The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella

Every time his poison brought about a disaster beyond his control, he thought—this must be the end.
Even when he lost consciousness from the pain, he would eventually wake up.

The poison in his body grew stronger by the day, and his wretchedly persistent life endured it once again.
Morning came.
The wretched sun rose once more.

Another person had died. He had killed someone again.
It was the first time he had killed a child younger than himself.
A tiny one—who had just barely grown past infancy.

When exactly am I going to die?
Would no one come and put an end to him?
But… I need to live until tomorrow.

Yes, at least until then. He had to bury them. He had to mourn them.
He needed to go to the garden, pick some flowers.
If he searched through the storage, he might be able to find an old doll to bury alongside them.

With those thoughts in mind, Karon limped forward.
But no matter how thoroughly he searched the entire palace, he could not find the body.
***

Elodie had been feeling something lately.
I need to get serious about learning healing magic.
She had managed to grasp self-healing to a certain extent.

And she had learned that her ability had effects similar to a stamina potion.
But it wasn’t nearly enough.
There are too many explosions waiting to go off in the future. I can’t just let them happen.
She needed to master healing magic in advance.

If something happens to the Duke, I need to be able to rush to him and save him immediately.
And before Karon committed his massacre, she had to find a way to suppress or weaken his poison.
Letting her ability—one that everyone called a miracle—go to waste would be foolish.

Pretending to be fast asleep, Elodie suddenly opened her eyes in the dead of night.
The Holy Hammer.
Her father had told her to use it only in emergencies.

But if this wasn’t an emergency, then what was?
Mm… Sorry, Dad.
Your daughter hasn’t exactly been great at following your advice since coming back…

Carefully, she pulled out the Holy Hammer, which she had been treasuring ever since her return.
She inspected it, then lightly tapped the wall with it.
CRACK—!

A gaping hole, shaped exactly like the hammer’s head, burst open in the wall.
Hrk!
Elodie recoiled in shock.

She had been expecting something more mystical, something more magical.
Wait, is this thing seriously just a hammer with nothing but brute force?!
She had made a mistake.

Wasn’t it supposed to guide her to a safe place? Surely, that didn’t mean breaking through a wall to lead her straight into the next room.
Sweating nervously, Elodie pressed her eye against the hole, peering beyond.
Huh?

But what she saw wasn’t just the other side of the wall.
Where is this?
Inside the wall was another hidden space.

Even though it was the middle of the night, sunlight streamed through the stained glass.
From ceiling to floor, the chamber was decorated with marble, resembling a temple at first glance—but rows of neatly arranged bookshelves made it look more like a library.
And the size…

A space only large enough for a harvest mouse.
She was used to this by now.
If anything, this secret room might be the safest place in existence.

No one could intrude.
After all, the only creatures smaller than a harvest mouse were insects.
Elodie swung the hammer again, this time aiming lower.

A small, unmistakably mouse-sized hole opened.
Now I can fit through.
Elodie transformed into her harvest mouse form, strapped the Holy Hammer onto her back, and carefully slipped inside.

The moment she entered, the hole in the wall sealed itself shut.
Hah, did I just trap myself?
But as soon as she approached the wall again, she could pass through it naturally.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Elodie began to explore the space.
How far does this go?
The area stretched endlessly, vast and grand. It seemed as though it would continue forever.

But as she followed the bookshelves, she eventually reached an end.
She examined the book at the very last shelf.
"Resurrection and Reincarnation: The Gift of a New Life—by Raphael, the First Lord of the Ratson Lineage."

?!
Elodie froze.
"Resurrection and Reincarnation? The Gift of a New Life?"

Could the Ratson bloodline truly achieve something like that?
She had heard that the first Lord of Ratson had been so extraordinarily powerful that he was practically worshipped as a god.
But still…

This was something entirely different.
This was touching upon the domain of the divine.
If I think about it… I was brought back to life too. Though it wasn’t resurrection or reincarnation—I simply turned back time.

Elodie herself was a living testament to a miracle.
Time regression is still within the realm of the divine.
Unconsciously, she reached for the book, drawn in as if under a spell.

Just as she was about to open it…
"Tchi… tchikchik! (Urgh… It won’t open!)"
The pages were completely sealed shut, as if glued together with the strongest adhesive.

"Tchiiiik! (Why can’t I read it?!)"
All that anticipation, and for what?
Sighing, she quietly returned the book to its place.

Even among the Ratson lineage, people are born with vastly different talents…
Even though she had access to the same space, even though the Holy Hammer had led her here, her capabilities were evidently lacking.
It seemed that unless she reached the necessary level, she would never be able to read that book.

This was her father’s work!

Elodie’s face lit up as she eagerly pulled the book from the shelf.
"For my child?"
That was her!

He told her not to do anything reckless, yet he wrote an entire series for her?
Of course, he had probably meant for her to read them when she was older, when she had grown into the rightful heir of the Ratson lineage.
But whether she read them now or a few years later—

It makes no difference.
Her mental age, counting the memories she had lost and regained, was at least eighteen. That was old enough.
As his daughter, she had a duty to read these books.

…Wait, what if this one doesn’t open either?
Hands trembling with a mix of excitement and apprehension, she tried to open the book.
It flipped open effortlessly.

Her earlier suspicion—that all the other books were just decorative dummies—felt ridiculous now.
"For my star, Gracia, who will one day return to us."
"……."

A creeping darkness slithered into her mind, and Elodie struggled to push it away.
"One day…"
In this life, she had returned after just two years. But in her past life, her parents—

She squeezed her eyes shut.
She couldn’t stop imagining these books just sitting here forever, gathering dust on a forgotten shelf.
That was probably what had actually happened.

The curse of their lineage had never been broken. The Ratson family had only awaited their inevitable demise.
"What were you thinking when you wrote this, Dad…?"
Elodie traced her fingers over the words over and over before she finally turned the page.

Chapter 1. Never Leave Even the Smallest Wound Untreated.
How to Make a Scar-Free Healing Balm.

3g of beeswax
16g of evening starflower oil
1g of blue thorn pinecone powder
Evening star… blue thorn… what?
The only ingredient she recognized was beeswax.
She had thought she was knowledgeable about plants as a harvest mouse, but she had never heard of these before in her life.

Still holding the book, Elodie made her way over to a large desk, where rows of glass bottles were neatly arranged.
"Oh, everything’s here!"
Checking the labels, she quickly located the ingredients.

A scale sat nearby, so she carefully measured out the exact amounts listed in the book and mixed them in a beaker.
Then, she placed the mixture onto the warm stove that had been heating the room since she first arrived.
Resting her chin on her hands, she watched the ingredients slowly melt together.

It was already starting to feel satisfying.
[That’s not how you do it.]