Episode 1. Traffic Accident

July 1, 2024

“Kore, all men rightfully belong in the embrace of the earth.”

A cool breeze blew in from over the cliff, along with the sound of the waves.

Recalling her mother’s warning, Persephone furrowed her brows at the scent of salt reaching her nose. She turned her head toward the nymph who was making a flower crown.

“Cyane.”

“Yes?”

“When Mother talks about men and always mentions the ’embrace of the earth,’ she means death, right?”

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

“W-why are you suddenly bringing up such a scary topic?”

“Hmm…”

Persephone let out a soft hum and tilted her head. Resting her chin on her hand, she threw another question at Cyane.

“Anyway, it seems like Mother wants to use all men as fertilizer for the land, doesn’t it? That’s no different from saying she wants to kill them.”

“Surely, she meant it metaphorically. There’s no way the Goddess of the Earth, who embraces the humans of this land, would say something with such intentions.”

“Do you really think so?”

Cyane, who had been scrambling for excuses, couldn’t withstand Persephone’s persistently bright gaze and hastily bowed her head. She simply couldn’t handle the momentum of Persephone, who rattled off questions like a curious child.

A long silence built up between the two. Eventually, it was Cyane who yielded by agreeing with Persephone.

“…Well, it’s certainly true that she isn’t favorable toward them.”

“…”

“Goodness, I understand the Madam, but you are all grown up now, My Lady. It’s too harsh of her to forbid you from even having a romance.”

At her playful chatter, Persephone smiled ambiguously.

Her mother, Demeter, was always anxious if she couldn’t keep her daughter close by. Not only did she prioritize Persephone above all else whenever they moved residences, but she was also fiercely overprotective when it came to anything related to lovers or men.

Unable to bear the tediousness of it all, Persephone once asked a question to Demeter, who was constantly issuing warnings upon warnings.

“Then what about Hades, the King of the Underworld? Must he also return to the ’embrace of the earth’?”

“W-what?”

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

Perhaps the question caught her off guard, for Demeter uncharacteristically gaped and couldn’t speak for a while.

“…He is no exception, Kore.”

“Hmm, really?”

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

The sight 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 makeshift chair. Wild, green weeds danced beneath her feet.

Her mother’s pessimistic attitude was a bit frustrating, but when she thought about the famous story associated with her own name…

‘It’s a thousand, a hundred times better that she’s paying the utmost attention to me.’

Savoring the spring breeze, Persephone brushed off her fluttering hem and stood up.

“I’m the one who feels more sorry for you, Cyane. You can’t even take any personal time because you’re stuck by my side.”

“Oh, no. I find this much more comfortable.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And isn’t the scenery of this island quite beautiful?”

Smiling softly, Cyane placed the flower crown on Persephone’s head. A drop of dew slid from her fingertips.

“And you, Lady Kore, suit that scenery perfectly.”

She pointed somewhere toward the island’s forest.

“Shall we go make flower crowns with everyone else?”

Where Cyane’s index finger pointed, nymphs—daughters of the Oceanus—were playing. Hearing their boisterous laughter naturally lifted Persephone’s spirits. Swinging her arms back and forth, she started walking vigorously toward the flower field.

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

“You aren’t going to tear it apart in frustration while making it, are you?”

“No way! Don’t you know I actually have good dexterity? I’m good at cooking, too!”

“It’s true you’re surprisingly good at making things to eat, but…”

“What was that?”

“Ah, nothing.”

“Hmph,” Persephone snorted, sweeping back her wind-blown hair. She kicked away the pebbles catching on her feet, paving her way.

It was then that her carefree footsteps were halted by daffodils.

“…”

For the first time, the smile that had been plastered on Persephone’s face vanished.

“Lady Kore?”

Sensing something strange, Cyane observed Persephone.

“Is there a problem…?”

“…No.”

Persephone smiled and shook her head from side to side.

“I was just looking at the daffodils because they are pretty.”

Of course, it was a lie.

“You’re saying silly things for no reason. Daffodils have always been pretty.”

Yeah, right. They were pretty. They are still pretty. Giving a half-hearted reply, she secretly chewed on the inside of her lip so Cyane wouldn’t notice.

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

If there were even daffodils here…

‘Am I about to get kidnapped soon?’

Persephone shuddered at the chills running down her spine.

That’s right. ‘Persephone’ already knew the future in which she would be kidnapped.

She hadn’t known the future since the moment she was born as a god on the Greek mainland. ‘Persephone’ didn’t possess the ability to foresee the future like a prophet. However, after falling severely ill at the age of ten, she realized she had a past life.

