Author's Note: This spawned entirely from the fact that Manuela and Jeritza lack unique Dining Hall dialogue, which made me sad. That, and I played Crimson Flower late enough that I apparently missed some kind of line from Manuela where she claimed the Death Knight apologized to her off-screen (I'm assuming it got patched out at the same time Jeritza got patched in). Anyway, solution? Combine the two scenarios. Obviously.
Squirm For Me
"Why are you making me eat lunch with him, Professor? He stabbed me!"
"It's character building, Manuela."
"But—"
"Character building."
Byleth sipped at his cup of tea as Manuela scowled at him. Her fork was still accusingly pointed in Jeritza's direction—and he, to his credit, looked more confused than anything. At least he wasn't taking her protests personally.
(Or he didn't appear to be; his expression was otherwise so unreadable that it was hard to tell. Still, if Jeritza was upset the situation, he wasn't saying it aloud.)
Honestly, Byleth was surprised that Jeritza had joined them at all, though it was less because of Manuela and more because he generally ate alone in the knight's quarters. He'd be lying if he said that was the reason he'd invited him out, though. Or, at least, it wasn't the only reason. Byleth was completely serious about the "character building" quip, in the sense that he was curious to see how the two would interact.
Pretty much everyone had known, or at least suspected, that Jeritza was the Death Knight, after all. And Byleth was sure that Manuela hadn't forgotten about a certain incident that had happened five years ago, either. He'd been proven right when Manuela had sat down with her plate full of food and noticed the man sitting across from her.
"Ugh, this is awful," Manuela grumbled, finally stabbing her fork back into her pheasant. "Just awful. Doesn't anyone remember what happened?"
"I do."
She blinked at Jeritza's response, turning her face towards him while the rest of her seemed to be comically frozen in place. He shrugged before his expression shifted slightly towards something resembling regret.
"It was that or kill you. I didn't wish to hurt you at all, but…" Jeritza frowned. "…had I not held him back, the Death Knight would have done much worse. I…apologize. Could you find it in yourself to forgive me?"
Manuela's jaw fell open in shock, and Byleth had to admit that his almost did as well. That was one of the longest things he'd heard Jeritza say at once, after all. But, more to the point, he genuinely sounded like he felt bad about it. Finally, Manuela sighed heavily, closed her eyes, and nodded.
"Fine," she muttered. "I'm not sure what all of that meant, but I suppose I can accept it. But I admit this is more…anti-climatic than I expected."
Byleth nodded in satisfaction as he took a bite of his own roasted pheasant. All things considered, that had gone far better than it should have. He doubted the two of them would be fast friends any time soon, but at least the grudge seemed to be settled.
'See? Character building,' Byleth thought as he swallowed.