“So, one peeled Himeros root, one ladle of spring water, and an unclotted drop of blood from the one whose memory is to be erased. Mix them all and drink after half an hour, or so it says.”
“Is that what’s written there?”
“Yes, here on the bottom. Can’t you see it?”
“I can’t see anything? Hey, Nodos. Can you see this?”
Bukpung fell silent for a moment. Hesitating, he asked back in a bewildered tone.
“Are you saying… you cannot see it? It is carved very deeply and clearly as an intaglio, though.”
“What?”
Aris, flabbergasted, quickly grabbed the Cup of Oblivion and stared intently at the bottom. His face gradually hardened. He shot the two of them a suspicious glance once more.
“Liiian!”
Asteril clicked her tongue and shook her head. Bukpung wore a pitiful expression.
“Lian! Liiian!”
At his call, a gust carrying cold air rushed in, and Kalian emerged through the swirling wind. Despite his expressionless face, clear annoyance was evident.
“Lian, can you see this? They say there’s writing underneath here, can you see it? You two, just try saying Lian can’t see it! Especially you, Bukpung—I’ll tear your tail to shreds like a crucian carp’s gills.”
Kalian cast an annoyed glance at the hopping Aris, then stopped short when he saw Asteril.
The smell of blood wafted.
His sharpened gaze naturally turned toward Aris. Aris, standing there holding the Cup of Oblivion, shouted as if wronged.
“It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it! She tore her own finger and squeezed out a drop of blood, I tell you. What did she say, she had to see if the blood seeped into the cup? I clearly told her not to. Hey, Princess of Demeter! You tell him. Did I stop her or not? More than that, why won’t you answer my question? I’m asking if you can see the letters engraved on the bottom of this cup! Can you see this, Lian!”
Only then did Kalian take the cup and look at the bottom. Asteril sat on a rock watching with a curious expression, while Bukpung clutched his anxious heart and swallowed dryly with a gulp.
“I see it.”
“What?”
“‘One peeled Himeros root, one ladle of spring water, and an unclotted drop of blood from the one whose memory is to be erased. Mix them all and drink after half an hour,’ is what is written.”
“What… you can really see it?”
Aris stood there in shock, out of his mind.
“You see it…?”
Repeating this in a murmur, he snatched the cup from Kalian’s hand as if he couldn’t believe it. He turned the bottom upside down to look, rotated it, and bent his head down to look; his expression gradually began to contort.
Why can’t I see it?
His face, on the verge of tears, seemed to ask exactly that. After walking a few steps, he whirled around and leaped into the tangled branches, kicking off the ground. The cup he had flung went rolling through the bushes in a circle.
“Where are you going? You said you’d drink the water of oblivion… Lord Aris!”
Asteril called out to stop him, but he had already left the Himeros flower field.
Sighing, Asteril approached Kalian. She glanced at the Himeros flower petal he held in his hand and opened her mouth.
“Did they eavesdrop on our conversation and tattle again?”
The rebuked Himeros flowers hurriedly whispered excuses:
“We just overheard it.”
“Besides, it was Despoina and Lord Aris who were chatting right where we are.”
“And the inside of the cave is ultimately our domain, isn’t it?”
“Then the letters under the cup too….”
“I did not see the writing.”
Asteril gazed at the bottom of the cup once more. Even when she traced it with her finger, she could feel the rough, bumpy texture where the letters were engraved. Aris had said he couldn’t even feel that.
“Strange… it’s clearly engraved here.”
Bukpung too had sneakily approached Aris earlier and whispered, “Princess of the Southern Kingdom, the truth is I can’t see that writing either.”
“This is a cup made by Gaia of the earth. She shaped it with her own hands and fired it using Hestia.”
“By Lady Gaia?”
“You may truly… have some connection with Gaia.”
Worry was contained in his low, muttering voice. Asteril changed the subject, feeling an encroaching sense of unease.
“For now, go to Lord Aris.”
He had been so obsessed with the Cup of Oblivion, yet he seemed so shocked that he threw the cup away and left. He was nothing more than a child, despite his large frame.
Unlike Asteril, Kalian didn’t seem particularly concerned.
“He has already passed the gorge of Lethe and is moving toward Oceanus.”
His tone suggested, do we really have to follow him? Since he went there of his own accord, why not just let him go for good this time?
“Hurry and catch him. We must make him drink the water of oblivion before he changes his mind.”
As Asteril spoke with a sly smile, Bukpung’s mouth fell wide open.
She’s no ordinary person indeed. Does she think a Keton is some river fish, that she can just catch him and feed him? Well, with that boldness, it’s no wonder she became the Despoina of Lethe.
What was even scarier was Kalian obeying her words so docilely. Bukpung trembled all over and turned away at the sight of him kissing her deeply before leaving.
It’s certain now. The top figure of Lethe isn’t Lord Kalian anymore, but the Princess of the Southern Kingdom. She’s the one who truly holds the hilt.
Once Kalian left, Asteril turned the Cup of Oblivion this way and that, her expression falling into thought.
“To the point that they must drink the water of oblivion… is there something the Ketons cannot forget?”
“Think about it, Princess. If you lived an eternal life, constantly recalling and longing for memories with someone you could never have, would that truly be a blessing?”
To forget something. For a Keton, that was impossible. Whether happy memories or terrible ones, even after hundreds or thousands of years, they remembered every speck of dust exactly.
Without distortion, without fading. The endlessly recurring sense of loss and the surging despair gnawed at their souls, destroying them down to the very bottom.
“There were those who went mad, chewing over and over on memories for eternity. Do you know what the Creator Chaos casually creates? Madness, madness. Ketons are beings born carrying madness within their bodies from the very beginning. The madness of the Ketons is said to be as dark and cruel as the primordial darkness, the breath of Erebos.”
Just then, a crow cawed raucously from somewhere. Asteril jerked her head up and looked around. A chill seeped into her skin, making her spine shiver.
Someone was there.
Turning her gaze, she saw several jackdaws sitting at the entrance in the cave ceiling, looking down this way with blood-red eyes.
With a flutter, one more flew in. It was a large one. The leader jackdaw sat beside its fellows and pecked between the feathers of its purple wings with its beak. Then it stared this way as if glaring.
Asteril stood up, hugging her arms.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Most beasts were favorable to her. Even ferocious beasts and birds of prey never attacked her unless they were starving and had lost their reason. But these ones were somehow strange.
“Don’t they seem to be watching us?”
Bukpung flew up, stirring fierce winds. At that, the crows shrieked and chased after him. The sounds of flapping wings and cawing seemed almost angry.
Bukpung watched for an opening and shouted.
