Chapter 20
“…Oh? Yeah, that’s right! I have changed, Menelaon.”
She seized the opening and jumped on it.
“So much has happened. Sniff sniff. And so I think… our relationship should change too.”
“…What are you trying to say? Don’t tell me… you’re refusing our engagement?”
“That’s right.”
Meneleon seemed shocked by the almost immediate answer.
“Is this… one of Nerva’s conditions?”
Only after his eyes narrowed with a swirl of emotion did he murmur something odd.
“What?”
“I asked if this was an order from the ruler of Metis.”
Why is Nerva suddenly being dragged into this?
Elinne narrowed her eyes and shook her head.
“Nope. He has nothing to do with thi—”
“If that’s not it, then why are you suddenly saying all this?!”
Oh my.
His outburst made her instinctively raise a hand to her ear.
But Menelaon was pounding his chest with a face full of righteous indignation.
“You swore to spend eternity with me! To live modestly as my consort! What changed in just a few months?! Why?!”
…Because it wasn’t just my heart that changed. It was the entire person.
She bit back the words and could only flash him an awkward, apologetic smile.
“That’s just how it is now, Menelaon. I’m sorry.”
“…I once heard someone say a woman’s heart is like a leaf swaying in the wind.”
Thankfully, Menelaon was a simple man.
“Linne. Think about it again—how happy your life could be by my side.”
His voice softened noticeably at the sight of her regretful smile
“I heard that in my absence you tangled with men in dusty drill fields and even cooked for some pitiful heroes. You, cooking! A girl who’s likely never once gotten her hands wet in her life!”
…Excuse me?
Elinne barely stopped herself from groaning out loud.
She had suspected this body came from a pampered life, given how moving even a single pot was a struggle, but she hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
That explained how ridiculously weak she was.
“If you marry me, that will never happen again, Elinne. As my wife, you won’t need to lift a finger! All you need to do is stay by my side!”
Not needing to do anything?
That actually sounded kind of nice.
She was growing tired of being a “Metisian newborn,” mimicking the god-like discipline of the Metisian lifestyle.
Does that mean no more getting up at the crack of dawn? No more listening to Paris’s pointless morning rambles just to skip training?
It was a little tempting.
“You’ll wait demurely in my palace all day long, beautiful only for me.”
But then he kept talking, and her interest froze cold.
“You’ll never set foot outside the palace again. You’ll live the rest of your life solely for me, and no one else.”
…What the hell? Am I your pet now? Supposed to sit pretty and wait all day?
Elinne had to physically restrain herself from spitting back a biting insult.
“The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Did Nerva adopt you just to turn you into a kitchen maid?!”
Menelaon continued to whine.
“Why didn’t you give the Golden Apple to the goddess of beauty? Why would you throw away the perfect chance to become the consort of Kashayn?!”
Wait a minute, who is he to be this mad?
She was fuming too, but the next words made her pause.
It made sense that he knew about the Golden Apple, but how did he know the specifics of the condition? About Kashayn and the consort deal?
She hadn’t told anyone. That could only mean one of the gods who had been there shared the story.
It definitely wasn’t Nerva… So who told Menelaon? Was it Heril? Or Vishtar?
She was curious for a moment, but her expression quickly went flat.
“I’ve never even met him. How is that a perfect opportunity?”
“You’ve never heard of Kashayn? He’s the most beautiful man in all of Venus, the land of beauty!”
“So he’s pretty. No one knows what he’s like on the inside. He could be all looks and completely insufferable when he opens his mouth.”
…Just like you.
She saw Menelaon’s face twitch as if her irritation had hit its mark.
“What are you implying? Kashayn is nothing like that!!”
He shouted, veins bulging, like he’d been personally insulted.
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