The newborn Eros, a little god bearing the name of the ancient goddess of love but possessing the temperament of a 'female imp', was like a colorful stone cast into the abyss of silence within the empty and lonely Hades.
With a restless and ambiguous pink halo, incongruous with the Underworld, she began her 'journey'—or rather, her provocative rampage.
First, she targeted Charon, who had just been born from the sleeping Nyx.
As the dilapidated ferry, carrying a boat full of lost souls, slowly sailed down the Styx, Eros alighted on the prow like a light feather.
She tilted her head and looked at the ferryman before her, shrouded in a tattered black robe, radiating a powerful aura of deathly silence.
"Hey, old man!" Her voice was clear, shattering the eternal calm of the Styx.
"Aren't you bored ferrying these dull souls all day? Look at that female soul over there, she was a beautiful woman in life~, don't you want to have a life-and-death... um, romantic encounter with her?"
Charon didn't even look up; it was as if a noisy breeze was flitting before him.
The pole in his hand steadily cut through the dark river, and Eros's words did not disturb a single wave.
A noisy little god was not as interesting as a bubbling clump of silt at the river bottom.
Seeing Charon unresponsive, Eros pouted and turned her attention to the bailiffs maintaining order outside the judgment hall.
She flew up to their stern faces, grabbed their shackles, and poked her finger at the cold, hard bodies of the others, composed of pure energy.
"Hey, big guy! How boring is it to keep a straight face all day? You know~, love can soften the hardest heart ♡! Want me to help..."
The spirit of Hades simply 'brushed' her aside with its empty eyes, then continued with its task of herding the queue of shades, like the most advanced machine, as if Eros's existence was like air.
Eros, unwilling to give up, ran off to pester the assistant judges who were tallying criminal cases.
She hopped around on the mountain of files, trying to use her divine power to draw a few crooked hearts next to the handwriting for 'greed' and 'betrayal'.
"Add a little love ♡! The world needs love ♡! Your Underworld is too cold!"
The spirit, transformed from a Golden Age soul, said in an almost numb tone: "Your Highness Eros, please do not interfere with official business. If you have nothing to do, you might take a stroll through the sea of flowers on the other side."
Even the few Aethi couldn't escape her 'poisonous hand'.
She tried to grab an Aethi by the ear and shout into its mouth: "Little foal ♡! What kind of horse do you love? Tell me~ Tell me, how about I introduce you to your favorite horse?"
In response, she received a deafening yawn.
The Aethi's eyes were full of impatience at being disturbed, but it seemed to have received some higher directive—to ignore her.
So it simply stomped its hooves and continued to doze off.
After a round, Eros was depressed to find that all of Hades—from the highest god of death to the lowest spirit clerk—were like programmed puppets, ignoring all her provocations, charms, and pranks.
They were too busy and too tired.
The wars of the Bronze Age on earth were endless, the number of souls arriving in Hades skyrocketed, and the workload of every god in Hades had multiplied several times over.
Fatigue had long since erased their last remaining 'leisure', so where was the time to pay attention to this 'god of love' who appeared out of nowhere and had excess energy?
This outrageous, all-encompassing neglect irritated Eros more than angry reprimands or direct action... Boredom.
Just as she was boredly floating down the slightly crowded main thoroughfare of Hades, wondering whether to try her luck at the edge of the Tartarean abyss, a figure blocked her path.
It was a girl who was already slender.
She wore a simple and solemn long black dress, her long hair flowing like night, and on her forehead was a small ornament radiating a soft lunar glow between her brows.
Her face had inherited the advantages of her parents—Hades's deep and cold features and Metis's wisdom—but at this moment, those beautiful brows were slightly furrowed as she looked at Eros.
This was Catia, the daughter of Hades and Metis, the Princess of the Underworld. Nourished by the wisdom of the Moon and her mother, she had quietly grown up and begun to assist in managing the affairs of the Underworld.
"Eros," Catia's voice was cold, with a hint of undeniable majesty.
"Your actions have disrupted the normal order of Hades. The queues of shades are stuck because of your frolicking, and the dossiers of the judgment court need to be rewritten because of your graffiti. Just in time."
