~Chapter 02~
“Ahhhh!!! Aaaahhhh!!!!”
The Count could only scream, utterly beside himself.
What an overreaction.
A bite from a field mouse wouldn’t even tickle, let alone hurt.
Then again, he’s always had a pathological fear of rats.
No wonder he looked so mentally shattered.
Feeling satisfied at having accomplished her goal, Elodie couldn’t help but feel proud.
“Kyaaaah! A r-rat!!!”
The eldest daughter, Rose, wasn’t much different from the Count.
“What are you all doing?! Get that filthy creature off him, now!”
At least the second daughter, Daisy, regained some composure and started yelling orders at the panicking maids.
A few of them, after a brief hesitation, rolled up their sleeves with grim determination and rushed forward.
Hmph.
Elodie only snorted.
She was doomed anyway—what was there to fear?
It actually felt good to go out screaming her lungs out like this.
If only I could’ve done the same to that prince’s nose.
Just then, one of the maids managed to grab Elodie so tightly it felt like her tiny body would burst.
“Stop! Stop right there!”
The sudden shout made everyone freeze.
It was Sarah.
Everyone stared in shock—the girl who normally flinched at the slightest scolding had suddenly raised her voice.
Even Elodie was taken aback.
You’re not supposed to get involved!
She was so startled that she accidentally let go of the Count’s nose.
Taking advantage of the moment, Sarah snatched the field mouse from the maid’s hands and hid it in her own palms—clearly trying to protect it.
Sarah doesn’t know who I am yet.
That’s why she dared to do something so bold.
Because she couldn’t have guessed that this was the same mouse who had just bitten her father’s nose.
From an outsider’s view, Elodie was nothing more than a deranged, disease-ridden rat.
Even a kindhearted girl like Sarah, who loved animals and treated even the lowliest of creatures as friends, should’ve recoiled.
And yet you…
Once again, you’re saving me.
You just can’t walk past something small and weak without helping.
Sarah, you’re such a fool…
Elodie worried about how much trouble Sarah would get into for this—but at the same time…
She wondered how on earth she could ever stop loving this girl.
Even after death.
“Hah.”
The Count finally reacted, his expression one of utter disbelief.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“She—she did something bad, yes, but I’ll…I’ll make her understand.”
“Make her understand? Make a rat understand?!”
“She’s not sick! I’m sure of it. And it’s strange—field mice are timid creatures. They don’t attack humans even with food right in front of them. If she bit someone, there must be a reason—”
“Enough. Silence. You’re out of your mind.”
“You don’t have to kill her!”
“You’re defending that filthy beast after it attacked me?!”
“She’s not filthy! Field mice live in the meadows. They sleep inside flower buds and only eat grains and pollen—they’re clean creatures! She doesn’t even belong in a mansion like this—there must be some reason—!”
“What—what did you just say?”
The Count stared at her, momentarily dumbfounded—as if he couldn’t process that his daughter was seriously arguing on behalf of a rat.
But then his face, red with embarrassment and the bite mark still visible on his nose, flushed even deeper with rage.
“You really have gone mad!”
He raised his hand high.
A calloused hand, large enough to crush something small and fragile like Sarah’s cheek.
The image was so vivid it seared itself into Elodie’s mind.
She froze.
This—this wasn’t what she wanted.
She had never meant for things to go this way.
But regardless of her intentions, this was the result.
I’ve put Sarah in danger.
Her heart plummeted like a stone.
Elodie launched herself from between Sarah’s trembling fingers—pure instinct, unthinking, desperate.
At the same moment—smack!
The Count’s massive hand struck her tiny body.
Elodie flew across the room, slammed into the wall, and slid down to the floor.
“—!”
The shock was so immense she couldn’t even squeak.
It felt like every bone in her body had shattered.
Her mouth hung open as she convulsed violently.
“Ugh…”
“How disgusting…”
Everyone recoiled at the sight of the twitching, broken rat, their faces twisted with identical expressions of revulsion.
The maids began a silent standoff, each hoping someone else would deal with the wretched creature.
“No!”
Only one person screamed.
Sarah.
She ran toward Elodie, her voice trembling.
“No, please, don’t die…”
Her hands shook as she hovered over the tiny body, afraid even to touch it.
She quickly pulled out an old handkerchief and wrapped Elodie gently inside it.
What should I do? Maybe I can find a physician?
But then reality struck her.
They’d never waste medicine on a mouse.
Her face turned pale as her mind raced.
Then maybe… if I injure myself and ask for healing potion…
They wouldn’t care if she got hurt—but if she couldn’t work, they’d have to give her something.
“Seraphina Bluewood!”
A sharp, furious voice rang out.
