Meia was on her way to the courtyard. It did not take long before she arrived at the stairs. Her room was not even a hundred meters away from it. This showed Meia once more how much unnecessary distance she had walked together with Lijeux. But there was no point in fretting about it anymore. Mr. Monet was surely already waiting for her.

Meia went down the stairs, but stopped halfway at the banister. Through the panes of the door she saw guests in two small groups with glasses outside. There was almost no one inside the building. But the two maids were there. Both were now wearing everyday clothes. As Lijeux had said, they were probably done for the day.

Rujell suited her own choice much better than the uniform. With a black top and tight pants, she looked much more womanly. But also even more like she was going to beat one up and steal the money. She also wore earrings. But different ones than the ones from before. As a maid, she apparently earned not bad. She also had the guinea pig with her. It hung with its upper body lazily out of her purse. If the guinea pig had a symbol, it would be a washcloth.

Meia could say less positive things about Lijeux. Her clothes were lottery and looked like something that would be better only worn at home. The shirt was still acceptable, but her pants had holes at the knees. Either she earned considerably less or she did not care. By her account, it would probably be the former, but in Meia's estimation it was more likely the latter.

The difference in class between the two could not be clearer. In any case, it was good that Lijeux was still around, so Meia could personally return the block to her. Meia just had to wait until the unusual situation downstairs was resolved, which had caused her to stop in the first place.

Currently Rujell walked over to a boy sitting on the floor by the door. Meia recognized him. It was the same one she had seen when he first arrived, the one who had been pinched by Mrs. Monet. Within his reach were two metal bowls, both of which had been partially robbed of their contents. In the bowls were uncooled champagne bottles and barely any ice cubes. It appeared that the bowls had previously been on the trolley by the door, but the boy had taken them because he wanted the ice cubes.

Glittering mist ran from a castle and wafted flatly across the marble. Without looking, the boy reached into one of the bowls, took out another ice cube and placed it with precision as a battlement on his structure. The boy built a castle of ice cubes on the floor.

It was around 30 degrees. So the fact that the castle was standing at all was somewhat remarkable. It looked pretty impressive, too. The only problem was that he built his structure right in front of the door. If one wanted to go through, one had to squeeze past and also pay attention to the puddle that flowed from the castle.

Rujell bent down to him with her hands resting on her thighs through which the guinea pig indifferently swung forward in her pocket.

"Young man, I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to keep this area clear. You are obstructing the other guests.", Rujell asked the boy politely.

However, the boy did not even look at her, and preferred to continue focusing on the creation of his castle.

"Young man, I am very sorry, but this area must remain free."

Even now he did not respond to her.

His hand reached into the bowl again. This time it remained empty.

Puzzled, he looked himself, only to discover that the ice cubes were all gone.

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"Young man, can you please leave this area?"

Now, finally, he turned to her. But he did not look up at her. His gaze stayed at the same level and met the guinea pig.

"A statue..."

"Young man, I must ask you-"

Staring fixedly at the guinea pig, the boy extended his hand, but at the very moment Lijeux approached from behind and tugged Rujell aside by the shoulder. "Let me do this. I know how to handle kids." Still within the sentence, she lashed out with her foot. "Get your trash outta the way, you brat!" she scolded, crushing his ice castle into a thousand pieces.

The group of guests outside immediately took notice. Everyone turned to the door to see what was happening.

While the ice cubes scattered in all directions, the boy did nothing at first. He had not even tried to defend his castle, because he probably had not expected it to be destroyed. Even now, he could still not believe it. With his mouth open, he sat frozen in front of his puddle.

Rujell behaved similarly. Not exactly in the same way, though. Under her shock, she seemed more concerned.

Meanwhile, Lijeux quickly gathered up the bowls and put them back on the trolley.

"So work done. The floor dries by itself. That's it!" she declared, clapping her hands together to back up her statement.

The guests all stared at her, but she did not care at all. As if nothing had happened, she stalked past the boy, grabbed Rujell by the wrist and pulled her along.

While the two were already on their way to the front door, the boy finally realized that all he had in front of him was a puddle.

His fingers began to twitch uncontrollably and as if he could not keep himself on the ground for a second longer he jumped up.

"Who-Who do you think you are! Don't you know who I am!" he shouted at the two.

Lijeux kept walking. "Just some brat.", was alle she had to say to that.

But it had an effect on Rujell. She looked back at the boy as if she wanted to go to him to mother him.

Liejux pulled directly harder on her arm.

"We're off work. Let the others deal with it."

The guests outside started whispering. The boy noticed the stares. He understood that he had been humiliated in front of them and became even angrier.

"This-This will have consequences for you!" he yelled after the two.

"Yes, yes, send me the bill." Lijeux joked with a laugh.

Restrained chuckles came from outside, which almost made the boy explode. His head turned downright red with anger and clenched his fists. Tears welled up in his eyes, so much was he boiling inside. Meia lehnte sich über das Geländer vor und sah links, wie Lijeux die Haustür öffnete und mit Rujell zusammen nach draußen verschwand.

Meanwhile, the boy continued to stand in his spot. He apparently had no idea what else to do. Someone from the high nobility was certainly not used to being treated like this. If there were other staff here, it surely would not have happened in the first place. Lijeux was simply a walking danger to any ego.

But Meia herself also did not really know what she should do now. She still had the notepad in her hands, but she had not wanted to get between the fronts. It was probably better to give it to one of the other employees, as originally planned.

As Meia looked back at the courtyard door, she was slightly shocked to see the boy looking at her.

Fortunately, he only held it for a moment, then turned to the guests.

Immediately, everyone acted as if they had not noticed anything. However, the sudden turn away of eight people was rather striking.

The boy noticed it therefor too. He became visibly embarrassed to be here.

A few seconds later he went out to the courtyard. Out of frustration, he kicked a block of ice cubes on the way, which smashed on the door frame.

Meia was relieved when he was out of sight. It took no further thought to say that the boy was in any way the strangest person here. Just a moment ago, Meia had seen that he had different colored eyes. One was green and the other was blue. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. His behavior was the really strange thing about him. Meia would have never judged him the way he had just behaved. When he was standing next to the carriage and when he was building his castle, he seemed so calm, almost lethargic. His eyes had been only half open, as if he were almost falling asleep. Meia would not have thought that someone like that could become so angry from one moment to another. Because of people like him, it was probably said that still waters run deep. It is true that this would also apply to Meia, but she was probably the exception of this saying.

For the rest of the steps, Meia was already searching the courtyard with her eyes to see if anyone familiar was among the guests. Luckily, she did not recognize anyone. She hoped that she would not have to see the boy again either. The boy sure was strange, but he was unimportant, important was only Mr. Monet.

.../ End Part