Chapter 1

I was attending a banquet with my fiancée and her nymph friends.

But she made an excuse about checking the woodland springs and left the table.

Two turns of the hourglass passed. The seat next to me remained cold.

I stood up, ready to track her scent.

That was when I heard her nymph friends talking. They were using the secret tongue—a language only woodland creatures could understand—to ruthlessly humiliate me.

"That idiot who crawled out of the Underworld still has no idea how many times Lyra has betrayed him."

"I bet Darius is taking Lyra on the peaks of Mount Ida right now."

"Lyra swore Orion is just a prudish block of wood who worships the rules. He probably doesn't even know how to touch a woman. His cock can't even compare to Darius's. They've been fucking each other for ages. "

"It's just pathetic. An Underworld Prince, fighting Olympus's ban just for a lowly nymph. Hahaha, look at him! We’re insulting him right to his face, and he just sits there like a deaf-mute idiot."

My body froze. My mind went totally blank.

Right then, Lyra pushed open the sanctuary doors.

Her soft skin was covered in a thin layer of sweat. She reeked of the heavy, unmistakable scent of a woman who had just been thoroughly fucked and satisfied.

"Ha, how was it? Does it feel amazing to make a fool of an Underworld Prince at our own banquet? You're so bad!"

"Of course. His beastly thrusts drive me crazy."

Chapter 1

Darius followed closely behind Lyra, his hand casually resting on her shoulder like they were old friends.

But I saw it clearly.

Under Lyra’s shimmering sheer dress, her shoulder was covered in glaring hickeys.

Darius wasn’t some major deity. He was just a second-rate fire demigod, a bastard with the blood of Ares.

I slumped back onto my divine throne. My heart turned to ash.

Her nymph friends crowded around her with wicked smiles, using their secret tongue to beg for details about their affair on Mount Ida.

Perhaps feeling guilty, Lyra instinctively pushed Darius away, walked over, and sat right next to me.

"Hey, what are you so nervous about?" one nymph scoffed in their tongue. "Those gods who stay in the Underworld all year round are isolated and ancient. He's been in that dark hellhole for so long, all he knows are the laws of slaughter! He can’t understand our secret tongue, let alone the romantic games of Olympus. If we were speaking the Common Tongue, then you should panic!"

"Our status might be lower than his, but he won't understand a single word of this. Right, girls? Hahaha!"

"You guys are so bad, ganging up on poor Orion."

Hearing her friends, Lyra finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She smiled, leaned in, and pressed her lips—lips that had just been ravaged by another man—against mine. "Don't mind them, Orion!"

"We all came from the same ancient forest. We always speak our native tongue at gatherings. It’s just a habit."

I clenched my fists so hard my blood almost reversed its flow.

They had no idea.

Long before us Underworld deities were welcomed back to the surface, my soul was born in the deepest underground river of that very same ancient forest. The soil of the Underworld nurtured their tree roots.

I knew their tongue perfectly.

Seeing me stay silent, the nymphs thought I didn't care and started mocking me even harder.

"Lyra, is Darius's cock really bigger than his? Tell the truth, I bet three gems on it."

Lyra giggled without holding back. "Of course. Orion has been locked in the Underworld for too long. He doesn't know the first thing about pleasing a woman."

Nymph A: "Look at how satisfied you are. You look glowing."

Nymph B: "Damn, doing this right in front of his face is such a rush! Hahaha! Who knew our tongue was this useful?"

"Look at the idiot, sitting there looking all pitiful, not understanding a word."

I sat rigidly on my throne.

Not far away, Darius shot me a look of naked disgust, then silently mouthed to Lyra.

"Lyra, why don't you just marry me? Stop wasting time with this useless trash who belongs in the dark."

Lyra smiled, reaching out to massage my shoulders while ruthlessly mocking me in the secret tongue.

"Marry you? Not a chance."

"I know the difference between reality and lust. Darius, you are just my toy—a beast to give this body thrills and a release. But the one I need is Orion."

Her delicate fingertips stroked my chest like she was showing off a prize.

"Only marrying into Underworld royalty can elevate my status and make people bow to me in the Pantheon. Can you give me that? No, because in your bones, you're just an angry demigod bastard. Only Orion, my well-tamed dog, can do that. Even if I get a tiny scratch, he’d rip through space from the abyss just to rush back to me."

