The night was mellow, cool light spilling into Hot Spring Ravine. Geothermal warmth rose from below, coating the surrounding green branches and leaves in a layer of moisture.
The girl lay curled on the couch, breathing softly, a sheen of sweat still clinging to her temples. She was clearly exhausted.
Hera approached with light steps. The moment her fingertips touched the girl's hem, the girl fluttered her lashes like a startled kitten. Hera carefully scooped her up in her arms.
So light, like a feather settling into her embrace.
The breeze outside the corridor carried the sulfurous scent unique to hot springs. She lowered her head to look at her, moonlight falling across exactly half her face.
Only when she was asleep was she less afraid of her.
It would actually be fine if she were a little more spoiled.
Mist rose from the open-air hot spring. Hera tested the water first, then removed her "uniform" and bent down to lower her into the water.
As the warm water covered her shoulders, she gave a soft murmur and burrowed closer into Hera's arms, moisture clinging to her lashes like morning dew on butterfly wings.
Hera brushed the stray hair from her cheek. The skin beneath her palm was warm, its temperature mingling with the spring water, all blending into this pool of warmth.
So good.
Still half asleep, Li Jia kept feeling someone taking off her clothes. She struggled to crack her eyes open.
Mist swirled around her, obscuring everything.
Slender, fair hands moved over her body. In the blink of an eye, someone pulled down her pleated skirt. Her whole body soaked in the spring, the comfort making her hum unconsciously.
Li Jia could feel someone else entering the water with her, because she was sitting on that person's lap, with someone supporting her back to keep her from sliding into the center of the spring.
This was Hera's private spring, its dimensions built to fit her figure. When she sat down, the water reached just past her shoulders and neck, but if Li Jia sat down, it would cover her entirely.
Realizing this, Li Jia dared not move around. She even pressed herself against Hera's chest, afraid she would fall.
It was just a little embarrassing.
(There were two more paragraphs here, but Red Persimmon censored them. Head next door if you want to read them.)
What a mess.
Li Jia couldn't help feeling grateful they were in the water, where nothing showed.
Otherwise, how could she ever face anyone again?
After a while, the person holding her still showed no intention of letting go and allowing her to leave. Li Jia could only pretend to cough twice, then slowly open her eyes, looking overwhelmed by the attention. "Your Majesty, where are we?"
It wasn't her fault she couldn't hold out. The hot spring was simply too stuffy and hot. Her whole body was submerged, and another ten-odd minutes would leave her hands all pruney.
"Yellow Springs."
"The spring's name."
Hera answered her question briefly.
That... was a pretty underworld sort of name.
Li Jia struggled to wriggle both hands out from Hera's arms.
I can't soak any longer. Who could stand being slow-roasted at low heat? Better get these paws out to cool off.
As she soaked, something else caught Li Jia's eye.
Apparently, the Divine Sovereign's cup size was only half hers.
An inexplicable pride welled up in her. At last, there was something she could beat her at.
Noticing the little thoughts of the girl in her arms, Hera casually recited an incantation.
Li Jia distinctly felt the peaks against her back grow larger, then smaller, then larger, then smaller, until they returned to normal.
Li Jia: ... Fucking idiot. Was she messing with me like I was Japanese?
"Your Majesty, do you think I'm dirty? Is that why you brought me here for a bath?" Li Jia tried her old trick, imitating the scheming little wives in television dramas. Her voice was sweet and delicate, with a hint of resentment.
"Mm, a little."
Hera's private spring was built at the center of Hot Spring Ravine's wards, where divine power was most abundant and the protection of her divine power was strongest.
It could heal wounds, calm the mind, and relieve fatigue.
Without her permission, no one could see this private spring. Even Winslow and Doreen didn't know it existed.
From outside, it looked like a swamp surrounded by shady trees. No one would know this place was here.
Her divine soul connected Fragrant City Spring Capital and Hot Spring Ravine, barring outsiders from crossing even half a step, but Hera had no desire to govern Fragrant City Spring Capital.
She left truly capable people to take over.
Hera was a very strange god. Not only mortals, but the other gods on the divine mountain said so too.
A god would naturally want everyone to submit to their divine might, yet she had no such desire. What she pursued was equality for all living beings, regarding them all alike.
Li Jia wasn't discouraged by Hera's answer. Anyone else hearing someone call them dirty would immediately pull a face and turn to leave.
Li Jia knew Hera hadn't meant it that way.
After all, a god who had been alone for over a thousand years had acquired an attendant of her own for the first time in her life. It was normal not to know how to get along.
She wasn't going to hold it against her.
Embracing a thorny rose required patience and courage.
"Then can I come bathe here every day? I'll wash myself perfectly clean. I definitely won't dirty Your Majesty's bed."
Li Jia gazed pitifully at the woman. She didn't want to keep going to the little pond to wash every day. Besides, autumn was only three months away, and the weather would grow colder and colder. She wanted to soak in a warm spring.
Hera seemed taken aback, then said, "You may."
"Then can I bring Winslow in too?" Remembering her best friend, Li Jia pushed her luck.
"No. I don't like sharing what belongs to me with others."
An utterly decisive refusal.
Thinking Hera meant the private spring, Li Jia nodded. Fair enough. With something this wonderful, it was already good of Hera to share it with her. Wanting to bring her best friend along really was a little ungrateful.
She could only put her best friend out of her mind.
Hera and Li Jia agreed that only the two of them could know the location of the Yellow Springs private bath.
Seeing the little one's resolute expression, Hera leaned close to her ear and told her the incantation for opening the private spring.
Later, seeing her looking confused, Hera sighed and waved a hand. The private spring vanished.
