Chapter 219
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 219
Chapter Title: This is Cheating!
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Where those blood-red eyes linger, strife boils over.
Where those red wings spread, war flames rage.
Even if you see her, say not that you saw.
Even if you hear her, say not that you heard.
Dare the King of the Heavens fear her wingbeats, and even the God of War revere her.
Nyx's daughter, the red goddess who unfurls dragon wings.
Fear and worship Discordia Eris, who plays the dissonant chord.
...The daughter of Nyx, the Goddess of Discord Eris—who had been revered with such a song—was now so red in the face it looked ready to explode.
'T-t-t... touched...!'
Her cheeky little brother—whose head was a whole size bigger than hers—and the fiancé(?) her mother had sent, had roughly pulled her into a hug.
Dianes seemed to have done it unintentionally out of sheer joy, but thanks to that, Eris was feeling a man's body against hers for the first time in thousands of years.
That firm body pressing against her chest, those strong arms wrapping around her waist and wings.
Every time that solid chest thumped against hers, a shiver like electricity ran down her spine.
'Ah... Aaaah...!'
Every time those firm arms gripped her waist and the base of her wings, her heart pounded like she had a fever, and his scent invading her nostrils with each rough breath made her dizzy, as if she'd swallowed the whole nectar whole.
When she barely managed to lift her hazy eyes, there was Dianes, looking at her with such pure, innocent joy.
'S-so... close...!'
Obsidian-black eyes, black hair tickling her face, that straight nose she wanted to touch just once, and that slender jawline.
And above all, those impudent lips brushing her nape.
Thinking of those lips that seemed ready to kiss her at any moment, and that seductive breath tempting her, even a goddess who had sown the seeds of discord for thousands of years couldn't hold out.
"Hnggh..."
What could she do?
She was the Goddess of Discord and Strife.
Her authority, inherited directly from the blood of the ancient primordial gods of the first generation, manifested in her very existence—wherever she set foot, wherever she spread her wings, conflict inevitably arose.
Because of that, even the fierce Ares saw her more as a divine colleague than a woman. The other gods feared her discord so much that none dared approach her.
Only Ares, who benefited from her divine duty, and a few gods who enjoyed the discord she caused, welcomed her even a little.
There had never been a god or hero bold enough to take the Goddess of Discord as a lover.
But Dianes was different.
He accepted her so naturally, grabbed hold of her, quarreled and laughed with her.
And today, he'd even hugged her fiercely!
Her heart racing wildly on its own, her shoulders trembling, her chest heating up with a sigh of longing.
These were feelings she'd experienced for the first time since receiving permission for her wings from her mother.
'At this rate, it's just like Aphrodite under Ares!'
The adulterous drama of Aphrodite and Ares, hosted regularly by Hephaestus on Olympus.
The male gods marveled at Aphrodite's disheveled nudity, while the goddesses sighed endlessly toward Uranus—that sweet strife was Eris's main source of income.
Eris couldn't understand what was so great about it—letting Hephaestus get the better of them and embarrassing themselves before the other gods, yet still clinging to her divine colleague(?).
But now, she felt like she understood Aphrodite's feelings, just a little.
Those arms squeezing her fiercely as if to devour her, that hot, firm body felt with her entire being.
And those eyes looking down at her with pure joy, those sweetly shining lips.
All of it was so addictive.
So much so that it melted the heart of discord, parched for far too long, with its sweetness.
"Eris, please. I need your help."
And as soon as she opened her eyes, there was Dianes.
Those sweet lips called her name, those captivating eyes looked at her.
Without fear or wariness. With pure longing, his earnest voice tickled her ears.
'Th-this is cheating!'
No matter how her heart pounded wildly on its own, even if sparkles seemed to swirl around Dianes as he clutched her hand and begged(!)—even if she wanted to grant this tempting man's every wish because of it!
Eris wasn't an idiot.
The place Dianes was rushing to right now was Tegea in Arcadia, where the fiercest war and strife had erupted recently.
