056. Determination
Not long after, Perseus woke up.
He held me in a daze for a while, his beautiful eyes still sleepy, and then he seemed to suddenly wake up and told me that he dreamed of his father, the king of gods Zeus.
Hearing Perseus say this, I instantly retracted my gaze from the window and looked at him nervously, "What happened?"
Perseus then told me in detail what he had seen in his dream. Of course, he spoke with some skill, because we were not sure whether Zeus, the king of gods, was still watching us on Mount Olympus at this moment.
The God King is naturally extremely busy, but... what if?
He may have been influenced by Zeus at the beginning and spoke out his true thoughts uncontrollably, but fortunately he made up for it very well later. Not only was there no flaw, I can even imagine how satisfied the King of Gods Zeus was after hearing these words.
But I didn't expect that the king of gods Zeus actually wanted Perseus to become the ruler of mankind and take this opportunity to gain as much faith as possible from mankind.
However, I sensed a glimmer of hope from this information. Zeus wanted to use Perseus to gain the faith of mankind. Does this mean, conversely, that this might be an opportunity to weaken the Olympian gods?
Thinking of this, Perseus suddenly shook my hand silently. I suddenly came to my senses and looked at him with complicated emotions in his eyes. Perseus obviously had more to say to me, but he was hesitant to say it. In the end, he couldn't say it for various reasons.
Yet, I inexplicably felt some indescribable sadness and pain. All along, I could not feel any sympathy towards Perseus, who killed me in the prophetic dream. I felt more exploitation and fear towards him.
But now, by some strange coincidence, he has become my fan and even saved my life. Naturally, I cannot remain indifferent to this dog of mine.
So I stretched out my arms to him, rested his head on my arms, and gently stroked his furry head.
I should have said something like "Zeus is right" or "You will soon become the ruler of mankind" to confuse the King of Gods who was paying attention to this matter, but in the end I said nothing and just hugged him quietly.
After a long time, perhaps he came to his senses, Perseus suddenly gained strength and pressed me down. I screamed in surprise and my back hit the bed heavily, which hurt me.
I immediately frowned and ruthlessly tried to push him away, "What are you doing all of a sudden?"
But Perseus once again nuzzled his golden head into my neck. As a young man full of vigor and vitality, his entire body was warm. I was almost dying of the heat from him, but Perseus was clearly enjoying it. He held me tighter and tighter, breathing heavily in my ear in a very low voice, with a hint of grievance in his tone, "I... I don't want Him to see you."
I was stunned for a moment, but soon realized who this "He" was.
Because I had a great sports activity with Perseus before, I was almost naked, just covered with a quilt.
But although he spoke in a sanctimonious manner, his whole body was getting hotter and hotter for some reason. I suddenly felt something in the place where we were connected suddenly twitched shamefully, and Perseus's green eyes were looking at me impatiently.
But I'm not in the mood at all at the moment. If I felt some fun in training and taming the dog when I first started to be intimate with Perseus, now I can say that I'm tired of it.
After leaving the despicable and domineering Poseidon, the god of the sea, I now only need relief occasionally, and no longer have to suppress all my emotions like before, trying my best to please the other person, like a lifeless doll.
Now, another reason I chose Perseus was that I had the right to say no to him.
So, I impatiently pushed his face away with my palm, covered my body with the quilt, got out of bed, picked up the scattered clothes, and quickly put them on.
And I don’t believe that the God King has so much free time that he would keep staring at us.
Perseus was obviously very reluctant, but he didn't say much and put on his clothes.
I didn't bother to pay attention to him and just walked out the door, planning to calm down.
There was a cool breeze in the air outside. I felt a little weak from the exercise I had done before. I didn't expect that Perseus had fallen asleep and I hadn't recovered yet. My legs couldn't help but tremble slightly.
I was feeling a little weak when Perseus suddenly appeared from behind. He quickly put his arm around my waist to prevent me from making a fool of myself.
Perhaps it was because a beautiful and delicate woman already had an "owner", and Perseus was visibly strong and powerful, so he easily blocked the other men's view of me.
I noticed the behavioral implications in his actions, but I didn't like it very much, because it seemed as if I had to be someone's vassal to be safe, so I couldn't help but frown at him, trying to shake off his subtle shackles.
