Persephone blinked her eyes rapidly.

“… How did you know all that?”

“Well.”

Hades turned his body and muttered as if for her to hear.

“When I compared your past memories with your current appearance… the conclusion came easily.”

“So, I’m curious why you compared them.”

“… There was a reason for it.”

Hades vaguely brushed off the answer. He couldn’t say that he had gone over everything in detail after admitting he liked her.

It was just as Persephone was about to urge him, saying he shouldn’t make people so curious.

“Ah, by the way, do your eyebrows also raise when you’re in distress, not just when you smile?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“…”

The corners of his lips drooped slightly as he asked the question.

“Once, you were saddened by an issue regarding your father.”

“Ah, yes. That was when I first had a meal with you, Lord Hades.”

“Your eyebrows were lowered at that time.”

Persephone’s chin lowered slightly.

‘… Lord Hades has good memory and observation skills?’

She shrugged her shoulders as if it wasn’t a big deal, as usual.

“Well, I’m not sure. Wouldn’t everyone be like that when they’re sad? When someone looks like they’re about to cry, their eyebrows, eyes, and lips all droop down.”

“Yes, that’s right. For ordinary people, it would be very natural to lower their eyebrows when distressed, but…”

“…”

“I remember that when you were distressed about being treated as the culprit of an incident before, your eyebrows were raised again, unlike a typical person’s expression.”

… Was that so?

She couldn’t remember if she had really made such an expression with her eyebrows.

How would she know if her eyebrows suddenly turned into seagulls and flew away, when she hardly ever looked in the mirror?

Persephone shook her head as if she really didn’t know.

But Hades, whatever he was thinking, moistened his lips and carefully asked.

“Perhaps when you first had a meal with me and told me about your circumstances… did you have a separate ‘intention’ then?”

“…”

So this…

‘Is he asking if I deceived him?’

Persephone quickly racked her brain.

‘No, even so… My eyebrows wouldn’t go down even when I’m sad…? How on earth did he know that?’

But she didn’t know how to respond further here. Perhaps Hades already seemed to know that she had lied.

In the end, just as Persephone was about to conclude the conversation with a smile that meant she wouldn’t answer.

“No, I’m not trying to reproach you for deceiving me. In any case, what I asked was a difficult question to answer.”

“… You’re not saying anything?”

Persephone’s voice lowered a little in surprise.

Just as they were about to turn the corner, Hades’ footsteps stopped.

“Why would I?”

“…”

“You had no malice or anything at the time. Your intention was just to appear a little pitiful, wasn’t it?”

He continued speaking as if he really didn’t understand why he should do that.

“I didn’t suffer any harm either. The money I gave was not even a drop in the bucket for me. I could give you much more than that.”

“…”

“And in the end, if you wanted to gain sympathy…”

Hades smiled softly, as if sighing.

“If no one was actually in sorrow then, how could I say anything?”

The man’s black clothes brushed against his ankle bone.

“If you weren’t really that heartbroken then, that’s enough for me.”

Persephone’s eyebrows twitched. Her steps, which had been keeping pace with Hades’, naturally came to a stop.

Come to think of it, how did I end up walking side by side with that person…?

Usually, when walking with Thanatos or Sisyphus, I would find myself speed walking to keep up with them.

Even when we made the waterway with Asclepius, didn’t they outpace me and the god of medicine?

“Persephone?”

“…”

“… Did I upset you perhaps?”

“…”

“If I upset you, I apologize. I, well, am used to this kind of ‘observation’ because I practiced reading Cronos’ expressions every day.”

Hades, who had gone ahead leaving her behind, turned back.

His voice murmured apologies, saying it might be his bad habit, that he was sorry if it felt gloomy.

Was she really upset? Persephone carefully retraced her emotions.

Well… She learned that Hades had quite good eye for detail, and that it was sharp enough to give her goosebumps, but…

“And so I knew you weren’t the culprit.”

“…”

“I could sufficiently distinguish whether there was ‘intent’ or not just from your expression.”

“…”

“If you weren’t that heartbroken then, that was enough for me.”

“… I’m not upset.”

… Well, that’s it.

I’m not sure if that’s upsetting. I just felt a bit dazed.

* * *

On a sunny afternoon in the underworld.

“There’s something I want to ask.”

“… Who?”

Sisyphus broke out in a cold sweat at the sudden murder request he encountered.

Persephone, who had spoken to him, widened her eyes.

“Ask for me?”

“No, no, I’m sorry. I was just joking!”

“Seems like you’re living pretty well these days?”

Persephone, holding a hoe, raised the wooden handle over her head.

