The morning light is getting brighter, and the mist in the forest is dissipating in the sunlight. Hera walked ahead, her skirt gently brushing against the dewy grass, leaving a shallow trail. She walks briskly and is in a good mood.
Coming out for a walk is really much better than facing Zeus' face in the temple.
After taking a few steps, she suddenly remembered something and asked without
looking back: 1r5Rp
"Athena, which is the nearest city-state around here?"
Athena followed with the baby in her arms, her steps unhurried.
"Thebes." She said.
Hera's footsteps stopped. 1r5Rp
Thebes. These three words were like a thorn, piercing into her mood that had just improved.
Of course she knew Thebes.
Zeus became a husband, swaggered into the palace, and extended the night to
three times as long-in Thebes.
What is that bitch's call? 1r5Rp
Alcmene.
Hera's face darkened at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The anger that had been suppressed on Olympus just now rushed up again.
"Mother Goddess?" Athena's voice came from behind her. 1r5Rp
Hera took a deep breath and turned her head. She wanted to say "change
places", but when the words came to her lips, she suddenly stopped.
Because she saw the baby in Athena's arms. The little thing was looking at her with his eyes open, looking at her in a daze, and there was a trace of milk stains
on the corners of his mouth.
Hera's eyes fell on the little face, and she suddenly had an idea.
A Very interesting idea. 1r5Rp
Alcmene.
That bitch just gave birth, right?
And now, that bitch's child is lost. Alcmene threw it herself, because she feared
Hera's retaliation.
The queen must be very sad to lose her child, right? 1r5Rp
It must be sad, right?
Hera stood there and was silent for a moment. The morning breeze lifted her skirt
and raised a few strands of hair. Her side face is gilded in the sun, so beautiful
that people can't take their eyes off, but the slightly pursed lips make people
afraid to approach.
Then she suddenly smiled.
The smile was faint and gentle, yet it sent a chill down the baby's spine.
"Athena," Hera turned to look at her, "you said I would give this child to the Alcmene pacifist."
How about raising it?"
Athena held the child without saying a word.
Hera, seeing that Athena remained silent, assumed she was puzzled and continued speaking to herself:
"That bitch just gave birth; she must be heartbroken—after all, she threw her own child away."
She paused, then her smile deepened.
"At that moment, I, Hera, the Queen of the Gods, personally sent her an infant to raise. What do you think she would do?"
Do?"
Athena was silent for a moment.
Then she spoke, her voice still in that unhurried tone: 1r5Rp
"She'll take it."
"Yes." Hera nodded. "She has to accept it. How could she dare refuse a child personally sent by the Queen of Gods? What right does she have?"
Don't accept it?"
She turned around and continued walking forward, her steps much lighter than before.
"But what happens after she accepts it?" Hera's voice drifted from ahead, tinged with barely suppressed amusement. "Every time she sees..."
Seeing this child reminds her of me. She remembers that I was the one who handed this child over to her. She remembers her own children.
I don't know where it is, but I'm the one who gave it to it. (1r5Rp)
She turned around, glanced at Athena, and her eyes crinkled into a smile.
Do you think she'll feel resentful?
Athena remained silent for a moment.
Then she said, "Yes."
Meanwhile, the baby in Athena's arms, having overheard the conversation, had a question mark appear above its head.
Wasn't Alcmene her own mother?
Hera was clearly in a much better mood. She even began humming an unknown tune, a light and pleasant melody.
Drifting in the morning breeze.
"However…" Athena suddenly spoke, her tone still calm, "Mother Goddess, are you sure you want to do this?"
"What?" Hera asked without turning her head. "You think it's inappropriate? Or are you afraid that this little guy will suffer because of me?"
"Not even that bitch's kindness?"
Athena, holding the baby and following Hera, listened to her words, blinked, and then said something ambiguous.
words:
"Maybe."
"Hmph, if that were the case, all the better. The goddess herself delivered the child, and she dared to treat her with disrespect. That would be disrespectful to me."
"Disrespect to the Queen of Gods—I've been looking for a reason to punish her!"
Athena's gaze fell on Hera's face, then on the baby in her arms, and then back on Hera's face.
"Mother God Hideaki.
Hera nodded in satisfaction.
"That's it. Send this little thing to the palace of Thebes and give it to Alcmene to
raise. Let her look at this child every day and think of me every day. "1r5Rp
She paused and suddenly laughed.
The laughter was crisp and pleasant, floating far away in the morning breeze.
bookshelf
"Athena, do you think, am I so bad?"
Athena was silent for a second. 1r5Rp
Then she said, "You're so bad.
Hera's laughter was still floating ahead, as brisk as a little girl.
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