Jason had no intention of dragging this matter out any longer.
Naturally, he would not pretend ignorance and keep meeting Athena as if nothing had changed.
To be perfectly honest, running away was shameful, but sometimes undeniably effective.
The problem was that such a strategy only worked if the other party remained unaware.
Could anyone truly believe they could hide anything from the eyes of the Goddess of Wisdom?
And so, beneath a starlit night sky, inside the temple of the Goddess of Wisdom,
Jason, dressed in his usual white robes, arrived shortly after leaving the temple of Themis, Goddess of Judgment.
He sat alone on the marble steps of Athena's temple, gazing up at the glittering stars above, lost in thought.
Countless emotions churned within him. Those emerald eyes that reflected the starlight were filled with nothing but bewilderment.
Time passed. He did not know how late it had become.
In the quiet of the night, a gentle breeze suddenly stirred. The grass and trees rustled softly, and a faint, familiar fragrance drifted through the air.
That scent brought Jason back to his senses.
Unnoticed, Athena had arrived. The silver-haired goddess in her flowing white dress sat down beside him.
"What are you thinking about, Jason?" Her pleasant voice sounded softly by his ear.
Jason did not turn to look at her.
He simply continued gazing at the stars.
After a moment, he answered.
"I was wondering… could a dazzling, beautiful goddess in the heavens truly fall in love with an utterly ordinary mortal one day?"
His words froze the joyful smile on Athena's face.
She had been overjoyed to see Jason again, especially because he had come to find her on his own.
But now that smile stiffened completely.
How could the Goddess of Wisdom fail to understand the meaning behind his words?
A sudden surge of emotion nearly made her leap to her feet. Panic flashed through her golden eyes, and for an instant she almost turned and fled.
But in the end… reason held her back.
A complex expression crossed her exquisite features as she gazed at the young man staring at the stars.
After a long silence, she lowered her head slightly and asked, "Who told you?"
"You still haven't answered me…"
Jason did not respond to her question, nor did he take the easy way out and change the subject.
For once, he was unusually firm.
He turned his head. His emerald eyes locked onto the beautiful goddess before him.
"Lady Athena, you still haven't… given me your answer!
Tell me, Lady Athena. Can a radiant goddess in the heavens truly fall in love with an ordinary mortal?"
Athena fell silent.
Finally, she let out a soft sigh and raised her head.
Her beautiful golden eyes met his.
"Then let me ask you, Jason. Is that goddess not allowed to love? Is she not allowed to love the person she adores, to fall in love with the most dazzling hero in the world?"
"…But he is not a hero. He is just an ordinary, even cowardly human."
Jason did not look away.
He spoke the words he had wanted to say long ago.
"That person never once wanted to become a hero."
"Yes, he never wanted to," Athena said with a light laugh. "Yet that goddess has witnessed everything about him. She knows how dazzling he truly is.
Even if he denies it himself, even if the world denies it,
that goddess firmly believes he is the most brilliant hero in existence.
In her heart, he has long since become the most radiant being of all.
No one could ever replace him.
Therefore…
Jason, do you think that goddess is not allowed to love him?"
How cunning…
That thought involuntarily rose in Jason's mind as he looked at her.
Yes, truly cunning.
Both Jason and Athena were kicking the ball back and forth, neither willing to say it outright.
Yet at the same time, they were expressing exactly what they felt.
"I don't know," Jason finally said after a very long silence.
He lowered his head slightly, confusion filling his eyes.
"I don't know, because…
I have never once imagined that a goddess could fall in love with a mortal.
Especially not a goddess who, even among all the beautiful goddesses, shines like the most brilliant jewel."
Athena saw the confusion in his eyes, and disappointment flickered in her heart.
But after hearing his words, an overjoyed smile bloomed across her face.
Was there anything happier than being praised by the one you love?
"Since you have never considered it, then… are you willing… do you think that mortal would be willing to try accepting her?"
Biting her lip, steeling her heart, Athena fought down the overwhelming urge to turn and flee. She pressed him further.
"…I don't know."
Jason turned his head away and answered softly.
"Because that person has never thought about it. Right now… he honestly has no idea how to handle this!
He only knows that he cannot leave things as they are.
Because… that goddess is actually very important to him."
Athena's heart trembled at those words.
"That goddess is his great benefactor. He holds boundless admiration and reverence for her. She is a goddess he deeply respects."
Jason kept his head lowered as he spoke to her.
"That is why that person has never once harbored the slightest blasphemous thought toward her.
And that person… is truly very timid.
He feels that he probably could not bear… the love of a goddess…"
He did not finish his sentence.
Because Athena no longer wanted to hear the rest.
She grabbed his hand, cutting him off, and pulled him into the temple.
Once inside her own domain, she instantly sealed away all possibility of outside perception.
Then she pushed Jason against the wall and slammed her hand beside him.
"Listen to me, Jason."
Her golden eyes reflected his slightly stunned face.
With an air of having thrown caution to the wind, Athena finally spoke the words aloud.
"I… have fallen in love with you!"
Her voice echoed through the empty temple, again and again.
It echoed inside Jason's heart as well.
She had finally said it.
There was no turning back now.
But once the floodgates opened, everything that followed became much easier.
"You should consider yourself lucky, Jason, that my reason is still able to suppress my desire."
Looking at the stunned young man before her, Athena smiled.
It was different from her usual elegant, noble smile.
This one carried an inexplicable… seductive wickedness.