Hearing her talk about the past brought me no sweetness. My stomach twisted with extreme nausea, followed by a surging, violent anger.

I defied the class bans of the divine realm for her. She used my devotion as a stepping stone.

Suddenly, Lyra’s hand on my shoulder paused.

"Crap," she gasped in the secret tongue. "I got too into it earlier and forgot to take the moonseed potion. What if I get pregnant?"

"Damn it, how could you be so careless? Go to the cliff and find some moonflowers, now."

"Hehe, I think we should make Orion go pick them!" another nymph suggested wickedly. "If we're going to play him, let's play him to the end!"

"You guys..." Lyra's eyes lit up.

Darius immediately caught on. He grabbed a full cup of Dionysus’s strongest wine and downed it in one gulp.

Slam!

He smashed the cup down and yelled in the Common Tongue: "Gods! This wine is too strong! I'm so dizzy, my magic is a mess! I don't think I can fly my chariot back to the mountain tonight!"

Chapter 2

In the end, Lyra asked me to go pick the herbs.

"Orion, could you go to the cliffs outside the temple and pick a moonflower for me? We might need it when we go to bed tonight."

My clenched fists popped. These wretched creatures had no shame.

I had truly underestimated Lyra. We had known each other for three hundred years, and she always played the flawless, pure forest nymph.

She told me the thing she hated most in life was betrayal. But behind her sweet words, she was a greedy, unfaithful slut.

I looked up, glaring directly into Lyra's flirting eyes. The freezing, deathly aura of the Underworld exploded from my body, causing her to panic.

"Orion, w-what’s wrong? Is it your old Underworld injury acting up?"

She reached out to touch my forehead, but she was still covered in the scent of another male.

Disgusted, I dodged her hand.

"Lyra, I think we should postpone our Soul-Binding Ceremony."

Lyra really panicked now. She grabbed my arm.

"Orion, what are you talking about?"

I peeled her hands off and forced a bitter smile. "Don't be nervous. I'm fine. I'm just afraid binding our souls too early will tie you down. We both have long lives ahead of us. Why don't you enjoy your freedom for a few more days before we talk about it?"

Lyra smiled sweetly, hugging my arm and burying her face in my chest.

"I knew you loved me the most. Thank you for always thinking of me."

She didn't know I had already decided to abandon her. Instead, she looked smugly at Darius and her friends.

"Tsk, what a rare, hopelessly devoted fool. So well-tamed!"

"I don't know how he faces his noble Underworld ancestors."

They were all laughing at me, treating me like a toy they could spin on their fingers.

I didn't care. Let them laugh.

Because whoever dared to make a joke out of a High Lord's sacrifice, I would turn them into the laughingstock of all Olympus.

I turned and walked out to pick the moonflower. The second I stepped out, they were already locked in a wild, passionate kiss.

"Damn, you play a dangerous game, stringing two men along at once. Only you could pull this off."

"Oh, shut up, you do it too. Isn't your mortal demigod lover totally fooled by you?"

"Alright, I'm leaving. My lover is washed up and waiting for me in the bath."

Hearing this, I sped up and left.

It was pouring rain outside. The water soaked my robes, making me look pathetic.

When I returned with the herb, the hall was echoing with loud laughter.

They all looked right at me, chatting in their secret tongue without skipping a beat.

"Let's go to the Nysian Valley tomorrow to 'hunt the golden deer.' How about it?"

"Ugh! I don't want to go. Too tiring."

"Fucking in the wild isn't tiring! Hahaha, I'm doing this for our own good!"

Under the table, Darius boldly rubbed his foot against Lyra’s leg. Lyra instantly perked up.

Everyone smiled at me, truly treating me like an absolute moron.

The next day, Lyra took me out to the Nysian Valley to hunt.

At the foot of the valley, her nymph friends started joking again.

"You guys are unbelievable. Having fun out here and you actually brought Orion? Aren't you afraid he'll catch you cheating?"

"If you don't tell, and we don't tell, who's going to point him in the right direction?"

"I just love the thrill of cheating right under the fiancé's nose, haha!"

Right after that, Lyra led me into the woods to find the golden deer.

Not long after, she made an excuse that she needed to relieve herself deep in the forest. She even told me to stand guard outside and not let anyone near.

My heart felt a twisting, numbing pain. I never knew the person I loved could be so shameless.

