Myths Reawakened

Hesione’s joy was short-lived. She didn’t have to say how annoyed she was when Hestia insisted on following Wayne around.

Wayne put a hand on her shoulder, speaking to her telepathically. “Relax. Were I you, I would be beside myself with joy for having such a loyal subordinate. On the bright side, she hasn’t recognized you. You manage to keep your secret.”

“Ha, are you so happy because you plan to sleep with her?”

“Of course not,” Wayne mumbled. “I’m not a scumbag.”

Hestia’s heartbreak and anger when she learned that her Śār had been tainted and her reckless offer to give herself away proved how much she admired Hesione. It wasn’t surprising. Back when they were in Berlo, Wayne had made things difficult for Hestia and teased her ruthlessly, but as soon as he said that he had recovered his memory and showed her his stigma, she forgave him, never bringing up his actions again.

She didn’t just pretend that nothing had happened, no. She believed that the Śār must have done everything for a reason.

Hestia desired Hesione, not Wayne. He only became the subject of her feelings because he was pretending to be Hesione.

Self-awareness was important, as was basic integrity and shame. An unreciprocated love shouldn’t be taken advantage of.

What about Hesione? Well, Hesione was Mona, and a reincarnated angel couldn’t be judged by common sense. Wayne’s relationship with her was a two-way street.

Besides, Mona often started things and stayed as herself past the climax, only switching to Hesione—who always claimed to be Mona—near the end. Wayne wasn’t omnipresent. He couldn’t possibly see everything.

If anyone hadn’t given informed consent, it would be him. Mona and Hesione had fooled him into giving himself to both of them.

Hestia was different. Her target had always been Hesione. No matter how Wayne thought about it, he couldn’t think of a reason for him to make a move. It was one thing to deceive Hestia as an imposter, but another to deceive himself, too. If he bedded Hestia as Hesione, Hestia would most likely commit suicide to prove her purity when the truth was revealed.

While Hestia was hot-tempered and sharp-tongued, she was a good angel who didn’t deserve such a tragic end.

Hesione’s expression brightened somewhat. She had refused to let Hestia stay partly because she wanted to protect her. Moreover, Hesione wasn’t entirely convinced by Wayne’s argument. He said that, but wasn’t he the bastard who regularly pinned her down? How shameless of him!

Hearing her snarl, Wayne had to bite down a smile. “I’m curious, you reincarnated angels don’t seem to know each other’s true identity. Has the civil war in Heaven escalated that far?”

“There’s no civil war in Heaven!” Hesione huffed.

“Save that. I was part of a rebellion. I recognize infighting when I see one.” Wayne snorted, pulling Hesione into his arms by the waist. “I understand. The Four Śārim aren’t a united front. You and Mikhael cannot co-exist in peace since one of you is water, and the other, fire.”

“Before, the Heavenly Father ruled supreme, so the conflicts between factions amounted to nothing. Now that the Heavenly Father is gone, and Hell has been sealed, the undercurrent became open clashes, about to escalate into military conflicts.”

“Learning of the prophecy of the Anointed One, all of you want to find them as soon as possible to quell dissents...”

“Nonsense!” Hesione shot back, unable to tolerate such blasphemy. “Don’t speculate about Heaven based on your own dark thoughts. Heaven isn’t the human world, nor is it Hell. All angels possess the Seven Sacred Virtues. We—”

“Yeah, you, representing purity, are so pure.”

Wayne shot down Hesione with a simple sentence, enjoying her whine. He continued with a laugh, “I know you’re a good-hearted angel who won’t use the Anointed One against the other Śārim, but it doesn’t mean that Mikhael won’t do the same thing. Even if neither of you will do that, you can’t let the other have the Anointed One.”

“Mikhael is the Viceroy of Heaven. He can’t reincarnate, so he asked Auriel, whom he was close to, to descend. That’s why there are two Śārim among the seven reincarnated angels, and neither of you knew who the other was.”

Wayne was confident in his hypothesis. The faction war in Heaven had reached a tipping point, as proven by how the angels had descended without prior conversation.

His deduction had always been quite sound, and he managed to silence Hesione. Since she refused to talk about Heaven, he didn’t push. Her memories were integrating with Mona’s anyway, and Mona would tell Wayne what Hesione wouldn’t say.

“The Anointed One is the key,” Wayne continued. “They’ll determine Heaven’s future and whether you’ll continue to be a Śār, leading your own legion. It’ll also decide if Mikhael will continue to be the Viceroy, so of course the matter is important to him.”

Hesione frowned. “What are you getting at?”

“Have you considered you might have found the Anointed One?”

“Shameless!!”

Hesione wasn’t Mona. She never tolerated Wayne’s infuriating self-confidence. They exchanged glances and touches. Their disingenuous reactions filled the air with the scent of tea[1].

凸(艹皿艹╬)

Hestia glared at the tea farm while extending her middle finger out behind her back, cursing politely in her head.

Wayne was the one holding his secretary, but in her eyes, it was the secretary who seduced him. No matter what the secretary did, Hestia would see it as a sin.

She tried to control it, but couldn’t. Taking a big step forward, she said, “Arch—Mr. Wayne, please watch your actions. This will be confusing. There are other reincarnated angels in Palis, and one of them is hostile to you.”

Please control yourself so that your political rival won’t have blackmail material against you.

Hesione agreed. She tried to break out of Wayne’s hold, but Mona was keeping her hands down, while Wayne had his arms around her waist. Not only couldn’t she resist, but she ended up falling back into Wayne’s arms.

