7화. 혼인은 인사발령이 아닙니다
Episode 7. Marriage Is Not a Personnel Assignment
Hera flinched.
“Um, are you talking to me?”
“Marry Ephemetheus and go to Crete.”
“Marriage again?!”
This time, it wasn’t me—it was Metis who shouted.
The goddess of wisdom was pressing her temples.
“What on earth is the big picture behind making people into married couples every time you send them somewhere?”
“There are few alliances that last as long as family.”
“There are also few relationships that fight as long as a married couple who’ve become enemies!”
She had a point.
Gaia erased the marriage line from the map with a look of regret.
“Then let’s just call it a business partnership for now.”
“Wh... who is this Ephemetheus?”
Hera asked cautiously.
“He’s Prometheus’s younger brother. He’s not quite as clever as his older brother, but he’s quite skilled with his hands.”
“What am I supposed to do with him in Crete?”
A small room materialized from the tips of Gaia’s fingers.
A woman who had just given birth lay on the bed. Her face was flushed with fever, and the newborn cried weakly.
The midwife standing beside her had blood and filth smeared on her hands.
Hera’s expression hardened.
“Puerperal fever.”
Gaia said.
“New mothers suffer from fever and die without even knowing the cause.”
On the map, a black mist traveled from the midwife’s hands to another new mother.
“Have her wash her hands.”
Clean water flowed.
“Boil the instruments, use separate cloths for touching wounds, and separate the sick from the healthy.”
The black mist vanished, one by one.
“Have Ephemerus make a pot to boil water and utensils that make washing easier, and you, as the goddess who presides over marriage and childbirth, shall spread these rules to every household.”
Hera gazed at the scene as if spellbound.
The power over households, which had been slipping from her fingertips just moments before, trembled faintly.
A mother who had given birth.
A newborn baby.
The power was responding to the sight of the two returning home safely.
“Can I save that many people?”
“At least far more than now.”
For the first time, light returned to Hera’s eyes.
“I will do it.”
She said.
“I’ll decide on marriage after meeting him in person, but I will certainly do that.”
Gaia smiled with satisfaction.
“That’s a good answer.”
Aides clasped Hera’s hand tightly.
She looked envious.
Gaia’s gaze turned to Hestia this time.
“Eek.”
Hestia hid behind my back.
“Sister, surely you aren’t planning to arrange a husband for Hestia too, are you?”
“It isn’t strictly necessary.”
To my surprise, Gaia replied meekly.
“All Hestia needs is a city.”
“A city?”
Hestia peeked out from over my shoulder.
Gaia’s finger pointed to central Italy.
The Seven Hills where the Tiber River flows.
There was no great city there yet.
Only small settlements and the scattered lights of shepherds were visible.
“Rome.”
It was the third time.
Latin.
Constantinople.
And Rome.
‘She’s not even trying to hide it anymore.’
“It’s the land north of Naples, where the Tiber River flows.”
Gaia placed a single ember atop the seven hills.
It was Hestia’s hearth fire.
Houses sprang up around the ember.
The houses shared walls and became a village.
Walls were built around the village, and roads stretched out in all directions.
The smoke rising from every hearth gathered into a single temple.
“The hearth is the center of the home.”
Gaia said.
“A city is a larger family made up of countless homes.”
Hestia gazed at the ember on the map.
“Aren’t you trying to drive me out?”
“It’s a division of the realm.”
“I want to stay by Zeus’s side.”
Hestia clutched at the hem of my robe.
Gaia’s eyes narrowed.
“Then why not just come and go as you please?”
“That’s easier said than done.”
Melisseus muttered under his breath.
As soon as Gaia’s gaze fell upon him, he fell silent.
I looked at the seven hills on the map.
I’ll plant a seed in Rome in advance.
From my perspective as someone who knows history, there was no reason to refuse.
But there was also no reason to leave Hestia behind alone.
“I will establish temples and strongholds in Rome,”
I said.
“However, Hestia doesn’t need to stay there permanently. I’ll train trustworthy priests and lesser gods, and then have her travel back and forth between Olympus and Rome.”
“Will Your Majesty come with us?”
Hestia asked.
“If possible.”
She let go of my robe.
“Then I’ll do it.”
A single hearth fire remained atop the Seven Hills.
It was the earliest establishment of a foothold in Roman history.
Gaia’s map did not end there.
To the northeast.
At the tip of a peninsula jutting into the Black Sea, a massive citadel rose up.
“Chersonesos.”
The Crimean Peninsula, where a city later known as Kherson would be built.
Upon it stood a giant with fifty heads and a hundred arms.
“I shall entrust it to the Hecatoncheires.”
And at the western end.
Giant pillars rose on either side of the narrow strait where the two continents nearly touched.
“The Pillars of Hercules.”
...But Hercules hadn’t even been born yet, had he?
The name “Gibraltar” belonged to an even more distant future.
Gaia nonchalantly placed Atlas there.
Instead of propping up the sky with his shoulders, the Titan guarded the gateway from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.
“The eastern end is the Hecatoncheires.”
“The western end is Atlas.”
Fortresses and harbors sprang up at the feet of the two giants.
“If we consider the sea to be our heart, then we’ll need gatekeepers at its entrance and exit.”
I remained silent.
If Byzantium and Skutari were the throat between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean,
then the Chersonese was the stronghold pressing down on the northern Black Sea.
Gibraltar was the gateway between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
“Will those two obey willingly?”
Metis asked.
