaestus was smiling, and her smile was bright.
"That's why I'm really looking forward to meeting that human."
"What's his name again, let me think... oh, I remember now, he's called Promise, right?"
...
...
Several days later,
Pegasus brought Promise down, arriving at the bronze temple gate.
The boy looked up, gazing at the temple built within the volcano.
Though Hephaestus was often shunned among the gods and her reputation wasn't particularly good among humans, in his eyes, she was a very powerful goddess.
After all, Promise, who was well-versed in mythology, knew that in the myths, whether it was the world's hardest shield, Athena's shield—Aegis.
Or the Sun chariot made by Helios, or Cupid's arrows that could affect even gods, all were made by this goddess.
'But if Athena hadn't told me, I wouldn't have thought she was a goddess. '
'After all, she's the husband of the most beautiful goddess, Aphrodite...'
But thinking carefully, among these gods, male-male relationships are quite normal, so perhaps a blooming lily isn't that surprising.
As Promise was thinking this and shaking his head, ready to step forward,
The heavy bronze gate suddenly opened, and several exquisitely dressed puppets walked out, but Promise didn't pay attention to them.
With just one look, his green eyes fell on Hephaestus, who was being pushed out by a maid, and he froze in place.
No other reason, just because Hephaestus looked so much like Hera, the same golden hair, the same amber eyes, even the delicate features were identical.
The only difference was, Hephaestus was a maiden, while Hera was a fully mature version.
And those slender, beautiful legs.
Because of the wheelchair, Promise almost instinctively looked at Hephaestus's legs.
Hephaestus was wearing a pale gold dress, with nothing on her legs, so her legs were completely
exposed; flawless and long.
On the other hand, the goddess' sharply noticed Promise's gaze, and in that instant, a naked loathing flickered in her amber eyes but was quickly suppressed.
With a beautiful smile on her face,
When the maid pushed her to Promise, Hephaestus looked up at him and said with a pleasant voice, "I believe you are Promise, my great mother's most beloved follower."
"Hmm... indeed, you're as cute as I imagined," Promise looked at the smiling goddess in front of him, examining him up and down, emitting kindness.
Though he felt a bit puzzled in his heart... after all, before coming, several people had repeatedly reminded him that Hephaestus and Hera had a very bad relationship.
But still, lightly nodding and giving a standard bow, he said, "Centaur sage Chiron's student, Promise, it is an honor to meet you, noble and beautiful goddess Hephaestus."
Though unsure why Hephaestus wore a half-mask, he felt that describing her as beautiful wasn't wrong.
Hence, he didn't notice the slight changes in expression of the puppets around them, and the look of panic and admiration in the maid's eyes pushing Hephaestus.
"Beautiful... thank you for your compliment."
Hephaestus smiled again, this time more beautifully than before.
"I already know all about you, child. Come in... you know, I've been looking forward to this."
Hephaestus motioned Promise to follow her into the temple and said with a bright smile: "I have always been looking forward to meeting you."
Having said this, she entered the temple with the boy
Pegasus was taken to another place by the other two puppets.
And just as he Promise entered the temple alone, the bronze door slowly closed.
"Athena, I really don't understand this time. You let Promise enter the temple like this. Aren't you afraid that the child will never get out again?"
In the dark, Hermes, who was bruised and battered but still insisted on joining in the fun, couldn't help but say something to the goddess, who was standing beside him in a flawless white dress.
Hearing this, Athena glanced at him.
She knew that Hermes' injuries had healed long ago, and the reason why he was still like this was simply to gain some sympathy and avoid being beaten.
In other words, even though he knew there was a high probability that he would be beaten, Hermes still insisted on fighting on the front line!
"Hephaestus will not kill the child because simply killing him would be too easy for Hera."
Athena explained calmly, "She has waited hundreds of years for this opportunity to torture Hera."
When Hermes heard this, he nodded with a look of realisation.
"Hey, little Athena, you let that child go to Hephaestus. Are you planning to let Hera suffer for it?"
"That's not good, that's not good, because I will secretly tell Hera about this."
At this moment, a very gentle voice came, and Athena's cheek was gently poked twice by the person who spoke.
The goddess tilted her head, and her golden eyes reflected the goddess in front of her who was wearing a red tight dress, smiling very softly, with pink hair and purple eyes.
"Goddess Hestia, what are you talking about? I never said that I wanted to torture Hera." Athena blinked and looked surprised.
Facing Hestia, the last virgin goddess among the Olympian gods, the sister of Hera, Demeter, and the king of gods Zeus, and the oldest god, she smiled and replied, "I just simply want Hephaestus to do me a favor."
Do me a small favor.
Athena said, her smile growing even brighter.
She was familiar with Hephaestus, so in a sense, there was no need for Hera to go there in person.
Athena had a great chance of getting the artifact needed for her promise from Hephaestus.
But she didn't do it.
First of all, it would be better if Hera went to find Hephaestus in person.
The second was that Athena knew very well how much Hephaestus hated Hera.
"What help?" Hestia blinked and asked curiously with her head tilted.
However, hearing this Athena just smiled without saying anything.
"This is easy. Hephaestus will never tolerate Promise's belief in Hera, so she will definitely sabotage this, and Athena will have the opportunity to take advantage of it."
Hermes, who had fully reacted, had just said this when he was met with Athena's narrowed death stare the next second.
Seeing this, he was stunned and hurriedly looked at Hestia, and was about to ask her for help.
But he found that Hestia was also looking at him at this moment, and her smile was very bright...her pink hair swaying gently in the breeze.
...