“Now! Hurry out.”
Asteril climbed the steep stairs and came out, clutching the Cup of Oblivion under her arm even in the midst of it all.
“Was the surroundings like this earlier too?”
A desolate landscape swayed in the dry wind. The garden trees that had stretched their branches this way and that seemed as if they were holding their breath, as if their throats were constricted, not making a single sound.
The squirrels and hares that often came frolicking on the hill were nowhere to be seen. The birds too had hidden themselves; only the bare branches stretched out like arms.
“Was it this dark?”
Asteril looked up at the sky. Before she had descended into the cave, the midday sun had been beating down fiercely. The sky, without a single cloud, had been so blue it was as if it were reflecting a lake.
Before she knew it, dark clouds had gathered, surging more violently than a storm led by Pontos.
“Princess of the Southern Kingdom.”
“Why?”
“The jackdaws are that one’s messenger birds.”
“That one?”
“Yes, that one….”
“Who?”
“The ruler of darkness.”
“Who is the ruler of darkness?”
Asteril, who had been asking frustratingly, flinched and drew her feet together. Darkness was spreading beneath her feet like fog. The shadow that blocked the sun was gradually covering the ground more widely.
“One who traveled between light and darkness, maintaining order and balance… ultimately swallowed by the darkness.”
Darkness was his power. Shade concealed his mad smile, and shadow provided him a place to hide.
Nyx of Harmony.
He stood there, caressing Asphodelos with his hand. Whether he sensed her presence, he glanced back and curled up the corners of his mouth. His pale face looked smoother and more porcelain-like than usual today.
His hair… as if some harmony had been wrought, today it was golden and beautiful like a sun god.
“Hello, Gaia?”
A thin voice flowed out higher than before. He seemed excited. His excessively wide smile supported this.
“Sorry for not recognizing you last time. I suspected… but I couldn’t be sure.”
As he took a step closer, Asteril unconsciously stepped back. Her fingertips trembled like aspen leaves. Even clasping her hands together did nothing to stop it.
“I wore the clothes you like. You said you liked me when I was blonde, didn’t you? Look! Today I am Nyx of Light.”
He looked different from when he had black hair. But this side didn’t feel particularly good either.
Fundamentally, his gaze was always strange.
His unfocused pupils were half-dilated, staring somewhere into empty air. Then when eyes met exactly, he smiled like that. As if gritting his teeth and urging you to hurry up and smile too.
“I missed you, Gaia. Come here and hug me.”
As Nyx approached with his arms spread wide, Asteril’s eyes grew large as if frozen.
I am Gaia….
“Hurry.”
He urged. The corners of his mouth were still curled in a smile. Asteril barely opened her tightly shut mouth.
“I am not the person you think I am.”
“No, you are.”
He cut her off with a straight face. As if he didn’t want to hear anymore, as if telling her not to say another word.
“I am not.”
“Stop lying, Gaia.”
“For some reason, you seem to be mistaken. I am Gaia….”
“Gaaaia!”
Nyx howled and screamed. His voice, filled with rage to the point that the entire garden rang thunderously, pooled in his reddened glare.
“Do not try to deceive me any longer.”
Asteril forgot to breathe, frozen solid.
As expected, he’s dangerous.
She barely turned her fear-soaked body and began to flee with all her might.
Ψ
Aris was lying sprawled out in the deep gorge leading toward the River Styx, looking up at the sky.
“Why do you keep following me? It’s not like you’re particularly interested in me.”
Kalian walked up to his side and asked quietly.
“Do you truly intend to drink the water of oblivion?”
“And if I do?”
The two paused their conversation for a moment. They were ones accustomed to silence. Even Aris, who was talkative and emotional for a Keton, mostly spent his days alone.
“Even with the Cup of Oblivion, it is meaningless without the water of oblivion. Give up and go back.”
A cold voice drove in like a wedge. Aris sat up abruptly, struck by a shock as if he’d been hit in the back of the head. He had even found out how to make the water of oblivion, so how could it be meaningless?
“What do you mean….”
Suddenly, Asteril’s voice reading the formula for the water of oblivion came to mind.
“One peeled Himeros root, one ladle of spring water, and an unclotted drop of blood from the one whose memory is to be erased.”
A drop of the target’s blood was needed.
A drop of Kalian’s blood.
“Don’t tell me… you’re not going to give your blood?”
Kalian silently cast only his usual quiet gaze. Aris felt anger welling up.
“Are you trying to punish me? Because I hurt that black-haired princess? Is that why you’re doing this to me, Lian?”
Kalian let out a shallow sigh.
“Aris, you are Hestia’s guardian.”
He was truly a simple fellow. There were times when that made him seem pure and upright.
“Do you remember when Gaia entrusted Hestia to you? She entrusted Asphodelos to me, and Hestia to you. It was when we were together.”
“Of course….”
Of course he remembered. How could he forget that day? That was the last day the two of them had seen Gaia of the earth.
Just before the Council of Five Thrones convened, Ananke had called Kalian and Aris to run a small errand.
“Gaia is late. She went to look after Thalassa’s flock… Go and bring her back.”
The area around Oceanus was filled with the scent of peach blossoms. The peach trees encircling the lakeside like a garland were covered entirely with pink flower buds on every branch.
Gaia was lying askew on the slope of a hill alone, admiring the sunset glow bursting between the mountain peaks. Beside her head sat a jar filled with goat’s milk, and a silver bell and staff for herding the flock lay rolling at her feet.
Gaia, lying on her side, seemed to sense a presence and glanced sideways. A curve rose to her lips upon seeing the two young Ketons.
“So you are the children of Ananke and Thalassa. Come closer.”
Kalian and Aris, standing behind her, exchanged awkward glances. She was one of the Five Thrones but was famously reclusive. It was the first time they had spoken with her alone, without the other Thrones.
“Don’t be afraid. I call you because I have a gift for you.”
“A gift?”
Aris brightened and ran over. Gaia took Aris’s hand and gazed at Kalian.
Unlike Aris, who approached quickly as if pleased, Kalian wore an attitude of wariness. His cold gaze observed her with narrowed brows.
It was such a rude display that Ananke would have been bewildered had she been there. Finding his gaze amusing, she laughed playfully, then slowly darkened her expression.
“The future of our kind is as pitiful as that sunset. Right now humans worship us highly like the sun, but when darkness falls, we are fated to be forsaken.”
Like a sunset that sets while one is blinded by its own radiance and arrogance, the Ketons too would become intoxicated by their own power, act selfishly, and face the crisis of extinction.
“Therefore, I entrust these to your hands.”
Gaia placed heavy burdens in each of their hands. A branch of Asphodelos and an ember of Hestia.
