Orchid was stunned by the reality that Ogrim had presented to her, Hollow was interested in her and intended to make her his girlfriend that very night. The right thing to do would be to reject him but she did not feel capable of that, she also loved him and above all, she wanted him, she was not sure if she would have the willpower to deny herself everything she wanted, she definitely needed a drink, she was no longer in the mood to dance more.
She walked to the bar ignoring Hollow who was trying to get her attention, unfortunately for the vessel, another girl interpreted that his signs were for her and he had to dance with a butterfly the next piece.
The mantis approached the table and observed the different glasses with colored liquids, she did not know any of those liquors, what was prepared here had nothing to do with what was in Fungal Wastes. She decided to ask the bar manager.
"I don't know any of the drinks they serve here. What drink do you recommend?"
The bartender looked at her somewhat concerned, he belonged to the castle servants and was aware of the rumor that Orchid was there to give birth to the king's heir. He did not know if she had already conceived or if she would soon, but given the circumstances, It was not a good idea for her to drink alcohol, it could affect the offspring, so he was quick to offer her a drink that was appropriate for her supposed condition.
"I think you will like Florazno's punch a lot, it's a very pleasant aromatic drink," hhe said, pouring her a purple liquid with a piece of fruit inside.
"Thank you very much."
Orchid walked away from the bar, ignoring the nature of the drink she had been given.
This punch was a non-alcoholic drink that was prepared by boiling brandy with florazno and some spices. The florazno was a fruit from Green Lands that was characterized by its fragrant flavor and for being absorbent. When boiled it with brandy, it retained all the alcohol and expelled its aromatic oils, leaving a sweet drink with a slight bitter aftertaste, which was suitable for all types of people, even children. Of course, the alcohol did not disappear, it was contained in the fruit, but everyone knew that the fruit should not be eaten, but Orchid didn't know it.
That was a shame, the mantis was actually a very responsible person with alcohol consumption, the only time she got drunk was during her coming-of-age party, and the hangover she suffered was so horrible that she swore she would never go again to get drunk. To date she had complied, and if it had been for her, she would have continued like this.
She downed her drink and realized that it had no alcohol, she wondered if the bar keeper believed that the mantises had no alcohol resistance, but she didn't complain anyway, because the drink was so tasty she wanted another.
She ended up drinking three glasses and eating three pieces of fruit, after which she began to feel dizzy and confused. She tried to walk to where Big was standing, but it was getting harder and harder to keep her balance and elegance, until she finally ended up tripping and falling.
Fortunately for her, the one who first realized the situation was Shadow, who crouched next to her to see how she was doing.
"(Are you okay? Isn't it too early for you to get drunk?)"
"Big? It's you? Did you shrink?"
Shadow shook his head in dismay, looked around trying to find Hollow who now was very uncomfortable dancing with an obese beetle. The same thing always happened to him, the girls did not leave him alone at parties and his lack of speech did not allow him to defend himself.
He looked at the mantis that he had in his arms and decided to take her to her room, since she was no longer able to enjoy the celebration. He helped her to stand up and in return received a hug.
"Big... Are you going to put cream on me again? Say yes..."
Shadow had no idea what she was talking about, but this made him nervous, if Orchid started spouting nonsense about the king it would be something very negative. He did care about his brother's reputation. So trying to safeguard the situation, he covered the insect's mouth and dragged her away from the ballroom in the most discreet way he could.
It took two more songs until Hollow was finally able to break free of the girls who wanted to dance with him, it was a real pain to be so popular. But now that he was free, he set out to look for his mantis, it was time to propose to be his girlfriend, however, she was nowhere to be seen. He swept the site with his eyes not finding any trace of her, it was strange, she was a very tall insect, she should be easy to spot. A pang of terror dug into his gut at the thought of the worst possibilities, so he ran to look for her, but with his little common sense, instead of inspecting the most likely places that were: the balcony, the bathroom and her room, he checked the weirdest places: The chainsaw cellar, the training room and the library...
.................................................. ..
Hornet and Quirrel danced two songs together, one more with another person and that was all, because the spider queen was not going to last any longer with her children in the hands of a maid, so as soon as they finished with the obligatory activities, they went to the quietest corner of the room that was where the babies were sheltered.
