Tens of miles away, Lorne looked back at the primordial ocean, a chaotic blend of blood-red light and sunset hues, and couldn't help letting a thoroughly shameless smile spread across his face.
With "good little sister" Eris taking the bullet for him, the theft from the sacred garden should not be traceable back to him.
Once the heat died down, he could send the golden apples to the War God Mountain and hand them to the divine healer Asclepius, letting that great nephew of his advance the research on the "immortality medicine."
A double-digit count of golden apples, plus a large pile of rare herbs conveniently lifted from the sacred garden, should be enough for that kid to produce some finished results.
Lorne calculated quietly, and the gloom that had been accumulating in his eyes gradually lightened considerably.
The reason he had gone to all this trouble scheming after the golden apples and the immortality medicine was mainly because the hidden danger Hecate had left on his body had completely blocked the path he had wanted to take, using the dice of chance to collect divine essences and advance to chief god level.
According to what the Queen of the Underworld said, as long as he completed collecting divine essences and elevated to chief god level, it would be equivalent to entering his mature phase.
At that point, Hecate would most likely make her move against him.
Since he had no full confidence in going up against that Underworld Moon Goddess, Lorne naturally didn't dare to commit to a single path.
For the time being, he could only find another way around, thinking of how to bypass the collection of the twelve divine essences and complete his ascension through a different means, adding a few more tools for self-preservation in the confrontation that was coming.
And the immortality medicine the divine healer had conceived was one viable path.
As for whether it could succeed, he could only try and see.
Lorne went through his thoughts once more from start to finish, confirmed there were no obvious gaps for the time being, then descended from the clouds, passed through the dense forest, and arrived before a clear river, preparing to wash away the fatigue and dust of travel before continuing on his journey.
However, he had barely scooped up a handful of water when he caught sight of a figure standing on the opposite bank upstream, looking utterly forlorn.
It was a middle-aged woman of relatively ordinary appearance, but a white gauze dress hung straight to the ground, giving her a simple and elegant air.
Beautiful curling hair cascaded from one side of a pearl-studded crown, adding an air of dignified grace that was impossible to overlook.
From a distance, she made quite an impression.
Only at this moment, this noble lady was troubled by something unknown.
At this moment, sickly pallor rose on her face.
Her shapely brows were tightly knit as she stared at her own reflection in the river, the originally bright blue of her eyes gradually dimmed, filled entirely with misery and sorrow.
Little by little, crystal teardrops welled from the corners of her eyes, sliding down the noble lady's cheeks and dropping into the rushing water below.
'Sigh. Every family has their troubles these days. No one has it easy.'
Lorne glanced over from a distance, quietly lamented for a moment, and was preparing to slip quietly away so as not to disturb this noble lady grieving alone.
Unexpectedly, no sooner had he started to move than he saw the noble lady, who had been standing on the riverbank, begin walking step by step into the rushing current.
Very quickly the surging flow rose past her waist and was level with her chest.
Watching the noble lady maintain that wooden expression and continue walking step by step toward the center of the river, Lorne hurriedly called out to stop her.
"My lady, please don't do anything foolish!"
Hearing the sudden shout, the noble lady couldn't help stopping in her tracks as she looked up toward the well-meaning person on the opposite bank, pursed her lips, and gave a faint shake of her head.
"Young man. This has nothing to do with you. Don't come bothering me..."
"It had nothing to do with me, but now that I've seen it, it does."
Lorne let out a sigh and urged her gently once more.
"My lady. Why don't you come up first? There is nothing in this world that cannot be gotten through."
The noble lady's expression darkened. Her chest rose and fell with agitation.
"I am not trying to end my life! I only wanted some peace and quiet..."
However, apparently because the motion was too sudden, the noble lady's foot slipped beneath her, and her whole body pitched forward into the rushing water.
Her figure rose and fell with the surging current.
'Well. Good intentions leading to bad outcomes.'
