In the myths, the duel between Paris and the suffering king of Sparta was a conflict first stirred up by the rainbow goddess Iris.
Though some accounts attributed it to Aphrodite's scheming instead.
What could be confirmed was that among the two figures now standing on the city wall, one was almost certainly Helen, lured there by a goddess with an ugly sense of humor, forced to watch two men who were both entangled with her life beat each other bloody, an audience to a miserable and revolting performance she had no desire for.
The other was either the rainbow goddess or the goddess of beauty.
Considering that Iris's role was simply as a messenger, announcing the duel to both sides and getting the contest started, there was no particular reason for her to have any other agenda.
The one on the battlements was more likely Aphrodite.
Out of jealousy for Helen's beauty, when Zeus set his plan in motion, she chose Helen as the sacrifice to start the Trojan War.
And even though Helen had already caused the two strongest powers in Greece to go to war against each other, Aphrodite still had no intention of letting that unfortunate woman go.
On the very day of battle, she descended to earth disguised as one of the Trojan king's daughters, Laodice, and went to invite Helen to watch the fighting.
Helen recognized the goddess's identity and begged her to let her go, saying she only wanted to go home.
The goddess refused.
And threatened Helen that if she didn't do what she was told, she would send her to be used by other men as a plaything.
In the end, Helen had no choice but to follow this goddess in human form up to the city walls.
The whole way there, no one stopped them.
The guards who had been watching Helen paid them no mind at all, and they treated the girl walking beside Helen, a girl with the same kind of face as the Chryseis sisters but with gray hair and blue eyes, as a daughter of the king, one of Troy's own princesses.
Helen's beautiful platinum hair and brilliant blue eyes were hidden under her cloak until they reached the city wall.
The goddess of beauty, now going by the name Laodice,
Had originally wanted to keep using the name Venus, but Night saw through that one last time, so a new name it was.
Hm...it was worth noting that in this world there was only one Laodice.
There was no real Laodice hidden away somewhere.
She simply used her divine power over love to alter the memories of the old king and others around her, giving herself a legitimate human identity she could walk around in openly.
"This time you won't be able to see through my disguise so easily, will you, hero Griffith?" The Trojan princess Laodice stood on the city wall, her heart full of confident fantasy.
She even spent a significant amount of divine power reinforcing this new identity, blocking out anything like prophetic or detection-based abilities from seeing through it.
She was going to use Troy's strength to carry out her revenge.
She would have the mighty Hector strike down this descendant of the dragon-slayer, this so-called son of Prometheus, the hero Griffith, and bring him before her.
She would have him kneel before her as a prisoner, serve at her pleasure as a princess.
And then she would appear as his gentle savior, redeem him, make him fall hopelessly in love with her, and ultimately reduce him to a tool and pawn completely in her control.
Since he threw away the true and tender feelings of a goddess, he should be prepared to face the cold that would now wrap around him.
For that to happen, she needed Troy to win first.
She was willing to do whatever it took to help them.
The flames of revenge burned in the goddess's eyes, and she felt completely confident in her plan.
No, wait.
She quickly spotted a flaw.
Griffith had to be in this duel.
If he was, she was confident she could manipulate things behind the scenes, arrange for Hector, the strongest warrior Troy had, to face him and bring him back to her as a captive.
Only if he was captured could the next phase of the plan proceed.
Make him fall madly in love with her. Have him kneel and kiss her toes.
And so, this particular goddess who still preferred going barefoot, her beautiful pale feet adorned with golden and silver anklets, curled her plump little toes slightly.
The corner of her mouth pressed up with barely contained excitement, practically trembling all over at the thought of the scene she was imagining.
That twisted expression on that adorable face, the unhinged young princess combined with her currently youthful appearance, was enough to send any enthusiast into a frenzy.
Of course,
Standing beside her, Helen was not among that particular audience.
No matter how cute the face Aphrodite was currently wearing,
Helen knew perfectly well who this actually was.
And it wasn't her first time being played.
The PTSD response hit immediately.
She said in a small, frightened voice, barely above a whisper: "My, my goddess?"
She was afraid the other party was thinking up some new scheme to torment her.
Warm breath drifting through soft lips, that gentle, muffled voice broke into Aphrodite's thoughts, or rather the thoughts of the unhinged Princess Laodice.
The princess immediately turned with a gentle smile. "What is it, sister Helen? Are you feeling unwell? Just call me Laodice. There's no great figure like a goddess here."
She appeared to switch in an instant to the mode of a sweet and understanding little angel.
Outside, she had no desire to expose herself as a goddess, and was quite enjoying playing the role she had taken on.
She was about to say something to Helen, to warn her not to slip up and use the wrong title and to refer to her by her princess identity in public, when
the goddess's gaze drifted sideways by chance, and locked with a pair of eyes looking up in their direction from far below.
The moment she recognized that familiar figure,
Every muscle in this human body she was wearing went rigid.
...!!
Did he see through me again?
No. No, no. Don't scare yourself.
It must just be a coincidence.
How could one mortal see through a divine disguise three times over?
There was no way.
This disguise was so airtight that even Zeus would not recognize her.
Stop it. Stop frightening yourself.
Furious at herself for this moment of weakness, the goddess thought:
'How am I supposed to carry out my revenge plan in this state?'
Thinking that, she immediately restored her composure and calmness.
And besides, at this distance, he didn't have divine vision the way she did.
He probably could only see a vague figure from down there.
He definitely couldn't see her face, and she had taken on a completely different appearance this time anyway.
Good.
This had to just be a coincidence.
And actually, with this gap in distance, and since he couldn't see her while she could see him with her divine vision, didn't that mean she could just openly and freely enjoy looking at that infuriating beautiful face of his?
The thought struck her all at once, and the corner of her mouth curved instinctively, and she licked her lips.
Her internal evaluation: this was very good indeed.
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)