Jealousy Under the Moonlight
Even after returning to Argos, my days remained as busy as ever.
I introduced the Spartoi to the king, asked him to assign them work suited to their aptitudes, and as our acquaintance deepened I opened up to him and offered all sorts of advice. We never quite managed to go back to being uncle and nephew, but as king and hero we got along well enough that for a while I found myself coming and going from the palace with almost shameless frequency.
Mornings at the temple, afternoons at the courts, evenings at the palace…
Meeting him every evening meant I also saw my family more often. The only person I never encountered was King Acrisius’s wife — and that was only natural, given how conservative she was. Once King Acrisius began treating me not as kin but as an outsider, she likewise decided I was a man from outside the family and refused to show herself at all.
One might think his wife a strange woman, but that would be a misunderstanding — here, that is perfectly normal. In present-day Greece, a woman walking about in broad daylight is considered odd. Men’s power is overwhelming, and even the political talk in the agora is for men alone. King Acrisius’s wife was simply especially conservative even by those standards, so one must not criticize her for it.
Even so…
In place of the wife I never met, there was someone I saw every single day.
“Tch…”
The very brat who made no effort to hide his irritated noises even knowing full well that I could hear them.
“Sisyphe. What are you doing over there?”
“Sisyphe?! I’m Lord Sisyphe! Don’t you dare call me that!”
Startled by my call, a child sprang out from behind a pillar. Though he had inherited Acrisius’s blood thickly enough to receive golden hair and blue eyes, the freckles freckling his cheeks made it hard to call him handsome even as empty flattery. If his behavior had been charming it might have been different, but for a kid the same age as Atalante he had not a fucking scrap of cuteness in him.
Of all names, it had to be Sisyphe.
Clever and full of schemes, yet hated by the gods and tormented even after death — one of the poster children for that fate. This was only a childhood name, so there was no direct connection, but ill omen clung to the name all the same.
“Being cold to your own blood like that. Listening in on our conversation again today, were you?”
“I was not listening in!”
“Then why were you coming out from there?”
“I don’t know! I’m not telling you!”
Sisyphe flung insulting words at me and vanished in a whirl. I had no memory of doing anything to earn his hatred, yet ever since our first meeting the atmosphere had been like this. Figuring we were relatives and wanting to get closer, I deliberately struck up conversation — but every time I spoke he turned savage and disappeared, leaving me no way to respond.
“Is Sisyphe the true subject of the prophecy rather than King Acrisius?”
No matter how I looked at it, King Acrisius was not a man who would harm me. A coward and easily swayed, yes, but even so he never crossed the critical line, and when faced with danger he would turn back and make the right choice. Besides, the prophecy Demeter had given me began with someone who envied me causing an incident…
“Someone who envies me will deceive my acquaintances and try to harm them… was that it…?”
Either Agamemnon or Sisyphe might start something, or the two of them might move together. Personally I hoped both would stay quiet, but with a prophecy in play I could not afford optimism.
Best to keep an eye on them.
Recalling Sisyphe’s retreating back, I returned to the temple.
Meanwhile, from behind the pillar, Sisyphe glared after Perseus 2 as he headed back to the temple. He had thought he fled, but he had merely circled around and hidden in the pillar’s shadow.
“Tch… Annoying, insolent bastard! I’m the one who’s supposed to become king of Argos, yet everyone only praises that guy! That’s irritating enough, and then he acts like my big brother just because he’s a year older — it makes my blood boil!”
Grrr~!
His attitude was like a wolf about to bite, but he had always been that kind of child. The way he scampered off toward his father the moment Perseus left was pure child, yet that cunning mouth of his was thoroughly vicious.
“Father! Why do you keep meeting with Perseus?!”
“Oh, Sisyphe! ……Hmm? Barging in all of a sudden — what are you going on about?”
“You said Perseus might be a monster! I thought you’d kill him when he came back, so why are you snickering away with him?! You should kill him right now!”
“Wh-what? My boy? I have no idea what you’re talking about all of a sudden. I did briefly suspect him once, but Perseus is our kin and a fine hero. Today we discussed how to take in the orphans, and he offered excellent ideas and even gladly lent us his horses. He is surely a hero of kind heart, so don’t you worry so.”
