Only you

Li Jia lay wide-eyed in bed, unable to sleep no matter what she tried. An implausible sense of unreality lingered in her heart.

Only when Hera returned from the dock after returning the key to "No. 32" to the vendor, pushing the wooden door open with a creak, did Li Jia come back to herself.

She stood up helplessly, looked at Hera, then quickly lowered her head again, staring at the wooden floor. She thought that if her eyes were lasers, they would probably have bored two holes through the hull.

Hera came over and took her hand. "What are you thinking about?"

Li Jia pressed her lips together, a little hesitant. "Your Majesty, are we really going to form a marriage bond, then enter it in the marriage register?"

Even Li Jia found the question absurd once she asked it. This was no different from the person you liked telling you, "Let's get our marriage certificate tomorrow." The sudden dizziness made even her breathing quicken.

Li Jia felt she had a touch of pre-marriage anxiety.

She gripped Hera's hand, her knuckles whitening slightly, and poured out everything she had been holding inside. "Can we not get the certificate and enter it in the marriage register? I don't think it's time yet. You're a deity. How can a deity take an attendant as her wife? And there's Winslow and Doreen. How am I supposed to explain this to them after just one trip?"

Hera paused and frowned. She still hadn't managed to put her completely at ease.

She moved behind Li Jia and slowly wrapped both arms around her waist, gathering her entirely into her embrace. She buried her face against her neck, resting her chin lightly on her shoulder. Shallow breaths brushed behind Li Jia's ear, bringing faint wisps of warmth. "I like you. I like you."

There were no elaborate arguments, no grand promises, only that one straightforward confession. Like a feather landing softly on her heart, it instantly quelled all of Li Jia's panic.

All right, then.

In any case, I'll leave this world once I complete the mission. If I can't, then forming a marriage bond with me now does, to some extent, avert the risk of her marrying Zeus.

Compared with a deity's, a mortal's lifespan was nothing but a fleeting wisp of smoke, too insignificant to count.

Then let me grant my own wish, and hers.

Whether in modern society or after transmigrating into this era, Li Jia had never been in a relationship.

For one thing, the pressures of life took up most of her time. For another, she had worked far too many different jobs to make ends meet, going to every corner of society.

Li Jia had seen plenty of young couples and newlyweds go from sweetness at the beginning to hurling abuse once the love was gone. The outcome was always the same.

Yet at this moment, held in Hera's arms, her heart felt as though it rippled with warm water, happiness flowing through every pore of her body.

That's right.

The train moves forward. Where it goes doesn't matter; what matters is the scenery outside the window.

Love arrives suddenly, and the flutter of the heart should be passionate and hasty too.

One day, you happen to meet someone, and she suddenly appears in your life. You might not notice it at the time, but her appearance has already changed your life.

Li Jia turned her face and kissed Hera's cheek of her own accord. Her voice was hoarse. "Hera, you like me?"

Hera held her tighter, leaving even less space between them. "Yes, I like you."

Li Jia continued, "I can't control what happens in the future, but as long as I'm alive, you can only like me. Otherwise, I won't let you off even as a ghost."

Hera smiled, her thumb gently stroking Li Jia's cheek, her voice as firm as an oath. "First, I won't let you die, much less let anything happen to you. Whether in Wave Capital or when greater troubles come later, I'll stand in front of you. I will never let you suffer the slightest injustice again."

Hera released the hands holding her in place, then gathered her tightly into her arms instead, gently patting her back. Her voice softened further, but every word remained clear. "Second, there won't be anyone else. There will only be you. There was no one before, there is no one now, and there never will be anyone else."

With even a deity saying that, Li Jia felt she would be failing to appreciate what she had if she kept dithering.

It's just a promotion, from subordinate to the boss's wife.

In any case, I only have one life, and it's one that has already ended and been refreshed and reset.

Whatever I want to do, I should just do it.

Life is short. Enjoy it while I can.

If I go against my own heart now, does that mean I won't have to die?

Even if I complete the mission and return to the modern world, I'll only have a few decades. Letting those few decades get in the way of my experiences and feelings would be far too poor a bargain.

Once Li Jia thought it through, everything became clear.

People shouldn't make life difficult for themselves.

"Then let's go home."

With that command, Li Jia pointed to the little mountain she had piled behind the door. These were all gifts she wanted to take back for her friends.

Buying only accessories seemed a little inconsiderate, so Li Jia had bought some dried goods too. Seafood was abundant here, but bringing it all back alive would be rather difficult.

Li Jia had bought plenty of dried scallops, dried oysters, dried cuttlefish, starfish, and the like. They were excellent for making slow-simmered soups.

Hera felt a headache coming on. "Didn't you buy a little too much? Where did you get the gold coins?"

She didn't remember giving her any money.

"I asked the merfolk chief. He said he'd give it to me for free, but I didn't think that was right. As a deity, Your Majesty can't take so much as a needle or thread from the people. I have to lead by example too."

Li Jia stole a guilty glance at her. "So I bought everything on credit. Once we return to Hot Spring Ravine, Winslow will receive the bill."

Hera: "..."

Li Jia smiled, the corners of her lips lifting. "I'm helping you socialize, big sister. Friendship is all about give-and-take."

"Friendship?"

That was a novel word.

It wasn't as though she couldn't afford to support her anyway. She could do as she pleased.

Dragging her suitcase, Li Jia habitually wrapped both arms around Hera's neck. Hera held her with her left arm and carried the sack of "gifts" she had bought in her right hand, returning to Hot Spring Ravine with a single Shadow Escape.

What exactly did being in love feel like?

Li Jia wasn't quite sure, but she felt that she and Hera were growing closer and closer. Their relationship was no longer what it had been when they first met, when she had approached Hera with an agenda and Hera had approached her with suspicion.

Li Jia couldn't say exactly how it had changed. In any case, she liked how it felt now.

One trip away, and the coworker you got along with had transformed into the boss's wife.

As a shipper of Hera and Li Jia, Winslow supported this with both hands and feet raised. Why let fertile water flow into someone else's fields? Why couldn't it stay in their own home?

Winslow was overjoyed. With Li Jia marrying Hera, Hot Spring Ravine had a mistress, and her anxious heart could finally settle completely.

Back when her divine lord had taken her and Doreen in from the Northern Territory, when they first came to Hot Spring Ravine, she had feared this unsmiling, ice-cold woman from the bottom of her heart.

Later, slowly, ever so slowly, Winslow discovered that Hera was the best deity in the world. Hot Spring Ravine became her and Doreen's home, and gradually, Winslow no longer wanted Hera to marry out and become someone else's wife.

If she married someone else, Ancient Greek tradition dictated that she take her husband's surname. Winslow hated the thought that a woman so pure as ice and snow would take some unknown man's surname, leave Hot Spring Ravine, and move into her husband's divine residence.

It was a small selfish wish of hers. Li Jia's arrival had cut off that possibility she hated.

Most importantly, her divine lord liked her.

For the first time in over a thousand years, Winslow saw signs of a withered tree returning to spring in the deity's once-stagnant eyes.