The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella-Chapter 156

“...”

Karon stared down at it.

For some reason, it reminded him of Elodie’s black eyes.

Even with attacks pouring in from every direction, he bent down and picked up the jewel.

He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to keep it.

The moment he saw it, he just... knew he had to.

With the gem in hand, Karon charged forward.

No matter what traps lay ahead, no matter how many powerful enemies came at him—he didn’t stop.

Shwip—!

Toxic arrows whistled through the air, flying in from every direction with pinpoint precision. But before they could even touch him, they crumbled into ash and scattered.

“You bastard freak!”

A man rushed him with a sword, only to fall—his blade and body both blackened beyond recognition, unable to even hold form.

As expected of a family that specialized in poisons, most of them had built up resistance to lethal toxins.

But Karon’s poison was different. It wasn’t natural.

It was crafted through artificial experimentation, on a level beyond anything they’d ever known.

And who were these people?

They were Basilisk—the very house that ran the lab where Karon was made.

Of course they had trained their bodies to resist poisons refined through experiment.

And yet, Karon’s poison overwhelmed them without fail.

Still, Basilisk didn’t go down quietly.

How long had he been moving in a frenzy?

Anything that came within range was killed, poisoned, and crumbled to dust.

When Karon finally regained awareness, his entire field of vision was soaked in red.

Whether it was because the room was drenched in blood or his face was simply covered in it—he couldn’t tell.

No, maybe it was his own blood.

Karon took a step forward.

Did I rupture a tendon?

He had pushed himself too hard, and his body screamed from the injuries.

But he ignored it.

He knew if he kept going, his nerves would eventually dull, freeing him from the pain.

He endured like a veteran test subject would—methodically, patiently, eliminating the Basilisk bloodline one by one.

Only after he had wiped out roughly half of them did he finally come face-to-face with the head of the house.

Unlike Karon or Nyx, whose red eyes marked them as aberrations, the patriarch of Basilisk had black eyes.

As if to prove his pure lineage.

But unlike Elodie’s eyes, which had shone like the night sky reflected on a clear lake, his were glossy and unpleasant.

“So, you’re ‘that one.’”

The most likely suspect behind all of this.

When Karon asked, the head of Basilisk twitched his brow.

His expression twisted in icy fury, disgust crawling across his face.

Because Karon had single-handedly attacked and killed over {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} half his people?

Because the closely guarded location of their stronghold had been discovered?

Because his fortress was crumbling?

No. None of that.

“Who gave you permission to speak to me?”

Because a test subject—a thing—dared to open its mouth to him.

“Clearly you weren’t trained properly. A worm like you should be groveling, not speaking.”

He raised a hand—and that was the last thing Karon saw.

He had wanted to kill them all.

Was it too much to do alone?

Elodie would probably scold him for showing up too early.

She told him not to die, and here he was, doing exactly the opposite.

But... it didn’t matter.

If he could see her again in any form, that would be enough.

***

“You and the Ratsons will die more miserably than sewer rats—without even knowing how things began or who pulled the strings.”

Nyx finished speaking and closed his eyes.

As if to say, Do what you want.

“What...”

Karon blinked, dumbfounded.

He couldn’t understand what was happening.

Nyx, whom he’d personally killed four years ago, was standing right in front of him.

Alive and well.

“Why are you alive?”

“What?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Nyx’s expression twisted in open disbelief, like what the hell is wrong with this guy?

“Go ahead and kill me. It won’t make any difference.” 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

“...”

Am I dreaming?

Or was everything up until now the dream?

No. That couldn’t be.

He could still remember it all—cradling Elodie’s cold body, burying her, laying her to rest.

He looked around.

The scene was exactly as it had been the day he tortured and killed Nyx.

He had often thought back to that day.

He always tried not to regret what couldn’t be undone—but how could he forget?

This was where everything had gone wrong.

He’d killed Nyx without extracting any information, and everything had spiraled from there.

And now... he was back, just before that moment.

Karon lightly slapped his cheek.

It stung.

This wasn’t the broken body of someone who’d been torn apart and left to die.

Can you turn back time by dying?

The thought crept in.

His heart started pounding.

Had he finally gone insane?

This had to be a hallucination.

A trap set by Basilisk, maybe.

Even so... this absurd situation—he wanted to believe it was a second chance.

“Can time really be reversed?”

Did Elodie know something?

Or had those words just been a lament?

He wanted to run to her. Ask.

More than that, he wanted to take her hot, always-warm hand in his and confirm that she was alive.

Because the memory of her turning cold and rigid still lingered in his mind, sharp and vivid.

But...

If this is the last chance I’m getting...

There was no time to waste.

Karon pulled out an antidote and poured it over Nyx’s head.

“Pffagh!”

“Get up. You’re going to make me a direct heir.”

“...Are you fucking kidding me?”

“What? Your heart’s not in it anymore just because I teased you a little?”

“...”

He hadn’t been joking in the slightest—and Nyx knew it.

Karon was mimicking him now, down to his gestures and tone.

Seeing that familiar, mirror-like behavior from a face that already resembled his own—it pushed Nyx over the edge.

Rage boiled to the top of his skull.

But as he tried to rise, his body collapsed.

His bones were shattered. He couldn’t even move a finger.

“Haa...”

With an exasperated sigh, Karon grabbed him by the scruff.

“I’m going back to the lab. It’s the only place Basilisk would know.”

Of course, he already knew the location of the main house—but he didn’t let that slip.

Even though he was walking straight into enemy territory, Karon didn’t show the slightest hesitation.

Just as he couldn’t kill Nyx right now, Nyx couldn’t kill him either.

And they both knew it.

***

“You son of a bitch!”

Once he recovered, Nyx lunged at Karon, swinging a fist.

Seeing him like that actually made Karon laugh.

Always dressed in crisp uniforms, always with that smooth, conniving smile...

And now here he was, snarling like a mad dog just because Karon had given him a taste of his own medicine.

Karon had assumed Nyx was useless without tools in hand. Guess not—he could throw a punch.

Nyx’s left arm was gone, completely missing.

It hadn’t been severed cleanly—it had melted, making it impossible to reattach.

He would never have a functional arm again.

Maybe if Elodie were alive, she could’ve regenerated it—but she would never heal Nyx.

Karon gave a dry laugh, spat blood on the floor, and said:

“You brought up direct lineage the moment you saw me. Guess that means I was a pretty valuable subject. Is this how you treat your ‘successes’?”

“...Yeah. But you’re still a long way from becoming a direct heir.”

It was obvious what Nyx was thinking.

He’d pretend it was all to enhance Karon’s detoxification ability, then subject him to hellish experiments again.

Acting unfazed, but clearly still hurting.

“That’s not for you to decide.”

“....”

Nyx ground his teeth.

Because now that Karon had miraculously neutralized all the poison inside his body, Nyx no longer had control over him.

Like Nyx had once said himself—recognition as a direct heir was only a matter of time.

They’d start grooming him to be the next High Priest.

Karon knew exactly how this would go.

Because he’d already seen Number Ten, the future High Priest, with his own eyes.

There was no way they would let Karon’s abilities go to waste.