“How shameless! The Holy Light has blackened because of you!” Hestia snarled, following up with a series of accusations.

Technically, everything she said was right, no matter how one looked at it—except for when Hesione was the one looking at it.

She took a deep breath, told Mona to let go, and slowly took out a compact mirror to apply lipstick. She pecked Wayne on the face audibly.

Hestia trembled with fury.

Sighing softly, Hesione frowned and said in a sweet voice, “Boss, this angel is so scary. She isn’t going to get mad at you, is she?”

Before Wayne could respond, she continued, “I don’t think she will. She’s so loyal that she’ll only feel bad for you. I, on the other hand, am nothing but trouble.”

Wayne’s heart raced from the gap moe the Śār was showing with her catty, provocative act. He breathed out, raising his voice to say, “It’s fine. I like troublemakers!”

୧(╬▔皿▔)૭

Damn it, Hestia cursed in her head. What magic has this clergywoman used on the Śār? Why does he favor her so much?

Hestia didn’t know that with every insult she hurled at Hesione, she was pushing the Śār she so admired one step closer to corruption. What she was doing was no different from what His Horniness had done.

“Tsk, Lust incarnate is so stunning!” Wayne said to Hesione through his thoughts.

Her eyes twitched. She could guess what he would say.

“Śār, you don’t want to see your loyal subordinate lose her purity because of you, do you?”

“Do what you want. I don’t care if it’s her.”

“So, that’s a yes?”

“Shameless!”

Hesione agreed to a few scandalous requests with a dark look on her face, turning to Hestia with increasingly vicious eyes. She had made a great sacrifice to protect Hestia, yet Hestia had nothing good to say about her. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She wished she could drag Hestia down with her.

Of course, the thought remained a thought.

***

High-end restaurant.

Isabella feasted at the long table, having piled up a chaotic mess of used dishes. The waiters had clocked off, and the manager was personally serving the food. He was in such a rush that it looked like there were multiple clones of him.

It was midnight. Most of the restaurants had closed. Even those still open couldn’t satisfy Isabella’s black hole of an appetite.

But Wayne paid too much!

The manager had phoned the chefs and told all of them to come back to work. The chefs said no, citing their freedom and romance. After that, though, the owner of the restaurant called, and they had no choice but to scramble back to work.

It was wartime, and the cost of living was high. A stable income was necessary. If the chefs refused to work overtime at midnight, their wives and daughters would have to seek alternative ways to earn money. They knew the right choice to make.

The dining table embodied the ugly reality of society. Isabella wasn’t eating Francan cuisine, but Francan people!

Wayne watched her eat with a glass of juice in his hand, feeling the satisfaction of feeding a small animal. Besides him sat Hesione and Hestia. Every time Hestia glared at Hesione, Hesione would lean into his arms and leave a stamp on his face, taunting Hestia openly.

Wayne’s face was now covered in kiss prints, and his lips were chapped from all the kissing. He turned to Hestia in resignation. “Haven’t you realized it? I’ve only been subject to so much humiliation because of you. Stop provoking her for no reason. When you do, she does this to me.”

Hestia bit her lower lip. That wasn’t a good enough reason for her to tolerate the wench. She would not give up. Remembering what she had said before, Hestia tried once again to persuade Wayne into using her instead. She was purer, and she was an angel. Though it was inappropriate, she wouldn’t be a bad choice.

The wench, on the other hand, was a mortal.

“Since we met, you’ve committed six of the Seven Deadly Sins, leaving only Sloth,” Wayne commented.

“Mr. Wayne, I haven’t committed Gluttony.”

“So you don’t deny Lust?” Wayne snorted. “You’ve swallowed all the losses without giving up. Isn’t that Gluttony?”

Hestia didn’t know what to say. What was that? An argument from the latest interpretation of the Seven Deadly Sins?

When she said nothing, Wayne added with a shrug, “Now you’ve committed Sloth, too.”

“...” x2

Hesione pinched him on the waist, warning him not to provoke Lust incarnate. If he wanted to do something, do it to her.

Wayne nodded to himself. He didn’t care whether Hesione was willingly making the sacrifice for Hestia; he decided to interpret that as jealousy.

Nice!

He had a newfound affection for Hestia. Keeping her around was an effective way to speed up Hesione’s corruption.

In the main hall of the restaurant, two robed women appeared at the front door. The manager rushed up to stop them from entering like he had teleported. This fine establishment didn’t admit customers who weren’t dressed properly. Moreover, Heavenly Father Himself had reserved the whole restaurant, so they wouldn’t take more patrons tonight.

The two newcomers were Givenchy and Sukra. Sukra dismissed the manager’s concern with a smile, informing him that they were with the Heavenly Father who had reserved the restaurant. He bowed and welcomed them in, pulling a chair for Sukra.

Sitting down, Sukra asked for a glass of juice, smiling at a frowning Wayne.

“We meet again, Wayne.”

She pulled the grey hood down. Though her eyes were covered by bandages, her delicate features still drew the eyes. Even Isabella looked up from her food for a second.

“You’re...” Wayne glanced at Givenchy. She seemed dazed, showing no response to his voice. Then he turned to the seemingly blind grey-haired woman with alertness. “Have we met, Lady?”

Hestia stayed ready, while Hesione stood up with a cold expression. As soon as Wayne sent a signal by tossing the wine glass to the ground, they would charge at the woman.

“I met you back in Londan...”

“In Wayne’s Detective Agency!”

Sukra thought back to that time, speaking slowly. “If memory serves, you’re a big fan of potatoes.”

1. Green tea is a way to describe someone shrewd and disingenuous. ☜