A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 113: Coward (1)

"What are you doing?" Theo asked curiously as he watched a small group of rabbit beastmen bring piles of wood and other materials to the entrance of the hut.

They had just finished cleaning up after dinner when the first rabbit beastman had arrived, asking where to place the wood. After that several more appeared with mostly wood, but a few had other things with them.

Serena turned to gaze at him and answered simply, "We’re making a beehive... And before you ask, I’m not touching going near the bees. I’m just helping with the building part and the rest will be done by others."

Theo pursed his lips at her words, wondering if he should voice his concern. When Serena returned from foraging, she hadn’t looked well, pale and her breathing slightly uneven.

And when he asked if she was okay, Serena had just brushed him off. So, he let it be, knowing better than to push her for answers. They weren’t real mates, so it wasn’t like he could demand those types of answers.

But now seeing her work on something he had little knowledge on was beginning to make him wonder if she was perhaps overworking herself. Serena was constantly running around, doing all sorts of things.

And perhaps it was starting to take its toll...

"What’s the issue now?" Serena frowned, noticing that he wanted to say something. "I did keep my promise not to go near the bees."

"That’s not the issue..." Theo sighed, running his hand through his hair. He glanced over at the rabbit beastmen a few meters away before he murmured in a lower tone, "But don’t you think you’re pushing yourself a bit too much. Don’t get me wrong, you can do what you want... But you shouldn’t overwork yourself trying to do everything."

"I am letting others help." Serena grumbled, turning away from him. "You don’t need to concern yourself with me. I’m fine."

Theo wanted to retort, but thought better of it. They just keep arguing senselessly about this and go in circles. So, instead he simply said, "If you say so... Anyway, I’m heading out. Have fun with that project of yours."

And with that he left without another word, not giving Serena a chance to say anything. Frustration gripped him as he headed out of the village, but he couldn’t understand why.

Didn’t know why he was caring so much. They weren’t mates.

Their relationship was nothing more than a transaction that benefited them both. He didn’t need to concern himself with anything else, but keeping his end of their deal.

Nothing more and nothing less.

***

By the time Serena retired for the evening, she was exhausted - both mentally and physically. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and sleep, but that wasn’t possible.

There was too much to do.

Not that her mind would let her sleep. It kept tormenting her, reminding her of how she let her mask slip. How others were bringing to see her cracks. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

And she feared them peering too deeply to see her rotting core. Her true monstrous self. The side of her she hid from the light and wished would never come out.

She needed a distraction, something to keep her mind from drowning. From finding what she hid deep within herself. Because she would break if it ever surfaced.

When Serena entered her subspace, she found Liz in its snake form coiled up in a nest of wheat stalks. She left the system alone, not ready to deal with it. Not after this morning.

Liz had disappeared into her subspace after she left it in the forest and hadn’t spoken to her since. Serena knew she had probably been hurtful to it, but she needed to push that system away. Getting close would end badly.

Besides, it wasn’t like Liz had true emotions. Sure, it had a soul attached to it, but at the end of the day it was basically a machine. Once programmed to make her follow some kind of agenda.

Stop lying to yourself.

The voice echoed in her head as she moved to her stack of books and she immediately pushed it down. She couldn’t allow it to soften her resolve.

She needed to focus on the task at hand. Needed to look more into the beehive blueprints. They were making foundationless frames because they lacked paper and wax and while it was simple enough, she wanted to get the layout right.

And get her mind off everything else.

After pulling out the right books and her notebook, Serena was about to turn around when Liz suddenly said, "You’re a coward."

Serena stiffened at its words for a second before regaining her composure and acting like she hadn’t heard what Liz had said. After all, she’d been called worse before.

However, it never hurt this much...

She moved to her usual spot on the ground, making it seem like she wasn’t listening, but Liz didn’t stop speaking. In fact she just continued.

"You’re the biggest coward I’ve met." Liz muttered. "The worst kind and I would know... I was a coward myself."

Serena set her books down, pretending not to hear. But Liz’s words didn’t shock her any less. Not just the coward part, but the implications of Liz’s words.

If it was calling itself a coward, and using past tense too, that could only mean one thing in Serena’s eyes. Liz had recalled its former memories. She could finally get a clue into whose soul was used.

But as eager as Serena was to ask Liz more about itself, she wasn’t ready to face the system. Not for a while. She wanted to let the dust settle and have them both pretend this had never happened.

And acknowledging Liz’s words would do the opposite of that. It would mean having to confront Liz’s statement about her being a coward and she couldn’t do that.

Couldn’t acknowledge that truth. It would break everything she so carefully built.