Starategos is the position currently held by Alexei. He was a respected general and often gave brilliant results in ground battles. Sparta was a country known of their strong military. Currently they was still at war with Thebes and their allies. while the city of Athens was oftenly neutral.

She went back to dug into Portia's memories of Alexei. The man was her personal bodyguard when he was just started his military career. He was six years older than Portia and even though he rarely had a chance to looked after her - Alexei always bothered her.

Portia was uncomfortable with Alexei's attention. Even though the man claimed to think of Portia as his sister, the princess knew that Alexei's concern was not sincere. Because she also had an older brother and they all never cared when Portia is sick or injured.

The general was obsessed with her. He wanted Portia and the king surely noticed his feeling. The king tried to get rid of Alexei. But because of his achievements in the military-the endeavor was not easy. Portia had caught Alexei watched her many times.

All his attention was weighed her down, Since Portia wasn't felt the same way. Her father also forbid her to got too close with Alexei.

As a stalker, Alexei was too attractive. He had light brown hair with a handsome face line. His gray eyes gave off a masculine feel. His body was also naturally shaped through the forging of military training since he was young. That person is clearly not on steroids let alone consuming protein drinks to build muscle. But his good looks still wasn't helped. Alexei frightens Portia with his excessive attention.

Alexei also started his approach wrong. He threatened any man known to be interested in the princess. He wanted to made sure that he was the leading candidate for Portia's future husband — if the king changed his mind and allow his beloved daughter to marry.

For the sake of his goal—Alexei stayed single to wait for her.

Jill walked side by side with her servant but felt Alexei watched her intently behind her.

"Princess Portia," he called. But Jill chose to walked faster.

"You hear me?" He said again.

"What is it?" She finally turned around and asked coldly.

"Could you walk slower? I want to talk with you,"

"Aren't you here to escort me? If we talk too much you will fail to notice any snakes or wild boars that can harm me," said Jill again, tried to made her point towards Alexei.

All this time, Portia had been too doubtful and didn't dare refused Alexei frankly. Her heart was too kind.

"Don't talk like that, you can't keep running away from me," Alexei tried to grab her hand, but the girl brushed it off.

"Watch your hand General Alexei! If the king finds out about this-" She spoke a little loudly. The maid looked restless.

Alexei's face turned tense and slightly angry. The girl spoke back to him. whereas all this time even though Alexei had realized her faked smile towards him - Portia had never spoken loudly to him. Because Alexei knew that Portia didn't want anyone to hate her.

"I want to save you! Do you think I can let you be taken to Mount Olympus? to indulge in all the nonsense of marriage to the lord Ares? They are all scammers! The king has been tricked!" Alexei argued.

"What if that's true Alexei? Violating the will of the gods could result in the land of Sparta being cursed. The king would have chosen his people over me," she responded. although she herself did not believe that she would be married off to a real god.

Alexei was silent, he didn't dare to refute all of that clearly because there was a speck of faith in him who was also a worshiper of Ares- that could be the truth. However, Portia who should be dead is now able to live and walk again because of taking the medicine given by the god Ares. The entire palace believed that it was a divine miracle.

"Do you really willing to go to Olympus?" Alexei asked.

Jill thought for a moment. She didn't knew. She didn't really enjoyed lived in Sparta. All the attention on her was started to tire her out. But being taken to the mountains by people who might just be swindlers didn't sound too much fun either.

The girl still believed that she could return to her original body. if her soul could transfer to portia's body. That means there is a way to do the opposite. She just didn't knew how.

"I don't want to, Mr. Alexei. But this is my duty as a princess of Sparta. Please do not bother me again." She spoke softly this time to the man. Portia's half-hearted attitude all along had raised hope for Alexei. It was time for Jill to set the poor man free. With his title and handsome physique, he would had no shortage of beautiful women. It would be pity if he still waited for a princess who is forbidden to marry by the king. especially now that she would be sacrificed to become the bride of the god of war.

She asked her servant to walk faster away from Alexei.

