The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella-Chapter 150

When Elodie regained consciousness, Karon was already gone—without a single trace.

There was no sign of him anywhere.

As if he had simply evaporated.

“Why did we lose him?”

It wasn’t an accusation.

Just a question rooted in disbelief.

Right now, Eisen, Edmund, and even Geno were all in the Holy Kingdom.

If Karon had tried /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ to escape beyond the borders of the territory, there was no way they could’ve missed his presence.

And yet... Elodie already had a hunch.

She asked the question only because she desperately hoped she was wrong.

“I have no excuse.”

Edmund wiped his face with one hand, his expression clouded with regret.

“I couldn’t sense his presence at all... not a trace.”

Geno, looking as disheveled as if he’d been running around all night, grumbled irritably.

“Grandfather raised that guy like a proper young lord, so why the hell does he move like a seasoned assassin?”

“Geno, you’re not one to talk.”

“What? I’m just saying.”

Well, of course.

If he really had turned back time, he’d know exactly how to escape and erase his tracks without getting caught...

Elodie sighed and buried her face in both hands.

‘That confirms it.’

Karon had turned back time.

Just like the way it had been done for her.

She didn’t know when or how far back he had rewound things.

But she could guess one thing.

‘There must be a limit to how far he can go.’

For some reason, it seemed like he couldn’t go back to before she noticed his physical condition.

If one could turn back time indefinitely and undo anything, then nothing in the world would ever be impossible.

Like her, he could’ve turned defeats into victories.

He could’ve fooled everyone.

Could’ve vanished while letting them believe he was living happily somewhere else.

‘If he could rewind time without end.’

But he didn’t.

No—he couldn’t.

There had to be a limit.

That realization brought both relief and dread to Elodie.

‘If there’s a limit, then he can’t keep running from me forever. I’ll find him soon.’

That was the hopeful part.

But then...

‘Why is there a limit?’

Is it because he’s still young? Because he’s not strong enough yet?

If that were the case, then fine. He just needed time to grow.

But time flows equally for all things in the world.

To reverse it was no trivial feat.

Even the Ratson bloodline—chosen and protected by the divine—couldn’t do it.

‘There’s no way that kind of miracle comes without a price.’

And a human body doesn’t have much to give in exchange.

Things like lifespan.

Vitality.

Or the soul itself...

If the cost of turning back time accumulates with each use, then Karon’s ruined state starts to make sense.

As does the fact that Elodie’s healing didn’t work—and even made him cough up blood.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so powerless.

And then the worst possibility crossed her mind.

‘Wait... if the damage is the price of turning back time, does that mean no matter how far back he rewinds, his body stays broken?’

Only now did she consider it.

She had already realized that Karon was the so-called fairy godmother.

But why... why hadn’t she seriously thought about the fact that the fairy godmother was just a human?

‘...Because I thought it was over and done with.’

Because it had been undone.

But if the price of rewinding time accumulates in his body...

He rewound fifteen whole years.

That cost—every bit of it—was carved into his flesh and soul.

“Don’t worry. We’ll find him soon.”

Edmund, who had been silently observing her, finally spoke.

“Yeah, just lie down and get some rest. That little punk—I'll drag him back myself if I have to kick him in the ass the whole way.”

Geno crossed his arms, picking up where his brother left off with a confident air.

It wasn’t just empty comfort meant to soothe her.

It was conviction, born of confidence.

No matter how clever or fast he was, there was no escaping House Valkyrisen’s trackers.

Eisen had already set off with the knights to pursue Karon.

They were only caught off guard once. He was probably certain he’d find him soon.

And once he did, he’d probably smack him upside the head and tell him never to disappear again without a word.

But they didn’t know.

This wasn’t something that could be solved by simply tracking him down...

Karon had traded away his own body to rewind time.

He was alive—for now.

But if he tried to rewind it again, who knew what would happen...

‘I have to find him as soon as possible.’

She had to stop him—before he tried it again.

Whatever it was he saw, whatever it was he was trying to do.

She had to find him before his life truly ran out.

***

So that brings us to...

‘Was it fifteen days ago?’

It already felt like a lifetime ago to Karon.

But on the timeline—it was.

It had only been fifteen days.

***

Karon had gone after Nyx with the intent to kill.

Become a direct heir of Basilisk, or kill Nyx.

Was that even a choice?

Of course he would sever that cursed tie—by ending it, for good.

He flew at him like a diving hawk, grabbing Nyx’s wrist in an instant.

“If you thought the same trick would work again, I’ve got bad news for you.”

“Grrgh...!”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Nyx had been reaching into his coat for something, but now he twisted in pain, his face contorting.

Cold sweat beaded and dripped from his forehead to the ground.

“You’re handling it well.”

Maybe because he was my shadow, after all.

Karon muttered mockingly.

Nyx had to be enduring excruciating pain right now—it was a miracle he hadn’t passed out.

From the point where Karon’s hand touched him, Nyx’s arm turned pitch black and began to corrode.

Karon released his poison without holding back.

Precisely, directly—only to Nyx, sparing everything around them.

“You once said I never honed my skills. That I was too busy hiding to ever learn to use my poison properly.”

He remembered what Nyx said before Karon was sent back to Valkyrisen, right on the brink of going berserk.

He’d taken that mocking advice to heart.

“Said I should kill a few more people first.”

“...”

“My skills really did improve fast.”

“Hah. And does the Ratson line condone murder now?”

Even as one arm dissolved, Nyx glared up at Karon with bloodshot, blazing eyes.

So that’s where my venomous nature came from.

Karon chuckled quietly.

“I didn’t exactly hide it. Some even begged me to kill them.”

He wasn’t talking about humans like Nyx, of course.

“Bugs were the best for honing my skills. Even the slightest increase in poison concentration, and they’d die instantly.”

“...”

“You had to be delicate. They’d squirm around and die before you could learn anything useful.”

“If I’m a bug, then what does that make you?”

“If we really are the same... then I’m just another maggot like you.”

Karon answered flatly.

He’d come from a lab. Being called a bug or a monster didn’t even register to him.

Whether someone called him a pest or a freak, it didn’t matter.

It was true anyway.

Still, sometimes he wanted to deny it.

When he was scared he might lose the right to be by someone’s side...

‘It’s okay.’

For now.

The merciful servant of the divine still saw him as human.

Karon quickly shook off the thought.

Then, brushing aside Nyx’s crumbling arm, he reached into his coat and pulled out a vial.

The very one Nyx had tried to use.

If it shattered on the floor, smoke would rise—and anyone touched by it would lose all physical control, unable to move.

Karon grabbed Nyx by the collar and, without hesitation, smashed the vial on the ground.

“You...!”

You idiot!

You smashed it here?!

That puts you in range too!

But Nyx didn’t get to finish.

A dense white smoke instantly bloomed and swallowed the area.

Even the dogs lying in wait nearby—those guarding Nyx without a sound—were caught in it.

But Karon moved freely.

He’d already been hit by this once, and Elodie had treated him afterward—he’d built up a resistance.

“Well then...”

All that was left...

...was to crush the squirming vermin beneath his heel.