Chapter 48.2 Seafaring
The residents were still cheering, eagerly recounting Poseidon’s heroic deeds and expressing their gratitude for their King of the Sea.
“Great and merciful King of the Sea, if it weren’t for you saving the entire city from being submerged, turning us from humans into merfolk, we would have long since turned to bones at the bottom of the sea!”
“For three hundred years, the King of the Sea has guarded the seas, protecting us from the invasion of Nordic powers. He has shielded the ocean, the land, and the skies. We love you with all our hearts!”
Venus asked curiously, “Were these merfolk once human?”
“Yes,” Poseidon replied. “I am the guardian of Atlantis. The sinking of Atlantis was caused by the invasion of Nordic waters, not the fate written by the Goddess of Fate. Naturally, I took responsibility for protecting them.”
“Something happened in the Norse pantheon?” Venus was surprised. Adonis had told him various stories about the different pantheons, including the Norse gods. “I never heard the King of Gods mention it.”
Poseidon mocked lightly, “Didn’t you say Zeus is a fatuous ruler? A monarch should not only enjoy power, but also protect his subjects.”
The sea was not only cold and violent. It could also be gentle and protective.
In that moment, Poseidon seemed to shine in Venus’ eyes.
Venus had grown up on Mount Olympus. On the divine mountain, everyone was born a god, but deep down, they were filled with the same flaws as humans. No, it shouldn’t be blamed on human nature…… Gods themselves were flawed, and it was because gods were flawed that the beings they created shared those flaws.
Venus had always been kind-hearted. He believed that the gods existed to protect mankind. But then he learned that humans lived in darkness and suffering, and when Prometheus stole fire for them, Zeus harshly punished him. That made him begin to question the nature of the gods.
He had seen the gods treat human lives as mere trifles, realizing that gods considered themselves superior beings, holding the power of life and death over humans. Venus had long known that overwhelming “power” and “authority” could make anyone bow down in submission. Zeus had such tremendous power and divine authority that he could twist the truth and force him to marry Hephaestus. He couldn’t resist, and even if he tried, it would be useless. This made him loathe those two words for a long time.
Perhaps it was the atmosphere of Mount Olympus he hated. He increasingly longed for the gentle, pure world with Adonis in the forest. There, there were no distractions, no hierarchy, only the carefree, peaceful life that he and Adonis shared.
As Venus looked at the fervent, adoring gazes of the residents, he finally understood what the words “protection” and “responsibility” truly meant.
It turned out that power could be used for protection, not oppression, and authority came with the responsibility to fulfill duties rather than to crush others beneath it.
Venus secretly began to reassess Poseidon in his heart. Despite his pervertedness, he was actually quite kind in other ways.
“I never expected you to be a hero, protecting so many people,” Venus said, envious. “Zeus once favored a young man named Ganymede, but Hera grew jealous of him. I wanted to save him, but I was too weak. I couldn’t protect him, and in the end, Hera turned him into the constellation Aquarius. I couldn’t do anything. Maybe only a god as powerful as you could protect them. All I control are love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation…… Behind my back, they say I’m just a vase who knows nothing but laying in bed and bearing children. I know that’s what they think of me.”
Venus lowered his gaze, his voice softening. “Later, I started to believe that too. I almost forgot that I once wanted to protect others.”
Poseidon raised his hand, about to gently stroke Venus’ cheek.
But Venus took a step back and looked up at him. “Isn’t that what you think too? You’ve kept me locked away in this palace for hundreds of years, like a canary. Wasn’t that just so you could sleep with me?”
Poseidon froze, his hand hanging in mid-air before slowly dropping.
After that day, Venus voluntarily locked himself in the palace and withdrew from the world.
The underwater kingdom was beautiful, and Poseidon was great. He was loved by the masses, revered by the gods.
But Venus remained nothing more than a beautiful accessory, standing at Poseidon’s side.
Poseidon had promised him equal honor. Their statues would always be placed at the same level, but their status in the eyes of the world would never be the same.
The world pursues love, but it can never compare to the greater causes of nation and duty. The world chases beauty, yet often devalues it. People indulge in carnal pleasure, only to call it filthy once they put on their clothes. They revere procreation as something great, but expect its toil to be taken for granted.
Beauty was Venus’ worth. He was fought over and seized because of his beauty. He passed from one man’s bed to another because of his desires. This was his divine nature. Venus didn’t think there was anything wrong with his divine duty. What was wrong was the prejudice that came with it.
But he was also someone with a strong will. Before he came of age, he heard tales of heroes saving beautiful women, and the one he wanted to be was not the beautiful woman, but the hero. When he studied sculpture under Hephaestus, he could never get it right, but he refused to give up. Athena mocked him, calling him nothing but beauty with an empty head, and he resented it. He had no natural talent aside from beauty, but he refused to accept it.
