The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella-Chapter 96

Of course, it wasn’t okay.

‘Is that really something you’re saying right now?’

But Elodie couldn’t just snap back at him.

After all, Karon’s condition was so serious that she couldn’t afford to be harsh with him.

He had barely escaped death and was now in a fragile state.

She’d given him healing potions, but they were only basic first aid, nothing more.

He was basically like a critically ill patient who needed to lie down and rest!

Elodie, who had taken it upon herself to be Karon’s primary doctor, couldn’t just push him away when he came to her door.

If they were in the same building, maybe it’d be different, but from the main palace to Serenity Palace, the distance was quite considerable.

"Ugh, fine. Just come in!"

Elodie dragged Karon into her room.

She grabbed the blanket that Long-Long used when he was in his snake form and threw it at his face.

"......"

Karon silently hugged the thick blanket that hit his face and dropped into his arms, burying his frozen cheek in the soft fur.

So, he was cold after all.

‘With the way he came in here, I thought maybe he’d lost all feeling in his body.’

His ears were completely red too.

"Cover yourself properly."

Elodie took the blanket from Karon and wrapped it around his body, then handed him a large leather hot water pack.

She made him sit right in front of the fireplace.

"......My face is hot."

"Just deal with it."

Even if he felt like he was going to roast like a snake, he had to endure it.

"When I’m saying something nice..."

Elodie ground her teeth and growled, then returned to the point.

"So, you risked your life to come here because Serenity Palace is colder than my room?"

Of course, it would be cold.

If you’re wearing such thin clothes, it’s going to be cold no matter where you are!

"If you light a fire, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Serenity Palace or the main palace, there’s no way one’s warmer than the other."

And Karon wouldn’t be staying at Serenity Palace for long anyway.

He was only supposed to stay there for a short while, just until his body recovered and he became resistant to poison.

It wasn’t like he was in a state of despair, seeing no hope for survival as before.

Now, there was hope that he could become immune to poison, but he was still acting recklessly?

Maybe the poison had even affected his mind.

‘It’s not an impossible thought.’

While Elodie was deep in thought, Karon spoke up quietly.

"You said it."

"What did I say?"

"You said when I was sick, no one was around, so it hurt more."

She had said that.

"When you’re in pain, when things are hard, when it feels like you’re about to die, you said you’d always be there if I called."

She had definitely said that.

It was over four years ago, almost five years now, when they were younger.

Yet Karon remembered those exact words, word for word.

So much so that it made him break into a cold sweat.

"Do you not feel that way anymore?"

"......"

"Did you forget what you said back then?"

"No, I remember..."

"Then... do you regret it?"

Karon asked, his voice even and emotionless, his gaze lowered.

Why did he look so defeated?

Why did he look so lost and sorrowful, like he might vanish at any moment?

Her heart ached as she looked at him.

‘Is it because of his white hair?’

Because the color had faded so much from black to almost pale, it made him look delicate?

‘No, his size actually got bigger.’

Delicate? [N O V E L I G H T] Not at all.

He was just lean, but still strong.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

‘So it’s probably because he reminds me of Long-Long.’

When he looked human, Elodie thought she would be able to push him away coldly, but it wasn’t so easy anymore!

She sighed and wiped her face, feeling deep regret inside.

How had she let that cute, beautiful, adorable black snake worm its way into her heart...

"I don’t regret it. But, back then, maybe it was easier because we were younger, but now... it’s a bit different. I need to be more careful."

She wasn’t sure, but didn’t nobles in Terranolia arrange marriages at this age?

Marriage, huh?

To her, still living more as a mouse than a human, it seemed like something so distant, almost foreign.

But once she lifted the curse of the Ratson family, completed her revenge, and safely took over the role of High Priest...

‘Maybe one day, I’ll have a political marriage with a male harvest mouse or someone like that.’

It was hard to imagine.

"Anyway, I’m just asking you to be a little more considerate of social propriety. I know the age difference might make it sound ridiculous, but Karon, you probably think of me as a close little sister."

"......"

For some reason, Karon, who had been silent for a moment, finally moved his lips.

