In the end, I managed to convince Asha to take me with her to the dining room, and now we stood together in a spacious, slightly dim chamber where a long dark wood dining table rose in the center. For several minutes, we waited in respectful silence, and soon Irene entered the dining room.
The girl, with impeccable manners honed by years of etiquette lessons, calmly walked to her place. She maintained the perfect posture of a true lady: straight back, chin slightly raised, hands neatly folded before her. And all of this looked so natural that I could not help but smile.
Despite the difference in hair color — Kayla’s was crimson, almost fiery, while Irene’s was dark as the night sky — their eyes were absolutely identical.
The same amber, vibrant, shining eyes, which seemed to reflect sharp intelligence and inner strength. It was impossible to look away from them — as if two little suns had suddenly been lit in this hall.
And, honestly, even now it was difficult for me to imagine just how dazzlingly beautiful she would become in the future.
Without a doubt... she was already destined to break millions of hearts.
While I was floating in these rapturous thoughts, reality once again slipped away from my attention. Irene noticed my overly intense, dreamy gaze, and her delicate face immediately frowned.
"...It is you again," she said dryly, clearly not pleased.
"Hello again, Lady Irene!"
"Why are you staring at me like that again?" the girl frowned. Her voice mixed irritation with slight bewilderment. "Is there something wrong with my face? A stain? A crumb?"
"Ah, no, not at all... it is nothing of the sort," I hurried to reply.
"Then what is it?" Irene crossed her arms over her chest. She still looked displeased, but she was no longer shouting as she had during our first meeting. It seemed my role as her older sister’s healer did grant me a certain "inviolability."
"It is simply that the lady’s beauty is too dazzling," I blurted out with sincere admiration. "I cannot look away, even if I wanted to. Although... to be honest, I do not want to look away!"
After my frank confession, the faces of all three people in the room changed noticeably. Asha, Mrs. Farris, and the young lady herself — all stared at me as if standing before a person of rather questionable sanity.
Then again... I did not deny it. In a sense, it was true. My "illness" was simply called chronic love for Kayla and everything connected to her. And, alas, no cure had yet been invented for it.
"You..." Irene exhaled, clearly searching for words. "How can you say such outrageous things?! Even if you are a healer, you are still a commoner. And yet so insolent!"
"Forgive me, my lady," I bowed my head in a polite gesture, "but I said nothing bad. I merely stated the obvious out loud. For example, your beauty. Is that a crime?"
Irene looked at me again with a strange, almost bewildered gaze — as if she still could not figure out exactly who she was dealing with. Then she sighed heavily, and in that sigh, unexpectedly, there was not childish resentment but some weary, adult quality...
It seemed that at that moment, she was once again seriously considering whether to order my immediate dismissal.
But instead, the young lady simply waved her hand briefly, giving the order to serve dinner.
The servants immediately sprang into action, and soon the table began to fill with dishes — far more abundant than two people could possibly eat.
I watched the rising steam, the golden-brown crust of fresh bread, the neatly arranged vegetables and greens... and only then realized just how hungry I was.
No matter how you looked at it, since my departure I had been in too much of a hurry to reach the estate and had eaten almost nothing. The jolting in the cart, quick hurried snacks, dry rations on the go — that had been it for the past few days. And this morning, I had not taken a single crumb into my mouth: I had been too nervous before meeting Kayla.
And now, as soon as the food was placed right in front of me, my treacherous stomach let out a clear, pitiful sound.
Irene froze for a moment. It seemed she had heard it too.
I immediately felt my cheeks betray me with warmth, but it was too late. The question slipped out on its own:
"Lady Irene..."
"What now?" The girl sat with her back perfectly straight while her nanny carefully spread a napkin on her lap. She did not even look up.
"May I... join you?"
"What?" Irene jerked her head up.
Asha at that same moment stared at me in astonishment and even stepped back slightly.
"There is so much food on your table..." I continued. "You cannot possibly eat all of this by yourself, can you? So I just wanted to... help a little. So that less would be thrown away afterward. Ecology, you know..."
"You call that ’helping’?" Irene looked at me indignantly. "How did you even have the nerve to suggest such a thing?"
