The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella - Chapter 5
It was when Count Bluewood was leaning over a silver basin, wiping his hands and nose that had been touched by a filthy mouse.
Suddenly, a light that seemed to blind the eyes enveloped the Bluewood Mansion in an instant.
The windows shook as if a massive typhoon was raging.
“What, what’s happening?”
The count, who had been wiping the filthy mouse-touched hand and nose with disdain, had a pale face.
Without even wiping off the moisture, he urgently rushed to the window to look outside.
When he finally opened his eyes after struggling due to the bright light, he saw…
“…AAAACK!”
The count screamed. The pride of the Bluewood Mansion, the beautiful garden, was in ruins!
More precisely, it was being destroyed in real-time.
A huge pitch-black magic circle, large enough to cover the entire garden, was tearing through the verdant grass, trampling flowers, shattering the fountain, and grinding everything in its path.
He realized a beat too late.
This phenomenon was a typical side effect of hastily using teleportation magic.
‘M-Madness. Absolutely insane.’
Teleportation magic annihilates the surroundings every time a magic circle is engraved.
This is why you need to set coordinates in an empty and safe area whenever you use it.
But to engrave a magic circle in someone else’s territory without any warning?
This was not just rudeness; it was tantamount to declaring war.
However, the count didn’t get angry.
Instead, he turned white to the point of forgetting to breathe.
The magic circles were nominally managed by the state, and each family had its designated color.
‘A black magic circle? That’s undoubtedly…’
As the light gradually receded, the forms of two people were revealed on top of the magic circle.
A giant figure close to two meters tall, a muscular body neatly covered in a suit.
Snow-white hair, eyes like razor-sharp blades representing a past life, and a deep scar across the mouth.
‘Duke Valkyriesen…!’
And a teenager in his mid-teens who looked exactly like the old man.
It was the Duke himself and his grandson, the Young Lord.
…Why? How? What on earth is going on?
In the midst of their sudden appearance, which resembled a natural disaster, the count was in panic and chaos.
A sharp gaze, glowing with a golden light, met his eyes head-on.
It was a gaze that seemed to find something annoying and pathetic.
—Well, 10 minutes should be enough for you.
The voice, engraved precisely in his mind, made the count’s shoulders twitch.
***
The count was given a grace period of 10 minutes.
However, now there were only 5 minutes left.
Anxiously pacing back and forth in the room, he waited for Alfred, the butler.
“M-My Lord.”
Finally, Alfred rushed in as if he might run out of breath and swung open the door.
“What is it?”
The count inquired, as if accusing him of making him wait.
Duke Valkyriesen.
His nickname…
‘King of the Monstrous Beasts.’
The Duke’s family was the only one among human families that interacted with the werebeasts, who were ethnic minorities in the nation.
Their peaceful coexistence and prosperity were largely credited to Duke Valkyriesen.
His mere existence was a tremendous symbol, bearing a significant message.
However, why did the Duke, who was barely visible at the edge of his clothes during official events, suddenly come into this mansion?
And that too, like an unknown intruder out of the blue?
‘What reason does our family have to be involved with a giant like Duke Valkyriesen! I’d be crazy to give him a reason to bear a grudge against me for no reason!’
“That’s… I really have no idea how to say it…” the butler mumbled.
“Why are you mumbling! Spit it out!”
“The Bluewood family is accused of kidnapping a were-beast child.”
A were-beast child?
“A were-beast child… of the Harvest Mouse Clan, they say…”
“The Harvest Mouse Clan? What kind of insane nonsense is it to claim that I kidnapped a ‘were-mouse child’?”
Count Bluewood felt unjustly accused and threw the basin, standing his ground defiantly.
A mouse? Of all things, a rat?
In a mansion where even the squeaky little rats wandering around were exterminated!
Where in the world does such a ridiculous stigma exist?
The butler, with a gasp, retreated, muttering in a crawling tone,
“That’s the situation. I have no idea what’s going on.”
“No matter if it’s Duke Valkyriesen, I can’t just sit still and accept such baseless accusations! Without any evidence, it’s completely absurd…!”
However, the count soon ceased his vehement outburst and fell silent as he realized something.
