The Queen of the Underworld stood atop a massive rock, gazing at the world divided in two. To the right lay the fields of Elysion, while to the left stretched the realm leading to Tartarus. In between was a vast forest that belonged neither here nor there.

The ‘human woman’ was being escorted through that forest by daemons on her way here.

As the goddess narrowed her eyes, she spotted a black-haired man standing in the depths of the forest, glaring at her.

A lineage too noble to discard yet too base to embrace…

Zagreus, the forsaken god of the underworld, born from her womb but denied a mother’s recognition.

The goddess quietly observed him with an expressionless face before withdrawing her gaze.

The daemons had brought the woman before her. With a kind smile, she welcomed Livia.

“Welcome, *Kore (maiden or daughter, Persephone’s affectionate nickname). Perhaps it is fortunate that you came here while Hades is away… He truly dislikes such luck.”

“…This humble human greets the goddess.”

Livia, feeling tense, bowed her head deeply in greeting.

Though she had not encountered many gods, the goddess before her exuded an aura distinctly different from anyone she had ever met.

Warm yet cold, strangely familiar yet utterly foreign…

The Queen of the Underworld, Persephone.

As if she truly traversed between the living and the dead, she embodied the energies of both the world above and below.

Feeling an inexplicable awe, Livia instinctively bowed her head in respect.

“I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll personally guide you. I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic for the outside.”

The goddess walked ahead, and the spirits of death nudged Livia to follow her.

As they walked, something wondrous happened. With each step the goddess took, the ground seemed to carry her forward effortlessly.

It was as if the path opened wherever she wished to go.

Was this the power of the goddess who rules the underworld…?

Livia, her eyes wide with surprise, glanced at the ground moving beneath her feet.

Meanwhile, the Queen of the Underworld spoke to her again.

“It’s fascinating. That young Cerberus was once your dog… How far did the goddess of fate foresee?”

At the queen’s words, Livia looked at Mumu, who had been silently following her.

Three heads, a mouth charred black like it had been burned, and fur rippling like waves—though unfamiliar, it was still her faithful shepherd dog, Mumu, gazing at her with eyes full of trust and love.

Sensing her gaze, Mumu panted happily and rubbed its head against her palm.

“I heard the dog caught Cerberus’s eye because it died in a fire. Poor thing. It must have been so hot.”

The queen’s words brought back the memory of Mumu’s death to Livia, filling her with anger and causing her eyes to sting.

As the queen had said, she couldn’t even begin to imagine how painful it must have been.

Biting her lip to hold back tears, the queen turned to her with a smile.

“Despite drinking from the River Lete, it is a loyal dog that hasn’t forgotten you, so I will give it to you.”

“…What? What do you mean… Really?”

Surprised, Livia asked again, and the queen lazily smiled and caressed her cheek.

Then, she slowly reached out and pressed a spot beneath the disheveled front of Livia’s chiton.

It was right over the mark left by Zagreus’s blood on her chest.

“It’s an apology for his rudeness. However, just because I give it to you doesn’t mean you can completely take it away. It is already bound to the underworld. But…”

The queen reached out and lifted Livia’s wrist, the one opposite the hand marked with a golden dagger.

“I will engrave a symbol on your wrist so you can call upon this young dog whenever you wish to see it. Anytime you need it.”

The queen placed her thumb on the hollow of Livia’s wrist.

With a sudden burning sensation, something was engraved on her wrist—a symbol of a pomegranate.

“It’s a token of promise in my name.”

With a gentle smile, she nudged Livia’s waist toward the cave entrance bathed in white light.

“Farewell, Livia.”

***

The sea and the underworld shared many similarities.

Most notably, they both harbored endless darkness, and unlike the sky or the earth, they were exclusive to the outside world.

The underworld, where secrets were cultivated in the soil, and the sea, where secrets were hidden beneath the waves—how could they not be alike?

Thus, the two worlds met secretly and discreetly.

Triton stood before a particularly dark part of the deep sea, a trench resembling an abyss, staring into the depths of darkness.

An endless black chasm, the labyrinth of Rubedike.

It was a place shunned by all sea creatures, yet a few reckless souls dared to enter, never to return.

Anyone sucked into that darkness would lose their way, swimming aimlessly in a realm devoid of light and sound until their life came to an end.

Echidna had fallen right there. He remembered clearly because he had pushed her into it with his own hands.

The memory of that day, when Echidna’s terrible screams were gradually swallowed by the pitch-black labyrinth, remained vivid in his mind.

‘But how did she survive?’

Triton thought of Echidna.

Her flowing black hair, red eyes, and peach-colored cheeks formed a beautiful face. She possessed a serpent’s lower body, resembling but distinctly different from a mermaid’s tail.

She was also the most devoted follower of the goddess of witchcraft, Hecate.

“I love you, Triton!”

If one were to be precise, she was something like a niece to him…

“So, just become mine willingly!”

As a consequence of her misguided greed, Echidna’s tail had been torn into eight pieces, and life had vanished from her once-proud face. The ‘Trident,’ which she had recklessly tried to grasp, had taken away her eternal life. Thus, she became a mortal instead of an immortal being.

“Oh, no. No!!”

He had believed she would drift in the darkness like any other living being and face eternal oblivion.

Yet she returned, and her blade, engraved on a human woman’s wrist, aimed for his heart.

…How had she come back? And why had she sent that ‘human woman’ to him?

As Triton wandered in the darkness, he recalled the hair that resembled bloodstains, faintly dispersing in the water.

The vivid redness that bloomed and then faded before his eyes.

Eyes like the green of fields, fiercely glaring at him with all their might. Skin that appeared resilient, perfectly tanned by the sun, and a sweet scent reminiscent of lukewarm warmth.

Everything about the woman defied the sea.

She was beautiful, but such beauty was common in the realm of gods, and her intensity was irritating, especially for a mere human.

Triton returned to his original thought.

Why had Echidna sent that human woman to him?

She wasn’t a nymph born of nature, but a weak human he despised and loathed.

A pathetic human woman who, even with that golden knife, could only manage to scratch the back of his hand.

There had to be a reason. Surely, some clear reason…

Without it, bringing back the human woman he had killed with his own hands would be a complete waste.

To exert effort on something useless was what Triton hated the most, especially for a human whom he detested and abhorred like a worm.

As Triton stared into the abyss-like darkness for a long time, a spray of water erupted around him.