A moment later, Circe, having collected herself, pounced forward, her little face flushing with excitement as she cheered.
...This hair, this skin texture, and the smell and warmth!
Uh-huh, that's right, that's right!
This is the feeling! She had finally found it again!
Clutching the "little piggy" that she had lost and regained in her arms, Circe rubbed fiercely, attempting to release the loneliness and resentment that had built up over the years.
And Luo En, the victim of this devastation, was being rubbed until his features distorted, even his facial proportions scattered, his body resembling a koala that was far too lively.
Finally, when he managed to free his mouth from Circe's hands, Luo En couldn't help but ask.
"How come... you're... in Athens... selling cakes?"
As his facial muscles were still being sporadically pulled and pinched, his speech was somewhat unclear and slurred.
However, Circe seemed to be accustomed to this, she huffed angrily and kicked a certain irresponsible apprentice, indignant.
"It's all because of you! You emptied my little treasury, not even leaving a single hair, making it impossible for me to buy any decent teaching materials. I had to try my luck in the nearby populous city-state."
"Teaching?" Luo En was somewhat puzzled.
"Yes, I've taken a new apprentice."
As she spoke, the Great Witch gestured toward the woods.
Following the rustling sounds, a young enchantress appeared, clad in a hooded cloak of indigo and purple, holding a Dark Moon Staff, she trotted quickly from the side of the road in response to her teacher's call.
Her true features, perfectly concealed by the hood, gave her an air of mystery.
Circe glanced at a certain chief disciple who had left without saying goodbye and stood proudly with her hands on her hips, boasting.
"Hmph, she is quite powerful, her aptitude for magic surpasses yours! She finished in nine months the courses it took you a year to learn..."
However, before Circe could finish speaking, perhaps due to the cloak being too tightly wrapped, which impaired her vision and movements, the short enchantress, who was even shorter than Circe, stepped into thin air and fell right at everyone's feet.
Instantly, the atmosphere froze, and Circe's face stiffened.
Meanwhile, the Goddess of the Underworld Moon, Hecate, who was a mentor, decisively layered a few more enchantments on herself and turned her head away, avoiding the deep gaze of Astraea.
"The road to War God Mountain is a bit steep, be more careful next time..."
Seeing this, Luo En couldn't help but give a bitter smile as he helped his fellow disciple up and unwrapped her tightly-bound purple robe.
As the hood fell, her light purple hair cascaded down.
The mysterious enchantress, whose striking and vibrant allure was off the charts, now exposed under the sun, was merely a simple, green, and innocent-looking lass.
Wearing a plain-colored underdress and her light purple hair tied into a neat ponytail, her pure and flawless light purple pupils and pointed ears, so distinctive from humans and so similar to Circe's, proved that she was not a pureblood human.
Seeing the timid embarrassment in the young girl's eyes and her slight curiosity about her surroundings, Luo En smiled gently, radiating kindness.
"My name is Luo En, I studied witchcraft with our teacher before you did, little sister. What's your name?"
The small loli, who appeared to be around seven or eight years old, timidly glanced at the fellow apprentice before her and answered crisply.
"Yeah, that's a nice name!"
Luo En reached out to pet the little sister's head, smiling affectionately, but his gaze on the little witch couldn't help but show a hint of compassion.
Medea, the daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, was also an accomplished enchantress who had been taught by the Great Witch Circe and the Witchcraft Goddess Hecate; she was, by blood, the Great Witch Circe's niece.
Although the child came from a well-off family and was raised without restrictions, her fate took a monumental upheaval with the arrival of the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece.
Due to the intervention of Goddess Aphrodite, Medea was cursed with "falling in love with Jason, the hero leading the Argo," in an attempt to flee the country with him.
On the run, she even committed the atrocity of dismembering her younger brother and scattering his remains into the sea to hold off her father's pursuing ship.
As a result, Medea lost a home to return to and began to be despised and loathed by the people around her, even by the heroes of the Argo traveling with her.
Later, to aid Jason in ascending the throne, Medea unhesitatingly helped him acquire the Golden Fleece and used magic and cunning to kill opponents; but Jason, fearful of her actions, grew increasingly afraid of his wife, who possessed great power and an extreme character under the Power of the God of Love.
Soon after gaining the throne, Jason chose to abandon Medea, who had made numerous sacrifices for him, opting instead to marry the princess of a neighboring country;
Ultimately, Medea, with nothing left and facing expulsion, took cruel revenge on Jason.
She killed the neighboring nation's princess and her own two children, leaving Jason to live out the rest of his life in agony and misery.
Since then, Medea rode on a dragon and disappeared without a trace.
Some say she was driven mad and died under the torment of the Furies, others believe she returned to Aiaia to live out her remaining days, and yet others speculate that she reached the pinnacle of magical research and obtained an immortal body, becoming the queen who reigned over the Netherworld and held dominion over Elysium.
The above is the life of the enchantress Medea, marked with the tragic hues of being manipulated and played by fate.