The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella-Chapter 74

How did he even hear that?

It was supposed to be a closely guarded secret—one Elodie had passed to Edmund, who then relayed it to Eisen. That should have been the end of it.

There was no way Edmund or Eisen would have told Karon. Did he overhear it somewhere along the way?

"I just... I knew nothing could have suddenly happened, but I had this feeling I needed to check if you were safe."

Oh, for heaven’s sake.

Elodie wanted to sigh and press her fingers against her forehead.

But with the child in front of her, she couldn’t afford to let it show. She only pressed her lips together in silence.

"And then... I sensed your presence from inside the wall. At this point, I thought, have they really stooped to such levels that they'd resort to something like this...?"

"......."

"That’s all there is to it."

Karon finished speaking with difficulty, cutting off his words multiple times as if he wasn’t used to talking to people. Then he fell silent.

A heavy silence settled between them.

"Wow, this is..."

So, when she was already reeling from the revelation that Packer was a Basilisk spy, Karon had figured out that she had been kidnapped by the Basilisks as well?

She had just thrown oil onto a fire that was already smoldering in the boy’s heart.

"I didn’t want you to know."

Elodie knew Edmund and Eisen wouldn’t suspect Karon.

Even if they did, they would still take responsibility for him until the end. That was why she had felt safe telling them.

She hadn't expected things to turn out like this.

"What do I do now?"

What am I supposed to do here...

Elodie froze in place, caught in her own panic.

Then, Karon, who had been standing with his head lowered and his lifeless eyes blinking, finally spoke.

"Let go."

He raised a gloved hand and pried her fingers off one by one.

No strength of hers could overpower someone who could break through walls.

Elodie could only let go helplessly.

Her mind went blank. She stood there, floundering, completely lost on what to do, while Karon had already turned his back and was walking away.

And then, she remembered the words she had once spoken to Edmund.

If Karon ever stopped avoiding her...

If he ever opened up, even just a little...

Whether he was bad, whether he was pitiful...

For now.

"For now, I’ll be the one to hold him."

Screw it.

Elodie spread her arms wide and wrapped them tightly around Karon's waist.

As if clinging to him.

She was a harvest mouse, small even for a five-year-old.

But Karon, whose body had suffered under poison from birth, was also small for a nine-year-old.

So, in a way, it worked.

"......."

The boy came to an abrupt halt.

Even his breath seemed to stop for a moment.

His body, already stiff, turned to ice beneath her touch.

Elodie held him close, pressing her warmth against him, as if she could thaw his frozen frame with the heat of her own body.

One day, would this boy be the reason the peace treaty crumbled and war broke out?

But Elodie chose not to think about that right now.

There was only one thing that mattered.

Karon didn’t know Packer was a spy.

He didn’t know the Basilisks were the ones who had kidnapped and abandoned her.

Spy or not, the only thing standing in front of her right now was a wounded child.

So what else could she do?

She had no choice but to hold him.

The sudden embrace left the boy frozen like a broken doll for a long moment.

Then, at last, he managed to speak.

"Are you insane?"

His reaction was... something else.

Well, yeah. If someone I barely knew suddenly hugged me, I’d probably find it unpleasant too.

But if you hadn’t kept running away, I wouldn’t have done this.

And now you just say something like that and leave? What am I supposed to do with the way that makes me feel?!

Ignoring his reaction, Elodie spoke.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

"If you push me away, my bones will break." (Ka-won-i poosh me ‘way, ma bones bwo-ken.)

Karon, who had been gripping her arms tightly to pry her off, suddenly hesitated.

He looked momentarily flustered before responding, a beat too late.

"I heard that Ratsons can heal broken bones instantly."

"So... you gonna break my arm?" (So... you gonna bwo’ke ma ahm?)

Karon fell silent.

Elodie had been prepared to accept it if he really meant to break her bones, but to her surprise, he completely froze instead.

"...Let go."

"No." (Dun’ wanna.)

