The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella-Chapter 97

"...Wasn't it because you knew him that you volunteered to interrogate him?"

Noticing the shift in her tone, Karon tilted his head slightly, giving a casual reply.

"Yeah, I know."

"Guess you weren’t on good terms, huh?"

Karon paused for a moment, as though lost in his memories, before responding in a flat tone.

"Subject 2 had the privilege to freely enter and exit the research facility, both inside and outside, without any restrictions, with the permission of the head of the research institute."

The head of the research institute gave permission?

Elodie furrowed her brow.

No wonder he claimed he came under his father’s orders.

If someone who used living beings as test subjects was granted that level of authority, what kind of actions had they been involved in?

The answer soon became clear.

"He enjoyed displaying the runaway test subjects brutally at the entrance as an example. He even stepped in to perform experiments himself when the researchers couldn’t."

"..."

"He particularly liked me. Even though he treated me this roughly, he would always say, 'Let’s meet again,' every time I left."

"..."

If that’s the case, you should've said so sooner.

Elodie would’ve had no problem wielding the Holy Hammer at any moment.

"I thought you asked me to handle this by persuasion, not interrogation, because we knew each other," Karon continued.

"Otherwise, there’d be no reason for me to hold back."

The scum who nearly killed her and then tried to steal the Holy Hammer...

She stepped forward, preparing to charge, her fists clenched, ready to act. The moment her foot touched the stairs, the boy hastily grabbed her.

"Stop. If you go now..."

"It’s fine. I lived as a rat; I’m not so weak."

Elodie placed both hands on her hips and thrust her chin upward, puffing her chest out in a menacing posture.

Though, it was entirely useless.

"Stop."

She was effortlessly lifted and dragged by Karon.

"Hey! You’re only fourteen!"

"You’re nine..."

"My birthday's just a few days away. I’m almost ten," she retorted.

And when factoring in her past life and lost memories, it felt like such a vast age difference! The frustration of not being able to voice that was overwhelming.

'Huh.'

As she struggled uselessly, Elodie belatedly realized that she was being held in Karon’s arms.

In a desperate attempt to reach the interrogation room, she clung to him as if to jump out of his arms.

Elodie quickly released her arms from around his neck and crossed them over her chest, grabbing hold of her own arms.

Meanwhile, Karon continued speaking.

"Even if you lived as a rat, there’s no need to know how the test subjects are treated at the research facility."

"..."

The condition of Subject 2 now made sense.

No wonder there was a strong smell of blood in the air.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The poison had probably been absorbed entirely by Elodie, but how could a child conduct an interrogation?

Had she repaid all the suffering she endured at the research facility?

"I had no choice but to be born this way, but there’s no need for you to become used to it and hardened by it. No matter how old you get," Karon added.

"..."

"Don’t just look at it."

How could she keep being stubborn when he said it so directly?

Elodie slumped her shoulders and asked, "Did you learn anything?"

"Not yet. The subject’s still out of it. Hmm, but he kept murmuring ‘Silvaria’..."

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Silvaria?

The land of House Valkyrisen was located in the Silvaria Kingdom, after all.

Though most of Silvaria’s strength came from Valkyrisen.

'But why suddenly Silvaria...'

Elodie furrowed her brow.

Then again, only a few hours had passed. Something would come up soon.

"Did you get proper revenge?"

"Yeah."

"It hasn’t even been a day; what kind of revenge can you possibly have taken?"

Elodie rebuked Karon, who was responding obediently to her questions.

Look at that miserable look. He looked like he hadn’t eaten a single meal, yet he’s trying to interrogate someone.

"You know, revenge is supposed to be repaid tenfold, right?"

As she spoke, Elodie pulled a healing potion from her pocket and slipped it into Karon's outer coat pocket.

With a playful smile at the boy, who was staring at the potion as if to ask what it was, she added, "If you're barely hanging on, at least let you live first."

"Hah..."

Was that an unexpected reaction?

