Chapter 11: Failures! Feel the majesty of the Queen!

“You!”

The moment she saw this woman again — the one who had stepped on her like an ant and ground her underfoot — Ella reacted almost instantly. Her body moved faster than her brain, instinctively deciding to retreat, distance herself, and escape this space.

She shrank violently toward the corner of the bathtub. Her hands pressed against the edge as she tried to climb out and run, but her fingers slipped on the wet tiles. Her whole body fell back into the water, splashing everywhere.

Her body nearly trembled. Her scarlet pupils shrank to pinpoints. Her lips pulled back, revealing tightly clenched teeth as she panted heavily.

Butterfly Wing did not move.

She simply leaned against the other end of the bathtub, resting her right cheek on her hand. Her gaze was directed elsewhere, not even sparing Ella a single glance. Her long pink hair spread out on the water’s surface like a half-bloomed flower in the mist.

Amid the swirling steam, her expression was blurred and distant, as if Ella’s terrified reaction was nothing more than a trivial matter that had nothing to do with her.

“Since you’re here to bathe, hurry up and wash all the filth off your body. Don’t annoy me.”

Her voice was lazy, as if she were speaking to a disobedient pet.

“Hah—”

She even let out a sigh.

There was no hostility in that sigh. And precisely because there was no hostility, Ella felt that her fear and anger were being completely ignored — ignored by an existence she herself had created.

Butterfly Wing’s gaze swept across her and then moved away.

There was no hatred in that look, no disgust, and not even the previous pleasure she had shown when stepping on Ella’s head.

Only disappointment.

“Merely a failure…”

Ella’s voice squeezed out from her throat, low and hoarse.

What a joke.

She was nothing but a failure that I created! Your very lives were given by me! How dare you act so high and mighty! I am the superior one here!

She stared at Butterfly Wing.

The water surface was calm and steam rose steadily. In the small bathtub, the distance between them was only one or two meters. She glanced at the tentacle behind her and mentally measured the distance. It was enough. More than enough.

Her heartbeat began to accelerate.

Right now. While this bitch called Butterfly Wing was completely naked and defenseless, she would drive the tentacle straight into her body and torment her both physically and mentally! She would make her understand the price of provoking her!

As the Insect Mother, Ella’s ability to act was always at maximum.

She slowly lowered the tentacle into the water, letting it curve between her own legs, hugging the bottom of the bathtub as it extended little by little toward Butterfly Wing.

The water surface remained completely still. Her expression did not change at all. She even deliberately looked away toward a corner of the ceiling, pretending to have an “I can’t be bothered with you” attitude.

The tip of the tentacle had already crossed the midpoint of the bathtub.

A little further.

Just a little further.

She could already feel the warmth radiating from Butterfly Wing’s body.

“Hm?”

Butterfly Wing made a soft sound of confusion and lowered her head to look at the water.

Now!

Ella’s tentacle shot forward violently!

“Hahaha!”

Her laughter exploded in the bathroom, sharp and triumphant.

“Almost got in! You failure! Let’s see what you can do now!”

A flush rose on her face, whether from the hot water or excitement. She was going to humiliate Butterfly Wing from head to toe. Otherwise she would never be able to swallow this anger. And right now, her tentacle was right beneath Butterfly Wing, only a few centimeters away from that spot.

“That was close.”

Butterfly Wing’s voice showed no panic. Instead, it was full of mockery.

“I almost let Your Majesty take my first time.”

Ella’s smile froze for a moment.

“That’s right! Wait… you actually care about—”

Her brain processed it.

“—something like that?”

Her voice rose sharply.

“You failure! Do you even know your current situation? If I want to, I can inject DNA into your body right now! Then you can prepare to become a mother! Of course—”

The corners of her mouth stretched into a near-ferocious grin. For a moment, the shadow of a giant mother insect baring its fangs could almost be seen on her current face.

“Those children won’t be born peacefully. They will suck up all the nutrients in your body and then burst out of your chest like aliens!”

She waited to see the expression of fear appear on Butterfly Wing’s face.

“Scared now? Hahaha!”

“Heh.”

Butterfly Wing laughed.

That “heh” was very soft, almost swallowed by the steam in the bathroom, but Ella heard it clearly. Every syllable was distinct.

Ella’s laughter got stuck in her throat.

“Since I dared to share a room with you while wearing nothing at all—”

Butterfly Wing finally turned her gaze toward her. Her red pupils looked at Ella through the steam, calm like a pool of dead water.

“Of course I’m not afraid.”

She tilted her head. Her pink hair slid off her shoulder, revealing her fair neck and collarbones.

“My dear creator, Your Majesty, you really have forgotten everything.”

Her voice was light and airy, as if stating an obvious fact.

“Just what kind of monster I became after being born from that series of your cruel and inhumane experiments.”

Ella’s pupils shrank sharply.

“What?!”

Her instincts were screaming. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

She exerted force with all her strength and thrust the tentacle forward.

The tip of the tentacle made contact with Butterfly Wing’s lower abdomen.

In that instant, Ella felt as if her tentacle had touched a red-hot iron plate. Something like an electric current spread from the surface of Butterfly Wing’s skin and rapidly climbed up along the tentacle.

“This— what— ugh… AAAAAAHHHH!”

Pain erupted from the tip of the tentacle. It felt as if someone had dipped her nerve endings one by one into concentrated sulfuric acid. The pain was not applied from the outside, but burned from within, spreading along every fiber of the tentacle toward her body.

She wanted to retract the tentacle, but her muscles no longer obeyed her.

“I can secrete venom that seeps into the bloodstream,”

Butterfly Wing’s voice came through the vortex of pain, still calm and lazy.

“And eventually spread across the entire body surface.”

“How is that possible!”

Ella’s voice had already changed pitch, carrying a tremor she could not control.

“Why would I design something like this?!”

“It was you who designed it personally.”

Butterfly Wing’s gaze rested on Ella’s tentacle, which had already begun to turn black. There was no change in her expression.

“To suppress the expansion of the swarm.”

Her voice paused for a moment.

“And also to suppress the you from back then.”

“What?! Arghhh! It hurts!”

The pain from the neurotoxin grew increasingly intense. It had already spread from the tentacle to her tailbone and was climbing up her spine.

She could feel her back convulsing. She could feel the tissue in the tentacle necrotizing. She could feel something flowing in her blood vessels — no longer blood, but fire.

Her hands were shaking. Her legs were shaking. Her teeth were chattering.

Then she made a decision.

She opened her mouth, lowered her head sharply, and bit down hard on the middle section of her own tentacle.

The sensation of her teeth cutting into the tissue nearly made her vomit, but the pain — the pain of biting it off herself — actually cleared her mind for a brief moment. She clenched her teeth and bit down harder, and harder still, until her teeth met.

“Ugh—!”

She jerked her head back, a severed piece of the tentacle still in her mouth.

The piece of tentacle slipped from between her teeth and fell onto the water’s surface, floating gently. It had already changed from its original flesh-pink color to nearly black, with a strange, scorched-looking pattern on its surface.

She spat out the fishy-sweet liquid in her mouth and gasped for air in large gulps.

Blood was still seeping from the severed end, but the burning pain from within had finally stopped.

Tch…

She cursed inwardly.

It would probably take a long time to recover now…

“Your turn is over.”

Butterfly Wing’s voice came from the opposite side, still calm.

“Now it’s my turn.”