Hercules' hand was still on Alcmene's face, and he wanted to stay with her for a
while, to let her know that he was okay, and to stop crying. But my eyelids are getting heavier and heavier, my body is getting weaker and weaker, and fatigue is surging up at this moment. 1r5Rp
His mouth opened slightly.
Hercules shouted vaguely.
Alcmene's tears were still on her face, but she no longer cried. She lowered her head, looked at the baby in her arms, and looked at the sleepiness that gradually
appeared on her little face. 1r5Rp
His eyes began to blink. One, two, three. Every time I opened it, it was more
difficult than the last, and those clear eyes became more and more confused. Then, it was closed.
The eyelashes quietly cover there, fluttering gently with your breath. The small
mouth is slightly pouted, and it still maintains the shape when it said "**" just now. The sparse lanugo was stuck to her forehead, wet with her tears just now, looking messy.
He fell asleep.
Alcmene looked at him in a daze, looking at this small sleeping face, the little hand that was still attached to her face just now had hanging down softly at the
moment. 1r5Rp So she adjusted her holding position, and her movements couldn't be lighter. The
arm tightened a little and pulled him into his arms, so that his head rested on his
chest, where he could hear the heartbeat.
The morning light shining through the window fell on them, and she lowered her head and gently touched his forehead with her lips.
Hercules fell asleep completely.
Consciousness sinks into darkness, and breathing becomes long and even. But his body did not calm down because of the slumber of consciousness. 1r5Rp
The milk he swallowed from the Queen of Heaven was flowing in him at the moment.
It's not your average milk. It is a gift from the queen of the gods, a grace from the
god of marriage and fertility, and an existence containing divine power. The scene where Hera raised it into a galaxy was a display of the mortal world, but what was
left for this baby was the real power flowing into his belly.
At this moment, those milks are being digested. From the stomach, golden light penetrated little by little, they flowed down his
bloodline, all over his body, through his heart, through his limbs, through every inch of bone, every cell. 1r5Rp
The cells cheered. They were like parched land finally receiving rain, greedily absorbing every drop of golden liquid.
The muscles were trembling slightly, the bones were humming softly, and the blood was flowing faster in the veins.
And all of this happened within that small, sleeping body. Quietly and silently.
Beneath her eyelids, a change was taking place in those tightly closed eyes. It was as if a burst of power had snapped the fingers of the midwife goddess.
His pupils, which had turned black from exhaustion, are now beginning to glow with a faint gold again.
At first, it was just a wisp, barely perceptible, but the golden color spread, from a wisp to a strand, from a strand to a patch.
It was as if something was awakening from the depths of his pupils. The gold grew richer and brighter.
It covered the entire pupil, gradually squeezing out the original black, bit by bit swallowing it. The last trace...
The blackness vanished, and beneath his eyelids, his eyes had turned completely gold. Alcmene simply held him, head bowed, gazing at his peaceful sleeping face. She didn't know that his eyes were turning gold beneath his eyelids, nor what was happening within his body. She only knew that the child was asleep.
1r5Rp
Slept soundly.
She gently swayed her arm and hummed an unknown tune.
The folk song was so old that she couldn't even remember where she had heard it. The melody was simple, repeating just a few notes over and over, yet it inexplicably brought her peace of mind.
Mount Olympus at this moment. 1r5Rp
Two figures descended from the sky, landing on the steps before the temple. Hera walked in front, her skirt pattering lightly on the ground.
As I walked past, my steps were much lighter than when I left.
"Mother Goddess." Athena stopped behind him and bowed slightly. "If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave."
Hera waved her hand without turning her head.
"Go." 1r5Rp
Athena straightened up, her gaze lingering on Hera's retreating figure for a moment before turning and leaving.
Hera stood before the temple, took a deep breath, and then raised her head, her gaze sweeping across the square in front of the temple.
No one.
The gods who usually revolved around Zeus were all gone. The space behind the columns was empty; not even a single person peeked out.
There wasn't even a trace of a spy. 1r5Rp
And Zeus————
Hera's gaze fell into the depths of the temple.
The old man sat on his throne, holding a wine glass, with an expression that said, "I know what's good for me." He looked...
When Hera returned, his gaze drifted over briefly before quickly looking away, pretending to admire the patterns on the wine glass.
Hera, looking at him like this, suddenly found it somewhat amusing.
She stood there at the temple entrance, looking at her husband. Zeus felt uncomfortable under her gaze and finally couldn't bear it any longer.
Just open your mouth:
"That...is back?"
"Um.
"You went down for a walk?" 1r5Rp
"Um.
"Feeling better?"
Hera didn't answer. She just looked at him, a slight smile playing on her lips.
Zeus felt uneasy at that smile and decided to leave his temple to visit other places. So...
He hunched his shoulders, holding his wine glass, and slipped out through the side door.
Hera felt a little better when she saw his cowardly appearance.
She withdrew her gaze and walked to her throne, another one alongside Zeus's, equally tall.
Equally ornate, equally studded with jewels. She sat down, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes.
