For Persephone

Chapter 52 – The Queen of the Underworld’s Plan

Shortly after her daughter disappeared, Demeter, the goddess of grains and riches, searched for Persephone in every way. However, no one knew about her daughter’s disappearance with one other nymph, and Demeter soon fell into despair.

All the grains in the ground died when the goddess didn’t take good care of them. It was months ago that Sisyphos caused trouble above ground, so the gods of Olympus also felt great distress.

Everyone was starving to death.

Then one day, a nymph swore that he saw a black carriage on the horizon on the same day Persephone had disappeared. The carriage was that of the underworld, Demeter soon understood the conundrum. Demeter was furious when she found out that Hades had kidnapped her daughter! The incident had become a matter of life or death.

Zeus and some other gods expressed great regret over this and tried to resolve it somehow, but Demeter was pathologically stubborn, and Hades had already declared Persephone queen of the underworld.

“They say she ate the death fruit.”

The mother fell into grief. Her poor, innocent daughter fell into the king’s underworld scheme!

Persephone had expected that, so it was neither surprising nor heartbreaking when Hermes came to tell the news. Around that time, Persephone was out on a foggy dock on the Acheron River about to catch a ride with Kharon, who scolded her.

“You are showing disloyalty.”

“Silence, My Queen. In my eyes, you’re still nothing but a cheeky little girl. What the hell has gotten into you?” He asked her incredulously.

“Why don’t you be nice to me for once?”

She was relaxed and not afraid of anything underworld-related. It was only after Kharon nervously turned his head around with his arms folded that she realized that they have a visitor. Hermes.

“Hermes.”

Hermes, whose face was frozen to some extent, glared at Persephone. She was enjoying herself. Even though she was from the ground above.

“Are you… enjoying yourself, Queen? Are you? This is not a joke.”

“Yes, I can’t forever mourn my confinement, right?” She looked at him with her innocent eyes and a frown to match with. Her sad face gave Hermes a strange feeling. From the beginning, she had always made him feel as such. Turning the tables with one forlorn look.

Persephone, who had been looking at Hermes for some time, smiled faintly. “You’re really making me sad, so don’t look at me like that. Shall we take a walk and talk?”

They walked alongside the banks of the Acheron River.

Persephone was now completely adjusted to the lifestyle of the underworld. Neither the ferocious deadmen nor the skeletal remains at Pledgeton basin attacked her anymore, she was able to use Kharon’s boat at any time without paying, and she could freely use the countless wealth in the palace.

Her life had totally changed.

Hermes quietly delivered to her the news about what was happening above ground; about how much hatred for Hades burned inside Demeter, and how concerned she was about the safety of her daughter. When he closed his mouth, having said what he had to say, Persephone laughed softly.

“Then I can be fair and spend half the year with my mother and the other half with Hades.” Persephone laid out the last step of her plans.

Hermes was at a loss for words. She was showing no regret, nor reluctance in living here.

Zeus had a power to nullify the marriage. There were a lot of speculations that Hades had forced her to eat the pomegranate, but when faced with Persephone, Hermes couldn’t get rid of the premonition that there may have been another secret story.

“Why did you eat it? It’d be okay if you hadn’t. Oh, this is all a big mess—”

“I didn’t know. How did I know I wasn’t supposed to eat? I was a virgin trapped on that island. My mother trapped me there and raised me like that, it wasn’t my fault.” She feigned innocence.

Hermes sighed, losing his will to refute those words. It was a well-spread story that Demeter secretly hid her daughter like she was a prisoner.

Persephone calmly turned her head to look at the other side of the river. Way over there, that pitch-black place was now very familiar to her. She could now imagine the Styx River flowing through the palace as if it were right under her nose. Every morning, staring at it as she woke up—.

“Anyway, half a year is enough to reach an agreement on. I’ll go let Hades know.” Hermes said.

Before he could leave, Persephone spoke, “Don’t tell him I told you.”

“Why not?”

“He might not like it. Me moving back and forth, here and there; I have to live by his side.”

Hermes’ lips quivered like he wanted to say more but just gave up and only nodded. “I’ll go now.”

Persephone, who was looking at Hermes’s back as he went away, squatted carefully by the river. And took her time to dip her hands in the Acheron River. The black water consuming her pale hands.

‘Making my mother sad is better than hating her to the point of wanting to kill her, right?’