Hera's modern life - Chapter 1

　 I woke up in the morning, facing the sunlight and breeze of the Aegean Sea.
I was happily brushing my teeth. It was worth spending all that money visiting Greece with my buddies for a single bachelor trip. Even the bathroom had windows facing the sea.

　　The next moment, without warning, I turned around and my knees gave out. My head slammed into the sink, and I was splashed with cold water. I managed to keep my body from falling onto the ground. I wiped my mouth full of toothpaste foam and raised my body with the help of my elbow. I saw a completely strange face in the mirror.

　　Black hair, wheat-colored skin, big almond eyes, and long eyelashes like a fan. It made me think of the elegant ancient Greek sculpture I had seen in a museum.

　　But.. who was this?

　　I touched my face, and the beauty in the mirror made the same motion. Moreover, her expression looked both stunned and stupid. She opened her mouth with a dumb look, akin to my current state.

　　…No… it was too unrealistic.

　　I was more surprised that I had not screamed in shock. I used to underestimate my nervous system. Obviously, it was far stronger than I had imagined. Looking at the mirror, I found that the almond-eyed beauty wore the same pajamas as I did, and was still holding the toothbrush in her hand. But because of the fall and the water splash, the pajamas had a large wet spot stuck to her body.

What happened? I asked myself. And as if I typed a word in a search engine, the answers came to my mind. Countless memories flowed into my brain like tides in the deep sea. In that instant, I almost thought that my brain would blow up.

　　I held my forehead as my ears squeaked in pain. My current state was similar to my college days when I played video games for three consecutive days, so much pain. However, I learned everything.

　　It turned out that I was the Goddess of this world.

　　……………………

　　That sentence sounded so narcissistic.

　　But I was really the Goddess of this world. At least of the land that I stood on.

　　Absentmindedly, I spat out the toothpaste foam, pulled a towel out and wiped my mouth. In a state of sorrow, I went back to the bedroom almost sleepwalking, then slammed into the sofa and grabbed my hair in distress.

　　My brain was a mess. I remembered that I was called Han Xiaole. I was 26 years old. I was an accountant in a company. I had an obese pet dog, living with my parents. I had a boyfriend, and we had been together since college. We were supposed to get married in half a month.

But more than that, another memory told me that I had another identity, named Hera, as in the goddess on Mount Olympus. I was a married woman, and my husband was Zeus. We had been married for tens of millions of years, and oh, I also gave birth to four children.

　　I collapsed, burying my face into my hands and I cried. I wished that I had a mental breakdown that led to these delusions.

Was I Hera? The memories of Han Xiaole told me that the people with a little common sense knew this goddess with one word: Jealous Goddess. The recollections of Hera were as clear and informative as a memoir that had been written for millions of years. I remembered everything she knew, and I could recall all her feelings.

I raised my hand and swung it towards the vase. The flowers in it suddenly danced merrily with two leaves twirling around as if they were cheering for me.

　　With a smack, I wished to suffocate myself with the cushion on the sofa.

　　In fact, when I used to be a goddess, I often ran around in this secular human world. Not only me, but other Gods came here as well.

Olympus was not a very interesting place. It was bright enough to make people’s eyes go blind. There was nothing but the endless white clouds and golden light. Yes, the voice of Muse was sweet. Apollo’s harp was pleasant. But after listening to it for tens of millions of years, everyone needed a change.

　　However, at that time, I lost all the memories and powers of Hera and lived for twenty-six years as a normal human being. Twenty-six years were a blink of an eye for the Gods without relevant memories. Despite that, those twenty-six years were the happiest moments of my life.

　　Because finally, I didn’t have to endure the ridicule and irony of the Gods. I was indefinitely searching for the tracks of my husband, driving him away from different women in vain, pleading, crying, or making a big commotion. Everything for one purpose, please don’t betray me, don’t hurt me, don’t leave me to sleep in someone else’s arms.

　　A self-deprecating smile formed on my face. I couldn’t remember why I became like this. I was a Goddess, the Goddess of Olympus, second only to Zeus. No one dared to withhold my memories and my power in this world, except for my husband. No one dared, even those who hated me could only grit their teeth.

　　”Even if you are a goddess, you should pay for your actions! Hera! I declare that you will be deprived of your divinity and will be expelled out of the gate. No one should be appealing to me for you! And I will evict you down to the world. Let you endure human suffering until I think you can receive my forgiveness!”

　　My husband, the God of Thunder, the ruler of everything, was violently roaring at me as I just stood before his throne. There was no sympathy, compassion, or worry, in the eyes of the people around me, instead, there was only ridicule.They were quick to gloat at my sufferings.

But I had completely ignored them. My husband treated me in such a way for the illegitimate child he and the human woman gave birth to. He rebuked me for being mad and not loving enough to accept the child, not worthy of being a goddess.

He screamed at my cold-blooded ruthlessness as I tried to kill a newborn in its cradle. I stared at him and didn’t ask for mercy even when my son and daughter were desperately trying to ask for his forgiveness.

　　In the past, he had so many illegitimate children; the women around him came and went. In the whole Olympus, you would hardly find a goddess who he hadn’t brought into his bed or had no blood relationship with him.

I was angry, I wanted to stop him like crazy, but alas, I had no choice but to compromise. These cold eyes that watched him turn those messy things into epics and legends, could only pretend to know nothing

Miao’s thoughts:
Zeus was the king of the Greek gods who lived on Mount Olympus. He was the god of the sky and thunder.
But he was a big cheater.
With arrogant and proud Hera, their marriage was bound to be quarrelsome and unhappy, given Zeus’s lust.