CSTB Chapter 10

Around that time, Rosé had snuck into the food storage near the eastern servant quarters. The storage was enormous—about the size of the gymnasium she used to run around in during school.

Rosé’s thought: “It’s completely empty?”

Despite its size, the massive storage room was eerily empty.

Even for the Karline Empire, which had more money than it knew what to do with and built everything on a grand scale, it was hard to believe they built such a huge warehouse just to use a corner of it.

Rosé’s thought: “No wonder everyone’s hungry.”

She didn’t know exactly what went wrong, but it was clear that the food that should’ve been here was missing.

Rosé’s thought: “And they’re blaming this on rats…?”

Rosé remembered the ridiculous things she’d heard while walking over.

— “They say the rats ate everything in the storage.”
— “Even if there are rats, how much could they possibly eat? That makes no sense.”
— “Oh, you don’t know? Once you start seeing a couple rats, the whole place can be wiped clean in no time.”

Some maids genuinely believed that the food was eaten by rats. It sounded absurd. How could rats eat everything in such a massive warehouse?

“Squeak… squeak?”

But then—there it was.

Rosé’s thought: [A rat… A rat… It’s a real rat!]

A rat was chewing on a potato.

Rosé turned a corner and nearly jumped when she saw it. The rat, caught in the act, froze with a potato in its paws.

It was so startled it even dropped the potato, which rolled right to Rosé’s paw.

Rosé’s thought: “Ha… It really was the rats.”

She had thought it was impossible for rats to have eaten everything, but maybe it was true.

Rosé’s thought: “That can’t be the only one. There must be more hiding.”

While she was somewhat relieved that the mystery might be solved faster than expected, it felt oddly anticlimactic.

She stared at the rat for a while, wondering what to do with it—but strangely, it didn’t feel disgusting at all.

Rosé’s thought: “Is that… a harvest mouse?”

Then she realized—it was a harvest mouse.

She remembered seeing harvest mice trending all over social media before: harvest mice on wheat stalks, in flower buds, looking all adorable. Back then, she had scoffed, wondering how cute a rodent could possibly be, and never really paid attention…

Rosé’s thought: “But wow… it’s actually really cute.”

In person, it was undeniably cute.

Its tiny body looked like it wasn’t even a mouthful, and its shiny black button-like eyes were captivating. But the deadliest part was its hands—those teeny-tiny paws tucked neatly beneath its chin.

She couldn’t believe such a tiny creature had been holding and nibbling on a potato with paws that looked smaller than her claw.

Rosé’s thought: “Ugh… How do I get rid of something so cute?”

She was only staring, but the mouse—intimidated by the gaze of a cat—started trembling.

Then, just as it tried to sneak away behind a pile of potatoes, Rosé snapped out of it.

This was no time to be sentimental.

Rosé’s thought: “No matter how cute it is, a rat is still a rat.”

Noah was being wrongly accused because of them. She couldn’t afford to be soft-hearted.

Rosé’s gaze sharpened, and just as the harvest mouse dashed to escape, she pounced—pinning it down at the far end of the warehouse.

“Squeaaaak!!!”
Rosé’s thought: [Hey! Who told you to eat human food?!]

She felt a little bad seeing the mouse struggle beneath her paw, but there was no room for mercy now.

As Rosé glared down at it, the mouse’s eyes welled up with tears.

Rosé’s thought: “Ugh, it’s… it’s even cuter up close. No! Get a grip! You’re a dangerous predator right now!”

It was already cute from a distance, but even more adorable up close.

Rosé’s thought: “How could I hurt such a tiny, precious creature?”

She clenched her teeth and tried to harden her heart.

Rosé’s thought: “Because of them, Noah is being accused of starving his servants!”

No matter how cute it was, it was still a harmful creature stealing human food. She couldn’t let herself be fooled.

Just then, the mouse gave up struggling and looked up with teary eyes, begging:

[Sob sob… Please let me go. This is my first time in here. It’s all a misunderstanding!]
[Huh?]

Its voice sounded like that of a teenage boy—surprisingly fitting—but what really shocked Rosé was that she could understand it.

Apparently, cats could communicate with mice.

[Please, sob sob… I have a family waiting for me in the burrow.]

Still stunned, Rosé watched as the mouse started talking about its family.

If it were just a regular, harmful animal that couldn’t talk, she might’ve done what had to be done—but this? She felt a pang of guilt.

Her paw loosened slightly, and the mouse tried to squirm free.

[Where do you think you’re going?!]

But she wasn’t going to let it get away.

When she pressed her paw down again, the mouse flailed its limbs dramatically and cried:

[Oh no, I’m dying! The cat is trying to kill a poor, innocent mouse! Help!]
[Isn’t it normal for cats to catch mice? And I’m being gentle—I’m not even using my claws. If I pressed any harder, it’d be murder. Or would that be “mouse-der”? Whatever, point is I’m being nice here.]
[That’s what you think! We fragile harvest mice can die from even a little pressure!]

Rosé was careful not to use her claws for fear of hurting it—but this one sure knew how to exaggerate.

[Sob sob… My stomach’s going to burst. Can’t we talk this out first?]

Hearing it sob like that…

Rosé’s thought: “It’s just putting on a show.”

There was no need to feel guilty for bullying a weak animal—this was definitely an act.

There were no actual tears falling, just the appearance of watery eyes.

Rosé had considered just scaring it off because of how cute it was, but now she knew better.

Rosé’s thought: “Almost fell for it!”

This little rat—well, an actual rat—had tried to trick her.

Offended, Rosé pressed down a little harder, and the mouse screamed again:

[Ahhh! I’m dying! Someone help! The cat’s killing an innocent mouse!]
[Innocent, my paw. You ate all the food in here.]

Rosé, determined not to be fooled again, challenged the mouse.

[I didn’t eat everything! This is really my first time here!]
[Liar. You and your family ate it all!]
[That’s so unfair… Cat, we’re harvest mice. We eat bugs and fallen fruit from fields and gardens. We wouldn’t stoop to stealing food like sewer rats do!]

The mouse lifted its head with exaggerated effort, trying to emphasize its identity as a harvest mouse. Rosé sneered and glanced at the bitten potato with visible tooth marks.

When she first came in, this mouse had definitely been eating that.

[Tch. Still lying!]
[I swear! As a proud harvest mouse, I would never do something so shameful!]
[Then what about that potato?!]
[T-That’s because… Humans tore out all the wild wheat that used to grow back there and suddenly started planting potatoes instead. And then they took everything without leaving any scraps. I was just so hungry that I… Sob sob…]

Still pleading his case, the mouse held up a paw—barely the size of Rosé’s claw—and placed it on his cheek.

It seemed to be saying, “Look! Can’t you see how sunken my cheeks are?” Though Rosé couldn’t really tell, the paw was undeniably cute.

Even as a cat, it didn’t feel right to punish someone without at least hearing their side.

[I’m letting you go just for a moment. But if you try to run again, I’ll bite your neck off.]
[Are… are you sparing me?]
[I’ll spare you, but only if you answer my questions properly. First of all—what do you mean the imperial palace started planting potatoes?]

Since the mouse was insisting on its innocence so strongly, Rosé figured it was worth checking out at least a little.