Silke had given no acknowledgment of his comment about a dinner, though she had certainly heard it. The coy remark, when paired with wink, and coming from a devastatingly charming bachelor that was twice as heroic as every other noble man she came across, left her rather speechless. For a woman that prided herself on her composure and ability to handle any and every social situation she found herself in, she was more than a touch embarrassed at the way that her heart fluttered. He had warned her that he would flirt and they had mutually agreed that it would be effectively meaningless. It should have been something easily dismissed and forgotten with a light laugh; instead she found herself reminded how lonely she was.

For a second her grip tightened on the ledger as she forced herself to think of her father. Count Kasper had been madly in love with his wife. It was the sort of passionate, romantic, everlasting love that was written about in fairy tales and poems, that was the envy of all society, that gave little girls hopes they would meet a prince charming that would sweep them off their feet. They hadn't seen the grief that obliterated the husband that was left behind. As a young girl herself, she had been unwillingly born witness to a titan of her childhood crumbling into a shell of her former self. Silke believed in true, pure, consuming love, but she also saw it for the double-edged sword that it was. She couldn't allow herself to ever marry and destroy someone like that when she inevitably died.

And she [i]would[/i] die first, she reminded herself. Her mother had gone, and her brother had gone, and it only made sense that she would be next. Silke's belief was so deeply rooted that she could feel her fate closing in on her when she was still and quiet. She had to make it as pleasant for everyone left behind when she went to join her mother and brother. That was why she couldn't- and wouldn't- easily give in to the temptation of Galt.

"The concepts aren't terribly difficult," Silke admitted as they concluded the first part of his finance lessons. "The real challenge making certain that you have appropriate contingencies in place for unexpected disasters or other setbacks. It's impossible to anticipate the weather year to year, and I've seen my fair share of nobleman spending as much as they are earning, and then be an impossible situation when their fields are flooded and no one can make a profit." She sat back in her chair, allowing herself to look tired for the first time since she had arrived. "I've created a few exercises that..." Suddenly she stopped mid-sentence and swore as she fished a handkerchief out of her pocket.

She had a nosebleed. Silke had noticed it as soon as she felt it trickle towards her lip and turned away, fumbling for the piece of cloth, and swearing under her breath. Typically she was able to hide when she over-exerted herself as she had these past few days. No one had pushed her into skimping out on meals or sleeping little. She had been so excited, so absorbed in her work, that she had rushed towards her invisible deadline without doing so in a healthy manner.

"My apologies. It should be on one of the pieces of parchment," she called out to him as she finally dabbed at her nose. She was a mess and it would have been humiliating to let him see just how much of a mess she was before she could stop the flow and clean herself up.