The Doll for the Fate Goddess Clotho

Time flew by, and three days later…

In a private room, Promise completed the wooden figurine of the Goddess of Fate, Clotho.

Meanwhile,

In the back hall, Hecate, who was playing with her familiar Underworld Butterflies out of boredom, looked at the boy, who came over.

Looking at the finished product handed to her, she gave him a sidelong glance. "I thought the gift you were making for the Goddess of Fate would be a statue of yourself."

"Why would Goddess Clotho like a statue of me? And look how cute this one is!" Promise proudly held up the figurine.

He had intricately carved Clotho down to every last detail, even including the crystal ball she always held.

"Goddess Hecate, could you please do me a favor?" he asked.

Hearing this, Hecate didn't need to ask what he wanted to do.

She reached out, took the figurine, tapped it lightly, and in an instant, the wooden carving was imbued with colour, turning lifelike as if it were a miniature version of Clotho herself, ready to come to life at any moment.

Promise stared at the doll in front of him, in awe, then looked at Goddess in surprise. "Goddess Hecate, you're amazing! Just a simple touch and it feels like she's alive!"

However, Hecate turned away, not answering.

Alive, indeed.

'Even though you haven't mastered the technique completely yet, you're using Hera's golden apple tree to make a statue, how could it not come to life?'

To be honest, Hecate hadn't coloured the figurine at all, she had just lifted the enchantment that masked its presence, allowing the goddess to sense it.

This temple of hers was protected by magic, preventing any other deity from detecting her presence.

So, by lifting the restrictions on the figurine and subtly notifying the goddess, Hecate had, in essence, awakened the doll.

Then, just as the goddess was thinking about whether she should explain this to Promise—or let the goddess of Fate herself reveal it—she suddenly noticed what he was doing.

"What are you doing?" Hecate's red eyes looked speechlessly at the young man who was playing with the puppet in front of her.

The boy didn't answer, in fact, he was curiously poking the doll's cute face, marvelling as he did so,

"This is incredible, Goddess Hecate! The texture of the skin is so realistic, soft and lifelike. You're really the best, Goddess Hecate!"

Promise played more enthusiastically while praising Hecate.

He held the doll in his hands, touching it here and pinching it there, completely unaware of Hecate's increasingly strange gaze beside him.

At that very moment, in the ancient temple of fate, Clotho's older sister, Lachesis, was looking at her sister with concern.

Because she found that Clotho was trembling all over and even her fists were clenched…

So strange.

Hecate remained silent, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

After all, Clotho herself wasn't saying anything—what else could she say?

Especially since this was all too entertaining.

Until later, when Promise's behaviour became even more outrageous, as he lifted the doll, preparing to sneak a peek underneath, Hecate finally had enough as she smacked the boy on the head.

"What do you think you're doing, manhandling a goddess like that?"

Promise finally came back to his senses, smiled awkwardly at Hecate, and looked puzzledly at the puppet in front of him whose expression did not change at all.

But he could've sworn he saw her shake her fist for a moment. And despite being a figurine, the boy felt that it seemed… angry?

"Hm, no matter how I look at it, Goddess Clotho is indeed very cute. but... why do I always feel like something is missing?"

Then he stared at the doll seriously for a while and suddenly muttered so.

And as he spoke words,

Hecate glanced at the doll only to find that her anger had completely dissipated in a moment.

'She's so easy to please, I'm not the same as her!' Hecate pouted.

"Goddess Hecate, could you take me to the Temple of Fate?" Promise asked, turning his attention back to her. "I want to deliver this gift to her right away!"

*Do you think I'm omnipotent or something?* Hecate wanted to roll her eyes at him, but seeing Clotho's reaction and knowing that she was listening to everything, she merely nodded.

So, she pretended to cast a spell, telling Promise to close his eyes, while in reality, she was simply adjusting the threads of fate to guide him to the temple, as she had done many times before.

In the grand temple woven from the threads of destiny itself, as soon as Promise arrived and opened his eyes…

He was met with Clotho, who had been kneeling beside him, waiting impatiently for a while to deliver a sharp whack to his head with her crystal ball!

Overcome with embarrassment and anger, the goddess put more strength into it this time, causing the boy to faint immediately.

.

.

.

.

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After a while, in the Temple of Fate.

Promise woke up from the lap of his sickly second sister, Lachesis.

At the same time,

Nearby, the petite goddess Clotho, dressed in the classic white robes of ancient Athens with a few strands of white hair falling out, had her back turned to the boy.

