The Villain of Ancient Greece

Well, what choice did he have? Lorne still owed the hearth goddess Hestia two batches of seedlings.

It was the mess he made himself.

Since he had agreed, he could only pay it back obediently.

With the rising sun, the miserable debtor Lorne began his daily routine of loosening soil, planting seeds, watering, fertilizing, and stimulating growth.

Thankfully, the goddess of wisdom came to apologize the last time and left a bottle of [Secret Elixir of Life] that could accelerate plant growth.

By diluting this into the water, Lorne’s debt repayment speed increased severalfold.

After working hard for a few months, the entire courtyard had come alive with greenery, and the debt he owed was just about paid off.

By mid-morning, Lorne set down the watering ladle, looked at the half-foot-tall seedlings lush with green in the nursery, and couldn’t help but put down his farming tools with satisfaction.

After brushing off the dust and grime on his body, he went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

As he busied himself at the stove, he grumbled inwardly.

Whether it was due to revealing his true nature, or some deliberate training plan, ever since the hearth goddess tasted his cooking, not only had she gradually handed over control of what she considered her domain—the kitchen, but recently, she didn’t even step foot inside anymore.

In her place, she dragged Little Medusa out early every morning under the pretense of shopping, heading out to wander the markets.

By lunchtime, they would often bring back all kinds of strange ingredients, asking Lorne to experiment and invent new recipes.

In her words—”Enrich the Minosians’ menu and improve the quality of life in Knossos.”

”We’re back!”

Just as the house-husband Lorne was silently grumbling, a familiar cheerful shout came from outside the door.

Little Medusa, back from shopping, casually dropped a tote bag nearly half her height onto the ground, then dashed into the kitchen beaming with joy.

A strong floral scent wafted into his nose. Lorne set down the spatula, his gaze falling on the top of Little Medusa’s head, and a look of mild surprise appeared on his face.

”What a beautiful flower crown. Who gave it to you?”

”It was the grandma from the flower shop across the street!”

Noticing something different today, Little Medusa answered happily while excitedly showing off.

”Lorne, I helped watch the shop today and sold thirteen bouquets of flowers! Granny gave me a flower crown and a bag of freshly baked croissants!”

”Looks like little Anna is quite popular.”

Lorne nodded with a smile, patiently continuing his curious questioning.

”So, anything else from your outing today?”

”Yes, yes! The granddaughter of Grandpa Kontanios finally let me hold her! I looked after her for a bit!”

”How was it?”

”Tiny, soft, super cute!”

”That’s it?”

”There’s more, there’s more! I found the herbs Sister Beatrice needed, and I helped the lame uncle on the other street harvest grapes from his family’s vineyard. Before I left, he even gave me a basket of them...”

In the kitchen, Little Medusa’s face beamed with a sweet smile as she eagerly recounted her day’s work to Lorne.

The once wary and gloomy eyes from when they first met now sparkled with vivid light, and her former defensiveness and distrust towards other people had completely faded.

Lorne quietly listened to her chatter, nodding with a gentle laugh.

”Mm-hmm, no wonder I heard the whole street is singing your praises.”

”N-No way...”

Hearing such praise, Little Medusa became flustered and bashful, her cheeks tinged with pink.

Looking at this gorgon girl who had shed her fearsome legend to reveal her pure, genuine self, Lorne reached out and rested his hand on her small head, gently stroking her soft purple hair, his gaze full of warmth and fondness.

Compared to that mythic version, the one of [inevitability]—he preferred this [chance] he had shaped with his own hands.

If the purpose of the [Die] was to give rise to such beautiful possibilities, then perhaps being driven by such a thing wasn’t so bad after all.

”Hey! You two, that’s enough! Can’t one of you come help me carry all this?!”

Just as the warm, familial atmosphere in the kitchen grew stronger, Hestia’s disgruntled voice called from outside the door.

At this moment, her hands were loaded with large and small shopping bags, the bulkiness of which had already exceeded the doorway’s capacity.

And because she happened to be standing at the intersection, it was not convenient for her to use her divine power to demolish the house directly, so she could only stand at the door blankly.

”Coming, coming!”

Little Medusa snapped out of her daze, shoved the half-bag of croissants into Lorne’s hands, and hurried out of the kitchen to help unload.

”Bringing back this much... Auntie, did you rob the entire farmer’s market and grocery street?”

With teasing sarcasm, a familiar voice echoed from the street corner, as Athena, who had been gone for several months, walked into view, accompanied by her attendant Nike.

Elegant and composed.

But her goddess-like poise lasted only a few seconds before Hestia yanked her over with a grumble.

”Athena? You came just in time! Hurry, hurry, help me carry things!”

The moment the goddess of the hearth finished speaking, a bag of purple onions slipped to the ground and rolled everywhere.

Little Medusa, who was frozen in place, stiffly turned her head to look at the familiar silver-haired, violet-eyed figure behind her, her voice dry.

”Ath… Athena?”

”...”

The goddess of wisdom raised her hand to her forehead, looking at Hestia with a speechless expression.

No matter how many precautions she took, she still couldn’t guard against this pig teammate who outed her on her own.

”What? Did I say anything?”

A guilty-looking Hestia pretended to be confused and asked innocently, trying to get by with feigned ignorance.

However, such a cheap trick might work on the simple-minded little Anna—but not the one in the kitchen.

He wasn’t that easy to fool.

”Alright, cut the act.”

Athena gave her blabbermouth aunt a side-eye, then gently patted Anna on the shoulder in reassurance, speaking in a soft voice.

”It’s okay. It’s just a name. Let’s just stay the same as before.”

”Oh, I’m so relieved to hear you say that! I’ve been holding it in forever!”

Before Little Medusa could recover from her shock, Hestia, seeing that her grandniece wasn’t going to make a fuss, breathed a great sigh of relief and was in excellent spirits.

”Come, come, help me carry these inside!”

”...”

Staring at the bag of carrots in her left hand and the bundle of rosemary in her right, Athena, whose divine reputation had only just been restored mere seconds ago, couldn’t help but twitch a vein on her forehead.

Forget it, forget it. No point arguing with her.

Saying too much… is exhausting…

Having deeply experienced this fact before, the goddess of wisdom could only bow to the tyrannical will of her elder and obediently act as a porter, begrudgingly carrying the groceries into the house.

But even after finally moving all the miscellaneous bags indoors, Hestia had no intention of letting her free labor escape, standing hands on hips as she barked out orders.

”Hey hey, don’t just stand there! Peel the carrots, crush the rosemary, and whoever-you-are, get those olives marinated for me!”

And just like that, even the little goddess of victory, who wasn’t even worthy of being named, was dragged into the labor force.

Seeing that not only did she not get to enjoy any of the fruit wine, but now had to do this kind of boring manual labor, Nike’s face instantly fell, full of frustration.

”Don’t pout. All of this is for a carefully planned dinner! When Lorne and I cook tonight and you get to taste the new dishes we’ve been working on, you’ll see how worth it all this effort was…”

Hestia, preparing to show off her skills, scolded the greedy Nike while proudly announcing the evening’s hosting plan.

”There’s no need to cook.”

Athena raised a hand to cut off Hestia’s boast and calmly declined the dinner gathering.

Her violet eyes turned toward the figure in the kitchen, lips curling upward in satisfaction.

”Because the person—I’m taking with me!”

They’ve been found!

In an instant, both Lorne and little Medusa’s expressions changed. They instinctively took up guarded stances, and the atmosphere inside the room suddenly froze.

(End of Chapter)

.

.