The Harvest Mouse Exits the Fairytale Together with Cinderella

The kitchen staff gathered around, staring at the meal plan Elodie had written.

None of them could bring themselves to speak.

At first, they had been excited to see the little lady’s adorable antics, but the contents of the menu left them speechless.

“You’ll need to practice your spelling.”

Eisen picked up a pen and corrected the painstakingly rewritten kkotgaru to kkotgaru—pollen. Then, he looked at her and asked,

“You said you need to eat well to live long, didn’t you?”

His expression suggested he wasn’t sure if she was messing with him.

Elodie, who had wracked her brain trying to come up with this plan, felt wronged.

“I only eat this.”

This was just a game of playing doctor—why did she have to get it approved?

Wasn’t this an unreasonably high expectation for someone who used to be a harvest mouse?

The real reason she had brought up a meal plan was to make sure that from now on, he paid close attention to whether his food had been tampered with—whether there was poison in it or not!

“…You lived off this?”

This?

What did he mean, this?

It wasn’t like she could write, Scavenge scraps from the kitchen or rummage through the trash.

“This is nutritious?”

“It’s enough for a harvest mouse.”

“And you expect me to eat mouse food?”

She had only recently learned that he was a beastfolk—what was she supposed to do?

Elodie groaned, trying to recall what counted as human food.

She had seen plenty of fancy meals in the royal palace, but she’d never really paid attention, so she had no clue what they were called or what they were made of.

“…Radish? Carrots? Cucumbers?”

“That’s called ingredients.”

“Then grill them.”

“……”

“Steam them? Boil them?”

“……”

“I was joking.”

The more she spoke, the colder the atmosphere became, so Elodie just shut her mouth.

Eisen, looking down at her like she was ridiculous, muttered,

“…This is unacceptable.”

Elodie was impressed. She had managed to make the notoriously strict Duke Valkyrisen say something like this is unacceptable.

But she couldn’t exactly be proud of it.

After all, the only cooked food she had ever eaten was whatever she had managed to steal when she was starving—so it made sense that she didn’t remember much.

Sera always made sure I ate, but she rarely gave me human food…

She had avoided giving it to her, saying it could be harmful.

Elodie, too, had wanted to stay with Sera for a long time, so she never insisted on eating human food.

“So you’re saying you’ve never eaten a proper meal before?”

“……”

“Seriously, who should be worried about whom? You’re the one who needs a meal plan.”

Eisen poked her cheek as she pouted.

Just then, the head chef, Tauros, who had been studying the menu, spoke up.

“My lady.”

“Mm?”

“Shall I bring you some walnut pie and almond milk?”

“…Almond milk?”

“Milk made from almonds.”

Now that she thought about it, that was an absurdly straightforward name.

Walnuts and almonds…

Wasn’t that just the same as eating walnuts, almonds, and grains all at once?

It all ends up the same in the stomach.

What a waste of time to go through all that trouble just to make it.

Still, before she knew it, she found herself nodding.

***

It was nothing like she had imagined.

I will never look down on human food again.

This was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten in her life.

Elodie had to admit it—she had been a frog in a well. No, a harvest mouse in a hole.

Tears dripped from her eyes for no reason at all.

“…It’s better than the bread I picked up from the trash.”

“…Excuse me?! You ate that?”

Tauros gasped in horror, but Elodie was too focused on savoring the pie to hear him.

The bread she had compared it to had been left out so long it had grown moldy and rock-hard. She suddenly felt guilty for even making such a comparison—it melted in her mouth like a dream.

No wonder I thought all cooked food was bad.

What was the word for this feeling?

She had wasted half of her life—no, her mouse life—not knowing such flavors existed.

Then, she heard a sniffle.

When she looked up, the head chef, the cooks, and even the kitchen assistants were all crying.

Elodie blinked in shock.

“What’s wrong?”

“My lady, I will make you all the delicious food you could ever want!”

“I don’t really ne—”

“I’ll make everything! Do you like nuts in your food?”

As if possessed, the kitchen staff burst into action, moving in perfect harmony to prepare a feast.

She didn’t even have time to stop them.

They were far more sentimental than she had expected.

Among them, the most enthusiastic was Tauros, who was now flamboyantly tossing a frying pan in the air, showing off an actual fire display.

And I was scared of them?

Elodie suddenly felt ridiculous.

“Is it really that good?”

Eisen, who had been watching her in fascination, finally asked.

“Want some, Grandpa?”@@novelbin@@

Elodie stabbed a piece of pie with her fork and held it out to him.

Eisen frowned slightly, but he took the piece without hesitation.

“How is it?”

“It tastes like walnut pie.”

“…Tch.”

Well, of course. He ate this kind of thing all the time.

No matter how much he had once roamed the battlefield, he was still a high-ranking noble by birth.

He had never known food scarcity—only the finest cuisine.

Elodie stared up at him.

“Don’t you have anything you like?”

“Coming from someone who put sunflower seeds on a meal plan.”

Is he insulting sunflower seeds?!

Elodie bristled, but when she looked down at the walnut pie, she couldn’t really blame him.

How could something be crispy on the outside but melt the moment it touched her tongue?

“…Grandpa.”

She spoke carefully.

“I think… liking something depends on the meaning behind it.”

Just like how she had never cared about clothes before, but now she liked fluffy, warm ones.

Sera used to say things like this in the past.

“Elodie, I wish you could eat this too.”

“Whenever I try something new, I think of you.”

“Harvest mice can’t eat this, right? That’s a shame.”

Whenever Sera ate something delicious, the first thing she thought of was Elodie.

Elodie still remembered how happy she had felt that day.

Hearing Sera let out that little hum of delight had lifted her spirits.

She had never cared about human food before, but at that moment, she had wanted to taste it, too.

She had imagined what it might be like, just so she could share that little happiness with Sera.

“Do you have something like that, Grandpa?”

“……”

A single blade of grass, damp with dew, when she had been starving.

The first grain Sera had ever handed her.

The peach Sera had secretly stolen from the kitchen, her cheek puffed up from the crime.

There was no way someone as old as Eisen had never had such a moment.

Even she had them, despite only remembering fifteen years of life.

“…No.”

The old man answered firmly.

Elodie didn’t back down. She looked up at him with round, clear eyes.

“Did the meaning disappear, so you stopped liking it?”

“……”

Had she crossed a line?

Eisen, who had been silent, suddenly reached out and pinched her cheek.

Then he stretched it.

“You really are a cheeky brat.”

“Ah—!”

“I’ve entertained you long enough. Eat all you want.”

With that, he got up and walked away.

I was trying to thank you.

Thanks to him, she had realized the kitchen wasn’t so scary after all.

Though their way of showing kindness was… intense.

Still, if he didn’t want to talk about it, it was best not to pry.

Elodie rubbed her sore cheek and nodded obediently.

“There’s no place in this castle you can’t go. If anyone dares to disrespect you, tell me.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“The same goes for your friend. Don’t feel like you have to hold back.”

Eisen ruffled her hair backward, fascinated by how her ears twitched back up no matter how much he tried to flatten them.

Elodie, on the other hand, looked as if she had eaten something rotten.

“…Just don’t go to the Serenity Palace.”

“Huh? Serenity?”

Wasn’t that name supposed to mean peace?

But if it was so dangerous that he had to warn her…

“What’s there?”

Eisen’s gaze darkened for a moment as he looked into the distance.

“…My third grandson.”

And with that, he left.