CHAPTER 89: CHAPTER 89: HADES HAS A BIT OF A SCREW LOOSE

"My poor little Persephone, are you awake?"

"Are you hurt anywhere? Does anything feel painful?"

Under the gloomy sky of the Underworld, a goddess with delicate beauty and skin as flawless as white jade slowly opened her eyes.

In this world of darkness, desolation, and death, she was like a single flower blooming alone on the barren steppe.

The black-clad bride of the dead leaned over her, golden buttons at her collar straining as if they might pop at any second.

"H-Hades... Auntie?"

Persephone’s head was still swimming, trying to recall what happened before she lost consciousness.

She remembered picking flowers with the nymphs and seeing a beautiful narcissus blossom.

Then the earth suddenly split open, and from within-

"Yes, it’s me."

Hades lifted her veil, revealing a face full of warmth and tenderness, yet strangely laced with forbidden allure.

Her thin, sharp eyeliner gave her a mysterious charm. The contrast between her pale skin and dark lips exuded both coldness and irresistible seduction.

But the affection and indulgence in her eyes clashed with her icy beauty.

Death, it seemed, could be both alluring and frigid, yet gentle enough to embrace everything.

And somehow, this version of Hades made Persephone deeply uneasy.

She couldn’t help but feel... the Hades she knew had never been this warm.

Hades was someone who usually kept her emotions hidden. Someone who rarely expressed her thoughts.

"Where are we? What do you want?"

Persephone tried to lift her hand, but found she couldn’t even move a finger.

She had been kidnapped. That much was clear.

But what she didn’t understand was why Hades would suddenly abduct her. After all, they were family.

"Oh, we’re in the Underworld, of course."

Hades stepped to the side, clearing a portion of the view.

Under the bleak sky, countless souls swarmed at their feet.

They dug out dark-glimmering rocks from the depths of the Underworld, using the bones of monsters to build the early frame of a grand palace.

They toiled endlessly, tirelessly, as if determined to raise a tower straight to the heavens in the depths of hell.

"That’s the Palace of the Underworld I’m constructing. It’ll be our home from now on, no, for all eternity."

Hades smiled, but what Persephone saw in that smile wasn’t warmth. It was something twisted. A hint of madness.

"My little Persephone, I’m sorry. I really am. I must be a very, very bad person, right?"

But just as that distorted smile deepened, Hades suddenly began apologizing over and over again.

Her expression now showed sorrow, regret, guilt.

The sudden shift in her demeanor made Persephone nervous.

This aunt of hers, Hades, really seemed... a little unwell.

"L-Lady of the Underworld... could you maybe let me go?"

Persephone instinctively switched to formal speech, clearly unnerved.

In the past, even though Hades was quiet and reserved, as an elder, she had never made Persephone feel afraid.

But now, something had changed.

"No need to sound so distant. Just call me Hades, little Persephone."

Her slender fingers gently brushed across Persephone’s body, and the black aura of death flowed into Hades instead.

Suddenly, Persephone could move again, her body regaining freedom.

She looked around cautiously. The air reeked of damp soil and rotting flesh.

The sharp smell of sulfur dulled the stench, but only made things more nauseating.

This was the Underworld, the realm of the dead buried beneath the earth. A world of darkness, pain, and death.

Persephone had never set foot here before. Her mother, Demeter, was the goddess of harvest and life. Her attendants were the three goddesses of the seasons.

In Olympus, only spring, summer, and autumn existed, germination, growth, and fruition.

She had never seen withering, never mind the land of death.

The soil of the Underworld smelled like corpses. Like a field nourished by decay.

And yet, strangely, Persephone didn’t find it unbearable. There was a strange sense of comfort in the air.

"Don’t worry. While you were unconscious, I had you eat some pomegranate seeds from the Underworld."

"The environment here shouldn’t bother you anymore."

A faint curve rose at the corner of Hades’ lips.

It was hard to tell whether she was feeling proud or guilty. Her expression twisted slightly.