"......."

"Karon."

"Don’t call me that."

"Ka-wong." (Ka-wong.)

"Karon."

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"Ka-wong." (Ka-wong.)

"Ka... fine. Whatever." (Ka... fine. Whatevah’.)

Tired of correcting her, Karon gave up.

Elodie seized the moment to get to the point.

"You right. The Basilisks did kidnap me. But the one who did it was Nyx Basilisk." (Ka-wong say wight. Ba-si-wis-k take me. But... was Nix Ba-si-wis-k.)

The moment she said Nyx, his red eyes wavered violently, his entire expression shifting in an instant.

Terror. Disgust. Hatred. Helplessness. Resignation.

A flood of emotions flickered through his gaze before disappearing.

From behind, Elodie couldn't see his face.

She tightened her grip, forcing her sluggish tongue and lips to move deliberately as she enunciated each word.

"Nyx Basilisk." (Nix Ba-si-wis-k.)

“......”

"Nyx Basilisk." (Nix Ba-si-wis-k.)

Not Karon Basilisk.

She swallowed the words before they left her lips, instead repeating the name of the true culprit over and over.

Because she couldn’t pretend she knew what it meant for Karon to bear the name Basilisk, this was all she could do—drill it into his mind.

You had nothing to do with this.

Only then did the stiffness in his body begin to ease, if only slightly.

"You know, Karon... When you were sick, you looked like it hurt more because no one was there." (Ka-wong... when yoo huwt, yoo look mo’ huwt ‘cause nobody thewe.)

Karon remained silent for a moment.

But surprisingly, he didn’t ignore her.

"That doesn’t make any sense. Pain doesn’t get worse just because you’re alone." (Nobody thewe dun’ make it huwt mowe.)

Oh, he really doesn’t get it.

Or maybe he just never had a day where he wasn’t in pain.

Normally, being sick and alone made people feel even worse.

"Your sickness doesn’t affect me. Your poison won’t spread to me." (Ka-wong’s sick dun’ wowk on me. Dun’ spwead. I safe.)

“......”

"I’ll never die. Even if everyone else dies, I’ll still be standing, healthy and perfectly fine." (I dun’ die. Evewybody die, but I stay ‘wive. Stwong.)

Elodie still had no clue how to do proper psychological therapy.

But she did know how to comfort someone.

She finally let go of Karon’s waist.

Then, before he could think about running away, she grabbed his arm and turned him toward her.

Looking directly into his eyes—just as Sera had once done for her—Elodie spoke firmly.

"I will never die." (I nevah die.)

“......”

"So if you’re hurting, if you’re struggling, if you ever feel like you’re about to die—call me." (So when yoo huwt, o’ sad, o’ think yoo gon’ die—call me.)

I’ll be there.

She forced herself to pronounce the words as clearly as possible.

Then, as soon as she finished, she turned her head away and let out a long sigh.

Phew... That was exhausting. (Phew... Dat was ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) hawd.)

Her tongue felt like it was about to cramp.

Karon remained silent.

Elodie had let him go, so he could leave whenever he wanted.

And yet, he didn’t move.

He had never once considered the possibility that his poison had no effect on her.

Even if her body seemed fine, her mind should still suffer.

That was only natural.

His poison wasn’t something people could pretend to be okay with.

No one who stepped into a space filled with his toxicity had ever survived.

And even if they had, they wouldn’t have stood before him so calmly.

Anyone would have recoiled in terror, scrambling to flee as if they were facing a natural disaster.

Even the servants who had never witnessed it firsthand avoided him.

So Elodie’s words—

They weren’t just shallow lies.

They weren’t hypocritical kindness.

Karon knew that better than anyone.

Come to think of it...

From the very beginning, she had been like this.

The first time they met, she hadn’t even realized he was a venomous snake.

She had just handed him a violet flower that neutralized snake poison.

She had been trying to heal him from the start.

He truly... didn’t understand her at all.