It had to be said that the beetle in charge of taking care of the little bugs felt a great relief when she saw their parents arrive, it had only been a short time, but she was already a bit tired of watching that Chester did not escape. The queen and her consort relieved her happy to meet the children again, now they would have to be present at the party for a while longer, greet those who came to browse and then they could go to their room to put the children to sleep.
And it could all have worked out well, but first-time parents' lack of experience worked against them. The newly named Silky, being in a quieter place, lost all her shyness and asked her mother to pick her up. With the little spider on top, Hornet took care of the nobles who came to pay respects. As for Quirrel, he set about watching over and entertaining Chester. They both put the nameless girl aside, not because they didn't care, but because she was so calm that they assumed she would stay in the nest sleeping and it wouldn't be necessary to worry about her.
If they had known more about children, they would have been clear that babies cannot be neglected at any time, no matter how calm and unproblematic they are. The little pill bug would have fallen asleep, but the place was too noisy and bright for her and she had become in a very bad mood because she could not fall asleep. But she was the kind of person who did not complain and sought to solve her problems on her own, even when they were too big for her, a characteristic that more than once would bring her problems during her life. This is how the girl instead of crying to get a better place to sleep, left the nest and went to look for it herself.
The tiny bug made her way through that leg jungle and managed to reach the end of the room without being stepped on even once, already at its young age she showed good survival instincts, which seemed to get the best of pillbugs and spiders . Once she reached the end of the room, she went towards a huge door wide open, she had no idea where she was going, but that hallway seemed much quieter than the dance room.
It was fortunate that the castle's saws were turned off, that way the girl could advance without difficulty and without suffering any damage. The hallway was quieter than the living room, but it was still bustling with activity, as numerous bugs walked from here to there carrying plates of food, drinks or whatever the guests needed, this was not the quiet place that the baby needed to rest, so she continued to advance, without anyone being able to notice her presence.
The further she went into the corridors, the quieter everything became, there were hardly a few guards and knights prowling the surroundings, too tall to see someone as short as the girl. At last the place was calm enough for the pillbug to feel comfortable, now she only needed to find a fluffy bed, which would perhaps be the most difficult of all, because since her birth she had rested on soft silk sheets, she was somewhat fussy with it.
But as soon as she had started her adventure in search of the lost bed when something stopped her, a strange sound, at least for her who did not know much about the world. She did not know what it was but it made her feel bad, she wanted it to stop because it caused her desire to cry. That sound was a heartbroken cry that caused the baby anguish and pain, she only wanted it to stop, so she walked towards the origin of the laments.
When the baby finally reached her destination, she encountered a scene that an adult would find embarrassing and pathetic, but for her it was somewhat sad. There was a huge mantis crying and hugging a shadeling, who tried to get rid of her and shove her into a room.
"Big, why are you treating me like this? You have never been so cold to me."
"(Let me go fucking crazy!)"
"After you told me that I could stay with you, now you expel me, you are cruel. I hate you! Waaaaaaaaaaa."
"(Get into your room and stop bothering!)"
"Now you kick me out on the street! First you were a gallant and now you become a crook. Don't be silent!"
Shadow clutched his face in exasperation, he could not say anything to calm Orchid, and with the drunkenness she was not even able to interpret his signs. He was afraid that she would escape him and cause some scandal to the king, for that reason he planned to lock her in her room, but the task was proving too heavy. He was still considering his possibilities when a small squeak roused him from his thoughts.
"Yi?"
They both turned to look at the source of the sound and found a tiny four-eyed, four-armed pill bug. None of them had personally seen Hornet's babies, but Shadow had at least heard descriptions of them, so he was able to recognize the baby, as for Orchid, even if they had told her about the child, she would have been unable to recognize her, she was too drunk.
"Ren!" She screamed happy to see the girl, then ran to hug her.
-"(Hey! Let go of that baby! Hornet is not going to like it!)."
"Ren! Good to see you! I've missed you so much. How is Moon?"
"Yi yi yi."
"I'm so glad... Ren I need help. Big is being mean to me, he wants to kick me out." She pointed accusingly at Shadow, which he desperately denied.
