[The Pure-Hearted Man, in His Own Way]
“Dia?”
“Ugh... Hyeonsa... stop the nagging...”
“Hyeonsa? What’s that?”
“I was just... a little too excited for the first time in a while...”
“Hee-hee~ I-is that so...?”
What is this?
I was on my way to get scolded by my advisor, who had come running in a panic after I’d just smashed the main gate of the Namgung Clan and returned. But Gwi-hyeonsa never called me in such an affectionate voice, nor did she playfully toss pillows at me or thump my chest.
I was a man who had survived the hellish paths and traversed the Sura-do; I was a novice when it came to romance, yet I still harbored strange fantasies about it. Even when she willingly loosened her clothes for me, her eyes were always filled with cold, calculating rationality.
‘But this voice...’
The beautiful, melodic tone—sounding at once like an innocent young girl and a seductive temptress—was so overflowing with affection that just hearing it made my heart tingle.
“Alright! Then I’ll... eit!”
“Hmm..?”
As I wandered through a haze of drowsiness and a mind as foggy as a mist, something burrowed into my limp arms. It was warm, soft, and supple—the perfect thing to heat up a body that had gone slightly cold. Instinctively, I hugged it tight with my limbs, and as a fragrant scent mixed with a faint, salty sea breeze—like the Mediterranean washing over me—drifted up, I buried my face into it.
“Huuuum...”
“Kyaa...! So, so cuuute...!”
The affectionate, melodic voice let out a small gasp, as if careful not to wake me, and in that moment, I realized that what I was holding was a woman.
‘But this is strange...’
Among the Twelve Divine Demons who had worked me to the bone, the one with the most hellish difficulty was undoubtedly the Sura-majon, and the second was the Muguk-tuma, who treated actual combat as training and chased me until I was half-dead. And the third was the living demon—no, the demonic army—who taught me the Crescent Moon Blade technique that even Athena had marveled at, and who had taught me the common sense of the battlefield.
It was the Sam-myeong-gwi-hwang (Three-Life Ghost Emperor), a man who, had his clan not been framed for treason in his youth, would have easily built a kingdom of his own.
While others tried to raise me as the next Cult Leader and the new god to fulfill the Heavenly Demon Cult’s deepest wishes, the Gwi-hwang hammered into my body how to survive in real combat and how to roll through the battlefield to seize victory. That burly, true-blue soldier—the very definition of a "hardcore marine"—had always emphasized the importance of drinking, singing, and women on the battlefield. He had threatened that if I ever brought a woman around or drank alcohol during a war, he would smash through the gates of the afterlife, return to the world of the living, and cut my head off.
Humans are creatures of habit, and someone might laugh, wondering if even a Divine Demon would go that far. But the massive trauma hammered not into my body, but into my soul, was something I could never forget. Especially during wartime, and even more so when I was outside the main sect, I never touched a woman, let alone a drink.
‘But who is this woman?’
Did I go insane after grinding the Namgung Clan into dust and cast the Gang-hon-sul (True) spell?
The image of the ghost of Lu Bu, riding a giant skeletal horse and wielding the Ghost-Spirit Crescent Blade, sliced through the delusions in my head, sending a chill down my spine.
“Ung? Dia, are you shivering?”
‘Wait, if that’s the case, then who is she?’
I struggled to blink my heavy eyelids to examine the woman in my arms, and her appearance was quite exotic. White hair and blue eyes. A beautiful woman—no, a goddess—reminiscent of the Westerners from far beyond the Northern Sea...
“Neri...”
“Hee-hee... Are you awake?”
As I met those blue eyes, sweet with both happiness and curiosity, I felt as if I were snapping out of a dream I had been trapped in once again.
“Phew... this is nice.”
We spent the entire morning rolling around in bed, eventually fulfilling our sacred duties three times, and only managed to crawl out of bed near noon.
Well, even then, we stayed glued to each other in the bathtub.
In a massive tub that looked more like a public bathhouse—likely built to accommodate Antaios and his wife—Neri was resting her head on my chest.
“But Dia.”
“Yeah?”
“What kind of dream were you having?”
“....!”
Neri would sometimes stab me with a critical hit while wearing an innocent face. Just yesterday, she had been moaning as if she were melting, but hadn't she launched a counterattack from within that even shocked me?
...Ahem.
Anyway.
Neri hadn't missed the tiny bit of Central Plains language I’d mumbled in my sleep, and she chose the moment I was most relaxed to land her strike.
“Hmm...”
“Is it, by any chance, her?”
“W-what?”
Pouting her lips as if she knew everything, Neri squeezed her eyes shut and let out a lion’s roar.
“The day before yesterday! Was the goddess you slept with her?!”
“....What?”
Wait, the day before yesterday was definitely...
Ah!
It was the day that would go down in history as a feat that all the heroes and gods of Greece would have to look up to—a achievement comparable to the legend of Yi, who shot down the celestial bodies in the myths of the Central Plains!
I had handed over that unlucky Sun God to Antaios as a punching bag, and I had toyed with that fierce virgin goddess—no, the Moon Goddess.
Calling it "toying" was an understatement; I hadn't gone all the way, but I had played with her like the average Greek male god would.
