Persephone's Story - (7)
Demeter’s face flushed crimson as she jabbed a finger at me. “Hades! Don’t tell me you and Eros plotted together to shoot my daughter with that arrow!”
“I swear on everything I hold sacred, I did not! A golden arrow came flying from behind me. I dodged it, and it just happened to hit Persephone instead…”
“Then why did you drag her down to the Underworld and feed her? You’re no different from Zeus or Poseidon after all!”
“Excuse me? You’re comparing me to them?”
No matter how unhinged she had become over her daughter’s descent to the Underworld, equating me with those two was going too far. I let out a long breath. Stay calm. Just stay calm.
“…Think about this rationally. Do I look like the kind of god who would scheme against a girl whose existence I wasn’t even aware of? This was pure coincidence.”
“Ugh…! So you’re saying it’s all Eros’s fault? Still, even he wouldn’t have the nerve to shoot an arrow at you…”
Gods do not interfere in one another’s domains. No matter what crimes they commit or how unfit they prove to be, a god is still a god. If Poseidon were to fall into despair and abandon his duties, every creature in the sea would slowly perish. If Ares stopped inciting war, the number of mortals would swell beyond reason. If Aphrodite’s free-spirited love were suppressed, no new mortals would be born at all.
Avoiding meddling in another god’s territory is an unwritten law of the divine realm. Because of it, when a god’s personality runs wild, other gods often suffer the consequences. Yet the higher the divinity, the more that law tends to blur. Very few beings would dare challenge the three chief gods who rule the world. It is the same reason Dike, goddess of justice, cannot easily call out crimes committed by higher deities.
Demeter was clearly referring to exactly that.
“It seems he was practicing his archery and simply missed.”
“Missed?”
“Right after your daughter was struck, I scanned the entire area. Eros was nowhere to be seen.”
“What… No, even so, such a coincidence is hard to believe… unless…?”
Demeter, who had been standing still while steadying her breath, suddenly turned red again. She gathered clouds beneath her feet and shot off into the distance. Wait… was she flying off to confront Eros? Or to complain to Zeus? I hurriedly followed after her.
“Aphrodite! Did you order your son Eros to shoot that arrow?”
“What are you talking about? Why are you coming after me? What even happened?”
When I caught up by riding the clouds, I found Demeter in the middle of a heated argument with Aphrodite at the latter’s residence. My previous words must have gotten through to her. Standing beside Aphrodite was not Ares but Hephaestus. Well, even if they didn’t get along, they were still officially married… At least in public settings, appearing together was proper.
A short distance away, Hephaestus gave me a look that asked what in the world was going on.
“Uncle… what’s this about Eros’s arrow again?”
“Nothing complicated. Eros shot a golden arrow at me. I dodged, and it struck Demeter’s daughter instead.”
“He what?!”
“Wait… you’re saying that actually happened? This is the first I’m hearing of it…”
“You’re claiming you didn’t order it? Then this was truly Eros acting on his own…”
“If I had orchestrated it, I obviously would have told him to shoot while I was walking in front of Hades!”
After hearing my explanation to Hephaestus, the misunderstanding between Aphrodite and Demeter seemed to clear. Still… who exactly was supposed to be walking in front of whom?
I glanced sharply at Aphrodite. She quickly averted her eyes.
“N-no… I was just… speaking hypothetically…”
“Enough. Just call your son. We need to confirm whether this was truly an accident or one of Eros’s pranks.”
“Fine, fine! We’ll just ask Eros!”
At Demeter’s urging, the goddess of beauty and love grumbled as she went to summon her son. While I stood with my arms crossed, watching the impatient Demeter, Hephaestus called out to me from the side.
“Uncle, does this mean the girl—Persephone—has fallen for you?”
“It appears so… You know her, then? She looked like a very young goddess.”
My nephew truly seemed young. Eros had only been born recently, but Persephone could be at most two or three hundred years old.
“I live in the Olympian palace, after all. I’ve never seen the goddess of spring and seeds at any banquet, but I’ve heard the rumors.”
“What rumors?”
“That she inherited the looks of both her father and mother and is extraordinarily beautiful.”
“I see…”
“Is she truly that lovely? They say her golden hair and eyes resemble the blessed grains of Demeter’s harvest.”
Do all beautiful goddesses look good to you? Then again, since he couldn’t properly consummate his love with Aphrodite…
“Ugh… I’m so jealous, Uncle. I’m certain you’ve received Aphrodite’s blessing!”
“…A nephew developing a crush on me is not something to celebrate.”
“Huh? Why would that be a problem? Persephone’s own parents are siblings, and most Olympian gods were born from unions between relatives—”
Looking into the blacksmith god’s eyes, which were filled only with innocent confusion, I realized he genuinely didn’t understand. “Actually, I sometimes find Athena beautiful too. Don’t you think so, Uncle?”
“Hephaestus.”
“That perfect figure that even her armor and helmet can’t hide… Yes?”
“Let’s stop this nonsense right here.”
“…Understood.”
Of course, both Lady Lethe and Lady Styx were distant relatives, but Persephone was simply too close in blood. Even if the gods didn’t consider incest a sin, this felt excessive.
