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The next morning.
Ekaterina, who woke up feeling refreshed, told Mina—while being helped to change—that she had given away the blue rose hair ornament as a gift the previous night. She also told her that the recipients had been the Maiden of Death and the God of Death.

It was a rather unbelievable story, so she had hesitated over whether to tell it, but she had to explain to Mina why the hair ornament was gone. And with Mina as the listener, it would be impossible to gloss it over. She decided that being honest was best. Of course, she kept what she said to the minimum and did not mention the Creator God or her reincarnation.

“I was supposed to wear it when visiting the mountain temple… please forgive me.”

Mina was at a loss for words for a while.

“My lady… How could I not have been by your side when you met such dangerous beings?”

She looked furious enough that one could almost see pale blue flames rising from her, angry at herself for having been put to sleep and unable to deal with the intruder.

“They were wonderful people. It was a summons from the gods, after all, so there is nothing for you to worry about, Mina.”
“You seem to be in especially good spirits this morning, my lady.”

At Mina’s words, Ekaterina suddenly broke into a smile.

“Yes, after that, I had such a wonderful dream. I met my brother!”

.

After that, before breakfast, she asked Aurora for some time and told her about meeting Selene, the Maiden of Death. She also said that Selene had been pleased to be described as a kind woman.
Aurora was speechless for a while, but she seemed to believe her. And when Ekaterina said that Selene was sad that she could not touch flowers, and that she thought she would be pleased if flowers were carved from wood—something the forest folk excelled at—and offered to her, Aurora nodded.

“If we can make her happy with offerings, that will ease our regret as well. I will tell the others too.”

After they ate breakfast together, Aurora gave her many souvenirs: elegant wooden tableware, beautifully dyed cloth colored with plant dyes, even sachets with a fresh scent like lemongrass.

“We also have things we may only procure from outside, such as blades and salt. So if things like these can be sold for money, we are grateful.”
“I would be happy if I could be of use. Even if it becomes a business, I intend to proceed only after thorough discussion with Lady Aurora and Sir Forli, so as not to disturb the forest folk’s way of life.”

At Ekaterina’s words, Aurora smiled.

“Thank you very much. Such consideration at your young age—I am deeply impressed.”

Ahh.
Sorry I’m a fraud…

.

The forest folk, who had not spoken much to Ekaterina but had been friendly during her one-night stay, all waved to see her off in the end.
Ekaterina, riding again on Oleg’s horse as she had on the way there, smiled and waved back to them.
It kind of felt like staying one night at a lodge-style pension. With an open-air natural hot spring, too. And the food was good, so maybe more like an auberge.
Thank you for the wonderful night!

And then Ekaterina’s group resumed their journey.

Well—before that, there was a scene in which Forli casually tossed out two sugar beets that had somehow made their way into the carriage.
They were probably yesterday’s handsome sugar beet and the other one. Why were they there? If no one had noticed, they would have departed with them along for the ride. Did they open the carriage door with their leaves? How dexterous. As dexterous as a cat opening a refrigerator door.
And how close they were. Even when being thrown out, they were holding hands—no, holding leaves.
Sir Forli, who calmly tossed them away as if harvesting crops, was born into a marquis’s family, and yet as head of forest agriculture he was completely versed in farming…

Ekaterina worried that since sugar beets were tasty, forest animals might eat them, but the Great King Bee messenger that had been guarding the carriage roof swiftly flew off. There were probably fully grown sugar-beet-like monstrous plants somewhere too, so it would be fine.

“It might have been good to bring them as emergency rations.”

Forli said as if the idea had just occurred to him. Ekaterina shook her head.
Taking along someone whose individuality she had accidentally recognized was a bit much… If she brought them, she would surely grow even more attached.
And if one of them ended up in soup, she would definitely cry.

In any case, after that the journey went smoothly.
They had fallen behind on the first day, so they had to make up for it. The coachman and horses worked hard, and the group hurried along the main road that wound through the deep forest.

