Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Mikhail and Flora are staying in the west wing of Jurnova Castle, the section that serves as the guest residence.
Naturally, that wing has a spacious and beautiful bath with fully equipped facilities, including a sauna. Even so, Ekaterina invited Flora to her own room. The guest residence’s bath would, of course, take priority for Prince Mikhail.

“If so, why don’t you come stay in the west wing as well, Ekaterina? I’ll be swinging a sword for a while to loosen up anyway, so you can use the bath first.”

That’s what Mikhail says. They had just arrived after several days of travel, and on top of that were immediately made to practice dancing, yet he still plans on further training—his stamina must be impressive. Well, carriage travel does make the body stiff, that much is true.
Ekaterina briefly wondered whether staying over in Flora’s room together might be nice, but when she sought Aleksei’s opinion with a glance, the look she received was an unmistakable no. Indeed, it would be questionable for a member of the hosting ducal family to stay in the guest residence.
So she politely declined Mikhail’s offer. She does feel a little sorry about leaving him alone (though of course he has attendants and guards—this isn’t that kind of issue), but they’re still in the same ducal estate, so it’s not as if he’s being abandoned.
Also, exercising suddenly after a meal is bad for you, so stop that.

.

Ekaterina and Aleksei live in the north wing, the residential quarters of the ducal family.
The bath here is also more than large and splendid enough. Hot water flows from a jar held by a statue of a water spirit installed at the edge of the tub. The lighting is a soft glow, like indirect illumination from rainbow stones.

“It’s so beautiful. Hot water coming out of a statue—it’s amazing!”
“The steward said that the basic structure of the baths hasn’t changed since Jurnova Castle was built. Apparently, all of the baths here are fitted with water spirit statues like this.”

One of the systems devised by the inventor Giovanni di Santi—Lady Giovanna, consort of the fifth Duke Vasily. The statues themselves have probably been replaced several times.
Incidentally, in this world, water spirits are sometimes depicted as mermaids, or with serpentine lower bodies, but this statue portrays a glamorous naked woman whose body is concealed by abundant hair longer than her height.

“She looks a little like you, Lady Ekaterina. She’s very beautiful.”

Hearing that from Flora, Ekaterina blushes, then gazes off slightly into the distance, thinking, well, the villainess build really is something…

.

After soaking together in the large stone bath, trying out the sauna and cold plunge as well, the two end up staying in far too long. Thoroughly warmed and practically steaming, they head into Ekaterina’s room. Though it’s summer, the cool night air of northern Jurnova feels refreshing.

They drink sweet-and-tart grape juice that Mina brought, then—somewhat unladylike—flop down onto the large bed with a *poof*. Ekaterina beckons Flora over, and they lie there together, rolling about.
Yes, this is starting to feel like a pajama party.

“Once again, thank you for coming all the way to distant Jurnova, Lady Flora. You must be terribly tired after such a long journey.”
“No, Lady Ekaterina, I should be the one thanking you. I’ve never traveled beyond the imperial capital in my life.”

Unlike her previous life, in this world ordinary commoners probably can’t travel much at all. Come to think of it, she once read that in Edo-period Japan, people would save money for years as a neighborhood just to send a few representatives on a pilgrimage to Ise, because they couldn’t afford travel expenses for everyone.

“Even if I ever did travel somewhere, I could never have gone up the Chernov River on such an amazing ship. Everything was new and exciting. And knowing that I’d get to see you at the end of the journey, Lady Ekaterina, I was excited the whole time.”

Flora smiles softly.

“When I told Baron and Baroness Czerny that I’d been invited to Jurnova, they were overjoyed. They said, ‘Granddaughter of Lord Sergei, you’re just as kind as your grandfather.’ Both of them said that Duke Sergei was a truly wonderful person.”
“Oh my… what wonderful words.”

Right—after Flora’s mother passed away, the Baron and Baroness Czerny took her in. They were friends of Grandfather Sergei back at the magic academy. When the two lovers were about to be torn apart, the entire student body, with Grandfather Sergei as the ringleader, helped them elope.

“I would love to meet them someday. I’d like to hear about my grandfather.”
“Please do come. I’m sure they’d be delighted. Our house is small compared to the ducal estate, so you might be surprised, Lady Ekaterina… but the garden is lovely. The baron has earth magic and is very skilled at controlling plants. The baroness’s magic is fire, and she uses it in her cooking.”
“Fufu, how lovely. They sure put magic to such practical use.”

Using magic to control cooking heat is something that would probably make certain people angry. In the Empire, magical power is practically synonymous with noble authority, so there are quite a few people who insist it must be used in a lofty, dignified way.
Those people usually don’t have particularly strong magic, though. The ones who really do—like the prince or my brother—casually use it to chill drinks. I tilled fields with mine. Magic or not, if it’s useful, you use it.

Ahh, this conversation is so relaxing.
But if it’s a girls’ night, there’s one topic you can’t miss, right?
Love talk!

“Lady Flora, did you and Lord Mikhail grow close during the journey?”