The moment Linnea concluded the lesson, Ulrich rose from his chair and swiftly departed without a single word.

Linnea and the three sisters stared at the empty doorway for a long moment before Hermione finally snapped.

"W-Why was he even watching us?" She asked, her cheeks still flushed from her terrible display earlier.

For the entirety of the lesson, she had stumbled through her answers, getting nearly half of them completely wrong. The humiliation tasted bitter on her tongue. Even a deaf man could have deduced she was the worst among the three sisters in Linnea’s class. In previous lessons, making a mistake barely registered to her, but with Ulrich’s gaze bearing down on her, it felt entirely different. She refused to look foolish while he was listening. To Hermione’s ambitious mind, every wrong answer felt like losing a battle against him. The fact that both Esther and Airam had answered flawlessly only deepened her acute embarrassment.

"Maybe Lord Ulrich is just making sure we study seriously?" Esther muttered thoughtfully, trying to soothe her sister’s bruised ego.

"He hasn’t done that once in the past two years, so why start now?" Airam asked, not convinced.

"Um..." Esther trailed off, unable to find a logical argument against that.

"Perhaps the Count simply wished to check on your progress after all this time," Linnea said, offering a gentle smile as she gathered her teaching materials. "Regardless of the reason, I am very proud of you girls today. Lady Esther and Lady Airam, your answers were excellent, as expected. And Lady Hermione, you participated far more than usual! It seems Lord Ulrich’s presence truly motivated you."

Hermione’s face flushed an even deeper red. She slammed both hands against her desk and shot up from her chair.

"Motivated?! I am not!" She almost shouted, spinning on her heel and storming toward the door.

"Wait, B—Big sister?" Esther called out in surprise.

"I’m hungry," Hermione bit back, marching down the corridor with frustrated strides.

Esther and Airam shared a look before slowly trailing after her toward the dining hall for lunch. However, the moment they reached the grand double doors, Hermione froze in her tracks, forcing her sisters to halt right behind her.

Esther peeked curiously around Hermione’s shoulder. Her blue eyes widened in shock, instantly lighting up with joy.

Sitting quietly at the head of the massive dining table, a seat that had remained notoriously empty for years, was Ulrich. Esther could hardly believe he was actually there.

"Please take a seat, my ladies," Monika said from the sidelines, sporting a warm smile. The maid was clearly overjoyed to see the Count finally sharing a meal with the sisters as well.

"I—I..." Hermione stammered, taking a step backward. "I am not hungry!"

Right on cue, a loud growl erupted from Hermione’s stomach. The sound echoed perfectly into the sudden silence that had fallen over the room, lasting almost purposefully longer than expected.

"Mhnn!" Hermione whined, her face turning scarlet. She ducked her head and pressed both hands desperately against her stomach as if she could smother the noise.

"Hehe, you are hungry, big sister. Come on," Esther giggled. Stepping forward, she gently grasped Hermione’s hand.

Utterly defeated and too humiliated to put up a fight, Hermione let herself be dragged into the room. Esther happily claimed the chair immediately to Ulrich’s right, pulling Hermione into the seat beside her. Airam, after watching the spectacle with a blank expression, quietly walked over and took the seat directly across from Esther, settling in on Ulrich’s left.

They all took their seats, and for a brief moment, no one spoke.

The silence that settled over the dining room was not exactly tensed, but it was awkward enough to be felt. It hung over the long table as the maids moved around them with grace, stepping forward one after another to set down the dishes prepared for lunch.

Large silver platters and polished porcelain plates soon covered the table’s surface, each one carrying food rich enough to make the air itself feel warm and fragrant. Roasted meats glazed to perfection, delicate vegetables coated in butter, fresh bread still steaming, fragrant soups, glossy sauces, and neatly arranged desserts were placed in careful order before them.

Esther’s blue eyes shone at once.

Hunger flickered openly across her face as she looked from one dish to another, almost dazzled by the abundance spread before them. Even after living in the Rubenhart Estate for so long, there were still moments like these when she found herself quietly amazed. The sight of such a meal, arranged so beautifully across the table, never quite lost its charm.

Across from her, Hermione was hardly faring any better.

For one terrible second, she nearly drooled at the sight of the food. Realizing it a heartbeat later, she quickly wiped at the corner of her mouth and straightened at once, crossing her arms as if she had not been staring at the dishes like a starving beast. She turned her head slightly, feigning indifference with all the dignity she could gather, though the effort only made it more obvious.

Airam, meanwhile, said nothing at all.

She simply kept her gaze fixed on the dishes before her with an almost exaggerated seriousness, as though she were studying them rather than preparing to eat them. Her expression remained composed, but there was still something intense in the way she looked at the food...

