A gentle smile appeared on his face. "Beautiful Clymene, I know what you want to ask. But you don't need to overthink it, and you certainly don't need to worry."
"Go on, catch up to the Mother of All Things. Everything you want to know, the Mother already knows. Go ask her."
Clymene lowered her head slightly, her pearly teeth lightly biting her own lip, still hesitating.
She had to carefully gauge and ponder His Majesty the God-King's mood and true thoughts.
Zeus saw right through her concerns and couldn't help but chuckle softly. "What is it? Do you think I would quarrel with you over such a small matter? Go on, but remember to come back quickly."
"Since you arrived, this temple of mine has indeed become well-ordered. Those little girls are much more well-behaved than before."
"With you here to teach them, they've finally settled down, and that truly gratifies me. This temple of mine can hardly do without you now, not even for a moment."
"I even worry that ten thousand years from now, if you leave, what kind of chaos I'll be left with. I'm afraid by then I won't be able to do without you at all."
These gentle, intimate words from Zeus soothed Clymene's heart a little.
She smiled and said softly, "Your Majesty's grace is something Clymene can never repay. As long as Your Majesty wills it, Clymene will forever obey Your Majesty's will."
Zeus chuckled. "Go."
"Yes." Clymene bowed deeply, withdrew humbly from the temple, and then turned into a ribbon of azure water-light, hurrying in pursuit in the direction the Mother of All Things had gone.
Only, the Mother of All Things was moving far too quickly!
She could not completely shatter space to return home directly, but she could tear open space in "short-range" jumps, warping her way back to Earth.
That speed was already hundreds of times faster than light!
In just a short while, she was nearly back to her earthly temple!
No one knew what exactly she was so afraid of.
In the end, Clymene still could not catch up.
Only when she reached the awe-inspiring temple of the Mother of All Things upon the earth did Clymene finally see Gaia.
Seeing her, Gaia was inwardly startled.
She thought Zeus was up to some new trick again and had deliberately sent Clymene to summon her back.
Only after Clymene explained her purpose did Gaia finally set her mind at ease.
She then told her, exactly and in full, everything she had just learned from Zeus.
Since Zeus had already permitted her to come, he must have permitted her to be told.
Besides, there was nothing here that could not be said.
With Gaia, Clymene finally learned everything she wanted to know.
She likewise did not doubt Zeus's words.
The gods generally trusted the character of this newly appointed God-King (except when it came to matters involving goddesses).
His credibility was second only to that of the goddess of Justice, who was absolutely sacred and just.
On the way back to Olympus, Clymene's heart was both sorrowful and resentful.
Of course, she did not hate Zeus.
The God-King had been more than lenient.
She hated Iapetus!
Her husband, whom she had once revered and loved beyond measure!
In this world she had lived every day in fear and trembling.
Every day she had thought about how to pull her own god out.
Everything she did was for her husband and child!
It was for the House of Iapetus!
And the result?!
His Majesty the God-King's vast grace had already been laid out before him!
Yet he still foolishly swore fealty to that detestable old God-King who had long since been cast aside by the times!
Could he not think even a little for his own family?!
Could he not think, even a little, of his own wife and child?!
Your child, because of your foolishness, has already been thrown back into Tartarus along with you!
Do you know what kind of place that is!
In that moment, Clymene truly hated Iapetus to the core.
She felt that all her past efforts had been so foolish, so laughable!
She had even dragged down the immeasurable honor of her father, and even made her father risk gravely offending the God-King!
And in fact, he had already been offended.
Was everything she had paid so unimportant in her husband's eyes?
Was only his so-called "faith" and "loyalty" what mattered most?
Was it still not enough?!
Were all these costs still not enough?!
You have already been cast into Tartarus along with the old God-King!
No matter what kindness or loyalty there had been, surely it has been repaid by now, hasn't it?!
And yet you would still drag your own child along with you, to march straight down this dead-end road into the dark!
Hopeless.
All hopeless!
Even if they are rescued, sooner or later they will still be thrown back in!