“It’s a lie for sure! I saw with my own two eyes how that monster deceives so many people!”
“If you mean the agora trials, he’s doing them properly, isn’t he? I recently had the leisure to watch one myself, and there was nothing particularly wrong with it. Afterward he recited some words of wisdom that had drifted in from somewhere, and many people took his words to heart. As you say, they were stories no one had heard before, so one could call it deception — but they were still stories that help people live, so there was no reason to fault him.”
“He might eat the orphans! And you’re fine with that?! He’ll boil them thoroughly and cook them! He’s hanging around with Medea, so he must be a witch too!”
“Now, now. The place he stays is my younger sister Danae’s residence. Though I draw a line with Perseus as king and hero, my sister is different. Do you really think that child would simply stand by and watch such a thing?”
“Father, you’ve already been completely taken in!”
“Enough. I don’t understand why you’re suddenly like this.”
“Ugh…”
Sisyphe scrunched up his face and stamped his feet in irritation. Young as he was, he was a cunning little devil, and he knew his father Acrisius was easily swayed. He had thought that if he threw a tantrum as usual he could get Perseus cast out — yet even after spouting similar words for days on end, the man would not budge.
“Sisyphe. Do not try to deceive me. Because you are my child, it is true that my heart softens when you ask for something. This nature of mine will not change easily, but even so I am striving to become a better king, so there will be no harming him.”
“A better king?”
“Yes. I received a few pieces of advice from him.”
Chuckling, he recited what he had heard from Perseus.
“One: when even I wonder whether I should do something, I simply don’t. Two: when choosing between two options, I resolve not to regret it later and then act. Three: when my convictions waver, I recall my former self, think again why I believed them, and if they still seem right, I do not waver a second time.”
Words that often come down from the modern world.
“It was excessive advice, but he said someone like me right now needed at least this much, and so he offered it.”
“Receiving life advice from a child so much younger than yourself! Father, you are the king of Argos! Don’t you find it impious that Perseus would say such things?!”
“Hahaha! Sisyphe!”
“Huh?!”
“Impious, you say… You are my child, yet you are saying exactly what he warned me to watch for. He called this king of Argos ‘a small man living in Greece,’ and also told me to beware those who elevate what little authority I have while pushing their own opinions. He said it was a scheme to prop up my nonexistent pride in empty air so their own requests would go through. I already knew that much, so at first I wondered if that even counted as advice… Haha! ──Indeed! Looking at you now, it was words of pure gold! To finally understand that knowing something yourself and hearing it from another are different things!”
“Don’t insult me! I am sincerely offering counsel to my father! Lately every time you open your mouth it’s Perseus, Perseus, Perseus, that damned Perseus!!! My ears are about to fall off! Father, you are being played by him right now!”
“Counsel, he said, only gains force when spoken by one who has achievements that benefit the nation. The king’s role is to hear the counsel of those who have labored for country and king, and then decide what to do with it.”
“More of Perseus’s words?!”
“That’s right. You are being refuted right now by a child who isn’t even here.”
“Ha, how childish. Who falls for that kind of talk?”
Though Sisyphe’s rage rose to the top of his head at King Acrisius’s words, the king merely stroked his beard with leisure. The sight of his father so different from before made Sisyphe feel he might go mad. Raised in too good an environment, he was a child who could not control his fury when things did not go as he wished.
“My little child. Further talk seems meaningless, so return for today.”
“Father!”
“Come back once your temper cools. I must enjoy a banquet with those who have visited Argos today.”
When he took the stance of saying no more, Sisyphe had no choice but to lose steam. The way he kicked a pillar in unrestrained irritation as he left was enough that even his father, King Acrisius, could not hide his disappointment.
I don’t wish to compare another’s child to my own, but I have clearly spoiled him far too much.
Of late the king of Argos’s household had grown very prosperous, and with all the things he had done for his son as a result, the boy’s nose had clearly grown higher than necessary. Considering that the swords and treasures given to his son had come from the temple, it was quite the irony.
His head is good, so if only that temper could be fixed he would make a fine king…
Even thinking so, he could not rein in his own child.
Acrisius was becoming complete as a king, but as a parent he remained utterly hopeless.