She was definitely quite hungry as well after Linnea’s boring and long lesson.

Usually, the three of them would have begun eating the instant they were served.

At most, they might have exchanged a few words first, but once the food was there, any attempt at restraint often vanished quickly. This time, however, things were very different.

Ulrich was there.

That fact alone was enough to keep all three sisters unusually still.

Though their plates had been filled and the meal was ready before them, none of them touched so much as a fork. No matter how hungry they were, there was no way they were going to throw themselves at the food in front of Ulrich and look like wild animals.

So they waited.

The maids stepped back one by one, retreating to the edges of the room until everything was finally in place.

A strange stillness followed.

Esther sat with her hands neatly folded in her lap, though her eyes still kept darting toward the food. Hermione remained with her arms crossed, trying very hard to look unimpressed despite the obvious tension in her posture. Airam sat straight and silent, her dark gaze calm but she was definitely impatient to dig in.

And Ulrich...

Ulrich merely looked at the dishes spread across the table.

His eyes moved slowly over the meal in front of him, unreadable as ever. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. For a few long seconds, no one dared make a sound.

Then, at last, he picked up his knife and fork.

Without ceremony, without a word, he began to eat.

It was all the permission they needed.

Almost at once, the three sisters moved as well.

Esther reached for her utensils with barely restrained eagerness, trying her best to remain delicate despite how clearly hungry she was. Hermione uncrossed her arms at once, abandoning her act of indifference as she dug in with much more focus than she would ever admit. Airam began eating too, her movements neat and controlled, though no slower than the others.

Perhaps it was the excitement of finally sharing a meal with Ulrich, but Esther’s usual careful manners slipped. Eager to dig into the roasted meat on her plate, she pressed her knife down with far too much force.

Spurt.

A drop of dark, savory meat juice shot across the table, landing perfectly on the immaculate white cuff of Ulrich’s sleeve.

Esther froze, her blue eyes going wide with horror.

"S—Sorry!" She gasped, leaping out of her chair so fast it nearly tipped over backward. She snatched her linen napkin from her lap and grabbed his arm, scrubbing at the fabric. But when she pulled the napkin back, her heart sank into her stomach. Instead of cleaning the stain, she had only smeared the grease deeper into the white silk, making it look ten times worse. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Tears immediately pricked the corners of her eyes.

"I—I am so sorry!" She cried out again, her voice trembling as full-blown panic set in.

But then, Ulrich moved. His hand calmly wrapped over hers, where she was still clutching his arm, halting her scrubbing. The sudden contact made her jerk her gaze upward. Slowly, he uncurled her trembling fingers from his sleeve and pulled his arm back.

Esther immediately lowered her head, her face tinged with guilt. She expected a scolding, or worse, for him to simply stand up and leave the table entirely.

"Precipitation often causes accidents," Ulrich said calmly.

Esther peeked up through her eyelashes. To her shock, Ulrich wasn’t glaring at her. He seemed completely unbothered by the ruined sleeve, already picking up his knife and fork to gracefully slice his own portion of meat.

"You are a Lady of the Rubenhart House," he continued. "You are allowed to make mistakes. But you must learn from them. Do you understand?"

Esther blinked away her unshed tears, a bright, relieved smile breaking across her face. "Yes!" She nodded, quickly sitting back down in her chair.

The surrounding maids exchanged silent, bewildered glances. Receiving a stern behavioral lecture over a minor dining accident might have seemed harsh to an outsider, but in the circles of high nobility, such slip-ups were judged. Ulrich’s advice was entirely practical, and more importantly, Esther could feel the underlying good intentions behind his words.

"I—I will wash it..." Esther offered timidly, still feeling a lingering pang of guilt for ruining his expensive clothes.

Ulrich merely glanced at her, about to say something.

However, before he could answer, Monika stepped forward with a gentle, reassuring smile. "That is not your work to do, Lady Esther. We servants are here for exactly that purpose."

"I see..." Esther muttered, nodding slowly. She picked up her utensils and resumed eating, though this time, her movements were gentle and meticulous.

A quiet, comfortable silence fell over the table once again, broken only by the soft clinking of silverware. That is, until Ulrich set his knife down.

"Tomorrow, I expect all three of you to be ready by noon," he said, not looking up from his plate. "We are leaving for the City."

The three sisters froze simultaneously.

Forks hovered mid-air. Esther and Hermione stared at him in shock. Since the very day they had arrived at the Rubenhart Estate, Ulrich had never once allowed them to set foot outside the Estate’s protective fences after all.