She told Li Jia she had changed the incantation into a physical form. As long as she came here and touched her ring, the private spring would appear. Likewise, touching it again would make it disappear.
Li Jia understood this. It was just changing a password to a fingerprint lock. She was familiar with that.
Still a little uneasy after explaining, Hera had her demonstrate twice before she felt reassured.
Once they had soaked long enough, Hera stood up with her in her arms, set her on a clean jade slab, and picked up a wool towel to dry the droplets from Li Jia's body.
Li Jia glanced over and discovered that Hera had somehow changed into a long silk nightgown. With such a quick, convenient method, why didn't she dress her directly too?
But they were both girls, so it wasn't a big deal, right? Li Jia didn't dwell on it, taking it as Hera's peculiar preference.
She liked feeding her, bathing her, dressing her, and sleeping beside her at night.
As long as Hera was there, everything that used to trouble her was easily resolved.
Now she had friends, enough food and warm clothes, and never needed to worry about money.
Li Jia had once heard her college roommates chatting about wanting a "dad-type" boyfriend. At first, she had thought they meant an old man, then looked it up online.
It actually meant a male partner who showed a strong desire to protect and care for his partner, along with a sense of responsibility, like a father.
Li Jia hadn't experienced much fatherly love, but she felt that if "dad-type" boyfriends existed, Hera was a "mom-type" girlfriend.
She would quietly take care of everything for her.
During today's visit to the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage, Li Jia had seen a Hera completely different from what she had imagined.
A lofty god should have had no need to handle such trivial matters. Simply enjoying offerings and worship in peace should have been enough.
Doreen and Hera kept striving and fighting for room for their own sex to survive.
It was like those many moments when a girl felt helpless, only to suddenly discover someone behind her supporting and defending her, telling her not to be afraid, working toward the same goal.
Li Jia also understood why the Temple of the Goddess of Marriage received the most worship.
These were prayers and blessings offered willingly.
While Li Jia was lost in thought, Hera had already dried her entire body and helped her into her silk pajamas.
Hera held Li Jia in her arms, where only her back was visible. Those two grapes stood out too much and had to be hidden.
This time, she didn't stroll slowly back. A single Shadow Escape brought them back to the Deep Hall.
Li Jia felt like the big shot's salted-fish accessory. The big shot diligently supported the family, while her job was to look pretty and lie around at home.
Hera set her down, walked to the center of the hall, and lit a lamp, bringing light to the pitch-black room.
Ever since learning that the little one feared the dark, Hera had lit a lamp every evening. Over time, it had become a habit.
Even when Hera wasn't home, the lamp would light itself at the appointed time, watching over the Deep Hall for her all night.
Standing on the floor, Li Jia scanned the hall.
Her gaze soon locked onto the Kuromi backpack on a chair.
While bathing, she had been wondering where her backpack had gone.
Had I lost it?
The more Li Jia thought about it, the sadder she had felt, because it contained the doughnuts she had saved for her late-night snack.
Now, seeing the backpack resting safely on the chair, joy at recovering what she had lost flooded her mind, and she hurried over.
Thank goodness, they haven't gone soft. They still have that crisp, browned texture. Beaming, she sat beside the coffee table by the wooden couch.
She wasn't as tall as Hera, and all the furnishings in the Deep Hall had been custom-made for Hera's size, so she had asked Winslow to find a mortal furniture maker to make a few designs she wanted.
In accordance with rule one of Li's salted-fish principles, Li Jia would do her best to treat herself well within her limited means.
A coffee table, a rug, a sofa, a shoe rack, a trash can...
Unfortunately, this era had no electricity and no one making idol dramas. Otherwise, she could have added a refrigerator and television dramas too.
The once austere, minimalist Deep Hall had acquired a great pile of things that hadn't originally belonged there because of Li Jia's arrival.
Li Jia liked cute pink things and hit it off immediately with Winslow. Whenever she needed something, going to Winslow was always the right choice.
And so, beside the tall black dressing mirror in the Deep Hall hung a Hello Kitty comb on a hook, while a SpongeBob SquarePants trash can sat beside the wood-toned desk in Hera's Deep Hall...
Fortunately, only she and Li Jia could enter the Deep Hall, so Hera let her do as she pleased.
Li Jia took out her milk and doughnuts, ready to thoroughly enjoy her late-night snack.
Two bottles of milk a day was a strict requirement Li Jia imposed on herself, because...
She silently sized Hera up. Modern scientific research indicated that growth plates could still grow before the age of twenty. Li Jia refused to give up just yet.
After finishing her milk, Li Jia had just unwrapped the waxed paper. The icing on the doughnut between her fingertips glittered faintly under the dim lamplight.
Just as Li Jia was about to take her first bite, someone gently tugged her wrist from the side. The next second, the icing-covered doughnut had changed hands.
"Hey! That's mine!"
Li Jia instinctively turned to glare. Hera raised an eyebrow at her with the doughnut between her teeth, a little icing clinging to the corner of her mouth. She swallowed and said, "Very sweet."
"I queued up to buy that. Your Majesty, don't you avoid human food?" Looking aggrieved, Li Jia carefully protected her other doughnut.
"I felt like eating it today."
"Others can eat it, but I can't?"
The chilly question instantly left Li Jia speechless.
Doreen isn't just anyone. What on earth is she getting upset about-
Forget it. I'm not arguing with this lofty, grade-schooler of a Divine Sovereign.
Fortunately, Hera went to bed after finishing it and didn't steal her remaining doughnut.
Li Jia added another key point to her little notebook: buy an extra portion of things from now on. A certain petty someone wanted to eat too.