Author's rambling: despite me saying that I'd ready Persephone's picture, I still haven't posted it yet. The truth is...

...I just colored her eyes lol XD

I don't know if I can finish her in one or two weeks, so sorry about that!

This chapter is rewritten and then reuploaded.

~-0o-o0-~

"What did you see in me? Why did you marry me?"

~-0o-o0-~

Chapter 25

~ The Whereabouts of Truth ~

H/P/H/P

I'm still angry with Hades.

Why, you ask? WHY?

That stupid brute farted right in the middle of our love-making! By the Fates it smelt so awful, like a rotten egg mixed with sweat! I don't know if I can retain my sanity living under the same roof with that senile, oblivious swine of a husband!

Oh, I think I just leveled up my cursing skill...

Even now I'm still angry at him. He sits there beside me, eating his breakfast like nothing happened. I tear my gaze from him. Eating whilst being angry will do me no good. Every food I eat is tasteless and I don't want that.

Accidentally I lock eyes with Rhea. She tilts her head to her side, giving me a small smile, and resumes sipping her nectar.

My mother-in-law is so beautiful...

...and I am jealous of her.

I wish I was born like her. I wish I was taller so that I can see Hades without having to look up. I wish I was pretty enough so I wouldn't embarrass him in public, and I wish I was knowledgeable to make him happy.

From my point of view, a queen should be tall, have golden hair, and beautiful. But I...

—I am short, I am ugly, and I am stupid.

~-0o-o0-~

Hades doesn't show it that he cares about his wife, but inside he is. The girl keeps staring into space and repeatedly moves her lips as if confused. What is she thinking about?

He wants to ask her about it. After all, he wants to make her happy.

But not now.

Not now.

~-0o-o0-~

"Am I ugly?" I ask to Rhea who brushes her lion's mane. She stops and looks at me as if I'm crazy.

I sit on the edge of her bed and begin fiddling with my fingers, "I don't understand what Lord Hades sees in me. He said he doesn't want anyone else."

"It is love, then."

"No, it isn't," I refuse the horrid idea. Hades is lusting towards me, nothing else. But I... I want him, but... but I'm kind of scared of what he's going to do to me.

"Why would you think that?"

"He keeps women in this place," I point out the obvious. A tone of annoyance colors my voice, "If he really loved me, then he'd be faithful to me."

Rhea doesn't respond to my reason and something quickly comes to mind. Carefully I ask, "Was your husband... faithful to you?"

A small smile graces her face for a while, "Surprisingly he was."

"Do you miss him?" it looks like I went too far. Rhea appears troubled and confusion mars her beauty.

"I... don't know."

We stop talking and are busy doing whatever we want to make the atmosphere returns to normal. It is easier than done. Rhea is patting her lion, but her hands move mechanically. Her sky-blue eyes are stiff and serious.

Maybe if I distracted her, she'd return to her normal self... It's my fault to begin with...

"Umm... yesterday, I did seduce Lord Hades..."

She turns sharply towards me, eyes widen in happiness. "Oh! Oh! Tell me about it! Did he score you? Oh, I'm so excited! We should hold a small party for this!"

I pout, "No. Something happened..."

Her expression falters a little, "Oh... a shame, really, after all those lesson you've learned."

I blush, trying my best to lie, "Th-The thing is... I got scared and end up disappointing Lord Hades... But I... B-But I'll try my best tonight! I want to make him mine!"

"Remember the chant I told you about," Rhea lifts a finger and winks.

I nod.

On the bed, women rule over men.

The words strangely work like magic and I feel the confidence surging in my mind.

I stare at her, marveling how perfect she is.

"I wish... I wish I was beautiful like you."

Rhea lifts a brow.

I repeat, "I wish I was born perfect like you so that I knew which part of me Lord Hades loved."

Yes, I wish I was born like her...

We lock eyes for a long time. Neither of us moves until Rhea tilts her head sideway, "Why are you using me as your standard of beauty?"

~-0o-o0-~

Why are you using me as your standard of beauty?

Why?

I don't know.

Is this an influence from the fairy tales Demeter used to tell me before bed? The fairy tales would always have the same description of what a beauty should be.

There once lived a princess in a far, faraway kingdom. Her blonde hair shone as if it was gold and her beauty captivated all who see it...

It would always be like that. I guess those stupid fairy tales corrupt my understanding of what beautiful should be.

But is it wrong for me to wish for beauty?

