The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella

"Good morning, Young Miss—ahhh!"
As usual, Squirrel opened the door and stepped inside, only to let out a shriek.

"A s-snake! There's a snake in the room!"
Her trembling finger pointed toward a black snake, staring blankly at the fireplace in the corner of the room.
Her fingertips quivered as she stammered, "B-B-Black… isn’t that a viper…?"

"It's okay. I don’t mind if I get bitten."
Elodie shrugged as she responded.
"What are you saying?!"

Then, noticing that Squirrel was reacting exactly like Eagles had, she added,
"But if you get bitten, that would be a problem."
"For heaven’s sake! It would be a problem if you got bitten too!"

"It's fine."
Besides, it wasn’t like Karon had any intention of biting anyone.
If he wanted to kill, all he had to do was release his venom into the air. There was no need to go through the hassle of biting.

'If he had intended to go on a rampage from the start, everyone in this palace would already be dead.'
He seemed almost hypersensitive about the idea of someone dying from his venom.
The moment his poison grew too strong and he lost control, he would know instantly—like a premonition.

And when that happened, he wouldn't hesitate to retreat back to the separate palace without looking back.
The fact that he was still here, simply sitting still, meant that things were still under control.
Squirrel, though wary, hesitated as she recalled that even when she had screamed, the snake had never once turned to look at her.

"Hmm."
Once she confirmed that the snake remained perfectly calm, she seemed to relax a little.
"It’s… tame? How strange..."
But he has such a terrible personality.

Hearing her mutter, Elodie turned her gaze toward Karon.
Just how bad must a black mamba’s temper be for people to keep asking why it wasn’t attacking?
'Eagles once said that black mambas have a temperament where they just destroy everything they see.'

That wasn’t entirely true, though.
Since he was beastfolk, he wouldn’t completely inherit an animal’s instincts.
But still, there had to be some influence, right?

She found herself staring at him, wondering what he thought of all this.
"It's fine. Long-Long is kind."
At that ridiculous nickname, Karon—who had been ignoring everything as if he were alone in the room—finally reacted.

Even though he had no expression, Elodie could feel the disbelief radiating from his gaze.
"...Long-Long?"
Squirrel repeated the name, puzzled.

"Yeah. 'Cause he's long."
In truth, she had just taken the "Ron" from "Karon" and repeated it, but she couldn’t admit that.
Squirrel stared at her, clearly dumbfounded by her bizarre naming sense, before sighing in resignation.

"If you're giving him a name, does that mean you like him? Are you planning to keep him?"
"Yeah. I’ll play with him sometimes."
Since she might run into him in his snake form from now on, that was the easiest explanation to give.

"No matter how tame he is, you must get the Duke’s permission."
"It's fine. He already agreed."
If Karon was living in Valkyrisen as the third prince, wasn’t that already permission in itself?

If someone asked Eisen, ‘The Young Miss says she’s going to keep a black mamba as a pet,’ he would probably just tell them to leave her alone.
'Grandfather, on the other hand, might be shocked.'
After all, the little kid he always called a "runt" was now saying she was going to keep his grandson.

"......"
Meanwhile, Karon simply stared at her, as if wondering why she was lying.
Elodie pretended not to notice his gaze and turned back to Squirrel.

"Help me pick out clothes."
"What kind of clothes?"
"Something fluffy."

"Do you mean the alpaca wool coat?"
This translation is the intellectual property of .
When Elodie nodded, Squirrel went to the dressing room and retrieved the coat.

It was too high up for Elodie to reach, so she had been waiting for Squirrel to help her anyway.
Once she got the coat, she gathered it up like a nest and placed it on the bed before lifting Karon onto it.
"Do you like warm things?"

She had asked because he had been staring at the fireplace for so long.
There was no answer, but he also didn’t move away from the coat.
'Looks like he likes it.'

If he didn’t, he would have slithered off already.
Elodie grinned as if she had expected this outcome and met his gaze.
"Come by anytime, Long-Long."

"......"
"If you're hurt or sick, you can come find me. I'll treat you."
And just like that, Elodie gained a pet snake named Long-Long.

***
Pronouncing every word correctly every time was exhausting.
If just knowing how something was pronounced meant you could say it flawlessly, then why would foreigners struggle with their accents?

She understood the words in her head, but her tongue and lips refused to cooperate.
Even Eisen, who could understand the language of mice, and Zenovia, who could understand the language of dogs, would undoubtedly sound strange if they tried to speak those languages themselves.
So it was only natural that Elodie had been struggling with this for so long.

"Ugh, so annoying."
No matter how much time she dedicated to practicing, she couldn’t perfect her pronunciation.
Then again, it hadn’t even been that long.

She was still only five years old.
'Damn it.'
When was she going to grow up already?

Elodie stared at her own tiny hands, trembling with frustration. They still looked more like fallen leaves than proper hands.
So much had happened, and yet, so little time had passed.
‘I swear, I’ll master my pronunciation within the year.’

And once she did, she would become the most refined and dignified physician—one whose very name would command respect.
Elodie sighed, breaking off her ambitious thoughts.
Sensing her gloom, Magic Cotton pressed its soft body against her cheek, as if trying to comfort her.

She flinched in surprise.
Did Magic Cotton actually understand that sighing meant she was in a bad mood?
Had it reached the point where it could recognize emotions and decide to comfort her on its own?

'Could it be? Has Magic Cotton finally developed self-awareness?'
Hope flickered in her voice as she asked,
"Can you understand me now?"

"……."
"If you do, move up and down."
"……."

Tch. Figures.
As always, it had just been a coincidence.
"Forget it. Just take a bath."

Elodie poured a specially formulated potion into a shallow dish prepared for Magic Cotton.
It was a strengthening potion designed to boost energy and reinforce the body. Magic Cotton loved soaking in it.
Or rather, it instinctively recognized that this potion was good for it, much like how it had instantly latched onto her the first time they met—as if # Nоvеlight # it had reunited with a long-lost parent.

A pure survival instinct.
And it wasn’t as if Elodie expected the potion baths to grant Magic Cotton self-awareness.
It was just… well, it seemed to like them.

"Ah, cold."
She shot a side glance at the cotton lumps as they eagerly dove into the dish, splashing drops of the potion everywhere.
She was watching them soak when one of Sera’s maids arrived, calling out,

"Young Miss, Lady Bluewood wishes to speak with you."
"Sera?"
Without even asking why, Elodie immediately set off for Eisen’s office, where Sera was waiting.

* * *
"What? The academy?"
Had she heard that right?

Did Sera really say she wanted to go to an academy?
Elodie blinked in disbelief.
An academy—the kind of place where renowned scholars and educators gathered to teach groups of noble children?

Where students lived in dormitories and only returned home during breaks, trapped in a monstrous academic prison?
‘Why on earth would Sera want to go there?!’