Grit…

Maya, who had been clenching her teeth, suddenly stopped, her empty gaze fixed on the air.

‘…Then what about my misfortune?’

The father who sold her off to that old bastard, the baby she was forced to have, the memories of being caught and abused while trying to escape… and even the memory of unknowingly grabbing whatever she could and beating the old bastard’s head to death….

Was it my own doing that brought me misfortune?

Scoffing at herself, Maya shook her head at the pointless thought. Though he wasn’t conceived out of love, Phedum was the only one she had ever loved.

She held him in her arms and put him to sleep until he was old enough. She even adored how he couldn’t wean himself off his mother’s milk until late.

He did something terrible to the sheep out of vain curiosity, but it was only because he was such a pure child.

That Phedum was gone. It felt like her heart was breaking, burning to ashes.

‘Don’t tell me he was possessed by Livia’s ghost?’

Anxious, Maya suddenly remembered what the village headman had said earlier.

The shaman of the gods who begged for a glass of water…. She would know what it meant to see the spirits of the dead.

Did she really come back from hell, or… Did that crazy woman survive and wander around here?!

Maya immediately grabbed a glass of water and ran to the entrance of the village where the village headman had mentioned. Fortunately, he wasn’t dead yet. She could see a slender figure leaning against the shade of a tree, twitching slightly.

“Excuse me, old man. Here, I brought you water. Didn’t you say you wanted some water?”

The old man’s eyelids, which had been tightly closed as if dead, fluttered open. Cloudy eyes, clouded with cataracts, stared at Maya. She urged him to drink, pushing the water into his mouth.

Gulp, gulp.

The old man couldn’t drink more than three sips, but even with that much, his expression relaxed as if he would live. Maya quickly asked him,

“I heard you were a man who served the gods. Please, can you tell me where my lost son is?”

The old man looked up at Maya with his weak eyes. His cloudy pupils shook strangely, and a sighing voice escaped his chapped lips.

“Oh dear….”

“Wh, what is it? Tell me quickly!”

With a sense of foreboding, Maya grabbed the old man’s skinny shoulders and shook him urgently. As she flinched at the rough touch of his skin, like tree bark, the old man muttered in a fading voice,

“…I’m sorry to say this to my benefactor, but there’s nothing I can do for you.”

“What? You’re telling me that after drinking my water?”

A clean glass of water was very precious at this time.

The village well had run dry, and to get water, she had to carry a water jug all the way to a faraway place and back. She had given him that precious thing, and what? He had nothing to say?

“You, you old swindler…!”

“It’s too late… It’s too late… They are not someone my god can handle…”

The old man muttered with his eyes closed as if he had lost his strength. At his extraordinary words, Maya closed her angry mouth and urged the old man.

“Hey! Tell me what you mean. What do you mean god, what does that have to do with my son’s disappearance?”

“…Just one thing.”

The old man, who had been hesitating, moved his lips with difficulty. Maya immediately closed her mouth and stared at the old man nervously.

“If you want to see your son even if he’s dead, stay here, and if you want to live even if you’re alone…. Leave this village and go somewhere else….”

At that moment, the old man, who had been breathing roughly, opened his cloudy eyes wide. With a gasp, his thin body trembled, and then he stopped breathing. The old man collapsed without closing his eyes. With a thud, dust rose from the ground.

“……!”

Maya stepped back in surprise. She didn’t have to shake his shoulder to know that his life was gone.

It wasn’t the first time she had seen a dead body, but the death of the old man who died suddenly before her eyes was terrifying.

“Why did he die while talking, and in front of me of all people….?”

Looking down at the old man with a shudder, Maya quickly turned around and ran towards the village.

They say that when one life ends, another is conceived somewhere.

A small sprout peeked out from under the old man’s body, lying miserably in the shade of a giant tree.

The tumultuous winter had passed, and spring was quietly springing.

