There was excitement that morning at the Hostess of Fertility.
Anya Fromel meowed with red cheeks, prey to a strange euphoria.
Mia Grand, the owner of the restaurant, tried to bring her back to order, but in vain; the cat-girl looked like a crazy ball.
"Nya! We will finally have a couple!"
"What happens?"
Ryu and Syr had just entered, returning from their usual tour of shopping for the inn.
As soon as the kitten heard the elf's voice, Anya grabbed the apple that dominated on one of the tables and showed it to her friends: there was a note attached to the stalk:
"This apple with magical properties goes to the one who will succeed in winning Bell Cranel's heart".
"Aww, don't you think it's absolutely romyantic?" chirped the redhead, taking her cheeks in her hands.
Syr's gray eyes grew large and bright, while Ryu was shaken by a faint tremor.
Soon after, Mia brought discipline back among her girls by clapping her hands and starting the new day.
Destiny, however, had decided to move its pawns, because that very morning both Bell and Hestia came to have breakfast at the tavern.
While biting into Cook May's freshly baked apricot tart, Bell noticed that the waitresses were watching him with even more curiosity than usual, and that Anya in particular was struggling to hold back her giggles.
Hestia noticed, with no little annoyance:
"What's going on this morning?"
She already badly tolerated all those shawties who were always buzzing around her Bell, and much less if they overstated the situation.
"Goddess Hestia, read this message." Chloe Rollo said, handing her the small piece of paper.
It took only a few seconds for the girl to unleash her blind fury: Hestia began to scream like a strangled chicken.
"WHAT DOES IT MEAN?! IS IT ANOTHER OF YOUR TRICKS, BELL?!"
The fourteen-year-old rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed.
"Er... No, Goddess... What do you say..."
The goddess dressed in white slumped on the wooden chair.
"Ooooh... What does a goddess have to do to marry her beloved without unexpected events?" she complained, and Bell felt the embarrassment grow.
Ryu remained silent, even more than usual.
Hestia, on the other hand, was determined:
"Umpf! As if a stupid apple was needed to establish that Bell will marry me!"
"Who wrote the note?" the boy asked.
The owner shook her head.
"We have no idea. When we opened the place this morning it was already on the table, even if there is no sign of a break-in."
Hestia took the apple back in her hand, which had nothing different from a common red apple, but suddenly it began to emit an iridescent black smoke, which quickly wrapped itself around the goddess's arm.
"AH!"
"GODDESS!"
Hestia gritted her teeth, but she could do nothing against that dark force. She felt as helpless as any human.
The smoke, among other things, was imprinting like fire marks on her, which ate her flesh.
"Will I go back to Heaven? Like this?"
The pain subsided as if it never existed, quickly.
The goddess let out her breath in a single gulp and touched her body to make sure it was whole.
And it was in that moment, that she noticed it...