The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella

At first, they suspected a plague.

But after that incident, the deaths stopped.
Next, they suspected poisoning.
Anyone who touched the remains of the victims suffered necrosis as if they had been poisoned.

Yet, despite the best efforts of scholars and physicians, they found no known toxin that could explain it.
The substance could not even be analyzed.
All that was left was a scene so horrific it seemed more like a curse than a mere act of violence.

The humans accused the beastfolk.
The beastfolk accused the humans.
“We should have known from the moment they started letting in those unidentified magical beasts! It had to be one of them!”

“They must have been secretly raising some monstrous beastfolk, preparing for rebellion! And now they’ve been struck down by their own schemes.”
“Whoever did this, Valkyrisen is responsible for the massacre.”
The humans of Terranolia had spoken.

Meanwhile, Animallia claimed that Valkyrisen had been conducting illegal experiments to create superhuman weapons.
Of course, most of these rumors were propaganda, spread by both continents to justify war.
But… the claim that the culprit was a single person?

That might be true.
If they all died from Karon’s venom.
His poison would kill everything indiscriminately—beastfolk, humans, plants, animals.

Elodie had never seen the aftermath of the massacre with her own eyes.
But she had read the newspapers.
And the way they described the devastation was identical to the state of Serenity Palace, drenched in Karon’s venom.
And then—

Five years later, the Third Prince died.
If Karon was the culprit, there were two possibilities.
First Possibility

"Karon’s venom grew stronger over time, until it spiraled out of control, resulting in an unintentional massacre—and then, he himself perished."
Second Possibility
"Karon, under orders from the Basilisks, deliberately slaughtered the people of Valkyrisen, paving the way for their downfall—then faked his death and disappeared."

If it was the first case, he was an innocent victim.
If it was the second case, he was an undeniable perpetrator.
“This is a headache.”

She kept leaning toward the second theory.
Why did the Third Prince distance himself from his family and the Valkyrisen people?
Because they were all doomed to die anyway?

Because his clan would be wiped out, so there was no point in forming attachments?
Of course, even if he was a future mass murderer, he was still just a child.
If he had acted on the Basilisk family’s orders, it wouldn’t have been his own choice.

But—
The massacre didn’t just kill Valkyrisen’s people.
"How many more died in the war that followed, once the peace treaty was shattered?"

And yet—
Everything was just speculation for now.
Nothing had happened yet.

Karon was still just a nine-year-old child who had committed no crimes.
Regardless of which theory was true, helping him control his poison would be in her best interest.
If it’s the first case, I can gain his trust and secure his cooperation later.

If it’s the second case… well, he’s still a child. Maybe he can be swayed.
But if he had no future outside the Basilisk family…
Then there was no choice.

She would have to see him as an enemy.
For some reason, she couldn’t shake the image of that empty-eyed child from her mind…
But still, Elodie made her decision with cold, unwavering clarity.

***
At some point, Karon’s eyes snapped open.
He had blacked out.

Was it because he had overexerted himself in his already miserable state?
Not that it mattered. It wasn’t the first time.
“…It doesn’t hurt.”

Why?
Karon’s fingers traced from his chest down to his stomach as he murmured.
He shouldn’t have adapted to the mutating poison so quickly.

And yet, the pain had subsided.
Why was he recovering faster than expected?
And then—

He remembered.
The Ratson heir had entered his room.
‘A dream?’

Karon glanced down at his fingers, his vision still hazy.
‘No… It wasn’t a dream.’
The sensation had been too real.

It wasn’t the burning agony of poison.
It was warmth—
The warmth of a living person’s touch.

Even as he had suffered through his organs liquefying from his own venom, he had felt it clearly.
‘Ah.’
Karon’s already pale face turned even whiter.

That child—
That child had touched him.
With her bare hands.

At a time when he couldn’t even control his venom.
She should be dead.
At this level of toxicity, she wouldn’t have even needed to breathe the same air to die.

What was she thinking?!
And then, he remembered—
The girl from the garden.

The one who had chased after him with her awkward little steps—
The one who had gathered a bunch of flowers and pressed them into his hands.
"Here—snake. Dangerous. If—if prince gets bitten, chew this or crush it—put it on the wound."

She had no idea who he was.
She had seen a snake nearby, thought it might be dangerous, and so—
She had plucked herbs that were natural antidotes and given them to him.

Without hesitation.
Without expecting anything in return.
Just because someone might get hurt.

The Ratson Heir’s Power—Did She…?
Karon froze.
Had she—

Had she really just held his hand to heal him?
Had she tried to help him, without even knowing what he was?
Did that… actually work?

The thought drove him insane.
Because that meant—
He had killed the person who tried to help him.

This… was reality?
If anyone touched him, they should have melted away like snow under fire.
She had been so small.

So fragile.
And yet, she had come all the way here—
‘But… there’s no body.’

Karon climbed out of bed and searched the floor.
He had done this so many times before.
He expected to find a corpse, its entire body blackened from toxic exposure.

He even checked under the bed—but there was nothing.
‘Did she escape…?’
Was that possible?

It made no sense, but—
If there was no body, then…
‘If she’s Ratson… maybe… just maybe…’

Karon’s thoughts were cut off when he stepped on broken glass.
A faint sound escaped his lips.
"Ah."

Even though the wound was deep, that was all.
There was no shock, no panic—
Just a detached gaze, watching as his black blood seeped into the carpet.

Sizzle—
The fabric melted instantly.
The hope he had just entertained vanished.

The carpet was reduced to tattered ruins in seconds.
Every drop of blood burned straight through, leaving only blackened scars on the floor beneath.
Of course.

There was no way anyone could have survived meeting him.
"Then… the body must be in the hallway."
Maybe she had fled the room.

But somewhere along the way, she must have succumbed to the poison.
Karon knew this for a fact.
Because he had once met the High Priest of Ratson—

And even he had struggled against Karon’s venom.
A man chosen by the gods couldn’t handle it.
Who else possibly could?

And his poison…
It only grew stronger with time.
Dissolving his own body.

Forcing him to regenerate.
Then dissolving him again.
A never-ending cycle of torment.

Karon didn’t even consider the possibility that she had survived.
"I’ll have to bury her."
There might still be space left in the basement.

A poisoned corpse couldn’t be left exposed to the outside.
He pressed his foot down on the carpet, trying to stop the bleeding, as he thought.
She must not have known.

That the person she tried to heal—
Was the one who killed her.
Her.

Her parents.
Everyone.
Karon’s hands covered his face.

Someone out there would be happy about this.
They would say "Well done."
They would say "You truly are a Basilisk."

And Karon—
He just wanted to die.