Even setting aside the luckily inherited royal bloodline and fairly decent intelligence, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about him. 

 

Scylla was unlikely to show any interest in such a man, yet Langsion still felt displeased merely by hearing another man’s name come from her lips.

 

Scylla should only look at him.

 

Her affection was rough on the outside but incredibly soft and sweet on the inside, like the flesh of a tree fruit, had to be given to him and him alone.

 

Langsion leaned down and kissed Scylla on the lips.

 

“Teacher, tonight…”

 

He whispered against her lips, then let his words trail off.

 

“Why did you stop in the middle? Tonight… what?”

 

Hermes’s threat involving Scylla was as irritating as it was effective. His primary concern was the possibility that Hermes might say something unnecessary to her.

 

Langsion stared quietly at Scylla, who was looking up at him with her elegantly shining amber eyes. 

 

An impulse rose, and he kissed her again.

 

Hermes, who carried the blood of the Titans, was cunning in a different way from him. 

 

If Langsion enjoyed watching humans, lured by sweet words, throw themselves off the cliff of corruption, then Hermes delighted in using sly tricks to deceive humans and then laughing at them. 

 

On top of that, his greed was so great that even after stealing all of Apollo’s cattle, he was still not satisfied. 

 

After all, he was the god of thieves. If he ever saw Scylla, he would undoubtedly want to steal her.

 

“Teacher, you are too beautiful.”

 

“Are you trying to pick a fight?”

 

Scylla said seriously. Langsion let out a deep sigh.

 

In any case, there was no need to tell Scylla about his outing tonight. She would definitely suspect something. 

 

After all, she was already constantly on guard, wondering whether the Theban royals might try to harm him. 

 

Even though the Theban royals were actually cowering in their rooms, terrified. He didn’t want to worry her or make her suspicious for no reason, so it would be better to sneak out and return quietly.

 

It would be best to leave late at night, in the early hours of the morning.

 

At a time when she would be sleeping so deeply that she wouldn’t even notice if someone carried her away.

 

The fact that Apollo and Hermes were waiting for him didn’t matter to him in the slightest.

 

Let them wait or not, he didn’t care.

 

“Make sure you sleep deeply tonight so you don’t accumulate fatigue.”

 

“Okay. But I took such a long nap during the day… I’m not sure if I’ll be able to fall asleep.”

 

A strange, seductive smile bloomed on Langsion’s lips like a flower that opens at night.

 

“Don’t worry about that.”

 

“…”

 

“I’ll make sure you fall into a deep sleep.”

 

“…Huh?”

 

Scylla, who had been yawning, blinked in confusion. Langsion lowered his gaze. The look in his eyes as they fixed on her lips was extremely decadent.

 

“It’s also a disciple’s duty to help his teacher with her insomnia.”

 

“Wait, I never said I had insomnia…”

 

Langsion silenced her with his lips.

 

🫧

 

“I’m warning you. Do not break down the boundary between the human world and the world of the gods.”

 

On the shore of the lake at Mount Helicon, where his sister’s moon floated upon the water, Apollo let his flowing golden hair cascade down. 

 

Langsion, who had skillfully and relentlessly pleasured Scylla until she had fallen into an exhausted sleep before he left, felt the sense of fullness that had filled his body rapidly drain away under the gaze of a single turtle and a god. 

 

He frowned.

 

The greedy, sensual gleam that had been in his eyes while caressing Scylla so skillfully vanished, replaced by dry, sand-swept eyes as he stared at them.

 

“Starting with a warning right away is rather unpleasant, Apollo.”

 

“…”

 

“Since when did you become my superior?”

 

His tone was sarcastic, but his voice was so indifferent that it didn’t sound particularly aggressive.

 

“You’re sharper than usual. It seems you’re not happy to see me.”

 

“Is that even a question worth asking?”

 

Langsion spoke slowly. 

 

Just facing them was already boring. In truth, his life was a continuous stretch of boredom. Without extreme stimulation, he often couldn’t even feel that he existed.

 

These days, thanks to Scylla, things had at least become somewhat interesting. 

 

There was no way he would welcome these intruders who were ruining his enjoyment.

 

“It’s hard to like visits that don’t even observe the basic courtesy of not interfering during someone’s amusement.”

 

“That would be true if it were a game played by the rules.”

 

Apollo rose from the large rock by the lakeside and looked straight at him with golden eyes. 

 

Scylla also had golden eyes, but the impression was completely different. Apollo’s eyes shone brilliantly, as if they were the sun itself. 

