By the time Lycandros reached the gates of Athens, the sky was already tainted with hues of pink and orange. The wind whipped through his dark hair as the pegasus glided down toward the city, its wings folding gently as it landed near the palace grounds. Behind him, tied tightly, the dark wizard Solaris groaned while still in an unconscious state.
A pair of bronze-armored soldiers rushed forward as he briefly landed. "Your Highness."
"Take him to the dungeons," Lycandros said, throwing him on the ground. "Don't just block his mana. You have to blindfold his eyes and gag his mouth. We can't let him perform hypnosis."
The soldiers nodded, dragging the wizard away.
Lycandros didn't pay attention to him anymore and made his way to the palace.
Soon, he made his way through the quiet halls of the palace, past flickering torches on the walls, until he reached the high chamber where his father often stood watching the sunrise. King Erython was there, cloaked in gold and blue, shoulders slouched like he was too tired, both physically and mentally.
"Your Majesty." Lycandros stepped in, reporting in a calm demeanor. "I have captured Dark Wizard Solaris as you have ordered. The villagers were rescued."
Erython just stared out the window at the sky turning orange and gave a simple nod of acknowledgment.
Lycandros knew something was wrong with his father. He couldn't help but ask him right away. "Is there something weighing on your mind, Father?"
The king finally looked at him and sighed. "Nothing important, son. Well done. Now, go and rest."
Lycandros frowned at his response. He nodded and slowly walked away, wondering if something was going on.
It didn't take long for him to learn why. After all, rumors traveled even faster than his pegasus.
By midday, after questioning his father's knights and servants, Lycandros had pieced it together—his father had fallen in love. Not with a noble, not with a warrior, not with a goddess disguised as a swan—but with a woman from Kallos, a small fishing village in the west, a couple of hundred kilometers away from the capital city.
According to the information, the King has stopped going there for a week.
But why?
His father is the King of Athens. If he desires a woman, forget about a commoner in a fishing village, even nobles would voluntarily drop their daughter at the palace's doorstep.
Lycandros' curiosity made him set off for Kallos. The Axios River shimmered under the sunset as he arrived, its calm waters reflecting the bright little houses nestled along the shore. Children laughed in the distance, chasing each other near the waterline.
After asking around, he found her near the boats. Callidora was seen cleaning fish with sleeves rolled up.
As he approached her, she opened her mouth, "Prince Lycandros," she said before he could speak. "What was the Crown Prince of the Mighty Kingdom doing in a small village like our Kallos?"
"I came to talk to you, Lady Callidora," he replied. After taking a brief pause, he added. "And I didn't come here as the Prince of Athens but as the son of a heartbroken man who wishes to have you in his life."
Callidora set down the fish she was cleaning, wiping her hands on her skirt. With a steady voice, she said. "I apologize, Your Highness. I have no interest in becoming some maid who tends to your father, until the day he dies."
Lycandros furrowed his brows when he heard that. He replied. "Maid? You will be the Queen of Athens, Lady Callidora. He would give you everything. Whatever your wishes are, it'll be fulfilled."
"No," She said simply, rising to her feet. "He would give me marble halls and silk robes, but not respect. Not for me, and not for my children. Your children—children of royal blood—will sit on thrones. Mine will serve them wine."
Lycandros didn't answer.
She then turned to him, her eyes looking sharp. "Your Highness, I'm not some royal blood, but at the very least, here in this village, I am atleast treated with respect. In the future, my children will be respected by my people, too. They will fish and play and grow up proud. But in Athens? In the palace?" She shook her head. "They will be nothing but servants to your children. Your children and descendants will become Kings and Vassal Lords. My children will, at best, have to accept a lowly position in the army, just like all sons of maids. They will be sent to wars for death. You might give assurance with some ridiculous promise, but I know the ways of the palace more than you think, Your Highness. I was with your father for many years. Whatever respect they will get will only stay as long as your father is on the throne and stays alive. After that, they will be nothing. So, I gave your father two options. Either he can get the joy to dwell in the palace with his son or in this humble place with his wife. He cannot obtain both the joys, Prince."
Lycandros stood silent, the weight of her words sinking into his blood deeper than one thinks.
He neither argued nor tried to convince her.
Instead, he slowly knelt by the riverside, scooped a palmful of water, and raised it toward the sky. "My father never experienced the life of a husband, the life of a father, spending time with his wife or his child. All his life, he cared about the happiness of his people, never thinking of his own. And when he finally found it, I became the wall that is blocking it? No, Lady Callidora. I won't let anything come between my father and his happiness. My father shall get the happiness of both joys. And that too, together."
"Heavens, bear witness to my oath I'm about to take today," He said, raising his voice. "I, son of Goddess Artemis, Grandson of Zeus, take an oath on the sanctity of my mother! I pledge on the love and trust that my father has in me, Lady Callidora. As long as I draw breath, I will never marry. I will never father children, and neither will I adopt any children to raise a family of my own. I will practice celibacy throughout my life as I guard the throne of Athens as a loyal servant and never dare to desire the throne. As long as I live, your children and their descendants shall sit on the throne of Athens, as long as they are righteous and competent."
Overhead, the bright sky darkened in almost an instant with dark clouds. Thunder started rumbling so violently that it shook the river's surface, snapping fishing lines and rattling the wooden boats around. It was as if Zeus was angry. Meanwhile, Callidora just stood there like a statue, her eyes widened, too shocked to even properly respond to such an oath.
Eventually, as the dark clouds dissipated, implying that Zeus too accepted the oath, Lycandros looked at the fisherwoman and smiled. "I hope this will remove any sort of worries you have in your head, Lady Callidora. Now, will you accept my father as your husband and give him the joy he deserves?"
Thus, Callidora, once the daughter of a humble village chief, ended up becoming the Queen of Athens, rewriting the destiny of Athens forever.