"This is for you, my love." I slipped a ring on her golden finger. The blue diamond on top of her ring shone radiantly.

The statue remained lifeless. I imagined that the maiden thanked me sincerely.

"Please." I said desperately. I was tired from pretending. I was tired from making a fool out of myself. "Please speak to me. I want to hear your voice."

Silence.

I sighed to myself. What was I thinking?

Statues cannot talk.

I have been like this for the past three months. Shortly after the merchant left I immediately ordered the servants to store her in a secret room. There I would lavish her with gifts women love. I had given her the best robes. I had sprayed expensive perfume upon her delicate body. I would place necklaces on her neck. I would then close my eyes and stubbornly imagine that she was alive, whispering loving things in my ear.

It was a lost cause.

I was wretched. I had fallen madly in love with an inanimate object. In vain I had sent messengers all over the empire to find a maiden with the exact same likeliness. To no avail.

She was so lovely that no woman or statue made could ever rival her.


I snuck away at the castle at night. I wore a cloak to conceal my face. There was someone I knew who could help me.

Someone who was divine.

Among the gods and goddesses maybe Venus would be the one who would hear my pleas. She was the goddess of love after all.

I dodged the temple prostitutes who were beckoning me. Intercourse was a way to worship the goddess but I preferred prayers and offerings. I could not bring myself to lay with someone who was not my beloved. The senators and the religious cults were furious. It was my duty to participate in the rituals. I was the emperor, the representative of the gods and a descendant of Venus herself. It would ensure Rome a bountiful future.

I entered the grand interior. The Temple of Venus was a grand architecture. Every tiny ornate details from the arches to the tripods was handcrafted by the finest artists. The temple itself was lit by the thousand candles of the devotees. Numerous doves were flying freely inside the temple. White, male goats were left there as a gift of thanks by the people she had helped.

I knelt down before her statue and lit a candle at her feet. I was humbled before her, the sea-foam goddess of love.

"I may be asking for the impossible, but please…" I prayed fervently. "May I meet a woman who resembles my golden maiden?"

A bluish flame suddenly blazed in the goddess' hand. It flared up to the ceiling for three times before dying in a shower of sparks.

Has the goddess answered my prayers?

There was only one way to find out.

"Only true love's kiss could break the spell…"

The merchant's raspy voice echoed in my mind as I rushed back to the palace. The keys trembled in my hands as I opened the door to our secret room.

The golden maiden greeted me with her stone hard smile.

I lifted her cold chin and kissed her passionately on the lips. I blinked in surprise. It seems her cold lips had turned warm and soft. I ran my hand through her long hair. The metal was transforming into silky strands of gold at my hand.

Venus, she was the one behind this miracle.

With joy and everlasting gratitude I embraced my beloved as she fell from the pedestal, protecting her from harm. Her knees must be weak after being turned into metal for countless of years. I kissed her again.

But her deep blue eyes met mine in a fiery disposition. I felt her hand reaching for the sword in my hilt.

"Get your hands off me!"