Aphrodite's Choice

Chapter 36 – Igniting a Wildfire

Ares, who had never been treated like this by anyone, gritted his teeth. Something that looked like red flames became ignited in his eyes. Aphrodite was dazed for a moment, and she forced a laugh as she returned to her senses. Right, you were related to Hephaestus, she mused. However, they were not entirely similar: the flames in Ares’ eyes were different from that of Hephaestus’; she did not have the urge to keep looking at them or make them worse. Most of all, she did not feel like her breath was being taken away. Rather, she felt relieved. She wanted him to leave the room as soon as possible.

“F*ck it! Alright, I’m gone!” Ares kicked the pillar as he dressed himself. The entire sanctuary shook for an instant.

Aphrodite frowned. She was annoyed at his harsh behavior, being able to feel her nymphs’ terror who went through a similar incident just a few days ago. Funnily, Ares looked back as he was running out. It was as if he was looking for a second chance. When their eyes met, Aphrodite scrunched her face in annoyance.

“Take care.”

“Ha!” Ares stomped out violently out of the sanctuary.

Tsk, tsk. He’s a noisy man. Aphrodite didn’t want to see him off, so she didn’t budge. However, she was able to spot Ares’ dagger on the ground; it was best for her to grab the dagger now and give it to him. She quickly ran out with it when Ares was just about to get on his black horse to leave.

“Wait, Ares!”

“What?”

“You forgot this.”

Ares, who was about to climb on the horse’s back, looked back with hope again, then crumpled his face when he saw the dagger in Aphrodite’s hand. He snatched the dagger from Aphrodite and left, clearly showing that he was offended. His horse rolled his feet fiercely on the ground, leaving behind dozens of thin stones cracked.

‘I forgot. Breaking everything without thinking twice was one of the qualities of war.’ Aphrodite turned around, biting her lips. Then her gaze met with that of a blonde young man.

The young man was covering his mouth with both hands with his eyes wide open. His complexion quickly turned white when he realized that Aphrodite noticed him.

‘He will collapse. No, no. He can’t. Wait, who is that?’ Aphrodite recognized that the young man was Apollo’s servant. She didn’t remember his name, but that wasn’t important right now. She was focused on what she could do with him. Slowly, she beckoned the young man.

“Come here.”

The young man rolled his eyes in fear. Aphrodite could see that he was thinking of running away. Surprisingly, the young man approached Aphrodite and bowed to her.

“God Apollo’s servant Helios sees G-goddess Aphrodite.”

She wasn’t pleased by his presence, but after quickly thinking about what she could do with him, she spoke as naturally as possible.

“I know your name, Helios. Nice to see you here.”

“Yes, that, I just. I.”

It was a little pitiful to look at him so terrified. He had a young, pretty face that was close to that of a boy’s, which touched Aphrodite’s heart. She was weak at beautiful things. But pity wasn’t enough to let him go. She asked, “What did you see?”

“What?”

“Oh, I’m surprised. You’ve come this far to snoop around and now you’re trying to pretend you don’t know anything?”

“Me, me?! I’m not something like that! I swear!”

“What do you mean by ‘something’? Oh, a spy?”

Aphrodite didn’t think Helios was a spy; he was too clumsy to do such a thing. There was no way that a spy would be at the verge of tears at a small accusation like this.

“G-goddess Aphrodite, I really…”

“So, are you confirming it or denying it?”

“D-denying!”

“Is that so? Then why would you be so surprised to see me?”

“Please, Goddess Aphrodite, I haven’t seen anything.”

Helios spit out whatever came to his mind, saying some wrong words at times. It seemed that he just had bad luck, which favored Aphrodite. She grabbed Helios by the chin and pulled him closer to her.

“You’re lying. You’re a bad kid.”

“Oh, no. I didn’t mean to…”

“Did Apollo ask you to spy on me?”

“No! Absolutely not! My master would never.”

“Shh, be quiet. I know Apollo ordered you to.”

Aphrodite hypnotized him.

“No, no, he didn’t…”

“Apollo made you spy on me.”

“My master…”

“Yes, your master Apollo did that. Right?”

Helios resisted, but could not hold out until the end. His blue eyes became clouded.

“Yes, you’re right. My master ordered it.”

“Good. So, what did you see?”

“God Ares hurried out of Goddess Aphrodite’s sanctuary, and Goddess Aphrodite followed him out.”

Aphrodite clicked her tongue. It was an ambiguous rumor at best. She was glad that she didn’t let Helios go. She needed to put in some more firewood to create a fire that no one could step on.

“Right, but there are more details.”

“More…”

“I’ll tell you what happened. Listen carefully and report it to Apollo. You must do so. And spread it to everyone you know. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

Aphrodite began to whisper into Helios’ ear.