“Watch over them in my stead, the future of our kind… Can you do that?”
“Yes!”
Unlike Aris, who answered quickly, Kalian once again stared blankly at the branch of Asphodelos placed in his hand.
Gaia smiled meaningfully at Kalian like that.
To Aris, who was silent recalling that day, Kalian spoke as if giving stern advice.
“If you drink the water of oblivion, even the memory of that day may be erased. Do you intend to stop being Hestia’s guardian?”
Aris hung his head as if ashamed. He could say nothing.
Suddenly, he realized why Kalian had been unable to answer Gaia readily that day.
Unlike his still-immature self, Kalian had seen through the intention in Gaia’s eyes. He had already known what heart she had entrusted Asphodelos and Hestia to them with, and how heavy a responsibility accompanied it.
“Give up and go back.”
Kalian’s back as he turned away coldly grew blurry. Before he knew it, his eyes were growing hot.
“Give up…?”
Yes, he admitted it. He was still immature. A Keton who was supposed to be Hestia’s guardian, yet had lost his reason, floundering in the pain of unrequited love.
But….
“With what heart I resolved to forget you… to the point of finding the Cup of Oblivion, with such difficulty….”
Lian had always been like that. He had never properly responded to his feelings. It was always just an annoyed expression. It was common for him to turn away like that without even pretending to listen.
Every time he saw that retreating figure, he felt abandoned. It was miserable, but he had consoled himself that it was fine and guarded his heart.
This was the result.
Aris covered his eyes with his arm. Tears leaked out from under his elbow.
“Lian, do you know what fear is?”
“….”
“You probably don’t know anxiety about loss either, do you?”
“….”
“I too did not know this miserable emotion before I harbored you in my heart.”
Even if he spoke sobbing like this, that cold fellow wouldn’t be the slightest bit shaken.
“I want to disappear like dust from shame, yet the moment I think of you, my blood boils and my chest throbs. Then what? It’s an emotion with no match. Realizing that, I feel so suffocated I can barely breathe. The future is too bleak. How am I supposed to live now? How am I supposed to embrace and live with this heart that can never be quenched!”
He wanted to forget everything. Even if it erased all memories with him.
“Of course, I know that even saying this, you will never understand. What would a perfect person like you know of love, what anxiety, what despair. You’ll dismiss this pain as none of your concern. I’d rather you hurt like me. Then maybe just a little….”
A bitter laugh came out. Even in this situation, he found himself hating the thought of Lian suffering. A man with no pride, no guts.
Aris, who had been sighing, paused at a strange sign.
What? Kalian’s pupils were wavering as if shaken. He didn’t know why, but his complexion didn’t look good.
Was the wish that he hurt like him that shocking? That cold-blooded fellow had no reason to be shaken by such words.
At that moment, Himeros petals reflecting moonlight flew in from the direction of the main palace. Approaching Kalian’s ear, they began to chatter while spinning round and round as if dancing.
“Lord Ruler of Lethe, the Despoina….”
Aris glared at the flowers with a scowl. Everything was because of them. If only Lian hadn’t rolled over those sinister things….
Kalian’s face hardened as he listened to the Himeros report in silence. Why is he like that?
When Kalian turned around, a gust of wind appeared as if it had been waiting. He roughly mounted it and moved. Judging by the direction of the wind, it was toward the star palace.
Already out of sight. He’s going in such a hurry. A speed more dazzling than the lightning struck by Lord Uranus’s spear. Well, this is the same man who crossed the sea to fetch a healer just because that princess was hurt….
Aris muttered, narrowing his brows. The sky was pitch black.
Flocks of jackdaws were flying about, cawing and driving away the surrounding beasts. Among them, the larger ones perched on poles, looking down as if monitoring the surroundings. Their red eyes contained his reflection too.
Aris frowned unpleasantly. They were Nyx’s messenger birds.
Once Kalian officially became the guardian of Asphodelos, Nyx had dumped Hades on him under the pretext of searching for Gaia. And he had sent the useless ones among his fanatics to Lethe to handle the cleanup.
Long ago, Nyx had utilized his fanatics to create an army called Thanatos and a religious group called the Maenads. He began to interfere in human affairs using them, and the other Thrones and moderate Ketons were displeased with his actions.
He was already annoyed that Lian seemed to do nothing but clean up after Nyx, and now he sent flocks of messenger birds to spy too? Even if he was a member of the Five Thrones, how dare he disregard Lian like that. Of course, Lian wasn’t one to take such disregard lying down, but….
The sight of Lian hurriedly turning around at the Himeros whispers weighed on his mind.
The Princess of Demeter. Did something happen to her?
Aris felt an uneasy premonition and scratched the back of his head with an uncomfortable expression.
Ψ
Haah, haah.
The shadow covering over her head like storm clouds pursued her from behind, as if mocking her dash.
He looked at the Cup of Oblivion tucked under Asteril’s arm and whispered in a sigh-laden voice.
“Now I understand. Phira, you… drank the water of oblivion behind my back?”
Phira? What is Phira now? Hadn’t he mistaken her for Gaia?
“Could it be that you have forgotten even this? Phira, that I called you so? You had so many names. As many as the dolls you made… I didn’t like any of the names humans gave you, but Phira wasn’t bad at least. Because it suited your hair burning red like the sunset. Moreover, you liked to play with fire and earth….”
Phira meant “red woman” in the ancient tongue. Red hair, fire, and the red soil of the earth….
Nyx continued to murmur as if chewing over memories. However, Asteril, whose breath had risen to her chin, could not properly hear his words over her ragged breathing.
“Phira, Phira… my Phira….”
In the end, Asteril bent over, gripping her knees and gasping for breath.
Bukpung, who had been fleeing with her, hid among the branches and poked his head out, urging, “Hurry, Princess! You have to run!”
But it was no use. She had never run with all her might like this in her life. The only running she had done was playing tag with the West Wind.
Bukpung stamped his feet in frustration.
“Princess, you can’t rest. Princess of the Southern Kingdom!”
“Go first, Bukpung.”
I can’t keep running like you. So at least you run away.
Bukpung alternated his gaze between Asteril and Nyx approaching languidly from behind.
It was different from when he was with Lord Aris. No matter how much he tried to protect the princess, it would be useless. Nyx would tear him to shreds with a single finger. Aris had at least a smidgen of affection for him, but Nyx did not. Nyx regarded him, the gatekeeper of Lethe, as a thorn in his eye.
As Bukpung flew up into the sky, Nyx touched his cheek and frowned.
“Nodos? Where are you going? Your skill at fleeing, whether in the past or present, is truly first-class.”