Without Zeus bothering her, without any of those messy things disturbing her, she was all alone, quietly.
sitting here.
Hera suddenly realized that this kind of life wasn't so bad after all.
After an unknown amount of time, a soft sound of footsteps came from outside the temple.
Hera opened her eyes.
A figure walked in through the doorway, her steps unsteady. It was a young woman, beautiful in appearance.
She had a slender figure and wore a light-colored long dress. One of her hands hung at her side, while the other hand held the wrist of the other hand.
Hera's gaze fell on that hand. The five fingers of that hand were twisted at an unnatural angle.
1r5Rp
"Eletia?"
Hera sat up straight.
The woman stopped in front of Hera. Her face was pale, and fine beads of sweat clung to her forehead.
Pearl. She looked up at Hera, her eyes filled with frustration and grievance.
"Mother goddess..." 1r5Rp
She spoke, her voice hoarse.
This is Eletia, the goddess of childbirth and one of Hera's most faithful servants. She was also the one sent to Thebes to give birth.
The room performs its tasks.
At this moment, she had returned to her original appearance, no longer the hunched-over midwife. But that hand, that hand that had been...
The baby's severed hand still retains its injured appearance.
Hera looked at the hand, her brow furrowing slightly.
"The mission failed." Eletia lowered her head, her voice trembling slightly. "That child... we couldn't kill him."
die. "
"I know."
Hera's voice was calm. Of course she knew. She had long anticipated the outcome of those thunderbolts, those lightning bolts, and that old Zeus's reaction. Electia had failed, and that bastard had survived.
But she didn't intend to blame Eletia.
With Zeus personally intervening, who can stop him?
"Get up," Hera said. "I don't blame you."
Eletia looked up, her eyes slightly red. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say.
"Hmm." In the end, she simply nodded and straightened up. Hera leaned back on her throne, her gaze fixed on Eletia's injured hand.
"Tell me," she said. "What happened?"
Eletia took a deep breath and began to speak.
She recounted how she disguised herself as a midwife and infiltrated the delivery room, and how she strangled the child with the umbilical cord inside that vile woman's womb.
How could I watch the child stop struggling and then suddenly start moving again?
She described how she choked the child, how she tightened her grip, and how she watched the child's face rise from...
The red turned bluish-purple; how could one think the mission was finally complete? — 1r5Rp
Then the child opened his eyes.
golden eyes.
She spoke of the heartbeat, the golden flashes of lightning, the terrifying power surging from the baby's body. She spoke of herself.
How the fingers were gradually spread apart, how they were gripped tightly, and how they were broken.
Speaking of the thunder. 1r5Rp
The thunder that swept across the sky and tore the entire night sky to shreds.
Tell the story of Zeus's wrath.
Hera listened, her expression unchanged. She knew all this, or could guess it. Zeus made his move.
Yes, the child survived. It's that simple.
But Eletia continued speaking. 1r5Rp
She said that the child was later abandoned by Alcmene. She said she hid in the shadows and witnessed the maid carrying the swaddled baby out of the palace.
The palace was abandoned in the wilderness, passing through the woods.
"etc."
Hera suddenly spoke.
Eletia's voice stopped abruptly. She raised her head and looked at Hera. Hera sat on her throne, leaning slightly forward.
"You tell me," her voice softened, "where was that child left?"
"In the middle of nowhere," Eletia said, "at the edge of a grove of trees outside Thebes." Hera's eyes narrowed.
"Outside Thebes?"
"yes.
"By the woods?
"Yes." 1r5Rp
"Are there any bushes?"
Eletia paused for a moment. She thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes. There was a thicket of bushes. The maid put the child on the grass next to the bushes."
Hera remained silent. She sat motionless on her throne.
Eletia looked at her, somewhat bewildered. She didn't know what she had said wrong, or why she...
How could Hera make that expression?
All she knew was that Hera's eyes had changed.
It gets a little complicated.
"Mother Goddess?" she asked tentatively.
Hera didn't answer.
She just sat there, gazing into the void, as if looking at something extremely far away.
Outside the city of Thebes.
She remembered the place where she and Athena had taken a break.
Grassland beside bushes.
She recalled the view she had seen that morning.
An abandoned baby.
She longed to see the swaddling clothes in that desolate wilderness.
She remembered the way she bent down and picked up the child. She remembered the feeling of that tiny weight falling into her arms. She thought...
She remembered the child nestling in her arms, opening his mouth to look for milk.
I remember that cry of "**".
I remember the moment I fed milk into that little mouth.
She recalled that she had sent the child back to the Theban palace and given him to Alcmene.
Hera's fingers slowly tightened, gripping the armrest of the throne.
The bastard she wanted to kill.
The child she sent Elethia to kill.
She fed him by hand.
Holding him in his arms with his own hands.
Sent him back with his own hands.
Gave it to that bitch.
Hera's chest rose and fell violently. 1r5Rp
Outside the hall, a cloud drifted in from nowhere, covering the sun.
Eretia stood still, not daring to breathe. She watched Hera's expression change,
she couldn't tell what it was.
It seems to want to laugh, and it seems to want to scold.
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