"So, you're trying to drag me into this water?"
Hephaestus pressed a hand to her forehead, asking with a look of utter speechlessness.
"Well, you know what they say—keep the goodies within the family~" Hestia hugged her friend's waist and began to whine affectionately. "Besides, it's not like you have absolutely no feelings for Levi."
Before the effects of the 'Goddesses' Love Blessing' had been exposed, Hephaestus might have dared to shamelessly deny it.
But at this moment, she could only choose to avert her gaze. "For the sake of your precious treasure, you really are willing to do anything."
Hestia lifted her small head proudly. "As long as Levi can grow up smoothly, a little sacrifice is nothing worth mentioning. Furthermore, Hephaestus, you seem to have forgotten: our time is infinite."
"...That is true."
Hephaestus nodded.
Over tens of millions of years, she had never heard of a god truly perishing.
If Levi grew up exactly as Hestia planned, perhaps much of his time in the Lower World would be shared.
But once he died and entered the cycle of reincarnation, Hephaestus could guarantee that her friend would snatch his soul before anyone else could.
No.
Would a boy who awakened an unknown growth skill, and could even use it to obtain items from other worlds, really die like the other children of the Lower World?
A sudden doubt arose in Hephaestus's heart.
Seeing her thoughtful expression, Hestia smiled. "It seems you've realized it too."
Gods are eternal existences; therefore, once a heart is moved, that sentiment lasts until the end of time.
However, compared to them, the time of the children in the Lower World is far too short.
That is why love between a human and a god often ends in tragedy—even if the human is plucked from the reincarnation cycle by their lover after death and kept by their side.
But if there was a human who could obtain a long life like the gods, or even reach a status equivalent to theirs...
Then, eternal happiness would truly descend.
Hestia might look like a mere busty loli on the outside, but in Heaven, she was the Goddess of the Sacred Flame, an entity whose status was second only to great gods like Uranus, Zeus, and Odin.
In fact, as early as the moment she first saw the effects of the 'Goddesses' Love Blessing' through the Falna, she had already begun screening potential candidates in the Lower World who could become her aid—or rather, her allies.
Yet, even Hestia hadn't expected that the first person she would approach would be Hephaestus.
One could only say that Levi, her dependent, was truly a bit too dazzling.
"So, what is your answer? Do you accept? Or do you refuse?" the twin-tailed goddess asked with a smile.
Hephaestus was silent for a moment. "Can you let me think about it a little more?"
As she spoke, she unconsciously raised her hand to touch the right half of her face, which was covered by a black eyepatch.
Hestia had seen her friend's true appearance and realized immediately. "Are you worried Levi won't be able to accept it?"
The red-haired, one-eyed goddess looked away. Her silence spoke volumes.
Hephaestus had descended to the Lower World several hundred years before Hestia. During that time, it wasn't as if she hadn't met children who were moved by her or even confessed to her.
But among them, not a single one failed to show fear upon seeing her right face.
Even the gods, while not afraid, had treated her as an anomaly, mocking and toying with her.
There were only a sparse few who had never done such things.
Hestia was undoubtedly one of them, which was why they became best friends.
The other was Aphrodite, who had been Hephaestus's spouse for a considerable time in the Upper World—though in hindsight, dating that guy was the stupidest thing she had ever done. After all, she couldn't even count how many times she had 'worn the horns' (been cheated on).
Suddenly, Hestia smiled. Her lips parted slightly as she spoke calmly, "Then, do you want to make a bet with me?"
"A bet?" Hephaestus tilted her head, then realized what she meant. "You plan to let Levi see my right face?!"
The tone of the red-haired goddess was less of a question and more of an interrogation.
There was a hint of anger in her voice that even she hadn't noticed.
Hestia, hearing this subtle emotion, only smiled more brightly. "Anyway, if you really do fall in love with him later, this is a step you'll have to take eventually, isn't it?"
"Rather than waiting until then to face disgust and disappointment, wouldn't it be better to stop yourself now while you can still control your heart?"
"Of course," the twin-tailed goddess paused slightly, "knowing Levi as I do, he won't care about such trivial things."
"And once things truly develop according to my prediction, Hephaestus..." She looked at the goddess sitting beside her. "You will definitely be unable to control your own heart."
Something similar had happened in Heaven.
Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, upon seeing the right half of Hephaestus's face, had not been repulsed. Instead, she felt it was a different kind of 'beauty'.
And then, the red-haired goddess, having been evaluated in such a way, fell hopelessly in love with her, proceeding to play the role of a cuckolded turtle—wait, no, a turtle-woman—for tens of thousands of years.
Hephaestus was also aware of her own desires. Hearing this, she shot an annoyed glance at the blue ribbon beside her. "You really will spare no effort for the sake of your child."
"So, are you willing? or not?" Hestia asked back.