Nyx gathered darkness and made a black sphere. He spun it to give it rotational force, then threw it at a terrifying speed.
Boom!
Bukpung burst apart, torn to shreds like a frog hit by a stone.
“Bukpung!”
“Though spirits generally have no fixed form, there is a focal point of power. It will be difficult to gather his consciousness for a while. Perhaps for a very long time.”
Nyx smiled in satisfaction.
Asteril sat down heavily on the ground, her expression blank with shock.
“Lady Asteril? What are you doing here?”
At that moment, Metea poked her head out from between the bushes and asked with a curious expression. Beside her stood Princess Melinoe.
Asteril felt her vision go white.
Why are the princesses here….
Only then did the surrounding scenery register. This was the western hill. The top of the mound was where Asphodelos had been before it was transplanted to the star palace garden.
The place where Princess Seshika had come up to make a flower garland and encountered Kalian.
“Princess Metea said she was lonely and suggested a walk. It seems she has grown melancholy thinking that Princesses Tethys and Amphitrite will be leaving soon.”
Just then, the shadow that had covered the sky reached above the three of their heads, casting deep shadows over their faces. The princesses tilted their heads.
“Storm clouds?”
“It was clear just moments ago?”
Asteril spread her arms, blocking the two of them. What should I do? What can I do? Hadn’t she already learned that protecting them with her body was useless?
“There you go again… mingling with humans.”
Nyx clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“Why do you keep angering me?”
Frowning, he pouted his lower lip and twitched his jaw. In his hand was held a sharp iron spear.
You, who keep trying to escape my grasp. Lovely but hateful you. Must I cut off those arms and legs to make you stay by my side? Must I put a collar on you to make you obey?
But you are a being greater and more excellent than I. There is no way to handle you according to my will. So what else can I do? There is no choice but to destroy everything you love.
“Isn’t that right, Gaia?”
Shhhwoosh.
A sharp iron tip flew in a straight line before her eyes like a throwing weapon. Asteril barely turned her body, following the direction the iron tip had disappeared.
Her heart felt as if it were freezing.
With a sound of tearing flesh, Metea retched out a groan, “Kuhk!”
“Wa-Princess!”
Melinoe quickly supported her and shouted. Metea’s eyes were wide open, trembling, with the iron tip lodged in her left breast. Having been pierced through the heart, she writhed in extreme agony.
Asteril stared blankly at the two of them. She couldn’t even blink.
Metea, collapsed in Melinoe’s embrace, dropped her arm with a thud, her face bright red. Beneath her blood-soaked dress, the ground could be seen staining dark red.
Her pupils were dilated, her eyes glaring up at the sky as they were, her brow distorted in pain.
“Pr-Princess Metea….”
Melinoe touched Metea’s lips with a panicked face. Her trembling hand paused.
Her breathing had stopped.
Melinoe and Asteril's gazes met as they raised their heads. Asteril bit her lip. In Metea's hand was a bundle of wildflowers plucked from around the hill.
She had undoubtedly been planning to prepare breakfast for the others as always, decorating the plates and cups with flowers.
"I am not Lady Gaia...."
This lunatic. Whether it was Nyx of Light or Nyx of Darkness, he had undoubtedly gone mad.
"How many times must I say I am not!"
When Asteril screamed and shouted, Nyx raised his brows as if surprised.
"Why do you not listen? I said no! I am not Lady Gaia! Did I not say I am but a mere priestess, nothing more than a human!"
"A lie."
Nyx twisted his lips and mocked her.
"You are truly strange. Humans overflow upon the earth, and your playthings are infinite. Yet why do you obsess over each and every one of those worthless things?"
He would not listen. No matter how much she spoke, he would not listen.
"Fashioning clay dolls was your specialty. You would transform into a human at the drop of a hat and go play. Those damned humans, humans.... Pitying those worm-like things, you created Hestia's embers for them; as if that were not enough, you gathered every rare herb that only grows near Oceanus; in jars, you brought cloth you wove yourself and honey.... And how did those humans you cherished and raised so dearly repay you in the end? I am utterly sick of humans. I would not even feel satisfied killing them all."
"...."
"Fine, if you insist so vehemently, let us verify whether you are truly Gaia or not.... It seems you have drunk the Waters of Oblivion and no longer even know who you are."
"I am a mortal."
"Yes, I acknowledge that. That is how you appear on the surface. It must be proof that your skill has not rusted in the slightest."
"It is not merely appearance, I truly am—"
"If you are not Gaia, how did you know the formula for the Waters of Oblivion?"
"The formula was engraved beneath the cup."
"That is a spell engraved with Gaia's blood, readable only by Gaia. Others cannot even see the letters themselves. And yet you could read it."
"It can't be seen? Hey, Nodos. Can you see this?"
"You truly.... may indeed have some connection to Gaia."
"More certain evidence is the Asphodelos. The Asphodelos is a sacred tree Gaia raised by feeding it her own blood. Who was it that revived the Asphodelos when it was dying because Gaia disappeared? I heard that Hestia refused Ares' command and did not attack you. Though Ares pretends to be Hestia's guardian, Hestia's true master is Gaia. Hestia must have recognized you as Gaia. Am I still wrong?"
Asteril bit her lip until it bled. These were things even she could not understand. She wanted to seek out even the oracle of Delphi and ask.
"Then let us verify now. Whether you are truly Gaia, or not...."
When Nyx opened his palm, the long shadow draped like a serpent transformed into a black spear. A sharp iron tip was revealed. The same iron tip that had killed Metea.
Nyx raised the spear in his hand above his shoulder and smiled in satisfaction. Asteril gripped the hem of her dress. Even if she ran, she would be within the palm of his hand.
The long spear rushed at her, baring its fangs like a venomous snake.
If she could not escape anyway. Asteril straightened her back and glared at the spearhead flying toward her.
She was not afraid. This body was the High Priestess of Cocytus and the Princess of Demeter. She would not submit to the likes of him through something as petty as death.
"You.... do not fear death."
When she muttered this, Nyx lifted his half-lidded eyes.
"Though life was but a sigh, short and sorrowful, eternal rest awaits you. Close your eyes and let darkness cover your body. For that place is our cradle, our mother's womb...."
Asteril quietly recited the Rite of Repose. Though it was a verse she had chanted countless times for the dying, she had never imagined a day would come when she uttered it for herself.
"Mother Gaia, please warm the cold earth. Though the land binds us and our hardened bodies have lost their warmth, the Mother's ichor shall become a current to guide us...."
The spear that flew terrifyingly struck her left shoulder with a thud. Asteril staggered and fell backward. A shock coursed through her body as if she were being crushed.
