Aphrodite immediately stepped forward and wrapped herself around Charlie's arm, clinging to him coquettishly. She forcibly pulled the young man down to sit on the sofa right beside her.
"So you really followed me all the way to the Far East, Charlie! I'm really, really happy~"
With her eyes sparkling with delight, Aphrodite gazed at Charlie's face from up close before whispering in an increasingly gentle voice.
"Tell me, what is it that you really want from me? I wouldn't mind doing anything with you..."
At the end of her sentence, Aphrodite's voice became intensely seductive as she slowly licked her own lips. Her beautiful eyes now gleamed with such intense desire that they served as an unmistakable sign that the Goddess of Beauty was currently in heat.
"Haaah..."
Having known from the beginning that all three Goddesses of Beauty—including Freya and Ishtar—were essentially extremely lewd by nature, Charlie could only sigh.
With a firm yet measured movement, he placed one finger against Aphrodite's forehead and gently pushed her away from his face.
"You really haven't changed at all, Goddess Aphrodite." Charlie said in a bitter tone. "Seeing you like this, I honestly don't even know whether I should be happy or sad."
In his opinion, Aphrodite's seemingly unreliable nature and tendency to always follow her emotional impulses felt remarkably similar to Hestia.
Charlie adjusted his sitting position before looking directly at her.
"The reason I came all this way to meet you here isn't because I missed you, as you've imagined. There's something extremely crucial that I want to ask you about in person."
Seeing the young man's expression suddenly turn extremely serious, Aphrodite gradually dropped her playful attitude. She straightened herself up and looked at Charlie with an equally weighty expression.
"It must be something very important if you came all this way here just to meet me."
"So, tell me. What exactly is it?"
"..."
Charlie did not answer immediately, gathering the atmosphere in the room before throwing out his main question.
"I want to make a hypothetical scenario."
"If one day, every God in the Lower World were suddenly forced to return to Heaven, and from that point onward they could never descend here again... what would you choose, Goddess Aphrodite, if you were given the choice?"
"Would you choose to remain in the Lower World as an ordinary living being, or would you choose to return to Heaven with the other gods?"
"...???"
At once, an imaginary question mark seemed to float directly above Aphrodite's head. Her expression crumpled with utter confusion.
"I don't understand at all why you're asking something so strange, Charlie."
Aphrodite slowly shook her head, feeling that such a premise was far too far-fetched.
"The scenario you're describing is something that could never happen."
"Even if the gods eventually grew bored of playing around in the Lower World, they would never willingly return to Heaven."
"They would definitely prefer to stay here and wait for something interesting to appear in the Lower World rather than return to Heaven, where everything is so monotonous and boring."
Aphrodite leaned back against the sofa before continuing her explanation about the reality of Heaven.
"Besides, you should know that there are still countless gods and goddesses in Heaven currently waiting in a long queue just for the chance to descend to the Lower World."
"To be honest, the gods who are still up there in Heaven actually hope that the gods currently in the Lower World will be killed. That way, they'll be forcibly returned to Heaven, allowing the turn of the other gods waiting to descend to the Lower World to come sooner."
"..."
Charlie remained completely unmoved in his seat. His gaze did not waver, as though the other party's logical argument about the situation in Heaven could not obscure his focus in the slightest.
"Goddess Aphrodite, you still haven't answered my question."
"Stay in the Lower World or return to Heaven. Yes or no. That's all I need to know from you right now."
Charlie's cold insistence on this seemingly nonsensical topic began to arouse suspicion in Aphrodite's mind. She narrowed her eyes, carefully studying the young man's expression.
"Why are you so fixated on this strange question, Charlie?" Aphrodite asked suspiciously, trying to find a crack beneath the man's calm demeanor. "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"
"..."
Charlie chose to remain silent. Rather than countering her suspicion with another argument, he simply continued staring at her while waiting for her answer.
Faced with his cold response and oppressive silence, Aphrodite finally gave in. She scratched her cheek despite it not being itchy, then forced an awkward smile in an attempt to ease the tension.
"Ugh, fine, fine! I'll answer. So please stop staring at me in silence like that. Your stare is starting to scare me, you know!"
Aphrodite complained as though she were being bullied, but a second later, her flirtatious side surfaced once more.
"Honestly, I'd be much happier if you suddenly lost control and pounced on me like a wild beast in mating season than if you kept ignoring my charms and giving me the silent treatment like this."
Charlie merely raised one eyebrow, remaining completely unaffected by the Goddess of Beauty's cheap provocation.
"Geez... You really are something..."
Aphrodite sighed helplessly. She slowly ran her fingers through her beautiful blonde hair before straightening her posture. The desire that had filled her eyes earlier had now faded slightly, replaced by an expression of deep contemplation.
"Give me a moment to think it over carefully." She said in a more serious tone. "Seeing how serious you are, it would feel incredibly rude of me to give you a careless answer to this question."
Charlie nodded slowly, giving her all the time she needed to consider it seriously.
"Take as much time as you need, Goddess Aphrodite. Think it through carefully."
Two minutes.
That was how long Aphrodite spent contemplating her answer to the young man's question.
Silence enveloped the private room, creating a rare sight in which the Goddess of Beauty was truly lost in her own thoughts.
"If the scenario you described really did happen, Charlie... then I have two answers."
Aphrodite broke the silence in a calm yet firm voice.
"If, in the end, I can't be with you, then I would rather be deported back to Heaven together with the other gods and never set foot in the Lower World again."
Her beautiful, captivating face displayed a seriousness unlike anything she had shown before. The gaze that was usually filled with desire now radiated nothing but pure sincerity.
From that first answer alone, Charlie could already guess what she would say next.
Sure enough...
Aphrodite slowly tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. Her red lips curved into a mesmerizing smile capable of shattering any man's defenses.
"However, if I can be with you... then of course I'll choose to remain here in the Lower World."
Charlie: "😐"
He stared intently at her, trying to give her one final warning about the weight of such a choice.
"There is a possibility that you may never be able to return to Heaven, Goddess Aphrodite. Because in the future, an absolute barrier will seal Heaven off completely."
"Mm."
Aphrodite merely nodded lightly with a charming smile, without the slightest hint of hesitation on her face about remaining in the Lower World.
"Why are you willing to sacrifice something that significant just to be with me?" Charlie asked, bewildered by the goddess's unwavering resolve.
"Of course, because I like you, Charlie." Aphrodite answered matter-of-factly, looking straight into his eyes without averting her gaze even once.
"..."
That blunt answer left Charlie speechless for a moment. He fell silent, trying to process the sudden confession from a goddess who usually teased him merely for her own amusement.
"Why?" he asked after regaining his composure. "We haven't even known each other for very long. We rarely interact, either."
Aphrodite chuckled softly, a meaningful smile forming on her face.
"Charlie, love doesn't need a reason, nor is it determined by how long we've known each other."
"Love is something abstract."
"And do you know something? A woman who has fallen in love will place far more importance on her emotions than on the rationality of her mind."
Charlie slowly closed his eyes and let out a long sigh at Aphrodite's candid confession, one that struck directly at his heart.
His feelings were a tangled mess, but he knew that his task here was finished.
Charlie opened his eyes again and rose from the sofa.
"I've heard the answer I wanted, Goddess Aphrodite. In that case... I'll take my leave."
"Wait, Charlie—!"
Aphrodite reflexively reached out to grab the young man, but she was too late. Charlie's figure had already vanished completely from before her in the blink of an eye, leaving the room silent once more.
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