"Pomegranate seeds from the Underworld?!"

Persephone had heard of them, food of the dead. Once consumed, you could never leave this world again.

But then she remembered: she was a goddess. Surely such rules didn’t apply to her.

"I used the seeds to change your divine essence. After that, I’ll grant you the position of Queen of the Underworld."

"No, not just queen. I’ll give you everything, my authority, my power. All of it."

Hades’ gaze burned with intensity, but it wasn’t love, it was obsession.

"That way, you and I will never leave this world. We’ll rule the land of the dead together, forever."

Hearing that, Persephone instinctively took a step back, shaking her head.

"No. I want to go back to my mother."

"Aunt Hades... you’re joking, right?"

"I can’t accept this."

The ethical issue between them wasn’t really a problem. That was the least of her worries.

In ancient tradition passed down from Gaia, such relationships were hardly scandalous. Their tolerance was... considerable.

In Orphic mythology, Zeus’s mother Rhea, his wife Demeter, and daughter Persephone were sometimes considered facets of the same being.

Persephone and Zeus gave birth to Zagreus, known as the "Underworld Dionysus."

"My daughter’s daughter is still my daughter, got it?"

If they could accept that, no one batted an eye at Hades and Persephone’s union.

The real issue was Demeter.

Demeter was obsessive about Persephone. She smothered her daughter with love so intense it bordered on madness. She couldn’t bear being apart from her.

Some even said she projected her feelings for Zeus onto her beautiful daughter.

Raised in such an environment, Persephone had never formed her own opinions or will.

She simply wanted to obey her mother. To return to her side as soon as possible.

"I understand. No one would want to live in a place like this."

Hades gently embraced her, stroking her long, silky hair with the tenderness of an elder.

"I don’t want to either. But there’s no choice. Only I can do it. So I must. And then..."

Her arms tightened gradually.

Persephone started to feel breathless. The suffocating pressure reminded her of her mother’s overwhelming embrace.

"A-Auntie?"

She tried to struggle, but without any divine authority, she was powerless.

Hades’ gentle expression twisted again, murmuring softly:

"Why does it have to be me? Why am I the only one left alone in this empty Underworld?"

"I want to be like all of you. I want to be happy too. Why can’t I?"

Bitterness and jealousy rose like shadows behind her, nearly visible in form.

As a child of Cronus, as the elder sister, she had responsibilities.

She never resented Zeus or Poseidon. But her feelings toward her three sisters? No one knew for sure.

Why did she have to grow up and shoulder the burden?

Why could her oldest sister walk away just because she didn’t like it?

Why were the others enjoying love and family?

This bitterness and jealousy twisted Hades’ once gentle heart. Perhaps it was the price of accepting the godhood of the Underworld.

While wandering aimlessly, she saw Persephone playing with the goddesses of the seasons.

Maybe it was fate. Or maybe she just lost control for a moment.

She kidnapped her and brought her to the Underworld.

She didn’t know if it was revenge or escape, but she did it anyway.

Persephone gasped for air, struggling desperately.

"I..."

This embrace was even more suffocating than her mother Demeter’s obsessive control. It felt like it might crush her.

Hades’ black nails tore through Persephone’s gauzy dress, drawing beads of red blood.

Perhaps it was the scent of blood that jolted Hades back to her senses. She quickly let go and rushed to heal her.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, my poor little Persephone. I didn’t mean to hurt you."

"I just wanted to keep you here. I just wanted your mother to feel what I felt. I..."

Her words came out in a confused mess.

She had no ill will toward Persephone. And yet she brought her to this lightless world, intending to trap her forever.

But on the other hand, she was transferring a major part of her Underworld authority to Persephone.

This was her way of atoning. She didn’t want a decorative queen like Poseidon had with Amphitrite.

Still, this was a disaster caused by her own jealousy and warped emotions.

Guilt and envy twisted her from within, warping the Hades she once was.

"My poor little Persephone..."

"I’m sorry."

"Please forgive me..."

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