"Hurk!"
Her knees buckled and her throat rang out as if it would crack. Her vision swayed and spun.
"Princess Asteril!"
A scream tore through her ears. It was the voice of Melinoe, who had been embracing Metea.
Death is merely the process of the last wick of life fading; the flame shall bloom again beyond the gate. So you, do not fear.
As her consciousness dimmed, the verses she chanted until the end murmured and scattered into the air.
Nyx approached, tilting his head. He stood with arms crossed, staring blankly at Asteril who had collapsed unconscious.
Melinoe covered her mouth, stifling a sob. She could not say anything. Her jaw chattered, teeth clicking.
"What."
The expressionless face furrowed its brow. Nyx sulked as if depressed.
Asteril lay sprawled on the ground like a dying deer. Her lost blood did not regenerate. Her heartbeat and pulse faded, and her breathing weakened.
Gaia....
"So she was not."
Nyx drooped his shoulders. He was vexed. He had never been wrong about Gaia; to commit such an error.
He glanced back and looked at Melinoe, who was glaring in this direction. Her fierce face was brimming with killing intent.
"Yes, wrath suits you better than envy."
Turning around, Nyx raised his hand high like a perch.
"Let us go."
At his voice, the jackdaws scattered here and there spread their wings and flocked together.
The crows clustered blackly in the sky drew circles round and round before gradually clumping together like smoke and merging into one. They became dense fog, coiling around Nyx's body, then whirled and vanished into his palm with a whoosh.
In the meantime, an oval barrier had formed upon the ground. Appearing while distorting space, it rippled emitting a strange wave. The center of the darkness was split like a pupil, and when Nyx walked toward the center, it opened like an eyelid.
Nyx's blond hair lost its color as if dyed by darkness. Like his eyes where the brief hope had been extinguished.
With arms outstretched, he vanished into the swirling darkness.
Watching Nyx disappear, Melinoe finally burst into tears. In her arms was Metea's corpse; before her eyes, Asteril lay dying, covered in blood.
"No...."
Someone's breath was fading before her eyes, and once again she could do nothing.
Melinoe laid Metea on the ground and crawled toward Asteril. Her legs had lost strength and she could not stand. She cradled Asteril's head and carefully laid it on her thigh.
"Open your eyes, Princess."
She refused to be the only one to survive again.
"Princess Asteril! Please...."
Before the sobbing woman, the wind tore to a halt. When she raised her head, Kalian stood there, his face pale blue.
Melinoe looked at him with unfocused eyes. In her pupils distorted with grief, the image of Kalian bending down was reflected.
"Open your eyes, you."
He knelt on the earth pooled with blood and whispered.
"Hurry."
Her tunic dress, thinly translucent like a mermaid's scales, was drenched in sticky blood.
The wound was so deep that blood flowed out in clumps, and her pale lips barely exhaled breath, letting them know she still clung to life.
A cold place in his chest seemed to snap clean off. A Keton's heart would regenerate even if ruptured. Losing limbs was but a momentary inconvenience.
While a Keton had no particular vital spot, if one had to choose a slower-healing area, it would be the head. Yet even that would eventually heal.
But she was a mortal. To his knowledge, humans did not possess such regenerative power. Humans possessed a vitality even less than that of lizards.
Kalian, who had been caressing Asteril's cheek, flinched and looked down at his palm. Her body was growing cold. It was because the blood flowing through her vessels was insufficient.
When a human's life ended, breathing stopped and their flesh hardened like stone and grew cold. Yet now, she was strikingly similar to that initial state. He recalled the ladies-in-waiting of the detached palace who, having lost their humanity, breathed only to die.
Kalian stood up abruptly, holding Asteril. Hanpung, who already knew where to escort his lord, moved more swiftly than ever.
Melinoe stared blankly at Kalian's back as he disappeared into the wind.
"Uwaaack!"
The healer screamed in surprise. Beyond the collapsed wall, the King of Hades stood. In his arms, Asteril hung limply, covered in blood.
"Wh-what in the world is the meaning of this?"
The healer asked, tearing away the cloth covering the sickbed. As he bound Asteril's shoulder with cloth, Kalian carefully laid her upon the bed.
"Heal her."
The healer was bewildered. It was a piercing wound. A wound pierced by a sharp weapon with a pointed end, like a spear. And yet.... there was no trace of a second strike.
The spear wound was incredibly deep and clean. Whoever the fiend was, he was a ruthless one. He had thrust the weapon into the princess's slender body without a moment's hesitation.
"Y-Your Majesty...."
Kalian gazed down at the healer quietly.
"There are no adequate surgical tools here, nor medicinal herbs for treatment. Even if there were, this already seems beyond my ability."
He reported, trembling. He feared his head might fly off, but a person's life was at stake. He himself was already a dead man anyway, but Princess Asteril was at this very moment in a desperate moment between life and death.
"I have heard that Her Highness possesses high natural power. The power of priests with divine strength may be needed rather than a healer. Forgive my impudence, but if it is priests, the priests of Demeter are famous for possessing high divine powers."
He still did not know exactly how he had been abducted here. Though he had lost consciousness midway, the circumstances were too inexplicable.
The King of Hades standing before him clearly possessed tremendous natural power, just like Princess Asteril.
Natural power was a field of research still progressing like an unknown land. He could not grasp exactly what category his ability belonged to, but it was undoubtedly on a tremendous level. Seeing as he had brought himself from Poseidonia to Hades in an instant.
In other words, could he not also take Princess Asteril to Demeter in a single stride?
As if answering the healer's counsel, Kalian lifted Asteril in his arms. The healer hurriedly chased after him. However, the moment they passed through the middle gate, the rushing wind forced him to squeeze his eyes shut with a gasp.
When the dust settled a moment later, he cautiously opened one eye. Nothing but quiet silence and leaves swaying left and right came and went in his vision.
A hollow laugh burst out. Goodness, how could he possibly express this bizarre feeling?
As expected, his guess had been right. The King of Hades flew through the sky without wings.
Ψ
Over the capital of Demeter, Side, which appeared peaceful upon its hills, dark clouds hung heavily. The depths of the royal palace were steeped in grief and full of gloom.
It had already been four months since Princess Asteril departed for Hades. Hades interacted with none of its neighboring kingdoms. It was a land with no diplomatic envoys, let alone trade. With no tribute maiden having ever returned alive, there was absolutely no way to know whether Asteril was alive or dead.
"Were you here again?"
Ampita, who had been kneeling in prayer before Gaia's statue, raised her head with blurry eyes. Kiane stood there with a worried expression.
