When the small peacock spread its tail feathers, magnificent feathers resembling monster eyes were revealed.

Soon after, the peacock’s trembling form changed, and a beautiful woman with striking features and high-tied red hair appeared.

“I came to check something personally.”

Hera, embodied in her servant’s form, stared at Triton while standing straight. Though the corners of her lips were faintly turned up as if smiling, she wasn’t actually smiling.

She was the wife of the chief god and one of the Twelve Olympians, known as the goddess of jealousy. Triton could guess why Hera had come.

Probably…

“I heard that ‘he’ appeared at Demeter’s feast. Triton, they say you encountered him… Is this true?”

Zagreus, the illegitimate child of Persephone and Zeus.

Triton gazed steadily at Hera in response to her question, as if contemplating. After furrowing his brow in thought for a moment, he asked with a slight smile.

“Are you saying you appeared suddenly in someone’s bedroom in the middle of the night to ask about that?”

“…Forgive my rudeness. But no matter how many times I summoned you, you never came.”

“I suppose you didn’t know what kept me so busy. I’ve been single-handedly dealing with the Titans’ trouble, leaving me no time to spare.”

Hera’s expression hardened at Triton’s words.

The Titans were like original sin to the Twelve Olympians. After winning the war against the Titans, they were the ones who imprisoned them in the underground of Tartarus. But while they only did the imprisoning, only Hades and Triton were actually dealing with the Titans, so the Olympian gods were essentially indebted to Hades and Triton implicitly.

“The affairs of the sea and the underworld are so difficult to learn about… I see. You always work so hard, Triton. If you just tell me whether you met ‘him,’ I’ll leave right away.”

Now, what to do.

Triton pondered for a moment.

Hera’s attitude toward Zeus’s illegitimate children was always clear. Rage and murderous intent.

If he gave Hera the answer she wanted, she would probably use Zagreus’s emergence on the surface as an excuse to tear him apart immediately. She had both the power and justification to do so.

Though Triton also desperately wanted to eliminate that cursed winged beast, there were still matters to resolve.

He silently grabbed and caressed Livia’s hand beside him as he answered.

“I’ve thought about it, but I don’t know who you’re looking for, Hera.”

“…Triton, if you’re deceiving me, you won’t escape my wrath either.”

“My companion lost her way and collapsed at Demeter’s feast. Do you think I had time to pay attention to anything else?”

Hera frowned as she stared at Triton in response to his words.

Though there were other witnesses who suspected the circumstances, they hadn’t seen anything clearly, so only Triton would know the truth.

But Triton had no intention of giving Hera the truth.

“Can you swear on the River Styx?”

Triton let out a low laugh at Hera’s words. After laughing for a while while patting his companion’s shoulder so she wouldn’t wake, he suddenly erased his expression and looked at Hera as he spoke.

“Are you testing me now, Hera? My answer was a courtesy, not an obligation.”

Hera’s expression hardened, and simultaneously the currents around the bedroom became violently turbulent. The goddess’s clothes swayed threateningly in the water.

“You’re not the only one who can make threats.”

Grrrr.

The floor vibrated slightly along with the turbulent currents. Hera understood Triton’s meaning and showed a bewildered expression.

Triton was now threatening Hera with the existence of the Titans. And that threat was surprisingly effective. Her unusually flustered appearance was proof of that.

If Triton were to let go of managing the Titans, the Olympian gods would be in the most danger. The Titans who escaped would want revenge on the Olympian gods who had imprisoned them underground.

The gods of the underworld and sea were guaranteed independent rule and authority in their domains in exchange for blocking the Titans. The Olympian gods respected them and did not carelessly intrude into their territories.

This was also why Hera, despite being a more ancient god than Triton, couldn’t deal with him easily.

Hera, who had been staring at Triton, stepped back with a sigh. There was no need to make an enemy of the sea god just to catch one half-blood b*stard.

Moreover, seeing his disheveled state in the bedroom, she couldn’t deny that she had visited at an inappropriate moment and irritated him.

“…I was rude. I apologize.”

At Hera’s ready apology, the raging currents instantly calmed, and dim light peacefully flowed back into the sea as if nothing had happened.

Just before leaving the water, Hera looked at the slender woman Triton had hidden behind his back.

With narrowed eyes, she scanned over Livia’s shoulder and waist that Triton hadn’t fully hidden, then paused at her belly.

“Hmm…?”

Just as she squinted to look more closely, Triton covered Livia more with his body and spoke in an ominous voice as if urging her.

“…Do you have other business?”

Hera briefly looked back at Triton with her lips twitching, but then closed her mouth again.

