BELLRAM

From the carved door, the two followed the corridor to the left. So it was the same way Meia had come here.

"You know, I've been told to be extra nice to you today and to praise you several times inconspicuously for your appearance, so please don't be surprised if I say something like, 'Oh, you have a great ass.' I have to do that. It is work for me."

~Would be very subtle.~

"Th-Thank you?"

"No, that was just the rehearsal. I wasn't serious. I would never say something like that. Only Rujell would say such things. By the way, Rujell is the one with the lacy underwear. Anyway, the order came from the very top, it doesn't get any higher than that. But I don't want to reveal from whom exactly, because I was specifically told not to tell you. Oh, but we can make a game out of it. I'll give you a clue, and if you guess the name of that person I was asked by, you'll know it. So the name rhymes with Monet-" She stopped her flow of speech abruptly, put a finger to her cheek and fell into contemplation for a moment. "Oh, no, it rhymes with sorbet. That's it. ... So what's your answer? And remember, you only get one shot at this."

~Is she trying to tease me? Can't she leave me alone?

The description of Rujell was questionable but still accurate. You could see her black bra through the white top.

"You can at least try. Only a spoilsport would give up immediately without trying. And you don't want to be a one, don't you? Come on, give it a try. Just go for it." she demanded and fell silent to wait.

Right now," she demanded.

"Is it-"

"If you do it wrong, I'm almost not mad at you either, just a little at most."

She had cut her off to interject her sentence.

"Is it Mr Monet?"

"Pfff, No, that is completely wrong. Absolutely grasp at nothing. Would have expected otherwise. Did I already tell you that I'm the um..." Her happy face fell in on itself and a searching gaze travelled down Meia, all the way down to her feet, found nothing, then rose back up and stopped at about mid-body. "Ah, yes, exactly, so the sleeves of your dress, they're really not unbear-adorable, they are really adorable. Will you tell me where you bought them?"

"I think they were already on the dress?"

"Oh, that's unfortunate, because I've actually been planning all afternoon to buy some of those, too. Well, I'll get over this disappointment. I'm pretty good at that, most of the time. Negative emotions don't last long on me at all, at most sometimes when I'm in a bad mood because I have to work-because I'm supposed to work. I already don't know what I saw in those stupid things in the first place. So you don't have to think of me the next time you... Well. By the way, have I already told you that I have three younger sisters whom I have to feed all by myself? It would be nice if you could stress to Mr Monet how much I'm sacrificing here to keep everything running smoothly so he can celebrate his little parties. Can you do me this tiny favour? My two sisters would really appreciate it."

"Weren't there three just now?"

"Oh, yes, that's right. Thank you for correcting me on that. There are only two. My eldest sister unfortunately died recently of anorexia. I'm still trying to forget about that."

"I... I'm sorry to hear that." Though Meia was unsure if she had any sisters at all.

"No, it's fine. I've come to terms with it to some extent and I can even laugh about it by now."

~Laughing seems a bit extreme to me.~

"Should you really laugh about it?"

"Yes, my sister used to say: 'If ever something really happens to me, you won't laugh so stupid anymore'. She probably already knew about her condition and wanted to encourage me to keep my laughter when the time comes. That's why I want to follow her wish. Ha. Ha. Ha."

~That's not really laughing though.~

While the maid forced herself to laugh, they passed the stairs Meia had come up with her colleague earlier.

"Can you tell me how much further it is? I-I don't want to miss the party."

That Meia asked this question to this maid as well, even though they were just following the same corridor again, spoke for itself.

"Call me Lijeux. That is a one hundred percent and irrevocable request."

~But it remains a request?~, which Meia could refuse.

"S-Sure."

"Do it!"

"Yes! Li-Lijeux."

"Very nice. Just call me that all the time. I'm just an underpaid maid. Well, anyway, it's really frightening how quickly a person can disappear from one's life. Last week I tried everything to prevent it, but her fate just couldn't be changed. The work in the mine was too much stress for her after all. Whenever she left in the morning with her helmet in her dirty hands, I tried in vain to stop her. I dragged her at the door and shouted at her: 'No, Luschja, you can't go shovelling coal again! I know you think we need the money badly, but we can't keep up with selling it. Our cellar is already bursting. Nobody needs coal in high summer anyway and the people from the mine have already started looking for the thieves. So give it a rest. We need the cellar more urgently for other things. Where else is your sister supposed to hang the washing? It gets stolen outside and I need the space in my room if I want to play badminton. So I advise you to stop it. As father always said, you don't have what it takes to be a real miner anyway. The work is much too hard for someone like you. So give it up already. I'm sure Mr Monet will give me my raise soon anyway, then our money will be enough for my holiday at the hot springs again.' I said all this to her, in the excat same tone. Since then almost four months have passed, but in the end I never received a pay raise and even now have to slave away here for a pittance. I've been employed here for a whole four months and have never receiced any pay raise. Isn't that ridiculous? How long do you have to work before it pays off? I would have stayed at home if I knew this. Oh, and my one sister then died tragically in the mine, last week."

The amount of unexpected twists in her story was truly remarkable. ~I wonder how much of it is a lie?~. In passing, Meia had noticed that the hallway made an arc. That was very unusual, because the house was rectangular. Why did a corridor make an arc? That probably meant there were several round rooms besides the reading room.

"Wait a minute? Why in the mine? I was thought anorexia?"

"Huh? Ah, yes, of course, anorexia. She choked on a lump of coal because she was so hungry due to her anorexia."

~That would be unparalleled in stupidity.~

"Ah, I see."

From one step to the next, the maid suddenly turned hard right.

They passed a corridor crossing.

Why was there a corridor crossing here? Meia had guessed that this house had several corridors per floor, but the position of this crossing was still strange.

Confused, she looked once in all directions. Each of the four paths looked exactly the same. So far they had walked about a half circle and in the half circle there had been a junction about in the middle. If they turned right now, would they not go back to the stairs, just one corridor deeper inside the house? If that was really the right way, Meia had no idea where they were. Why was there a corridor crossing from a corridor arch here? Finding a room in this house was not difficult, it was impossible.

.../ End Part