The place where Gaia's altar lay was a small shrine located within the royal gardens. In the center of the shrine, barely ten paces across, a sacred spring welled up.
According to legend, on a day in ancient times, the Mother God Gaia visited this place in humble attire and discovered elderly people exhausted from grueling labor collapsed around the spring, unable to contain her grief. Gaia took herbs from her bosom and dissolved them in the spring water. Then she ladled the spring water and shared it with the weary ones. The elderly drank the water and regained their vigor. Even their ailments were cured. All bowed before Gaia and wept.
The miracle became widely known, and an altar was built at the spring, followed by a shrine. The royal palace of Demeter had been built here all because of this spring.
The ceiling was open in a circle, allowing light to pour down. Ancient shrines were all circular. The circle meant cycle, meant vessel, and also meant entrance.
The spring ground, connected to the heavens, received the sun and moon and absorbed their vital energies.
By principle, the kings of Demeter were to visit the shrine every morning and drink the spring water, but most kings used their busy schedules as an excuse and did not often come.
However, Ampita was different.
Since ascending the throne until now, she had not missed a single day drinking the spring water. When she had to leave Side unavoidably, she would fill a jar to the brim with spring water and take it with her.
Kiane found it strange. Why was the Queen so deeply devout? No, how could she be so? From her perspective, the Queen had more right to resent the gods.
Despite losing her husband, experiencing war, and suffering the humiliation of becoming a defeated nation that offered tribute maidens, the Queen had not abandoned her faith. Even though the Mother God had long since turned away from this land.
"Not long ago, the five kingdoms excluding our Demeter formed a coalition and attacked Lethe. Of course, it seems they returned having gained nothing and lost many soldiers."
"And? Was there anyone who saw Asteril?"
Ampita had entrusted all authority regarding recent matters of state, great and small, to Kiane, the next Anassa.
"A soldier from the Kingdom of Crete delivered a clay tablet. The sender was written as Princess Leuke. Princess Leuke had stamped the seal of General Ischys, the commander of the Cretan army, instead of her own seal."
The clay tablet written as a letter was in very poor material and condition. It did not appear to be a letter written inside the palace. The seal was stamped but the sealing was inadequate.
However, if it were not worth verifying, Kiane would have handled it on her own. Ampita narrowed her eyes to read the writing on the clay tablet. Wedge-shaped characters scribbled with a reed pen were neatly written.
'To the Great Anassa of Demeter, Her Majesty Ampita.
I am the Eighth Princess Leuke, daughter of King Minos of Crete. I and Ischys, the courageous commander of Crete, received great favor from Princess Asteril at Lethe. As Princess Asteril now resides in the land beyond the River Styx, how deep must Demeter's worry be? Fortunately, the Princess is safe and sound, and the King of Hades is also favorable toward her, so please set your mind at ease, Anassa.'
Ampita, reading the clay tablet, did not know what to do with her tear-filled eyes.
She believed that if it were Asteril, she would be safe even in that hellish land, yet on the other hand, the image of the girl who had returned in a black carriage with a miserable appearance kept surfacing, causing her to jolt awake countless times.
Her sisters Kiane and Penelope were the same. They should have protected their youngest sister, yet once again the youngest had sacrificed herself to protect her sisters and the Queen.
She had always been that kind of child. She did not have to try so hard, yet she always endeavored tirelessly, striving to fulfill far more than her role and duty.
"I sent a messenger to Poseidonia as well, but there has been no response yet. I heard they are the only ones who sent as many as two princesses, so it seems the current king truly is quite heartless, as rumored."
"He was not that bad before the queen went missing, but that man is no different from a beast that has lost its humanity."
"Do you truly intend to send Penelope to such a place?"
"Poseidonia is the most powerful military nation aside from Hades. It is difficult to refuse when their royal family proposes a marriage alliance first. There is no justification to do so."
Kiane gazed at the Queen's wrinkled hand. It was difficult to speak. The Queen's shoulders always looked heavy. The pressure of bearing a nation had stolen the smile from the Queen's lips.
It began with the war against Hades forty years ago.
Though it was not something that happened due to her own cowardice, the Queen had sacrificed her precious daughters, whipping herself relentlessly in order to never repeat such history.
Asteril, who was sent to Cocytus and ultimately offered as a tribute maiden to Hades, and Penelope, who would soon depart for Poseidonia upon betrothal. Kiane could not help but feel that she alone lived comfortably by the Queen's side under the pretext of being the next Anassa.
Ampita seemed to notice her daughter's inner thoughts and offered comfort.
"Those children are proud of you. Of course, it is also for Demeter, but they accepted their mission willingly in order to be a strength to their older sister. So do not torment yourself. You need only lead the state well. That is the seat you will occupy."
A king had to be heartless. She must not be attached to blood and sentiment. She had learned that she must maintain cold judgment in any situation.
Still, it was hard. When she could only stand by helplessly with her hands tied like this, it was unbearable to endure her own incompetence. In some ways, the only reason she was strong was because her younger sisters had stood by her.
"Mother...."
Kiane, who had addressed the Queen as Your Majesty both in public and in private for some time, uttered the word "Mother," causing Ampita to raise her eyebrows.
"These days, I keep remembering when I first met Lil. The Great Shrine atop the hill at Cocytus—that sacred path where one must not ride a palanquin nor a horse, so how arduous and difficult it was.... Penelope whined several times, crying and saying we should just go back."
Kiane murmured as if sighing, looking at empty space.
"Yes, that's right...."
Ampita smiled faintly, as if she remembered too. The sapphire ring on her left hand shone blue like the sky spread above the mountain that day.
She had been a disliked sister even before seeing her. When Penelope shouted at the mountainside to throw away Asteril or whatever, she too had not particularly stopped her.
The Queen had not even given much explanation about the sister who suddenly appeared. Ampita's words and actions, which had been full of questions at the time, made sense in many ways when she thought back on them now.
Asteril was not a child who could be defined in a single line. She had more than one or two corners that were hard to believe even when seen with one's own eyes.
"This child's name is Asteril. She suffered from a chronic illness since birth but was miraculously cured by the Mother God's blessing. She is nine years old this year but cannot speak nor walk. Please teach and guide her well. Understood, Kiane?"
The Queen had asked only her seriously, leaving Penelope aside. Kiane, who was thirteen at the time, answered "Yes, Your Majesty," while glancing sidelong at Asteril, who was staring at her intently.
A snow-white face could be seen between hair spread long like black seaweed. Eyes full of curiosity and red lips formed a contrast, creating a strange atmosphere.
Asteril stretched out both arms as if asking to be held, but no one approached her. Only Ampita stroked her small back of the head a couple of times.