"You really should thank your two teachers for telling you the truth while my reason was still being slowly devoured by desire, before even I knew when it might finally collapse.
Otherwise… even I do not know what insane things I might have done to you in the future!"
"Do you understand? Falling in love is the one thing that should never happen to me, because I am the Goddess of Wisdom.
To the Goddess of Wisdom, love is poison.
It is the forbidden fruit I must never touch!"
"Do you know about my mother? The mother devoured by Father Zeus?"
Athena stared into Jason's eyes.
"My mother, the original Goddess of Wisdom, Metis, the one who helped Father Zeus seize the throne of king.
She possessed unparalleled wisdom, and from the very first moment she met him, she already knew her fate.
Yet she still helped him without hesitation.
In the end, she was swallowed by Father Zeus… Do you know why, Jason?"
"Because… she fell in love with Father Zeus.
Love is the curse of us Goddesses of Wisdom. It is our forbidden fruit.
That is why I must never love. I am the one who should never love.
Yet I still fell in love, and most absurd of all, the one I love is not even a god.
He is a child…
A child I never imagined I would fall in love with!"
Having poured out feelings she had kept hidden for over half a year, Athena felt an immense sense of relief.
She reached out and gently caressed Jason's cheek.
"Do you know what my very first thought was when I realized these feelings? The very first thing I wanted to do?
I wanted to lock you away.
I wanted to make you mine and mine alone.
I wanted to possess everything about you.
I was going mad with the desire!
Every single day, these feelings tormented me like poison.
They gnawed at me.
They made me terrified to see you, yet desperate to see you.
I wanted everything, absolutely everything about you.
That is why I knew I had to endure.
That is how my reason was barely able to triumph over my desire.
I pretended nothing had changed and continued to interact with you as always.
But… this is the forbidden fruit. It is the curse of being the Goddess of Wisdom!
I was so close… do you understand? I was so very close!"
As she spoke, right before Jason's eyes,
Athena laughed.
She laughed with pure, unrestrained joy, as though she had finally released all the emotions she had suppressed for over half a year.
"Just a little more, and my reason would have been crushed by my desire.
Just a little more, and I would have thrown everything aside and taken you by force!"
"Now, let me answer your question.
Yes, that goddess has fallen in love with that mortal.
Hopelessly.
Irredeemably.
Madly.
And… there is no way back!"
Athena stepped forward and cupped Jason's face in her hands, forcing him to meet her gaze.
Her voice was resolute, each word carved deeply into his heart.
"She will go mad for this love!
As a goddess, she will never understand the meaning of giving up.
And she is endlessly greedy.
She will find every possible way to claim everything about that person.
She will make sure he can never, ever leave her side!
So give me your answer…
You ordinary, commonplace mortal…
who has been loved by a goddess high above!"
Her firm voice rang in Jason's heart, word by word.
At this moment, Athena laid bare her unyielding resolve.
And all of this… Jason had already foreseen long ago.
Half a year earlier, on the Invisible Island, Athena had already told Medusa.
She would not be able to hold back… she truly would not be able to hold back.
The desire born of love would one day devour her reason.
Even though she was the Goddess of Wisdom.
No, precisely because she was the Goddess of Wisdom, this outcome was inevitable.
For love was the one thing the Goddess of Wisdom must never touch.
Sooner or later, she would go mad for it…
But fortunately, as Athena herself had said,
Her reason had not yet been completely consumed.
Once again, the unwitting actions of Hephaestus and Hecate had saved Jason's life.
Though neither of them could ever have imagined that the Goddess of Wisdom who seemed to have everything under perfect control, the most radiant jewel of Olympus, would fall so completely to her own desire without the slightest resistance.
But luckily… it had not happened yet.
Therefore, after saying all of this…
"I'm sorry."
In the sudden silence, before Jason could fully process everything,
Athena softly apologized (actually apologized), released him, and took two steps back.
In that instant, the elegant, beautiful Goddess of Wisdom that Jason knew returned.
Tucking a stray strand of silver hair behind her ear, Athena spoke softly.
"I'm sorry, Jason… You spent your whole life avoiding gods, yet you still ended up entangled with one."
With a self-mocking smile, she continued, "The one person who never wanted anything to do with gods has been completely caught by a goddess.
And… the most troublesome one at that."
Congratulations, Jason. You have been thoroughly ensnared by the most troublesome goddess in the world!
A distant memory suddenly surfaced in Jason's mind.
Years ago.
Hecate had said those exact words to him.
The most troublesome goddess in the world: Athena, Goddess of Wisdom…
Yes. From that very moment,
everything had already begun.
On his very first journey, when he escorted Persephone to the Underworld,
the one who wanted nothing to do with gods ended up speaking to the most troublesome goddess on the very first day.
From the very beginning, Jason had already been chosen.
Chosen by the most troublesome goddess in the world.
Their story had begun long ago.
As the first mortal, the first child, to ever make the Goddess of Wisdom suffer a setback,
Jason had tugged at Athena's heart from the very start.
Ever since then, her gaze had never left him.
As she herself had said, she had witnessed everything about him.
She had played an irreplaceable role in his life.
Therefore, the goddess who truly controlled Jason's fate was never Queen Hera.
It had always been her.
Athena, Goddess of Wisdom.
The brightest jewel of Olympus!
And now, Jason…
How would you face this?
How would you face the love of a goddess?
How would you respond to her?
To this love so heavy it could devour the wisdom of the Goddess of Wisdom itself…
Such unbearably… heavy love.