Hephaestus's heart trembled, but she immediately shook off the thought.
This was just one of Eros's usual tricks.
Aphrodite had done the same to her, gentle, sweet words meant to soothe her out of pain.
But in the end, those words were lies, designed only to make her fall in love.
So, this line from Eros... must be a lie too.
They were the same, after all. Cut from the same cloth, playing the same game.
Hephaestus, thinking she'd seen through the scheme, sneered and slapped away Eros's hand.
Comforting words like that meant nothing to her. She wouldn't fall for them again.
Falling for someone who didn't love you, that kind of experience once was enough. She didn't need a second time.
"Alright. I've fulfilled your condition. Now let's get to business."
"I promised I wouldn't make you into a doll, but I do need to become more familiar with your body."
She reminded herself over and over.
This was about measurements, nothing else.
Once Eros left, how would he ever know whether or not she made a doll in his likeness?
Seeing Hephaestus pull out entirely professional tools, Eros, who had been bracing for something inappropriate, relaxed a little.
It did look like she was genuinely trying to take his measurements for the sake of the armor.
The icy ruler moved across his body, and Hephaestus kept poking and squeezing his muscles as she measured.
Whatever happened earlier, she'd shoved it aside and entered full-on creative mode.
"So that's it… I see… male musculature has to be carved like this to be visually perfect."
"If I want to recreate these lines, I'll need to adjust my techniques…"
Murmuring to herself as she jotted things down, Hephaestus gradually lowered herself to his waist.
Her hands slipped from his chest and shoulders down to his abdomen.
Hot fingertips and cold metal glided over Eros's skin.
With Hephaestus half-kneeling in front of him, no man alive could've kept calm.
Inevitably,
"Huh? Is this some kind of blood-filled muscle? Why is it swelling like that? Do men have muscles here too?"
Driven by curiosity and a desire to learn, Hephaestus reached out and gave it a squeeze.
The next moment, Eros couldn't hold it in anymore.
The pressure launched an uncontrollable recoil.
Smack.
Right to her face.
"You've got to be kidding."
Hephaestus didn't seem angry at all, just stunned, staring open-mouthed.
"What kind of muscle is this? It got even bigger?"
"Wait… are there bones inside too?"
Just as she was about to poke around again, Eros grabbed her hand with a gentle smile.
"Dear Fire Goddess, if you don't want things to escalate in a very intense direction, I suggest you stop touching it."
"Of course, if you'd like to keep touching, or even kiss it, I won't stop you."
He leaned in slightly, eyes serious.
"Let me assure you, this is the most honest part of me. The more excited it is, the more attractive I find you."
"So now… do you believe me when I say you're not ugly, but actually beautiful?"
Hephaestus froze.
Her eyes met the… creature standing tall before her face.
Then, finally, something long-buried shattered through her defenses.
Shame.
"AAAAAAAH!"
She raised her ruler and swung at him with full force.
Even if she'd never studied this part of the male body, after all that, she knew exactly what it was.
Eros's eyes widened as he dodged swiftly.
Sure, he was physically immune to blades and fire, but phantom pain was still a thing.
"Whoa whoa, calm down! Why are you so worked up?"
Eros grabbed a cloth to cover himself and held up a hand.
"You burned my clothes off. You were the one who insisted on touching it."
"You didn't look the least bit shy just a second ago. So why get all flustered now?"
"And shouldn't you be happy? I just proved, with facts, that I genuinely find you attractive."
That barrage of logic stunned Hephaestus again.
She stood there, ruler in hand, fury shaking her, but… he did have a point.
Still, somehow she felt like she'd been seriously taken advantage of.
"...If you knew that would happen, why didn't you warn me beforehand?!"
She snapped, eyes blazing, but they kept darting toward the bulge under the white cloth.
"How was I supposed to know? I figured the great Fire Goddess didn't care."
Eros replied righteously.
"I even said from the beginning that taking off my clothes was probably a bad idea, remember?"
