By now they were about halfway down the path that led between the hedge and the house.

"Here on the right is one of the entrances to my garden. This has all been remodelled recently."

Directing by his hand gesture, Meia looked to her right at a passageway in the hedge with a flowery archway.

"Ahh." she made, nodding, supposedly impressed.

"You like flowers?"

"Mhm."

"Then I hope I can show you some that will delight you. Most of the plants from the estate are from my home. A few of the more easy-care types have also been sown sporadically in the meadows from the hill. Before we go into the garden, however, I would like to show you the courtyard for a moment." Casually, he gestured ahead with a look. "To be honest, I need to have a look how the preparations are going. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to do that today."

"I-I'd like to."

Irritated, Meia looked back at the driveway. She had the feeling that part of his statement did not match her earlier perception.

~Sporadically? There are more flowers than grass. Does he mean the grass?~

Something else irritated her too. He had said: 'my garden'. It was his, but it still seemed a bit conceited to say it like that. Wouldn't one normally say: 'the entrance to the garden', or something like that? Maybe he took care of the plants himself and therefore wanted to emphasise that it was his? Should she praise him then? That would probably be appropriate.

"It-it really turned out very nicely." ~As far as I can tell so far.~

"Thank you very much." Mr Monet replied briefly.

Meia tried to decipher his smile. She did not feel that her praise was overly successful.

~Was that too much? I could have done without the 'really'. ~But maybe he received so much praise that it had become meaningless to him? Meia noticed that she had already praised him several times in the last five minutes alone. So maybe that was the case. The logical conclusion would therefore be to stop praising him? Meia was stumped. If her praise was worthless, what was she supposed to do? Somehow, after all, she had to respond to all the pomp that was to come. ~Just be surprised?~

At that moment, Meia realised that she was making eye contact with Mr Monet, then she understood that she had been staring at him since the beginning of her pondering.

Quickly she turned her head away and looked into the hedge.

It must have seemed as if she had already fallen for him completely. Now he must have thought that he didn't need to make any further effort to win her heart. At this moment she realized with shock that in her effort to appear calm turning away was certainly rather counterproductive. It would have been smarter to ask a question to distract from herself.

~He probably didn't notice. Just walk on cool as if nothing had happened.~

"You wonder about the pin?"

~Of course he noticed it.~

"Y-Y-Yes. He looks very... erm... unique looking.", Meia mumbled to herself as the blush rose to her face.

"The pin, so this cross here, it's our family emblem. Elements of it can be found in many places on the estate."

"I-I see."

Mr Monet did not let anything show. Either he was an outstanding actor or he had really overlooked her dreamy gaze.

Maybe he had not noticed because of his height? After all, he was more than a head taller than her.

"If you'd like, you're welcome to take a closer look?" he asked invitingly, which made him stop and lean his chest towards her.

~Why so close? I didn't even want to see that. Wh-Who cares about the stupid pin?~

Compelled to do so, Meia looked at the pin. It was a cross with vines that was made of bluish metal. For once, Meia had no idea what type it was. The whole pin sparkled and the sun reflected strangely monochrome in the bare metal, like a rainbow in black and white. The pin looked valuable and probably was, but Meia did not know for sure. Meia would not claim to be super knowledgeable about jewelry and she did not know the metal. The vines were probably just for decoration? A cross was the emblem of the Monet family. Meia knew that. She knew the emblem. There were no vines. But they had already been on the cross from the letter seal. Apart from the vines, it was not unusual for Mr Monet to wear such a pin. Persons of nobility often carried at least one object bearing their symbol. No matter where you went, you always represented your family as well. Meia was no exception. She did not have such a conspicuous piece of jewellery, but at least on her diary and on her wallet was the Arvis emblem.

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"Ahh, It-It's a beautiful piece." she merely commented, and then made another effort to quickly look somewhere else.

"Isn't it?" he affirmed proudly. "A few of my servants also wear such crosses, but when then in a more simple version without ornamentation. There are only two of this kind. I wear one of them and I save the other for someone special. I think you can guess for whom."

"Surely."

