The daughter of Demeter, Kore, was trapped in the Underworld!
Mount Olympus, where the gods lived.
The summit was buzzing with the biggest event since the war.
Demeter demanded from Hades and the other gods of the Underworld:
“Give me back my daughter!”
But Hades refused Demeter’s demand as if he were wronged.
“I can’t do anything about this either!”
As gods ruling over the earth and the underworld respectively, their opposition was fierce.
It wasn’t just a family vs family issue, but one that could escalate into a territorial dispute.
Some who enjoyed gossip and scandal claimed that Hades, smitten with Kore, had plotted to keep her in the Underworld.
Even though Hades, hearing Olympian rumors for the first time in a while, protested his innocence, they were pleased to have elicited a meaningful reaction from ‘that’ king of the Underworld.
They were a hopeless bunch in many ways.
The good news was that the gods of a more serious nature viewed this matter gravely.
Some even appealed to Zeus, the king of gods, arguing how a goddess of abundance and life could possibly go to the Underworld where everything was stagnant.
Demeter, in particular, threatened to show exactly what would happen if her daughter wasn’t returned to the surface.
And so, time passed relentlessly.
“I have received a judgment from Lord Zeus.”
Hermes, carrying Zeus’s message, came to Hades’ palace reception room where Hades, Demeter, and Persephone were all gathered.
Everyone except the carefree Hermes swallowed dry.
“Speak quickly.”
Demeter, who had been tapping the table, urged Hermes.
“Ahem, alright.”
Pleased that he was controlling the room’s atmosphere, the messenger god cleared his throat.
Hermes unfolded the silk scroll.
“Now, our great God of gods, Lord of the Heavens Zeus has spoken thus—”
“…”
Just as everyone was staring intently at Hermes’ lips.
“It will be revealed in 60 seconds!”
Hermes rolled up the silk scroll he had unfolded and smiled broadly.
Whoosh—!
Demeter’s fist rushed towards Hermes’ face.
“Aaack!”
He screamed as he hurriedly twisted his head. The air went ‘pop’.
Hermes, who had nearly taken a direct hit that could split the earth, exaggeratedly gasped for breath.
“Phew, you scared me!”
“I’m not known for my patience, child. I don’t know what might happen to you next time.”
“Come on, if the judgment result had been serious, would I have played around? Demeter, you’re too much!”
“…”
“Ah, I understand. I’ll tell you!”
Hermes unrolled the silk scroll and placed the message on the table.
Persephone’s eyes sank.
“She says to stay in the Underworld for only half a year and then return to the surface.”
As expected.
Persephone sighed and messed up her hair.
Twisting her long hair with her fingers, she responded indifferently.
“You mean half a year out of a year, right?”
“Yes.”
“So I have to spend half of my life, no, my divine life here in the Underworld every year. Correct?”
“Uh, no?”
“What?”
“You just need to stay here for half a year. You can even eat the Underworld food as it is for half a year.”
“…”
Surprised, Persephone fixed her gaze on the silk scroll, almost burying her nose in it.
‘I only have to stay here for just 6 months?’
Can things really work out this easily?
Surely in the myth she originally knew, Persephone always had to spend a third or half of the year in the Underworld…
‘Is this different from the myth I know?’
As Persephone tilted her head in confusion, Hermes leaned slightly towards her and acted familiar.
“By the way, Miss Kore. I heard you’ve been quite active in the Underworld.”
“Oh, that?”
“It sounds amazing! Can you tell me about it?”
Hermes clapped his hands as if urging her to speak.
“Hermes. Don’t unnecessarily burden the one who just received the judgment.”
“Come on, Hades. Let me have some fun too. A junior comparable to my achievements has appeared after a long time, how can I not talk about it?”
Despite Hades’ restraint, Hermes shamelessly twinkled his eyes.
Persephone, choosing which achievements to boast about first, checked her mother’s expression.
Demeter didn’t add any words.
“Ahem.”
…Although she was looking down, she seemed somewhat curious about how her daughter had stirred up the Underworld.
‘Looking closely, it seems she’s quite proud…’
Persephone eventually spilled out to Hermes in detail what she had done.
As Hermes interjected with “Cool!”, “Awesome!” here and there, there were no hitches in her storytelling.
After finishing her story, Hermes was staining his handkerchief with tears of emotion.
