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Though interested in the little fairies, Ekaterina could not risk being pranked and causing Aleksei to worry. So she and Flora decided to stroll only within sight of the waterfall.
Mina followed a short distance behind, maintaining the proper distance expected of a capable maid.

They walked along a narrow path that traced the clear stream flowing out from the waterfall basin.
Both sides of the path were colored with unknown wildflowers. The single white blossoms might have been wild roses. There were small blue bell-shaped flowers resembling gentians, vivid orange lilies, and pale yellow blooms similar to evening primrose from her previous life.

“How beautiful… It has a different sort of beauty from a manicured garden.”
“These flowers are beautiful precisely because they are in the forest. Oh my, what charming blossoms… And such a lovely butterfly.”

Drawn by curiosity, they repeatedly wandered toward whatever caught their eye, then abruptly turned back to confirm that the waterfall was still visible. After doing so several times, they had a rough sense of distance, so at a fork in the path, they tried the route that led away from the stream.

“Lady Ekaterina, there are mushrooms lined up here. What a charming pattern.”
“Indeed… How mysterious, they’re polka dots.”

Red caps with white spots—perfectly triangular, the very image of a mushroom. They were so fanciful they might have accompanied figurines of the Seven Dwarfs. A whole line of them stood in formation, and the path the girls followed ran straight through that line.

“Oh my, is that bright red a flower, or perhaps a berry?”
“I wonder. It is such a lovely color.”

And so they stepped beyond the row of mushrooms and approached the red blossoms—or berries.

“It seems to be fruit. It is glossy and beautiful. I have never seen it before.”
“Y-yes… I as well… have never seen it before.”

Staring at the numerous berries growing thickly over a shrub, Ekaterina somehow managed to respond. It was not a lie. In this life, she had never seen them growing like this.
But in her previous life, she had seen and eaten them countless times.

Strawberries!

Large, vividly red, glossy strawberries that looked as delicious as the varieties painstakingly bred in modern Japan. They were likely quite different in size and color from the strawberries of this world.
As a former Japanese person, Ekaterina loved strawberries. Japan had the highest strawberry consumption in the world. Each prefecture developed its own varieties, each with its own favored brand. Tochigi’s Tochiotome and Fukuoka’s Amaou seemed to vie for supremacy in a ruthless strawberry war (purely her personal image). Few Japanese disliked strawberries. Thinking about it again, why had everyone loved them so much?

I want to eat them, but…
Is it safe? They are growing wild here. No matter how similar they look, surely they are not really strawberries.
They look delicious, but one cannot say for certain that they are not poisonous. And even if they are not, would it not be considered undignified for a duke’s daughter to eat random forest berries—

“Lady Ekaterina, these are very delicious!”

Wai—Flora-chan?!

“Lady Flora, that is dangerous!”
“It is all right. The lower berries appear to have been eaten by animals, so I believe they are not poisonous.”
“But…”
“Please. This one is nicely ripe.”

Smiling sweetly, Flora held out a strawberry (tentative) to Ekaterina’s lips.

…She tasted it first because I was staring at them longingly, didn’t she… That is dangerous, she must not do such things…
But is she trying to feed me? Or is it maybe an attempt to silence my scolding?
Even attempts at silencing were adorable when done by a beautiful girl.

Ekaterina gently opened her mouth and bit into the strawberry (tentative).

Sweet!
This was (nontentatively) a strawberry. Just as sweet and juicy as those from my previous life.
Well, maybe my sense of taste differed slightly in this body. Perhaps the sugar content is not quite as high.
Still, among all the fruits I have eaten in this life, this is the most delicious.

“They truly are delicious.”

Smiling, Ekaterina selected a particularly ripe berry and plucked it.

“Lady Flora, please.”

She offered it playfully, and Flora opened her mouth with a smile.
Feeding one another, the girls giggled.

Ah, I should give one to Mina as well.

With that thought, Ekaterina picked another berry and turned to look for Mina. But Mina was nowhere to be seen.

…What?

“Mina?”

No response. Mina, her utterly faithful guard and maid who never left her side, was nowhere to be seen.
A chill ran through her. Ekaterina looked back down the path they had taken. Though hidden by trees, the waterfall should have been nearby.
Yet even when she strained her ears, she could not hear it.

“Lady Flora!”

Grabbing Flora’s hand, Ekaterina hurried back along the path. But—
They emerged at a river.
Both girls froze. This was not the shallow stream flowing from the waterfall basin, but a broader, deeper stretch of water.

*—We’ve been had.*

“Where… are we?”
“It seems we have been misled by the little fairies.”

Suddenly remembering something, Ekaterina turned back once more. The fanciful mushrooms were gone.
Were they the famous fairy ring? Mushrooms of the same kind growing in a circle, and if one stepped inside, one would be transported to the land of fairies—the entrance to another realm.

It was truly a fairy’s prank… They knew we wouldn’t have stepped in it if the mushrooms formed a ring. Lining them up like that was not fair.
Then—is this the land of fairies?!
Are we unable to return? This is bad!
Ah… those strawberries. In myths—Greek and Japanese alike—if one eats food from another realm, one cannot return…
Wh-wh-what do we do?!

“Lady Ekaterina, can you hear it?”

On the verge of panic, Ekaterina was brought back by Flora tugging her hand.
When she listened carefully, her ears caught the noises—Barking dogs. Cheers.

The hunting grounds!
Which meant this was not the land of fairies. They had merely been moved somewhere else.

“It seems we have not been brought very far.”

Thank goodness… If I couldn’t see Onii-sama ever again. I would die of loneliness.
And if I went missing, Onii-sama would be in turmoil. He might even attempt to exterminate the fairies.

“What shall we do? Shall we follow the river?”
“No, let us wait here for someone to come. We do not know whether this is upstream or downstream of the waterfall. If we wait, Mina will surely find us.”

Yes. Mina, practically infected with Onii-sama’s sister complex, would certainly come for me.
And so, though they were the villainess and the heroine, they were caught to fend off the wilderness.