She was carrying a bag full of aphrodisiac oils and pleasure tools.

Last night, while I was meditating, she had quietly gotten out of bed to pack it, using telepathy to dirty-talk with Darius about what positions they would use in the wild today.

I didn't sleep a wink last night.

Instead, I sliced my fingertip and sent a divine rune deep into the earth.

"I am ready. Give me the Crown."

I had decided to return to the underground and take command of the Underworld's undead army.

But before I completely severed this toxic bond and returned to the abyss, I had to make these reckless ants pay the price for making a fool out of a god.

Chapter 3

She couldn't wait to run off. Watching her hurried back, a sour bitterness filled my chest.

Concealing my presence, I followed her and hid behind a massive tree, watching a shameless display of copulation with my own eyes.

Lyra’s provocative sheer dress had already been torn off and tossed aside. Her pale, delicate legs were wrapped tightly around Darius’s muscular waist.

Two bodies clashed brutally on the grass. The wet, slapping sounds were deafening in the quiet woods.

Lyra arched her neck, letting out high-pitched, lustful moans as he thrust into her.

Darius kneaded her roughly, smirking as he bit her ear. "Fucking you right under that idiot’s nose—drives you crazy, doesn't it?"

"Ah... too deep... stop it!"

"Hahaha, Orion is a cold corpse from the Underworld. He probably doesn't even know how to make you scream, does he? And he’s still out there guarding the perimeter for us like a watchdog!"

"You're so bad! You just had to fuck me like this. If Orion hears you, you’re dead."

"Oh, please! You couldn't bear to see me die. If I’m dead, who’s going to fill up this greedy body of yours?"

I stood frozen, my stomach churning.

Listening to their naked humiliation, watching Lyra spread herself for another man like a cheap whore—the stinging pain was something no living being could ever understand.

"Faster... harder... Orion is still waiting for me."

"No. I haven't fucked you enough yet."

I had never seen Lyra look so vile.

I didn't want to watch anymore. I turned to walk away for good.

But my mind was in chaos. I took a wrong step and fell straight into a nearby fissure of Tartarus—an anti-magic void.

The walls of the rift were sharper than obsidian.

I tried to summon my magic to float, but nothing happened. I could only reach out and grab a rough vine.

I shouted for help, hoping Lyra and the others would hear me and pull me up.

No one answered.

Gritting my teeth, holding the vine with one hand, I endured the agonizing pain and sliced my finger. Using my Underworld blood, I forcefully activated the "Mental Bond" we formed when we got engaged.

I called out dozens of times.

No response. She was too lost in her lust.

Just as I was about to despair, the bond finally connected. But what echoed in my mind wasn't worry. It was Lyra’s broken, breathy moans as she was pushed to the edge, followed by an annoyed whine.

"Orion... ah... it's a bad time right now! Stop ruining my mood with the mental link..."

I didn't waste time arguing. I told her to come save me, that I was about to fall into the rift.

Lyra was completely unfazed.

"Stop being so dramatic... ngh... the cliff isn't even that steep. You're a High God, a little fall won't kill you! You're so annoying!"

I couldn't hold on anymore.

The vine snapped.

I plummeted to the bottom, crashing into a dozen jagged rocks on the way down.

Even with a god’s body, inside this dead zone, I was as fragile as a mortal.

The bone in one of my legs completely shattered. Blood poured out. The pain almost made me pass out.

Then I realized the mental bond was still active. Lyra's obscene pants echoed in my head. She had heard my screams as I fell, and she didn't care at all.

Between love and lust, she chose to rot in another man’s arms.

At that moment, my heart turned to stone.

I severed the mental link, closed my eyes, and let go of my last shred of attachment to her.

She didn't come looking for me until nightfall. She truly didn't care if I lived or died.

Grinding my teeth, supporting myself on a broken bone, I used the willpower of Underworld royalty to fight the abyss's crushing pressure. Step by agonizing step, I crawled out of the rift until I escaped the dead zone, finally being rescued by a passing centaur healer.

They had left the valley long ago. Not a single word of concern was sent my way.

It wasn't until late at night that Lyra finally remembered to look for me.

The second the mental link connected, she immediately started complaining.

"Orion, where are you?"

Hearing those words, I gave a bitter laugh and shook my head.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

"You go into the woods and totally vanish? People might think you were off doing gods know what!"

The anger I had suppressed for so long finally erupted.

