[Greek Mythology] The Demons Under My Command - Chapter 62

Li Jia spread the last slice of toast with chocolate paste, her hand brushing against the memo stuck on the inside of the refrigerator door.

It was the follow-up reminder sent by the community hospital last week, the ink slightly blurred, much like her current, indefinable mood.

She walked to the balcony, biting her toast. The morning sun warmed the quilt hanging on the clothesline, giving it a cozy, sunny fragrance.

Downstairs, the breakfast shop was frying youtiao (fried dough sticks) and mianwo (savory doughnut), the oily smoke mixed with sesame aroma drifting up, no different from every other morning.

She went downstairs and bought another youtiao, fried two eggs herself, and arranged them to form: 100

Perfect.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. It was the patient support group she had joined last week. The group displayed 99+ new messages, someone had posted a long travel guide, saying they wanted to see the Aurora Borealis before their time ran out.

Li Jia glanced at it and exited the interface, it wasn’t something that interested her.

So-called travel was just moving from a place you were tired of to a place others were tired of, squeezing onto high-speed trains, rushing for flights, only to collapse in exhaustion and sleep. How could that compare to being nestled on the sofa catching up on shows or playing games?

Some fellow patients admired Li Jia’s good attitude, never weeping or complaining about her fate.

Li Jia shook her head: “Do you know what the fairest thing in this world is?”

“It’s that regardless of whether you’re rich or poor, you have to die. Since everyone has to die, what’s the difference between dying sooner or later?”

“Just lie low. Just get by, one day at a time.”

The patient: Master, I am enlightened.

The only thing she was worried about was the System. Although she didn’t know why she hadn’t died, she still missed it greatly.

She wondered if it had gone back for a reset.

After breakfast, Li Jia placed the empty plate in the sink. Water ran loudly as she applied lime-scented dish soap and picked up a cloth to scrub in circles.

She wasn’t sad, but she would occasionally call out “System” to the empty room, listening to the echo bounce off the walls and then softly fade.

Alas, it wasn’t here.

“Li Jia! Want to go to the park together?”

Aunt Zhang from across the hall called out. She was kind-hearted. Knowing Li Jia was a young girl living alone and sick, she would check in every now and then, asking how she was and stewing some soup to nourish her body.

Li Jia poked her head out and smiled, waving her hand: “Not today, Auntie. I want to catch up on some sleep.”

Aunt Zhang leaned in and looked at her, hesitating: “Child, you really should go out more…”

“Going out is tiring too,” Li Jia said.

She gently closed the door, leaned her back against the door panel, and sighed.

She poured a cup of hot cocoa and placed it on the coffee table. Li Jia walked to the sofa, wrapped herself in a cream-colored blanket, and curled up. She opened Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You), the anime she hadn’t finished last time.

Winter was the perfect time for this.

On the screen, Sawako Kuronuma was surrounded by classmates being teased, asking Shouta Kazehaya, “What is she to you?”

The surroundings were noisy, and Sawako’s face was as red as an apple.

Li Jia reached into her pocket and pulled out an orange-centered gummy candy. She unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth.

The moment she bit into the filling, the sourness hit her tongue. She frowned and muttered: “People who are so awkward need to be loved with a firm and bright love…”

The mission was actually completed quite well.

Persephone was successfully born, and the War of the Gods did not happen.

Hera…

She didn’t marry the wrong man either.

Everything was as wished.

It’s just that the orange candy was so sour.

Halfway through the anime, a light rain began to fall outside the window.

The rain hit the glass with a shasha sound, like scattered salt. Li Jia pulled the blanket up to her chin, listening to the rain and Shouta Kazehaya’s line, “She is my girlfriend,” before slowly closing her eyes.

She wondered if the grove she had planted had blossomed and borne fruit.

She thought vaguely, if she could see her again next time, she must speak to her properly and ask her.

Are the fruits sweet?

Your Majesty.

…

It was spring once again. Hera stood in the fruit grove, her fingertip brushing the branches dotted with white flower buds.

The petals were still dusted with morning dew. The sunlight made them crystal clear, and the fragrance was intoxicating.

It had been five years since Li Jia left. The trees in the grove had grown from waist-high to tall enough to cast large areas of shade.

Since then, every spring they bloomed with snowy white flowers, and every summer they bore bright red fruit, never missing their season.

Hera remembered that night when Li Jia had slyly smiled and said she would definitely like it, and that she would invite her to taste it together.

She had picked the fruit and tasted it—it was very sweet.

The fruit trees were delicate and prone to disease, so she had to invite Demeter over every now and then to check on them.

Later, when Demeter came to inspect the grove, looking at the thriving trees, she couldn’t help but sigh: “I told her back then that the seeds were difficult to grow, but she insisted on trying, saying she wanted to leave you a surprise.”

Hera didn’t speak, quietly looking at the grove. The wind blew through the trees, and petals fell susu, landing on Hera’s hair, which cascaded snow-white down to her waist.

“Isn’t it time you let go?”

Demeter patted her old friend’s shoulder, her tone laced with advice: “Those who have gone won’t return. The living cannot stay trapped in the past forever.”

Hera’s voice was the same as it had been years ago when Artemis asked her, very soft, yet carrying an unyielding determination.

“I will.”

“I’ll wait.”

She knew Li Jia might not return, just as she knew the flowers would bloom every spring and the fruit would ripen every summer.

But she was still willing to wait, waiting for the delicate sounds the wind brought through the grove, waiting for the slight gleam of the morning dew on the petals, waiting for a certain morning that might never come, when someone would walk out of the sunlight, holding up her skirt, her eyes filled with the familiar, earnest love.

The flowers are blooming beautifully this year, it will be a great harvest, Hera thought.

When the fruit ripens, she would save the sweetest one. Perhaps Li Jia could still taste it when she returned.

As the Goddess of the Harvest, Demeter had the right to name plants, but these seeds were requested from her by Li Jia. Since Li Jia was no longer here, she conferred the naming rights of the tree to Hera. She asked Hera what to name the fruit tree.

Demeter’s quill hovered over the parchment, the ink pooling into a small drop at the tip. She looked up at Hera, who stood beneath the flowering tree, and repeated the question: “Have you decided on the name for this fruit tree?”

Hera was gently rolling a fallen petal between her fingers. Hearing the question, she nodded slightly.

“Cherry.”

When they first met, Li Jia had said Hera’s eyes were as beautiful as cherries.

Demeter frowned, tapping her quill on the paper: “No fruit tree on Olympus has such a strange name! Why not call it ‘Spring Snow,’ which suits the white blossoms perfectly?”

“No need, this name is fine.”

“Alright then.”

The quill wrote “Cherry” on the parchment. The ink spread, and next to the ancient names like “Olive” and “Pomegranate,” it looked particularly vibrant.

Hera selected many cherry tree seeds and had Winslow distribute them to the citizens of Scented City and Spring Capital, saying they were left behind by the former young Queen.

The cherries were large, brilliantly colored, sweet, and easy to eat.

Suddenly, it stood alongside the Osmanthus flower as the city’s signature bloom, and since only Scented City and Spring Capital could successfully grow this fruit, it became the most popular seasonal fruit.

Unexpectedly, yet reasonably, she had left a considerable source of income for her citizens. The citizens remembered Li Jia’s kindness and held immense respect for the young Queen who had left many years ago.

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