Is it wrong for me to be beautiful?

I am confused. I am scared.

I am lost.

I am afraid to ask Hades. I am scared to ask Hades.

What if... what if he married me because of my looks?

What if he married me because of my body?

~-0o-o0-~

Hades slams Rhea's door open, shocking both the owner and the maid. Rhea spins around to see him sinks on the sofa in front of the burning hearth.

Rhea approaches him from behind, "Are you drunk? This is not your room."

"Shut up," Hades spits, "I'm thinking."

His insolence has broken Rhea's patience off. "How dare you talk back at me, Hades?! I am your mother!"

"I said shut up!" he snarls. Seeing her flinches from his sudden outburst, Hades takes a deep breath and continues his staring match with the fire. "Just... let me think."

Her sad face is obvious as she looks at her son. His shoulders slumps and he appears tired.

Rhea sits down beside him, but keeping a safe distance. She watches him. She watches him closely.

He is frowning. His lips are but a straight line on his stiff face. His jaw hardens as he muses about something that he'd unlikely share.

Never before Rhea thinks of him as handsome, until now.

Her mistake, their mistakes...

...they separated them of something that makes them a family.

—You are no better than your father, Hades...

—I wish you weren't born!

She did say something like that and she regretted it. She does. However, to ask for a forgiveness is not as easy as saying it inwardly. Even if the moment was perfect, either of them would say something and ruin it, thus prolonged their hatred to each other. Once they were ready to ask again, it was always ruined with mere few words.

The cycle continued.

Rhea watches him. She watches him in a complete silence.

"...I don't understand women," finally she hears his confession. "What are inside their minds? What are they thinking about?"

"Is this about Persephone?" it was just a guess.

He nods.

She sighs, "What now? What did you just do?"

"Why are you assuming that everything I do is making her miserable?"

"Because it does," Rhea lightly replies. "Remember that abduction? And remember that pomegranate incident?"

Rhea hoped that she would just shut her mouth. It would always end like this...

Hades is literally blazing with fury, his eyes are full of murderous intent, and his muscles stiffen. He growls, "Do not remind me of them. Never, ever."

Their relationship is like a bomb. One wrong move and it would explode.

Driven by fear, she nods hastily. She's already on his bad side and she has to diffuse the bomb unless she wants it to explode.

His face tells her that he's still wounded, but he tells her what he's feeling, "Lately she keeps mumbling. I don't know what she's thinking about, but it worries me. She... looks the type to lie when someone asks what's wrong," he lets out a monotone laugh, "I guess this is karma for marrying her against her will. I even raped her... She has the right to hate me."

Rhea averts her eyes. Persephone thinks Hades is just lusting after her body and doubts his love, while Hades thinks that Persephone hates him and tries to stay away from him as much as possible.

These two... Rhea shakes her head.

She wonders if these two could obtain a happy ending.

~-0o-o0-~

Hades isn't there when I come back. I promise myself that, despite the circumstances, I'd make love to him tonight. I'll use whatever method necessary to drag him to a destination...

—our bed.

Hmm... for now I'll just take a bath while waiting for him.

The maids appear when I call out to them. One is drawing my bath while the others undress me. I gulp, mustering my courage, and whisper to them, "Girls, I'm... I'm going to seduce my husband tonight... D-Do you think you can help me?"

To my surprise, they squeal in delight and quickly usher me to the pool full of hot water. One of them fills it with something from a small vial and the smell of rose invades my nostrils.

"Everything should be perfect!" Aletha nods enthusiastically. "I'll go prepare the lighting."

"Ordinary dress won't do!" cries another, "a transparent one should do it!"

"Make it black!" it's the last maid who voices her opinion, but the second maid objects.

"No! It's white! White is the symbol of purity!"

"But a transparent black dress is more revealing than the white one!"

"White rules!"

"No! Black is!"

And here I am watching my maids fighting with each other over a trivial thing. I am the one who will seduce Hades, but why do my maids look like the one who will do the seduction?

After a quite intense debate, it was decided that black suited me the most. I am alright wearing black, but I don't know about wearing something transparent... it shows my skin a bit too much...

I exit the bathroom to find myself in a dimly lit room. There were candles on the end tables, and rose petals on the bed. The hearth is unlit, making me wrap myself out of cold.

"Isn't this a bit too...?"

—cold. I finish it inwardly.

"Coldness is the best partner for a cuddling up session," Aletha puffs her chest while the other maids clap in awe.