Eros’s golden arrow had indeed been a mistake. One of the arrows he had loosed while wandering beyond the Olympian palace had simply flown in this direction by terrible luck.
“It really was an accident. The arrow was heading toward Mount Etna, but I never imagined it would actually hit someone…”
Having grasped the full situation, Aphrodite stood with her hands on her hips and scolded her son. She seemed to have already smacked him several times; Eros’s forehead was bright red.
“How many times have I told you? Archery practice is to be done only at the designated targets!”
“…I’m sorry…”
“Hmph! Just because you’re a young god doesn’t mean a simple ‘sorry’ is enough after hitting my daughter!”
Eros stood there dejected, clutching his cute little bow. To human eyes he looked about five or six years old, yet pure white wings sprouted from his back.
“I told you arrows are dangerous and that you must always be careful and only use them when absolutely necessary! Why do you keep doing this?!”
“B-but Mother, you also—”
“You still dare talk back?! What about me?!”
“…You told me to shoot the golden arrow when Hades-nim walked by! Why am I the only one getting blamed?!”
“What?”
Even Demeter, whose anger had not yet subsided, stared at Aphrodite with utter disbelief. “Ha… Like mother, like son, I see.”
“T-this is a misunderstanding!”
“Pfft. Misunderstanding my foot. Just the other day you told me to aim properly at Hades-nim… Mmph!”
“Oh dear! Why is this child like this…!”
The goddess of beauty hastily covered her son’s mouth and forced an awkward smile. Not only did she wear the Kestos Himas everywhere, now she was even using Eros?
“…The next time one of Eros’s arrows flies my way, I will assume it was your doing.”
“Argh…! This is all your fault, Hades! How can you ignore the earnest courtship of the goddess of beauty like this?!”
Watching Aphrodite’s face burn scarlet as she tried to shift the blame onto me gave me an instant headache. Was this really appropriate behavior for a married woman who already had a lover?
“Anyway, it’s all Hades’s fault!”
With that final declaration, Aphrodite flew off in a hurry, tears glistening in her eyes. It was fortunate Hephaestus wasn’t here to see it. If he had, the scene from the last festival of arts featuring Ares and Aphrodite might have been recreated in a far more tragic way. The blacksmith god might have shed tears of blood and joined Gaia’s side.
The goddess of the earth watched Aphrodite’s retreating figure grow smaller, then suddenly nodded as if she had reached some understanding. She muttered, “So you really didn’t scheme against my daughter. I never imagined there could exist a man capable of rejecting the goddess of beauty’s advances…”
I almost miss the days of being buried under endless paperwork in the Underworld.
“In any case, I apologize for misunderstanding you.”
“…It’s fine. At least you understand now.”
I turned next to Eros, who stood with his wings drooping and a gloomy expression. Even though it had been an accident, he needed to learn that he could not fire the golden arrows of love so carelessly.
“Um… may I leave now, Hades-nim…?”
“Eros. If you need a place to practice archery, the Underworld can provide one.”
“Really?!”
“Come to the Underworld shortly. I’ll let you shoot to your heart’s content.”
“Wow! You mean it? I’ll be right there!”
Eros flew off in high spirits, completely unaware of the fate awaiting him. Since Aphrodite already held the divinity of love, the world’s balance wouldn’t suffer even if Eros stayed in the Underworld for a long time. At last, I could relieve the shades who spent day and night torturing the worst sinners. I would teach him a lesson so thorough that he would never carelessly shoot an arrow again. Even if his fingers fell off, he would keep drawing that bow…!
“Even if she fell for you because of Eros’s arrow, I still need to speak with Kore and persuade her.”
“Do as you wish. If you’re returning to the Underworld now, get on the chariot.”
“About my daughter eating the food of the dead…”
As I prepared to descend to the Underworld with Demeter, someone approached, stepping across the clouds. An overwhelming divine power comparable to my own, blue hair, a male god. My brother and ruler of the sea, Poseidon, gazed at us with eyes full of regret. I had a bad feeling about this.
Demeter spoke to him first. “Poseidon? What brings you here?”
“Ahem. Ahem. Demeter, I heard your daughter had gone missing, so I came to offer my condolences…”
“Where did you hear that news? And what do you mean, condolences?”
“Khm! It seems I arrived a bit late. Tsk. I’ll be on my way, then.”
Poseidon stole one last regretful glance at Demeter before vanishing. Demeter’s daughter had been playing near Mount Etna, then climbed onto my chariot and headed for the Underworld. He must have heard the story from the nymphs nearby. Condolences, huh… ‘Comfort.’ Hm. That violent Poseidon wouldn’t have simply offered kind words. Had he assumed Demeter would be drowning in grief over losing her daughter and tried to seduce her?
A brief silence fell between us. Demeter seemed to reach the same conclusion; she clenched her fists, grinding her teeth. “Zeus or Poseidon—they’re all the same! Those male gods are all alike!”
“…I find that rather insulting.”
This was the current state of Olympus, the realm where the gods lived—the very gods whom all mortals revered and feared.