Wine and Poison – Chapter 12 – A Strange Cohabitation

Author: Nikss

It was the wise nymphs of Mount Nyssa and the gaunt Silenus who taught Dionysus to distinguish between edible and inedible plants, instead of his Aunt, who had been cursed by Hera and driven mad.

It was the conceited Apollo who taught him about herbs and poisons.

He and Silenus are technically brothers. However, compared to Dionysus, Apollo was like a well-bred apprentice.

If there was one thing that the all-rounder and jack-of-all-trades could not do, it was love.

A romantic incompetent. Dionysus often laughed and scratched Apollo with that comment.

Herbalism had been taught to him in exchange for teaching him how to seduce the opposite sex over a glass of wine.

“If you had such a good teacher, why did you come all the way down here to bother me?” said the old woman, who shrugged off Dionysus’s knuckles. Dionysus smiled wryly.

“Master. It was never that kind of relationship.”

He smirked, thinking that Apollon would be livid if he heard that.

“As a pupil, I’m glad my meager knowledge has been of use to you, though I can’t even begin to match your years of experience.”

“Years…”

The old woman’s face grew bitter.

“That’s not true. Your years of cultivation and mine shouldn’t be too far apart.”

Dionysus understood the old woman’s bluntness with humility, he had been taught herbalism directly by Apollon, the master of herbalism, and could not be compared to mere mortals who did not receive their knowledge from the gods.

An old woman would have practiced for a very long time for a human.

“But why are you studying poisons, Master?”

Dionysus whispered softly, like a butterfly fluttering among the flowers. It was an intimate question, but when he spat it out in such a voice, it was hard to keep a normal human off guard.

Dionysus examined the old woman through eyes narrowed with laughter. It was like taming a tricky, ferocious snake.

He felt the same nervous, breathless sensation as if he were taming a vicious snake, offering it a tantalizing morsel, leading it into a trap.

As much as I wanted to ask questions, I was not so much curious about the old woman’s condition.

Those who delved into such an unorthodox subject as poisons were bound to have an irritating story or two.

A complicated family history, an unfortunate past, one of those things that are painful to the person but commonplace to others, one of those tragedies.

“To kill a god.”

So when the old woman boldly confessed, I was astonished, for it was an extraordinary statement to come from the mouth of an old woman, a lonely old woman living alone in a dilapidated hut.

Something that even he, the God of Olympus, had never considered.

How to kill a god.

Ah, so it was.

A sudden realization struck him.

A hydra’s venom could kill an immortal god.

Suddenly, the violent reaction to the mention of hydra venom was understandable.

Dionysus’s eyes lit up as he expected a fictionalized answer of family revenge at best.

How did she come to think of such a fanciful and absurd idea?

The words almost leaped out of his mouth. Barely holding it in, Dionysus stifled the sneer that rose from deep within him.

As a great god, humans were meant to be cared for and played with.

How could it not be funny that such a plaything would want to kill the master of the world? I mean, how could it be otherwise?

Dionysus clamped his fist over his mouth. As if stunned by the enormity of the revelation.

“If you think it’s blasphemous, you can leave.”

The lips beneath his hand drew back to form an arc.

The old woman’s eyes widened for a moment, then returned to their usual bluntness. Her breathing was unsteady, though at first glance she seemed as usual.

She’s nervous. She’s not just talking out of her system. Perhaps this was something deep down inside her. She had no intention of telling him. It was just something that came out of her mouth, by accident.

She was caught off guard, luckily for him.

“Not really, Master. I was just surprised.”

“…”

Dionysus’s cruel sadism twisted like Thyrsus’s tail.

How could I have more fun?

A dozen plans came and went in a flash in the mind of the god of human perversion. In a short time, Dionysus chose the funniest scenario of them all.

“The disciple will have to work harder to serve the master.”

His gaze was downcast. From the tips of his lashes, a lonely air hung like a path of fallen leaves on an autumn night.

“Why would you?”

The old woman asked suspiciously.

