Chapter 13

"Pitou-sama, where are you going?" Jagren asked with desperation in his voice.

Pitou knew why he was asking. She just murdered many of her fellow chimera ants albeit they were merely worker ants. However that didn't matter to Pitou, the very thought of killing in cold blood made her sick, no matter the ranking of said ant she despises her actions.

"I know- I'm sorry but I need to take care of something, please wait here for a while alright?!" Pitou responded with a sense of unease in her voice.

"Pitou sama! Are you leaving because of those worker ants attempting to assault you?"

"What?!" Pitou looked back at him confused.

"The workers were obviously looking to do you harm milady, that's why you killed them right? So you don't have to leave because of that!" Jagren followed with an urge to keep Pitou in the palace.

Pitou stared at Jagren trying to make sense of his morale stance "Th-that's not-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jagren said "Besides it doesn't matter if we lose a few worker ants your majesty, after all they aren't as important as you my queen! Including me and the other royal guard, our live aren't as important as yo-" Pitou slapped Jagren.

Meanwhile

Kite and Colt made their way to the old base of the Chimera ants; the "anthill" where the previous queen had resided to give birth to Meruem.

"This place smells terrible. Did you all really live here while working for the queen?" Complained Kite.

"Yes. We brought foo- humans to her every chance we could. Of course...that was before we realized what we was doing was wrong." said Colt.

"You say that but from what I gathered previously, a lot of you regained some of your human memories and still persisted in gathering meals for the queen. Am I wrong?" Kite said as fiercely as he could.

Colt didn't respond.

"Did none of you question the morality of your actions at the time?" Kite asked without holding back. Colt looked away from Kite as if ashamed of his actions. "Well it doesn't matter. It's in the past. All we can do now is move forward." As Kite said that he turned away from Colt with a calm demeanor. With her eyes closed and hands in her pockets, she begins to walk through the murky cave.

Colt stared at the ground for a minute reminiscing about the Queen. "Hey, aren't you coming?" Said Kite.

"R-right." Colt followed Kite through

The two of them talked about various different topics for the next few minutes. It seems that Kite was wanted to ask something specific but was awaiting

the right to to ask it.

However Colt was surprised by Kite being able to navigate the area towards a room that was reserved for the previous queen. Colt said to Kite "Maybe it's better if we turn back, we don't know what dangers we might find in here."

Kite responded with "You'll have to come up with better reasoning than that in order to get me to leave. There's something I need to figure out in the queens nest."

Colt knew where Kite was headed but he had no idea why he was specifically looking for the queens nest.

After a bit of wandering and investigating on Kite's end, he stumbled across the queens nest.

"Interesting." Kite said plainly.

Colt tried to urge Kite to leave as much as he could. "Rei-Kite. We should really turn back. This place is..."

Kite turned around to Colt who was walking behind her "What about this place? Do you know something that I should know?"

Colt looked away from Kite. Feeling bad about the secrets he kept from her. After clenching his teeth and making a fist he looked Kite straight in the eye. Up ahead is the queens nest. She gave laid eggs of within that room." Colt admitted.

"Is that so. That confirms my suspicions then." Kite placed her finger under her chin as if pondering something. "I guess now is a good time to ask you the question you did want to hear".

Colt gasped and looked toward Kite with concern.

In Zaban

A man dressed in a black robe was having a conversation with two high school girls in an alley somewhere in Zaban. They seemed to trust him without much resistance. Perhaps it was due to the promise of compensation.

"So...you want us to give this letter to someone in our school?"

"Yes, however you must wait until the time I gave you. In two weeks this letter must be given to that student. Do I make myself clear?"

"Of course master! Anything for you!"

"Shut up sis! Don't try to get all buddy buddy with master like that! After all he belongs with me and only me!"

"Master wouldn't settle for a small chest like yours, y'know."

The man in the black outfit took his hood off to reveal that he is indeed a Chimera ant with Avian genes. A golden beak and blue feathery hair were revealed. "It's important that you mail that letter to that student exactly in two weeks!" said the bird man.

The high school girls were more than willing to obediently carry out this assignment. Once the chimera ant flew away, the two girls seemed to forget about the encounter altogether. "Hey sis, how did we get here?"

"I don't know. This is so, like weird! Weren't were sitting on a bench and waiting for the bus?"

"Crap! You're right! Come on, we're gonna be late!"

This particular Chimera ant who bears the genes of a specific bird(notably a Hawk) was plotting something. It may have not been obvious now, but this one chimera ant would be the cause of an upcoming disaster.

Back at the palace

Pitou slapped Jagren while gritting her teeth. She held back her natural strength as much as she could in order not to kill him.

Jagren looked at the ground due to the knock back and then looked up back at his queen in shock. Pitou then placed her hands on Jagren's shoulders as an older sister would for a younger sibling in order to provide comfort. "Jagren...that way of thinking...is wrong. All of your lives are important to me! I don't care about"

"Pitou-sama... did I do something wrong?"

Pitou looked at Jagren and said "For now...just get back to your training...I'll take care of this mess."

Jagren stared at his queen and then nodded. "Before I go...are you still going to leave milady?"

Pitou made a gesture and smiled at Jagren in order to put his mind at ease.

Jagren smiled back and did as he was told and swiftly ran back to his assignment.

Pitou stared at the floor while standing still like a statue. Several thoughts plagued her mind. In the past, she never would have said something like that. The only person who was important to her was Meruem. But now, she dreads the thoughts of losing anyone under her wing. Is it just natural for a queen to worry about her subjects? Or was it something else that was causing her to feel this way?

Pitou thought to herself "It's important that I stay here. Here in this broken palace. This place where humans and Chimera ants struggled for superiority. Who was in the right during that battle? I may never know the answer and of course, I'm only a few months old and yet I have the knowledge a human adult. In the past...was I human as well?" Pitou questioned herself. "Wait, of course not!" Pitou slapped both of her cheeks in order to help herself focus "What's happening to me?" Pitou looked outside of the damaged wall of the lowest floor of the palace and said "All I can do now is move on and try to better myself, so I don't make the same mistake the King made."

End of Chapter