Seeing this, Lorne felt equal parts amused and helpless, and immediately leapt into the rushing water, locked his arms around the noble lady's slender waist from behind, pulled her up above the surface, and dragged her toward the bank.
But the moment they reached the shallows where they could stand, the noble lady straightened up and shoved his away, letting out an indignant cold hum."I have perfectly good hands and feet. I don't need your help!"
Lorne raised both hands innocently, made a gesture of please-yourself, and tactfully stepped to one side.
He watched the noble lady lift the hem of her skirt, lower her head, and make her way unsteadily toward the bank, and couldn't help muttering quietly to himself.
'This lady has quite the temper. Getting this worked up will do her health no good.'
"Pfft!"
At this very moment, the lady who had just stepped onto the bank swayed violently, abruptly coughed up a spray of blood mist, and fell stiff as a board into the riverside grass.
"....."
Lorne was momentarily at a loss for words, lines of exasperation running down his forehead.
'How does this even happen? I might as well change my profession to God of Misfortune.'
Looking at the woman lying motionless on the riverbank, Lorne let out a sigh, stepped to the grassy area, hoisted her onto his back, and headed toward the mountain forest not far away.
---
....
Night fell.
Burning branches crackled and snapped.
Yellow-orange flames danced cheerfully, casting flickering light and shadow throughout a cave hidden beneath curtains of hanging vines.
Accompanied by a rustling sound, the noble lady in the cave woke up from unconsciousness.
She shook her dizzy head, and by the firelight shining into the cave, looked at the bluestone slab beneath her and the thick layer of leaves spread over it, then felt the thin blanket covering her body as a complex light stirred in her bright eyes.
"You're awake? Would you like to come out and eat something?"
Outside the cave, Lorne was sitting before the fire turning several wild pheasants and rabbits he had caught, asking with a smile.
After a moment of silence, the noble lady rose and walked out of the cave, elegantly lifted the hem of her skirt and sat down, and slowly spoke.
"You saved me?"
"Hardly. I saw you lying in the grass, worried you might catch a chill, so I took the liberty of arranging a different bed for you."
Lorne smiled slightly, using light-hearted words to soften the seriousness his counterpart brought with her, while at the same time handing the roasted pheasant to the noble lady beside him.
The experience of saying what people wanted to hear and adjusting to his audience, he had long since mastered to perfection.
Knowing the other party had a strong temper and a proud sense of self, Lorne naturally had to go along with the grain, to avoid yet another disagreement that might stir up some unnecessary trouble.
It was their first meeting and she wasn't particularly a beauty enough to steal his soul..and even if she were, he would have to stay away immediately after all, who know when Zeus would come and kill him for the sake of it.
However that didn't mean he would leave someone so defenseless.
No matter how much selfishness and shameless he got from his family, he wasn't that heartless yet.
Anyway, tonight they would each go their separate ways under the open sky.
There was no point in making things unpleasant between them over a few words.
"Th... thank you..."
The noble lady took the pheasant and spoke haltingly.
It was unclear whether she was thanking him for the food or for the earlier rescue.
And her tone was quite stiff, as though she rarely said those two words to anyone outside.
'By the look of things, she was most likely some royalty holding a high position.'
Lorne muttered to himself, and at the same time ladled out a bowl of mushroom broth to pass across, asking casually.
"By the way, I haven't had the honor of learning your name."
The noble lady thought for a moment, and answered in a measured voice.
"Klera. From Argos."
"Bacchus. From Thebes."
Lorne gave a nod and polite smile, offering up the future Roman name of the God of Wine.
Hm...it was worth mentioning, Bacchus also carried the epithet of "God of a Thousand Faces."
After a few rounds of broth and food, and with names exchanged, the atmosphere between the two gradually grew more at ease.
With nothing important to do,
Lorne couldn't hold back his curiosity, and asked casually.
