“Kore, all men should rightfully return to the embrace of the earth.”

A cool breeze blew from beyond the cliff along with the waves.

Recalling her mother’s words, Persephone furrowed her brow at the salty smell reaching her nose. She turned her head toward the fairy making a flower crown.

“Cyane.”

“Yes?”

“When Mom talks about men and always mentions ‘the embrace of the earth’, does she mean death?”

Doubt clouded Persephone’s eyes. Seeing her expression, the water nymph Cyane startled and stammered.

“W-why are you suddenly talking about such scary things?”

“Hmm…”

Persephone hummed, tilting her cheek. Resting her chin on her hand, she asked Cyane another question.

“Anyway, it seems like Mom wants to use all men as fertilizer for the land? That’s no different from saying she wants to kill them.”

“Surely not, it must be a figurative expression. The Goddess of the Earth who embraces the humans of this land couldn’t possibly have meant it that way.”

“Do you really think so?”

Trying to make excuses, Cyane couldn’t withstand Persephone’s persistently shining gaze and quickly lowered her head.

She couldn’t handle the young woman’s curiosity, asking questions like an inquisitive child.

Silence lingered between them for a long time.

In the end, it was Cyane who showed submission by agreeing with Persephone.

“…Well, it’s clear she’s not very favorable towards them.”

“…”

“Oh my, I understand the lady, but you’re all grown up now. It’s too much that she won’t even let you date.”

Persephone smiled ambiguously at her jest.

Her mother, Demeter, was always anxious when she couldn’t keep her daughter by her side. Whenever they moved residences, she would take care of Persephone first, and she couldn’t help but interfere in matters related to lovers or men.

Once, when Persephone couldn’t stand the annoyance anymore, she had asked Demeter, who was constantly giving warnings and cautions:

“Then what about Lord Hades of the Underworld? Should he also ‘return to the embrace of the earth’?”

“W-what?”

“He’s a man, but he’s also the ruler of death. Even if you send him to Mom’s ’embrace of the earth’, he won’t die!”

Her question seemed to catch Demeter off guard, as she uncharacteristically opened and closed her mouth for a while, unable to speak.

“…He’s no exception either, Kore.”

“Hmm, really?”

“Yes, really. And what this mother means by ’embrace of the earth’ isn’t death, you clever thing.”

The image of a flustered Demeter clearing her throat was still vivid in her mind.

Persephone ran her fingers over the smooth rock she was using as a chair. Green weeds danced at her feet, growing haphazardly.

While her mother’s pessimistic attitude was a bit frustrating, considering the famous story associated with her name…

‘It’s probably a thousand, no, a hundred thousand times better that she’s paying me the utmost attention.’

Persephone, who had been enjoying the spring breeze, stood up, brushing off her fluttering skirt.

“If anything, I feel more sorry for Cyane. You can’t have any personal time because you have to stick by my side.”

“Oh no, it’s not like that. I find this much more comfortable.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And the scenery on this island is so beautiful, isn’t it?”

Cyane smiled softly and placed the flower crown on Persephone’s head. A drop of dew fell from her fingertips.

“Lady Kore, you suit this scenery so well.”

She pointed to somewhere in the forest on the island.

“Shall we go make flower crowns together?”

Where Cyane’s index finger was pointing, the nymph daughters of the sea god were playing.

Persephone’s heart lifted naturally at the sound of laughter that could be heard. She alternately swung her arms and began to walk vigorously towards the flower field.

“Alright, I’ll have to show off my skills.”

“You won’t tear it up if you get frustrated, will you?”

“Of course not! Don’t you know I’m actually quite good with my hands? I’m a good cook too!”

“You certainly do make food well, unlike your usual self, but…”

“What did you say?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Snorting with a “hmph,” Persephone brushed back her hair that was fluttering in the wind. She kicked away the pebbles that got in her way, making a path.

It was then, at the end of her free-spirited steps, that she caught sight of a daffodil.

“…”

For the first time, the smile disappeared from Persephone’s face, which had been smiling all along.

“Lady Kore?”

Sensing something strange, Cyane examined Persephone.

“Is there some problem…?”

“…No.”

Persephone shook her head with a smile.

“I was just looking at how pretty the daffodil is.”

Of course, it was a lie.

“Don’t say such nonsense. Daffodils have always been pretty.”

Yeah, that’s right. They were pretty. They still are pretty. Giving a vague response, she chewed on the inside of her lip secretly from Cyane.

This place was an island, and she, Persephone, was playing with the nymphs.

The fact that there were daffodils here too meant…

‘Am I about to be kidnapped?’

Persephone shuddered at the chill running down her spine.

