Chapter 43
“Awuu— (If you’re thinking of doing something reckless, I’m going to call the knights.)”
“Chiiik! Jjik jjikjjik! (No! I’m just going for a bit!)”
“Auuuu— (I will definitely call the knights.)”
No!
If the entire wolf pack surrounds her to keep watch, she’ll never find a chance to escape.
Elodie transformed back into a human with a pop!
Then she spread her arms wide and clamped both hands over Howlf’s snout, stopping him from howling to summon the others.
“I’m Ratssn. I’ll be fainne. (I’m Ratson. I’ll be fine.)”
His pale gray eyes narrowed.
It was as if he were asking: Did you get permission for this?
“Gwanpa shaid I gań go anywhear in tha Valkyrisen casthl. (Grandpa said there’s nowhere in the Valkyrisen castle I can’t go.)”
Really?
Howlf narrowed his eyes even further, his expression filled with suspicion.
Of course, the Grand Duke had specifically warned her not to go near the Serenity annex palace…
Elodie had no desire to take unnecessary risks either.
A mouse was built to be terrified of everything.
If everyone said not to go, there had to be a reason.
If she hadn’t started suspecting that Caron Valkyrisen might actually be Caron Basilisk, she wouldn’t have even considered approaching that place!
“Thin wait fhor durry meenutes. (Then just wait 30 minutes.)”
“….”
The way she said that clearly meant she didn’t have permission.
“I’ll bi back! (I’m going!)”
And the moment Howlf let his guard down, Elodie poofed back into a field mouse and darted away at lightning speed.
Howlf panicked, turning his head left and right as the child disappeared into the brambles, then let out a deep sigh.
The eastern annex palace, Serenity—a place forbidden to everyone.
She had only just stepped through the entrance, yet the eerie atmosphere hit her like a wave.
To start with, there were no guards.
Not a single trace of human presence anywhere.
‘…Huh.’
Was he truly a plague patient?
‘I was so sure he wasn’t.’
Would a plague patient be wandering around in broad daylight like that?
Given the Duke and the young lord’s personalities, there was no way they’d allow that to happen…
Finding it strange, Elodie slipped through a hole and slipped inside the building.
But even inside, she couldn’t find a single human shadow.
Not even an ant.
Literally.
‘What?’
There wasn’t a single insect.
‘How is this even possible?’
Birds on trees? None.
Grasshoppers or cicadas? Silence.
Mice? Obviously none…
With no attendants maintaining the building, spiders should’ve spun webs everywhere—but there were none.
The entire area was silent like a grave.
‘Is this… a land of death?’
Even if the third young master had no attendants, it didn’t explain why all life forms were absent.
‘Wait, hold on. I think I heard about something like this before.’
Long ago in the Kingdom of Silveria, bright green was the trend.
And back then, the only way to create vivid, leaf-green pigment was with arsenic.
People, unaware of its toxicity, wore arsenic dresses, arsenic hats, arsenic blankets…
They went so mad for the trend that they even painted their house walls with arsenic paint.
Houses like that had no rats, no bugs, nothing.
Every person who entered eventually died of arsenic poisoning.
A cursed mansion.
Of course they did.
Even sewer rats—creatures that survive anything—avoided the place.
Just like this annex palace.
‘Don’t tell me…’
Is the entire building filled with toxic substances?
‘Poison…?’
This couldn’t have happened in a day or two.
Elodie glanced out the window.
Every tree outside was completely blackened and dead.
The thorn bushes surrounding the annex were only ash-gray skeletons of plants—clearly dead.
The lush grass covering the Valkyrisen estate?
Here, there was none.
Only dry earth, like a desert.
She lifted her chin and sniffed the air.
‘Odorless…’
No smell at all.
Anyone wandering around here unaware would probably die on the spot.
Elodie finally understood why everyone insisted she must never approach this place.
This was no illness.
It was poison.
The third young master of Valkyrisen was carrying a deadly toxin.
And judging from the state of the annex, he clearly couldn’t control it.
How he managed to walk outside without poisoning everyone was a mystery.
This wasn’t just a hazard—it was a living catastrophe.
‘If it’s really this bad, the third young master himself should’ve died ages ago from his own poison.’
He had no Ratson blood, so he wouldn’t have any kind of natural recovery ability.
Just then, Elodie’s ears twitched.
Someone was groaning in pain.
She sprinted toward the source.
‘The door’s closed.’
Tightly sealed.
With no living beings left in the annex, there was no reason to keep it shut.
She hesitated only a moment before transforming back into a human and pushing the door open.
Creaaaaak—
The rusty hinges shrieked.
Because she was small, she had to cling to the doorknob with both hands, dangling a little as she pushed it open and peeked inside.
‘Dark.’
No lights.
The windows were covered with pitch-black curtains.
The room was complete darkness.
A ghost might leap out at any moment, but Elodie—having grown up a mouse—felt safer in the dark.
She stepped inside without hesitation.
Each clumsy step made her shoes squeak loudly.
Despite announcing her presence so obviously, the person inside didn’t react.
“Hh… Nngh…”
He was too busy suppressing his pain.
Elodie looked up at the large canopy hanging around the bed.
The third young master was inside.
‘You really are hiding like a princess.’
She felt strangely like a hero rescuing a cursed princess.
Avoiding the dragon (wolf), pushing through the thorns, and approaching the cursed figure…
‘I’m coming.’
With dramatic resolve, Elodie yanked the canopy open.
The curtains fluttered—and she saw a boy curled tightly on the bed.
Unlike their last meeting, his black hair was drenched in cold sweat, strands stuck to his pale face.
“…”
Only then did Caron seem to notice her.
But he barely had the strength to move; he just rolled his eyes to look at her.
Most of his face was hidden behind his hair, yet his blood-red eyes glowed unmistakably.
“…”
“…”
His lack of reaction was extreme.
Shouldn’t he at least ask how she got in, or why she barged into his room?
They say the eyes are windows to the soul, but Caron’s eyes were sealed shut like the pitch-black curtains in his room.
He didn’t look alive.
If not for the faint rise and fall of his back, she would’ve thought him an exquisitely crafted doll.
‘He looks… really miserable.’
Elodie had worried before coming here.
Because this boy looked too much like Nyx Basilisk.
She’d feared that she might feel rage at the sight of him.
That she might want to kill him.
That even though he was necessary to protect the Ratson family, she might refuse to treat him.
That her personal hatred would take over.
But…
He was just a child.
Too empty.
His eyes seemed ready to end his own life if he had even a little strength left.
And somehow—
It made her feel like crying.
She didn’t want him to hurt anymore.
It was a feeling she couldn’t explain.
