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Ji Ke Mu held his breath and felt his liver just dropped. She just shouted! The goddess of wisdom just shouted out loud! And he swore there was earthquake just now!

If he remembered it correctly, the only time she lashed out like this was at the Mansion of Mystical Lake, during a banquet to celebrate Deimos and Phobos' coming of age.

The two nephews were doing mischief behind her back and got her into troubles with other gods in the west. And while Athena was always that goddess who were calm and collected, her anger would flare when she couldn't contain it anymore.

"Junior master! Young miss! I think the car was shaking and it's best to switch to another car!" the driver once again knocked upon the partition.

Ji Ke Mu forced himself to get out of his daze and quickly responded to the driver. He told the man to just continue driving and that it was just a minor problem.

Then he turned towards Ji Xia and exclaimed "What the hell was that? Were you trying to bury me in this car?"

Ji Xia herself was in shock. She never thought that her voice could have that kind of power. The car really did shake just now.

Staring at her own hands, she said "How come? I'm a mortal."

"What? Of course you are!" Ji Ke Mu's mouth twitched and he tried his best to hide the cynical tone he was clearly sporting. He almost got a heart attack.

"We're indeed mortals now so I guess it's weird." Ji Ke Mu stated once he calmed down.

Out of nowhere, Harmonia appeared right in front of their eyes as if to answer to their question. She bounced around a few more times before she greeted them.

*Heya! What's up?*

"Don't 'what's up' me. Tell us what happened just now." Ji Xia stared at the flying paper doll.

*Oh, that. If I'm not mistaken, it should be a remnant of power within your memories.*

"Power within our memories?" Ji Ke Mu was taken aback.

*Yes. Supposedly, when you have your memories back, your power is stored within those memories and as mortals, you can't use your power but just remember it.*

*But when Athena screamed like a witch just now, her memories of my dad got over her for a millisecond and she accidentally unleashed her power.*

"Wow.. so it's like that." Ji Ke Mu sounded surprised but he was more jubilant to hear that they weren't completely powerless as mortals.

He definitely didn't notice how Ji Xia's body stiffen by the casual mention of Harmonia's father.

Ji Xia ignored Ji Ke Mu's sparkling eyes and just nodded and muttered a thanks to Harmonia before she chased the doll away. She forced the poor stickman out of the car and used the excuse that Harmonia should keep an eye on her parents to send her away.

Harmonia did as she was told but not before she gave Ji Xi a good stare. There was a subtle smile on her paper face but she hid it well.

After the doll disappeared, Ji Ke Mu squinted his eyes towards his sister. Ji Xia didn't look all that expressive after knowing about their power. In fact, she seemed more irritated now. She even chased Harmonia away.

What made her suddenly change her attitude?

*

When they arrived at the mansion, Ji Xia walked straight towards her room and Ji Ke Mu followed silently from behind. She didn't stop him when he went inside her room with her and leisurely took a seat on her bed.

"What's wrong?" he asked. His voice sounded lazy but his eyes showed otherwise.

"I should be the one to ask you that, Hephaestus." she said without looking at him even once.

"What do you mean?" he raised a brow. Why was she so difficult suddenly?

"On that day when the meeting was over. You looked distracted about something when we were just about to leave the company. Why was that?"

Ji Ke Mu furrowed his eyebrows and suddenly remembered something. He was indeed distracted when he came down to the car. He just met Bai Yulin face to face in Ji Haishan's body. They had a meeting for three hours with him pretending to be unaware of her freaking body swap problem.

He knew it was her- she was a part of Aphrodite. But he couldn't act like he knew.

And worst of all, he recalled the reality of things.

He was reminded of the current situation. He remembered Ares and Aphrodite's pain.

And their unbending love for each other..

"I knew it." Athena suddenly spoke, breaking his trance.

"What?"

"You still have feelings for her." she said it like a statement, causing him to jolt in surprise.

"Gosh Athena-"

Ji Xia pursed her lips and said "Admit it, Hephaestus."

"What's wrong with you? Why so sudden-"

"Admit it, Hephaestus." she repeated, her voice became stern.

"What the hell? Athena, you know that I was just one of those who fell for her spell and-"

"Her spell was strong and there was no way for you to completely be cured from it. You know it too." she explained in a hard tone and for a moment her eyes shone in a flicker of brown.

Ji Ke Mu stopped talking and he stood up, looking upset. Why was she bringing this up now? What was going on?? He thought everything was good.

But her expression showed something else. Like she was condemning him for something he didn't know, or didn't want to acknowledge.

Then Ji Ke Mu balled his hands into fists and asked "Then what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Yes, you! You think I'm blind, Athena?! You've been friends with Ares for a long time! You were the only goddess he was close with! You thought you knew him the most but that wasn't the case!"

"Don't push it to me now, Hephaestus! The problem is with you!"

"And I told you I wasn't in love with Aphrodite anymore! That was in the past! And let me tell you, there were no remnants of that spell anymore! I was completely healed from it!" he raised his voice.

"Then explain to me why you held her hand?!" Ji Xia shouted back. Her patience was out and her claim was finally in the open.

"When did I ever hold her hand? I was with gege all the time-" at this point, Ji Ke Mu realized that the brother he spoke of was indeed Bai Yulin in disguise.

"Come on, Hephaestus. Cousins don't hold hands! And you're both men unless you regarded her as a woman in a man's body." Ji Xia shook her head as she let out a difficult sigh.

Ji Ke Mu's eyes flickered with something unexplainable and for a second, he realized his own mishaps.

He realized his own feelings.

The feelings that he had buried inside his heart for more than two thousands years.

Ji Ke Mu's lips parted slightly and he looked like he was fighting with something inside his head. His face showed a piece of shock and realization.

Then he sat down on the bed again and said with difficulty "Alright, I admit. This is not because of the spell. I'm cured. But I really did fall for her again. Not because of the spell anymore- I really.. I.. just.."

Ji Ke Mu's words got stuck in his own throat. He wanted to believe that he had a chance. He wanted to show to others that he too, could fall for Aphrodite not because of her spell and appearance. Not because of her beautiful face.. just like Ares.

He believed in himself that he could do it. And he did. But it didn't matter for her. For she was in love with another.