Chapter 2
—
“…A-Aunt.”
My blurred vision slowly came into focus. A towering ceiling, the ornate interior of a temple, and ash-gray eyes looking down at me.
“Ah… Thena…”
I passed out again. This damned body of mine.
“Yes, Aunt. It’s me—Athena. Are you feeling a little better?”
“Ugh…” Groaning softly, I barely managed to push myself up. My body felt as heavy as cotton soaked in water.
Athena hurriedly supported my back. As she bent forward, her neatly tied platinum-blond hair spilled down like a waterfall.
Trying to reassure her, I forced out a small smile.
“I’m fine, Athena.”
Even though I’d recovered memories of my past life, perhaps because I’d lived much longer as Leuke, nothing around me felt unfamiliar or awkward.
Being an orphan in my previous life probably contributed as well. I hadn’t had many deep connections. Spending most of my life in hospital rooms, the only people around me were patients suffering from severe illnesses, never knowing when they might draw their last breath.
“You’re not fine at all. Drink this first.”
Athena suddenly held out a cup of nectar. Nectar tasted different depending on who drank it—but to me, it had always been unbearably foul.
Now that I remembered my past life… what would it taste like?
“Don’t leave any behind just because it tastes bad. You need to drink it all.”
I’m not a child—why would I leave medicine unfinished?
“Blegh.”
…Apparently, I would.
Midway through drinking, I gagged.
“Oh, honestly. You have to finish it!”
For reasons unknown, ambrosia and nectar—the foods of immortality—never agreed with me. Setting aside the awful taste, even when I managed to consume them, their effects never lasted more than a day.
Still, if I wanted to escape being terminally ill, I had to force them down somehow.
“Hup!”
Pinching my nose shut, I gulped down the rest of the nectar.
Ugh. It feels like my tongue’s gone numb.
“Kgh.”
I finally finished it.
“You did so well, Aunt. This one even has Apollo’s blessing, so it should be extra effective.”
No wonder it tasted even more monstrous than usual. Spit, spit. Ugh—disgusting.
I was rinsing my numb tongue with water when—
“Lady Athena.”
The door opened, and brown hair fluttered in like a spring breeze.
Nike—Athena’s right hand and the goddess of victory—bowed toward us.
Like Athena, Nike was my niece. Her mother was Styx, the final river among the five that flowed through the underworld.
Just as I, Leuke, symbolized the white poplar tree itself, Styx symbolized the river in its entirety.
What’s the point of being born a goddess? According to the original myth—my fate—I’d spend my life sickly, die, and turn into a tree anyway.
Delayed fury surged up, grabbing my reason by the collar and shaking it violently.
Aaaaagh!
Isn’t this way too cruel to me?!
“G-Goodness. What’s wrong all of a sudden, Aunt?”
“Why are you headbanging like someone who’s lost their mind?”
I flinched, belatedly realizing the puzzled stares of my two nieces. Letting go of my head, I forced myself to calm down.
Hoo… No. Think positively, Leuke.
I know the future now. I can use that transmigrator privilege romance fantasy heroines always get.
Clenching my fist, I recalled the countless romance fantasy web novels I’d read in my previous life.
“So, what is it, Nike?”
“Lady Persephone is still waiting outside. She insists on seeing you herself to make sure you’re safe.”
“She’s still here? I told her to go back, but she never listens.”
“She doesn’t even listen to Lady Demeter. Do you think she’d listen to you, Lady Athena?”
As my nieces chatted, something flashed rapidly through my mind.
Persephone.
She had a fixed fate too—just like me.
Which meant… she’d soon be with Hades—
A chill ran through my entire body. As if nothing had happened, I suddenly sprang to my feet.
“I’m going now, Athena.”
“What? You should rest more, Aunt.”
Startled by my sudden movement, Athena followed closely behind me.
“I’m fine. Thanks to you, I’m all better. I shouldn’t interfere with my busy niece any longer.”
When I spoke firmly, Athena let out a shallow sigh, as if giving up, and opened the door for me.
“When you talk with that serious rabbit face, I can’t stop you.”
What are they even saying?
“Anyone who sees you would think of a rabbit. That expression right now—it’s exactly a flustered rabbit.”
Athena poked my cheek with her finger. My soft cheek dented inward before popping right back out.
“A goddess this small and squishy—there’s no one like you but Aunt. Not even nymphs are this soft.”
“You’re teasing me right now, aren’t you? I’m a goddess too, you know.”
Nymphs were beings similar to fairies, and most Oceanids—the plural of Oceanis—were nymphs.
However, Oceanids born during the Golden Age were granted the status of goddesses. I was one of them.
But so what if I was a goddess?
Perhaps because I’d been sickly since birth, my growth had been stunted. I was short—so short that most of my nieces were a full two heads taller than me.
No wonder mortals had nicknamed me the stubby goddess.
What was even sadder was that my face didn’t match my age either. Standing next to Athena, she looked more like the aunt. I was painfully youthful-looking.
As if I’d stopped growing halfway through.
“Hey, I’m just stating facts. How is that teasing?”
“Hey!”
Athena—you too?!
Unaware of my wounded pride, Athena laughed heartily as she sent me off.
“Take care, Aunt. And don’t forget to take your height supplements.”
“Oh my, Lady Athena. Even if Aunt here is short, muscleless, and made of one hundred percent pure fat, isn’t that a bit too brutally honest?”
“You’re the same!”
Whether it was Athena openly teasing me or Nike subtly poking at me, they were both the same.
Watching my nieces laugh together until the door closed, I let out a long sigh. Is this why people say raising nieces is pointless?
Well… at least they’re smiling.
Athena, who always called me Aunt without fail despite my being a low-ranking goddess, who took such good care of me whenever I fell ill.
After Metis vanished, I’d thought I’d shut myself away forever in my sea palace, unable to stand Olympus anymore.
Then Athena appeared.
With a face I’d thought I’d never see again.
“Sister Metis…”
The lingering image of that beloved face flickered through the dim corridor.
If only I’d remembered my past life a little sooner. Could I have prevented Metis’s death then?
This time, I want to protect them.
In my previous life, I couldn’t protect the people I cared about. I could do nothing but watch them leave.
A friend who’d laughed in the bed beside mine yesterday was gone today. The comforting hands of the woman who hugged me whenever I woke up crying were nowhere to be found.
The pain of organs twisting and blood flowing backward, the delirium of burning fever—I could endure all of it.
Because it was better than the horrifying helplessness of being able to do nothing.
Better than the freezing loneliness of having no one by my side.
This time, I won’t lose anyone. I won’t let it happen.
As I made that vow, a familiar face suddenly appeared.
“Lady Leuke!”
It was Pallas.
One of Athena’s attendants, a girl who’d grown dear to me—like family.
Her fate flashed through my mind in an instant.
“When you suddenly collapsed, I was so worried.”
True to her nature as a water nymph—a Naiad—her pond-like blue eyes sparkled as she looked at me.
“Are you really alright now?”
You shouldn’t be worrying about me right now. Who’s worrying about whom?
Emotion surged up violently. Unable to hold back, I suddenly grabbed her hands tightly.
Pallas—you’re going to die soon.
