Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

Chapter 97 - 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 Re