BELLRAM

Mr Monet did not want to take Meia to the main entrance, but to a path on the right between the building and the hedge.

As they walked in that direction, Meia noticed something that struck her as odd. There was no other carriage in the driveway and apart from the coachman who was about to take the suitcases to the house, there were no other people at all. In fact, it almost seemed as if Meia was the only guest.

"Have-Have the other guests not arrived yet?"

"I guess most of the guests won't arrive for another hour or two. Regrettably, my butler overestimated the route to your family's residence. I heard the road would be difficult to pass so soon after the rainy season, so I agreed to the schedule. I hope you can forgive me for that?"

~So he's mainly a butler.~

"Erm, It's fine."

"So for the next hours it's just the two of us, but I'm sure we'll find something to do."

~The distance is double. If he misjudged, did he wait beforehand? He arrived on time?~ The explanation seemed understandable, yet Meia wondered if the butler had really misjudged or if it was calculated that she would arrive earlier than the other guests so that Mr Monet could spend time alone with her beforehand? Regardless, she was apprehensive about having to spend time alone with him. During the matchmaking attempts by her father, she had always just stood quietly behind him and smiled nicely. Today, however, she had to speak for herself. But about what should she talk with him? It would be good if she could say something that would make her look better.

"A beautiful estate you have, Mr Monet."

"Thank you very much. I can only humbly agree. The many plants simply make you feel good. That's why I usually spend the entire summer here."

~Obligatory praise ticked off. And now?~

Meia looked for potential questions in the surroundings, and the horses came into her view again. The butler had simply left them behind along with the carriage. They didn't look like they cared, though. Should she tell how she had been frightened or would that seem like she was stupid? It could certainly seem that way.

Suddenly Mr Monet stopped and also looked back at the carriage.

"Do you like horses?"

"Y-Yes? What kind of horses are they?" ~And why do they have such good hair?

"Ah, that's a difficult question. It's not a recognised breed yet. At the moment there are only random offspring from Friesians and Trug-horses. There are probably only 30 of them in the world and 24 of them are in Jena, on our farm in Blenas to be exact. They are all originally from us. We are trying to further strengthen the characteristics through inbreeding and to build up a minimum stock so that it can become a breed of its own. But it is not easy. Most mares are not defined enough for breeding. It may not work out, which would be a pity. These are graceful and strong horses. They have great financial potential too. It would be good if there were more. Don't they think?"

"Mhm."

Meia did not know what to say to that. Inbreeding in horses was not exactly a topic she wanted to talk about.

Mr Monet led her on again.

"By the way, I would like to apologise for the letter. I usually only write business letters myself, so I tried not to make it sound too factual, but when I reread the copy later, I realised that although it didn't sound factual, I had fallen into kitsch."

~Was that kitschy? Wasn't it more romantic?~

"I thought it sounded beautiful," Meia objected loudly, but with her volume quickly plummeting, as if she had been pushed off a cliff.

"Haha, thanks, but you can be rough with me. I can handle the truth. I'm not that sensitive."

~He laughed at me,~ Meia only noted. Apparently, in reality, it was not romance but kitsch that had attracted her. Though she didn't have time to question herself, because she still had another problem. The current topic also seemed to have been settled with the answer. Or at least, she didn't know how to build on it further. ~I need something to talk about, but what? Politics? No idea. Economics? Certainly not. Summer? Flowers? The weather? Something about the journey?

"Ah, m-my father gave me a present for you. It's white wine from the prefecture." Meia looked back at the carriage again. "Ahm, The butler must have carried the box up by now?"

"It's wine from Wiestahl? I didn't know there were vines here?"

"Not any more. The crate is left over from my grandfather's wedding. The bottles are already more than 50 years old. It's not for drinking, haha."

Meia tried hard to make the laughter seem authentic, but it was a bit choppy.

"Then they are probably very valuable. I thank you very much for the gift. I will have a look at it later."

Meia shouldn't have said that. Now he must have thought they had gone completely overboard with the gift, and so had her father. The box was ultra valuable.

"Oh, No, they're not that valuable. We-We have more of these boxes." ~Unfortunately not really.~

"My family grows wine and I have a property here, but I still didn't know that there was was once wine grown here. What kind of wine is it?"

~I have no Idea.~ "Lasting and complex." ~Are adjectives from the label.~

"It's a dry wine?"

~A what?

"Me-medium-dry."

"I see. In honesty, your father is not the first person to give me wine. In fact, I get some very often, only that those are usually new bottles."

"I-I'm sorry," she interrupted him.

"No, No, that's not what I meant. They are new bottles because people only give them to me to evaluate the wine. Unfortunately, we know all the winemakers in the country and they all want to impress the competition. It's a nice change to get a gift that doesn't have a motive behind it. Between you and me, I actually prefer to drink beer or if wine, then a fruity wine, with a sweet character. What do you like to drink?"

"Fru-Fruity wine is good."

Her response reinforced his natural smile.

"That's great, then we have something that we can drink together."

"Mhm.", Meia confirmed sheepishly.

.../ End Part