Side Story – Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty and Love (2)
Unlike the bright and lively Olympus, this place was unfamiliar to Aphrodite, who looked around curiously as we descended to the Underworld. Countless gazes turned toward us—souls crossing the five rivers of the Underworld, as well as deities like Charon.
“Hades... who is that stunning goddess standing beside you?”
“This is Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty. She’ll be helping with the affairs of the Underworld for a while.”
“Oh, really? In that case… ahem. I’m Hypnos. Perhaps we could have a little chat…”
“Oh my, I’m sorry, but I’m only interested in Hades.”
“Hades? Who’s that goddess beside you now?”
“Lady Styx, this is the goddess of beauty. I’ve brought her here temporarily to mediate the conflicts on Olympus…”
“Crunch …You’re sure there’s nothing between you two, right?”
“…Of course.”
Her overwhelming beauty, befitting the goddess of beauty and love, cast an aura over the Underworld, occasionally causing misunderstandings. Thus, amidst countless stares filled with envy, jealousy, and admiration, we arrived at the audience chamber.
“There are quite a lot of amusing people in the Underworld, aren’t there?”
Watching Aphrodite smile as she swept her golden hair back, I couldn’t help but feel conflicted. She truly was beautiful. Leaving her on Olympus would inevitably spark another conflict someday.
Although I brought her to the Underworld—where there were fewer male gods and where most, like Thanatos, showed little interest in women—I still wondered if she could handle the work.
Well, after a few hundred years, she’d likely grow accustomed to it.
“The work you’ll be handling here involves paperwork. It may feel unfamiliar at first, but you’ll get used to it over time, so don’t worry too much. Oh, and as someone mentioned earlier, don’t eat any food from the Underworld.”
“Why shouldn’t I eat the food here?”
“Anyone who eats the food of the Underworld becomes bound to it. That’s the rule. It would be problematic if the goddess of beauty and love were to belong to the Underworld.”
“What kind of misunderstanding would that cause? Why can’t I stay here?”
“It might lead mortals to believe that death itself is beautiful.”
Every deity belonging to the Underworld embodies an aspect befitting this realm—death, sleep, dreams, oblivion, rage, famine—concepts not exactly appealing from a mortal’s perspective.
But I understand this.
Death should not be seen as welcoming. Mortals may inevitably head toward it, but if they focus solely on the afterlife and neglect their current lives, chaos will ensue in the world of living.
This is why I cannot let the beautiful goddess of beauty and love remain here permanently.
“Hmph. But you can at least tell me what kind of goddess you like, can’t you?”
“Any goddess who works diligently and remains loyal to just one god. Now, since I’ve answered, take this paperwork and…”
I cannot accept her simply based on my own feelings.
* * *
But how did things end up like this?
“Hades! There’s trouble—another war has broken out in the mortal realm!”
“What? Aphrodite, go to the Acheron River and maintain order among the souls. Charon…”
Aphrodite adapted to the Underworld better than I expected.
Occasionally, she would grumble about it and visit Olympus, and there were frequent incidents where male gods came to the Underworld to woo her.
Yet somehow, with her knack for getting along with everyone, Aphrodite had settled into the Underworld.
Does the goddess of beauty’s charm also work on other goddesses?
Every time I saw her laughing and chatting with Eris, the goddess of discord, who once looked upon her with envy, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of incongruity.
“I heard that Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, has become one of the deities of the Underworld.”
“Could it be that beauty and love represent… death itself?”
“Ahem! Have you not heard Lord Pluto’s oracle? The goddess of beauty and love resides in the Underworld as a symbol of the love that families of the deceased send to their departed loved ones.”
“Some say it’s an act of mercy granted to the dead by Lord Pluto. Rumor has it that before boarding Charon’s ferry, souls gaze upon the goddess’s beauty…”
“Hmm? I heard it represents the love of parents sent by the merciful god to mortals.”
Of course, strange rumors had spread in the mortal realm since Aphrodite’s extended stay in the Underworld…
But I quelled them with a well-timed oracle. Fortunately, Pluto’s image among mortals wasn’t particularly negative, which helped smooth things over.
Most people lumped it together as an act of mercy—perhaps an effort to lessen the fear of death.
As I was resting on my throne after finishing paperwork, Aphrodite approached me, her chest slightly exposed.
