Deviant: No Longer Human

She wanted to smack herself, but seeing Wang Xiao's curiosity piqued, she hesitantly continued, "Later, that… egg… was raised by the Queen of Sparta, Leda, who was also a beautiful woman. And it's said that she too was seduced by the swan's charm, and… she got—"

Mei's words froze in her throat when she realized she had gone too far.

"Fucked too and that egg — later hatched into a beautiful woman named Helen?" Wang Xiao finished her sentence, a slight smirk tugging at his lips.

Mei bit her lip and nodded, her eyes misty with embarrassment.

What were they even talking about?

"Did he… you know… with her too?" Wang Xiao's interest deepened as he leaned in.

Mei quickly shook her head, her face burning with embarrassment.

Wang Xiao was genuinely surprised. "The most beautiful woman in Greece, and Zeus left her alone?"

Mei looked away, her cheeks still flushed. "Brother, what are you even thinking? Helen was his daughter!" she exclaimed, her voice barely concealing her exasperation.

Wang Xiao shrugged casually. "I don't remember gods caring about such things."

Mei sighed deeply, deciding to remain silent.

If she kept talking, he might press for more, and Greek mythology was already bizarre and embarrassing enough to explain.

Greek mythology had always struck her as strange, filled with stories that made her uncomfortable.

LGBTQ+ themes, which people now considered modern, were already present back then.

She thought about Zeus, a being with overwhelming power, who likely grew bored of his conquests and eventually lost all restraint, indulging in whatever or whomever he pleased—regardless of gender.

Wang Xiao, meanwhile, couldn't help but reflect on how Greek myths seemed like an honest portrayal of what gods might really be like.

After all, when people spoke of gods, they often referred to beings who were simply above mortals, not an all-powerful, benevolent deity.

His current strength likely surpassed that of Zeus, and he, too, had done many questionable things.

But at least, he thought with a smirk, his conquests had all been in the 'right' places.

He could understand why people were uncomfortable with Greek mythology.

It shattered the noble image of gods that religions and cultures often promoted—a tool to manipulat—*ahem*— inspire people to act righteously by setting an idealized example.

In his mind, he reasoned that most religions likely fabricated only the good deeds of their gods, while omitting the darker truths.

But Greek mythology, written after the fall of its civilization, with its believers long gone, captured everything—good, bad, and ugly.

Wang Xiao noticed that Mei might share some traits with his daughter, Lanlan.

Both seemed to have a soft spot for books and a curiosity that went beyond the norm.

He doubted the typical schools in the Qing Dynasty would have taught such things, so his sister must have picked them up from her own reading.

"You've got so many things wrong..." Eveline suddenly sneered, her beautiful face twisted with an almost unimaginable disbelief.

It was as if the mere thought of such historical inaccuracies was too much for her to bear.

"Hm?" Mei glanced at her, noting Eveline's striking beauty—perhaps one of the most stunning women she'd ever seen.

But her demeanor?

Like an old hag with a grudge.

Mei shot a questioning look at Wang Xiao, silently asking, Who is she?

Wang Xiao didn't bother to explain, sensing that Eveline was on the verge of spilling something juicy, he provoked her futher, "What's wrong? Everything sounds perfectly fine to me."

Eveline's eyes twitched, as if she couldn't decide whether to laugh or rage. "Perfectly fine? First, how could a woman like Nemesis not spend her entire life just to kill Zeus, even if he succeeded? And second, how did he always manage to find her?"

Wang Xiao shrugged with exaggerated nonchalance. "Maybe he begged someone for help? Felt guilty? Apologized?"

Eveline's expression darkened as she fought to keep a straight face. "Zeus? Beg? Feel guilty? He's never done such a thing in his entire existence. Apologize to Nemesis?

Not in a million years! It was that blind Tyche, born on the day of eternal night, when the wheel of fortune finally decided to spin again, who helped him. With her foresight, Zeus tracked down anyone trying to hide from him."

Mei's eyes widened as Eveline went on, her tone dripping with disdain. "The day Nemesis tried to escape, she was lured by a Stallion King who promised to protect her in his stable. But that 'king' was none other than Hermes in disguise, one of Zeus' most trusted lackeys."

Mei's jaw dropped slightly as Eveline continued, her words flowing with the ease of someone recounting an old, yet utterly ridiculous, tale. "Nemesis, like so many before her, was tricked and turned into a mare. But then, Hermes' little lover, Aphrodite, saw through the disguise."

"She thought Nemesis and Hermes were having an affair, and—being the jealous bitch—decided to teach them a lesson. Disguising herself, she threw an elixir made from siren blood at Hermes. The whole stable went berserk. Hermes, still in stallion form, lost his mind, along with the other horses."

"Nemesis, realizing things had gone south, turned back into her true form and bolted. Zeus, knowing where she was, transformed into a stallion himself and entered the stable. But, unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—he was caught by the elixir too. The two of them ended up… well, you get the idea."

Wang Xiao's eyebrows shot up, struggling to stifle a laugh as Eveline kept going. "When the chaos finally settled, Zeus realized what had happened. Horrified by the 'offspring,' he turned the ugly horse into a beautiful baby, hid it inside an egg, and had Hermes—still nursing his bruised ego—deliver it to some clueless human."

"Hermes, ever the faithful servant, disguised himself as a beautiful swan and dropped the egg near Leda, Queen of Sparta. She found the egg, and when it hatched, out came Helen—the so-called most beautiful woman in Greece."

"Yet no 'god' wanted to take her... Leaving her for mortals..."

"Who would want to marry a cursed horse?"

Mei's mouth hung open in shock, her mind in shock from the absurdity of what she was hearing.

"That's the true story behind Helen of Troy, yet — you humans have bad habbit of romanticising everything, there is no — their love bled into the battlefield, a crimson dance of passion and pain, it's all just blood, fight and defeat, no rains fall, no sky thunders!"

"A war is a war, defeat is defeat and victory a victory, it's not all a poetry..."

Eveline concluded with a smirk. "Helen wasn't some divine beauty, if she was Odysseus would have not stopped chasing her inbetween and asked the king to marry her cousin Penelope instead!"

"Just a cursed horse that somehow managed to stir up a war among mortals....Ridiculous, isn't it?"

Mei stood frozen, struggling to process the outrageous tale.

Eveline's version was even more bizarre than the myths she'd studied.

But… it oddly made sense. It explained the strange variations in the myths—why some mentioned a swan, others a horse, and why Leda was seduced by a swan.

History, it seemed, had a way of getting its wires crossed.

"B-But…" Mei stammered, her lips trembling in disbelief.

"But what?" Wang Xiao asked, his tone a mix of amusement and curiosity.

"Hermes… he's one of Zeus' sons with Maia!" Mei blurted out, flustered. "What does that even mean!? Wasn't he both father and son?!"

The sheer absurdity of it all was too much for Mei to handle.

Eveline's face turned a deep shade of red as she realized the implications.

She snorted in embarrassment, quickly turning away as if the conversation had never happened.

Even Wang Xiao was momentarily at a loss. He quickly grabbed Mei by the shoulders and started to lead her away. "Mei, let's go check out the ruins."

"Mhm," Mei nodded eagerly, not needing to be told twice.

She had no desire to linger near Eveline any longer.

Eveline watched them walk off, her fists clenching as she realized they were deliberately ignoring her.

"Ugh!" she muttered, her frustration bubbling over as they left her standing alone.