Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Emotions can make sense?
‘Oh, well. If it’s mites they vivisect, or even ants, they can cut them however they want! I just don’t want to see any of those disgusting things…’

I gave my approval to the rest of the Great Purge. Now I only had to make sure it ran smoothly—and wait for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, the first of the cleansed pupae were scheduled to emerge. No matter how I distracted myself with work, I couldn’t stop thinking about this.

What if something went wrong during the purging? What if I doomed my little girls by agreeing with Ambrosia’s plan?

Because of these fears, I could barely sleep.

Next day, Ambrosia left to oversee the brood cells early in the morning—while I stayed as far away from them as I could.

I had more work to do, of course!

There was a *lot* of logistics to organize. Bees were flying in and out of the hive all day, carrying jugs of honey, soporific plants, and dead mites. And I constantly had to coordinate one battalion or another before they messed something up! The Empire’s logistics were failing me—my Advisers could organize only so much on their own, with only wax tablets to carry their orders.

My head hurt from all the shouting by the end of the day, and I almost forgot about the pupae.

But when I returned to the royal chambers by the end of the day and saw Ambrosia standing there and studying the wall full of well wishes, I remembered it immediately.

Today, my bee wife had a special aura about her. The light of a single candle in this room threw warm highlights on her smooth skin, but her expression was cold and distant. Tired.

She turned to me, and it softened into a smile.

“Nectus. I began wondering if you will come to sleep at all. You’ve been working very hard.”

I cautiously approached Ambrosia.

“Amby, dear… You look tired, too. Um… Are you alright? Are—Are our babies alright, too? Today had been the day, right?”

“The day?” Ambrosia thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No, just a day. Same as the next several ones, I expect. And the cleansing of the brood cells was a success. It’d be foolish to expect anything more from it.”

I frowned.

Amby was talking in riddles today. Of course, a giga-mind like me could crack them easily—the problem was, I didn’t like where she was leading to.

I bit my lip.

“Amby, are you saying that someone was hurt, after all? Please, don’t just be vague about stuff like that, it only makes me feel worse!”

Ambrosia blinked.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to. The Great Purge really was a success—the mites were successfully eradicated in the brood cells, and Nurse Bees found none on the young bees. Those that weren’t infected in the first place showed no signs of harm from their operations.”

“But there’s a ‘but’, right? What about those who were infected?”

“They were still affected by ‘the Paleness’. Could barely fly… I had them transferred to the quarantine village for now. It’s a temporary measure, though. And by now, I doubt any of the bees born from infected cells will recover to full health.”

I scowled.

Despite expecting this, I was still angry!

The ugly varroa mites have affected a vital development stage of my daughters, likely crippling them for life.

Still, I hoped that bees whose mites were removed earlier would suffer less. I would have to look by myself and use the system to check their health.

“I don’t know what to do with these girls if they stay as they are,” Ambrosia added, frowning. “A few months ago I’d just kicked them out of the hive, but now it feels like a waste. Despite their physical weakness, they are still smart. But a weak bee can’t become a Researcher, either—they carry wax tablets and materials around all day long.”

I waved my hand dismissively.

“We can think about this later! What matters is that all our girls are alive and alright!” I saw Amby frowning and paused. “They are, right?”

“Several bees have never emerged from their pupae. They’ve been found dead in their cells when all timelines for emergence have passed.”

My hands dropped. My mouth opened… then closed.

Ambrosia nodded.

“7 in this brood. Lieutenant Physician wasn’t present to explain this—busy with the purges—but I assume the strain of the purge was too much for the weak pupae.”

“Th-that’s… Shit.” I clenched my fists. “That’s exactly what I feared, Amby…”

A part of me immediately wanted to blame Tabletina. She could’ve done a better job! Then myself. I could’ve been there!

But I was smart enough right now to know that both thoughts were stupid. Something like this was almost inevitable.

That was why I didn’t come to watch the emergence of these pupae. There was a limit to how much death a person can see around him, and I *really* didn’t want to cross it!

And curse my imagination—just by listening to Ambrosia’s words I could imagine them, my dear babies, lying stillborn in their brooding cells!

My ears stung with tears. I sniffed.

“Their deaths saved thousands of others, Nectus. We both knew the risks and accepted them. Even you.”

I looked at her sourly.

“Amby… I know! But can *just* I feel sad about my baby girls for a moment? I heard that processing your emotions helps you deal with them or something.” I wiped my eyes and sniffed again. “This just sucks. I know it was necessary, but it doesn’t change the fact that it *sucks*!”

Ambrosia nodded and thoughtfully rubbed her solar plexus.

“Ah. I understand. One thought doesn’t cancel the other… Hm. This explains those strange feelings I have, then. There was something else besides the relief that the death count was so small… A bad feeling… The illness you call sadness. It was barely there, but now it’s stronger.”

I smiled despite everything.

“Now you admit emotions can make sense, Amby! You are learning!”

Her eyes widened with a sudden realization.

I nodded.

“Yes, imagine that! It can happen, Amby! In fact, it happens more often than not! You could be happy that many of our daughters lived, but sad that a few died!”

Ambrosia shook her head.

“No, that’s not it…”