But Perseus quickly leaned over to my ear, looking at me seriously and worriedly with his clear eyes, "Why did you go out alone? You know, it's very dangerous for a beautiful woman like you to go out alone."
Hearing him say this, my resistance calmed down a little, because I knew Perseus was right.
Yes, just like the people who had just gathered together to hold a democratic conference - specifically adult men - were now scattered and leaving. Some of them were in a good mood, even to the point of being elated, but some were dejected and looked dissatisfied.
Among them, quite a few men were walking towards us, and before Perseus appeared, they looked me up and down with strange and even greedy eyes.
Before I met Perseus again, I encountered a lot of similar attention and even harassment. Fortunately, I had the power of hope to help me avoid any dangerous situations.
Therefore, I suddenly realized that ever since Perseus appeared by my side, all the troubles and worries I had in the past disappeared instantly. At most, someone would secretly look at me, but compared to before, it has been restrained a lot.
This immediately made me feel discouraged and powerless, and even deeply self-loathing, because it was not until then that I realized the problems that all women face, which was almost unimaginable for a priestess who once held a high position.
Perseus looked at me, as if he noticed my expression, and asked cautiously, "Medusa, where are you going? I...I will always be with you."
My eyes were calm and composed. I had originally taken this opportunity to go out in order to quickly find a way to destroy human beings' belief in gods, but at this moment, I felt as if my fist was hitting cotton, and I just felt powerless.
It is almost impossible for a woman like me who has no social status and is even labeled as a slut to try to shake human beings' faith in gods.
I might as well hope that Perseus will rule over mankind as soon as possible and force them not to believe in the Olympians.
Of course, what I said just now was just a way of venting my anger. I was unwilling to give up hope no matter what. Not only that, no one, not even God, could force a person to change his mind.
But even so, my original enthusiasm cooled down a little, so I slowly pulled Perseus' arm, pulled him somewhat dejectedly, and planned to go back first.
But at this moment, a noisy sound not far away attracted my attention. I subconsciously looked up and saw a girl about my age being thrown to the ground with a thud by an older man who looked similar to me. Then he kicked her hard, making a dull sound that was hard to ignore.
"Okay, I just went out for a meeting, and when I came back I caught you stealing money from the house?!"
No one around tried to stop the fight, but instead stood around pointing and whispering.
The disheveled girl curled up into a ball, trembling all over, but she didn't know if she had become numb to it, she just gritted her teeth and said nothing.
But every time he kicked or hit, he would let out a painful groan.
But at this moment, the memory that had almost been completely forgotten in my mind was suddenly awakened. I suddenly felt that all the noise was almost torturing my head to explode, and my whole body was shaking with subconscious fear.
How could I forget?
Because I was an "orphan" who was not claimed by my parents, I experienced similar things when I was very young after being adopted. Sometimes they said I was not diligent enough at work, and sometimes they suspected that I was the one who lost something, but... that was really a long time ago.
——Until the last elderly priestess of the Temple of Athena, Oger, saw the tragic situation of me being beaten and even tortured as a young child. She couldn't bear it and took me to the temple. She taught me how to be an excellent priest in the short and happy years, and then passed away many years ago.
It was also because of Oger's motherly tape and care that I felt as much happiness and joy as other children, and almost forgot all the pain.
If nothing unexpected happens, at the end of my priest career, I will be like Oger, choosing a poor girl, teaching her patiently, and letting her take over my duties.
Unfortunately, due to the appearance of Poseidon, the god of the sea, this is obviously impossible.
But such a thing happened right before my eyes, and even though I am nothing now, I can't remain indifferent to it.
So, I ignored Perseus's obstruction and rushed forward quickly. A golden light that was difficult to detect under the light burst out from my hands. The man was suddenly pushed away by an invisible force and fell heavily to the ground. A louder muffled sound and exclamations were heard around him.
The power of hope didn't surprise me, it was as if all of this made sense.
I slowly stopped in front of the still curled up girl, but she seemed to sense something at this moment. She suddenly raised her head and looked at me blankly with her dirty little face, and uttered a hoarse and unpleasant voice, "Are you... a goddess?"
Before I could answer, the man stood up from the ground with a wail and shouted at me angrily, "You did it?! I'm disciplining my own daughter, why are you meddling in other people's business?"