Suddenly the door is opened. My maids quickly disappear behind the bathroom door. Their heads are making a totem pole behind the small opening. They are rooting for me wordlessly.

I blush.

So my first love making experience will be supervised by my servants?

Hades appears from the door. He throws his cloak to the sofa and collapses in his favorite armchair. Oh, it's perfect! I know what I should do to him when he sits in there.

But his expression makes me think twice.

His face is as unreadable as ever, but I see his jaw hardens. His eyes are staring coldly at nothingness in front. He appears to be in a deep thought.

Secretly I look at the bathroom door.

The maids are urging me to start with their hands.

I gulp and make my way beside him. He is now reading the reports like he usually does. I doubt he notices the changes in the room.

"Lord Hades," I call him as huskily as I can manage.

He lifts his head to see me, but doesn't say anything as if waiting for me to speak. He looks so serious that I begin to wonder if it's okay to seduce him.

Gathering my courage, I undress right in front of him. I ran a hand to my breast and one hand to my nether lips, moaning, "...I want you. Do you want to have sex?"

"Yes," he answers as if I was asking him a rhetorical question.

...and he's back to reading his report.

I'm dumbfounded. Did I do it wrong? What's happening? Why is he...?

I look behind me for a hint. The maids all mouth, "Just go for it! Ride him!"

Gulping, I sit on his lap, straddling his member. He arches his brow, "Aren't you cold?"

I give him a flirtatious smile, "Very. Warm me up, Lord Hades."

To my delight, Hades stands up, carrying me along with him. I look at the maid and grin. They squeal secretly and give me a big smile, happy for me.

...but the happiness is short-lived.

He picks up his cloak and drapes it over my body.

My jaw drops and I find no power to speak. Something inside me has broken.

I pout angrily.

Jumping from his arms, I push him to the bed, screaming, "This is not what I wanted, you stupid swine!"

We both fall onto the mattress, bouncing a little from impact. Quickly I sit on his middle, preventing him from sitting, and strip him naked.

We stay still, taking his glorious sight under my body. A strong body, muscled stomach... his body is totally different from mine. Without much effort, he could easily break my bones...

I'm kind of confused about what to do. I think I'd stick with the yesterday's tactic.

Sliding lower, I take hold of his member and lick it. I hear his groan of pleasure and I'm quite pleased to know that he likes it.

Before I know what is going on, I am lying on the bed. Being impatient, Hades forces open my legs while sucking at my hardened nipple. I scream when he pushes two fingers inside me and I cry from the pleasure in my lower region.

After making me orgasm, he takes me from behind. I am moaning and panting from his unbridled lust. It's quite violent for me; he is thrusting into me like tomorrow he was going to die. I bit back tears and burry my face on the pillow.

It hurts, yet it's pleasurably good.

I am bombarded with so much pleasure that I can't speak. When he nips at the crook of my neck, I instinctively lean to him, my back meeting his strong chest.

I reach my third orgasms, but Hades still keeps going. My knees begin to buckle as exhaustion slowly overcomes me. I faintly hear him grunt disappointingly and I scream.

Hades is thrusting quickly and harshly than before.

My head falls back again to the soft pillow as I moan his name to it. Ecstasy and pain assault me over and over, and I can't think of anything other than his member going in and out of me.

"L-L-Lord... H-Hades...!" I manage to utter his name and he slows down to listen. I choke, "...please, slower..."

His expression darkens considerably, ignoring my plea. I think he has just lost himself. Am I that delicious?

Pleasure keeps mounting inside me, bringing me closer to completion. Between violent thrusts, I let out a scream, feeling my essence burst violently into Hades' groin. I feel tired, but Hades doesn't stop. He hasn't reached his climax yet.

He keeps pounding into me, making me cry out in pain and pleasure. I don't know how many orgasms I had because of him. But I remember at my sixth ones, Hades finally comes, groaning beside my ear. Warmth fills my nether lips and I know we are one.

The stamina of the gods is truly fearsome...

He slips out off me and I collapse to my side. We are both panting. The afterglow of his fierce sex strangely turns me on. The dirty thought causes my lower region to get wet again. Face half-buried in the pillow, I twist my lower body and open my legs to him.

The movement causes him to look directly at my pink, wet flesh. It's covered in my essence and oh, it's so sticky. Like a mouth that produces saliva, my lower region keeps excreting whitish liquid. White meets pink, and I stretch it for Hades to stare.

