The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella - Chapter 24
She embraced Elodie’s finger and kissed it as if entrusting her with a plea.
[Just for a while, then. You must return when Mom and Dad call for you. Understand?]
After much grumbling, High Priest Ratzen also reluctantly consented.
[……We’ll contact you soon.]
With a face that clearly didn’t want to let her go.
Elodie silently observed her parents as if assessing them.
‘Surely.’
And she came to one certainty.
Her parents must also be under a curse that prevents them from returning to human form.
If Elodie had truly been five years old, she might not have noticed.
‘But I can’t be deceived.’
It was strange that only those with permission could access Ratzen’s domain.
For an ordinary noble family, perhaps.
But not for the Ratzens, a family known for producing representatives of God on the Animanolia continent.
And yet, in the grand cathedral dedicated to worshipping and honoring God, not a single other kind of beastfolk besides harvest mice was seen. Does that make sense?
It’s not as if the beastfolk world collectively worships some harvest mouse god.
Naturally, the grand cathedral should be large enough to accommodate all beastfolk and be located in the capital, the center of the continent.
‘They must be suffering from a serious threat that forces them to hide.’
Elodie was just five years old.
A child who miraculously returned to their side.
To send such a child back outside the domain meant…
‘Valkyriesen must be much safer than here.’
The purpose had to be protection.
Elodie felt her heart, warmed by the joy of meeting her parents, slowly cool down.
Soon, Ratzen would lose its position as High Priest to another family.
The reason Elodie hadn’t immediately thought of Ratzen’s family was precisely for this reason.
The High Priest of Animanolia she had heard of in the future wasn’t a harvest mouse.
‘I thought that because I went missing, the Ratzen family gradually declined due to the lack of a successor to inherit the power.’
If not just the Ratzen family but the entire domain is under a curse.
This wasn’t a decline.
It was a destruction caused by someone else’s malice.
Then what became of the Ratzen family in her past life?
‘The only thought that comes to mind is that they might have perished without breaking the curse…’
Up until this moment, Elodie hadn’t given much deep thought to the curse.
It couldn’t be helped.
She was not a mouse but a beastkin, and she had discovered she had a family waiting and a clan to support her.
She had dreamt of a life forever with Sera.
One miracle after another had occurred.
So naturally, she was elated.
‘But those things were what I should have originally enjoyed.’
Of course, they were indeed once-in-a-lifetime miracles.
The precious opportunity was regained when the Fairy Godmother turned back time and Sera broke the curse.
Yet the fact that they were misfortunes she wouldn’t have experienced if not for the curse remains unchanged.
Elodie suppressed the rising murderous rage and anger.
‘Basilisk.’
In 10 years, they would ascend to the position of High Priest of Animanolia.
The serpent clan, known for its deadly poison, became quite the talk when they were elected as High Priest.
The news even reached Terranolia, far across the continent.
At first, many disapproved, but soon they started to rave about the Basilisk’s achievements.
They demonstrated healing abilities not inferior to the former High Priest clan, the Ratzens.
Was the culprit that High Priest?
Or was the entire Basilisk family complicit?
There was no way to know for sure yet.
But they were certainly worth investigating.
Whoever made the Ratzen family this way, she would find them.
And upon finding them, break the curse…
‘Just the same.’
Yes, neither more nor less.
‘I’ll pay them back just the same.’
T/N: Unfortunately, I’ve decided to drop this novel. Other translators are free to pick up this project! If you’re interested, I can send you the raws, just contact me via discord at the CA discord server.
