Relying on magical items, Ares restored communication with his teacher Hecate. While hiding his true body in Tartarus, he also synchronized with Hecate to restore the connection to his two avatars, Perseus and Andromeda.
After being struck by the arrow, Perseus and Princess Andromeda stared at each other, frozen in place for a long time. From the perspective of onlookers, this naturally symbolized a perfect match between the newlyweds, deeply in love.
Even Athena, who was secretly observing from a corner of the palace, thought so. Therefore, after confirming that Perseus and Andromeda had been struck by the arrow, she contentedly had little Eros take the agreed-upon reward from Aphrodite and her back to Olympus.
Next, they just had to wait for Perseus and Andromeda to consummate their marriage that night to verify the truth.
And Ares and Hecate, upon connecting to Perseus and Andromeda and seeing each other, indeed felt their hearts race. They both knew whose spirit resided in the fleshly body opposite them. Fortunately, Perseus and Andromeda were merely their skins, which was much better than having them directly face each other alone.
Upon noticing the blush on the faces of his daughter and the great hero who had traveled so far, King Cepheus of Ethiopia and the guests attending the wedding banquet also smiled knowingly.
King Cepheus stood up directly and loudly said to the guests at the wedding banquet, "Ladies and gentlemen, Perseus and Andromeda have sacrificed much time to be with us tonight. I think it's time we leave some time for the two of them to be alone, don't you agree?"
The guests all chuckled and agreed. So Cepheus waved his hand, allowing Queen Cassiopeia to lead her daughter and son-in-law to the bridal chamber prepared for them.
Queen Cassiopeia pushed her beloved daughter and her beloved forward, then gave the two newlyweds a mischievous smile:
"Mama won't disturb you. Don't worry, tonight, absolutely no one else will disturb you."
After speaking, she closed the door for Perseus and Andromeda and quietly left.
The moment Cassiopeia closed the door, Ares and Hecate, through the avatars' perspectives, saw the Goddess of WisdomAthena following them. This Goddess was now standing outside the door; a mere door could not block the Goddess of Wisdom's sight. It was clear that this Goddess was now willing to humble herself and personally witness her hero and his new bride making love here before she would give up.
So Hecate directly activated the magic she had set up here in advance. Under the Moon Goddess's manipulation, a precise, lifelike illusion directly deceived everyone in the entire palace. Even the Goddess of Wisdom, in front of Hecate, who commanded the highest mystical profoundness of the Greek World, could only be misled by her illusion.
Therefore, at this very moment, from Athena's perspective, her hero Perseus and Princess Andromeda of Ethiopia were passionately embracing and kissing in the room, with most of their clothes already removed.
Looking at the desire Perseus displayed at this moment, Athena inexplicably felt her face flush, but when she saw that the person intimately involved with Perseus was Princess Andromeda, a different emotion arose in her heart.
She always felt her head seemed a little heavy, as if she had put on a heavy crown, making her feel particularly uncomfortable in her heart.
"He who desires the crown must bear its weight."
Somehow, Athena's heart suddenly recalled this saying.
However, the Goddess of Wisdom's ability to control her emotions had always been the strongest among the gods, so she quickly reined in her feelings and focused on watching Perseus and Andromeda's performance.
Once she had thoroughly confirmed with her own eyes that the two had completed their union as man and woman, Athena immediately extended her senses, using her perception to sense the power of another main god on Olympus.
On Olympus, in Ares's Hall of Ares, the beacon representing the God of War was still bright, showing no signs of dimming. And Ares, as always, sat at the bow of the Argo, suppressing the sea ahead, seemingly oblivious to what was happening here.
When she saw that there was no connection between Ares and Perseus, Athena involuntarily let out a sigh of relief. Immediately, she turned around, no longer looking at the uncomfortable scene in the room behind her, and left Ethiopia directly, returning to her divine palace.
And in this room, under the cover of the illusion, when they saw that Athena had truly left, Hecate and Ares, master and disciple, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"She's finally gone."
The Moon Goddess couldn't help but control Andromeda's avatar, collapsing onto the bed in the room with a long sigh of relief.
"Teacher, I'll have to trouble you a bit more." Ares did not relax his vigilance. He continued to stare outside the room and said, "That woman Athena is very suspicious. She might return at any time to conduct a 'surprise inspection' on us."
"I know, that's why I haven't dispelled the illusion. As long as we don't go out tonight and she doesn't come in, she won't be able to discover that this is an illusion."
"The possibility of her coming in is very small."
Ares couldn't help but chuckle:
"Although this woman is insidious and cunning, she still has a strong sense of chastity, after all, she is a virgin goddess."
"Hmph, you know her quite well."
Hecate's voice sounded a little displeased:
"Then why didn't you get together with her back then? I think if you two had conspired, Zeus would have been tricked to death long ago."
Hearing Hecate's words, Ares was somewhat at a loss for how to reply. Hecate used to enjoy joking about him and Athena, as they were old rivals and sworn enemies, even taking their vows of chastity together. However, Hecate's jokes back then were truly just jokes. Now, it seemed she was genuinely a little unhappy.
It must be the influence of the arrow of love.
Ares thought so, then explained:
"It's impossible for me and her to be together. She is suspicious, and I'm also afraid she'd trick me. After all, setting aside the advantage of foresight, she is actually much smarter than me. I wouldn't dare claim that I could stand on an equal footing with her. Moreover, our goals and bottom lines are different. Take our current operation, for example; if she were doing it, the real Princess Andromeda, or even King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia, would probably already be dead, replaced by her own puppets."
"That's true." Hecate thought for a moment, then asked, "Then why didn't you just let me replace Princess Andromeda? You've replaced other heroes before, haven't you?"
"This is different, Teacher." Ares shook his head and said, "When I discovered Princess Andromeda, she had already been born. I know directly replacing her would be simpler and safer, but if I did that, what would be the difference between me and Athena? So I'd rather spend a little more effort to conceal this matter. This is also how I prove myself different from Athena."
Hecate looked at Ares, finding that although her disciple was not using his original body, he looked stubborn at this moment. Because of the effect of the arrow of love, she couldn't help but stare at him for a while longer.
"Teacher, what are you looking at me for?" Ares noticed Hecate's gaze, then touched his face and asked.
"Nothing, just looking at my foolish disciple." Hecate shook her head and said.
"Forget it." Ares shrugged his shoulders, then sat directly on the ground. He turned his back to Hecate and said, "Teacher, to be safe, we'd better not sleep in the same bed right now. You take the bed; I'll just sit here and 'go offline' tonight."