Chapter 584: The goddess of the hearth, Hestia.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A pink-haired goddess flew out of a destroyed temple.
Landing softly on the ground, the pink-haired woman mumbled:
"Yep, she blew me up…"
'I knew this was coming; I knew it! But I had hoped that it would be different.'
Feeling an angry glare on her back, Aphrodite sighed and turned around.
"Huh, Is that any way to treat your aunt?" Pink eyes met the furious eyes of a fire goddess
"What do you want, Aphrodite!?"
"… Hestia, my niece, haven't you forgotten that little 'inicdent' yet? I have already asked for forgiveness several times!"
Veins seemed to burst from the goddess's face, and pure fire covered her entire body lifting her hair as if defying gravity:
"... You bitch!! You summoned a damned orgy in my temple! I had to clean those disgusting liquids for several days! A thousand pardons will not be enough to erase my anger!"
"Ugh." Aphrodite shivered visibly, those words reminding her of her past foolish self.
Yes, there was a time in the past when the goddess of beauty and sexuality thought she wanted to see her virgin niece's reaction to seeing an orgy taking place in her temple. So she summoned several humans who were her faithful and let them surrender to lust while hiding in the bush to delight in the expression of the 'virgin goddess'.
To be honest, somewhere in her heart, she thought the goddess would join in the fun of her worshipers, and if that happened, she would take advantage of this move to 'get' her niece for herself... But imagine the goddess of beauty's surprise when the 'gentle' Hestia exploded all the mortals with her flames.
'Thinking back now, that was foolish. Hestia would never participate in an orgy.'
That day, all the mortals got second and third-degree burns, and the goddess of beauty herself had to use her resources to heal her faithful. She might have been an arrogant whore at the time, but she still looked out for her most devoted faithful.
And to be honest, she was also thinking of another possibility. She thought her niece would blush or be embarrassed and wouldn't budge, which was also a sight she wanted to see. After all, Hestia always had a confident posture like a strict but kind older sister.
But she didn't expect that reaction from Hestia, and she especially didn't expect that burst of power; after all, she was still 'gentle' Hestia.
Luckily the kind Hestia didn't burn them all out of existence, something she could easily do.
'Hmm, isn't she the big three's big sister, her temper may be gentle, but when she is provoked, she becomes worse than Zeus.'
"NOW! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!?"
The goddess of beauty flinched a bit at the fire goddess' anger.
"Answer me, or get the fuck out of here!" A pillar of fire exploded from Hestia towards the sky.
'Whoaa, she is furious...How can I calm her down? Perhaps shocking news?' Of all the goddesses Aphrodite knew, there were only two goddesses she trusted a lot.
Hestia and Kali, although it didn't seem like it due to the current situation, the goddess of the hearth and home was very kind... And Kali may not say much, but she is a very helpful goddess, and more importantly! She was just too badass!
Because of these thoughts, Aphrodite's following actions were quite natural. She surrounded the area with her power and prevented discreet glances, something that was relatively easy. After all, this place was the temple of Hestia, and the woman had one of the strongest safeguards against divine senses, considering that all male and some female gods wanted to see the 'virgin' goddess without clothes.
Seeing that the whole place was isolated, Aphrodite spoke:
"Hestia, I performed a soul marriage."
"... Huh?"
"I performed a soul marriage!"
"… What…?" The fire in Hestia's body began to die out, and slowly her fury began to fade like a fire losing strength, and soon only an expression of shock was stamped on her face.
But that expression didn't last long. Soon the shock changed to utter disbelief at the very thought of Aphrodite forming a soul bond was just ridiculous.
After all, it was Aphrodite, right? She was too vain to have only one person's love... Right?
Seeing Hestia's disbelieving face, Aphrodite sighed and said:
"Look at me." She lowered her defenses for Hestia to see.
Understanding the intentions of Aphrodite, Hestia used her divine senses, so imagine her shock when she saw it was true.
From her perspective, she saw Aphrodite's soul 'united' with the immense soul of a man, a soul even greater than the gods, a soul that contained many souls within it.
"…Holy fuck…YOU GOT MARRIED!"
Aphrodite held her ears a little dazedly.
"Yes, please shout louder. Why don't you take advantage of this and put it in the newspaper, hire a billboard and spread this news even more?" Aphrodite rolled her eyes in disdain.
'Ugh, I think I've been deafened by that scream.'
Hestia just put her hand over her mouth in a very cute gesture, and now she understood why Aphrodite was isolating her temple.
"Can we talk now? If possible, in a more private location?"
Hestia looked seriously at Aphrodite for a few seconds.
'I hope I don't regret this decision.' She sighed visibly.
Hestia turned around and said, "Follow me."
