The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella - Chapter 2
Thump, thump, thump!
Elodie abruptly opened her eyes at the loud footsteps.
With each vibration of the ceiling, dust rained down like a drizzle from the sky.
“Cinderella!”
“Cinderella, you lazy girl! Do you even know what time it is?”
The frantic shouts of Cinderella’s stepsisters, Rose and Daisy, rang out one after the other.
‘This is…’
With no light to be seen, the surroundings were dark, and cobwebs were visible in every direction.
A cramped space, just enough to survive for the smallest type of mouse, the harvest mouse.
From the moment she had memories until before going to the palace.
‘Under the floorboards of Bluewood Mansion.’
How could this be?
Elodie knew better than anyone that she was facing death soon.
But why was she still alive?
Most importantly…
‘Why are Rose and Daisy tormenting Cinderella again?’
They were clearly banished to a rural village with their stepmother and couldn’t return to the capital.
And didn’t Cinderella become the prince’s wife?
Does this make sense?
‘Unless, time somehow rewound itself….’
That’s when it happened.
“Yes! I’m going now, elder sisters!”
After a brief moment of confusion and hesitation, a familiar voice was heard.
Much younger than what she remembered…
Without second thoughts, Elodie darted out.
She had to see for herself.
Bouncy footsteps, a lovely smile, clear and curious eyes, a voice that projected a gentle but strong inner self…
Cinderella, before she went to the palace.
No, a much younger Cinderella.
The youngest daughter of the Bluewood Count family—Seraphina Bluewood.
“Seraphina!”
There she was.
Wearing rags and holding a tray with a cup.
She had been working hard since morning, trying to appease her sisters’ tempers, who had been in a bad mood since morning.
Her once shiny golden hair, now dusty and matted, shook as unsteadily as the cup on the tray.
‘Ah… she was this young back then.’
In those days, even young Seraphina seemed like a giant to Elodie.
Well, the harvest mouse species itself was only about the size of a human thumb. So she hadn’t really grasped it.
No matter how quickly she matured and acted like an adult, she was just a fourteen-year-old girl.
This young girl was going to experience unthinkable things in the Bluewood family until she became an adult.
So she probably wanted to cling to even a phoney of a prince.
Because apart from him, no one would reach out to this child.
Elodie quickly followed Seraphina.
‘Time has been rewound.’
Her heart started beating loudly.
‘Is this the work of the Fairy Godmother?’
The Fairy Godmother had granted Cinderella’s wish to go to the ball.
A dazzling dress and sparkling glass slippers.
Even though the magic was fleeting and released after midnight.
‘Even so…’
An opportunity had arisen.
“The tea has gone cold!”
“I’m sorry, sister. I’ll be more careful next time.”
“Tsk, all you’re good at is answering. What’s the use of that?”
“Ah…”
Seraphina, with a perplexed expression, used her fingertips to brush off the blackened soot from her dress.
“I don’t know if you ever wash. Can you eat what you gave me, it’s so dirty?”
“No, I washed it, but there’s no room, so I sleep next to the hearth…”
“Stop making excuses. You know I could die if my precious fabric gets stained with soot.”
Countess Bluewood had used Seraphina as a scullery maid since she was a child.
Her daughters, the young girls, also followed the mistress’s behavior and treated Seraphina with the same attitude.
They had taken her room away, making her sleep next to the hearth and mocked her for being a chimney sweep.
‘But at least they’re not someone unrelated to Seraphina.’
What had consistently angered Elodie was…
“Tsk, don’t create unnecessary trouble.”
Count Bluewood.
He had remarried only three months after Sera’s biological mother passed away.
Even though he was the head of the family, he not only failed to protect his daughter but also neglected her.
He would merely wag his tongue in reproach whenever she suffered at the hands of her stepmother, stepsisters, and servants.
Calling her a foolish wench who couldn’t even take care of her own share.
However, unlike others who had received some retribution for their cruelty, he paid no price at all.
He lived well to the end. It was because he was the lord of the prestigious Bluewood family.
“Don’t talk back to your sister needlessly.”
“…….”
“You should at least listen well.”
The trashiest of the trash heap.
In the moment when Seraphina’s once bright blue eyes shook while trying to endure, Elodie, who had hidden in the blind spot where they couldn’t see, leaped out.
She was still an insignificant mouse.
Just because she had this opportunity, it didn’t mean she could perform a great deed like rescuing Sera as a prince on a white horse would.
However, she could dash like this, swift and vigorous.
She had strong teeth that could chew grains.
For now, that was enough.
Ready to be trampled to death, she lunged with all her might…
“Aaaahhh!!!”
She bit into the count’s boot.
