Oh heavens. Meiana closed her eyes tightly. She tried to convey the intention of ‘we don’t need to explain it in too much detail’ through gestures and lip movements, but unfortunately, Ivie wasn’t looking at Meiana. Ivie, who had watched Arianthe hang on the hem of her skirt, squatted down and looked at her.

“Sharing love is, well, literally sharing affection. Like a kiss.”

Arianthe tilted her head.

“So, you just have to kiss?”

“That alone won’t make a baby. You need something else. You’ll understand when you become an adult, Lady. Anyway, both men and women have organs that can make babies. When those organs meet and combine, a baby is born.”

“What’s this organ?”

“It’s attached to the body.”

Ivie’s words were so indifferent that it sounded like she was reciting a boring book. Arianthe suddenly looked at her own palm, then wiggled her shoulders as if looking beyond them and said.

“Do I have such an organ too?”

Ivie nodded.

“Of course, you do. But you’ll only realize it after you become an adult and think, ‘Oh, I have it.'”

Arianthe tilted her head with a confused expression. Then Meiana hastily said.

“Lady, shall we go open the letter now?”

“Oh, right! Yes, let’s go! Ivie, are you coming?”

However, Ivie, quietly—like a plaster statue—shook her head.

“No, I’m fine. I have somewhere else to go.”

Meiana asked, “Somewhere else? Where?”

Ivie shrugged.

“I think I need to fetch some water from the well. The water for Lady’s bath in the evening seems to be running low.”

Ivie carried a bucket and went to the well behind the mansion. The Duke’s sponsorship had wells on both sides, and the one on the left was close to the kitchen and mostly used by cooks. Even in the summer, it was as cold as ice and was useful for cooling fruits. The well on the right was frequently used for bathing or cleaning the mansion. On the first day, Meiana received sufficient explanations about the two wells from Bridget, so she headed towards the right well of the sponsorship.

Ivie, who lowered the bucket into the well, felt that someone was staring at her intently. She, who had raised the bucket with her bare hands, turned her body suddenly, leaving the bucket down. A few dozen steps away, she made eye contact with Jocelyn.

Jocelyn, standing straight in black clothes, looked like a burnt and remaining piece of wood.
If she had just collapsed, she could have returned to the ground and rested in peace—At that moment, the phrase from the funeral ceremony, ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust,’ clearly crossed Ivie’s mind. Unable to do so, she ended up becoming a sinister tree.

“What are you doing?”

Jocelyn said. Ivie noticed that her voice sounded slightly hoarse, like the voice of someone who had shouted loudly and finally stopped.

“I’m fetching water, Madam Steward. Lady needs to take a bath.”

“Hmph.”

With a single snort, Ivie felt a thick sense of displeasure could seep through that short nasal sound.

Even in the rural farm where she worked before, Ivie occasionally encountered people like Jocelyn. People who couldn’t pick a fight or quarrel with those who made eye contact with them… But even if ten such people were gathered, it seemed unlikely that they would stand a chance against the malice expressed just once by Jocelyn.

“Whatever you’re scheming over there, know that if you think you can touch me, it’s a big mistake.”

After Jocelyn spoke, Ivie, as she did in front of Meiana, slowly closed her eyes and opened them again. It immediately touched Jocelyn’s nerves.

No, rather than touching her nerves, it was closer to being the only thing that could be grabbed by the tail. Ivie was, after all, the young lady who was always “quiet as a plaster statue,” as mentioned by Arianthe.

“What’s with that defiant attitude?”

Again, Ivie blinked slowly. Anger flashed in Jocelyn’s expression. Her cheek and jaw, which had become even more swollen and trembling, seemed to tremble simultaneously.

“Come over here right now!”

Jocelyn shouted. The spirited breathing, like that of a patient suffering from a respiratory illness, paused for a moment. Ivie thought she might collapse right away, grabbing her chest, but it soon proved to be an unnecessary concern.

“I can’t hear you!”

Her attitude was now almost close to hysteria, and before Ivie could take any action, she briskly approached her. With a noticeable black and long sleeve, which stood out especially in the narrow corridor, swung above her head, Ivie kicked the bucket reflexively and pushed Jocelyn’s hand in the opposite direction.

“Ah!”

The water pouring out of the bucket splashed vividly on the lower part of Jocelyn’s dress.

Ivie had already retreated to a place beyond her reach, and seeing that, Jocelyn became even angrier. At that moment, Ivie said,

“If you hit me, you’ll fall into this well.”

Jocelyn’s eyes widened roundly. For a moment, she stared at Ivie, looking as if she didn’t understand what she had just heard.

However, as the perplexing moment passed, Jocelyn’s expression became even more menacing. In addition to the maids from the east, including Meiana, who couldn’t even touch her, Ivie’s words were nothing less than throwing gunpowder into the fire for her.