***

Banquets were a daily occurrence for the gods. Especially for the gods of the seasons, they held banquets every season to announce the arrival of their season.

Among them, the most notable banquet was, of course, the banquet of Persephone, the goddess of spring.

Actually, it was Persephone’s banquet in name only. Since it was a feast held by her mother, Demeter, for her daughter, it was no different from an event held under Demeter’s authority.

Few disliked the warm and vibrant spring.

It was a time when the seeds that had been huddled in the ground struggled to raise their heads to the outside. It was a time to endure trials and adversity, and finally stretch out vigorously, so it was a time of great blessing and welcome.

In a way, the movement of Persephone’s return from the depths of the underworld to the ground and the sprouts could be said to be similar.

Livia, with a nervous look on her face, glanced down at her attire once more. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t nervous, but it wasn’t because of the eyes of the gods that would be on her.

‘Will I be able to meet Zagreus safely….’

It was a nerve-wracking situation where she had to avoid the eyes of Triton, of course, and other gods, and contact Zagreus.

Could she do it well? She wanted to see with her own eyes how damaged Lete’s soul was and how she was doing.

To do that, she had to move stealthily. Out of everyone’s sight….

Out of sight of the destructive hedonists.

In Livia’s eyes, the gods were nothing more than scoundrels who believed in power and immortality. They were a race obsessed with stimulation, so it was clear that they would only find amusement in her misfortune.

Triton was….

Livia, who had stopped for a moment, looked down at the brooch that held the cloak on her shoulder with trembling eyes. A golden seahorse with pearls embedded in its eyes hung above his chest.

There was no place where there were no red marks left from Triton biting it.

Audike, who saw Livia’s red body, screamed in disgust, and her ears were still ringing.

“Ah, doesn’t it hurt?”

“Well, I don’t think it hurts….”

It had come to the point where she had to cover herself up because of the red marks all over her neck, arms, and above her chest. The nymphs who made the dress were disappointed, saying that it was a shame to cover it up after they had made such a pretty dress, but there was nothing they could do.

Audike, who saw Livia’s body, said it was a pity that it was not at a level where she could reveal it, and wrapped her in a cloak without a word.

“I never thought Triton would really do this.”

“What?”

“I mean, like this….”

Audike, who was hesitant, chose her words for a long time and then let out a sigh, saying, “Oh, I don’t know.”

“I didn’t know he was the type to show his possessiveness like this.”

Possessiveness, she said.

Livia was very embarrassed and flustered by the word she heard from Audike. Besides, it wasn’t anything else, and it felt strange to know how Triton’s excessive behavior towards her appeared to others.

“He seems to cherish you very much… well, I mean… very much.”

At Audike’s words, Livia looked down at her body suspiciously and replied,

“Looking like this?”

As their eyes met, Audike and Livia burst into laughter at the same time. Audike, who had been holding back her laughter, slowly closed her smile. Then, with a cool but affectionate touch, she gently stroked Livia’s nape and whispered,

“I’ve heard that sharks bite their females every time they mate, but I didn’t know Triton would do that too.”

His female…. 

It meant that even Audike knew that Triton treated her like his female.

Triton cherishes me, his female. Hearing her say that, she didn’t know what kind of face to make.

Not only did he cherish her, but it was so obvious that he treated her like his female that even outsiders could tell….

At that moment, Echidna’s words came to mind.

“What a stupid answer. The god who hated humans gave his ‘bedchamber’ to that ‘human’. He brought her cooked food from the land every meal, and he erected his p*nis, which hadn’t budged even when all the beautiful goddesses threw themselves at him n*ked, and sucked and licked it for days. What do you think this is, if not affection? Just a passing desire?”

Livia, who had been fiddling with the seahorse brooch he had given her, closed her eyes tightly. She was disgusted by this whole situation that was making her uncomfortable.

But what really made her miserable was.

“…….”

The ignorant joy blooming in a corner of her heart.

That shameless flutter made her ashamed and miserable.