It was fortunate that she hadn’t sharpened the blade, but her attack was still dangerous even if it was just a strike.

Sisyphus, who had fled, hurriedly brought a seedling tray from the storage shed.

He said that all vegetables except root vegetables are planted in these wooden seedling trays in advance to grow seedlings.

He hugged the freshly sprouted seedlings to his chest like a lifeline.

Persephone clicked her tongue when she realized he was holding the seedlings. She plopped down on a nearby rock and muttered to herself.

“… Well, I guess it’s a bit much to ask you, since you probably didn’t get along with your wife.”

“Ugh…”

He groaned briefly as his sore spot was touched.

‘But why is she suddenly bringing up the wife story?’

At that moment, a hypothesis flashed through Sisyphus’ mind.

“… Don’t tell me?”

A mumble escaped his lips.

Sisyphus let out a short laugh and gestured.

“What is it? Just ask straight out.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Come on, don’t be like that−”

“What should I trust about you!”

“Despite how I look, haven’t I been doing well diligently until now?”

Sisyphus wiped his sweat and pointed to the field.

“Look, I’ve put up fences here and remade the furrows. I couldn’t help the herb garden being torn up though.”

Sisyphus shrugged his shoulders and smiled inwardly with satisfaction.

The punishment he received before was a terribly dreadful series of helplessness.

Shamefully, he didn’t realize how different it was from the punishment of rolling the boulder until he started plowing the field.

He just visited her domain at regular times because delicious meals came out.

‘But seeing how things have grown like this fills my heart…’

It seemed he had grown attached to the only farm in the underworld. As a bonus, to its owner as well.

“So.”

Sisyphus, leaning his back near the rock where Persephone sat, looked up.

“What were you going to ask? I’m curious.”

“… Don’t tell anyone else.”

“Why would I talk? When I go back to Tartarus, there are people who want to kill me everywhere.”

“Swear by the River Styx.”

“Alright.”

Persephone, who had been keeping silent, suddenly turned her head.

“… Someone analyzed my expressions.”

“And?”

“It’s like a characteristic that even I or my mother didn’t know about?”

“… And?”

“The fact that someone knew this means that person has exceptionally good observation skills, right?”

“Hmm…”

Sisyphus stroked his chin.

“Can’t you tell me more context? With just this explanation, I don’t understand why you’re confiding this to me.”

“No, I can’t tell you more about what situation I was in. If you can’t answer, I’ll send you back to Tartarus.”

“Urgh…”

He groaned and racked his brains.

At that moment when his imagination reached its limit.

“… Observing expressions means they only looked at your face, doesn’t it?”

Sisyphus let go of his temples that he had been gripping.

Persephone’s eyes wavered.

“… Face?”

“Yes, face.”

She slowly rubbed her cheeks and asked.

“… Is it because I’m pretty?”

“Or maybe your face was particularly funny.”

When Sisyphus made a joke, Persephone’s face instantly changed to that of an evil spirit. Before he could run away, her teeth bit down hard on his arm.

“Ow! Why are you suddenly biting!”

“… Hmph!”

Persephone, uncharacteristically acting like a coy girl, twisted her steps and crossed her arms.

“You know your sins better!”

* * *

The night in the underworld is a time when the constellations embedded in Nyx’s hair become the light source.

The goddess of the moon doesn’t ride her moonlight-filled chariot across the underworld sky at this time. She just rests and swims in the River Styx.

So it was natural that the underworld was darker than the surface world.

“What’s this?”

And here was a night visitor taking advantage of that darkness.

“Why are the lights still on over there?”

Persephone’s gaze, which had voiced the question, fell on Hades’ office.

The reason she had come out for a stroll tonight was because she couldn’t fall asleep at all.

More precisely, she had lost track of bedtime while ruminating over her conversation with Sisyphus about why Hades had observed her expressions and how he knew about it.

She had finally come outside with the self-justification of replenishing Asclepius’ materials that were depleted due to Cerberus’ attack.

Scratching her nape, Persephone narrowed her eyes even more as she examined the office.

Yellow light was still seeping out from the office on the second floor of the palace she was looking at now.

‘I wonder if Lord Hades is also thinking about something like me.’

Persephone was curious about what it might be, when she suddenly realized.

The office was always lit whenever she went on occasional night outings, which meant Hades was in the office each time, and.

Therefore, this might be a chronic habit− no, perhaps even close to an ‘illness’.

“…”

A light gleamed in Persephone’s eyes as she watched the quiet scene.

At last, as if she had made up her mind, she moved her feet.