Indeed, ‘Persephone’ already knew the future that she would be kidnapped.

She didn’t know the future from the moment she was born as a goddess on the Greek mainland. ‘Persephone’ didn’t have the ability to foresee the future like a prophet.

However, after falling seriously ill at the age of 10, she realized she had a past life.

The place where she lived in her past life was a rural area in a peninsula country with no tall buildings, but plenty of mountains and sea. It was also a place where myths were vividly passed down among humans.

Thanks to recalling the memories of her past life, she realized that she was ‘Persephone’ from Greek and Roman mythology.

And when it came to myths about ‘Persephone’, they inevitably mentioned her abduction marriage and her husband.

Persephone’s husband is Hades, the king of the underworld.

In mythology, Hades falls in love with Persephone at first sight and tries to kidnap her to make her his wife.

“I don’t want to be kidnapped…”

Persephone mumbled, following Cyane, in a voice too low for others to hear.

How could she, the goddess of seeds, live in the underworld filled only with the dead?

Before knowing the development of the myth, Persephone had set a goal to someday become independent and obtain a good house and temple.

She thought that if she showed herself living well, Demeter would set aside her anxiety and feel reassured.

Persephone’s own idea of romance was to cook with crops grown in her garden, receive offerings from humans who worshipped her, and live a leisurely life.

But if she were to be kidnapped by the king of the underworld, she could never achieve the romance she had cherished for so long.

This was why Persephone, usually called a tomboy, had been quietly observing the scenery since earlier. If she caused a commotion and caught Hades’ eye, it would be a big problem.

‘No, and how can they expect me to marry my uncle? It’s absurd!’

Persephone puffed out her cheeks petulantly as she recalled the family tree of Hades and herself.

Hades and Demeter were siblings, so if she, Demeter’s daughter, married him, it would be no different from incest.

Although it might be unavoidable to marry within blood relations in Greek and Roman mythology, now that she knew the myth, she didn’t want to be the one involved. It was also because the place where she lived in her past life strictly prohibited incest.

‘Well, but myths are actually a bit flimsy, so if I avoid it well for a while, won’t it be okay?’

Persephone relaxed as she made an optimistic imagination in her mind.

Isn’t that how all myths are? Since they were folklore passed down by word of mouth before becoming myths, even if she had been reincarnated as Persephone, if she knew the future, there were many ways to avoid Hades’ kidnapping.

Yes, for example, being a good child who always listens to Demeter’s words to come home before sunset.

Or…

‘Not going to pick the daffodils blooming thickly at the edge of that cliff.’

Persephone stopped following Cyane and stood still.

In the myth, Hades lures Persephone, who was playing with nymphs on the island, with fragrant daffodils. After leading her to the boundary between the underworld and the living world, he jumps out and takes Persephone away just as she’s about to pick the daffodil.

Persephone narrowed her eyes at the cluster of daffodils with particularly large flower heads.

The number was roughly a hundred flowers.

The fragrance was so strong it reached where she was standing, and the petals even sparkled in the sunlight, but from her perspective, knowing the myth, it was nothing more and nothing less than a trap.

She pouted her lips and was about to turn away from the daffodils when it happened.

Rumble…

“…What’s that?”

Persephone quickly raised her head.

The ground was shaking unstably.

In the distance, Cyane and the nymphs’ sharp screams erupted. Meanwhile, Persephone lost her balance and stumbled, falling to the ground.

Her body slid down the sloped hill, approaching the cracks in the cliff.

‘Could it be Hades?’

Persephone hurriedly dug her fingers into the dirt. Sticking to the grass like a spider, she spat out the weeds she had inhaled and raised her upper body.

‘He’s not here, right? No one’s here, right?’

Fortunately, there was no sign of Hades.

Persephone exhaled a sigh of relief as she stood up. She waved her hand towards Cyane, who was running towards her, as if to say she was okay.

At that moment.

An ashen shadow fell over her head.

Persephone raised her eyes. Glossy black fur entered her field of vision.

“Huh…?”

The horse’s pitch-black hooves were swaying above her head.

The reins swung in the air like a whip. Her gaze naturally flew to the connection point of the reins.

It was a chariot, no, a war chariot.

With a background as dark as the abyss and golden decorations proving its wealth. It was clear whose chariot this was before her eyes.

Hades’ chariot.

Persephone’s face turned pale as she instinctively sensed the threat.

There was no sign of someone coming out of the chariot to grab her, but there was an even bigger problem.

That is, the chariot that was dozens of times larger than her body…

‘Is it trying to run me over?’

The flower crown that had been placed on her head floated off.

“Young lady!”

With Cyane’s cry as the last thing she heard, Persephone’s vision turned black.