"My lady, who left you in such a state? With something this serious happening, why not say a word to your family, coming alone to a place deep in the mountains like this. It's really not very safe."
"My husband..."
"?"
"It was my husband who injured me."
Klera spoke without expression.
Her face in the firelight was cold as frost.
The atmosphere that had just begun to warm immediately went cold again.
'Always managing to bring up exactly the wrong thing.' Lorne reflected on himself briefly, and quickly changed the subject.
"Between husband and wife, some conflict is inevitable.
As long as the misunderstanding is cleared up, perhaps there will yet be a day when the clouds part and the sun comes out again."
"He is dead. My doing..."
"Ahem, ahem."
Lorne coughed sharply, finding himself rather at a loss, and immediately redirected the conversation.
"The meat on this side is also done. Here, please eat..."
Klera took the wild rabbit Lorne passed to her.
Her teeth bit down savagely, and her jaw produced a bone-chilling crunch as she chewed, as though she were imagining her dead husband in its place.
'Domestic violence and revenge killing? Do husbands and wives in Argos all play things this rough?'
Lorne muttered inwardly while feeling a twinge of regret for having carelessly opened this dangerous topic.
But intense curiosity gradually brewed within him into an inexplicably blurted question.
"What exactly happened? Why not tell me about it?"
Then, catching the noble lady's expression shifting between cloudy and clear,
Lorne quickly added to follow it up.
"Saying it out loud might make you feel a little better..."
Hearing those comforting words, Klera felt a pang in her heart, and could no longer suppress the urge to pour everything out, erupting in furious indignation.
"He not only cheated on me behind my back, he actually raised a hand against me for the sake of some woman and a bastard that hadn't even been born yet!"
Apparently because she was speaking with such agitation, the roasted rabbit skewered on the branch was torn clean in two by the noble lady before him.
"Riiip..."
Hearing that crisp sound of flesh splitting apart, Lorne's eyelid gave an involuntary twitch, and he couldn't help muttering inwardly.
'Surely that's not how the late husband met his end?'
At this moment, the noble lady, having suppressed things in her heart for far too long, had clearly thrown open the floodgates, and poured out her unfortunate experience and marriage in one unbroken stream.
"He fooled around outside. I endured it! He brought one illegitimate child after another back into the home.
I endured that too! In the end, he actually raised his hand against me for the sake of his mistress and his bastard child! And all the while going on and on about how that child's birth was fate's guidance to him, how it concerned his great cause!"
"Fate! Great cause!
Nothing more than his boundless lust, and he could still produce such a high-sounding justification!"
"I... cough, cough..."
Klera coughed violently, golden-red blood staining her handkerchief.
"Don't get so agitated! Calm down!"
Lorne hurriedly cast several calming spells and supported the noble lady into a sitting position.
Having vented for a while, the fury that had been building in Klera's heart finally eased somewhat, but a lost and helpless sorrow arrived in its wake.
"Many people say love is the most beautiful thing in this world.
Then why have I been living in such misery?"
"Because love and marriage are two different things."
Lorne let out a sigh and explained in a measured voice.
"Love is something that easily stirs the heart. It is more of a mutual enjoyment between two people.
You can indulge in carefree romance without a care in the world. You can pursue passion without restraint.
It leans toward the ideal that one longs for."
"But marriage, in my view, is a kind of mutual protection.
Even when love exists within it, it tends to be diluted, worn down little by little. The responsibilities and obligations to each other gradually become the underlying tone of a marriage.
And once you encounter a partner with not enough sense of responsibility and too little moral character, the other half naturally lives in considerable misery."
Klera listened, carefully recalling everything she had lived through, and nodded in involuntary silence.
"You are not wrong. I mistakenly assumed the two were the same, which is why I have lived in such misery."
"Since continuing this marriage has made you so miserable, why keep tormenting yourself? Wouldn't divorce solve it?"
Lorne answered casually, looking at this woman mired in her dilemma with genuine puzzlement.
