King Of Underworld [EN]: Chapter 103

The King of the Underworld is Tired 103

The Story of Eros and Psyche – (2)

Muttering under his breath after receiving orders from Aphrodite, his mother, Eros flapped his small, white wings and flew to the mortal realm.

He headed toward the palace where Psyche was said to reside, his tiny wings fluttering.

A window high above opened on its own, creating a passage for the god of love to pass through.

The intruder, his form hidden from human eyes, slipped into Psyche’s room…

“Wow…”

Even Eros, who saw Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, every day, couldn’t help but be amazed by the beauty before him.

What were goddesses, anyway? The one before his eyes was a true goddess.

Seeing Psyche sleeping peacefully in her bed, Eros fell in love at first sight…

The young boy’s body instantly grew, transforming him into a handsome young man.

Gods were immortal, possessing a homeostasis [a state of equilibrium] that usually maintained their original personalities and bodies.

However, they sometimes changed due to shifts in their divine status or certain triggers.

The young god, now realizing love, becoming a young man was one such reason.

‘I should inflict divine punishment as Mother said… but she’s so beautiful? Do I really have to?’

Eros agonized, contemplating abandoning this human woman he had fallen for at first sight.

Even if it was his mother’s command, did he have to obey unconditionally? Unlike other gods, he hadn’t even married yet…

The time for deliberation was short. The god of love, for the first time in his life, succumbed to the magic of love and took out a bottle from his pocket.

It contained bitter water that stole the power of love and sweet water that made beauty shine even brighter.

‘The woman who will become my wife can’t marry another.’

Eros sprinkled the bitter water, which sprang from the garden of Aphrodite’s palace, on Psyche’s lips.

With the magic bitter water sprinkled, no one would propose to Psyche.

‘…Was the bitter water a bit too much? Still, I feel bad, so…’

Eros reached into his pocket again and took out a bottle filled with sweet water.

It had the effect of making the target’s beauty even more radiant, and Psyche, sprinkled with it, would receive even greater praise from humans.

‘What excuse do I make to Mother?’

The god of love lightly kissed the sleeping Psyche on the forehead and returned.

* * *

Back at Aphrodite’s palace, Eros avoided his mother’s glare.

Well, it was only natural, since he had been told to inflict divine punishment but instead returned having grown up.

“Eros…?! It seems you have a lot to explain to me…!”

“Well… I was going to stab Psyche with a lead arrow, but…”

“Going to stab?”

“I accidentally stabbed myself with a gold arrow. That’s why I grew up like this.”

What nonsense. Aphrodite was dumbfounded.

Accident? He accidentally stabbed himself with a gold arrow? A god who could fully control his body, unlike a human?

Even if it was an accident, the gold and lead arrows were powers that only Eros possessed, powers that even Aphrodite couldn’t wield.

Did a god even exist who could be harmed by his own power? Even if harmed, shouldn’t he be able to shake it off?

Of course, Eros’s arrows possessed a power that even he himself couldn’t avoid, but in Aphrodite’s agitated mind, it didn’t register at all.

Eros must have fallen for a human and lost his mind.

The very fact that he had grown from a child who knew nothing of love into a young man proved that his feelings had changed.

“I’d rather believe the nonsense that the god Thanatos [the personification of death] was subdued by a mere human!”

“…It’s true.”

“Hoo… Adonis! Are you there?”

“Yes! Aphrodite-nim. What is it?!”

As Aphrodite, holding her head, sighed and called for a servant, a young man’s voice was heard.

He was an exceptionally handsome and beautiful man in his twenties, and Eros grumbled as soon as he saw him.

“…Doesn’t Mother also have a weakness for handsome humans… someone like that…”

“Is that the same thing! That human is just a servant, and you’ve completely fallen for a human, haven’t you?! Adonis, bring a cup of nectar from outside.”

“Understood. Aphrodite-nim.”

Adonis, having received the order, went back outside.

Surprisingly, Aphrodite’s words were true.

She really just liked the handsome Adonis and kept him around. She didn’t harbor any other feelings for humans.

Adonis was more handsome than any human she had ever seen, but…

“He has a remarkable beauty for a human, but the man I want to spend a night with isn’t like that.”

“Then is it Ares-nim [Ares is the god of war]?”

“…Ares too, but also someone with status. Someone with a good character, trusted by everyone, and with charisma, a male god like that would be even better…”

There were hardly any male gods who perfectly matched his mother’s taste, right? No, wait a minute…

Only one male god came to Eros’s mind who met all those conditions.