The place she lived in her past life was a countryside town in a peninsular country, full of mountains and seas but without any tall buildings. It was also a place where myths were vividly passed down among humans. Thanks to recalling those past life memories, she realized she was the ‘Persephone’ from Greco-Roman mythology.

And when it came to the myths about ‘Persephone’, in a hundred out of a hundred cases, the story of her kidnapping and her husband was bound to be mentioned.

Persephone’s husband was the King of the Underworld, Hades.

In the myths, Hades fell in love with Persephone at first sight and attempted to kidnap her to make her his wife.

“I don’t want to get kidnapped…”

Following Cyane, Persephone mumbled quietly enough that others couldn’t hear.

How could she, the Goddess of Seeds, live in the Underworld, a place filled only with the dead? Before she knew the mythological progression of events, Persephone had set a goal to eventually become independent and acquire a nice house and a temple. She had thought that if she showed she was doing well, Demeter would set aside her anxiety and feel relieved.

The romance Persephone dreamed of was living a leisurely life, cooking with crops grown in her own garden, and receiving offerings from humans who worshipped her. However, the romance she had cherished for so long would be absolutely impossible to achieve if she were kidnapped by the King of the Underworld.

This was also the reason why Persephone, usually called a tomboy, had been quietly looking at the scenery for a while now. It would be a disaster if she caused a commotion and caught Hades’s eye.

‘No, and how am I supposed to marry my uncle? That’s ridiculous!’

Recalling Hades and her family tree, Persephone puffed out her cheeks sullenly. Hades and Demeter were siblings, so for her, Demeter’s daughter, to marry him would be nothing short of incest. She knew that as long as this was Greco-Roman mythology, marrying a blood relative was unavoidable, but now that she knew the myths, she didn’t want to be the one doing it. It was also partly because the place she lived in her past life strictly forbade incest.

‘Well, but actually, myths are a bit sloppy, so wouldn’t it be fine if I just avoid him well for the time being?’

Creating optimistic scenarios in her mind, Persephone relaxed her tension. Aren’t all myths like that? Since folk tales passed down by word of mouth were reborn as myths, even if she had possessed Persephone, there would be many ways to avoid Hades’s kidnapping as long as she knew the future.

Right, for example, being a good child who obediently listens to Demeter’s instructions to return home before sunset.

Or…

‘Not going to pick those daffodils blooming abundantly at the edge of that cliff over there.’

Persephone stopped following Cyane and stood still in her tracks.

The Hades of the myths tempts Persephone, who was playing with nymphs on an island, with fragrant daffodils. After luring her to the boundary between the Underworld and the mortal realm, he pops out just as she is about to pick a daffodil and snatches her away.

Persephone narrowed her eyes at the cluster of daffodils with exceptionally large blooms. The number was easily a hundred blooms, even at a rough guess. The fragrance was so thick that it reached where she was standing, and the petals even sparkled in the sunlight—but from her perspective, knowing the myths, it was nothing more and nothing less than a trap.

Just as she, pouting her lips, coldly tried to turn her feet away from the daffodils…

Rumble…

“…What’s this.”

Persephone suddenly raised her head. The ground was shaking unstably.

In the distance, Cyane and the nymphs let out sharp screams. Meanwhile, Persephone, losing her balance, stumbled and fell to the ground. Her body slid past the sloping hill and neared the fissure in the cliff.

‘Could it be Hades?’

Persephone hurriedly dug her fingers into the dirt. Clinging to the grassy field like a spider, she spat out a mouthful of weeds she had inhaled and raised her upper body.

‘He’s not here, right? There’s no one, right?’

Fortunately, neither hide nor hair of Hades was visible. Persephone let out a sigh of relief and stood up. She waved her hand at Cyane, who was running toward her, as if to say she was fine.

At that moment.

An ashen shadow was cast over her head.

Persephone looked up. Glossy, black fur entered her field of vision.

“Uh…?”

A horse’s pitch-black hooves were waving above the crown of her head. The horse’s reins swung like a whip in the air. Her gaze naturally flew to the connection point of the reins.

A carriage—no, it was a chariot.

With a base as dark as pitch black and golden ornaments that proved its wealth. It was obvious who the chariot before her eyes belonged to.

It was Hades’s chariot.

Persephone’s face turned pale as she instinctively felt threatened. There was no sign of anyone coming out of the chariot to snatch her away, but there was an even bigger problem.

That is to say, a chariot that must be dozens of times the size of her own body…

‘Is it going to run me over?’

The flower crown placed on her head flew off.

“My Lady!”

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