Gods… are nothing more than beings slightly stronger than others.
Such a statement might seem commonplace to modern people, accustomed to countless literary and cinematic portrayals of gods and demons without ever truly encountering one.
But to someone born in a world ruled by deities, a being crafted by their very hands, it was nothing short of blasphemy.
The moment Alaric's words fell, Pandora's laughter rang out.
In that soft laugh were scorn, sorrow, and a trace of ridicule.
"Gods… just beings a little stronger than others? Ha… who are you, to say something like that?"
Alaric paid her mockery no mind.
"Me? You should know me," he said, finally stepping right up to her.
"If you had listened to my warning back then, perhaps the disaster would still have come, but you wouldn't have ended up like this."
"Me? Listen to your warning?" Pandora's eyes widened in sudden shock. Only now did she realize why that voice had felt so familiar moments ago.
She snapped her head up, fixing her gaze on the man before her.
Though the cave was shrouded in darkness and the rain outside kept all light from filtering in, Pandora was no ordinary person, she could clearly make out his face.
"It's you?"
It was the very same man who had looked at her with pity, who had warned her about Zeus's plot.
But as she studied Alaric more closely, she noticed something else.
"The hydra… and the cockatrice… You killed them both, it was you who saved me… You've been protecting me all along, haven't you?"
When the truth dawned on her, Pandora's tears began to fall.
She flung herself into Alaric's arms, sobbing as though she were a lost little girl who had finally found her kin, wanting to pour out every grievance she had suffered.
Alaric had intended to lecture her further, but with warm, soft beauty suddenly pressed against him, all his harsh words evaporated.
Between sobs, Pandora cried out.
"I knew it… I knew someone would love me, care for me… I never thought the one who truly cared… would be you… I should have guessed it long ago…"
Hearing her pitiful confession, Alaric found himself at a loss for words.
How was he supposed to respond? Say, "Actually, I wasn't looking after you, I was just letting you suffer so you'd toughen up"?
Anyone with an ounce of sense wouldn't choose that moment to reveal such a truth.
But what reason could he give for not stepping in earlier while she was suffering?
Before he could come up with an answer, Pandora solved the problem herself.
"I… I know. My distrust must have hurt you," she said between sobs.
"I admit… I should have believed you back then… You must have avoided me all this time because of that, right?
I'm so sorry… I was wrong. I promise I'll believe every word you say from now on… Please forgive me, don't hide from me anymore, all right?"
So… was this girl's imagination always this overactive?
Or was it simply that, as the first woman in the world, she embodied every womanly trait, complete with a "love-struck" heart?
Whatever the reason, faced with her tearful apology and coy pleading, Alaric had no effective counter.
All he could do was stroke her hair and murmur, "Don't worry, don't worry… I forgive you. I won't leave you."
It took quite some time before Pandora's crying finally subsided. Alaric then took out some jerky he had prepared earlier and held it up to her lips.
It was cockatrice meat, left over from after Alaric had slain and cooked the beast.
The taste was quite good, and as a magical creature, its flesh contained far more nutrition and energy than that of any ordinary animal.
Yet as soon as he fed her a bite, she burst into tears again.
"So it was you… You were the one who killed the cockatrice that saved me that day… I remember this taste…"
Women are made of water, the ancients had not lied.
After all this, Pandora finally fell asleep in Alaric's arms.
These past few days she had been exhausted and starving, constantly on edge against sudden attacks.
Now, with food in her belly and the safety to rest without fear, she had found something rare indeed.
Perhaps afraid that Alaric might leave her again, she clung to him even in her sleep like an octopus, making it hard for him to move.
With such beauty nestled close, her alluring form pressed against him, Alaric inevitably felt his blood stir. But he was not a man without restraint.
Although Pandora had once openly invited him, at that time it had been out of self-destructive despair.
Now that she had found new hope, she would not wish to lose her first time in such a murky, desperate state, no girl would want that, and Alaric understood.
So he simply held her in that position. After a while, boredom set in, and eventually he too drifted off to sleep.
…
Alaric awoke to a tickling sensation.
Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Pandora's breathtaking face.
His head was resting on her soft thighs, and she was gazing down at him dreamily, fingers playing with his hair.
"What's so interesting about my face?"
Puzzled, Alaric then realized that during his sleep, the time limit on his disguise magic had expired, revealing his true appearance.
"So… this is what you really look like?" Pandora murmured softly. "Far more handsome than I imagined."
It seemed that when it came to being a looks-connoisseur, Pandora indeed fit the type.
"When did you wake up?" Alaric asked, sitting up. Overnight, their manner toward each other had become almost like old friends.
"Not long before you," Pandora replied with a graceful smile, though her eyes were still a little red. "But just in time to see your real face."
Alaric nodded.
Pandora tilted her head. "Your disguise… it's not from some tool, is it? It's some kind of special power, isn't it?"
"That's right," Alaric said, pointing to the flames nearby and the scene outside the cave. "These are also the result of that same power. I call it 'magic.'"
Beside him burned a jar of Fiendfyre without fuel, an everlasting torch from the Harry Potter world's magic. Though not the most powerful spell, it would burn endlessly.
And outside, the floodwaters had already risen to a man's waist, yet at the cave's entrance, they were held back by an invisible barrier, unable to pass within.
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