She held her crystal ball tightly, looking like she did not want to speak to him.

"What did you do?" Lachesis asked with a soft cough, glancing at Clotho and then at Promise, who had just sat up with a confused expression feeling genuinely curious.

After all, the last time they had conspired for a long time to hold Promise down but Clotho hadn't been able to bring herself to hit him hard.

"I really don't know!" Promise responded, still bewildered.

He then looked toward Clotho. "Um… Goddess Clotho?"

However, Clotho turned her head away even more, showing she had no intention of talking to Promise or even pay attention to him.

As Promise found himself at a loss for what to do…

"What's this?" Lachesis asked, picking up a small Clotho doll that had fallen to the side.

"That's a gift I prepared for Goddess Clotho," the boy explained, pausing before adding, "And it's carved from the wood of the Golden Apple Tree!"

At this point, Promise couldn't help but glance back at Clotho, hoping she'd be happy… although he still didn't understand why she had suddenly become upset.

But was Clotho being angry really that unusual?

Now that he thought about it, whenever they met, she was usually pouting or angry.

So Promise had gotten used to it by now.

Anyway, she was cute no matter what.

However, because his attention was fixed on Clotho, Promise failed to notice the peculiar expression on Lachesis's face beside him.

Lachesis glanced at Clotho and the doll in her hand then stretched out a finger and gently scratched the tiny foot of the doll.

Then, she immediately saw Clotho trembling all over and turning around angrily.

Finally realizing what was going on, she almost couldn't hold back her laugh.

If she hadn't seen her bashful sister raising her crystal ball, ready to throw it at any moment, she would've laughed out loud.

Barely restraining herself, recalling Clotho's strange behaviour earlier, Lachesis cast a sidelong glance at Promise and briefly considered whether she should give him a good kick.

"By the way, if this gift is for my sister, why don't you carve yourself and give it to my sister?" Lachesis asked, her tone half-joking.

Promise looked at her in confusion, puzzled as to why she would ask the same question as Hecate.

"Because Goddess Clotho is so cute, and… I don't know why, but I just felt this was the best gift I could give her," Promise answered sincerely.

That flash of inspiration he had that day told him this was the right choice.

Cute?

Lachesis looked at the doll in her hand and immediately nodded in understanding.

But she still thought the best gift would've been a statue of himself.

As she was lost in these thoughts…

"Now that I think about it, I've always felt like something was missing," Promise murmured, taking the doll back from Lachesis and beginning to fiddle with it absentmindedly.

Lachesis watched as Clotho's expression shifted from one of annoyance to one of anger.

Then she suddenly turned around with a dark face and walked towards Promise with gritted teeth.

Looking at her sister, Lachesis was so frightened that she quickly stood up and left the place to move to a safer distance, joining her older sister, who had remained silent the whole time, to watch the scene unfold.

"I bet Promise is definitely getting beaten up by our sister this time!" Lachesis gleefully whispered to their eldest sister, Atropos.

That was pure overworked frustration talking!

"I don't think so," Atropos responded emotionlessly.

Hearing this, Lachesis was stunned, and looked at her in confusion as she asked, "Why not?"

"Because in the end, our sister simply can't bear to do it… She's not actually angry, just embarrassed," Atropos said calmly.

Lachesis fell silent at those words and quietly moved a bit farther away from Atropos.

It's one thing to notice, but it's entirely different to say it out loud.

Meanwhile, Clotho, who had reached Promise and was biting her lip, was about to take action when...

"Ah, I get it now!" Promise suddenly exclaimed.

Having said this, he pulled out his pure white feathered brush from his body and lightly touched the eyes of the small Clotho doll in his hand.

Suddenly, sky-blue eyes, as bright as the heavens, appeared on the doll.

Then the doll subconsciously blinked once… and Clotho froze. Lachesis and Atropos were equally stunned.

Clotho saw Promise… although she had always been able to see him.

As the one who watches over the future, she had always observed the future version of Promise.

But at this very moment, a curse that had long weighed upon her was lifted, and she could finally see the present.

Without a doubt, this was the true gift Promise had given Clotho.

The wood of the Golden Apple Tree, brimming with the vitality needed to house a divine presence, and the brush from the sky, which granted her the gift of sight.

They finally understood why Promise said this was the most fitting gift for Clotho… even if he himself hadn't fully realized the deeper meaning behind it.

Yet, he had still found the most perfect gift for her in the world.

....