"Gugu yi gu gigimi!"
The girl said this in a scolding tone, and although there was no reason for it, Shadow felt guilty.
"Ren, what am I going to do? I am an embarrassment to my species!" She began to shed tears again.
"Nah nah yigu yigu nah."
"Don't try to make me feel better, I am. I fell in love with Hollow. I have crossed the forbidden threshold! A mantis should not fall in love, much less a mantis Lord"
"Apah pah pah yi guh?"
"It's just... It's just... Snif... I don't want to go home anymore... I want to stay here... I love Hollow, I want to stay by his side... But it's not right." more tears poured from her eyes "I am a leader of my tribe... I must be responsible... I cannot abandon my people. What am I doing Ren? If I return, will I be able to resume my life with this tremendous pain that I carry inside?"
"Gu gu gu..."
Orchid held the baby close to her body and she instinctively began to stroke the mantis trying to comfort her.
Shadow looked at the scene somewhat uncomfortable, he felt he was no necessary there, so he chose to discreetly walk away, that at least until he remembered the context of what he was seeing. Orchid was drunk hugging a baby that belonged to Hornet, who would surely go hysterical when she noticed the disappearance of her grub.
The knight got nervous, he couldn't leave the pill bug alone with the mantis, but if he stayed to watch them he couldn't go looking for Hornet either. What would he do? The best thing would be to snatch the baby from the Lord.
But doing that was more complicated than it appeared, as soon as he put his hands on the scale, it began to cry, and when she cried, Orchid too.
Shadow's stress levels were rising to unsuspected levels, now he wanted to cry too.
On the other hand, Hornet's maternal instinct seemed to have been suddenly activated, as a concern forced her to hastily dismiss a certain pair of crickets that were seeking to chat with her to direct their attention to their nest, it was then that she discovered with horror that it was empty, the nameless girl had disappeared.
Hornet had to use all her self-control to keep from screaming hysterically and turning the palace upside down. First she scanned the room looking for any sign of her child and then she made up some excuse to retreat and search the rest of the castle.
She left Quirrel in charge of the two offspring while she searched for the lost, although she asked him to check the room in a more minute way in case she had missed something, which was quite likely, it was very difficult to find someone so small in a place so crowded with people.
When Hornet was running through the corridors shouting "daughter", she realized some realities that until now she had ignored, she still did not know her children well, now that the pill bug was lost she could not imagine where she would prefer to go. Maybe the kitchen guided by some appetizing smell? Would she be a plant lover and end up playing in the garden? Or would she like to play with water and head to the bathrooms? The baby didn't really know where each site was, but her preferences would make her stay in one place over another.
Since she had no clue of where her girl would be, the queen had no choice but to search every corner of the palace, on the way she alerted some servants to be alert in case they saw her, many of them even left their tasks to help her.
It was in the midst of this frantic search that Hornet accidentally ran into her brother. She found him in a meeting room looking under a table. Accustomed to Hollow's weirdness, maybe she shouldn't have cared much about it, but for some strange reason she decided to ask what he was doing.
"(I'm looking for Orchid)."
"Are you playing hide and seek or something?"
"(No, I wanted to dance another song with her but she disappeared. I'm afraid something bad happened to her)"
"If that were the situation, why would she be under the table?"
"(I don't know. Maybe she escaped from her kidnapper and hid here...)"
"Hollow..." Hornet put a hand to his exasperated face. "For once learn to think like normal people, please. Everything you say is most ridiculous. If Orchid was not at the party, it is most likely that she was overwhelmed by so many people and she retired to a lonely place like the balcony or she went straight to her room. Is it so hard for you to think of something like that?"
"(Hornet you are a genius!)"
"And you an idiot! I shouldn't even be wasting time with you. My daughter is missing!"
"(Which one?)" Hollow was alarmed when he heard the news.
"The one that is a pill bug."
"(I'll help you find her!)" He immediately stood up to accompany her sister on her search. " (Anyway, Orchid must be fine, she knows how to defend herself better than a baby)."
Following Hornet's logic, they began searching the places closest to the ballroom, slowly moving away. The mother was increasingly desperate, already beginning to fear a kidnapping, which seemed somewhat strange considering that the pill bug had no political weight, if someone had to be kidnapped the candidate should be Silky.
