Persephone kept walking, hoping that Orpheus would follow her as planned.

However, there was one unexpected problem with the ‘plan’.

‘… I can’t tell if he’s following me or not!’

That’s right.

Persephone couldn’t tell if Orpheus was following her!

Persephone’s sensing ability wasn’t that bad, but the problem was that her target was a demigod who lived with the fairies.

Usually, fairies are one with nature itself.

It seemed that Orpheus had unconsciously mastered the ‘skill of assimilating with nature’ while living with such fairies.

‘Is that rustling sound his presence? No, it could be leaves.’

Persephone resisted the urge to turn around and look behind her as much as possible.

A king of the underworld who can’t even detect a single demigod and wanders around like a dog, isn’t that too… unsightly?

Being a philanderer was a matter of personality, no, divinity, but a king scouring the surroundings would be proof that it’d be fine for Cerberus to sit on the throne.

Thinking so, Persephone walked as slowly as possible. She soon arrived at the field she had tended.

Iasion, who looks after her field, was there.

Since Persephone and Hades’ souls entered each other’s bodies, he had no choice but to stay in the underworld.

At first, he tried to cast an illusion spell on Orpheus to make Hades look like himself, but it failed as Iasion himself felt reluctant to meddle with someone’s mind.

Now, along with Asclepius, he said he would research how the souls Hades tried to put into Persephone’s body ended up switching as a sorcerer.

Persephone, her face brightening, quickly approached Iasion and whispered softly.

“Father.”

“… Ahhh!”

Startled, Iasion jumped.

Seeing Persephone’s face, he let out a scream as if he would faint, then sighed when she frowned.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot for a moment since the face was right in front of me.”

“…”

“… Why have you come to see me, Your Majesty?”

Iasion asked his daughter in a slightly playful voice.

Persephone first wrote on a nearby rock.

“…”

Without even showing surprise, Iasion naturally bent over and wrote on an oak tree.

Although Persephone couldn’t understand the principle, when he infused divine power into the letters he wrote, a golden force swept the earth like a haze.

The haze stopped at the entrance to Elysium.

“… It doesn’t seem like he came.”

“…”

The muscles on the handsome face completely contorted.

Persephone, letting out a hollow laugh, plopped down on a nearby rock.

“Ah, how annoying.”

“Wh-why is that?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Disappointed, she waved her hand and changed the subject.

“Anyway, how is the soul issue going?”

“Ah, that? Well, Professor Asclepius seemed to have figured out the reason why the souls switched…”

“Seemed to?”

Iasion, biting his lip, shrugged.

“Strangely, he wouldn’t tell me the reason no matter how much I pressed him. He said he needs to look into it more, whether it’s because of divine power or something. Why is he doing that?”

“Hmm… Then it will take more time to return?”

“Why, is it uncomfortable?”

Persephone scratched her ear.

Uncomfortable?

No, not particularly.

Of course, male and female bodies were different, but her mental strength wasn’t so weak as to be embarrassed by every little thing.

Every morning, or sometimes when she got close to Hades who entered her body, even she got a bit flustered.

But she could endure that.

The problem was rather…

“I feel like using the position of the king of the underworld, what should I do?”

“… Huh?”

“The taste of power is too sweet.”

Once she became the ruler of the underworld, she didn’t want to let it go.

Iasion gaped.

Just before nagging poured out from his open mouth, Persephone quickly covered his mouth with her large hand and attempted to explain.

“Wait, hear me out.”

“…”

“This doesn’t mean I’ll go wild as a person in power.”

Iasion frowned but nodded slightly.

“Well, so…”

Removing her hand from her father’s jaw, Persephone pondered how to explain this feeling.

She liked how the spirits flinched whenever she passed through the palace, and how flustered Orpheus was in the audience chamber.

She also liked how Thanatos bowed his head to her calling her Lord Hades, then suddenly made a face as if he bit something.

This must all be thanks to the power Hades possessed.

But the best part was…

“I keep wanting to tease him.”

It was Hades who reacted to her poking.

Persephone took out the name tag she had in her bosom. She gazed rapturously at the golden letters on the black background and stroked it with her fingertips.

“I don’t know why I want to tease him so much. Have I become a sleazy old man hitting on a pretty girl?”

Iasion’s face looked strange at the raw metaphor.