“It’s like you’re the child I bore in my heart! I’m so proud to have such a junior in Olympus!”
Hermes sobbed, going “Boo-hoo”.
“Demeter, would it be alright if I took this child as my disciple?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Then at least let me be her elder brother! Please!”
Demeter’s expression instantly turned grim at Hermes’ whining.
Hades also gave Hermes a stern look as if telling him to restrain himself.
Receiving the glare attack from both, Hermes raised both hands.
“Oh my, I’m sorry everyone. I misspoke just now. It’s my fault, please forgive me.”
“…”
“Then Demeter, how about making me her godfather at least? — Ouch!”
Tired of Hermes’ endless chatter, Demeter finally kicked his shin.
“Tsk, if only you had no mouth, I might have liked you a bit.”
Demeter clicked her tongue and glanced at Hermes, who was clutching one leg and exaggerating his pain.
Demeter’s eyes, which had been staring into space for a moment, turned to her daughter.
“Endure it for just half a year, Kore. I’ll surely come to get you in autumn when it’s time to sow seeds.”
“Yes…”
Persephone, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, elongated the end of her word.
A smile she wasn’t even aware of spread across her smooth lips.
Until now, she had only vaguely felt it, but seeing it directly, she could be completely certain.
Demeter’s attitude seemed to flip like a palm when dealing with her daughter versus when dealing with gods who weren’t her daughter.
“…”
That was because Hades, sitting opposite, was looking at Demeter with a disgruntled expression.
As if he wanted to claim with his whole body that when she lived with Hades and the other four siblings, she didn’t act like sugar in the mouth like this…
As Demeter looked around, she suddenly bent her waist to one side.
There was a rustling sound from under the table.
“Here, Kore. And this is what I made last night.”
“What?”
Persephone opened her eyes wide.
Demeter pulled out a large bundle onto the table.
Most of them were wooden boxes that Persephone could carry, not heavy pottery.
Persephone peeked into a few boxes.
In the first box she opened were basic necessities and clothes, including the reed pen she used, delicate silk, linen bleached white by skillfully drying in the sunlight, and a glittering gold belt.
In other boxes were things like raisins she enjoyed eating, olive pickles sprinkled with salt and oil, or grain sacks.
“Mom…!”
Just as Persephone was touched by Demeter’s thoughtfulness.
“Ah, right. Take this too.”
Hecate, who had been waiting behind Demeter, handed her more boxes.
…The bundles started to increase exponentially.
The boxes were stacked up neatly.
Even Hermes, who had been chuckling saying “You’re loved,” slowly stopped laughing when Persephone’s crown was no longer visible.
Hades’ gaze also wavered.
Persephone poked her head out from between the mountain of bundles.
“Um, Mom!”
“What is it, Kore?”
“No matter how I think about it, isn’t this too much? Will I be able to take it all?”
“No, you can. Once you try to take it, you’ll definitely end up taking it all.”
“No, but how can I carry all this…”
Persephone rubbed her nape in embarrassment.
Wasn’t this like a mother preparing dozens of side dishes for a child who said they wanted to live independently?
‘No, come to think of it, it really is like that.’
Not in a figurative sense, but literally, Persephone herself was the child temporarily moving to the Underworld, and Demeter was playing the role of the mother.
Unable to bear it anymore, Persephone stretched her hands up.
“You don’t need to give me this much. I can’t eat it all anyway.”
“Oh, this child! You’ll be there for half a year, what are you saying!”
But Demeter was adamant.
Grabbing her daughter’s arms, Demeter kneaded Persephone’s forearms.
“You’re so skinny, what use is that! You were always so weak even when plowing fields!”
“No, that’s not—”
“You seem to have gotten hurt again! I should have known when you started bustling about to cook!”
“W-Why are you suddenly bringing that up! You said everything I made was delicious!”
“Even so! Oh, I can’t stand it! You’re always clumsy, so you’re prone to getting hurt, that’s why Mom always told you to be careful! How much more are you going to worry your mother before you’re satisfied!”
“That’s not it…”
Persephone whined at Demeter’s storm of nagging.
‘Ugh…’
Stuck between the bundles and boxes, she glared at Hermes and Hades through the gaps.
Hermes was just not making any sound, but his mouth was wide open as he literally rolled around on the reception room floor.
“Pfft…”
Even Hades, who had been serious until just now, was shaking his shoulders while pressing his lips tightly.
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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