And Neri had figured that out... wait.
Could it be that the reason Neri went back to her parents' house last time was...?
‘Oh, my god...’
Q. Do you regret toying with and humiliating that fierce Moon Goddess?
A. No.
Q. Do you feel guilty about using such wicked, unspeakable methods to bind, brainwash, and humiliate that cruel virgin goddess, ultimately trying to corrupt her?
A. I’m actually looking forward to it.
Q. Then, can you proudly boast about that feat and performance to your lover?
You made the Goddess of Purity, revered by all of Greece, impure, and you even polluted her mind, making her kneel before you and fawn like a whore?
A. I’d rather drown myself in a puddle of water.
The Greatest Under Heaven, the Grandmaster of Murim, the Great Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon, the Great Heavenly Demon Emperor.
But in front of his woman, a pure-hearted man.
Why did the steaming bathwater turn cold so quickly? Why did the goddess clinging to my soft, alluring chest feel so heavy and stinging?
Is it the power of a goddess?
I had to think carefully here. If I slipped up, I’d become the trash who called out his ex-girlfriend’s name while with his current one. Or, I’d become the greatest piece of trash in history, who, while having a lover, went out and humiliated and toyed with another woman—a pure goddess at that.
Damn it, either way, I’m trash. As I calculated a thousand thoughts, methods, and routes in my head to find a way to survive, my goddess was glaring at me with narrow, suspicious eyes.
“Dianes?”
“Y-y-y-yes?!”
“Why are you so stiff? It’s uncomfortable.”
“I-I will correct it immediately!”
The Goddess says the bed is uncomfortable! Cut off the supply officer’s head at once!
Wait, I’m the supply officer? And the bed is my own body.
Then should I cut off my own head?
“You’re spacing out again?”
“I’m sorry!”
“Stay still! You’re shaking!”
I quietly adjusted my posture at the command of the Goddess, who had slapped my thigh in feigned annoyance.
“Neri, that is...”
“.....”
Neri, who had buried herself halfway into the water as if she didn't even want to look at my face, still had her ears pricked up. In short, it was a signal that she wasn't actually that angry, but she wanted to throw a tantrum, so I should hurry up and soothe her.
‘Phew...’
It was certain that Neri had definitely caught on to my "cheating" (?). However, citing the agreement I made with Atalanta and the examples of Amphitrite and Hera, my two lovers had entered a state of mind that could be summarized as: "Go out and make as many lovers as you want, just come back to me!"
‘Am I enjoying all the romantic luck I missed in my past life and the life before that right here?’
“Neri.”
-Bubble, bubble...
“For now, that woman—ahem, she also needs to see how the situation develops, and I also ended up in this relationship by accident, so...”
“So you’re saying you can’t tell me right now?”
“...That’s right.”
My "Wind-Style Mouth Technique," which could talk any god or goddess into falling for me, was useless in front of this mochi-like sea goddess.
“Forget it. And that’s not what you should be saying right now, is it?”
“....”
Neri, who was just blowing bubbles in the water with her cheeks puffed out. Did she know how much of a fool I became at that one word? I carefully hugged her small shoulders and nibbled on her ear, whispering softly.
“I love you.”
-Bubble, bubble, bubble!!
It was only natural that the goddess’s snow-white ears turned red in an instant.
“I’m sorry for being a man with such complicated circumstances.”
“They are complicated, indeed. My sisters say they can’t keep their minds straight after doing it three times, but you, Dia...”
Neri, who looked back at me with a face that seemed slightly fed up, tried to grumble and throw a tantrum at me.
-Thump!
Did she know? That my heart was also shaking at the sight of those two fruits, flushed red with countless bite marks and handprints, swaying above the water? And where that surging blood flow was gathering was, naturally...
“....Hiek.”
I understood why Neri was startled, but what could I do? My vitality, both in my past life and this one, was truly endless. For reference, the reason I fell asleep yesterday was because Neri had fainted after taking me again and again.
But I am the Heavenly Demon, the incarnation of all desires! No matter how much of a burden my desires are, I can control them as much as I want!
“Dia, I’m feeling a bit dizzy...”
“Oh, you shouldn't stand up if you're dizzy. Sit down.”
The predator and prey swapped places in an instant. It was just as I was smiling deviously, holding the hands of Neri, who was trembling like a baby goat in front of a drooling wolf.
-Boom, boom, boom!
“Dianes-nim!! It’s a messenger from Antaios-nim!! You must come out immediately!!”
“....Tch.”
Antaios was never a man who lacked awareness. On the contrary, contrary to public perception, he was a very progressive and visionary leader, as seen in the current state of Erytheia I had toured today. Such a man would never disturb his superior’s sleep over a trivial matter.
I carefully placed Neri—who seemed both relieved and slightly disappointed—back into the bath so she wouldn't break, and I threw open the door that was shaking as if it were about to shatter, wearing nothing but a light robe.
“Who is it?”
“I apologize. It’s an urgent report from the Glory of Poseidon!”
“So what happened? Antaios is...”
“The Divine Smith Hephaestus! The blacksmith of Olympus, the eldest son of Zeus, is looking for Dianes-nim!”
....Oh.
It really is a big deal.