"Mm." Aphrodite just nodded.
...
Inside of the temple of Hestia.
Aphrodite looks to the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, architecture, domestic life, family, state, and mystical fire.
Hestia was the eldest daughter of Kronos and Rhea, hence making her the eldest sister of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, and Hera.
She was a tall woman, 180 cm tall, with a curvy body that was not too exaggerated and not too thin. Long red hair with orange tones that reached her ass and fire-colored eyes as if the flame of a fireplace itself was reflecting in those two beautiful orbs. Unlike Aphrodite, who wore a Greek dress that enhanced her figure, her divine dress was more 'behaved', a red dress with white and gold details.
The dress perfectly covered Hestia's top leaving only her collarbone, legs, and arms bare.
The goddess sat on a cushion near a gigantic fireplace and pointed to the cushion in front of her.
"Sit down."
Aphrodite just nodded and sat cross-legged in front of Hestia.
"What do you want?"
Knowing that when dealing with Hestia, honesty was the best tool, Aphrodite began.
"I came here for two reasons."
Hestia remained silent, waiting for Aphrodite's next words.
"Let's start with the most important reason I came here."
"Hestia, goddess of home and family. I, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, humbly ask that you bless my family."
Hestia raised her eyebrows when she heard Aphrodite's words, a bit taken aback now.
For the gods, words have power.
When a god asks another god for something related to divinity, they must specify the 'divinity' when speaking. It was a formal gesture, but it contained the power to impose a concept on reality.
What Aphrodite basically did now was 'present' a 'request' to the goddess of 'Home and Family'.
An ancient custom, a formal action, but no less important.
Knowing Aphrodite, Hestia thought she was going to say the goddess of 'beauty' but... It didn't happen.
'... She recognized herself as the goddess of love and not as that of beauty? Will the world end tomorrow? Did she really fall in love with someone?' Even though she had seen with her eyes that the goddess had actually married.
... It was still unbelievable, the feeling that Hestia had now was as if a cat she had had since she was a child suddenly started talking, and to make matters worse, the language the cat was speaking was a completely different language than her mother tongue! It was really very disconcerting.
'Am I going crazy? Is this not an illusion?' It was evident that the goddess was in a state of denial.
Hestia didn't answer Aphrodite's request yet, as she just asked:
"…You…Did you really get married?"
"... Did you not see?"
"Yes, I saw, but..."
Aphrodite looked at Hestia's confused face and sighed:
"Haah… Is it that hard to believe?"
"... Huh?"
"I mean, is it so hard to believe that I'm capable of loving someone?"
Hestia was silent, and her silence was all the answer Aphrodite needed.
"… Hestia, I am capable of love. I am the fucking goddess of love, so how could I not fall in love with someone?"
"B-But, the 'love' you had in the past was nor rea-..."
"Real?" Aphrodite completed.
The goddess of the hearth just shook her head as she looked down; she knew she had offended Aphrodite with that.
"... You are not wrong..."
Hestia lifted her head and looked at Aphrodite and saw the sad expression she had on her face.
An expression that Hestia had never seen on the goddess before.
"Only three men have made me feel anything in my existence."
"When I was young, Ares, with his courage, brutality, and determination, made me think I loved him, but... My divinity never activated with him. What we had was just carnal desire... I deceived him, and I deceived myself."
"... The second, Adonis, was the man I really got to feel that emotion called 'love' for."
"But… As you know, I screwed up. I did everything wrong from the beginning, and... The love I felt was not returned... And it hurt me."
"… Because of that, you left Olympus."
Aphrodite nodded.
"Due to my travels, I was able to expand my mind, my ideas, and my beliefs by visiting other pantheons. I learned about new cultures... I made friends who, despite being problematic, would help me in a time of crisis and need."
"…I found someone I can honestly call a sister." A gentle smile appeared on the goddess's face as she remembered Anna.
Hestia opened her eyes wide when she saw this new side of Aphrodite. 'She looks even more beautiful with a genuine smile.'
"The third man… We got off to a bad start, he had his prejudices due to the things I'd done in the past, and he didn't see me for what I really was… I also made a mistake that made the first meeting quite complicated. ."
Aphrodite's gentle smile only grew, and pink power began to pour out of her body, while hearts were seen in the pupils of her eyes, suggesting the activation of the divinity of love.
Once again, Hestia was taken aback. 'Is this love so great that it made the divinity activate itself?'
"The second encounter wasn't very good either. I had learned from my mistakes the first time, but he was a spiteful man, and his reaction was justifiable. After all, I tried to control him with my powers."
"But… When an incident happened, an incident related to the woman I consider a sister, I finally managed to reset our relationship."
....