It was Hollow who finally sensed something that guided them in the right direction. He thought he heard Orchid crying together with another voice, it was like a murmur, an almost inaudible sound, but that was enough to attract all his attention and go to the source of the disturbance. His sister followed him almost on a hunch, although the path to the that they were heading did not seem very logical.
They began to move farther and farther from the ballroom, climbing the stairs until they reached the second floor where the bedrooms were, considering the love that the baby had for sleeping, it would seem to Hornet a logical decision to take that route, but it would be curious if she arrived up there considering that she did not know the way and that it was too far from her starting point. But against all expectations, there was the pill bug, hugging a mantis next to a shadeling, all crying.
"What... How... This... But what's going on here!?"
"I'm a bad mantis!"
"(Ren scolded me!)"
"Gu yi gu babah!"
Hornet stared at the scene in disbelief, although when it came to his family, things always broke all logic. Letting out a sigh, she went to her offspring to calm her down and to take it from the hands of that mantis that could be dangerous, but as soon as she tried to get her daughter back, Orchid resisted.
"No Ren! Don't go!" Hornet immediately noticed her drunk state.
"What the hell is wrong with you! Give me back my daughter!"
"(Hornet let me calm Orchid, maybe she'll release Ren)" He turned his attention to the mantis and patted her head.
"Hollow? It's you?"
Knowing that the mantis couldn't understand, he just nodded.
"Hollow! I'm sorry... I... No.... I can't be with you! My family needs me... Even Ren said so..." She showed him the girl in her arms who looked confused.
Hollow then trying to explain that she should let go the girl pointed to Hornet.
"Moon? Ah, sorry, sorry for taking Ren without permission." She gave the girl to her.
"Uh... Thanks?"
Hornet didn't understand what was going on, but he wasn't going to question it if her daughter was returned to her.
"Hollow... I love you! I love you too much!" And at that moment the mantis lost her composure and hugged Hollow crying desperately. "But it's not right for me to stay with you!"
"(This is so sad ...)" Shadow sobbed.
"Are you still crying?" Hornet looked at him strangely, Shadow was someone of a serious type, it was not a common behavior in him.
The spider queen analyzed the whole situation and a certain discomfort settled in her guts, this was the worst thing that could be happening, the rumors in the press were not rumors. There was a sentimental situation between her brother and this mantis, if she did not do something things could end in a disastrous way, if Orchid discovered the secret of her brother and his family she could end up revealing it of terror and that would bring dire consequences.
"Hollow... Tomorrow morning you and I will talk very seriously... No, better you me and Big, the three of us have very important things to discuss."
"(Hornet, I'm scared the way you look at me...)"
"Oh yes Hollow, be afraid, Be very afraid... Because tomorrow I will give you the sermon of your life."
Hornet's murderous aura was such that even the little one in her arms curled up. And after giving that gloomy statement she walked away from the knight and the mantis. Shadow, not quite sure what to do, said goodbye to his brother with a bow and followed Hornet.
Hollow looked at Orchid who was in his arms with glassy eyes but calm, perhaps he should lay her down on her bed for a while, so he took her in his arms and carrying her entered her rooms.
Meanwhile Hornet was walking down the hallway back to the dance room, but she was somewhat uncomfortable by Shadow's gazes that were as penetrating as her own needle, but the queen was not one to remain silent in the face of annoyance.
"Shadow, could you stop looking at me like that? You make me nervous."
"(I'm sorry, I want to see Ren but she is enrolled, can I take her?)"
"Ren?" She looked at her daughter. "Her name is not Ren."
"Guigui gu?" As soon as she mentioned the name the girl unrolled
"Daughter? Wait, don't tell me you reacted to 'Ren'."
"Yi yi."
"Ren, Ren, Ren."
"Yi yi yi."
"Ah... why did you have to choose that name? Why not something cuter like Juliet?"
"Meh..." The girl made a disgusted face.
"(I also like Ren)"
"Well, it will be..." Hornet sighed. "Although I don't like it, it was fate that chose her name. Hello Ren, my pretty daughter