#8. In Search of a Fateful Encounter (7)

Originally, House Béarn hadn’t always operated solely in the West, as it did now.

Back when the Empire still relied on heavy freight wagons.

The West supplied two-thirds of the Empire’s food, so it was only natural that House Béarn, which oversaw the region, had extended its reach throughout the Empire.

Then, with the rise of magic stones and the resulting development of magical engineering, a new means of transportation—the train—came into being.

When the heretics beyond the mountain range, once divided, united under a single power and their attacks grew increasingly fierce,

House Béarn withdrew the forces it had scattered throughout the Empire and concentrated them along the western border.

That abandoned mine Eleonore’s party was heading toward now was a remnant of that era.

By the time the wind brushing through her long, tied-back hair—a style called a ponytail in Seo Juha’s world—had shifted from the cozy scent of grass on the plain to the fresh, deep scent of trees in the forest,

the once-smooth road had begun to grow rough, and naturally, the procession’s pace and spacing began to shrink.

“So, Eli. What’s your relationship with Dmitri? What do you think of him?”...