I've Possessed Persephone (9 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 15
Demeter’s daughter, Kore, has been imprisoned in the Underworld!
Mount Olympus, where the gods gather.
The mountain peak was abuzz with excitement over a major incident—the first in a long while since the war.
Demeter demanded from Hades and the other chthonic deities:
“Give me back my daughter!”
Hades, however, rejected her demand as though he were the wronged one.
“I can’t help this either!”
As gods ruling over the earth and the underworld respectively, their opposition was intense.
It wasn’t merely a family dispute—it could easily escalate into a territorial conflict.
Some gossip-loving, drama-prone gods claimed Hades had fallen for Kore and devised a scheme to keep her in the Underworld.
Even when Hades, hearing the rumors circulating Olympus for the first time in ages, insisted on his innocence, they were delighted—they’d successfully provoked a meaningful reaction from that king of the Underworld.
They were, in every way, an impossible bunch.
Still, one fortunate thing was that the more serious-minded gods took the matter gravely.
Some even pleaded with Zeus, questioning how a goddess embodying fertility and life could possibly stay in the stagnant realm of the dead.
Demeter herself issued a stern warning: if her daughter wasn’t returned to the surface, they’d soon witness exactly what chaos would unfold.
And so, time passed endlessly.
“I’ve brought back Zeus’s verdict.”
Hermes arrived in Hades’s palace reception room, where Hades, Demeter, and Persephone had all gathered, carrying Zeus’s decree.
Everyone, except the ever-composed Hermes, swallowed hard.
“Speak quickly.”
Demeter, who had been tapping the table impatiently, urged Hermes.
“Hmm-hmm! Alright then.”
Seemingly pleased at commanding the room’s atmosphere, the messenger god cleared his throat theatrically.
Hermes unfurled the scroll.
“Now, our great god among gods, Lord Zeus, ruler of the heavens, has decreed as follows—”
“……”
Just as everyone stared intently at Hermes’s lips—
“It’ll be revealed in 60 seconds!”
Hermes rolled the scroll back up with a flourish and grinned widely.
Wham!
Demeter’s fist shot straight toward Hermes’s face.
“Aaah!”
He yelped, jerking his head aside just in time—air burst with a loud pop.
Having narrowly avoided a strike powerful enough to split the earth, Hermes dramatically gasped for breath.
“Hey, seriously! You scared me!”
“My patience runs shallow, boy. Next time, even I won’t know what might happen to you.”
“But if the verdict had been truly serious, would I have joked about it? You’re being too harsh, Lady Demeter!”
“……”
“……Ah, alright! I’ll tell you!”
Hermes unrolled the scroll again and placed Zeus’s message on the table.
[She shall stay in the Underworld for half a year, then return to the earth’s embrace.]Persephone’s eyes dimmed.
“I’m to remain in the Underworld for only half a year, then return to the surface.”
Just as expected.
Persephone sighed and ran her fingers through her tangled hair.
Twisting a lock of her long hair around her finger, she responded indifferently.
“You mean half a year out of a full year, correct?”
“Yes.”
“So I’ll have to come here every year—meaning I’ll spend half my life, no, half my divine existence, here. Is that right?”
“Well, uh—not quite?”
“Huh?”
“You only need to stay here for half a year—this time. And you may continue eating Underworld food normally during those six months.”
“……”
Surprised, Persephone fixed her gaze on the scroll as though pressing her nose against it.
‘I only have to stay here for six months?’
Could things really resolve this easily?
In the myth she remembered, Persephone always had to spend either one-third or half of every year in the Underworld…
‘Is this myth slightly different from the one I know?’
Just as Persephone tilted her head in confusion,
Hermes leaned forward slightly and winked knowingly at her.
“By the way, Miss Kore—I heard you’ve been making quite the impression down here.”
“……Ah, that?”
“Absolutely amazing! Do tell me more!”
Hermes clapped his hands encouragingly, clearly eager for her story.
“Hermes. Don’t burden her unnecessarily now that the verdict’s been delivered.”
“Oh, come on, Lord Hades! Cut me some slack. It’s not every day I meet a junior rivaling my own legendary feats—I simply must hear her tale!”
Ignoring Hades’s protest, Hermes shamelessly sparkled with excitement.
Persephone, unsure where to begin boasting, glanced at her mother’s expression.
Demeter added nothing, remaining silent.
“Hmm.”
……Though her eyes were lowered, she seemed subtly curious about how exactly her daughter had stirred up the Underworld.
‘Judging by her look, she’s probably feeling quite proud…’
Persephone eventually spilled every last detail of her Underworld escapades to Hermes.
Hermes kept interjecting with enthusiastic cheers like “So cool!” and “Incredible!”—ensuring her storytelling flowed without hesitation.
By the time she finished, Hermes was dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief soaked in tears of emotion.
“You feel like the child I gave birth to with my heart! To have such a junior on Olympus—it fills me with pride!”