Eros's eyes lit up; finally, a 'living' existence that would respond to her words!
Although the other party's attitude was very unfriendly.
"Yo~ It's the little princess ♡!" Eros put her hands on her hips, hovering at Catia's eye level, posing as an elder.
"Why, is the Underworld owned by your family? Can't I just have a little fun and excitement? It's lifeless here; I'm infusing you with life force, got it?"
Catia looked at her calmly, no anger in her eyes, only a calm gaze based on duty: "Hades has its own laws of operation and does not need your so-called 'life force'. Your authority is to arouse desire, not to create chaos in the resting place of the dead. Please stop immediately and leave the main thoroughfare."
"I won't!" Eros rebelled and deliberately flitted quickly between several stunned shades, causing fluctuations in their already fragile spirits.
"If you have the ability, catch me lf you catch me, I'll let you! Just a little~"
She even tried to release a weak, provocative pink arrow of light at Catia.
Catia sidestepped slightly, and the pink arrow of light sank into the darkness behind her, not even causing a tremor.
She looked at Eros's triumphant and unscrupulous gaze and sighed softly.
"Since words are useless, then..."
Catia raised her hand. It was not an offensive gesture, just a simple raising of the hand.
But the laws of all Hades seemed to constrict slightly.
The next moment, Eros, still making faces, suddenly felt a tightening all over her body. The ubiquitous law of Hades became like invisible shackles, instantly restraining her, causing her to fall from her hovering state and involuntarily land before Catia.
"Hey! What are you doing! Let me go!" Eros struggled, but found that the binding force came from the entire Underworld, and she was completely unable to compete.
Catia ignored her shouts, stepped forward, and looked down at Eros, held by the invisible force. Then, to the shocked gaze of all the surrounding gods, spirits, and shades who happened to witness this scene,
Catia raised her fair and slender hand, which held the power of the moon and wisdom.
Slap!
A crisp and loud smack echoed down the silent main thoroughfare of Hades.
Eros's small body suddenly tensed, and her pink-orange curls seemed to explode from shock.
The sensation on her buttocks, which was not very painful but very clear, instantly emptied her mind.
She, Eros, the god of passion, had been... actually spanked in public?!
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Catia's expression remained calm, as if she were performing routine official duties, her movements steady and continuous.
"First, to punish you for disrupting the order of the Underworld."
"Second, to punish you for disrespecting the gods of the Underworld."
"Third, to punish you for abusing your power and disturbing the souls."
Each smack was accompanied by a clear sound and Catia's calm verdict.
Eros recovered from her initial shock, and a strong sense of shame and indescribable humiliation instantly flooded over her.
Her small face flushed, not from pain, but from this unprecedented, almost degrading method of punishment.
"Ah——! Let me go! You bastard! How dare you... how dare you hit me... here! I'm going to tell Hades! I'm going to..."
She screamed, resisted, and spoke incoherently.
The surrounding gods of the Underworld were still silently working, but if you looked closely, you could see the shoulders of some spirits trembling slightly, and even the corner of Thanatos's mouth seemed to curl into a very subtle, smug smirk.
Catia finished the last smack and released the shackles of the law.
Eros immediately jumped up, her hands behind her back, her pink-violet eyes full of tears of shame and anger, glaring venomously at Catia, as if wanting to imprint her image on her heart.
"You... Just wait for me!" She left a harsh word that carried no weight, then transformed into an embarrassed pink ribbon.
Faster than when she had fled the Hall of Hades, she instantly vanished into the depths of the Underworld, probably seeking a corner to hide and lick her wounds.
Catia watched the direction of Eros's disappearance and straightened her slightly rumpled skirt.
She turned a blind eye to the various glances around her, calmly turned, and continued to attend to her affairs in the Underworld, which seemed never-ending.
Hades returned to the silence of 'order'.
However, the anecdote about the little goddess of love being spanked in public by Her Highness the Princess would probably circulate for a long time among the bored gods of the Underworld during their tedious work.