Chapter 4

"What do you mean? Are you accusing me of doing something behind your back? I finished my business and came back for you, but you were gone! I looked everywhere. I couldn't even sense you through the bond. I was sick with worry, and I even tore up my leg on the thorns looking for you!"

Oh, she hurt her leg looking for me? How ironic.

I gave her the coordinates to the temple infirmary. Less than half an hour later, she limped in, followed by Darius and her annoying nymph friends.

Seeing me genuinely badly injured, with blood soaking the bandages, Lyra looked at me with a face full of guilt.

"I'm so sorry, Orion. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have brought you hunting. Does your leg still hurt? I'm not leaving; I'll stay right here with you."

But right now, I only felt disgust. I was repulsed by the idea of her touching my body.

Yet Lyra refused to let go. She hugged me tight, acting like she truly knew she was wrong and was drowning in regret.

I couldn't push her away, so I played along. "You're hurt too. Let go of me."

"No, my injury is nothing. I only care about yours."

She was so stubborn that I eventually relented. Thinking my anger had faded, Lyra loosened her grip and started peeling a fruit for me.

While feeding me, she smugly showed off to her friends in their tongue.

"Thank the gods I'm smart. I purposely hurt my leg to look pitiful, otherwise I wouldn't have found a good excuse to cover up my cheating."

"Tsk, aren't you a genius."

"Of course. Look at my Orion. I drop two tears and he forgives everything."

"Stupid dog. Forgave you that fast."

"Because my Orion loves me! He can't live without me!"

My body stiffened, my breath turning ice-cold.

Why did she lie to me every single second of the day?

For a split second earlier, I actually thought she had genuinely hurt her leg looking for me. I even felt a pang of sympathy.

Ha. I was wrong. I shouldn't believe a single syllable that came out of this rotten woman's mouth.

Right in front of my face, they started reminiscing about the fun details of their wild sex yesterday.

They talked about their messy affairs without blushing, all while turning back to shoot me looks of pity and disgust.

For the next three days, I forced down my nausea and let her take care of me. I didn't expose her. I just let her busy herself preparing for the Soul-Binding Ceremony that all of Olympus would be watching.

Meanwhile, in the shadows, I laid the net in the Pantheon that would drag her straight to hell.

The day of the ceremony arrived.

Lyra wore a gorgeous, sexy gown, with Darius trailing behind her.

Darius grabbed her hand, looking frustrated and unwilling.

"Lyra, are you really going to marry him? What about me? What am I to you?"

"A plaything for my body."

"But I love you!"

"But I need Orion's status more. Once we're bound, I'm cutting you off. I want to clean up my act and be the high and mighty wife of Olympus."

I watched this scene unfold through my scrying mirror. Face completely blank, I packed my bags and opened a mental link to the Underworld.

"The ferry on the River Styx should leave in about two hours. I'm heading out. See you below."

I cut the link, picked up my bag, and walked out of the temple without looking back.

Before I left, I decided to leave Lyra a "huge gift."

Back in the hall, Lyra was getting anxious because I hadn't shown up.

She was just about to use our mental link to call me when she was interrupted by a man in a black cloak. It was the God of Death, Thanatos, here to escort me to the Underworld.

He held a glass of blood-red pomegranate wine, looking at Lyra with a mocking smirk.

"Congratulations, future Lady of the Underworld."

"Our Prince Orion is a god who takes contracts very seriously. Don't worry, once he commits to something, he will fulfill it, even in death."

"However, His Highness does have one absolute boundary—he despises being betrayed."

Lyra gave a stiff, fake smile and nodded.

Just as she turned around, the God of Death sneered and tossed a roll of parchment right at her feet.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. This Underworld Prince you've all been playing for a fool? He’s practically from the same woods as you."

"His soul was born in a tributary of the River Styx, deep beneath the very ancient forest that birthed you. The soil of the abyss and your tree roots are tightly intertwined."

"Look. This is His Highness's Scroll of Origins. I'm not lying. If you curse him out right now using your most obscure secret tongue, not only will he understand every single word, but he’ll curse you right back in fluent Sylvan."

The smile on Lyra’s face completely died.

She frantically reached out to sense the mental bond inside her.

Nothing.

The connection was gone.

The laurel crown she always wore to show off our love fell from her trembling fingertips with a snap.

It turned to dust before it even hit the floor.