The Goddess's Pout
"Hmph!"
Wrapped in her blankets like a pill bug, the silver-haired goddess pouted, her lips jutting out in a display of pure, unadulterated irritation. This was Nesneria—the treasure of the sea, affectionately called Neri—and she was absolutely furious.
It had been ages since the whole ordeal with her sister Galatea had concluded, and she had finally reunited with him. Yet, despite her aggressive, full-body advances, that dark-haired hero was so distracted by other matters that he hadn't even spared her a glance.
"He even laid a hand on another woman while he was away!"
Call it a woman's intuition, or perhaps a goddess's insight. The moment she saw Dianes when he came to visit her early this morning, Neri knew.
He had changed his clothes to the Erytheian style, groomed himself until not a single speck of dust remained, and arrived bearing a massive bouquet of flowers. But beneath that lovely, doting lover's exterior, he carried the faint, familiar scent of someone else.
"Who is it... just who could it be..."
She had half-resigned herself to the fact that, given the nature of Greek men, Dianes couldn't help but be involved with that vixen Atalanta. But the thought that Dianes was secretly entangled with a woman she didn't even know—a woman only he was aware of—made her blood boil.
"She's not a mortal, and she's not a demigod."
It was an alien fragrance clinging to his skin, one that no one but Nesneria, who had been by his side through every waking moment, would have noticed. Last time, at his quarters, she had assumed he was just mingling with some forest nymph or demigod other than Atalanta. But to detect the exact same scent here, in her father's distant domain? Unless he had been hiding her in his pocket, there was no way she could have slipped past Neri's notice to get this far.
"If that's the case, then she's a god... A goddess?"
But this was the Sea of Trials. It was a perilous ocean where her father, the mighty Oceanus, barely managed to suppress his power at the boundary of the deep abyss. Any ordinary god wouldn't even dream of crossing these waters to reach Erytheia.
"Olympus? One of the Twelve Olympians!?"
That would explain the situation. Besides, it hadn't been long since he left Thasos, and he was already on familiar terms with Ares, Athena, Hermes, and even Hera and Aphrodite!
"Ah, or perhaps... Nemesis or Eris?!"
The gazes of those two ancient goddesses she had glimpsed at the festival where Galatea’s love had blossomed were not those of someone cherishing a younger brother. No, they were the eyes of lionesses looking to claim and protect a young male. If it were their wings, which boasted divine power rivaling the Olympians, they could easily fly across this Sea of Trials.
"Ughhh..."
There were too many. Far, far too many.
Aphrodite, the eternal mentor to the sea goddesses including herself, was the master of eroticism who swapped men out like a post-meal palate cleanser. Athena, too, showed boundless respect and reverence for great warriors, to the point where there were long-standing rumors of an affair with Perseus. Eris and Nemesis were primordial goddesses closer to the Protogenoi than anyone in the current era—beings whose power Neri couldn't even fathom—but setting their divine status aside, they were powerful rivals, each boasting mysterious beauty and unique charms.
"Could it be..."
A passing thought brought the faces of Ares, who was unusually close to Dianes, or Hermes, who could fly anywhere in an instant, to mind. But Nesneria shook her head with a scoff, dismissing it as a wild guess.
"Dia is a lecher who only likes women."
On Thasos, Dianes was so beautiful that the old high priest had even made him wear a mask. Because of that, the hands reaching out to claim him—men and women alike—were beyond counting, far more than the ones targeting Neri.
"I let the women slide, but I dealt with the men without mercy."
It had been just like any other day. She had been watching his sword dance on the nymph’s shore, intending to head into the deep sea where her sisters were as the sun dipped below the horizon. That day happened to be the glorious 200th day since Neri and Dia had met. She had prepared a training uniform she’d woven herself with her sisters' help, but she’d been so captivated by the time spent with him that she’d forgotten to give it to him.
She had hurriedly rushed back to the surface, fumbling her way up the dark, moonlit shore...
'Kuaaaaagh!!'
'P-please, stop... Ughhh!'
Under the light of the full moon, there were five bloodied men clutching their crotches, groaning in agony.
'You!'
-THUD!
