“Just as I thought. It’s completely empty.”

Delphia poked only her head through the sturdy-looking wooden doors before throwing them wide open.

“Now then, miss—no, Lady Irina. This is the dining hall of the Winfried townhouse. Isn’t it magnificent? No…… spacious?”

Irina stepped through the doors Delphia had opened for her.

“Wow. It really is……”

Irina nodded.

“……spacious.”

It was spacious.

In fact, ‘spacious’ was the only word Irina could think of to describe it.

She had imagined a nobleman’s dining hall to be elegant and lavish, but this room was neither. It contained only three long wooden tables lined with chairs, the kind you might find in a busy restaurant. Several containers, presumably filled with food, were neatly arranged along one wall.

“We didn’t have anywhere suitable for everyone to eat. This room was originally intended for another purpose, but we converted it into a dining hall because the original one was too small.”

“I see.”

Delphia and Irina entered the dining hall.

“Huh?”

Delphia’s eyes widened when she spotted something.

“What? Rio! Why are you still here?”

A man was seated in a corner of the dining hall, eating stew.

Delphia strode toward him.

“Did you start breakfast late?”

“Yeah.”

In response to her question, the man — whose brown hair fell all the way to his waist — gave a disinterested nod and continued to spoon stew into his mouth.

His expression made it clear that he found her bothersome and wanted her to leave him alone while he ate.

Pretending not to notice, Delphia asked,

“Why?”

“…….”

“Whyyy?”

“……Go away.”

“Whyyyyyy?”

“……Something came up.”

“Ah, I see. Layton must have caused trouble again. In that case, you can eat with us. Lady Irina! Come over here!”

“Lady Irina?”

Only then did the man called Rio lift his gaze from his bowl of stew and look at Irina.

“Ah…… hello.”

Irina approached hesitantly, and Delphia cheerfully began introducing them.

“Lady Irina, this is……”

“I’ll introduce myself. You go and bring the food.”

The man rose with a scrape of his chair, then extended his hand toward Irina.

“I’m Rio Art. Please call me Sir Rio.”

“I’m Irina Leonid. Please call me Irina.”

This time, she neither hesitated for long nor trembled.

Pleased with herself, Irina smiled inwardly.

“Hmm.”

The knight who had introduced himself as Rio studied her briefly before sitting down again.

‘What was that?’

While Irina stared at Rio in puzzlement, Delphia returned with the food.

Both her hands were laden with dishes.

“Lady Irina! I brought breakfast!”

Smiling broadly, Delphia placed one tray upon the seat beside Rio and another before Irina, who sat across from them.

The tray held a bowl of red stew filled with meat, two pieces of white bread, and small portions of jam and butter.

‘It looks delicious.’

Irina swallowed.

She could barely remember the last time she had eaten a proper meal like this.

Half of the stew was meat, and alongside the white bread there were jars of jam and butter — luxuries she had rarely even seen before.

Such an extravagant meal!

Overwhelmed with delight, she immediately picked up the wooden spoon, took a large helping of stew and put it in her mouth.

‘Huh?’

Irina tilted her head.

The longer she chewed, the darker her expression became.

“Hmm? Is something wrong with it?”

Delphia, who had been speaking with Rio, immediately asked.

“Well…… it tastes strange.”

“What?”

“The meat…… It isn’t sour or tough. I only have to chew it a few times before I can swallow it.”

“……What?”

Irina placed another piece of meat upon her spoon and sniffed it.

“It doesn’t smell foul either…… Is meat normally like this?”

“Yes, it is.”

Rio answered while Delphia remained frozen in shock.

“House Winfried receives fresh, high-quality meat every day.”

Irina’s eyes sparkled.

“So it tastes like this because it’s good meat?”

“Precisely. It’s also tender because it was served warm. There is nothing wrong with it, so you may eat as much as you like without worrying.”

“Wow……”

Irina’s eyes shone as though she had learned something extraordinary, and she nodded eagerly.

“Thank you for explaining.”

Only then did she begin eating the stew without hesitation.

“What in the world……”

Delphia murmured in bewilderment, but Rio lightly nudged her in the side.

“She must have eaten imitation meat before.”

“Imitation meat?”

“Not everyone can afford real meat. They grind up unusable scraps and mix them with things like wheat bran.”

Rio continued quietly,

“And wheat bran is among the better ingredients. I’ve heard they sometimes throw in whatever they can find—even leather from discarded shoes.”

“…….”

“Considering that she mentioned a sour taste, she must have eaten a particularly old batch as well.”

Delphia looked at Irina, who was happily eating her stew.

“This won’t do!”

She abruptly shot to her feet.

Startled, Irina blinked at her, while Rio regarded Delphia with an expression that plainly asked, What is she doing now?

“Miss, you deserve to eat something even more delicious! Just wait here!”

After shouting with determination, Delphia dashed away. She returned shortly afterward with her shoulders drooping.

“……The chef went out to buy ingredients.”

Apparently, she had run all the way to the kitchen and back.

Rio carried on eating as though nothing had happened.

“He left in a carriage earlier.”

“You knew?”

“Yes. He came to the training yard earlier and asked for someone to accompany him as both an escort and a porter.”

“Why didn’t you tell me……?”

“Because you didn’t ask.”

