Lunch.

"You sure had your fun beating me up, a small child, huh?" grumbled Eldric taking a side glance at his maid.

"Of course not, young master. Although, I may have gone slightly overboard," she replied evenly; completely disregarding the small child's comment.

Epine was shameless like that.

'Slightly overboard, she says.' Eldric grimaced.

He couldn't even move a finger without aching. He wondered what would have happened if she actually went overboard.

A chill ran down his spine just imagining it.

Epine didn't care that he was a child; heck— she didn't even care if he could barely move.

She had him pick up the wooden sword and try to defend her attacks no matter what. And just when Eldric would get used to the weak monotonous and telegraphed sword strikes, she would then slightly increase her tempo and move variety.

It was a vicious cycle for poor Eldric, and what aggravated him was that he knew she wasn't anywhere near taking him seriously.

Part of him acknowledged that it could only make sense that she wouldn't, he was but a child; a recently bedridden child.

But another part really hated being underestimated like that.

On that note. Eldric may or may not have shouted 'encouraging' words at dear Epine. And that, may or may not, have only added to the degree of his suffering.

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say." challenged Eldric.

He looked at Epine with a grin, and a mouth twitch was what he got in response.

Ironically, he was feeling more at ease with Epine after getting the beating of a lifetime; two lifetimes, more precisely.

Epine seemed to pause for a while and stated," Young master, the lunch is on the way." she informed him.

"I will help the young master to get ready," she suggested.

'Hmm… Lunch, huh?'

"Where would it be held exactly?" inquired Eldric.

He hoped that he could take his lunch and disappear into the library or his chambers.

"In the dining hall, young master," responded Epine.

Eldric raised an eyebrow at that." Do I have to attend it?"

His maid replied, an obvious tone to her voice." Yes, young master. It would be considered rude. In the absence of lord Armsworth, the first lady is the one that holds the highest authority."

"The first lady…" muttered Eldric under his breath.

Epine nodded," Lady Faith Blackburne." She continued, "The second daughter of Duke Blackburne."

Eldric wasn't completely oblivious to her existence. He at least heard about her when he was researching his new family.

He tried to get up from his laying position, but he could not, no matter how hard he tried.

"Hmm… You should administer to me another potion. I can't move." instructed Eldric.

"Young Master." she paused, and the same red potion came into existence from her shadows.

'That's very convenient. I wonder what her blessing is..."

"The recovery potion isn't a miracle in a vial; it only boosts your natural recovery. Besides, you already had one. "

She examined Eldric one more time.

Although there were no marks on his small face; his body spoke otherwise.

Minor red marks decorated his forearms, and gnashes were all over the light leather armour he wore.

"Not only that, in your current age, it would only do you harm. Your body would become too dependent on external factors to heal." insisted Epine as she started to add even more information.

Eldric rolled his eyes. It seems his maid slipped into her instructing mode again. There was no stopping her once she did.

"I get it, okay. Just stop for a moment." appealed Eldric.

—-

After having a bath. Eldric started to head into the dining hall.

"What's wrong, young master?" questioned Epine seeing how uncomfortable he looked.

"Nothing," answered Eldric.

He weirdly looked at his attire.

It was definitely not as stupid as Cenric's, but that didn't mean much to him.

'Wearing a mini suit to have lunch….' he shook his head.

Epine excused herself from her master's side after both of them arrived at the doors of the dining hall.

Eldric would be on his own.

The dining hall was not all that different from the usual aesthetic of the Armsworth estate. But what was naturally different about it was the large wooden table in the middle of it, long more than it is wide. There was a silky red cloth on top; hanging from each of the four sides of the table.

The chairs were padded as well with the same red cloth, and on each of the two perimeters was a large chair.

One of the two large chairs was seating an elegant woman. Her posture was immaculate, and her legs were crossed over.

She appeared to be casually sipping tea from the cup sitting on the plate in front of her. Her red, luscious lips stayed on the cup for a moment.

Her golden eyes seemed to shine in relish of the exquisite taste— her expression was as flat as before, save for the perfect fake smile that constantly decorated her face.

She had barely observable makeup, meaning that her features were not at all fake. Her white skin was smooth as a baby's, and she had a long nose bridge that came out to a small point at the end.

Her flowing crimson was styled with an elaborate headdress on the top, while the rest flew all the way down to her waist. There were also multiple jewels and accessories attached to the loose flowing hair as it went down.

And the white dress, she wore, only added to her allure.

It was a simple one-piece dress that reached to the floor; letting her showcase a bit of her cleavage and shoulders.

The embroidery and decorations were however not as simple as the design. Multiple flowing red lines were sewn into it, all with different patterns. And jewels decorated the areas where her skin would show.

Overall, the woman displayed the perfect noblewoman vibe.

She had to. She was Faith Blackburne, the second daughter of Duke Blackburne— perfection was naturally to be expected of her.

Faith slowly turned her head when she heard the doors to the dining hall open.

'Who could it be? I usually happen to be the only one that arrives early.' she prodded.

The woman almost dropped her teacup along with the plate holding it when she saw who it was.

She quickly recovered, however.

Her years of hosting noblewoman parties and other occasions showed their worth at that moment.

"Greetings, lady Blackburne." slightly bowed the small child.

—no reply reached his ears.

The child however didn't seem that disturbed; it almost seemed like he anticipated that. He simply, unassumingly took up the farthest seat to her right.

A tense, deafening silence seeped through the atmosphere.

None of the parties said a word, pleasantries were discarded as well.

"Bwig bwow." a childish shout broke the tense atmosphere, unknowingly.

There was only one person so far that would address him like that in this life or the other.

It felt good being called a big brother; Eldric never had any siblings.

"Hello, Bellah." Eldric tried to act somewhat civil, considering the place where they were. He waved at her while sitting on the chair.

But little Bellah was having none of it.

*Kuuh*

She launched herself like a missile at Eldric's stomach. Headfirst.

Eldric had to resist spilling the tears that threatened to escape. The training he did in the morning already left his childish body in pain.

This surprise attack only made it worse.

"Are you okay, Eldric?" Sarah, Bellah's mother, came to the rescue.

Eldric shakily waved his hand in the air. "I'm okay," he said briskly.

"Good." Sarah didn't look convinced, but relented in the end after he kept insisting.

After that little hiccup, everything went somewhat smoothly.

There was yet again some tension when Cenric entered the dining hall, but he didn't dare mutter a word with his mother around.

Elah was not even present; she was training.

'That foolish daughter of mine.' muttered Faith. 'How long must I tell her to seize that fruitless struggle?'

'She ought to focus on being a proper noblewoman she is meant to be.' urged Faith in her mind.