A middle-aged woman strode forward—it was the Countess, Sarah’s stepmother.
The “wicked stepmother” of every Cinderella story.
She seized Sarah by the collar.
“What trouble have you caused this time!”
The Count clicked his tongue in irritation, still looking disgusted at his hand.
“About time you showed up. Fix that girl’s attitude.”
Defending a rat, really—she must be insane.
He turned on his heel and left the room, not sparing a backward glance.
The Countess stood in silence for a moment before muttering darkly,
“So now I have to listen to that kind of talk because of you?”
“M-Mother…”
“You make my skin crawl.”
Still gripping Sarah by the collar, she dragged her down the hall.
Elodie recognized the direction immediately.
The storage room.
Whenever Sarah angered her stepmother, that’s where she was locked up—forced to do impossible chores for days, until she collapsed from exhaustion.
This time was no different.
The Countess pulled a dagger from her belt and slashed open several sacks filled with beans and wheat.
Grains spilled everywhere, covering the floor.
“This is your punishment. Separate the beans from the wheat, and put them back into their sacks.”
Bang!
The door slammed shut, and the sound of a lock clicking echoed.
“Mother! Please, Mother, I’m sorry! Let me out!”
Sarah pounded on the door, but the footsteps retreated without hesitation.
“…”
Silence filled the storeroom.
Sarah’s hands, still cupped around Elodie, slowly opened like a blooming flower.
The tiny creature inside was trembling faintly, barely clinging to life.
I want to save her.
But how? She couldn’t even get herself out of the room.
The mouse would die soon.
Because Seraphina Bluewood was too weak to save even a single wounded creature.
“Hhhnn…”
A large, hot tear fell onto Elodie’s body.
“What should I do? I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”
“…”
“You got hurt because of me, but I can’t protect you.”
“…”
“Why am I so useless…?”
Sadness, helplessness, anger—every emotion swirled together in the girl’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
Elodie, breathing shallowly, looked up at her.
What do you mean, because of you? I’m the one who jumped in.
It was your father and stepmother who were cruel, not you.
You were always the one who saved me.
Over and over again, even across time.
But now, she was just a rat again—too weak to wipe away a single tear.
Nothing’s changed.
In fact, it was worse—because now she’d dragged Sarah into suffering with her.
All she’d done was age mentally; she was still just a parasite clinging to Sarah’s kindness.
Pathetic. I’ve made you cry again.
So this is how I die, after all.
Even when given another chance, she couldn’t protect the one person who mattered.
But still—she wished that, somehow, Sarah wouldn’t cry because of her.
Elodie lifted one tiny paw and placed it on Sarah’s thumb.
A gesture of comfort.
“…It’s strange. You look like you understand me. Maybe I really have gone mad.”
Sarah whispered softly, her voice trembling.
“You bit Father’s nose because he yelled at me, didn’t you?”
“…”
“It was kind of satisfying, actually. I’ve never seen him scream like that. The whole mansion shook.”
“…”
“You’re the bravest little mouse I’ve ever seen.”
Her lips curved into a faint smile that trembled with grief.
Then, with tear-streaked lips, she pressed a gentle kiss to the mouse’s face.
It was the kind girl’s final farewell.
“Can I call you Elodie?”
At that moment, the world seemed to stop.
Memories from years ago came rushing back as vividly as if it were yesterday.
Back then too, she had been just as broken, just as close to death.
You cut your own hand just to get healing potion for me, and then pretended it was nothing.
That shy, sidelong glance, the bandaged hand, the faint smell of blood, the bright tone of a girl happy to have a new friend…
“She’s the main character of my favorite adventure story—a mouse, just like you. Somehow, you remind me of her.”
“…”
“It was a short meeting, but I’ll remember you.”
Elodie couldn’t hold it in any longer—her tears poured down.
A filthy rat, a disgusting pest, a worthless creature.
That’s what everyone saw.
Everyone except Sarah.
Sarah always saw her. Always reached out her hand.
She’d called Elodie’s pitiful act of defiance brave.
To be Sarah’s Elodie again, even now—it was both the greatest joy and the deepest sorrow.
She squeezed her eyes shut and cried along with Sarah.
That’s why she didn’t notice.
“Hh-huh, I… I c-came back f-for you, Sarah… b-because you’re my… everything…”
It wasn’t squeaks of a dying mouse—
It was words. Human words, choked with sobs.
“B-because I j-just wanted you to be h-happy… wanted you to s-smile…”
A brilliant white light engulfed her.
Shattered bones knit back together. Fatal wounds closed in an instant.
And in Sarah’s hands—no, in her arms—
lay not a rat, but a small human girl.
A fully restored Elodie.
