Deep within the Underworld, in Metis's private temple.
It was not as solemn and cold as Hades's throne room, but rather resembled a center of analysis.
Countless scrolls hung in the air, the words on them shimmering like stars;
crystal balls reflected fragments of thousands of worlds;
the air was filled with the scent of books, ink, and a unique breath belonging to the origin of wisdom.
However, at this moment, Metis was not immersed in grand plans nor in the pursuit of knowledge. She
lazily reclined on a soft divan woven from shadows and starlight. Before her hung a mirror-smooth dark water curtain—a 'spying mirror' she had created with her power and the authority of the Underworld, allowing her to see clearly what she wished to see—the scene where Hades was.
In the mirror, Hades's figure was reflected.
He had left the desolate coast and stood on a reef in the Aegean Sea, looking into the distance.
His expression was focused, cold, and majestic—a gesture Metis knew best.
Looking at Hades's businesslike face in the mirror, Metis sighed softly, involuntarily twirling a strand of her hair.
"This is really... boring," she murmured softly, her tone full of coyness and nostalgia.
Today, she had full memory and wisdom, and her power had returned to its peak, even better than before.
She could plan with him, take control of Hades, and deal with challenges from all sides.
Logically, she shouldn't feel unsettled at all.
But this feeling of needing to 'see' him through external objects, especially when he left Hades, caused a slight discontent in her heart.
She missed that 'abnormal' time—missed the state of constant, close connection.
Back then, her consciousness was almost intertwined with Hades, and without mirrors or spells, she could directly sense his presence, his breath, the slightest flow of his divine power, even the mood swings rarely revealed beneath his cold exterior.
It was an almost symbiotic, absolutely intimate connection.
And now...
Although the curse was lifted and they had resumed normal communication of consciousness, the extreme closeness, which seemed intertwined in blood and nerves, had disappeared along with the subsiding of the 'abnormal' state.
Hades had regained his absolute reason and restraint, and wisdom had returned to its depth and planning. An invisible barrier, belonging to the King of Hades and the Queen of Hades, seemed to have been erected between them.
"Back then... although my mind was a little dizzy and I couldn't speak properly... but at least I could always 'feel' you were near."
She looked at Hades in the mirror, and as if sensing something, he slightly frowned and looked around, but found nothing unusual.
The corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl into a sly and slightly mischievous smile.
"Hmph, letting you 'investigate' so 'thoroughly' from the beginning, even knowing which goddess lives in which corner..." she muttered softly, deciding to give him a little trouble.
She extended her slender jade-like fingers and gently touched the dark water curtain.
Hades, high above the Aegean Sea, was about to follow the strange fluctuations of the laws to the sea where Aphrodite might have been born when he suddenly felt something was wrong.
The wind seemed to carry a light, faint chuckle, as if it were an illusion.
Hades's figure stopped, and a hint of helplessness flickered in his violet eyes.
Of course, he knew whose work this was.
This level of intervention with obvious personal imprints—no one other than Metis could or would dare to do it.
Hades ignored Metis's tricks and continued to act.
With Hades's actions, the scene on the dark water curtain instantly straightened Metis's lazy posture.
In the mirror, Hades found the newly born 'goddess of beauty' Aphrodite—or rather, the special existence with Thetis as its core.
She was born from a bubble of waves, surrounded by swaying light, and her face was truly unparalleled, a beauty surpassing ordinary imagination, catalyzed by the divine power of Eros, uniting the origin of Uranus, the sky god, and the spirit of the sea, and then catalyzed by the divine power of Eros.
However, what suddenly made Metis's eyes turn cold was not the beauty itself, but Hades's actions.
He saw Hades reach out and take Aphrodite's outstretched, slender, white wrist.
His movements were purely out of investigative necessity, and his expression remained calm, without the slightest impropriety.
Rational analysis flowed in his violet eyes, not admiration of beauty.
But in Metis's eyes, this scene was completely transformed.
He was holding her hand!
The hand of a goddess with an unparalleled appearance!
He was so close!
Those eyes, which always reflected the abyss of Hades and the laws of the world, were looking at another woman, 'focused' at this moment!
"Heh..."
A very soft, mocking chuckle, as if laced with icy shards, escaped Metis's lips.
The air around her instantly dropped to freezing point. The hanging scrolls rustled automatically without wind, and the star-like light on them flickered violently, as if unable to withstand some invisible pressure.
The scenes inside the crystal balls were severely distorted, reflecting her extremely unstable heart at this moment.
"For the sake of... knowing exactly what's going on?" She whispered the possible reasons for Hades's actions, but her eyes narrowed dangerously, her fingertips digging deeply into the shadows of the soft divan.
"Need to be so close? Need to... hold her with your own hands?"
The discontent she had properly gathered was like explosives thrown into a flame at this moment, exploding with a roar!
Doubt, jealousy, and rage were like a black wave, flooding her mind.
The almost symbiotic closeness of that 'abnormal' period seemed to have become a distant irony.
Now that he had returned to 'normal life', could he so 'naturally' contact other beautiful goddesses? Even if it was for official business?
Wisdom was distorted into paranoid interpretations under strong emotions.
She forgot Hades's usual indifference and absolute focus on his official duties, and stared at the clasped hands and Aphrodite's heaven-and-earth-eclipsing face.
"...Is she pretty?" Her voice was terrifyingly soft, but a storm raged in her eyes.
"My Majesty, the King of Hades?"
The [Chain of Resolve] on her wrist seemed to sense its mistress's mood and began to emit an ominous black light, the cold touch wrapping around her wrist, as if craving something to bind.
In the shadow at the temple entrance, a cold gaze observed all the changes in Metis's emotions.
Athena stood quietly, silencing all noise.
She had come to report to the Mother Goddess that she had tricked Ares out of the golden bow, but had stumbled upon this scene.
Looking at the Mother Goddess's dark aura, changing from lazy to cold, and now, at this moment, almost tangible, Athena's mind instantly understood the cause and effect.
She saw the scene in the water curtain and immediately understood the Mother Goddess's misunderstanding.
"Trouble..." Athena said to herself.
The Mother Goddess was overreacting.
But the Mother Goddess, consumed by this feeling, would not listen to explanations, especially from a child.
Her gaze fell on the chain on Metis's wrist, which was shining with an ominous black light—the [Chain of Resolve].
If the Mother Goddess took it to find the Father God at this moment... that scene would be a complete disaster.
This had to be stopped.
But how to stop it? Directly reason with an angry mother goddess?
That would be no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Athena's eyes sharpened; she needed someone to steal the chain before the Mother Goddess could use it.
And the best candidate for this task...
Athena quietly left the temple and immediately contacted the well-informed guy who was always wandering around Olympus.
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