While Delphia lunged at Rio and attempted to seize him by the collar, Irina frowned to herself.

‘Does this estate have no servants?’

The state of her room and the fact that the chef had personally gone out to buy ingredients only served to deepen Irina’s suspicions.

Even at Ben’s tavern, one person was solely responsible for cooking. Despite doing nothing else, this person was always complaining that there wasn’t enough time and making everyone else buy ingredients and do the other chores.

‘Though he never sent me.’

Being permitted to leave the slums and enter the bustling commercial district was considered a privilege in itself.

Ben had accused Irina of being obsessed with money, claiming that she would steal anything if she saw an opportunity. Consequently, he excluded her from any task involving money.

At the time, she felt so wronged that she tried to defend herself.

‘Looking back, he was probably afraid I would take even that meager sum and run away.’

Irina gave a brief, bitter smile before asking,

“Delphia, are there no other people here?”

Although Irina had grown up entirely in the slums and knew little about the world, even she knew that a noble household usually employed a great many people.

Yet at the Winfried townhouse, she had seen only three people so far.

Delphia, Rio, and the Duke of Winfried.

“I don’t think I saw a single servant on the way here.”

“Excellent question!”

Having apparently vented her frustration on Rio to her heart’s content, Delphia returned to her seat with gleaming eyes.

She leaned her upper body toward Irina and launched into a lament.

“The truth is, no one wants to come and work for the ducal household! As you may know, miss, it has been a very, very long time since House Winfried last came to the capital.”

“Has it?”

“Yes! The war began in the eastern region, remember? Ruberk started it because they wanted the east’s fertile grain-producing lands.”

Delphia tore apart a piece of bread as she continued.

“And the Winfried duchy is located in the east. As a result, the entire territory became the very heart of the battlefield.”

“That was why the previous duke and his predecessor could rarely visit the capital.”

Rio took over the explanation while pulling apart his white bread along its soft layers.

“I heard they came here only once or twice at most.”

“Exactly! And because the previous duke needed every coin he could spare for the war, he ordered that only the minimum number of staff be retained at the townhouse.”

“Ah, so that’s why I haven’t seen anyone.”

Irina nodded.

Hadn’t she heard that servants working for noble households earned enormous wages?

That was why most children in the slums dreamed of finding work at a noble estate.

‘So that explains it.’

It explained why the chef had gone to purchase ingredients himself, why such a vast townhouse seemed deserted, and why Delphia—a knight, of all people—was taking care of her personally.

‘Wait.’

A small flame of inspiration flickered to life in Irina’s mind.

‘There’s no reason I can’t do the cleaning, is there?’

She had already planned to ask the duke what work she should perform when she met him that day.

She never expected such a perfect opportunity to present itself.

‘I’m confident in my cleaning skills.’

After all, she had swept and scrubbed the tavern every day from a very young age.

Even Ben, who had always found fault with her, had acknowledged her talent for cleaning.

‘Neither His Grace nor Lady Delphia seems like a bad person.’

That made it even more important for Irina to prove her worth so that she would be allowed to remain here.

‘Good. I’ve found something to do.’

She now had a legitimate reason to stay.

Irina’s eyes began to shine.

However, Delphia was too busy eating her stew and lamenting their circumstances to notice that gleam.

“Yes, exactly! Even after we arrived, there wasn’t a single servant here! And the entire townhouse was a disaster!”

Delphia shuddered as she explained that they had been forced to clean everything themselves.

“We tried to hire servants, but since we had to recruit an entire household staff from the beginning, it’s taking forever. Ugh! Fortunately, the chef came to the capital with us, but we’re still desperately short-handed!”

“You’re noisy.”

Rio popped the final piece of bread into his mouth and rose.

“Huh? Are you leaving?”

“I have to.”

“Hey, wait.”

As he tried to leave without hesitating for a moment, Delphia grabbed the hem of Rio’s clothes.

His body lurched backwards suddenly.

He looked menacing, but Delphia paid him no attention.

Instead, she tugged insistently at his clothes and pointed to one side of the room.

“What’s that?”

Following her gaze, Irina turned and saw a dish covered by a silver cloche.

Still holding her spoon between her lips, Delphia’s eyes sparkled.

“Can we give that to Lady Irina?”

“No.”

Rio lightly knocked Delphia on the head with his knuckles.

“It’s His Grace’s meal.”

“Ah. Then we can’t.”

Delphia appeared to give up immediately, but she continued stealing regretful glances at the dish as she tugged on Rio once more.

“Then why is it still here? Why wasn’t it taken up to his room?”

“Layton already delivered one and returned. That is a newly prepared meal.”

His explanation ended abruptly.

Yet it was apparently enough for Delphia to understand what had happened, because she let out a groan.

“He’s gone too far this time.”

Delphia shook her head.

“He shouldn’t skip meals so often…… He didn’t eat dinner last night either, did he?”

“Probably not.”

“And the chances of His Grace coming down here to eat are……?”

“None.”

“Then what are we supposed to do with that?”

Delphia groaned before her eyes suddenly brightened.

“Let’s keep it simple! We’ll spar, and whoever loses has to deliver it!”

“That isn’t simple at all.”

“I’ll go.”

A quiet voice interrupted Delphia and Rio.

Both of them naturally turned toward its source.

“I can take it to him.”