"My lady... is it forbidden to sit at the same table as you?"
"Of course it is!" she cut off, adjusting the napkin on her lap. "You are a maid!"
"But..." I paused briefly, "I am not exactly an ordinary servant. I am Her Grace’s healer. Could a small exception not be made? For the sake of medical necessity... and, let us say, morale support?"
Her amber eyes flared as if surprise and indignation were mixing in them at once. Irene was clearly trying to find a worthy response, but it seemed her upbringing had not prepared instructions for the case of an overly bold healer asking to sit at the same table as a lady.
And at that moment, I simply looked at her.
Because when Kayla got angry, her eyes flared exactly the same way — with that same vivid, fierce, beautiful fire. And this resemblance made my heart beat faster.
A full minute of tense silence passed before Irene finally composed herself. She looked extremely displeased but still hissed through her teeth:
"...This will be an exception. Only this once."
"Really?" My eyes must have shone too brightly, because she immediately looked away.
"I... I heard that thanks to you, my sister felt better today," she muttered, and unexpectedly, awkwardness slipped into her voice. "So consider this... a reward."
"Thank you very much, Lady Irene!" I bowed with such enthusiasm as if I had been invited to a royal reception.
Irene immediately turned away, pretending to be completely focused on her plate, but the tips of her ears were suspiciously red.
Without wasting a second — before she could change her mind — I quickly took a seat at the table. Asha and Mrs. Farris were still looking at me as if I had just done something unthinkable. Their expressions mixed shock, bewilderment, and quiet condemnation.
Meanwhile, another set of cutlery appeared on the table. A dense, ringing silence settled over the dining room.
I looked around the table and suddenly realized something was missing. Or rather, someone.
The most important person.
At the mere thought that I could sit at the same table as Kayla, everything inside me tightened with delight. I already imagined her entering, calmly taking her place, and us... dining together.
Almost like a date. Well... almost.
But to my surprise, Irene had already calmly picked up her cutlery and begun neatly cutting her meat, not even glancing at the empty seat at the head of the table. She had absolutely no intention of waiting for anyone.
I blinked in confusion.
"Lady Irene..." I called cautiously.
She raised her gaze to me, full of clear irritation.
"Are you going to bother me even while I am eating?!"
"No, no, it is nothing like that..." I replied hastily. "It is just... should we not wait for Her Grace?"
"What?" Irene frowned slightly, and the knife in her hand paused for a moment.
"Her Grace has not arrived yet. Is it right to start dinner without her?"
A short, heavy silence hung in the room.
Irene slowly lowered her cutlery and looked at me as if I had said something both strange and obvious at the same time. Then she sighed quietly.
"Sister will not come."
"...What? Why?"
Irene hesitated for a moment, and her voice unexpectedly became quieter, almost imperceptibly losing its usual sharpness.
"Sister... usually does not come down to the dining room. She eats in her room."
I was both stunned and deeply saddened by these words.
"What? But why?" escaped my lips before I could stop myself.
"How should I know?" Irene sighed heavily. "Those are sister’s affairs. They do not concern you."
"But, wait..."
"What now?" The girl raised her gaze to me, in which irritation mixed with something far more complex. Perhaps with that pain which she stubbornly hid.
I hesitated for a moment.
"...May I ask one more question?"
Irene did not answer, but she did not stop me either — she simply looked at me silently, waiting for me to continue.
"Her Grace... does she ever leave her room?" I asked cautiously.
An answer did not come immediately. And even without words, the silence had already said too much. Irene’s face became noticeably darker and heavier — not at all what an eleven-year-old child’s face should look like.
"...No," she replied quietly.
I swallowed involuntarily.
"And how long... has this been going on?"
Irene hesitated for a moment. Her gaze dropped to her plate, and her fingers gripping the fork turned slightly white.
"Since everything happened..." she faltered, as if the memory itself was difficult for her. "Sister has not left her room. It has already been... half a year."
Half a year.
"What?!"
For a second, I forgot to breathe.
Half a year?..
Had Kayla... my treasure... really not left her room all this time?!..