The day after I started staying at the Bet household.
I woke up in the morning, tidied up the room, and stepped outside. Beatrice was sleeping with her head down on the table.
The air outside was still a deep blue, signaling it was early morning.
A pile of documents that seemed to have been settled was stacked high on the right side, and only a few pages remained on the left side.
I approached Beatrice.
"Wake up. We still need to finish the work."
"You’re making a horrible noise," Beatrice mumbled, barely awake. She’s up now. From her voice, it doesn’t seem like I woke her up. Did she wake up when I came downstairs?
"You’re almost done, right?"
"Yeah. Almost."
Beatrice got up from her seat. There was no sign that she had been sleeping deeply, so she probably just took a light nap.
Or maybe she couldn’t sleep because of me.
Stretching, Beatrice walked towards the kitchen and opened a refrigerator-like object to check inside.
The difference between this and a regular fridge was that it didn’t have a freezer.
According to Victoria’s knowledge, just refrigerating things could maintain a level of freshness similar to freezing.
The problem, however, was that it was completely empty. Beatrice eventually closed the door and started filling a kettle with water to boil.
As she did this, her gaze swept the room several times before it landed on the gun near the table. A couple of times, her eyes moved in that direction, but I’d call it just her playful glance.
Anyone would be wary if an unknown guest was inside.
It’s still strange to have tea in any world. There are places where leaves are brewed, others where stems are, and some even brew things like beans.
This world has coffee too. Victoria dislikes it because it tastes sour when you add it, so I don’t know much about it.
Beatrice made some for herself.
"Here, drink."
"Thank you."
She handed me a cup and, as she set her own cup on the table, naturally grabbed the gun. I’ll just call that a playful gesture.
Beatrice sat on the table.
She seemed like she had something to say, so I waited. After drinking her coffee, she waited a while before speaking. Maybe the drowsiness hadn’t fully worn off yet.
"Why did you come to my daughter?"
So, that meant she was fully awake now.
"Victoria Bet. She was just unlucky. She was kidnapped by chance, injected with a serum that turned her into a monster, then woke up and accidentally succeeded in resisting. She struggled, unaware that it was already over."
Even though she killed several Sahagin, that just meant a stronger kindred appeared, and they didn’t care about the deaths of other kindred.
"Had she not met me, she probably would have died with the monster there or completely become one of their species."
Victoria had concealed part of the story she had experienced. Since everything worked out in the end, she made it sound like she had taken a dangerous adventure.
"But she was really unlucky. She met me, didn’t die, and gained the ability to survive. In the end, she survived."
Beatrice tapped her cup a few times with her fingers, then looked at me with a confused expression and asked.
"Why are you calling that unlucky?"
So I answered.
"I don’t lie."
That meant I wasn’t going to answer.
Beatrice, still in the dim shadow of this room, glared at me with narrowed pupils and aimed the small revolver she was holding at me.
"If anything happens to my daughter, you’ll never die easily."
If she could kill me, I would’ve laughed at her, but I didn’t think it would threaten her, so I decided to torment her in another way.
"If you’re going to say something like that, make sure that warehouse is stocked up by the time the child comes back. It looked empty, and there’s a store that opens early in the morning not far from here, right?"
Beatrice flinched as if I had hit a sore spot, and cautiously lowered the gun’s muzzle.
"No, I didn’t expect it to take this long. I was supposed to finish it last night."
She looked away, offering an excuse. Of course, I knew she’d spent a lot of time listening to Victoria’s story yesterday.
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Logically, I should let it go, but I kept pressing her, trying to redirect her attention from my danger.
"You’re feeding the child, right? Isn’t that why you’re working?"
She lowered her head as if deep in thought. I gulped down all the liquid from the cup and pointed to the remaining paper with my finger.
"When the child wakes up and sees her mother working all night, it’ll surely ease her mind. Hurry up and finish."
Beatrice, looking reluctant, nodded and stepped away from the table to sit down. She started pressing something that looked like a calculator and checking the documents. I didn’t understand the papers, so I turned my attention to Beatrice, working hard, and thought about Victoria’s memories and the surrounding area.
Not much had changed. If I walked to the living room, there was a video receiver in the wardrobe.