"She is not my birth daughter. But she is your cousin, so she is no different from a sister."
Though she said to be close, it was the Queen who was most awkward around her. At least, that was how it appeared in Kiane's eyes.
Asteril let out a babbling laugh, "Ah! Ah!" and stretched her hand toward her sisters. Kiane, who had stood as if struck by an unexpected attack by that pure goodwill, slowly furrowed her brows. Asteril, who had taken Kiane's hand, rubbed her cheek against the back of it and smiled.
Then, it seemed the scent of a forest blew from somewhere. The west wind outside the window blew with rounded lips, and Asteril's long hair fluttered as if dancing. In that moment, Kiane saw something like an illusion by the window.
It seemed the Mother God, draped in hand-woven cloth, sat upon the window frame. She, who smiled invisibly, curved her eyes looking at Asteril. Then the surrounding air smiled warmly along the curve of the wind.
The soil dusted on the Mother God's shoulder rode the gentle breeze and seeped into Asteril's hair.
Was that not the reason? The reason Asteril always smelled of earth. A fragrance that calmed people's hearts and put them at ease.
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty Ampita!"
Ampita and Kiane, who had been chatting recalling old memories, rose in surprise. The palace had suddenly become noisy.
"Your Majesty!"
It was the voice of the court lady who attended Ampita. She burst through the shrine door, catching her breath.
"This is before the Mother God's altar. What blasphemy is this!"
When Kiane sternly rebuked her, the middle-aged court lady first prostrated herself in a bow.
"I have committed a capital offense, but Your Majesty! Now is not the time for this."
"What has happened?"
Ampita asked in a gentle voice. This was a servant who had served her for nearly twenty years. Someone so thoroughly sensible would never have committed such blasphemy without cause.
"Please hurry to the Red Garden."
"Why the Red Garden?"
"Th-that is.... some man—no, an intruder...."
The court lady babbled incoherently with a bewildered expression, then tore at her hair. She too seemed frustrated.
"Collect yourself and explain calmly. What do you mean, an intruder?"
"Your Majesty, please move to safety at once!"
"An intruder!"
Then royal guards rushed in shouting from outside. Wearing armor, they arrived with panicked faces, grabbed Ampita's arms, and protected her.
"We have come to escort you, Your Majesty. You must move to safety immediately—gurk!"
A royal guard struck directly by a gust of wind from outside bent his back and flew away as if bounced. With a thud! he crashed into the wall and collapsed, losing consciousness on the spot.
Kiane, who had stood blankly, suddenly came to her senses and shouted.
"Pr... protect Her Majesty! Where is the Captain of the Royal Guard!"
"Here, Princess Kiane."
A general holding a sword shouted from outside the door.
"We must first escort Her Majesty to safety. I shall command here."
"No. Your safety as the heir to the throne is more important. You escape the palace with the royal guards."
"But...."
—Is the King of Demeter here?
Everyone froze, blinking their eyes. A voice as deep as the dead of night resonated, wrapping around their heads.
—I have brought your daughter.
It felt as if the top of her head were being pierced through. So chilling that she momentarily forgot to breathe.
Ampita's spaced-out pupils dilated. She floundered and pushed her way forward. Though the royal guards tried to stop her, she shook them off with "Let go of me!" and leaped outside the shrine.
The dark clouds cleared from the dusky sky, and the tilted moon illuminated the palace like a toppled candlestick.
The garden connected to the shrine was surrounded by red clay walls, hence called the Red Garden. Iron rings were attached to the walls to hold torches at regular intervals; today, the torches that were usually busy being oiled and lit from sunset were all extinguished.
Had Eos, the goddess of dawn, wished to spend time with her lover and caused a dewy rain? Yet the earth and wells were dry.
The man walking upon the shaded ground wore moonlight upon his shoulders like a mantle. Had she seen him in a dream, she might have thought him the lover of Eos.
"You stand before the Anassa. Reveal your identity and kneel."
Kiane, who had followed out at some point, shouted as if scolding. The man's steps halted.
Ampita's eyes narrowed. A person was nestled in the man's arms. She was more curious about the identity of the woman hanging limply in his arms than that of the intruder.
The man standing beneath the old laurel tree took a step forward. The woman's wrist, caught precisely in the torchlight held by soldiers, was illuminated.
Ampita's heart sank with a thud at the limply drooping wrist. The gold bracelet encircling the slender wrist was studded with red gems. Ampita's pupils rippled and shook.
Lady Pandora's bracelet....
"Lil!"
As she screamed and ran forward, Kiane quickly grabbed the Queen's arm.
"Let go! Has the child not been injured like that...."
"I shall check. Please stay here, Your Majesty."
Before that, the man moved first. As he walked this way, the royal guards aimed their spears. Kiane raised her hand to stop them.
The man extended the arm holding Asteril. It was a defenseless attitude. Everyone watched tensely, and he raised his arm slightly as if to say "take her." His voice seeped once more into Kiane's and the soldiers' heads.
—Save her. I know not the method.
The Captain of the Royal Guard hesitated before receiving Asteril. The man simply watched the scene in silence. At Kiane’s signal, the Captain, cradling Asteril, quickly exited the garden.
The man’s eyes, following the Captain’s retreating figure, seemed hollow. He could not tear his gaze away until the Captain disappeared into the depths of the palace.
It appeared he had no accompanying soldiers either. He had not infiltrated the place alone, yet how on earth had he come carrying Asteril all the way to Gaia’s Altar, located in the deepest part of the palace?
“Who are you?”
At Kiane’s question, the man cast his gaze upon her. Kiane felt a chill run through her very marrow.
She had seen countless beautiful men in her life. From minstrels who came and went within the palace, to mercenaries more famous for their faces than their swords, and even princes from foreign lands.
But never had she encountered one who captivated her so thoroughly that she forgot to even breathe.
Eyes that seemed to draw one’s very breath into them, and hair like the night sky gathered into strands.
Kiane clasped her hands to conceal her agitation. Then a chill ran down her spine. She had suddenly realized who the man before her was.
The King of Hades.
He was standing in the very heart of Demeter’s royal palace.
Meanwhile, Ampita shouted at the Vice Captain of the Royal Guard and a hastily summoned secretary.
“Call all the physicians and priests in the palace! Send word to the Great Temple as well—have any priests with divine power come to the palace immediately!”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Secretary Aldeine, select children to attend Princess Asteril and assist the priests.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
She gazed at the door of Asteril’s hastily prepared quarters and let out a sigh.
The palace physicians, and even the priests from the Great Temple in the capital, had all been called and were devoted to healing Asteril.
The princess’s condition was critical. Her wound was deep, and she had lost too much blood. Had she been an ordinary person, she would have long since died.
