If Hippolytus knew he was no longer the most special, the one single male presence in the goddess's regard, and that someone was being treated so differently from him (his own imagined favor), he would probably be furious enough to burst and feel an overwhelming resentment toward Night.
Too bad he didn't know.
And even if he died of anger over it, the goddess wouldn't care about his feelings.
On the other side, Aphrodite was genuinely frightened.
The goddess of love originally wanted to rely on her beauty to compete, and was dissatisfied with losing to Artemis once again.
But facing Scorpius, which was capable of threatening even gods, and Artemis's arrow that could pierce through anything in the world, even the war god Ares, the most powerful among Aphrodite's open admirers, would have turned and run at that sight.
And she was far from suited for direct combat.
Even so, even at this point, already frightened and ready to retreat, Aphrodite gritted her teeth, turned to Night, and asked with complete sincerity: "Are you willing to leave Artemis and follow me instead?
There are some things I can't tell you directly, but I can promise you, you are the only one who has ever truly moved my heart."
Aphrodite said this without any attempt to hide it from anyone listening.
To those who knew her well, words like these were perhaps the kind of thing she said to every lover.
After all, She had said it to all of them.
But Night, under the weight of that enormous force of fate, inexplicably felt the sincerity behind Aphrodite's words.
What kind of pull was this, attracting this goddess of love so much, when they had only just met for the first time?
But of course he wasn't going to agree to that.
First because he had already accepted Artemis and after provoking her, if he were to leave her and accept another goddess, he might as well have a death wish.
After all, Artemis herself was not something one could provoke, not to mention she had an equal powerful brother as a backing...and even Zeus' would be on her side.
And second, he really didn't want to betray the one he himself chose.
An unbelievably beautiful. pure hearted, goddess, favouring him, why would he leave her side, and leave her in disappointment.
So, whether it was reason or feelings, he wouldn't leave Artemis' side and join someone else's, especially someone like Aphrodite.
Although he had some doubts regarding the words she spoke, with so much sincerity, nothing was confirmed.
With that thought in mind, he refused again...and just as he did so, from the heavens above came a rush of wind, then a boom!!
A condensed shaft of light fired downward.
Artemis's patience was completely gone.
Unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable.
She wanted this thieving cat torn apart five ways and ground to dust, and even that wouldn't be enough to quell my fury.
But the moonlight gathered into that arrow, stripping away the explosive force that could have destroyed a continent if released, became instead a single point of pure, absolute penetrating power.
It was an arrow capable of killing a god.
When Aphrodite felt it's pure power, her color changed completely.
She tried to dodge, and found she was already locked on.
It was over.
Was Artemis actually going to strike her down?
At the critical moment, Hermes appeared beside Aphrodite, his staff striking her sharply across the back. "Move!!"
Aphrodite vanished from where she stood.
The next instant, Hermes looked up at the arrow blazing toward him like a falling star, went pale to the roots of his hair, activated his power in a panic, and also disappeared.
And the arrow in the sky, once both gods vanished, dissolved into the air a breath before it reached the earth.
"Hmph!" A cold sound from the moon goddess came down from the high sky.
She had never actually intended to kill Aphrodite.
Even as Zeus's most beloved daughter, doing that would bring punishment down on herself.
But frightening that brazen goddess of love was entirely acceptable.
Seeing Aphrodite go pale with terror before being dragged away by Hermes, Artemis finally began to cool down somewhat, the heat of her anger easing just slightly.
At the same time, as he withdrew, Scorpius stopped its descent and rose back into the sky, the stars returned, and the heavens became daylight once more.
Down below, Night looked at the empty space in front of him where Aphrodite had been standing moments before.
It almost felt like a dream, but he knew with complete clarity that the goddess had been there.
And the moonlight and stars, Scorpius, and the goddess who was pulled away so quickly.
Although Night didn't see the arrow that came from the heavens.
But he could guess who had just acted.
And the other god who took Aphrodite away, who was that?
Never mind—it has nothing to do with him anymore anyway.
And at this moment...
The Aphrodite and Hermes, he was thinking about had landed with a crash on a coastal shore somewhere in Greece.
Hermes had moved them to the farthest point in all of Greece from Troy, to put as much distance as possible between them and the moon goddess's attack.
Once the shock settled and Aphrodite remembered she was still alive, the memory of being refused three times by Night came back, of twice encountering a person who dismissed her while holding Artemis in reverence.
First Hippolytus, now Griffith.
But it was different.
Not the same as Hippolytus.
With Griffith, she genuinely had that unclear, warm pull, as though he was supposed to be with her, as though he belonged to her.
But what was hers had been taken by another goddess.
She had never fought for anything her whole life.
She endured everything quietly when the jealous and hostile stares of powerful beings kept coming for her beauty. She stayed strong through all of it.
Her father God never gave her the same doting love he showed Artemis. She never said a word about it.
Not only that, like a beast he was, he even tried to force himself on her.
So many times, and she survived all of them.
But just as in the myths, the first time Adonis refused her the goddess of love fainted from shame and wept and was heartbroken beyond words.
She had always been the one toying with human love, using the power of beauty to deceive the senses and play gods and mortals alike as pieces on a board.
And now for the first time she tasted something far more bitter than any of it.
She had never dared to show her true feelings, always living behind a mask.
And this one time she brought her real self to someone and was turned away completely, discarded without a thought.
She paid no attention at all to Hermes, who was also standing there pale-faced, still trembling like a half-dead dog after nearly being caught in the crossfire of a divine assassination, his nerves completely shattered.
Instead, blazing fury and jealousy aimed directly at Artemis lit up in the goddess of love's eyes.
"I won't let this go.
My Adonis! Even if you refuse that name right now,
Don't think you can escape the obsession of the goddess of love.
You'll regret choosing Artemis,
I swear it. I'll make you taste the same bitterness I'm feeling now, and then you'll come to me willingly!"
The goddess of love's beautiful eyes, deep blue as the sea, blazed with the resolve of someone who had been humiliated and wanted revenge.
Even so, she had no intention of killing Night.
She just wanted him to regret his choice, to feel flustered, and to fall for her in the end, at which point she would kick him away with one foot—well, she should think about that last step first.
Then a thought struck her suddenly, and Aphrodite turned to Hermes and asked: "Hermes, Griffith is a hero on the Greek side, right? He joined Agamemnon's camp to help the Greek alliance win, didn't he?"
At this point, Aphrodite had already figured out how she would get revenge on Night and Artemis.
Since Night was there, it was probably also Artemis's intention.
So the two of them chose to help Agamemnon?
Then she would do the exact opposite. She would help Troy.
She had already quietly completed what Zeus asked of her, manipulating Helen's heart and guiding her to run off with the Trojan prince Paris, which started the Trojan War.
After that she had no intention of getting involved in the fighting on earth again.
But now she couldn't hold back anymore.
On the other side, when asked this question, the equally intelligent Hermes immediately widened his eyes: "Ahem... What do you want to do, Aphrodite?!
Don't forget the will of our divine father Zeus."
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)