Hermes sobbed dramatically, “Khuek!”
“May I take this child as my apprentice, Lady Demeter?”
“You’ll be the death of me.”
“Or—how about letting me be her older brother instead? Please!”
Demeter’s expression instantly turned stormy at Hermes’s whining.
Hades, too, shot Hermes a sharp look, silently demanding he restrain himself.
Receiving dual glares, Hermes raised both hands in surrender.
“Oh dear! My apologies, everyone. That was terribly inappropriate of me just now. Entirely my fault—please forgive me.”
“……”
“Then, Lady Demeter—what about godfather, perhaps?—Oof!”
Exhausted by Hermes’s relentless chatter, Demeter finally kicked him squarely in the shin.
“Tch. If only you’d shut your mouth once in a while, maybe someone would find you likable.”
Demeter shot a sidelong glance at Hermes, who was now clutching his leg and groaning theatrically.
After a brief pause, Demeter’s gaze shifted toward her daughter.
“Just endure it for half a year, Kore. I’ll surely come fetch you right when autumn’s peak arrives for sowing seeds.”
“Yesss……”
Persephone, who had been quietly listening, drew out her reply.
An unconscious smile had already softened her smooth lips.
She’d sensed it vaguely before—but now, seeing it firsthand confirmed it completely.
Demeter’s demeanor shifted as drastically as flipping a palm when addressing her daughter versus other gods.
“……”
Not that it was surprising—across the table, Hades was watching Demeter with a bitter, disapproving look.
It was as though her behavior now—sweet as sugar in her mouth—stood in stark contrast to how she’d acted while living alongside Hades and his four siblings…
Demeter suddenly leaned sideways under the table.
A rustling sound came from below.
“Here, Kore. And this—I made it for you last night.”
“Huh?”
Persephone’s eyes widened in surprise.
Demeter pulled out a large bundle and set it clatteringly on the table.
Most of it wasn’t heavy pottery but lightweight wooden boxes Persephone could easily carry herself.
Peeking into a few boxes, Persephone found in the first one familiar items: her reed pen, fine silk fabric, sun-bleached linen made brilliantly white, a glittering gold-threaded sash—and other basic necessities and clothing.
Another box held her favorite snacks: raisins, olives preserved with salt and oil, and even sacks of grain.
“Mom……!”
Just as Persephone was touched by her mother’s thoughtfulness,
“Oh! Right—take this too.”
Hecate, who had been waiting quietly behind Demeter, handed Persephone yet another set of boxes.
……The bundles began multiplying exponentially.
Boxes piled up layer by layer.
Even Hermes, who had been giggling, “You’re so loved!”, stopped laughing once Persephone’s head disappeared beneath the mountain of parcels.
Hades’s gaze wavered as well.
Persephone peeked out from between the stacks.
“U-um, Mom!”
“Yes, Kore?”
“No matter how I think about it, this seems… way too much! How will I carry it all?”
“Nonsense—you can! Once you actually try taking it, you’ll somehow manage to bring it all.”
“But seriously, how am I supposed to carry all this…?”
Persephone rubbed her neck, flustered.
This was just like a mother preparing dozens of side dishes for a child moving out on their own.
‘Wait—actually, that’s literally what’s happening.’
It wasn’t a metaphor; Persephone really was temporarily moving out to the Underworld, and Demeter was playing the quintessential worried mother.
Unable to bear it any longer, Persephone stretched her hand upward.
“You really don’t need to give me so much. I won’t be able to eat it all anyway.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake! You’ll be here for half a year—what on earth are you talking about!”
But Demeter remained stubborn.
Grabbing her daughter’s arm, Demeter began kneading Persephone’s forearm.
“So skinny—how will you ever manage anything! You used to collapse from exhaustion just plowing fields!”
“N-no, that’s—”
“And you seemed injured again this time too! I should’ve realized the moment you started messing around in the kitchen!”
“Why are we suddenly talking about that! You said everything I cooked tasted great!”
“Even so! Oh, I just can’t stand it! You’re always so careless—you get hurt constantly! Haven’t I told you to be careful all the time? Just how much more must you worry your poor mother before you’re satisfied!”
“It’s not like thaaat……”
Persephone whined under the storm of her mother’s scolding.
‘Ugh……’
Trapped between parcels and boxes, she glared through the gaps at Hermes and Hades.
Hermes wasn’t making any sound, but his mouth was wide open as he literally rolled across the reception room floor.
“Hkhk……”
Even Hades, who had maintained a stern demeanor just moments ago, was now pressing his lips tightly together, shoulders trembling with suppressed laughter.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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Oh my God, poor, pitiful Hades! I hope he finds happiness with Persephone.
Oh, poor Hades! He’s so sweet. Why doesn’t anyone like him? I hope Persephone likes Hades and brings spring into his world.
Poor Hades, how can a little child be hungry? How sweet, how his expression changes upon hearing Persephone speak.