The High Priestess, who held the highest position among Demeter’s priests, resided in the Great Temple of Side. The primary qualification for High Priestess was fundamentally possessing outstanding divine power or natural power.
Fortunately, the High Priestess’s ability was healing, like Asteril’s, and she had grasped the general situation while hurrying to the palace at the urgent call.
The High Priestess immediately drank a cup of water, then opened her divine power together with the priests who had come with her, and set about healing the princess.
“So, how is she?”
The High Priestess, seated on her knees, wiped the sweat from her forehead and sighed. Having kept vigil by Asteril’s side for two full days, she appeared quite exhausted.
Many people were present in Ampita’s audience chamber. King Ampita, her eldest daughter Princess Kiane, the royal secretary Aldeine, the Captain of the Royal Guard Heonis, the provisional head of the senate, and others.
All stood around in a circle with grave faces, waiting only for her words.
“Fortunately, the wound had not become severely inflamed. We staunched the bleeding, and the physician smoothly sutured it, but the flesh has not yet adhered, so we must watch her progress. It is fortunate that Her Highness possesses strong natural power—otherwise, no matter how much divine power we applied, it would have been difficult for her to survive.”
“What on earth was the cause of the injury? What wounded her?”
“Judging from the shape and depth of the wound, it appears she was wounded by a spear.”
“A spear?”
“She seems to have been pierced by a spear of considerable size. Who on earth would dare commit such a sacrilegious act against Her Highness…”
Ampita’s expression was calm. However, the hand gripping the armrest trembled with rage. So great was the shock that her jaw would not loosen.
The High Priestess read the room and continued speaking.
“Currently, Her Highness is recovering, but her divine fever is high. She seems to be raising her body temperature as she heals herself, but her body is so weakened that she is seeing things and speaking deliriously. She is drenched in sweat from the fever, so I fear she may fall into a state of dehydration. If the divine fever does not break by the end of today, a dangerous situation may arise.”
“That is precisely why I called you here, is it not?”
Ampita issued a stern warning. Though Asteril’s condition was no fault of the High Priestess, Ampita was incensed by what she perceived as an attitude of shirking responsibility.
After all, what had Asteril done for them? Despite being a princess herself, she had shown courtesy and respect to the old officials, taking on all manner of menial tasks, even going to Cocytus.
They should be wringing out their own lifespans to save her, yet to act as if they had done their part after merely two days of effort….
“We will do our utmost.”
The High Priestess rose unsteadily, her face pallid. The king might not understand, but she and the priests had truly spent day and night without rest, exerting themselves to the point of death.
The High Priestess in particular was over sixty years old. Having poured all her strength into the effort for two days straight, her vision swam. Yet even if she died here, she had to save Princess Asteril.
It would be no exaggeration to say that all of Demeter’s priests owed her a debt.
“Kiane!”
Ampita called her daughter in a voice filled with anger. Kiane bowed her head slightly from beside her.
What did it mean for a princess of a kingdom to be pierced by a spear? Had the Allied Nations ambushed Lethe, and had they assaulted her daughter? Or had that cruel, ruthless king stabbed the princess with a spear for amusement?
“Where is the one who brought Ril? Bring him before me at once.”
“That is…”
Kiane showed a troubled expression.
“We have dispatched soldiers since yesterday to search for him, but he has completely vanished.”
“Vanished?”
“Two days ago, I ordered the Captain of the Royal Guard to secure him, but according to the Captain, a sudden gust of dust blew up and he disappeared like smoke.”
“Disappeared like smoke? What on earth does that mean?”
“I interrogated him repeatedly, but he too seemed dazed, as if possessed by a ghost. The moment the man disappeared, soldiers were immediately dispatched to search every corner of the palace, but they have yet to find him.”
From the very beginning, it was a mystery how he had entered a palace with such tight security. The Captain of the Royal Guard had offered his neck, claiming it was all his fault. Had Kiane not stopped him, he seemed ready to take his own life.
“He must be somewhere inside the palace.”
Ampita pressed her temples and muttered. The king’s gaze, staring into empty space, looked complicated.
“Why do you think so?”
“….”
“Is there something that comes to mind?”
“It is that man’s pupils.”
“I saw them too.”
“I have seen pupils of that color once before. An amethyst-like purple hue….”
Ampita buried herself in her chair, pressing her forehead as if sifting through distant memories.
“Kiane, you must know of Kore as well.”
“Is she not the native goddess who protects Demeter? I am aware that remote regions far from the capital still worship Kore.”
“Yes, the people of Demeter have served and followed Kore since ancient times. Though each village gave Kore a different name, the commonality was that she was a maiden goddess. There was a time when various calamities, including plague, were considered Kore’s curse, and her altars and statues were destroyed, but I worked to restore them, and many recovered their faith.”
It was one of the things she had failed to understand all along. Kiane decided it was time to speak her mind.
“Mother, why do you strive so hard to preserve the native faith? Is it because you believe Kore is the original form of the Mother Goddess?”
“Kiane, what do you think a god is?”
After a moment of thought, Kiane spoke, furrowing her brow.
“To speak honestly… I believe they are beings who console the pitiful lives of the people. And I believe a king must know how to even use such beings appropriately for governance.”
Kiane was a child excellent in all things. Her cold, sharp judgment left nothing lacking in her qualifications to become a king who would lead a nation, but….
“Do you still think so after seeing that man today?”
Kiane could not readily answer.
The King of Hades.
The moment she saw him, she felt the beliefs she had meticulously built up over a long time collapsing in an instant.
Long ago, when she had seen Asteril, she had felt something similar, but perhaps because time had dulled it, or because Asteril had become as close as family, the initial wonder had faded considerably.
Thus she had once again believed her own thoughts were correct—that gods existed only in concept.
“Long ago, I too once harbored thoughts like yours. Kore… I speak of when I first met her.”
“You met Kore… the maiden goddess?”
“Yes.”
“But is Kore not a god? How can one meet a god directly?”
Was it an illusion? The king’s eyes seemed steeped in sorrow.
“The names of Kore believed in each region were diverse. Is it not said that this Side derived its name from a Kore called Side? Among the many Kores as numerous as the mountains in Demeter, do you know the name of the most famous maiden goddess?”
Kiane was a child born during a time when worship of Kore was taboo and Kore was shunned. She would be completely in the dark regarding Kore’s history.
“I do not know….”
“In ancient times, there was a woman called the living Kore. She had many names, but the most famous and widely known name was…”
The gift of abundance, the woman who gave all things, the first woman.
She who held all those meanings.
“It was Pandora.”
—To be continued in Volume 3—