She’s not the king of the underworld, she’s the queen.

Episode 2. 
Promises are made within the limits of what one can bear.

Hades.
King of the Underworld, one of the three major gods, Ruler of the dead, God of death.

He has grand titles as significant as his name, yet in mythology, Hades is almost as inconspicuous as air.
This is because almost no one likes the idea of death, and even in ancient Greece, the word “death” was something people were very reluctant to utter.

Instead of saying that death was approaching, they would say that Hades was coming, which shows how ominously he was perceived by people of that time.
Well, he might say it’s better this way, as he wouldn’t want his dark history to be recorded.
I felt as if I were watching a fox muttering that those grapes must be divine.

Anyway, returning to the main point.
Hades fundamentally does not appear much in myths, so not much information is known about him.
The descriptions of his character being gloomy or having sinister intentions are all creations that have come about in recent times.
In mythology, there are hardly any depictions that express such traits.
However, one certain piece of information I know is that there is no record of Hades being a goddess in any myth.
From the beginning, Hades is described as a brother of Zeus and Poseidon, and in all remaining statues and written myths, he is portrayed as a male.

While there was probably no shortage of homosexual relationships in ancient Greece, the scene of him abducting Persephone is certainly depicted as a male figure.
So, who exactly is the Hades I meet?
As I mentioned before, I am someone who has followed Hades beyond the River Styx. It felt too late to believe she was not Hades now.
It’s not that I hadn’t asked before. I felt like I was being persistent by asking so often.
But every time, she would slip away like an eel.
One day, I asked if it wasn’t about time; she told me, and she replied,
“Do I have to say it?”
“If you don’t want to say it, don’t. I understand that some people realize their gender identity late in life.”
“No, in my case, it’s a bit different.”
“You don’t have to be so embarrassed about it. After all, some Norse gods transformed into female horses and gave birth to offspring.”
“Please don’t compare me to that?! What that guy did is something I find quite abnormal!”
“Then you should provide a reasonable explanation. Honestly, from my perspective, it seems like you’re transgender.”
“Well, that’s because we can transform into various forms. We’ve transformed into animals quite a bit too.”
“Is that so? Come to think of it, transformations do occur frequently in your myths.”
“Right? Of course, it’s a bit different from what’s recorded in myths, but it’s not entirely impossible.”
“Okay then, from now on, I’ll just think of you as having fallen from being transgender to female.”
“Wait, that makes things even weirder than before?!”

Most of our conversations would end up being like this, filled with nonsense.
Finally, after a long time, when my interest began to wane, she revealed the reason.
After the abduction of Persephone, when everything had settled down.
That is, when Demeter, Persephone’s mother, stopped giving the thief who took her daughter a fierce look.
Persephone, having been in the Underworld for quite some time, had adapted to the realm of the dead to some extent.
However, Persephone still did not reciprocate Hades’ love and always treated him like a stranger.
The reason was that, like her other brothers, Zeus and Poseidon,
Hades was also suspected of taking someone into his arms and then discarding them or cheating on them.
Hades tried to express his sincerity by swearing by the River Styx that he would not love another woman.
but since Persephone had already been hurt by such a vow before, she still did not open her heart to Hades.
Feeling there were no more options, Hades eventually took a drastic step.
What that step was was to swear by the River Styx that, “If I love anyone other than Persephone, I will immediately abandon my masculinity.”
In ancient Greece, and even in any other country at that time, for a man to give up his masculinity was considered a shameful punishment, akin to choosing death.
Even Sima Qian, who became an eunuch to finish his writings, did not end his life afterward.
Moreover, Hades was one of the three major gods with overwhelming authority among Greek gods, known as the Zeus of the Underworld.
For Hades, a powerful male god, to swear that he would abandon his masculinity if he loved anything other than Persephone,
This moved Persephone, and only then did she begin to trust Hades and open her heart.
“So what? Even after making such a commitment, you ended up losing your mind over advances from new realms.”
“No, that never happened?! My feelings for Kore were genuine!”

According to the stories in Greek mythology, Hades later had an affair with nymphs.
I was almost certain that this was what led Hades to become this way, but seeing her deny it so strongly made me think otherwise.
“Then who are the nymphs Menthe and Leuce? The legends say you had affairs with them.”
“Leuce was before I even met Persephone, and Menthe was someone I met when I was confused about my identity, so I didn’t plan to do anything. I never intended to cheat either.”
“But you’re a woman now. If you hadn’t committed adultery.” She sighed and continued her story. What she said was completely different from what I knew, and it was a deflating tale, as it seemed absurd that she had broken her promise.
“So, it’s like I broke my vow because I love my work too much.”
The vow Hades made by the River Styx meant that anything that represented women, including abstract concepts, was included.
In the end, due to the overwhelming amount of work, he had to become a workaholic and found himself in the unfortunate position of breaking the vow he made.
As a result, there arose a saying among the gods to be careful when making vows by the River Styx.
Ultimately, he used the power of the goddess representing women to ensure that he could keep his word and began to live a second life as the queen of the underworld.
What a joyous occasion!

“What’s so joyous about it? Stop teasing me. I originally hated work. If it were a love-hate relationship, that would be one thing, but interpreting love from hate is an exaggeration. Isn’t this a fraudulent contract? Can I sue Styx?”
“Calm down. Your eyes are losing focus, and there’s some green aura coming out.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
The hand that had been shaking my shoulder was released. Being with this person makes me feel like I have no sense of the divine, but sometimes they manage to snap me back to reality.

This happens when I lose my composure due to trauma, and every time, a strange green aura emerges around me.
Last time, I had a little too much to drink and ended up shouting names that sounded like they came straight out of mythology, and I think I broke my balcony due to a relapse of trauma.

Of course, once I broke it, I was stunned with wide eyes, as if I had just regained my senses, and I received plenty of apologies, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Even so, teasing me about it is still somewhat amusing, as my voice gets quieter.

“In the first place, it was wrong for you to be so vague about the categories. You could have just said ‘another woman’ from the start.”
“Why do you have to be so logical at times like this? Can’t you just support me?”
“Besides, you didn’t have to swear to abandon your masculinity. You went too far just to win a woman’s heart; that’s purely your fault.”
“Okay, okay, so let’s stop talking about this topic. It’s painful for my heart.”
Hades lowered her head with unfocused eyes. She had been hit too hard with words.
This person, despite being a god, has a surprisingly fragile mental state…