"But you didn't listen. You just torched my clothes on the spot. Frankly, I should be the one suing you for harassment."
No matter how you framed it, Eros was in the right.
Hephaestus could only swallow her fury.
Of course, she wanted to smack him around a bit, but all she could think about now was the strange warmth in her hands and the heat building in her mind.
Could it really be true? That he found her… genuinely beautiful?
Her suppressed thoughts surged back up, leaving her restless and fidgety.
"...So are we continuing or not? You gonna leave me standing like this?"
Eros asked, arms folded, watching her.
So she was insecure and sensitive? Easy fix.
Just show her, with action, whether she was beautiful or not.
Those scars on her face were intense, yes, but they were like a Valkyrie's battle marks. They didn't ruin her charm at all.
Besides, her tight waist and those long legs under her smith's shorts?
Total win.
Eros had been suspicious at first, anyone with that body couldn't have a busted face.
And now that the mask was off, he was proven right.
This insecurity? Totally solvable.
After all, the mind might lie, but… other things never do.
Forget beauty standards.
Only one judge mattered here.
And that judge was... standing tall under the white cloth.
Seeing Eros smirking, Hephaestus got even more annoyed, but she had nowhere to vent her frustration.
She flung her ruler to the floor.
"Put your clothes on! I'm done measuring!"
"...So soon?"
Eros looked disappointed. If she'd kept going a bit longer, who knows? Maybe he could've convinced her to try blowing on it.
But alas, she retreated faster than expected.
Reluctantly, Eros conjured up a new outfit with his magnetic field powers and got dressed.
Only once the clothes were back on did Hephaestus relax a little.
"...Now, show me that so-called 'Cosmo' power of yours."
After all, the Saint Cloth had to be built around that mysterious energy.
Eros spread his arms wide and let his Cosmo burst forth.
It might not have been a real universe, but the scale inside his body was vast, and its energy encompassed all things.
Hephaestus forgot the earlier chaos almost instantly, immersing herself in study.
This microcosmic power, intricate and expansive, stunned even her.
To dissect the world to such a granular level, the human body as part of the cosmos, yet also its own world…
As she studied the flow of energy, Hephaestus realized her earlier worries were absurd.
To even use this armor, you needed a massive Cosmo. No average mortal could hope to wear it.
The starting point might be low, but its ceiling… was unimaginable.
If Eros's Cosmo one day reached a scale capable of replacing the real world,
Then he would stand at the gates of infinity itself.
Hephaestus shook off that far-flung thought.
It was just more baseless anxiety.
Getting that strong? Might as well dream of becoming the next King of the Gods.
At least that's happened a few times in history.
Still, her evaluation of Eros's power was clear:
"You... I look forward to seeing you atop Mount Olympus someday."
The words left her lips, complicated and soft.
"If Father hasn't done anything to stop you yet, it means she's already factored you in."
Eros, after all, stood entirely outside the existing divine hierarchy.
He was an anomaly. Unpredictable.
But Greece already had too many wild cards.
Hephaestus figured her father could handle it, whatever the outcome.
So she said nothing more, and focused again on decoding this so-called Cosmo.
"Alright, I think I get the gist. Give me some time to study it more, and I'll be confident in forging what you want."
"But the materials, you'll have to gather those yourself."
Facing his gaze directly, Hephaestus suddenly felt uncomfortable again.
Without her mask, the burns on her face kept pulsing with heat, as if reminding her of how exposed she was.
"...Now that you've seen it, I'm putting the mask back on."
She bent to pick it up.
But Eros stopped her.
"This one doesn't suit you. Let me help."
He took the half-mask from her hands and, with a touch of his magnetic powers, dissolved and reformed it into something new.
The result was a dark red half-mask, etched with wing-like patterns.
As he affixed it over her burn marks, it looked not like a cover, but like the wing of a butterfly.
The burn scar became the butterfly's trailing wing, natural and striking.
"See? With just a few changes... it can become something beautiful."