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“Snap—”

Above Mount Olympus, inside a resplendent great hall, a delicately crafted crystal vessel shattered on the ground.

The golden crown wobbled, Hera’s chest heaved with intense agitation, and the air around her distorted under the force she unconsciously released.

As the Heavenly Empress who shared divine authority with the Divine King, Hera had thought herself to be the most venerable goddess in the world. Especially after learning the mysteries of faith, she believed she could reign eternally with Zeus, instead of fading away like the two generations of divine kings before them.

But now, she found her previous thoughts to be laughable.

The Divine King had never broken his promise; he truly shared everything with Hera, but he would never seal his words permanently, just like now.

The godhood of Fertility informed the Heavenly Empress that another deity was being conceived in the world. And because of her relationship with the new god’s parents, Hera felt this very distinctly.

Because the source of the new divine bloodline was her husband and her sister.

Hera thought she had shown magnanimity by tolerating Eurynome and the three Graces, even ignoring Leto, that frail goddess, but clearly, the Divine King thought she could be even more generous.

So he turned to Demeter, which was precisely what Hera could not tolerate. Leto, Eurynome—they posed no threat with their insignificant godhood, but Demeter, now known to humans as the Goddess of Agriculture, was different.

Even knowing that the contract that shared divine authority with Zeus was unbreakable, the Heavenly Empress still felt a surge of panic.

“Zeus, you had promised—”

“—What is this?!”

Suddenly, while the Heavenly Empress was venting her anger, the laws of her Fertility godhood vibrated violently.

With a twinge of pain in her belly, almost immediately, Hera realized the crux of the issue.

Overseeing Fertility was not without its cost. As one of the most special authorities, it influenced the birth of new gods, endowing them with stronger or weaker powers. But it also came with an unavoidable responsibility.

Just as Mother Earth had alone borne the three Ancient Gods, now it was her turn.

This was supposed to take a very long time, maybe hundreds or even thousands of years, but due to her current rage and resentment, this fate arrived prematurely.

With a fluctuating expression, Hera could feel a life being conceived within her womb under the influence of the Fertility law and her authority as Heavenly Empress. And despite immediately noticing this due to her recent emotional upheaval, the embryo was still slightly affected.

She did not know whether this influence was good or bad, but Hera felt she needed to prepare for it.

When Gaia gave birth to her firstborn son to the Heavenly Father, he was the God of the Ocean; Rhea’s first daughter by Cronus was Hestia. Although this child was to be born of Hera alone, if his existence disgraced the Heavenly Empress, she could not let him grow up on Olympus.

It must be said that in this regard, Zeus was very astute in choosing, or rather, creating a Queen of Gods who valued herself more than her offspring. From their first meeting, the Divine King acutely perceived Hera’s nature: she might be kind, she might be naive, but when she possessed power and faced the risk of losing it, she would change accordingly.

She reserved her affection for herself, perhaps for Zeus too, but it seemed that neither the deity of Fire nor the War God had ever enjoyed a mother’s love.

“…Aglaea.”

The Heavenly Empress’ voice reached outside the palace, and soon the youngest of the three Graces walked into the hall.

As a daughter of the Divine King born before Hera became the Heavenly Empress, to demonstrate her generosity, Hera kept the three Graces close to her side and even showed extra courtesy to the Oceanid, Eurynome. Thus, despite clearly being love rivals, Hera now felt Eurynome and her could be considered somewhat trustworthy.

Albeit slightly so.

“Your Majesty, you called for me?”

With a slight bow, Aglaea noticed the broken vessel on the ground. Clearly, the Heavenly Empress had not been in a good mood before.

“…Aglaea, as the hostess of Mount Olympus, the globally recognized Heavenly Empress, I have just been bestowed a responsibility by the world.”

“I will bear forth a deity on my own, as Mother Earth did before, as a response to the world’s favor towards me.”

Bowing her head, Aglaea remained silent.

“I will give birth to him as soon as possible. If all goes well, he will become my firstborn son, a member of Olympus. But if something goes wrong—”

“then he is not my child, and you must find him a suitable ‘family.’ I need you to secretly choose a location in advance and later report to me, do you understand my meaning?”

Aglaea certainly understood Hera’s intent. Clearly, the Heavenly Empress in charge of Fertility sensed something amiss and did not wish her first child to possess any deficiencies, in any sense.

In such a case, the seas promised by the Divine King himself would be a suitable place. The Heavenly Empress probably didn’t trust her brother to handle this matter well, so she decided to leave it to Aglaea’s mother, the Oceanid Eurynome, to deal with the problem.

However, more importantly, Hera probably wanted to keep all this hidden from the Divine King.

“As you command, Your Majesty.”