Where none other than his lover Atalanta was locked in fierce battle with Poseidon's twins.
To see those eyes smiling at another woman instead of her, those lips claiming another woman's lips instead of hers?
'Absolutely not!'
Last time, it had been half in jest, half in earnest, quarreling with those two brats.
But she couldn't do that now.
Her heart was already beating for him, her eyes already holding him.
Yet his eyes were turned toward another woman?
"No! I won't!"
"Eris..."
Seeing Dianes looking troubled, as if dealing with a sister's tantrum, made tears well up in her eyes.
He'd hugged her so roughly and boldly on his own, and now he was only thinking of another woman...
"No! I can't! How dare you touch a goddess's sacred body without permission, hug me...!!"
"I was just so happy, I couldn't help it? You saw it too. You teased me that I couldn't do it... ahem, the materialization you taught me so diligently—I mastered it perfectly!"
And with that, a bright red apple was placed in her hand.
The luscious apple, so tempting just to look at, only amplified her sorrow.
'It didn't work like that when we practiced together!'
"I said no! No matter what, no!"
Eris screamed out her chest's frustration, snorted, and turned away, feeling Dianes's distress behind her.
Even she herself didn't know what to do with these overflowing emotions and could only stamp her feet.
"Please, Eris. No, Sister Eris. To get to Tegea in time, I have no choice but to borrow your splendid wings!"
Twitch!
"W-what did you just say...?"
The children of Nyx had received from their mother the right to freely wear this Greece and wings symbolizing it.
Thanatos had blood-red wings, Nemesis jet-black ones like solemn judicial robes.
But Eris alone was born with wings of a heterogeneous form.
She herself loved them dearly and boasted about them, but others pointed fingers, calling them bizarre and creepy.
Yet Dianes had praised those wings.
"Th-they're not... creepy?"
"...What?"
No matter how she was fluttering like a maiden now, she was a goddess.
The Goddess of Discord, who had stirred up countless strifes and conflicts.
If it was just a white lie to save face, she was confident she could spot it, even from a fellow child of Nyx.
But at her question of whether they were creepy, Dianes tilted his head as if wondering what nonsense she was spouting, utterly sincere.
'H-he's serious...?'
"Creepy? These?"
"M-my wings are... weird, aren't they...? Not cool like Nemesis's, no feathers, just scales and membrane. I-I like them, but the stupid gods and humans said they were creepy!"
"Hah...!"
Dianes let out a short sigh, as if truly dumbfounded.
"Dragon wings are creepy...?"
"Huh?"
Something was off about his words?
Before Eris could puzzle over Dianes's mutterings.
His hand gripped her shoulder firmly once more.
"Eek!"
Hot, rough, strong hand.
As it seized her shoulder, Eris let out another pathetic moan, but that wasn't the problem.
Those burning eyes looking at her drained all strength from her body before she could even moan.
"Listen well, Eris. There's no one in the world who hates dragon wings."
"Ah... aaah..."
"Scales creepy? Scales are the finest armor nature ever created. And there are idiots who don't get how cool they are?"
Sincere.
"Membrane? Sure, it's unusual. But that makes it more flexible, easier to shape-control, better for flight. The way it shimmers transmitting light... the cool factor, I mean, is unmatched."
Sincere.
"And look at the goddess wrapped in those unique wings. The beautiful goddess who, alongside love, invigorates this world, whips it toward progress! Only fools fear what they can't see past the surface. Who would dare call such a goddess's wings creepy?"
Undeniable burning sincerity.
Dianes's sweet words struck Eris's heart once more.
"Above all... could there be wings stronger and greater than those of the goddess who leads warriors to the battlefield?"
The final critical hit.
That last word, slipping in like flowing water, finally sank her.
"You bet! Of course! Big Sis will handle everything for you!"
The Goddess of Discord, Eris.
For a goddess who had lived in solitude for thousands of years, never even having a proper romance, the eloquence of a poet who had enchanted even the Queen of the Gods was far too powerful.