"Clean it," I order him weakly, though sternly.

He gives me a sneer and crawls to me. I let out a long moan when he buries his face on it, busily licking the liquid from my thighs. He evades my nether lips for some reason, and his acts quickly turns me on. Everything about him turns me on.

"I can't clean it if it keeps coming out like that," he points out the obvious. His voice is slightly annoyed, "Stop thinking about something dirty."

I blush.

"L-Lord Hades?" I stutter. He gives me an incorrigible grunt.

"Why did you marry me?"

I don't know, but I feel I had just stepped on a landmine. Hades turns around, his back facing me. It acts like a barrier between us. Gods above, why is it so difficult for me to talk to him?

"You need not to know."

There. He's being defensive all of a sudden.

"I need to know. Please," I beg.

"What for?" the coldness in his voice stuns me. I see, then. He marries me because of my body. That's exactly what I thought.

It's so funny I laugh. If I don't laugh, I will break down.

I laugh...

...I laugh bitterly.

"I'm so stupid. How could I expect the answer to be love?" tears are forming in my eyes as I laugh, "from the start, this marriage and our relationship are cursed. I am cursed to live with you. If only I was born ugly, I wouldn't end up here in this godforsaken place..."

I busily am wiping the tears that I hardly hear him mumbling. I stop to look at his broad shoulders.

Suddenly he turns around and hugs me tightly. He pushes his body forward, bringing me to the bed once again. His breathing on my ear is making me dizzy.

"I..." he hesitates for a while, "...I don't care. Even if you were ugly, blind, handicapped, or even deformed, I'd drag you into this world and marry you nonetheless."

"Why?" I ask, desperately want to know the answer.

I feel him smiling and speaks as if he was reminiscing, "Your kindness attracted me the most. I don't care about how you look, or how you will look like. I don't care if you are fat. I want you and only you."

Hearing his answer, I cry. This time my cry is different.

It is happiness.

He grasps my hand tight, as if reassuring me, "It's okay if you are ugly, stupid or whatever. I'm glad if people find you ugly," at this he nuzzles my cheeks, seeking my warmth and comfort, "because your unique beauty is mine. I am the only one who can see and enjoy it."

I punch his shoulders, still crying, "Y-You're just f-flattering me! I-I won't fall for it!"

He shakes his head no and buries his face on my hair, "I have no talent for flatteries. Besides, you can hate me as you like. I won't be bothered. You are more than welcome."

"...I don't hate you," I hiccup, "I was just thinking about the reason why we were married. I thought you married me because of my body..."

"You are an idiot," he mocks me, but I smile and snuggle closer to him. "...I guess we are both idiots."

For an unknown reason, he tightens his embrace and whispers in a low voice, "...don't leave me alone, Persephone. Don't leave me alone. You are the only one I trust... You look at me, you speak to me, and you... make me happy."

I don't know what's inside his mind during that confession, but there's only one thing I understand about Hades...

...he is strong, yet so weak.

He does everything by himself, he lives alone, he trusts no one. His existence is so strong, but his heart is too weak to accept anyone. Having a trust issue, I understand that his heart is traumatized and desperately in needs of a healing.

...and he found my kindness as an elixir to heal his broken heart.

Why are you using me as your standard of beauty?

I smile to myself. Hades makes me realize something.

Everyone has their own beauties and I am beautiful because of who I am.

~-0o-o0-~

My internal clock wakes me up. Looking at the window, it's dark—it forever will. I'm shifting in my sleep, feeling something heavy on my chest.

I look down to find Hades sleeping on it.

I smile and carefully put his head on the mattress. I feel all icky and tired, and can't wait to have a hot bath with a lot of massages.

Before I can crawl, I'm being hugged from behind.

"Where do you think you are going?" he playfully growls and I giggle.

Being hugged like this is nice. I can feel his love through the way he holds me. He tenderly wraps his arms around my body, and rests his head on the nape of my neck, breathing my scent.

There's something swirling in my chest.

If feels warm.

I know what this is. With a handsome and gentle husband behind me, I know and I can declare to the world the feeling I'm now having. With him so close to me, sharing his warmth and tender affection, this feeling is...

"You're pretty flat, huh?" Hades gropes my breasts.

...no. It's not love.

It definitely is not love.

With a cry, I slap him on the face so hard that he falls behind.

It's not love.

This feeling I'm having is called annoyance.