Chapter 200: Better Be Worth It

Perseus POV

"So...why are you watching me dig this?" I asked and looked up at the goddess

Currently, I dug the hole deep enough that where I stand, it is about 50 cm taller than me, I hit a root, but I have to dig around that and go down further, it's not going to be amongst the deepest root, otherwise, no demon can get that since the watchers would have confronted the demon that dug the large suspicious hole.

Maple then tied her hair up in a ponytail and jumped down and took out a shovel from her storage.

"I'm here to mainly apologize." she said as she started helping dig

"For?"

"When I asked you to open up, you did, and instead of comforting you, I just called you cute and went along with my day, you were clearly upset, you've been avoiding me, and you haven't been teasing me..."

"So the indication of me being upset at you was me not teasing you, you have weird standards."

"See, you were upset."

"A bit yes, you're usually nice, so I expected better, but I'll move forward like I always have, I've been treated worse."

"Being treated worse doesn't mean you should endure other terrible things that have been done to you." she retorted "Why didn't you lash out at me?"

"I'm used to it, at this point, getting angry won't help me either since I don't think you really meant it."

"Since when have you been so passive?" she asked

"I always have, the only reason I have taken a more aggressive approach was to look less well, wasn't to look like a pushover. I'm very introverted, you know, I take time out of my day where I isolate myself and just stare into space, it helps me calm down.

"But back to the topic, I was a major pushover in my previous life, I was treated horribly by people around me after I escaped, I complained and those people complained to didn't really do much either, I think most of em just hoped I snapped and get imprisoned for good. Well imprisoned would be merciful considering many rather have me dead."

"You're just making me feel worse." she groaned "Look, I'll seriously do almost anything to make it up to you, what do you want?"

"You're fine, just help me dig and consider yourself forgiven."

Maple POV

I feel awful for him, even in that dream, as I wander around the house and look at those 'pictures', I realized just how fewer friends he actually has, he prefers being alone but even introverts sometimes wish for companionship. He was treated awfully for most of his life and most of us just gloss over it like it's nothing.

Lilith suffered a lot and I just stood there and did nothing, I only managed to somewhat comfort her while she cried afterward, I should have run off to my parents and asked them to stop the bullying as it was happening. I was scared that I might be the next target, and my selfishness caused my sister pain.

Lilith and Perseus share that pain and they have grown to mature to where they can fight for themselves while I on the other hand cower. I think that's why Lilith is somewhat attracted to him, he can somewhat empathize with her

Additionally, I can see why Perseus and Leilah like each other, she isn't perfect, but she offered him what he most wanted in the world, something that no one even care to offer, companionship, something that they both seek, and he gave the same back, they were both isolated and bonded through conversations even though they've never really met each other.

I admire Leilah, she is kind and caring to all of us, I was quiet and timid, while she was the total opposite, she would have saved Lilith if she wasn't away, I aspire to be like her, but even after all these years, I see that my aspirations might just be drifting away from me.

As for Ruka, she is a bit childish at times, but when needed, she can be the mature person in the room that can help guide everyone else, something that she shares in common with the person in front of me.

Perseus can see a bit of himself in all 3 of them, and I'm more than sure that they also see their traits in him, that's why they can place their trust in him, and I envy that and like it or not, the only chances of reconnecting to the rest of my family are through him, and despite barely knowing any of them, he has enough courage to approach them while being a total stranger.

Whether he and some of my family members become enemies or not, I envy that I do not have the same courage, I am their sister, so why can't I approach them with the same courage?

He admits to also being introverted, that's the only commonality I have with him, I wish to start learning about what he does to help project to others that he isn't what he is.

Perseus POV

maple has been giving me glances here and then, but she's been mostly quiet, hours go by and I see a shadow looming over me, I looked up to see grandpa Laker with a flushed face looking down at us.

"You need help down there bud?" Grandpa Laker asked "It's a bit rude that you asked a beautiful lady to help."

"She volunteered, and most of us are hungover, so I planned to do this with my fox."

"You do realize that just because you're being favored, doesn't mean you can dig this tree by the roots, right? It's illegal, the watchers called me here to tell you that."

"I know that, but the first demon lord hid something here that can be of use to me, and *ding*, there it is."

The hole is about 10m deep, luckily I'm born a physical freak, even by this world's standard, otherwise, this would have taken days. I hit the chest I was looking for, I had Buddy dig it up and we then climbed out after I had Maple deactivate all the magic traps down there as we used magic to fill up the hole.

"Well, better be worth breaking the law, open it." Grandpa Laker said

"Yeah, better be worth it."