Pure people are always easily drawn to pure feelings and things.
And in that moment, Night genuinely, from the bottom of his heart, wanted to crown his goddess.
"Thank you..." Artemis let him place the crown on her head himself.
Throughout the process, the cool moon goddess's face was flushed warm and rosy, and a smile that came from somewhere real spread across it.
She did not know why a crown of nothing but wildflowers could make her this happy.
The last time she had felt this kind of happiness was when she captured four of her beloved little divine deer with her own hands.
After putting on the crown, Artemis turned in a happy circle where she stood.
As a goddess, her senses could take in her own full appearance clearly, and she saw that with the crown in place, the image of her that had already been beautiful took on something like a soul, becoming beautiful in a way that surpassed itself entirely, beyond description.
Artemis was a little lost in it.
She asked Night aloud why just a crown could make such a difference to her.
And she acknowledged that this was indeed something she had been missing.
She also wanted to hear what he thought of how she looked right now.
For his part, having spent a good while completely transfixed by the masterpiece of beauty he had helped create, only coming back to himself after some time, Night heard Artemis's question, and the answer came to his mind without thinking.
He let it follow his heart, he said.
"Only a pure and innocent heart can find joy in a simple adornment.
And that joy, the kind that gives the spirit rest and warms the heart—I think it is the same as yours, Artemis.
It needs no symbol of glory or power and is just as unstained.
Because of that unstained purity, it is all the more beautiful.
When two such things meet and layer over each other, that must be the most beautiful sight in the world."
.....
Night said her name directly without thinking, but the moon goddess paid it no mind.
She was already caught up in his words he spoke.
And at the end, Night offered his verdict on how she looked right now: "The moonlight is truly beautiful..."
When those words left his mouth,
The goddess who was the symbol of the moon herself could no longer hold onto her composure.
Those words, so simple and so sincere, hit her like a wave and left her dizzy and warm all over.
Using moonlight as a subtle way to describe the moon... wasn't he talking about her?
That gentle, understated beauty struck a chord with the moon goddess's girlish heart.
On the Greek continent, other heroes and gods would simply and bluntly say, "You are beautiful," and then they would come at you like a fighter jet or pile driver, trying to push straight into bed with you.
What innocent girl wouldn't be terrified to death upon seeing this?!
The only thing to be said was that there was nothing wrong with Artemis. It was that most people of this era were so indulgent and wanton that genuine tenderness had become something rare and precious, almost a peculiarity.
When had the moon goddess ever received praise this earnest, this pure, this subtle yet full to the brim?
With her mind completely blank and her thoughts at a standstill, having no idea how to face her own devotee, the moon goddess felt that something was very wrong with her today.
The urge to turn and run kept flashing through her mind.
She was not good at handling this kind of honest, uncomplicated person.
There was no intention to charm, and yet every word was charming.
If another goddess had been here and gone through everything that just happened, she would probably be overjoyed and invite him to experience the goddess's deliciousness.
Artemis: "..."
As the clouds burning on the distant horizon reflected warmth and sunlight down onto this handsome young man and this beautiful goddess,
After a long pause, once her heartbeat had finally settled, the moon goddess said, "Let us end here for today.
I will lend you my beloved deer to carry you to Troy."
She said it and immediately fled.
The moon goddess had completely forgotten by now what it was that made her curious enough to want to meet him in the first place.
Artemis vanished in a flash of light and gave no clear reply to his final words before she disappeared.
But after she was fully gone, Night thought back on what he had actually said and felt a quiet respect for his own nerve.
'Wait. It seems I've accidentally flirted with Artemis without realizing it?'
He really didn't mean to flirt with a principal goddess.
After all, no matter if it was a simulation world or not, he didn't have a death wish.
Everyone knew Artemis was famously petty too.
Because the king forgot to worship the goddess of hunting Artemis when he was offering sacrifices to the gods during the harvest season, the goddess unleashed a monstrous boar on Calydon in response.
When a handmaiden was violated by Zeus, she turned her into a bear...even though it wasn't her fault at all.
But that's only because she could do nothing to Zeus.
When Heracles wounded a divine deer during his twelve labors, a deer that did not even belong to Artemis but was one of the original five that had escaped before she could catch it, and whose capture was actually Heracles's assigned task,
If he had not explained himself quickly enough, he probably would have taken an arrow through the skull.
Night did not think there was anything special about himself that would let him walk away unscathed after provoking this goddess.
The moon goddess who had been willing to raise her bow against even the half-divine Heracles, the moon goddess who despised all impure dealings between men and women.
Not having his skin stripped off would be getting off easy.
Even with his connection to Apollo, he could not afford to act as though he were untouchable because of it.
When all was said and done, no matter what kind of bond a mortal built with a god, the gap in power made true equality impossible.
Even Apollo, by ignoring the difference in power between gods and humans, accidentally killed his best friend while playing.
If he angered Artemis and she sent an arrow flying his way without holding back, he was not sure he could survive it.
Although the newly acquired blessing of the moon allowed him to revive from death while bathing in moonlight, this ability was originally bestowed by Artemis, and it would be too easy to take it back.
So...beautiful women in Greece were risky to get close to.
A goddess was extremely dangerous.
But then,
What left him a little stunned was that Artemis's reaction was not what he expected at all.
It did not look like anger.
It looked far more like a girl who had gotten flustered and bolted.
"But this is that Artemis!"
Night was convinced he must be hallucinating.
Or was this Artemis somehow different from the one he knew?
Was this the version who could actually fall in love?
He thought of the Diana who had been forcibly shipped with Orion in certain later traditions, and then he thought of the blazing horizon just now, the pure and beautiful crowned goddess dancing amid the garden flowers, bathed in light brighter than the sunset clouds.
...!!
Orion, you truly deserved what you got.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Artemis fled all the way back to her own temple.
And the moment she arrived, still somewhat dazed, she did not even notice there was someone inside her temple.
Until
"What is wrong with you, Artemis? You look out of it. " A familiar male voice came from a temple where no male should have been present.
It was Apollo.
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)