In the dead silence, the ancient serpent smiled faintly.
"What's wrong? Afraid now? Should I call Athena over to lend you a hand?"
Faced with that calm, serious reply and the lofty, scrutinizing gaze, Ana felt a sudden pang of guilt. Her lips trembled as she tried to speak.
"I…"
Samael gently stroked the little girl's softened hair, his tone still warm.
"Don't worry. Revenge is your right. However you choose is entirely up to you."
"At worst, Hydra, Cerberus, and all your brothers and sisters will once again follow fate, enslaved by the Olympian gods, only to be butchered by Greek heroes as sacrifices to the heavens..."
"At worst, Metis will lose her mind, the Mother of Serpents will be dragged down with her, and meet her end early..."
"At worst, you'll keep hiding, drifting from one deserted island to another..."
"At worst, for the sake of survival, you'll have to devour your own sisters, continuing on as a Gorgon until hero after hero comes to hunt you down..."
"If that happens, you'll never again have any chance of reconciliation with this world..."
"Of course, you could ask me for help. Even if it meant sacrificing my foster daughter, I'd still be willing to take you and Tina away from this cursed land of Greece..."
The ancient serpent smiled softly, his hand gently combing through the purple-haired girl's hair.
Yet Samael's limitless indulgence and favoritism made her body, tense with fighting intent at first, slowly stiffen. In the end, she shuddered uncontrollably.
"But... once I make a move, Metis and Themis will most likely join forces to hunt me down."
"If I survive by some miracle, then for the sake of the past, my promise to take you away still stands."
"But this will be the last time. Do you understand?"
Here, the ancient serpent seemed to recall something. A small smile curved his lips as he lowered his gaze, his expression calm and his words solemn.
"Oh, and if you can hold out long enough, killing every last one of those who persecuted you, you might even encounter Leonidas landing on the island with his men..."
"He's a decisive man. If you want to survive, don't hold back."
Ana's burning resentment was instantly drowned in terror. In her mind rose visions of mountains of corpses and oceans of blood. Clutching her head, she went pale, shrinking into the corner.
"No, stop! Don't say it! I don't want revenge! I don't want it anymore!"
"I just want to live quietly. I don't want anything to happen to you. I don't want any of you to leave me."
The purple-haired girl slid down against the stone wall, powerless. Shaking her head frantically, she hugged herself, sobbing, her trembling voice thick with tears.
Samael sighed, crouched down, and gently wiped away the sorrowful tears at the corner of Ana's eyes, his face showing both helplessness and heartache.
"Ana, do you understand now?"
"Revenge comes with a price. A price so heavy it demands everything you are..."
Once she had calmed a little, Ana murmured with grievance.
"I never really wanted to keep clinging to revenge, I just..."
She faltered. Her violet eyes darted toward Samael, then snapped away as if burned. Her cheeks flushed as she huffed in frustration.
"I just don't like how she's always clinging to you, deliberately showing off in front of me, and I don't like you constantly bringing her up either!"
"Uh, should I mention her less then?"
The ancient serpent raised his hands in surrender, apologizing humbly.
"No sleeping with her tonight! No comforting her! Let's see what she has left to show off in front of me!"
"No problem!"
Faced with the little girl's petulant demands, Samael leaned into his "fence-sitting, two-faced" nature, nodding with exaggerated bitterness.
"Well, I suppose I'll forgive her for now..."
Ana hesitated, her tone softening. The faint resentment she'd felt toward Athena, born from the thought of one possible future, eased somewhat.
"Forgive? After all you've endured, why should that brat keep trampling over you? I won't stand for it!"
"Huh? So you mean..."
"Of course I mean we'll trample over her instead! Just killing her outright would be boring. I'll keep her around, and you can take time each day to bully her a little—that's far more satisfying!"
Ana stared at Samael, who seemed even more worked up than she was, utterly dumbfounded.
She seriously questioned whether this man was really Athena's foster father. How could he be more outrageous than her, Athena's sworn enemy?
But his over-the-top reaction made her suspicious. Thinking it over, she realized with a jolt that they'd gone full circle. Athena, the true culprit, remained completely unharmed—still living under Samael's care, still receiving his attention.
She, on the other hand, bore the heaviest grievances, burdened with a blood feud, yet could only fight through childish bickering and had even sworn not to truly harm Athena.
Whichever way she looked at it, she was the one losing out!
Realizing this, Ana's anger boiled over. She immediately grabbed Samael's arm and pounded against it furiously.
"Samael! You knew I'd never actually hurt her, and you still scared me on purpose!"
"You made the consequences sound so terrible! Pretending to help me, while secretly pleading for her!"
"And I trusted you so much! You're horrible! I'll bite you to death!"
Ever since Athena had arrived, why was this girl getting harder and harder to fool?
Exposed, the ancient serpent endured the little girl's "mad dog bites" with inward grumbling, while gently stroking Ana's head with a sincere smile.
"The thing is, that little brat Athena just doesn't have the sense my Ana does."
"These are the kinds of things adults talk about, so of course I'd come to you. We're close—we can talk about anything."
"Besides, I knew that little angel, the one even strangers in Uruk would protect, would never kill a child over a mere possibility."
Though still sulking inside, Ana's expression softened slightly, her lips curving upward despite herself.
After all, she was family. That annoying brat was only adopted!
"Satisfied?"
"Hmph…"
"Feeling better?"
"Mhm…"
"Not angry anymore?"
"Tsk..."
When the little girl responded with a half-hearted snort, the knot in her brow finally loosened, her violent aura dissipating. Having achieved his goal through roundabout means, Samael smiled and flicked Ana lightly on the forehead.
"But seriously, you can dislike her, you can bully her, you can compete with her. But at the very least, you should try to get along with Athena."
Though Ana no longer felt intense resentment at Samael's words, her face remained resistant, her displeasure clear.
"To help you reconcile with this world, Leonidas and the three hundred warriors of Thermopylae have already taken a step for the Greeks at the Temple of Aeolus."
"Now it's your turn to show your magnanimity, Lady Goddess."
Samael's gaze grew solemn, his tone firm.
Ana couldn't help but recall the figures who had thrown themselves forward to shield her during the Divine War. Biting her lip, the last of her dissatisfaction faded away. She nodded earnestly.
Seeing that the young girl had untangled most of her resentment and chosen to take a step toward reconciling with the world, the ancient serpent smiled with relief. And then, he dropped another thunderbolt.
"Moreover, I have a feeling that you and Athena are tied to the secret of Greece's fourth divine succession..."
"Don't you want to help Tina? Don't you want revenge? This is our chance."
At those words, the little girl's eyes lit up like stars. She punched the air in excitement, her fighting spirit blazing.
Yes! If it's a game, then let's make it a big one! I'll snatch away everything Athena treasures most to take my revenge!
Yet the hot-blooded little girl failed to realize that in her past life, she'd never truly contended with the Goddess of Wisdom.
And so, before her old rival even officially entered the stage, she had already lost—not only her advantage, but herself as well...