“…Are you saying that love has no value to me?”

Persephone asked back with her chin resting on her hand.

“Why did you think that?”

“…Everyone says that you, Hades, are merciless.”

“Oh, I know there are such rumors about me. So what?”

“So I thought it would be meaningless to emphasize over and over that Eurydice is the person I love.”

“…Because ‘merciless’ me wouldn’t understand any of your pleas anyway?”

“Something like that.”

As he spoke, Orpheus kept glancing at Persephone.

It seemed he was afraid that she might punish him for being disrespectful.

Persephone waved her hand, signaling him to continue talking.

Still unable to feel at ease, Orpheus took out his lyre and played soothing music to calm his mind as he carefully began to speak.

“That’s why I deliberately emphasized that Eurydice is a nymph.”

“…Is that fairy also a merchant?”

“While her identity as a fairy is a bit stronger, yes, that’s right. I met her at sea while returning to my hometown after participating in the Argo expedition.”

Orpheus nodded.

“So I thought that since you, Hades, sometimes cooperate with Hermes, the patron of merchants, and well, you yourself are a ‘wealthy one’… You would be much more interested in money and relationships involving money.”

“…”

“…Was my thinking too short-sighted?”

…Are you asking if your thinking was short-sighted?

‘Do you have to be told that to realize it?’

Persephone looked down at Orpheus with a very dumbfounded expression.

“No, using common sense, wouldn’t a god be moved by a human’s good nature? Then you should have talked about how much you love your wife.”

“Ah, but-”

“Your words ultimately mean that you think I’m an unreasonable god who only cares about money and self-interest, right!”

“No, no, absolutely not! How could someone like me treat you, Hades, that way!”

“…”

Rubbing her aching solar plexus, Persephone grumbled, “Yeah, right.” This was all prejudice against Hades, but somehow it also felt like an attack on her.

Orpheus was sweating profusely and avoiding Persephone’s eyes.

He was afraid to even look at her fiercely blazing platinum-colored eyes.

He swallowed his tears, wondering if he would now be transformed into a disgusting spider or centipede.

“…So in the end, you came here because you love your wife too much.”

A sigh burst out from Persephone.

“You weren’t trying to say how important patrons are for artistic activities, or that money is the most important thing for an artist.”

“…That’s right.”

“…”

Orpheus sighed inwardly, relieved that at least his life had been spared.

Meanwhile, Persephone was accumulating sighs inside after directly encountering the immense prejudice humans had against Hades.

“…Well, as you can see from the fact that I haven’t punished you so far, I’m not that merciless.”

“Y-Yes. You are indeed quite generous.”

“In the first place, turning humans into members of the underworld without exception when their time to die comes, in accordance with fate, could rather be called upholding order, don’t you think?”

“…”

“The dead must remain here forever, but you’ll come here anyway when you die.”

Persephone suddenly lifted the corners of her mouth at Orpheus, who was keeping silent.

“What, you don’t agree?”

He still had his head bowed.

“Well, I guess it’s an old-fashioned story about order to someone who came to save his wife.”

“…”

“What am I even talking about to a half-human…”

Shrugging her shoulders, Persephone stood up from the rock.

She was about to head back to the fields after picking up the sickle she had left nearby, when…

“…I.”

Orpheus opened his mouth.

“I often saw spirits while passing through the Asphodel Meadows.”

“…And?”

“Most of them were in a state where conversation was impossible.”

Persephone narrowed her eyes at Orpheus’ words.

‘Right, aren’t the spirits of the underworld, except for some, in a deep sleep or in a dazed state?’

Having tried to clear them out of the Asphodel Meadows when reclaiming the fields, Persephone knew well what the spirits of the underworld were like.

The spirits working in Hades’ palace or on the walls talked like they did when they were alive, but the spirits in the Asphodel Meadows would often lie around without even pitching a tent like squatters or wander around like shepherds.

It was not easy to wake them up unless you were a skilled god of the underworld.

At the very least, you’d have to bring the blood of a living sacrifice.

Orpheus brushed his bangs aside, his eyes sinking deep.

“Even if we meet after coming to the underworld, eventually we’ll end up in a state worse than losing our memories by drinking from the River Lethe in the Asphodel Meadows.”