Have I grown attached to her during our time together? My gaze naturally drifted to her alluring movements.
“Fufu. Do I still not appeal to you? Hades?”
“Ahem…”
She traced my face with the same fingers she had just touched her lips with, leaning in close.
I couldn’t respond. Was it because of her soft, ample chest pressing against me? Or had I grown attached to her after working together in the underworld for so long?
Perhaps I was bewitched by the fact that, despite all the gods who had courted her, she only ever showed this side of herself to me.
Who in the world could refuse the Goddess of Beauty if she gazed at them with such devotion?
“Hm~ Hm~ Hades? Why so silent all of a sudden? Have you finally started to notice my charms?”
“…Let’s just get back to work.”
“Hmph…”
When I gently pushed her back by the shoulder, the goddess pouted, letting out a nasal whine.
I gazed at Aphrodite with a complex expression before opening my mouth.
“When Ares proposed to you last time, why did you reject him? Ares would make quite an excellent husband, wouldn’t he?”
“Well… The God of War is handsome and well-built, but he’s not you, is he?”
“And there were plenty of other gods begging to spend just one night with you. To be honest, it was a bit surprising.”
After the news spread that I had neither married Aphrodite nor taken her as my companion, but merely had her assist me with the duties of the Underworld, numerous gods began visiting the Underworld.
They offered treasures, divine beasts, and even objects imbued with divine authority, all to gain just one night with her…
“Why?”
“I just didn’t expect the Goddess of Love to refuse being loved.”
Aphrodite had never once entertained the advances of those gods.
She consistently claimed her heart belonged only to me, rejecting all others outright.
She even refused to eat the food of the Underworld, just as I instructed, which meant I had to regularly bring nectar and ambrosia from Olympus for her.
As time passed, rumors spread of Aphrodite being a foolish goddess, hopelessly clinging to an impossible love. Yet, she remained steadfast.
“…Why go to such lengths for someone like me? You could choose any god you wanted.”
“But the god I want to be loved by doesn’t come to me, does he?”
With a face full of frustration, she crossed her arms.
Her posture accentuated certain parts of her figure more prominent, making it hard to know where to look.
“And there’s one more reason. This is the most important one.”
“What is it?”
“You said your type is a goddess who works diligently and devotes herself to only one god, right?”
“…What? You still remember that?”
“Of course! I’m Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty and Love. When I set my sights on love, I make sure to claim it!”
I was speechless as I watched her puff out her chest and smile triumphantly.
From the very first time we met, everything she had done—even working diligently in the Underworld for millennia and refusing to eat its food—was all to appeal to me?
“A Goddess of Love who gives up on love simply doesn’t exist. Ever.”
As she smiled brightly at me, she reached out toward a cluster of grapes a short distance away.
A single grape fell into her hand, and she popped it into her mouth before approaching me.
That grape wasn’t from Olympus—it was food from the Underworld. Step by step, closer and closer.
With the grape still in her mouth, the Goddess of Beauty came teasingly close until her playful face was directly in front of mine.
And then, she kissed me.
A soft kiss, with the grape rolling back and forth between our mouths, making its presence known.
“Mmph...”
Was she implying I should decide whether to swallow this grape or leave it to her?
Her long years of unwavering devotion to me were clear in this moment.
So this was the Goddess of Love.
Was the sweetness I tasted from the grape?
Or was it from the charged atmosphere that seemed to transform the very air in the room?
Or perhaps it was the sincere love in the kiss from the Goddess of Beauty?
Whatever the case, I didn’t mind.
As the long yet brief kiss ended, the grape rolled back into her mouth, and she swallowed it.
Her face was flushed, and it was obvious she was expecting something.
Gulp.
“Oh no. What should I do? It seems I’ve eaten food from the Underworld~?”
Looking into her hopeful eyes, I couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.
So, it’s come to this. Ares once came to me asking for advice on how to win her heart—my apologies to him.
“Looks like I’ll have to live here forever now… Is there no god who would take responsibility for a poor goddess like me?”
“…Well, there just so happens to be a lonely god here in the Underworld. If someone like me is acceptable, I’d be more than willing.”
Before I could even finish speaking, Aphrodite threw herself into my arms.
Poof.
“I love you, Hades!”
“I love you too, Aphrodite.”
It looks like we’ll have to set a date for the wedding.