It was too old-fashioned to be called a TV. I considered opening it for a moment, but since Beatrice was working, I decided to leave it alone.
I’ll have Victoria turn it on when I get the chance.
I just sat down on the couch in the middle of the living room. Outside, the sun was getting brighter, and the dawn was passing, making way for the morning.
I had time like this before, but what did I do back then?
Ah, I only remember thinking about what to prepare for breakfast with Sooh. Aside from that, I just observed with the eyes of the harvesters.
In this world, the collective power seems stronger than individual strength, like the five of them.
They don’t wield their desires recklessly.
The first man I took as a harvester, Rizen Brutal, led the other four and got off at the next port after we arrived.
He was originally a construction worker who had been injured in an accident and was planning to return home, but since an opportunity came up, he decided not to waste it and took the lead.
The world may seem fine for now. Maybe at that time, he could do something good for others.
But all five of them are people who could easily trample others. Even if they work diligently, how long would that last?
Some people don’t want to do their jobs and just run away from home, while others have nowhere to return because their village was destroyed by monsters.
Some have run away because their family is in deep debt, and some live by pickpocketing.
Now that their bodies and minds are improving, they’ll soon realize that they’re unsatisfied with this way of life.
The five of them suddenly formed a strange group called the Purple Twilight Society, as if they had a teenage rebellion.
Yeah.
I wonder when they’ll break up and go their separate ways, or if they’ll turn into a violent group and start extorting people.
If that happens, they’ll inevitably end up fighting and killing someone. The problem is, in this world, murder is a strict crime.
Of course, it happens regularly on the outskirts of the city, but at least inside the city, it’s forbidden.
I wonder whether they’ll live long enough to give away a lot of warmth or just burn bright and disappear.
If an opportunity arises, it might be fun to go and extend the harvest period.
While preparing for the future, I waited for Victoria.
Then the sun had fully risen, and the day had become hot.
Finally, Beatrice came over to me while I was sitting still.
"Since our child won’t even think about getting up, do you want to go shopping with me?"
"Sure."
I nodded and got up from my seat.
Then, I suddenly looked down at my outfit and realized something was wrong, so I asked Beatrice.
"Is this okay for clothes?"
Last night.
It was the thin pink dress Victoria had put on me as pajamas. I didn’t think anyone would go outside in it, so I asked Beatrice. She looked me up and down, told me to wait, and left the room.
A moment later, she returned holding a large box, placing it in front of me.
It was a box with Victoria’s name written on it.
In other words, it contained clothes from her childhood.
"There are plenty of clothes."
"I guess you can wear something suitable."
Most of the clothes were ones Victoria had worn before. Since I didn’t mind wearing clothes that someone else had worn, I picked out a suitable one.
"Let’s try on a few."
Beatrice said that, and I nodded, thinking it would be impolite to just wear anything.
I shouldn’t have done that.
By the time lunch was long past, Victoria came downstairs, yawning, complaining about being hungry, and I still hadn’t changed yet.
Did she forget that I’m a monster?
"Mom, what are you doing?"
"Did you wake up? I’m picking clothes for Bell."
"Aren’t those my clothes, Mom?"
"Is there a problem?"
Ah, I forgot that the person giving the clothes might dislike it.
If there’s an issue, I’ll just twist the clothes I wore. After trying on dozens of outfits, I got a rough idea of the style.
They might be a little outdated, but since they’re for someone else, it should be fine.
"Why didn’t you call me for something this fun, Mom?"
"Who told you to wake up late?"
"Hehe, it’s the holidays, so please cut me some slack. So, what clothes did you pick?"
Victoria naturally approached Beatrice, picking up a few clothes.
"Oh, this is the one I used to like, but I couldn’t wear it because my chest would show. Let’s try this one on, Mom."
"If you wear that, your outfit will be ruined... Well, I guess Bell can wear it fine."
I felt like I was becoming the doll who was going to be dressed up here.
A monster obsessed with warmth, followed by a man in faded memories, and then a ritual mimicking humans, so I was more like a man in terms of personality.
I thought I’d feel uncomfortable, but when Victoria looked at me, that feeling wasn’t there.
Eventually, by noon and dinner time, I had tried on all the clothes.