Even so, by Ekaterina’s standards, it was a leisurely pace compared to her previous life. Unlike traveling by car or train, this was a carriage journey, so they had to regularly rest the horses, let them drink water, and feed them grass.

During breaks, Ekaterina would get down from the carriage, stroll around nearby, or play with Regina and the other hunting dogs. She helped brush the horses to show consideration for the hardworking coachman and horses, which made the elderly coachman extremely flustered, but it was fun to be told things like which parts each of the two horses liked to be brushed. Horses were cute.

When she tried to pick flowers to give to the horses, Mina pointed out that some poisonous plants were mixed in, and she hurriedly had everything checked. At first glance, it was a delightful sight: a young noble lady holding flowers and a beautiful maid peering at them together. In reality, it was a poisonous-plant inspection.
She also gave the knights’ horses flowers that had been checked. One knight lectured a horse that was munching away, telling it to understand the value of receiving flowers from a young lady, which made her laugh. It would be shocking if the horse understood. Forli and the other knights were laughing too.

Sometimes they bought fodder in villages along the road, and at those times the villagers would gather out of curiosity. Ekaterina waved and spoke to them to raise her likability, and laughed when she realized that most villagers thought she was the duke’s wife. Apparently such rumors had spread completely.
After all, since Aleksei had governed the territory even before inheriting the title, people did not seem to think he was only eighteen. And his appearance clearly looked to be in his twenties, so perhaps it was unavoidable.

“This lady, Lady Ekaterina, is the Duke’s younger sister. She is the legitimate princess of Jurnova, descended in an unbroken line from the first Duke Sergei.”

Forli had to explain this to the villagers many times.

“To be mistaken for my brother’s wife is an honorable misunderstanding.”

Ekaterina laughed lightly.

As a brocon, that makes me happy! Me being my brother’s wife… ah, how wonderful!
You’re an idiot, me!

.

That carefree journey, however, was a proper forced march by this world’s standards, so they arrived that night as planned at a somewhat large town along the highway and were able to stay at an inn.
The next day the journey continued smoothly, and before long, sheer rocky cliffs came into view.

“My lady, that is the old mine. The mountain temple is at its foot.”
“So that is it…”

The deep forest had ended before she realized it, and the surroundings were farmland again. The trees had likely been cut down for fuel and the land reclaimed. Iron production consumed an enormous amount of fuel.

The gray rocky mountain visible beyond the undulating, greenery-less land pressed into Ekaterina’s view with a strange intensity.

What is this feeling…? It is as if I remember something…

The old mine had once been a large iron mine with a rich vein, and mining had already begun there during the founding period of the Empire. At the time, it had belonged to a local powerful clan skilled in mining and metallurgy, but the four founding brothers had subdued them. Sergei, the founder of the Jurnova ducal house, married Kristina, the clan chief’s daughter, and peacefully acquired the mine and the mining and smelting techniques.
Now, however, the veins in this mountain had already been exhausted, and iron ore was mined elsewhere. But although it was called the “old” mine, it still survived in a modest form because prismite could be obtained there.

Even if the excavation sites had moved elsewhere, this place was still the center of Jurnova’s mining industry. At the foot of the old mine stood not only the mountain temple, but also the Mining Operations Headquarters that oversaw all of Jurnova’s mining-related enterprises.

The one who headed it was the chief of mines, Aaron Kail.

.

“Milady!”

As the carriage arrived, Aaron hurried out as if he had been waiting.

“I am sorry to trouble you to greet me when you are so busy, Lord Aaron.”
“Your safe arrival is the best news of all. You must be quite tired—please rest first. Later, I would be grateful if you would greet Sir Professor Isaac as well. He has been very much looking forward to meeting you.”

Seeing Aaron, who was once again overflowing with love for her great-uncle Isaac, Ekaterina smiled.

“I would be delighted. I, too, have been looking forward to seeing my great-uncle.”