The noble Oceanid grew ever more aggrieved the more she thought, and ever more shattered.
She could no longer bear this boundless despair, heavy as the cosmos itself, and suddenly wheeled around, hurtling madly toward the distant ocean.
Reckless, heedless, she wept aloud all the way as she rushed to the ocean that had birthed and raised her.
The Oceanid's tears of grievance, mingled with the tears of utter collapse, poured down like a torrential storm along her path.
Across the land beneath her course, one clear yet sorrowful lake after another formed anew.
She plunged straight into the majestic temple at the ocean's deepest place, not caring in the least that her brothers and sisters were within.
She flung herself into the arms of her mother, Tethys, knelt and lay prostrate across her mother's lap, and wailed aloud.
Clymene's reaction truly frightened the Ocean God and his wife, as well as all the gods within the hall.
This daughter of theirs had always been so strong and wise, and her temperament unfathomably resilient. She had always been soft on the outside and steely within.
They had never seen her so aggrieved and shattered as she was at this moment.
The Ocean God rose in anger at once!
But after he sprang to his feet, he realized he still did not know what had happened.
His brows knit deep, and he waved his hand forcefully, first sending the children in the hall out.
Though the ocean gods were also full of worry, they obediently withdrew for the time being.
For a moment, only the three of them were left within the temple.
A child's dignity must always be protected.
The goddess Tethys held her daughter tightly. Seeing her like this, her own heart twisted in pain.
The gentlest and most loving mother of the ocean was already weeping sad tears along with her daughter.
In this world, what mother could bear to watch her beloved child suffer to the point of wanting to die?
"Child... My child, what on earth has happened? What is it? What exactly has happened?"
"All right, all right, Mother is here, and your Father is here too. Don't cry anymore. Whatever it is, your father and mother are at your side."
"My child, please don't cry anymore. Your tears pierce your mother's heart to the core."
Tethys's tears fell together with her daughter's, and there was no stopping them.
The Ocean God's eyes were already bulging with rage. Forcing down the fire in his heart, he spoke in a voice that was barely gentle, soothing her softly: "Clymene, my beloved child, what exactly has happened?"
"Your father is right here. Whatever it is, your father will see justice done for you!"
"My dear child, please don't cry anymore. Look at your mother—she is heartbroken because of your tears. How can you bear to let your mother suffer as you are suffering?"
Though the Ocean God tried his utmost to keep his tone gentle, the entire ocean was already surging with endless, raging waves along with his anger!
Upon the surface, the roar of the waves was like thunder, and titanic billows rose one after another, as if to overturn heaven and earth!
Even beneath the water, hidden currents surged, danger everywhere!
Now the entire ocean had become a veritable domain of death!
This loving old father god was easy to deal with in many matters.
But do not, under any circumstances, harm his beloved child!
Though he had been confined to the ocean by Zeus, in truth, this hardly counted as severe punishment.
More accurately, it was "confinement to reflect on his mistakes," scarcely punishment at all.
Compared to punishment, what weighed heavier on his heart was having betrayed Zeus's trust.
During this time, he had been deeply reflecting at home.
He had already resolved that the kind of low-level blunder with Menoetius would never, ever be repeated!
Henceforth he must be even more loyal to His Majesty the God-King!
Whatever His Majesty entrusted to him must hereafter be handled with even more care—care, and more care!
Only in the past few days had he finally managed to hold a feast with his children, the whole family in happy harmony.
And then this happened!
He truly could not accept it!
His heart was already seething with fury!
Clymene, lying prostrate across her mother's lap, slowly raised her fair head after hearing the Ocean God's words.
But at a glance she saw her mother's face, grief-stricken and wet with tears.
She thought of how her parents were confined at home for a full one hundred thousand years on her account.
Her heart felt even more that it was not worth it, and she felt even sorrier toward her parents.
The tears that had just been about to stop now flowed even more fiercely and in torrents.
"Mother! Mother! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
Clymene wept all the more bitterly.
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