Equally, Klera looked at this well-meaning young man with genuine puzzlement, her face full of incomprehension.
"Divorce? Why would I divorce?"
"Didn't you just say you were living in misery?"
"Does divorce solve that?"
"Why force yourself to do something that makes you unhappy?
Life doesn't come into this world only to get married and have children and continue the bloodline.
Those are a very important part, but they are absolutely not the whole of life.
When there is nothing pressing, watch how a flower opens, how water flows. How the sun rises and when the evening sun sets.
Or figure out some truth about things, encounter something interesting. Isn't that also quite good?"
Lorne smiled, looked at the noble lady before him, and mused with quiet meaning.
"Getting married is in pursuit of happiness. In fact, so is divorce."
"...!"
An answer she had never once considered flooded into her mind and Klera was shaken to her core.
'Getting married is in pursuit of happiness. And so is divorce?'
But immediately, a powerful sense of fear rose in her heart.
If that were truly so, then the perseverance she had maintained for so long, even going to extreme and twisted lengths again and again to keep this marriage going, what had any of it meant?'
"Nonsense!"
Klera shook her head in rebuttal, her face cold.
"What does a child like you who has never experienced the beauty of marriage understand?"
"Beauty?"
Lorne smiled, looking at the noble lady tightly pressing her lips together and forcing herself to stay composed, and asked quietly.
"Then how long has it been since you laughed from the bottom of your heart?"
"..."
"How long has it been since you enjoyed a truly relaxed moment?"
"..."
"How long has it been since you properly looked at all the things of this world and felt a genuine sense of wonder?"
"..."
Klera opened her mouth, wanting to answer.
But the silence kept stretching longer.
Yes. She had no answer.
Ever since stepping into marriage with her husband, she had always lived steeped in hatred.
In order to sustain a marriage that existed in name only, in order to protect her position, she had almost completely lost normal emotions and preferences, and had gradually become somewhat twisted.
'So was this truly the happiness she had been pursuing?'
Klera was lost.
Staring at the dancing flames, her muddled thoughts had nowhere to settle.
"Would you like some? It might help you feel a little better."
Klera instinctively took the water pouch tossed her way, pulled out the stopper, and a fragrance of fermented grape spread through the air.
It was wine.
She had initially no particular feeling toward this drink.
It was her own disappointing children who had praised the stuff endlessly, exhibiting all manner of disgraceful drunken behavior on its account day after day.
This gradually caused her impression of wine to become rather poor as well.
"Things you can't work out, set aside for now. Things you can't finish, leave for now. Life is long. There's no need to rush."
Hearing the words of comfort by her ear, Klera steeled herself, tipped the crimson liquid down her throat, and drank deeply.
'Right. To hell with it all.'
Watching the noble lady gradually let go of her poise and reservations, freely enjoying this evening's meal, a look of quiet satisfaction spread across Lorne's face.
His reputation as a "friend of women" hadn't been earned for nothing.
Back on Crete, who knew how many unmarried and married women had lined up to seek him out for emotional counsel.
What kind of relationship problem or lovesick married woman hadn't he encountered?
He had no opinions regarding the fickleness of her husband, after all, he was the same.
Fortunately his loved ones aren't this Yandere...well, Artemis was Artemis.
But it's precisely coz she's Artemis that she wants to give her lover everything of her, but since she was a virgin goddess, she knew she couldn't be openly with him so she mostly ignores his capriciousness.
Of course this was Lorne's own thoughts, who knows what's going on in that Goddess' mind?
However, fortunately, he wasn't married so his wife couldn't call him unfaithful.
Justifying himself, Lorne looked at the middle-aged lady.
So then.
May this lady who had met with such misfortune in marriage also receive the blessing of the God of Wine, pass through the lowest valley of her life, and find the happiness that belonged to her.
With that thought, the God of Revelry in the firelight raised his cup with a quiet smile.
(End of Chapter)