One of the three main gods, so his status was high, a god of mercy recognized by humans and gods alike,

Trusted even by Zeus, the king of the gods, and a main god who ruled the underworld with dignity…

“Like Hades-nim?”

“Yes, exactly… Tsk! That’s not what we were talking about! We were talking about Psyche and you!”

Eros’s expression turned awkward as he tried to change the subject, and he watched his mother carefully.

A stern command fell from Aphrodite’s lips, her face hardening again.

“I understand that you fell for that girl who damaged my honor… but I can never accept it!”

“But… please watch over her a little longer. I’m sure Psyche will please Mother too.”

“Hmph. Who will please whom? Then why don’t you test her once? I’ll allow it after seeing that girl’s attitude.”

If it were the old her, she would have inflicted divine punishment right away, but

Perhaps because she had recently divorced Hephaestus, Aphrodite, who had become quite lenient, said with her arms crossed.

Perhaps she was overlapping Eros, who had fallen in love with a human, with herself, who had been forced to marry and went to Ares?

Thus, Psyche received a divine task without even knowing it.

* * *

Praise for the kingdom’s third princess, Psyche, increased day by day.

Of course, it was thanks to the power of the sweet water that Eros had sprinkled.

“Princess Psyche is definitely the most beautiful person on earth.”

“Of course. That beauty surpasses even Persephone, whom Pluto took away, or Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty…”

“Is that so! But somehow, I don’t feel like proposing to her.”

“Did you feel that way too? Her beauty is beautiful, but…”

However, no one proposed to her because of the power of the bitter water.

The rumors praising the princess grew day by day, but the king and queen, finding it strange that no suitors appeared, eventually went to the Oracle of Delphi [a priestess who delivered prophecies from Apollo].

The oracle given by Apollo of Delphi was as follows.

That child is destined not to marry a human, so leave her in the mountains.

“T, then what will happen? Who will that child marry?”

“My daughter Psyche… this can’t be…”

A wicked monster surpassing poisonous snakes and fierce beasts will take Psyche away.

Psyche’s parents shed tears.

Psyche was destined to marry a terrible monster, and it was determined by prophecy…

However, the prophecy could not be defied. Didn’t they also know the stories of King Oedipus and Perseus?

Wait, but… King Perseus, the famous hero, was able to avoid the oracle, wasn’t he?

“Honey… do you remember the story of King Perseus?”

“The hero who received an oracle that he would kill his maternal grandfather? Ah… could it be!”

King Perseus received an oracle from Pluto, the god of the underworld and mercy, and was able to send his maternal grandfather off peacefully.

The story of the great hero who escaped the fate of a terrible criminal who would kill his own family was widely spread here as well.

“That’s right. Pluto, the god who pitied mortals in unfortunate fates, told him how to twist the prophecy, didn’t he?”

“Then our Psyche too…”

To be precise, it was bypassing the prophecy,

They headed to the Temple of Pluto, seeing hope that they could save their child from the monster.

That was the reason… the story of the people who were bothering me, Hades, at the Temple of Thebes.

They had been prostrating themselves in the temple and begging for about a week, so I couldn’t help but hear it.

“Pluto! Please have mercy on our daughter.”

“Our youngest daughter, whom we wouldn’t trade for the world, is going to marry a monster… please have pity on us…”

The story of the king and queen of a country coming directly to the temple and wailing spread quickly…

Yesterday, the gods belonging to the underworld came to me and asked if it would be okay to help that human.

“Hades… what do you think about helping those humans who prostrate themselves in the temple every day?”

“Goddess Lethe?”

“Yesterday, they were praying in front of my statue too… I heard that their daughter is incredibly beautiful…”

“Those humans really cherish their daughter so much.”

“Hypnos, what’s wrong?”

“Morpheus, who visited those humans’ dreams last night, said that their minds are full of worries about their daughter…”

Many humans thought that oracles were absolute, predetermined fates, but the reality was a little different.

In the cases of Oedipus and Odysseus, it was a predetermined fate.

An absolute that even Zeus, the king of the gods, could never change… only a slight twist was allowed.

But this oracle… what? A woman destined to marry a monster?

As far as I, the main god of the underworld, knew, there was no woman destined to marry a monster in this timeline.

Then the conclusion was obvious.

The oracle given to Psyche was not a predetermined fate, but the will of Apollo, the owner of Delphi.

“Morpheus, go to Olympus and tell Apollo that I am looking for him. I need to ask him directly what this is all about.”

“Have you finally decided to help? Well, those humans were quite pitiful.”

Who is playing strange tricks on earth again?