Chapter 1 – Abduction

“Please don’t do this, Lord Hades!”

She struggled hard to break free from the arms holding her tight, but the man’s solid strength showed no sign of loosening. The tension squeezed her chest, making it hard to breathe.

“It’s nothing serious. Just close your eyes for a moment, and it’ll be over soon.”

His voice was low and calm, but the firmness within it made him even more frightening. The man slung her body over his shoulder, trying to take her somewhere.

Even though she was certain this man would never harm her, being dragged away like this by force was terrifying. Her mind grew dizzy with confusion.

She tried again to speak, hoping to reason with him.

“If my mother finds out, she’ll be furious. Lord Hades, please, just talk to me for a moment—”

Thud.

Suddenly, a sharp pain struck her nape. 

‘Ah, no way…’

Her vision began to blur. As her consciousness faded, heavy drowsiness pressed down on her eyelids.

“I’m sorry, Persephone.”

His apologetic expression and trembling voice lingered as her last memory. Warm yet cold, a contradictory emotion washed over her.

***

When she came to her senses, the first thing she felt was a soft sensation. The warmth of the blanket around her brought brief relief, but as soon as she opened her eyes, the sight before her made her tense up.

It was so dark she could hardly distinguish anything; the deathly silence seemed to be hiding something within.

“So… I’ve been brought here after all.”

She’d sensed it from the moment she saw Hades’s face, but she hadn’t expected to be taken so suddenly. Unable to grasp what was happening, her chest filled with anxiety. First, she needed to figure out where she was, so she sat up and looked around.

“Are you awake?”

A low, familiar baritone sounded beside her, making her heart drop. She opened her eyes wide in surprise, but couldn’t tell exactly where the voice was coming from. As she looked around, a tiny blue flame flickered to life.

“I’m sorry. I’m so used to the darkness that I didn’t think to consider you.”

The flame quietly swayed, softly illuminating the room. It looked as if it could burn everything down, but strangely, it felt gentle and warm.

“It’s fine. But… is this really the Underworld, Lord Hades?”

“Yes. You are indeed in the Underworld.”

“Why did you bring me here?”

A direct question. Hades remained quiet, but she caught the hesitation in his voice.

“That is…”

He avoided her gaze, turning his face aside. In that moment, the room’s temperature seemed to drop.

“Are you trying to use me to get something from my parents?”

“……”

His silent refusal to answer made her even more anxious. His lips were tightly shut, and the weight of that silence made it harder and harder for her to breathe. Unable to bear it, she pressed him.

“Please, let me hear your answer so I can accept this situation.”

“…Your guess is correct. I brought you here to negotiate with your parents.”

His confession was calm, but she could sense the guilt hidden behind it. Still, she couldn’t understand. If he wanted something, most gods wouldn’t refuse him—why go so far as to abduct her?

“What do you want? What made you bring me here, sneaking me away like this?”

Her voice grew sharp without her realizing it, and Hades’s shoulders flinched.

“The truth is…”

“The truth?”

“I brought you here to ask for permission to marry you.”

“Marriage…?”

The unexpected word struck her like a shock, making her gasp. She stared at him with wide eyes, as a strange feeling rose deep inside her chest.

“Lord Hades, do you… like me?”

The words burst out without passing through her mind. Silence swallowed the space. Hades’s eyes widened, and he stepped back in surprise.

Sensing something odd, she slowly climbed off the bed to face him, but he kept avoiding her gaze, steadily increasing the distance between them.

“Please… don’t come any closer.”

His voice was lower and more serious than usual, but the embarrassment and tension within it were clear.

“Why? Why are you avoiding me?”

“That’s…”

He’d gone so far as to abduct her because he wanted to marry her, yet now he was backing away as if to escape. His eyes kept dodging hers, and his lips trembled, hesitating to speak.

Marriage seemed like an unbelievable excuse—she felt certain there was another reason hidden behind it.

“Is it true you want to marry me? Then why are you avoiding me?”

“It’s tr-true. But…”

“You mean it? You really wanted to marry me? Goodness…”

Abduction, then marriage. The shocking words kept coming, leaving her confused and full of wild doubts.