Alexei felt hurt by Jill's words. The man finally let the princess and her maid walked again towards Athena's temple—the place where Portia had a tragic accident that almost took her life. Alexei looked thoughtful, he wasn't in a hurry to replied to Jill's words. Obviously he wouldn't give up easily just because of one or two rejections.

The temple of Athena stands majestically not far from the Sparta palace and is surrounded by densely populated houses. The temple looked alive and though sometimes silent-never completely empty.

"Look! That's Princess Portia!"

The presence of the princess was like an attraction for the residents there. She was a servant of the temple of Athena and regularly went to the temple to make offerings on behalf of the king of sparta. Her regular appearance in public and her unusual beauty had made rumors about her spread throughout Greece.

"Look! It's all just rumours! Princess Portia isn't dead! the goddess Athena protects her!" Such exclamations were boisterous as Jill began to stomp on the temple grounds.

Like Portia always did, Jill smiled. This time she improvised by waved her hand the same way as members of the British royal family do. But she soon realized that her way of greeting was too foreign and lowered her hand. Because she imitated the behavior of the nobility in the twentieth century. She had to remember that now she lived in era where even Jesus was not born yet.

When she finally inside, she was immediately greeted by tall pillars and a huge statue of the Goddess Athena. She still smelled of incense there because this temple is never devoid of ritual offerings. Jill saw Oracles—blessed with long life and the wisdom of the gods— sitting around. Occasionally they would conveyed a prophecy or message from the gods to humans who stop by.
It was not uncommon for kings to seek advice from the Oracles before went to war or about to made political decisions.

"Princess Portia, are you all right?"

One of the elderly women who was the temple oracle greeted her happily.

Jill nodded gracefully, she was quite often spoken to by Portia in the past.

"I wonder what happened to me then. Did the snake really bite me?"

The woman pointed to a place, close to the altar of worship.

"One of the oracles found you there just when the sun had just risen. I don't know why you went to the temple when it was dark. Your body was as cold as death when I touched you." The female oracle explained.

"Is that true? Have you ever seen the snakes?" Jill confirmed.

Jill held her wrist as she studied it. Jill looked for bite marks but they weren't found anywhere. She doubted the testimony of healers about the cause of her illness.

"Honestly no, the oracle who found you testified that it was a snakebite. besides, didn't the palace healer already confirm that? He said it came from six snake bites."

Jill narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She temporarily concluded that someone was strongly suspected of deliberately harming Portia. Because the temple of Athena is located in a crowded residential area. there were barely any trees and shrubs there. Snakes are cowardly animals. How could a snake roam the temple and bite Portia? Moreover, they said there were six bites.

"Where's the Oracle who found me?" Jill asked again.

"He's not the Oracle who lives here, I hear he's from Athens. After delivering the medicine that he claimed to be from the god Ares for you - he's gone."

"Do you know his name?"

"He's called Cyllenius. The man isn't old enough to be an Oracle. Why are you interested in him?" The female Oracle asked further.

Jill thought for a moment, that person named Cyllenius, probably caused Portia's illness. It could be that he also had information about how her soul was able to transfer to Portia's body. Jill knew this might be a waste of time but she didn't want to take her fate without struggle.

"Princess, maybe General Alexei can help you." Her petite servant suggested in a whisper.

"Alexei?"

"He can help you escape so you don't have to go to Olympus," said the maid anxiously.

"Then what? After that? Alexei will rule over me, I will be considered a traitor by the kingdom and can't go back to Sparta. That's as bad as being an offering to a god." Jill shook her head.

She looked outside the temple, Alexei was still on guard and watching her from afar. That man is dangerous and can do anything. Jill didn't want her freedom to be taken away by anyone.

Although being taken to Mount Olympus and left alone there sounded scary, at least Jill had a chance to escaped. She could secretly pay people to put horses at the foot of the mountain or hire someone to escort her from Olympus to Athens.

She must meet a mysterious Oracle named cyllenius who is suspected to have planned this all on Portia. From there, Jill will force him to explain how to get her soul back to her old perfect life.