Aphrodite's Choice

Chapter 4 – A Sound that Reaches the Deepest Depths

“Wait, Zeus!”

Only Ares shouted. Then he jumped out of his seat and tried to protest. But the moment Ares took a step forward, three or four men who appeared like the wind surrounded him and held his arm.

No, to be exact, they weren’t living persons. They were bronze dolls famous for the work of Hephaestus, an empty vessel imitating human figures but without souls. They possessed no soul, devoid of fear. It was to defeat the God of War.

Ares, who was restrained from movement, growled at Hephaestus. “Hey! Can’t you get rid of these garbage?”

“…….”

“I said get rid of these. Did the cripple with a leg bite eat your ears?”

Aphrodite was startled. She knew that Ares was impatient, and if he didn’t like something even a little bit, he immediately became violent. But she didn’t know he would use that much of a verbal abuse against a god of equal status.

Moreover, Hephaestus was his brother! Even though they were half-brothers who shared only their mothers, they ought to respect each other as the only sons of Hera, the Queen of the Gods.

“Damn it, let go of this! I’ll kill you!”

Even more amazing was the fact that the other gods were not as surprised as Aphrodite. In fact, the sight seemed familiar in their eyes. Though some frowned or turned their heads to reveal their displeasure, there was no sense of embarrassment as if it wasn’t the first time they had seen it.

And no one tried to intervene and stop them. Hera, the mother of Hephaestus and Ares, only turned away from her two sons, touching her forehead.

It was a moment when Aphrodite, who had lost her sense of humor, thought if she should come forward.

“Buck it up, ugh!”

Hephaestus shut Ares’ mouth with a light gesture. The hand made of bronze covered half of Ares’ face, and the words he uttered were hummed only in the palm of the bronze hand.

And Aphrodite was able to hear the voice of Hephaestus for the first time this day.

“Be careful, Ares.”

His voice does not resemble anyone in Olympus.

“I’ve been stirred up to make a fuss, and yet you’re hurting your own dignity.”

His voice carried a low pitch that made one feel empty underfoot. It was far too deep.

Aphrodite almost tripped and stumbled. The voluminous hem of her skirt wound around her leg and slipped off shortly.

“Uh! Ugh!”

“Should the military deity be alarmed and disgrace Olympus’ reputation?”

There was a heavy echo in the voice of Hephaestus. At first glance, she wondered if Hades, the underground king, sounded similar, but Hephaestus was completely different because he had no gloomy temperament.

To paraphrase, the texture of his voice was like an anvil that had been tapped for infinite years. Originally buried deep in the ground, it was used as a base for smelting all the metals in the world for 10,000 years.

Not only was it solid and weighty, but it also had the reward-like dignity that it received at the end of its long patience.

His behaviour drew everyone’s attention which he handed over to Zeus perfectly.

“My lord Zeus, please keep talking.”

“Thank you, Hephaestus.”

Is it because he was tired of the indecency of his own deficit? Zeus was eager to finish the meeting as soon as possible. He said hurriedly as soon as Hephaestus bowed and took a step backward.

“I, King Zeus of Olympus, here today declare that the marriage of Hephaestus, the God of Blacksmiths, and Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, has been decided.”

“Uh!”

“After death from today, the Holy Spirit will be fulfilled under the blessing of all.”

Aphrodite came to her senses. What’s going on here? When she blinked, she realized the situation and hardened for a moment, then laughed in vain, the sound of the wind blowing away. Oh, I’m getting married. But what, bless? I’d be lucky not to be cursed, let alone blessed.

The crowd was in turmoil.

Ares struggling with his mouth shut, Athena looking at her with contempt, Hermes tapping her shoulder with a big smile, Apollo pointing at her and whispering something to her sister, Demeter hiding her sighing and laughing under at her hand…

She couldn’t help but know that she had become a laughing stock. A sense of desolation rose from deep within to her throat. Aphrodite clenched her teeth.

“Now, let the bride go back to her residence and prepare for the wedding. The other gods prepare wedding gifts for Aphrodite, please.”

And instead of answering Zeus, she looked at Hephaestus.

His gray eyes remained unchangingly passive. It never faltered. It’s a shame that she thought maybe it was just in case!

Hephaestus would have known in advance. So he would have helped Zeus, and he would have brought in a bronze doll to do that, and most of all, he would have never shaken before Aphrodite at their first encounter.

He said it was a factory that invented everything his stepfather needed, but now he was all of a sudden shackled, trying to tie the knot with his stepfather’s mesmerizing goddess?

“It’s terrible,” Aphrodite murmured under her breath. She regretted coming to Olympus. She was naive when she was blinded by fate.

The king of the new tribe here had been a faithful follower of the tradition of murdering his father and connecting the throne from generation to generation. Is that all? He even swallowed a pregnant lover so that he wouldn’t get the same thing done to his child.

It would have been even more strange if Zeus accepted and treated Aphrodite, who was born from his father’s father. Therefore, this compulsion today, which she could not count on because she was foolish, was as good as the one she had planned from the beginning.

“Aphrodite?”

As she turned his head, Zeus raised his eyebrows. Aphrodite bit his lips tightly and replied, “Yes, do as you please.” Turning around, she left her seat as it was.