For Persephone - Chapter 37 – The Punishment for The Sinner (2)

Persephone, who ducked her head and avoided his gaze, gently closed her lips. “I was just…. curious since I heard that someone named Sisyphos was captured recently. Did he really get thrown into the frightening Tartaros?”

“I could never forgive the sin of deceiving death.”

“What if someone kills death?”

“That’s nonsense. You don’t know that death is the only thing that never dies? If someone does that, they won’t be forgiven. All beings who aren’t gods will eventually return to the arms of death and be punished. Why did you ask such a thing?”

“I’m concerned that… you might get hurt or something.”

Her concern warmed up Hades’ heart and numbed his head. The time that had been burned into anguish seemed to be a lie.

Hades flashed a faint smile across his face and ran his fingers through Persephone’s hair. She, who was slowly rolling her eyes along with his hand, murmured sluggishly, “It’ll be nice if we stayed together from now on. How great would that be?”

“Only if you stay here in my territory. The choice is yours. How did you make your way back here after leaving last time?

“Don’t you want to persuade me?”

Hades closed his mouth for a moment and laid his head down on her stomach gently. The hand that was touching her squishy breast passed over her chin and reached her cheek. When he tilted his head and kissed the other cheek, she said, “It tickles.” That was Hades’ signature move.

“The time to be served by a shadow is short, and the journey of the underworld is eternity, so I can’t force it. Even if it’s not right now, someday you’ll be back here.”

“….”

“If you’re a nymph.”

Persephone smiled faintly and pulled his face in for a kiss. Like she couldn’t bear the overflowed feeling of affection.

“How are you going to love me until then?”

“Just remember that I never said that I loved you.”

“You love me, Hades. I know you do.”

“….”

“Because it’s destiny. Our destiny.”

“….”

“I knew it from the first day we met, but you didn’t know?”

It seemed so as she kept saying that. Hades couldn’t fight the bizarre feeling from the day he first met her.

It was a spell cast onto him. A deeply embedded impression that was too much to justify that it had been a long time since he met a human from above. The feeling, like a piercing thorn, never went away…

Persephone’s face folded as Hades fell deep in thought about it.

“But…”

“….”

“What if you change your mind, Hades? It’s good now, but what if I make a small mistake and you hate me for it?”

“Well.”

“Is that going to happen?”

“I don’t know. Because you’re the one who didn’t have a justification for Moirai a while ago.”

Her silence was an obvious indicator that she was hurt. Even though she annoyed him, she was still lovely, so he soon added, “You really want to hear it?”

“….”

“You’re so pretty I want to hold you. I was really worried when you disappeared and when you changed. So, from now on—”

“You said that the tongue has two rights: the right to tell the truth, and the right to tell a lie.”

Hades, who was interrupted, couldn’t help but laugh. “So what?”

“You’re not Veretas. How could I understand the mind of another person as great as you?”

“Even though I said what you wanted to hear…”

“Can you promise me? No, wait. Can you swear to Styx River?”

Styx River. The river that flowed around the golden palace was the power of Styx herself. Styx and vows entered into one sentence meant he could never disobey it. If he abandoned that, gods would lose their immortality or Tartaros, and humans would pay the appropriate price after death.

Hades, who knew the weight of the situation better than anyone else, had some qualms only about the oath of Styx River. “I have to do that for you to believe me?”

“It’s important.”

“….”

“Since I don’t know how much you really want me… And there will be a lot of beautiful women here in the underworld…”

Hades felt an unexplainably confusing affection at her shy jealousy. He hugged her head tightly, exhaling a cold groan on her neck.

“Little girl, what’s a big deal that’s worth mentioning Styx?”

“If it’s not a big deal, then you can do it.”

Like a hummingbird opening its beak begging for food, Persephone, who was strangled and pressed for love, literally softened his wariness. How could he have suspected that she was naive enough to fade away? Even a little obsessive.

Hades asked back as if teasing her, “And you said you loved me. You swear?”

“I do love you. I have no choice but to. I knew that from the first day we met. I swear.”

“You’ll walk that river?”

“Forever, with Styx as my witness.”

She didn’t hesitate for even a second. How could she swear on eternity? Hades placed his lips on her forehead for some time and replied, “If you can honestly tell me how you got away from me, and who led you to the underworld.”

“If I do that, will you give me an answer?”

“If I’m convinced…”

“It was Hekate,” she replied promptly. Hades frowned, wondering what she was talking about, and she whispered again, “A playful goddess secretly guided me here, only me. I happened… to find the door, and that’s where it was…”

Hades suddenly recalled a fact he had overlooked. On the day he first met Persephone and the day she disappeared, both times, the goddess with the twisted body appeared at night. And today as well.

Ever since Nyx gave birth to Hekate, there has always been something curious about her nights. However, Hades had never thought deeply about her power, as the impact on the underworld was minimal and only excited the Titans of Tartaros.