“But… if you wanted to marry me, why didn’t you propose first?”

Her mind told her that a proposal wasn’t the real issue now, but her curiosity rose up anyway.

“…I’m sorry, Persephone.”

Hades again avoided her eyes and shrank back. But his apology drifted in the air, feeling insincere.

“I just can’t understand. You want to marry me, but instead of proposing, you abduct me. And now you’re keeping your distance. Which of your words and actions should I believe, Lord Hades?”

At her words, Hades looked up in surprise. His eyes flashed with complicated emotions.

“Do you truly want to marry me?”

She stepped forward, looking him straight in the eye. While he hesitated in silence, her gaze grew firmer.

“Let’s sit somewhere, and I’ll answer you.”

He let out a long sigh and nodded. The heaviness of his breath made her heart flutter for no reason.

“Yes. It seems this will take a while, so let’s do that.”

Hades led the way with heavy steps, and she quietly followed. The air in the room settled quietly into a dark stillness.

Then, small blue flames began to flicker up beside her, gently lighting their path and pushing back the darkness.

‘Surprisingly thoughtful.’

The rumors she’d heard about him and the man she was seeing now were so different that it left her confused. The man said to be so cold and terrifying was now lighting the way for her, nervously watching her reactions. He seemed more like someone trembling on a first date.

“I heard Lord Hades keeps special souls locked up in the Underworld, right?”

“Even after they finish their punishment, he won’t let them go?”

“Yes. So some humans with great abilities are still trapped in the Underworld, serving Lord Hades.”

“Isn’t that too arbitrary, though?”

“Since he’s the King of the Underworld, I guess no one dares to say anything to him….”

“Even if those humans beg to be let go, Lord Hades just ignores them.”

Indeed, Hades was called the King of the Underworld, the Lord of the Dead. He was such a formidable existence that even Zeus, King of the Gods, could not defy Hades’s word within the realm below.

But since he rarely came to the surface, all stories about him were just rumors. He was said to be ruthless and cold to those who disagreed with him. While quiet on the surface, he was a tyrant below—so it was best not to get involved with him.

But now… he just seemed like a shy man.

Hades quietly opened the door and entered a small sitting room. As he stepped inside, the candles sensed his presence and lit up one by one. She followed, carefully looking around. The neat space, the flickering light on cold stone walls, and the subtle tension in the air lightly gripped her throat.

“Sit here. Would you like something to drink…?”

“No, I’m fine. I’d like to hear your story first.”

As she sat, Hades hesitated before slowly sitting in the chair opposite her. She could sense his tension from how tightly he gripped the armrest.

“Everything you guessed is correct. You’ve been abducted, and I do…like you.”

“May I ask one question?”

“As many as you wish.”

“Have we met before?”

“Ah, that was when you visited the temple on Olympus…”

He tilted his head as if searching his memory. Through his eyelids, she saw traces of distant recollections.

“I don’t remember ever meeting you, Lord Hades.”

“Perhaps you simply don’t recall.”

He touched his chin. The look in his eyes, as if retracing the distant past, made him seem like someone from another world.

“So we have met before?”

“Yes. I once caught you when you nearly fell, Miss Persephone.”

“Oh… I’m sorry. I’ve been clumsy so many times…”

Embarrassed to have shown him such a side, she touched her cheek and laughed. At her laughter, Hades quietly smiled too.

“It’s fine. Thanks to that, I got to know you, Miss Persephone.”

Hades seemed to recall her clumsy moment and let out a soft laugh. For some reason, it made her heart swell. The fact that Hades cherished a small connection she herself didn’t remember touched her.

“But why didn’t you speak to me then? It would have been nice if you had started a conversation.”

“The gods of the surface feel uncomfortable around an underworld god like me. I thought you might feel the same, so I was satisfied just watching from afar.”

“You watched over me?”

Surprised and embarrassed, she leaned forward without thinking. He turned his gaze away, flustered by her reaction. His face slowly reddened, and he quietly cleared his throat as if to steady his breath. His cheeks were so red, they almost looked like ripe pomegranates.