But she no longer cared about her father’s reaction. The image of Hades with her face was already coming to her mind.

Unlike Persephone who expresses her emotions with her whole body, Hades is originally a god who doesn’t express his inner feelings well.

But things changed after he entered Persephone’s body.

Hades, influenced by Persephone’s body that had always lived honestly with herself, had his emotions directly reflected on the outside.

She continued.

“It’s like the feeling of wanting to make advances just because the reaction is good no matter what I say?”

“…”

“You know, there are times like that. Isn’t it fascinating when someone who used to be expressionless suddenly blushes, and when I touch their head?”

“… Isn’t it subtle because it’s your face?”

“That’s true, but it’s more fun because he uses the body differently from me.”

“…”

“Aren’t you curious to see how much more he’ll allow here?”

Persephone looked at Iasion with sparkling eyes.

But he was looking at her with an expression that said he didn’t know what to say.

It didn’t seem like he was making a grim face at the dissonance of her words being vastly different from Hades’ impression.

She was about to urge Iasion to speak straight if he had something to say.

Snap.

Persephone and Iasion’s eyes quickly turned towards the back.

… There stood the bard she was looking for.

“Hic.”

“…”

“…”

The lad seemed to have made a mistake by stepping on a branch like Sisyphus.

Persephone wrinkled her brows, recalling the past to see if there was any problem with the conversation just now.

But Orpheus, thinking about what he saw, hiccupped.

“I-I didn’t hear anything?”

Then, as if he’d rather not have said it, he began to step back.

Persephone kicked the ground like a predator chasing its prey. Soon, the young man’s scream rose.

* * *

Hades’ body was also very good for catching runaways!

“…”

“…”

Persephone, sitting on a rock, scrutinized Orpheus who was kneeling in front of her.

Having returned to being the ‘king of the underworld’, she asked.

“Where have you been all this time?”

“Ah, I was wandering the meadows and briefly went to Elysium…”

“Why Elysium?”

“… Uh, I thought you might be harming me by suddenly lifting the spell, so I ran away.”

Orpheus, scratching the back of his head, pointed to the forest.

Persephone and Iasion looked at each other for a moment with dumbfounded eyes.

The spell Iasion spread was very soft like mist and spread around in the blink of an eye, but he dodged that too? As expected of a demigod.

“How much of our conversation did you hear?”

“Ah…”

“It would be best for you to spit it out quickly. Right now, I want to pluck all the strings of your lyre from your bones like spreading flesh.”

“Eek!”

Hugging the lyre tightly to his chest, he stammered out.

“Fr-from the part about wanting to tease…”

“…”

“Really, truly.”

Orpheus sniffled and deeply bowed his head.

It didn’t seem like he was lying.

‘Still, it’s fortunate he didn’t hear the part about the souls being switched.’

Persephone decided to think positively. She crossed her arms and lowered her voice.

“… Well, anyway, seeing as you came to find me like this, you must have some business with me.”

“… Yes.”

Orpheus stopped sobbing and straightened his posture.

Observing his eyes that became clear again, Persephone opened her mouth with a sigh.

“First, let me tell you that my attitude in the audience chamber was a kind of evaluation.”

“Pardon?”

“I wanted to test you because it seemed like you were acting.”

“…”

“In the first place, a love confession is something you can just say for the sake of making excuses, so the fact that you refused so strongly also made me think you weren’t a lover from the beginning.”

Orpheus, blinking his cow-like eyes, turned calm. He bowed his head more deeply and politely.

“As a mere human, it’s an honor to be tested by the king of the underworld-”

“Stop.”

Persephone touched the crown of Orpheus’ head.

“I really hate formalities. Let’s get to the point like in the audience chamber.”

“…”

Orpheus raised his head again.

Then, just like on the ramparts, a face mixed with will and melancholy was revealed.

Densely packed emotions that were difficult to face directly.

Even Iasion, who was standing next to her, moved away so as not to hear their conversation.

… For some reason, she wanted to see Hemera.

Persephone raised her gaze and looked at the clear sky.

“I think you love your wife deeply. Like other couples, no… actually much more than other couples.”

“…”

“Then why did you lie to me?”

Then, tilting her head down again, she crossed her legs. Resting her chin, she stared intently at Orpheus.

How long did the silence last?

“I did so because I thought love would be of no value to the king of the underworld.”

Orpheus struggled to give an answer.