The people around also started to make a fuss.
"Where is this girl from? Is she from another place?"
"She clearly didn't touch him just now, how come he was suddenly knocked down?"
"Hey, have you heard? Their daughter is going to take the money and elope with her lover..."
“…”
The scene was in chaos. Perseus had unknowingly stood in front of me, acting as if he could make everyone present his enemy for me. He anxiously shouted, "Medusa, stand behind me!"
But I didn't care at all. Instead, I carefully helped the embarrassed girl up from the ground.
She suddenly looked at me devoutly, her dirty hands tightly grasping my arms, and begged me with tears in her eyes, "Kind and beautiful goddess, can you take me away? Take me to where my lover is! We truly love each other, and I... really don't want to be forced to marry a man I don't even love!"
The crowd was getting tighter and tighter. Facing the malicious crowd, Perseus seemed to be going crazy. He immediately hugged me and wanted to use Hermes' flying shoes to take me away, but it seemed that these flying shoes could not withstand the strength of the other two people for a while.
I had no intention of abandoning this innocent and pitiful girl, and I continued to hold her arm tightly.
"You take her away first. I can leave safely on my own."
This time, Perseus did not listen to me. He had no choice but to take out the golden sword of Ares. The powerful sword energy combined with the powerful pressure he emitted made the villagers scream and scatter, and even those who were close to them fell to the ground and rolled around.
I suddenly realized that the power in his body seemed to be stronger than before.
But at this moment I didn't care about so many things. I just insisted on saving this girl in whom I saw my own shadow.
Perhaps, I was also saving the self at that time. After all, there is no Oger now, only me.
Finally, under the threat of weapons and force, most people fled. The remaining terrified people could only watch us slowly walk away. They had no way to stop us and could not find any way to stop us.
Their biological instincts made them dare not approach Perseus at all, leaving the father who beat and scolded his daughter lying on the ground, cursing resentfully and harshly.
…
We slowly walked to a sparsely populated corner, and Perseus stood outside to check the surrounding situation to prevent anyone from chasing us.
The girl expressed her gratitude to me while crying. She held my hand tightly and said, "Thank you, great and kind goddess! You must be the goddess Athena! Your appearance has completely saved me!"
I froze for a moment, then shook my head helplessly. "I'm not Athena. It was just a small favor, and I didn't completely save you."
The girl didn't seem to care at all and continued looking at me gratefully. "It's okay. I will go find my lover. After we get married, he will definitely protect me."
Hearing this, I suddenly couldn't help but touch the head of this innocent girl. At the same time, I understood the question that had puzzled me for a long time. "It's not your lover who will protect you, but your power and the social division of labor you have."
Yes, these things happen over and over again in front of my eyes because women are weak in comparison, both in terms of strength and status.
Even if I become powerful for a short time because of my status as a priest, there will still be stronger people who will bully me.
My biological father, Phorcys, once told me to run away, but that was even more ridiculous.
After leaving the Acropolis where I was almost born and raised, I had no power, and no place would hire women to work and earn income. I might not even have enough food to eat. Where could I escape to as a mortal at that time?
If I really escape, what awaits me is either death or degradation, and I might even fall to the point of selling my body and soul!
At this moment, the girl looked at me blankly, as if she didn't understand what I meant.
And I have no intention of explaining, because this world is so difficult for women. Even if you know the reason, it is difficult to find a solution. Telling her will only add to her troubles.
So I just smiled at her faintly, suddenly stretched out my hand, and shook her rough and dry hand tightly.
Strength filled my body. I opened my eyes and wished her well from the bottom of my heart, "As long as you hold onto hope, you will possess the power of the strong, and no one will bully you anymore."
The girl's body was suddenly enveloped in golden light. She looked at herself in surprise and doubt, but all these fantasies soon faded away.
I breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to leave with the alert Perseus.
The girl suddenly grabbed my hand and shouted at me gratefully, "If you are not the goddess Athena, then who are you?"
I turned my head and found that she didn't even look at Perseus, but just stared at me with burning eyes. I hesitated for a moment, but soon became firm in such a look. The confusion and bewilderment in my heart were suddenly dispelled like thick fog by the scorching light.
"I am...Medusa."
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