Meia could indeed guess and also noticed that his smile seemed stronger now. Did he think that just because he offered her jewellery made of rare metal that she had never seen before, she would- she would somehow be impressed? She was not at all. She was just not used to being around rare metal yet. In fact, it probably was not even that rare. It was just metal. There was certainly more of it than sand in a bird's nest. On second thought, that sentence did not make too much sense.... However Meia was referring to a very large bird... that nested on the ground... on a beach... a giant seagull of course. One would know what that was. Everybody knew about giant seagulls. So there was no need to explain what a ginat seagul was.

The two continued walking until, at the corner of the house, the grey paving beneath their feet changed to large-format tiles of light-coloured sandstone.

Beyond the corner of the house, Meia realised that there was also a smaller but still impressively large secondary house far to the left. She had not been able to see it at all from the driveway because the main house was too long. Another thing also caught her eye. In the middle of the courtyard was a rectangular hole in the ground filled with water. It was impossible to miss it. It dominated the courtyard in its dimensions. If you wanted to get past it, you had to make a considerable effort to walk around it.

Of course, it was not just a hole in the ground, but sensibly integrated into the courtyard. It was a so-called 'pool'. Meia had heard that there were such bathing facilities, but she had never seen one before. He must really be incredibly rich if he could afford something like that.

"So this is the courtyard. As you can see, I have already had tables set up for the party. There will be a buffet on the two long tables at the back later. On the grandstand behind the dance area will be a small ensemble that will provide the background music for the evening. I hope you like to dance?"

"Yes, I do..."

While Mr Monet continued to explain, Meia kept looking around, in part so that he would not see the lie on her face.

Like he said, everything was already prepared for the party. Garden tables and matching chairs were everywhere between the house and the pool. The garden furniture had black metal frames and dark wooden surfaces. Like his cross, the garden furniture was decorated with vines. It was probably the theme of the house. Above the tables were small lanterns hung on strings. Behind the pool was the dance area with a small grandstand. Meia noticed a strange wooden ball floating in the pool. It was quite big and as high as one of the tables.

"We would like to wish you a very good day, Mr Monet. And we also welcome you, Miss Arvis." two voices said in perfect synchronicity.

The voices let her gaze wander to the house. It had many double doors with small glass squares in wooden frames and all were wide open. On either side of the doors were always vases with dainty palms. Just by the first door on the left, two maids were standing by. They had divided themselves between the two single doors and positioned next to the palm trees. Both were still quite young. Meia would estimate that they were at most a year or two older than herself. Both were strikingly attractive and more beautiful than herself. It was certainly not an irrelevant factor for the position. Nevertheless, Mr Monet paid them little attention. Not even a word. Just a nod to show that he had heard them. From then on, his undivided attention was on her again.

~They know my name...~

"Would you like to go in?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, in the pool? Would you like to swim or have I misjudged?"

Mr Monet had probably noticed that her gaze had remained on the pool for the longest time. The truth was that she would like to go in. The water looked pleasantly cool and it also could be a unique experience for her. But several things unsettled her at once. The first thing she wondered was how deep the water would be. She couldn't judge it from here. Unfortunately, Meia couldn't swim. No one had taught her. If the water was too deep, she could only hang around pathetically at the edge of the pool. So if one were rich enough to be able to afford a pool, how deep would one have it built? Deep enough that you could swim in it, for sure, but deep enough that you couldn't stand in it? Probably you would have it built so that you could do both. So the depth of the water would presumably not be an obstacle. The second problem was that she would have to face Mr Monet dressed in a bikini, but she did not have one with her. ~Would I get one from him? But where should I change? Besides, I need help taking off the dress.... Does he want to undress me himself! No, surely not... or does he... what's that supposed to be? Is it art?~ The wooden ball floating in the water caught Meia's attention again. ~Why is it there?~ The ball looked very plain. The grain was quite pretty, but was it really enough to be considered art?

"Miss Arvis?"

"Um? Oh, no, thank you very much. I don't want to." Meia belatedly declined with a slight panic.

"Would you like to see the garden then?"

"Y-Yes, please."

For the first time, Mr Monet did not look entirely satisfied. He almost seemed a little disappointed.

~Does he want to go in the pool himself?~

Perhaps she should have not refused?

.../ End Part