'You bastards!'
-THUD!
'Who do you think you're touching!!'
-CRUNCH!
And there was Dianes, his eyes burning red, using a club to bash their groins one by one, shattering their manhood and their skulls simultaneously.
She heard they were thugs who had tried to kidnap Dia while he was seeing Neri off, hoping to take advantage of him. Seeing how he would casually brush off the advances of women but resort to lethal force against the confessions or temptations of men, it was clear that Dianes's sexual orientation was firmly and resolutely heterosexual.
"Is that... a relief?"
It meant she only had to keep an eye on the women approaching him.
"No, is it not a relief..."
The problem was that the rivals she had identified so far were formidable. Atalanta was fine. No matter how great a hero she was, she would eventually age, die, and go to Hades's kingdom. As an immortal goddess, Neri could afford the magnanimity to tolerate her partner's infidelity and the love of a mortal.
But if another goddess, just like her, was already in a deep relationship with him—and was being so careful that he hid it even from her—then Nesneria’s agony only deepened.
"Ugh... I don't know! Dianes is mine anyway, so what does it matter!"
Look at this, even now. Before her maids and guards had retreated, they had left behind a mountain of gifts neatly arranged before her bed! And these weren't just thrown together like some tasteless brother-in-law's gift; they were filled with all his heart—jewelry that suited her, flowers she loved, snacks and wine she enjoyed drinking.
He was the great hero who had captured the fame of all Greece, a rising divinity that even the gods of Olympus coveted and kept in check. And yet, this man, whom even the ancient goddesses eyed with greed, was choosing gifts with all his heart, searching for her desperately, and clinging to her, forgetting all his pride.
"...Hehe."
It was a childish, incredibly immature emotion, even by her own admission. She had declared that she would accept even his infidelity, but...
It was true that she felt resentful that he had set his sights on another goddess, and it was also true that she felt a thrill knowing the man coveted by so many gods and goddesses was pining only for her.
Above all else:
More than Dianes being bound to Nesneria, the fate of the woman named Nesneria had been firmly shackled to the black star that was Dianes.
'Even if all the cowards in the world call the future you bring a disaster and curse you. To me, you are the greatest gift of all.'
That one sentence had turned the curse that bound her into a blessing in an instant. Having been saved by those words, the option of Nesneria abandoning Dianes had already ceased to exist.
"He, hehe~ Still though~ Now that I've caught this opportunity~ It'd be a shame to just let him off easy~"
That was one thing, but this was another. It was an undeniable fact that Dianes had neglected Nesneria because of other matters. And according to her sisters' intelligence, he hadn't even thought about leaving Atalanta's side while he was in Arcadia. Now that she had caught him, Neri was determined to squeeze every last drop out of this situation.
"Hehehe... I'm going to make you pine for me a little longer...!"
With a sinister giggle, Nesneria slipped out of her blankets and writhed in delight as she looked over the gifts Dianes had neatly arranged before her.
She already had treasure rooms and storage vaults overflowing with jewels far more valuable than these. But the touch and the warmth imbued in a single necklace or a bottle of wine were what made her truly happy.
"But who is it..."
Even as she felt that happiness, a frown creased her brow at the existence of the rival she hadn't yet identified.
The lingering scent was too deep to be just a casual encounter. Whether they had crossed the line or were just on the verge of it, her lips pouted at the thought of the mysterious goddess who had clearly progressed to a rather intimate relationship with Dianes.
"Hmph! Neither Dia nor that goddess will be able to keep their mouths shut forever!"
Isn't time the one thing goddesses have in abundance? Since Dianes was a man she had firmly grasped and bound to herself early on, Nesneria was confident, no matter how many rivals appeared.
"Hehehe~"
Humming a tune, half-anxious and half-happy, Nesneria savored each of the gifts her lover had sent. Behind her, through the window where the midday sun poured in, the delicate goddess failed to notice a black shadow slipping through.
-CREAK...!
"Huh?"
The window closed with a sharp sound. There was no wind, yet the sunlight that had been illuminating the gifts vanished. When Nesneria turned around in surprise, a black shadow was standing silently before the window that had blocked out the sun.