“…”

“I don’t like that.”

The wrinkles between Orpheus’ brows gradually deepened.

At his beautiful, pleading voice, even Persephone, who was temporarily staying in the underworld, had no choice but to ponder seriously.

Gold dust piled up in her black eyes.

“The other spirits who only have souls are doing much better outside here in the Asphodel Meadows.”

Sisyphus, who had long lived as a prisoner underground, said that the condition of other souls was better than his.

But Iasion, who was once human and an earthly god…

“Hmm, but it would still be boring and hard to feel sensations properly with just a soul.”

“…Indeed, it would be boring.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing. Just, I remembered something my… friend’s father said to me before.”

Actually, Persephone didn’t think living in the underworld was that bad. Rather, it was cozy.

At the same time, she unconsciously thought that humans feared the underworld simply because they were afraid of dying.

But now, she realized that such thinking was only possible from the perspective of a god.

Until now, the only human she had talked to in the underworld was Sisyphus, who had a living body.

Then why wouldn’t a single bodiless spirit talk to her?

Persephone couldn’t help but ponder this question.

No matter how much she defends Hades or the underworld now, humans on earth will still fear the underworld.

For them who have become spirits, now they only have memories and their sense of self, but even that sense of self easily fades in the underworld if they don’t take on another duty.

Persephone turned to face Orpheus.

“…Let me ask you one thing, singer of Thrace.”

“Yes, please ask.”

“Actually, isn’t the reason you mortals come to the underworld and lose consciousness a matter of the minds you possess?”

“…That may be so.”

Orpheus’ mouth drooped with a pained expression.

“But, at least if that’s the case… Before the sense of self fades…”

Biting his lips, he suddenly raised his head.

“I’d rather drink from the River Lethe and meet Eurydice again in the next life.”

Persephone, with her arms crossed, slightly widened her eyes.

Her gaze, at a loss for words, blankly stared into the void.

Drinking from the River Lethe means voluntarily casting away one’s memories.

‘In the next life, again…?’

Moreover, saying he would meet his wife again in the next life meant attempting the impossible.

Because the spirits here in Greece don’t even reincarnate.

The concepts of samsara and reincarnation were uncommon in the mainland. Unless it was an underworld originating from a different mythology than that of Greece.

“Ah, of course, what I want most is not to die together but for Eurydice to be revived.”

“…”

“Um, Hades?”

“…”

“…You’re not trying to kill me together with Eurydice, are you…?”

Suddenly feeling uneasy, Orpheus urged Persephone.

After pondering deeply, she turned her head towards the minstrel orbiting around her like a satellite.

“Try telling Persephone.”

“…Pardon?”

“What you just said, tell it all to Persephone.”

She pointed her chin at the palace.

“As a reward for giving me the seeds of new ideas, I want to send your wife back to the surface, but I can’t do it if that woman doesn’t give permission. I have to back down.”

“Ah…”

“Do you understand what I mean?”

“…”

Somehow there was no answer from Orpheus. Persephone sharply observed him.

“…Don’t tell me you don’t know who she is?”

Orpheus, who had been spacing out for a moment, wiped his cold sweat and laughed.

“Ah, no, not at all. I know. The goddess you refer to is the daughter of Demeter and the goddess of seeds. As a storyteller, I was aware of that.”

“…Is that so?”

“It’s just, um. There’s one thing I’m curious about…”

Moistening his lips with his tongue, Orpheus clasped his hands together. He slowly raised his gaze.

“Why… are you, Hades, the ruler of the underworld, seeking her permission?”

“…”

Persephone examined the greatly nervous Orpheus. She rubbed her forehead and let out a heavy sigh, “Whew…”

“Listen carefully, Orpheus.”

Orpheus swallowed dryly and nodded.

Persephone’s eyes flashed for a moment as she took her hand off her forehead.

“I am not the real power in the underworld.”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s Persephone, that woman!”

Lifting her head high, Persephone raised her finger with a snap.

“The one who actually rules the underworld is Persephone!”

Persephone decided to blatantly indoctrinate Orpheus while she was at it.

By spreading rumors that Persephone was doing very well in the underworld, and that the reputation she had built was as great as the ruler of the underworld!