“Atlas might be on Cronus’s side.”
“That’s why we’re giving them a choice,”
Gaia replied.
“Will they be imprisoned in Tartarus? Or will they receive their land, temples, and people, and live as kings of the frontier?”
“Isn’t that a threat?”
“There are two options, aren’t there?”
“That’s what people usually call a threat.”
Metis pressed her hand to her forehead.
Then, as Gaia flickered her fingertips, a crimson thread of fate stretched from Aides’ name toward the Hecatoncheires and Atlas.
“And Aides.”
“I shall make you two proposals.”
“The Hecatoncheires of Chersonesos or Atlas of Gibraltar, and…”
No, this isn’t right!
Setting aside Aides’ expression, which was on the verge of tears…
Why are you constantly trying to marry people off as if they were being transferred to a new post?!
“Sister.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“We just agreed there would be no forced marriages.”
“It’s not a mandate—it’s a recommendation.”
“Please erase that line.”
Gaia erased the red line with a look of regret.
The second line she had been about to draw toward Aides vanished as well.
Aides let out a sigh of relief.
I counted the names that appeared on the map.
Prometheus.
Ephemetheus.
Atlas.
Hecatoncheires.
Cyclopeia.
At least five.
To be precise, it was debatable whether Hecatoncheires and Cyclopeia should be called Titans, but they were all powerful ancient gods who had been oppressed or imprisoned by previous kings.
Wait, weren’t there originally three Hecatoncheires to begin with?
Never mind... The Cyclopes were also changed from three Cyclops to a single goddess,
so I guess I should be grateful that the Hecatoncheires aren’t a single goddess with 50 heads and 100 arms, but just male gods...
Anyway... In the original story, after the Titanomachy ended, Zeus banished the defeated Titans to Tartarus.
But here, Cronus was defeated before the war had even properly begun.
It hasn’t even been decided yet who the enemies are.
“Are you suggesting we set them all free?”
I asked.
“At least those five,”
Gaia said.
“Prometheus and Ephemerus have the skills.”
The two brothers held a plow, a cauldron, and a waterwheel in their hands.
“Atlas and Hecatoncheires will guard the borders.”
The two giants stood at the eastern and western ends.
“The Cyclopes can take charge of weapons and architecture.”
As the one-eyed goddess brought her hammer down, bronze was forged into the shape of lightning.
Ah… Now I think I understand why Gaia had presented all these conditions.
The position of First Lady.
The status of heir apparent.
The design of the empire.
Beneath those grand words lay a single, simple request.
To free her children—who had been betrayed twice and imprisoned in Tartarus—this time.
“Very well.”
I said.
Gaia looked at me.
“I will release five of them.”
The Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires—unconditionally.
Prometheus and Ephemerus will also be released first, after which I will ask for their cooperation.
As for Atlas, I will verify the extent of his cooperation with Cronus; if he is found innocent, I will propose that he be sent to Gibraltar.
“However, there are three conditions.”
Gaia’s eyes sparkled with interest.
“Go on.”
“First. I will not barter their release for loyalty.”
I looked at the five of them.
“If they were unjustly imprisoned, their freedom should be restored anyway. I will not demand obedience in exchange for their freedom.”
Gaia’s smile faded.
She wasn’t angry.
Rather, for the first time, she was listening to me with a completely serious expression.
“Second. Including the young lady of Cyclopeia, marriages will require the consent of the parties involved.”
Demeter, Poseida, Hera, and Aides nodded simultaneously.
“No one will be forced into marriage as a tool to send them to any land.”
“That could weaken the alliance.”
“An alliance forged by forcing people together against their will breaks apart even faster.”
The corners of Metis’s mouth turned up slightly.
“Third. We won’t do everything all at once.”
I ran my finger across the map.
Byzantium.
Naples and Sicily.
Egypt.
Rome.
Chersonesos.
Gibraltar.
On the map, I could travel back and forth with a single finger.
In reality, I had to cross thousands of li of seas and mountain ranges.
“We don’t even have a palace door right now.”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the entrance.
There really weren’t any.
“We’ll establish order here and release the five. Then we’ll send envoys to Byzantium and Sicily, and establish strongholds starting with the places where it’s feasible.”
Meliseus nodded more vigorously than anyone else.
“As for Suez and Gibraltar, we’ll assess the situation of the surrounding gods and humans first before taking action.”
“That’s too slow.”
Gaia said.
“If we move too fast, we’ll all be doomed.”
I didn’t back down.
“I’ll follow your guidance as my destination. But I’ll decide the order in which we proceed.”
The earth rumbled softly.
Metis tensed her body.
Poseidon raised his trident upright.
Demeter and Hestia also approached, standing on either side of me.
Gaia looked at me without saying a word.
It was a long silence.
I felt cold sweat trickling down my back.
Still, I did not avert my gaze.
Even if it were the plan of the future queen, the king could not simply rubber-stamp it without reviewing it.
‘I don’t know why I already have the mindset of a king, though.’
I had to act that way to survive.
Finally, Gaia spoke.
“Very well.”
The tension in the audience chamber dissolved all at once.
“Is that so?”
“All three conditions are reasonable.”
Gaia’s smile returned.
“I particularly liked your offer to restore freedom first.”
Her gaze lingered on Cyclopeia on the map.
“That’s much better than those kings who broke their promises twice.”
She must have been referring to Uranus and Cronus.
“However, there is one thing we must decide now.”
“What is it?”
“Who will be Your Majesty’s first wife.”