Made for Min | SOPE

thirty eight | "it is almost the end of an era"

it's been months, so here's a semi quick recap:

the gwan line (the og line before the jungs) was not destroyed. the purebloods now have to find a gwan descendant to rightfully take over the throne. currently there is no definitive mark that labels someone as a gwan descendant.

micah is almost killed by hoseok, and hoseok drinks blood for the first time, going on a rampage that the purebloods have to stop. hoseok accidentally reverts micah's age, and he becomes youthful again (hoseok does not know this). yoongi goes to see micah, sees seokjin and informs him hoseok is alive before wiping his memory.

artemis is at her wits end, ready to do the absolute most.

this is not an eventful chapter at all, but i need calm before actually getting to the more action-y stuff.

Before, life had been easier.

Though Selene had never once seen Artemis, Artemis always found her eyes making their way toward her. She served in her brother's temple, and occasionally, Artemis would pass through just to admire Selene from afar. Her heart thrummed to the beat of a thousand soldiers, but she never once made a move. Why would she? She had a countless number of maidens at her beck and call, and as Selene aged, Artemis knew that her beauty would soon fade. Still, that didn't stop her from watching Selene, the beautiful maiden who knew nothing of the Goddess that kept eye on her.

It was no wonder that Selene had attracted many people.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" her brother, Apollo, asked her one day. Artemis merely shrugged, her eyes unwillingly going to turn to her brother. "She serves me. Aren't I a lucky god?"

"Not too lucky," Artemis murmured. "I've watched her long enough to know that her heart's been wooed by someone else. She'll be leaving you soon."

Though Apollo would have found out eventually, Artemis willingly added fuel to the fire. Ambrogio was his name— and Artemis could see why Selene had become absolutely smitten by him. It was as if he had been blessed by Aphrodite herself with the way the sun would bless his skin. A complete shame that her brother had driven himself to jealousy. At least she never made any irrational decisions, and she would never hurt a human who didn't deserve it. Ambrogio had done nothing except fall in love with the wrong woman.

Thanks to her brother, Ambrogio would never walk under the sun again.

She watched Selene become heartbroken over Ambrogio's sudden disappearance. During the day, she would do what was expected of her, but at night, Artemis would hear her estranged sobs, her pleas to no one that Ambrogio would come back. She would not have intervened; she couldn't, but eventually, Ambrogio found his way onto Artemis's hands.

Forty four days went by with Ambrogio's offers, and Artemis decided to listen to him, something that she would come to learn would be a grave mistake.

"If I could turn back time, I would."

Artemis crushed the magenta lilac in her hand, letting the torn petals fall onto the floor. She turned towards Micah, who only looked at her bemused. Why wouldn't he? Micah felt himself someone completely important— the main character of the story that had been playing out for longer than he would ever dream of being alive. But that was the thing with humans, especially ones as narcissistic as Micah Jung. They thought the world revolved around them, that the universe bent to their will even though they were nothing more than specks of dust.

It's what made it easier to use Micah for her Hail Mary.

"I want the throne to the country back."

Artemis scoffed at the words, and she resisted the urge not to obliterate Micah on the spot. Of course, the lowly human would want the one thing that defined his success back. Something that was never meant to belong to him, but he took all the same. Did Micah not realize he was also a reason for Artemis's current problems? Gazing at the way that Micah bashfully puffed his chest, she knew he didn't.