Dionysus deliberately and slowly raised his eyes to meet hers.

The smile he always wore was gone. His face was serious without a smile. Dionysus bowed his head slightly. In a clear voice, he whispered in the old woman’s ear.

“I have a god I want to kill.”

“…”

“Your goal is noble, Master, though my personal revenge will be private.”

The old woman’s breathing slowed.

All of Dionysus’s senses scanned the old woman. Her tense breathing, her slightly quickened heartbeat, the air growing sharper and thicker.

“Don’t come near me.”

The old woman backed away quickly.

Dionysus smirked inwardly. It was the kind of behavior only a herbivore in crisis would do.

It proved that the old woman was shaken by his words, and he was glad. Not only that, but it was rewarding to play to the old woman’s whims.

“Sometimes a casual remark reaches the ears of the gods. Maybe that bird outside is Hermes’ alter ego.”

Dionysus pointed to a small, cute chickadee chirping outside the window.

The old woman’s gaze darted out the window and back. Their gazes met. Dionysus flashed a faint smile.

“We’ll have to be careful.”

“…”

“If you don’t want to be cursed.”

The old woman’s gaze darkened. Intense, beautiful golden eyes tangled like threads. Dionysus took pleasure in the confusion welling up within her.

“…Why?”

The old woman’s question was short. A single phrase, but it conveyed her wariness and curiosity. Dionysus told her the story as it came to him.

“I was not the child of my father’s lawful wife. My real mother incurred the wrath of the goddess for doing so, and she died at my father’s hands.”

As I spoke, I felt a strange sensation.

This was really truly his story. It saved him the trouble of making up a lie that didn’t make sense, but it was uncomfortable to bring up an unpleasant part of his past, but he’d already taken the step.

“I don’t understand.”

“…”

“My father was the one who was unfaithful to his proper wife, so why does she have to torment my mother and me, who are powerless, instead?”

“…”

Hera, who burned his mother, Semele, to death in a ruse, and ruined his childhood.

The supreme goddess of Olympus, whose jealousy still rages to this day, wants to destroy him.

If he had the power to do so, if he had the strength needed for it, would he have killed her?

He may be a demigod, but his roots were close to human. It had never occurred to him that he could kill a god.

Even when he had been crushed by Hera, it had never occurred to him that he should kill her.

But even then, how could a mere mortal aspire to kill a god?

I don’t know whether to admire or mock.

The atmosphere has subsided. Silence reigned. At some point, the sound of the mortar crushing bone stopped.

“If there were a way to kill a god, I might have tried.”

The words were spat out to shake the old woman, and Dionysus gauged how much of them were true. The answer was unknown.

If his hands held the venom of a hydra when his flesh was torn to shreds.

“You.”

The harsh voice rang out, and a little light returned to Dionysus’s dark eyes.

“What’s your name?”

His eyes brighten. The question clears the poisonous fog from his mind.

A name inscribes an existence.

No matter how insignificant it may be, when one knows a name, it gives one a feeling, which leads to the heart. Name was the first step.

The first step to the other person’s heart.

“Lancion.”

Dionysus spat out the first name that came to mind.

He had no intention of sharing his true name with the old woman, he didn’t want to give her access to him, even if she was more interesting and brave than he had first thought.

“And you, Master?”

The old woman hesitated. Seeing her hesitate, Dionysus, or the man who would be called

Lancion for the time being, felt a surge of selfish greed. He wanted to break her heart, and to do that, he needed to know her name.

Once, twice, three times, however many times he called her by name, she would grow accustomed to him, and eventually, she would allow him.

“I don’t dare to call you by your name, Master, but I want to know it.”

“…”

“Honestly, when I only heard rumors, I was merely curious, but not now.”

He whispered casually, like a rogue luring an innocent maiden. The old woman stared at him with wavering eyes.

“Not what?”

“Right now I’m really curious about you, Master, and I admire you.”

“You’ve only seen me for a few days.”

Her eyes sneered, but Lancion looked straight into them. No laughter, just a serious gaze.