Just as he’s hiding the truth I want to know, I don’t need to tell him anything in advance either.

As Hera shook her head with the corners of her mouth curled up, light enveloped her.

“Nothing… May your household be peaceful.”

Hera, having returned to her magnificent peacock form, disappeared as elegantly and silently as when she had entered the sea.

***

Even though Triton had returned, Livia couldn’t take a single step outside the bedroom.

After several persuasions, she was permitted to meet Audike, but even that was brief. Livia still couldn’t go outside this bedroom, let alone the palace, and her only visitors were sharks who couldn’t speak.

‘Why? Why does it have to be like this?’

At first, she endured it out of guilt for deceiving him and worry about his injuries from somewhere, but now she had really reached her limit.

“Let me out. Why are you keeping me locked up?”

Livia exploded and demanded answers from Triton who was blocking her way again.

“Just be patient a little longer. It’s dangerous outside, I’ll let you out when it’s confirmed safe.”

“When is that? Will that time ever come, Triton? You’re not planning to keep me locked up forever, are you?”

At her sharp words, Triton quietly chuckled before answering a beat later.

“If it has to be forever, it might be.”

“What? What kind of crazy talk is that, Triton!”

At Livia’s shock, Triton replied, feeling wronged.

“Do you hate the sea? Why do you keep trying to leave?”

“I’m not just confined to the sea right now. I can’t even count how long it’s been since I couldn’t go outside this bedroom.”

After thinking for a moment, Triton sighed and spoke as if he was bestowing mercy.

“Alright. I’ll let you move around inside the palace.”

What is this nonsense.

Livia grabbed her forehead as she felt dizzy. It seemed Triton really intended to keep her locked up in this palace forever.

“You’re too weak right now, Livia. What if you get hurt?”

“I’m speechless. That’s rich coming from a god who put me through all sorts of trials.”

At Livia’s retort, Triton whispered with an amused smile.

“It’s petty to nitpick about past events, Livia. Why don’t you be more generous to the one you love?”

His approaching hand grabbed her waist and pulled her close.

The lips that had been kissing her forehead tried to part her lips and enter.

But Livia was adamant. She kept her lips tightly closed and didn’t accept Triton. Pushing him away forcefully and turning her head sharply, Livia spoke in an angry voice.

“Don’t. I hate it. I don’t want to.”

Triton kissed her cheek as if disappointed and whispered in a voice like soothing a child.

“My wife is especially fussy today.”

At his words, Livia burst out.

“…Wife? What kind of wife is this? This is slavery, Triton! I can’t go out or meet anyone without your permission. Give me back my freedom.”

“You’re already plenty free, Livia. Just with me…”

“Am I your pet dog?”

“…What?”

“What freedom is there without my own will? If you’re saying we should be together forever like this, I can’t do it. Triton.”

Livia pushed him away forcefully and stepped back. His expression had also hardened as if her words had shocked him quite a bit. But today she had to make a firm decision.

“If you don’t need my soul and only want my shell, Triton… I don’t understand why you’d want me to live forever. Ah, perhaps this is my sixth trial?”

“…Livia.”

“Fine. Do whatever you want. You’ll do as you please anyway… My will doesn’t seem to matter at all.”

Livia turned away sharply and lay back on the bed. The fact that the bed was the only place she could go in this vast room also troubled her mind.

After they had exchanged their hearts, it was only physical relations. If she had known it would turn out like this, she wouldn’t have conveyed her true feelings when they were still denying each other’s hearts.

If all he wanted was this body, that is.

Triton also seemed upset by Livia’s words as there was no more attempt to soothe her.

The standoff between Triton trying to confine her and Livia trying to leave continued for a while. Triton didn’t speak, and Livia didn’t move at all. She neither ate nor opened her eyes.

She just slept as though she were dead. Even when she couldn’t sleep, she stubbornly kept her body stiff.

Back when she was hiding to ambush Triton, she had hidden in narrow, dark places for days on end.

However, lately she would unconsciously groan in her sleep due to strange pains in her lower abdomen.

Every time that happened, Triton would pick Livia up and infuse healing power into her body, though this was something Livia didn’t know.

Yet Livia’s physical condition kept fluctuating, making only Triton worried. The human body was so delicate and fragile that just skipping meals could cause problems, yet she was only sleeping without eating…

“…What am I to do with this stubborn personality.”

Muttering as if perplexed, Triton sat down beside Livia and whispered while kissing her small shoulders and forehead.

“You win, Livia.”

At that moment, Livia’s eyes flew open stubbornly. Triton looked at the sparkling green eyes that seemed unbelieving and whispered, seemingly surrendering.

“Let’s go out.”