Chapter 585: The goddess of the hearth, Hestia. 2
"The man is spiteful, mean, and proud... But, he is a family man, and he will do anything for them, and it was that willingness that allowed us to start again."
The more Aphrodite spoke, the more the pink power was released from her body and spread around; the feeling was so heavy that even Hestia felt a little suffocated.
'It's so heavy! What is it!? Can this still be called love?' She was completely confused. She wasn't alien to love; she had seen it several times with her faithful, but... She never tried it. After all, she swore an oath never to have a relationship with anyone and stay pure.
Seeing Aphrodite react so intensely and make that dreamy expression, feeling the weight of the love goddess's feelings, Hestia's heart filled with envy.
'...Why am I feeling jealous?' Hestia thought. She couldn't understand this negative feeling of hers; why was she feeling so helpless?
Then she realized she was being influenced by Aphrodite's divinity.
Hestia covered her body with her fire, and soon all those feelings disappeared as if they didn't exist.
'I see... For those who haven't experienced love, when they come into contact with the purest form of this divinity, bad feelings start to be born...' Hestia analyzed.
"And with each encounter, each conversation, the more I got to know him, the more I felt those feelings again. At first, it was just interest and curiosity... And a little lust, of course." She laughed pervertedly at the end.
"But... Over time, everything started to become more serious, and then it happened... I fell, I fell in love, and my divinity was active... But I didn't want to acknowledge those feelings. I was proud; how can I, the goddess of beauty, fall in love?"
"But, everything changed when this man received the blessing of other goddesses." Aphrodite's pink eyes glowed even more intensely, darkening to two pink black holes.
Hestia felt a shiver run down her spine when she felt this abrupt change.
"They dared try to approach him! Use him! I will not allow it! I will be his only goddess! Just me! He can have as many mortals as he wants, but I will be his only goddess! ONLY ME!"
Have you ever heard the saying, when you look into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you?
That was what Hestia was experiencing now.
The goddess of the home swallowed hard and tried to ignore Aphrodite's appearance.
'This is dangerous... Extremely dangerous! This... Can this be called love? What is this obsession? Huh?' She looked into Aphrodite's eyes, they were still like two pink black holes, but the heart didn't disappear either. It was a clear sign of Aphrodite's love.
'In the name of primordial chaos, what the fuck is going on with this woman!?'Hestia had no doubt that Aphrodite was much more dangerous than Zeus now. If any 'goddess' tried to approach her 'husband', she would react very badly... Much worse than Hera.
"These feelings made me stop hesitating, and I took a leap of faith… I took him for myself." Aphrodite looked up at Hestia.
The cold, foreboding feeling that Hestia was feeling got even stronger.
"I married him." Aphrodite's eyes sparkled with life, and a loving smile appeared on the goddess's face.
It was as if all that bad feeling had disappeared, as if it had never existed.
Hestia blinked and blinked again. For a moment, she even thought that what she felt was just a lie caused by her imagination.
But she knew it wasn't...Aphrodite had somehow become more dangerous than before.
"… Is he the man you want to spend eternity with?"
"Yes." An instant response, "I wouldn't have done a soul marriage if I didn't have that determination."
Hestia nodded; she understood the consequences of a soul marriage. It was not something that could be done lightly; after all, this was an action that had no turning back, an action that could not be undone, and it would last forever. Even death could not separate two individuals who made a soul marriage. After all, fate was on their side, and no matter the time, no matter the weather, they would meet again.
"You changed, Aphrodite."
"That's what I'm told when people stop looking at me for what I've done in the past."
"... That is something unavoidable; the past will always haunt us."
Aphrodite nodded. She understood that; a perfect example would be Zeus.
If Zeus suddenly became a good ruler and stopped fucking any hole he found, everyone would think he was an imposter.
Zeus, as a good ruler and a good man?
It's easier to believe that Artemis wasn't a spiteful whore who hunted men for sport than that bullshit!
"…What are you going to do about your children that you had with Ares?"
"Screw them?"
"... Excuse me?"
"I mean, they're already adults, and most won't even talk to me, so... Screw them? My husband is my priority, and my future children with my husband are my priority."
"........"
'This woman abandoned her children! I take back what I said; she hasn't changed at all!'
"They are your children! Your family!"
"They are my children, Yes… But my family? Wrong, they are not my family."
"My family is my husband and my new 'sisters'."
"… You are abandoning-."
"How can I abandon something if they abandoned me first?"
"Hestia, I am no fool. In the past, I could care for them, but now? I do not care."
"They abandoned me, Hestia."
"...."
"How long has it been since my children spoke to me? How long ago did Eros contact me personally? My little cupid."
"If my memory serves me correctly, the last time I spoke with Cupid was in ancient Greece, and even for the gods, that is a long time."
"....."
"Repeating the same mistake in pursuit of a different outcome is just insanity. I can't be like you, Hestia."
Hestia narrowed her eyes when she heard the last part.
Aphrodite quickly raised her hands in a universal gesture of surrender:
"I did not mean that badly, Hestia. I just find your dedication to trying to get your 'family' back together a gesture of insanity." Slowly, Aphrodite lowered her arms.
"… Haah, I know it's a losing battle, but… If I don't try, who will do it for me? Who will fight for our family?"
"..." Aphrodite didn't comment; she couldn't because she herself thought that Hestia was fighting a losing battle.
"My mother has already given up."
"I no longer recognize my sisters anymore; time has been cruel to them."
