Beauty of Thebes

Chapter 45: Throw Away Your Radiance

Hestia threw the hair up in the air. Apollo grabbed it at the right timing. The softness of the hair in his hand was familiar. He only realized it now. The image of Eutostea lying on the ground with an arrow piercing her flesh came to mind. Even in his dreams, her skin was submerged in the red-necked river. Was it an indication of her future lying in a pool of blood?

‘It’s my fault,’ Apollo lamented in his heart.

“What should I do, Hestia? I’d like some advice from your point of view. I’m… new to this.”

Looking at the goddess about to leave for Olympus, Apollo asked her with genuineness. Hestia was surprised and looked to see if the prideful god before him was Apollo.

“You… look confused.”

Apollo’s red eyes became clear. It looked like it’d shed tears again.

“You caught me crying. There’s no point in trying to pretend,” Apollo said.

“Where had that conceited god gone to? It’s the first time you’ve shed away your pride and talked to me like this. It’s the first time.”

“It’s not the first time,” Apollo corrected her.

Hestia snorted with excitement. “When you proposed to me, you were stiff. It sounded like I’m supposed to accept because it was an honor to do.”

“Let’s stop talking about it.”

Apollo turned a blind eye to his own dark history. He knew he had dug his own grave.

Hestia looked back at him and murmured, “I think it’s a new beginning to admit that you’ve lost. You’ve always been a symbol of pride and victory. You’re the sun god, you shine brighter than anyone. But don’t be stubborn to win over those you care about. That’s my advice. If you want to be with Eutostea, you can’t be as you are now. There are things you need to change.”

Hestia moved her hands and flamed appeared. The swaying little flames darted from her fingers and went into the brazier. Hestia stared at its movements with a benevolent gaze. The flame was a living creature to her.

She showed all sorts of things with the brazier.

Hestia recalled Eutostea’s facial features again. Those brown eyes, which had been immersed in the abyss, seemed to hold a secret, so she listened quietly.

The scarlet light illuminated her white chin.

Hestia moved her lips again. “Through her tribute, I felt her essence. The mortal woman is like a wick of a lantern. It doesn’t shine brightly in the sun, but in the dark, it is as dependable as a source of light, similar to a moonlight becoming desperate to light the dark night. But no matter how strong the lantern’s wick is, the light will go out when the oil supporting it shakes.”

Hestia took her hand off the brazier and looked at Apollo.

“If you want to make her happy, don’t shake her like oil, but be a firm wax that holds her down. Be the light that burns, stably illuminating up the darkness.”

‘I wonder if you can do that.’

Hestia stared straight at Apollo and spat out her thoughts.

“Will you be able to throw away your radiance and bend down for her? If you had asked me this before, I would have said no, but now I’m a little skeptical. I admire you for throwing off that laurel wreath. This is the end of my advice. Everything you do is in your hands.”

Hestia didn’t forget to add an afterword soft and silent as if it was meant only for Apollo and not to privy ears.

“Remember, you’re not the only one who’s attracted to light like a moth.”

No matter how godly they were, they, too, were servants of time. They had their ends and beginnings. This was Hestia’s warning.

The goddess turned into an opaque gas and gradually disappeared, riding on the smoke emitted by the brazier.

“…I have to throw away my own radiance…”

Apollo stared at the braided hair in his hand. It was the only insignificant-looking thing that caught his heart among the magnificent tributes offered to him. Apollo put the braided hair around his forehead and knotted it so that it would not unravel.