"...I don't see you that way."

"Then, are we friends?"

Elodie thought, considering that her mental age might be a little higher than her actual age.

The response came a beat too late to the child’s boastful remark.

"...You're not my friend."

Not even a friend?

Elodie felt a little hurt.

"Then what are we? Doctor and patient?"

Could a doctor and patient sleep in the same room, let alone share a bed?

That seemed a bit much.

Elodie shook her head, as if saying that wasn’t right for her.

"Well, you’ve been raising me like a pet snake, so maybe I’m your master."

The bombshell dropped, and for a moment, Elodie was at a loss for words, staring at him in stunned silence.

She stood up abruptly, her shock making her react instinctively.

"Master, my foot!"

"If we're going to define our relationship, then that’s how it is."

"...Let’s not define it, then."

"Good thinking."

Perhaps his answer satisfied him, as Karon’s eyes lazily closed, resembling a well-fed predator.

Elodie felt like she’d been played right into his hands.

Sighing, Elodie squatted down across from him and carefully asked, "Is this because when you're in pain, there’s no one else around? If that’s the case, just bear with this winter, and soon there will be people around you. You won’t be the only one for me anymore."

She intended to comfort him, to reassure him that he wouldn’t always be alone.

But before she could finish, Karon beat her to the punch.

"I’ve learned exactly what it’s like when no one’s there when you’re in pain."

"..."

"You taught me that..."

His red eyes were reflecting the glow of the fireplace, and he still wasn’t letting his gaze leave her.

It seemed like the heat of the fire had transferred to him, making the room feel warmer than it actually was.

"Are you just going to tell me and leave me?"

Leave him?

Why such an extreme conclusion?

Elodie immediately denied it, but in the end, she sighed.

At least in this moment, it was true that Karon could only find someone like Elodie when he was in pain.

How could she just send him away after hearing those words?

"If social propriety is the problem, then I’ll sleep here without anyone knowing."

"Sigh... I guess I don’t have much of a choice. Just until you’re better."

Elodie finally relented.

"Of course, as a snake."

"Okay."

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Karon seemed content with just that, blushing faintly as he shyly smiled.

It was only then that Elodie realized that despite seeking someone to be by his side during his pain, he didn’t actually seem to be in pain at all.

***

The Next Day

Elodie headed to the underground interrogation room.

Karon was there.

‘Is he already well enough to move around?’

She had expected him to rest while receiving treatment.

But she couldn’t let Karon do whatever he wanted.

"Here’s another test subject for the head of the lab’s experiments."

It was when Elodie saw the man, who had attacked her and tried to kill her, lying defeated after being dealt with by Magic Cotton.

"Test subject? Do you know him?"

"There’s no test subject who doesn’t know No. 2."

No. 2.

He was another test subject, but unlike Karon, who was still young, this person had surpassed adulthood by a long stretch.

He was the second test subject.

‘And Karon had asked me to take care of it.’

Since they came from the same lab, they might have had a deeper bond.

In that harsh environment, even if their personalities clashed, the test subjects might have felt a sense of shared struggle.

‘That guy—his mannerisms reminded me so much of Nyx Basilisk, mocking and all.’

Calling me a rat and a messenger of the gods, as though that made him noble.

Even if he was someone like that, locked up, experimented on, and used by others, he was a clear victim...

‘Thinking about what I almost went through, I’d love to tear him apart, but...’

Elodie decided to leave the judgment of this man’s fate to Karon.

Just as she arrived at the stairs leading down, Karon appeared, hastily putting on black leather gloves and coming up the stairs.

"You don’t need to come all the way up here."

"I was just curious to see what happened."

Elodie answered and briefly focused her gaze on the boy’s hands, moving quickly.

‘He doesn’t need gloves anymore, does he?’

If it was because he feared poisoning someone with his touch, she understood. After all, Elodie had absorbed all the poison.

As she thought that, she suddenly caught a sharp smell of blood from his hand.

No matter how much he tried to hide it, Elodie’s sensitive harvest mouse nose couldn’t be fooled.

Elodie found herself unable to tear her eyes away from Karon’s hand for a different reason this time.