Effort had its rewards. He might have lacked intelligence, but after hundreds of years of hard work, hadn’t he learned the difficult language of Chinese?
Adonis had told him so many stories of defying the heaven, that it felt as though some of them had brainwashed him. He was unwilling to remain a beautiful waste, kept in a gilded cage.
Since childhood, he had always wanted to protect others, not be protected. Beauty didn’t mean fragility. It could also possess a powerful heart.
But slowly, from the white rose to the red rose, as his divine nature overshadowed his personality, he himself forgot.
It wasn’t until he saw Poseidon adored by the citizens, hearing about his protection over the seas, that he remembered his old dream.
……
Venus wasn’t the type to hide his feelings. For the past few days, he had no interest in playing games, and Poseidon knew something was wrong.
But Venus didn’t share his inner turmoil with Poseidon. He thought it would sound ridiculous. How could he tell the great hero who had protected an entire pantheon that he, too, wanted to protect others? The hero would probably just pat his head and say, “Good boy, just stay behind me.”
The more Venus thought about it, the more irritated he became. But he couldn’t even pinpoint why. What a pretentious god.
Seeing him sulking, Poseidon suggested, “Venus, would you like to go out and see something?”
Venus, lacking enthusiasm, replied, “No.”
“What about the surface of the sea?”
Venus perked up slightly. “That sounds good.”
It had been a long time since he had seen the sunlight on the sea.
“Maybe if I see the sun, I’ll feel better,” Venus murmured to himself.
Poseidon’s gaze instantly turned cold, and a hundred assassination plans against the God of Sun flashed through his mind.
Venus’ mood didn’t improve when he saw Poseidon, so why would his mood improve when he saw the sun?
On the sun, Apollo sneezed violently.
……
“I’ll go with you,” Poseidon said.
Venus looked at him. “Are you worried that I might escape?”
Poseidon didn’t confirm nor deny. “What if you encounter a storm? It’s not safe.”
Venus: “Isn’t the storm under your control? Are you in a bad mood now?”
Poseidon shook his head. “When Atlantis sank, the waters from the north still flooded in. Some storms aren’t caused by me. But with my power, I can suppress them if they come.”
Venus nodded and, together with Poseidon, they swam up to the surface of the sea.
They were quite lucky. As soon as they broke the surface, they encountered……
A massive storm.
Poseidon said, “You should head back.”
Venus frowned. “There’s a ship, it’s about to capsize!”
On the surging sea, a fishing boat was rocking wildly in the huge waves. The crew clung to the mast, their faces filled with terror.
The trident appeared in Poseidon’s hand as he spoke in a deep voice, “I will handle it.”
Venus’s expression was determined. “I can do it too.”
Venus held his palm upward, and instead of the pink bubbles symbolizing love, a swarm of cute blue bubbles emerged. The bubbles grew in number, and the divine power contained within them also grew stronger.
Poseidon glanced at him but didn’t immediately use his trident to calm the storm. He left the opportunity for Venus to show off his skills.
The seemingly harmless bubbles plunged into the storm. Venus waited anxiously. This was the first time he had summoned the power of the sea, and he wasn’t sure if he could succeed.
The tiny bubbles entangled with the raging storm, and to his surprise, the storm began to subside. The sea grew calm once again.
The stunned fishermen, still in shock, saw the golden-haired and beautiful god in the sea, and exclaimed one after another, “It’s the Goddess of Love and Beauty! I’ve seen her statue!”
“She protected us!”
The fishermen knelt down and worshipped, promising to build a temple for Venus when they returned.
Venus, feeling embarrassed by such gratitude, quickly turned away and dove into the sea, swimming off at great speed.
Poseidon silently smiled and swam up beside him.
“That was impressive,” Poseidon said.
Venus, feeling a bit embarrassed, said, “If it were you, it would be effortless.”
“There are too many storms for me to handle alone. I’ll need you to help share the burden from now on,” Poseidon chuckled lightly. “The God of Seafaring.”
Seafaring.
This was a divine role that Venus had never taken on before, but today, it was finally activated.
Venus froze for a moment when he heard those words, turning to look at Poseidon.
The sunlight broke through the clouds and poured down onto the sea, illuminating Poseidon’s handsome face. His deep blue eyes sparkled with radiant light. In that moment, his gentle and tranquil expression seemed to briefly overlap with Adonis’ golden pupils, giving Venus a fluttering feeling, like pink bubbles swirling around.
But he knew very well that the God of Sea before him was not Adonis.
Venus’ heart skipped a beat.
Sorry, but it seemed, perhaps, maybe—
He had fallen in love again.
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