 

Simply meeting his devoted gaze would be enough to blind the eyes of an ordinary human.

 

In contrast, Scylla’s eyes were like fragments of the sun, warm as if they held sunlight within them. They burned fiercely, but it was not a light that consumed others. 

 

Looking at Apollo made him miss Scylla even more.

 

“You seem eager to go back quickly.”

 

Apollo noticed his inner thoughts and smiled gently.

 

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you with such an openly readable face.”

 

“…”

 

“That must mean your current game is that entertaining.”

 

“…”

 

“But remember this, Dionysus. You are in a dangerous state right now.”

 

Apollo possessed the body of the perfect man that humans dreamed of, tall, well-proportioned, with distinct and striking features. 

 

He was a god of completeness.

 

As one of the central pillars of the world, Apollo was among the gods with the greatest talents; there were many things he knew how to do and many things he could do. 

 

He was the one who could make the most accurate prophecies, even without being one of the Moirai.

 

That was because he possessed exceptional insight.

 

“Manifesting in the human world in your true form violates Rhea’s law of causality.”

 

Langsion looked down at his own body and pointed at it with a flick of his finger.

 

“Does this body look like my true form to you?”

 

“Of course that body isn’t your real one. Even Lady Hera probably never imagined it. The very act meant to torment you ended up helping your amusement instead. It’s better that she doesn’t know. If she found out, she’d have a fireball lodged in her chest.”

 

It was an Apollo-style joke. It wasn’t funny.

 

When Langsion didn’t laugh and instead grew serious, Apollo cleared his throat awkwardly.

 

“Dionysus, you are a high-ranking god who has claimed a throne on Olympus. You are not some minor god or nymph who has only one foot in the mortal world. Our activities in the human realm are among the greatest taboos, as they greatly distort the law of causality. It is a rule that even the gods who shaped the world cannot break. That is Rhea’s law of causality.”

 

“…”

 

“You know that what Father Zeus tolerates the least is the disruption of order.”

 

Langsion raised one eyebrow. Hermes, who had been swimming in the lake, paddled his short legs as well.

 

Apollo rolled his eyes to the side and shrugged.

 

“Well, let’s make an exception for your mother’s case. Breaking an oath on the River Styx would get you thrown into Tartarus.”

 

“…”

 

“After all, she hates being alone in dark places.”

 

The turtle cleared its throat loudly. It was a clear signal to shut up. 

 

Apollo glanced at Langsion, whose expression was growing increasingly blank, and quickly changed the subject.

 

“The problem is that quite a few humans already know who you really are.”

 

“…”

 

“The gods who enjoy games have reasons for hiding their true identities, Dionysus.”

 

“…”

 

“Even that thoughtless Ares puts on a human body and pretends to be a hero.”

 

“Because he likes being worshipped.”

 

“Well, that’s true too.”

 

The three of them made the same awkward face as they recalled Ares’s game of strutting around with puffed-up shoulders, revered as a hero who would save the world.

 

“Don’t make me have to personally escort you to Tartarus, Dionysus.”

 

Hermes, his body wet as he climbed out of the lake, spoke.

 

“Just in case, never make an oath involving a human and the River Styx.”

 

“That’s rather sudden advice. It’s something Father… Zeus has forbidden as a taboo.”

 

At Langsion’s cynical tone, Hermes nodded his round head.

 

“Yes. Don’t do it. No matter how lovely your human is.”

 

Even on a turtle’s face, the seriousness was evident. Langsion wore a faint, mocking smile.

 

“That is the most unnecessary worry of all, Hermes.”

 

Semele, burned to death by lightning.

 

Zeus lamenting.

 

Had he not personally witnessed that foolish precedent?

 

Scylla was cute and lovable, but he had no intention of making any oaths.

 

🫧

 

On a night when an unusually bright and round moon rose, Thekion felt restless. 

 

He knew exactly why. 

 

Even in an ordinary household, if a mouse was scurrying around underfoot, it would bother anyone. 

 

Thekion’s nerves were not strong enough to easily fall asleep when there was not a mouse, but an existence more capricious than a bat and more ferocious than a lion lurking nearby.

 

The peace of mind brought by the outing to Mount Helicon had not even lasted a full day. 

 

As night fell, everything returned to the way it was.

 

In the end, he gave up on trying to sleep early again tonight and left his room carrying only a single cup of wine.

 

The room with the light still on was not his own. When Thekion spotted the room from which light was leaking, he stopped walking. 

 

It was Queen Inashan’s room.