Karon stopped for a moment, letting out a dry laugh.

"One is not enough."

"Ask for more when you need it."

That amount of potion was easy for her now, almost as if she could make it in her sleep.

Soon, she might even reach the point where she could make it with a single kick, like the Fire Elemental.

"Okay."

At her bold words, the boy smiled gently, like sunlight briefly spilling on the snow in the dead of winter.

Elodie had already given up on going to the underground interrogation room, yet Karon still didn’t let her down from his arms.

***

"No, that black mamba, I mean, the snake that was always attached to His Third Highness... that snake was the third prince?"

"Wait, so he couldn’t control the poison he was carrying, which is why he’s been staying in the annex all # Nоvеlight # this time?"

Finally, Elodie was able to reveal Karon's true identity in front of the servants.

They seemed to be in shock for a while, unable to say anything, but after a moment, they barely managed to accept it and said:

"That blanket in the young master's room, it was His Third Highness’s after all..."

"I knew it. I was thinking it was strange and suspicious, but it was just in my head, after all."

So they didn’t know that Long-Long was actually Prince Karon.

The servants laughed awkwardly, admitting that they had misunderstood.

"I thought the young master was just sleeping together with him, knowing everything."

Butler Dogren, clueless, openly confessed his misunderstanding.

However, he was quickly stopped by Butler Catlix, who dragged him to the corner.

"You idiot! How could you say that out loud?! The young master would never do something like that!"

And Elodie, who had known Karon's identity from the start but had allowed him to sleep in her room, fell silent for a moment.

"Anyway, I see now. Hmm, this is... something."

The servants glanced at Karon, who was silently standing beside Elodie.

The young master didn’t know anything, so it was understandable.

But the third prince, hiding his identity and taking the spot of a pet snake... what on earth...?

‘I should’ve tried that too.’

‘I never even thought of doing something like that.’

‘He’s not normal.’

‘So is it really just that snakes are different?’

‘Even a fox beastfolk couldn’t do something like that...’

They felt conflicted, wanting to scold him for taking away the young master, but at the same time, Karon was the third prince with a tragic past and a patient, so their emotions were very complicated and delicate.

That day, the castle buzzed with talk of Karon's identity.

It was around that time that Edmund and Geno, who had chased after Karon, received the message and returned to the Valkyrisen Castle.

Geno couldn’t hide his disbelief.

He never would have expected Karon to be brainwashed and return to Valkyrisen.

"Why did your hair turn white?"

"..."

"Your grandfather rejuvenated and got his black hair back, but did aging catch up to you early?"

In fact, that was why Karon’s hair had turned white.

Elodie, knowing how insensitive her words were, immediately punched her side.

"Do you want to die? What nonsense are you speaking about our fairy grandmother... no, the fairy?"

"...Fairy?"

Geno seemed to doubt his ears.

"You can’t be calling that black creature a fairy, can you?"

"Black? It’s completely white."

"That’s not what I meant by black!"

"Our fairy grandmother... Karon is pure white, inside and out..."

"Are you serious?"

Elodie confidently said that Karon’s heart was also white, as a reflection of the kindness, warmth, and miracles that their fairy grandmother had granted him.

But after her return to the past, there were moments when she thought... maybe there was a darker side to him, one that was hinted at here and there.

But that was just because he had been suffering all this time, right? It wasn’t his fault.

‘Once he’s healed and socializes again, he’ll go back to being pure and white.’

In any case, she couldn’t stand anyone criticizing Karon’s white hair, which was a symbol of all the hardships and sacrifices he had endured.

What was wrong with our fairy grandmother’s hair?!

No, well, she wasn’t a grandmother, but still!

"Have you gone blind in the time I haven’t seen you?"

"No, and the white hair is just temporary from the poison. With treatment, it’ll return to its original color, so don’t worry about it..."

"Cough."

It was then, as Elodie and Geno were growling at each other, that Karon suddenly coughed quietly, covering his mouth.