"Zeus... From the beginning, that man was just like my father, and our family's curse was repeated again... Perhaps, Gaia was right." She still remembers Gaia's words when Zeus betrayed her children.
'History will repeat itself. The god-king will fall to one of his sons.'
Gaia struck such fear into Zeus with those simple words that it drove the man to eat his own wife, Metis.
And from this foolish act, the goddess of wisdom, Athena, was born.
"Do not listen to Gaia's poisonous words, Hestia."
"I know… But-."
Aphrodite didn't let Hestia finish:
"… You need to leave Olympus, Hestia. You need to open your horizons. Maybe a new perspective is needed."
"Perhaps..." Hestia didn't deny the woman's advice. She judged that she was apt enough for it, considering that she saw how Aphrodite had changed for herself.
The woman was still the same Aphrodite she knew, but it was pretty clear she was no longer chained to the gigantic 'blob' called Olympus.
She got to look more at the big picture, and that had given the goddess a new perspective.
"Haah..." Hestia sighed again. She didn't know how many times she had already sighed, from when she was sleeping and was woken up by Aphrodite. She definitely didn't expect to feel this way.
"Very well, Aphrodite. I accept."
"That means…" Aphrodite's eyes sparkled with joy.
"Yes." Hestia nodded her head.
"What is the family's last name and the head of the family?"
"Alucard, his name is Victor Alucard."
"...." Hestia looked at Aphrodite as if she had grown a second head. Even though Hestia lived isolated, she still knew who Victor Alucard was. After all, he was the most recent gossip that her goddesses 'friends' were talking about.
'Of course... Of course, Aphrodite's man wouldn't be normal. He's a bloody progenitor and not just any progenitor; he's the progenitor of vampires, the one who walks between life and death!'
Somehow, Hestia was feeling amused now, just imagining those goddesses' expressions upon learning that Aphrodite had already claimed the man for herself in more ways than one, making the goddess of the home shudder in sadistic pleasure.
Now, she's not a sadistic or spiteful goddess, but even saints had their limits, and her 'friends' obnoxious attitude had already gotten on Hestia's nerves.
Leaving that aside, back to work.
A serene feeling began emanating from Hestia's body as the flame in the fireplace beside Hestia started to rise as if it was being fed.
The goddess's eyes glowed as if they were on fire, and soon a decree was announced.
"I, Hestia, the goddess of home and family, will grant the family of 'Victor Alucard' the blessing of home and family. From the bottom of my heart, I hope that the members of the 'Alucard' family find the comfort of home no matter where they are. As long as the 'family' remains together and united, the peace and 'comfort' of home will follow the members of this family."
Hestia's ethereal feeling began to fade, along with the fire in the fireplace.
"Done."
Aphrodite smiled gently as she felt Victor's emotions of comfort and confusion. 'He must have been taken by surprise... Not just him, I think everyone.'
"Why didn't you bless Victor?" She asked, curious and confused.
"It is not necessary."
Aphrodite narrowed her eyes, "Why?"
"… What I did was no small blessing to ensure the 'family' safety and 'comfort'." Hestia began to explain slowly:
"I have given a boon to all members of the Alucard family."
"What…" Aphrodite's eyes widened; this was much more than she had asked for.
Initially, she asked for a blessing for the home and family of Victor's 'current' family members, but what Hestia just did was ensure that 'all' members, even those who have not yet entered the family, receive the blessing.
From now on, all beings that entered Alucard's main family will automatically have this blessing.
Officially speaking, Hestia took the 'Alucard' family under her wing and used her authority on the concept of 'family' to make this happen.
"H-Hestia… Why?" Aphrodite was holding back from crying with emotion. She was sure that regardless of the challenges that come in the future, everything would be fine. After all, as long as everyone stayed together, all negative effects caused by any kind of malicious source would be gone or drastically reduced, and the family will be protected. This was a passive blessing that protected everyone as long as they remained united.
The closer the family was, the more the blessing would work in favor of the family.
Because of that, Aphrodite was thrilled because she knew that from now on, no matter what happened in the future, they would be safe, and that is something very important to her. After all, this was her family and her friend Anna's family too.
The blessing of the goddess of home is so important as well because the gods are afraid of angering Hestia. After all, she can cast a curse that makes the individual never feel the 'comfort' of home and family; they always will feel restless and never have peace. [A Curse that she almost used on Aphrodite due to what the goddess of beauty did in the past.]
The few individuals that held this curse just killed themselves because they could never feel 'comfort' even if they slept in the most luxurious and comfortable bed ever made by mankind.
"... Who knows?" She spoke with a shrug:
"Maybe I'm just jealous that you found something I've always been trying to get back?"
"Perhaps to show that you are a changed woman, a woman acting on behalf of her family."
Aphrodite opened her eyes wide, and she couldn't take it anymore and hugged Hestia.
"There are several reasons-"
"W-What - Let go of me!"
"Thank you, Hestia."
"….." Hestia opened her eyes wide when she heard the goddess' sincere and grateful tone.
"From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much."
Feeling small tears falling on her shoulders, Hestia remained frozen in place like a deer about to be trampled. She didn't know what to do now... But feeling the woman trembling in her arms, she just stroked the goddess's pink hair.
"Sheesh, weren't you supposed to be the oldest here?" She flashed a gentle smile.
"S-Shut up… Let me stay like this for a few seconds."
"...Take your time. I have nothing to do anyway."
"Mm."
....
