For Persephone - Chapter 34 – Fever of Desire (1)

Sisyphos is the king of Corinth. A king without an interesting twist is known to be infinitely generous in his own life, by no means necessary.

He had a strong belief that the title of king was suitable for himself, but the least validity existed because what was good for him was good for the kingdom. If a king has enough soldiers, his country will become strong, and if a king is wealthy, his country will become wealthy. Of course, people’s livelihood is a separate matter.

However, in an era where the gods could easily reach anything with their hands, there was a limit to the tricks that humans could play. His wife, Merope, always told Sisyphos that, “Zeus wouldn’t budge if you were born a god.’

Sisyphos’ pent-up anger swelled. Because his sensible wife’s words proved right. He would have become a greater king if there were no gods above his head.

No, maybe he was born a god, who had to live in a bigger body of water.

Such existence is— How could it be Tartaros?

Although he was guilty of holding Thanatos under arrest, he had no reason to pay the price for the fact that the god of death was stupid.

Stuck in a square cage left on one side of the palace’s courtyard, a loud thud rang out when Sisyphos loosened his hands. Now he was able to see around.

The golden palace was a magnificent place that displayed lights that were traditionally passed down. However, there were no guards, soldiers, nor gardeners seen anywhere in the courtyard. He couldn’t imagine this sight had it been his palace.

Since there wasn’t anyone to keep an eye on the criminal, it was worth asking himself, ‘What should I do now?’

He crossed his arms firmly and lowered his chin.

When he had become aware that he couldn’t run away anymore, he was stricken with grief, but then put his last wits to use. He gave up running away and was caught but asked his wife, Merope, not to hold a funeral for him. Before capturing Thanatos, it was a decision that allowed him to eavesdrop on Thanatos, who could never shut up, on the sincerity of the underworld’s ruler.

It was cold-hearted and careless, but he cherished those in the underworld and showed his compassion to Titans from time to time because he was so merciful to those in his power. It wasn’t decided easily, but in the end, it was a gamble because there wasn’t any other path left to take.

Because of that, while being held down by Hermes, Hermes’ boundaries were cleared under the guise of obedience. Sisyphos just wanted him to take his side when he won Hades over. One has to have a life in order to have self-respect, for the gods had blind pride that they were above the kings’ heads.

And today he finally met the ruler of the underworld. Sisyphos pleaded by acting as the most miserable man on earth.

—My ungrateful wife couldn’t learn to eat properly, and I didn’t even pay a single penny after I died. How can I not be so bitter?

But much different from what Thanatos had said, Hades wasn’t the type of king to show ‘compassion’. The only thing that fit his expectations was the indifference without anger. A literal indifference. No, Sisyphos wondered if maybe Hades hadn’t even listened to his appeal. It doesn’t make sense to be so indifferent after seeing his acting.

‘I’m really in trouble. What should I do now?’

It was foolish of him to wait for their verdict while being locked up like this. His worrying fell deeper as he was sure he would end up falling into Tartaros. Like the trials of the other deadmen, he had to wait for his turn and seemed to have about fifteen days to spare.

That was when ‘she’ came looking for him.

“… Are you Sisyphos? You are clever enough to deceive any god.”

Sisyphos looked her in the eyes.

*

Zeus sent his decision through Hermes as if he didn’t need a verdict for Sisyphos and wanted to just toss him into Tartaros right now. However, Hades insisted that the process couldn’t be ignored because sending someone off to Tartaros required nominations. Because of such disagreements, it took quite a while for Hermes to return after a tiring argument.

The room was empty again when Hades returned.

‘….’

Now that he thought about it this wasn’t the first time this has happened.

It was her who whispered so sweetly, but it was also her who was lifting her foot as if she were going to step down at any time. Hades thought whether he should release the deadmen, bring Kerberos out, and capture her before she completely disappeared, but he soon gave up.

Something was wrong. The way he looked now was as if he wanted to be alone with the girl. He couldn’t laugh away the mockery of asking if he wanted to keep her by his side because truthfully, he kind of wanted her. But to belittle the earth’s existence only because he wanted it to be, he broke his own boundaries about the earth’s eccentricity and the underground he had adhered to so far. But he started to feel serious anguish about that.

As to how to keep a woman completely bound, ‘If you feed her and don’t let her leave—’

“Hades. You’re back?”