General clamped his mouth shut for a moment, debating whether he should truly say it. Then—“ah, whatever”—he squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. His voice came out firm and unshakable.
“The one behind the wasp attacks… might be that spider.”
What kind of caterpillar-rolling nonsense was that supposed to mean?
“Think about it rationally, Blaine. Everywhere that spider went, a wasp raid happened right after!”
“Th-that’s… that’s speculation. A-and… it wasn’t just Hurel. We passed through the same areas. Does that make us suspects too?”
The rhinoceros beetle looked at Blaine with a face that basically said, What am I going to do with this poor, clueless creature?
Clearly, the spider had thoroughly brainwashed him. Otherwise, why would Blaine take the side of a creature so brutally vicious? What was this called again? Stu-holic syndrome?
“Blaine, we’re not predators. We can’t do something that cruel.”
“That’s… that’s just prejudice, and it’s not even real evidence.”
“It’s not prejudice—it’s called common sense.”
Their conversation kept spiraling in circles, unable to make contact. Blaine stared at General in frustration—only to receive an even more frustrated stare in return. It was enough to drive him mad.
“Gen, no matter how I think about it, it doesn’t make sense. Hurel’s a spider. What would a spider need honey for? Why attack a beehive?”
“Blaine. You said you stayed at his place for a while before your trip, right?”
“That has nothing to do with—”
…
…!
Blaine’s jaw dropped, color draining from his face until he looked like he might faint midair. His naturally sun-kissed complexion blanched an icy blue. General nodded, as if to say, You finally get it.
“A-ah…”
“Blaine, how did that spider collect honey in his home?”
“I… I…”
I never went out to collect honey.
Hurel had always been the one who brought it. Blaine had always wondered how a spider—who didn’t even know how to harvest nectar from flowers—could obtain honey. Yet he’d never thought to question it deeper.
Why? Why had he ignored something so crucial and just wasted time idling around? What had he been thinking?!
“Ever since you explained what things were like before your trip, suspicion has been growing in my mind,” General continued, striking a detective-like pose, sharpening his gaze, rubbing his firm jaw.
“And as I analyzed that detestable spider’s every move, every word, that suspicion took root! And just as I thought—my instincts weren’t wrong!”
Blaine didn’t hear a word. He just floated there, blank and hollow.
No. No, no—Hurel would never.
But… what if?
“Bee-Bee is my lifesaver. So I need to stay by his side to repay his kindness.”
“Bee-Bee, you’re so beautiful. How am I even supposed to let you outside like this when you’re this sexy and pretty?”
“You’re really beautiful. It suits you so well.”
A sudden sharp pain stabbed through Blaine’s chest. He let out a strangled gasp, clutching at the spot. It felt like hot lead searing him, like a blade stabbing and twisting.
General’s alarmed voice reached him.
“Blaine? What’s wrong?”
“It’s… nothing. Let’s just go.”
Is this what betrayal feels like?
But the books described betrayal as something fiery, enraged—yet what flooded him wasn’t red-hot anger.
It was a cold, blue heaviness seeping through his veins.
His heart didn’t tear—it prickled, stung, and ached dully. His eyes burned, but his mind was calm in a frightening, sinking way.
He must have been flying too high. The wind was hurting his eyes. That had to be it.
Blaine steadied himself with that excuse and beat his wings harder.
***
“You know, now that I think back, it was weird from the start! Calling someone big like me ‘pretty,’ ‘cute’—that’s insane! His eyes must’ve been broken! He was a con artist from the beginning!”
“No, Blaine, that’s not just deception—that’s an insult! And you just let that bastard get away with it?!”
“I dunnooo… I must’ve been under some kinda spell.”
Probably that damned face. That pale, delicate, fluttery face flashed across his mind again, and Blaine shuddered violently, stuffing fermented honey bread into his mouth.
Now that he thought about it, all that hugging, biting, sucking, clinging—never getting tired of touching him—had all been part of the con, too. He’d been bewitched and tricked.
How cruel. The bitterness brought tears to his eyes.
“That bastard—just because you’re big doesn’t mean he can deceive people!”
“Exactly! What crime is it to be big and muscular?!”
Two sorry excuses for men sat hunched over a table narrower than their combined shoulder width, rambling nonsense as they devoured fermented honey bread without choking even once.
Watching the drunk idiots with a face full of contempt, a breathtakingly beautiful butterfly tossed aside the almond she’d meant to fold into cookie dough.
“Be quiet, quiet! Do you even know what time it is?! Stop stuffing your faces and go to bed!”
“Ow—ow—”
“H-hey! Ow! What—ow!”
The almonds thwacking their heads and shoulders made them flail, but they couldn’t stop them. They were that drunk.
What grudge did my past life have with alcohol that I must suffer because of drunks now?
Panthiana grit her teeth and spoke with frostbitten venom.
“Blaine. General. I highly suggest you go to bed while I’m speaking nicely. Unless you want to personally experience what I did to my darling boyfriend when he staggered home at dawn completely wasted.”
Even in their drunken stupor, both creatures sensed the instinctive danger in her tone and swallowed hard. Trembling, General asked, “W-what… what did you do?”
Panthiana’s wings fluttered gently as she smiled like a fairy, approaching them with a voice as sweet as angelic song or spring wind.
General’s dark skin went chalk-white.
“Ah—aha—ah! W-would you look at the time! I need—I need to sleep! Right now!!”
“Come to think of it, I am sleepy—h-ha… haaaahm…”
Panthiana narrowed her eyes into sharp triangles and clicked her tongue, but she still helped steady Blaine’s stumbling body, patting his back while lecturing him.
“Blaine, be careful, okay? Things have been really dangerous lately. I’d let you stay the night, but the house is too small… so you two should just cuddle and sleep or something.”
“No way. How am I supposed to sleep clinging to another man? Gross.”
Blaine suddenly fell silent.
Because the countless nights he’d spent doing exactly that—with someone who wasn’t even a man of his species—flashed through his mind.
Ah. Seriously. Why am I thinking about him again? Forget it. Forget everything.
“According to Bertie, another butterfly was kidnapped last night. It’s probably nonsense, but still—be careful. I’m not going out at night for a while.”
“Mhm, good idea. But… a butterfly?”
Panthiana hooked her arm around his, clinging tightly. The sweet, floral scent washing over him was dizzyingly strong. She whispered gently, her voice soft like a flutter of wings.
“Well… apparently last night, on his way home at dawn after drinking, he saw several wasps carrying away a huge, unbelievably gorgeous Giant White Tarantula. It gave him chills.”
“I’m not totally sure if it was a Giant White Tarantula or something else, but he said the creature had glowing white hair, with only the tips jet-black. So it must’ve been one.”
Bertie had said it was so beautiful he thought he’d go blind just looking at it—so Panthiana had smacked him until his eyes swelled shut in jealousy.
“Hmph. So what if he’s that pretty? He’s about to get minced into meatballs by wasps anyway. Poor thing.”
“The wasps seemed delighted, apparently. Horrible creatures. Are they planning to wipe out bees and butterflies entirely?”
Blaine, sobered instantly, went stiff—his face frozen in terror.
