Whispering Verse

Shade did not look back to see what was happening behind him, nor did he go to join Dorothy and Tifa. The king's eunuch attendant hurried over and asked Shade not to take off his armor first, but to follow him to prepare to meet the king.

Since Shade won, there was no doubt about this match. Five minutes later, with everyone standing and applauding, Shade, wearing armor, walked along the steps and reached the highest point of the auditorium.

Queen Diana, Miss Carina, Lesia, and Agelina were all here, as well as a few Cavendish whose names Shade couldn't recognize. Agelina looked very excited, Lecia nodded to Shade reservedly, and Miss Carina took the initiative and said straightforwardly:

"Congratulations, Shade."

"Thanks."

Shade said softly, giving up the initiative of the topic to His Majesty the King.

This was a rare occasion for Shade to see Lesia's father in the study room of Yodel Palace and somewhere other than the banquet. This man in his forties, who was a head shorter than him but looked very dignified, was dressed very formally, with a rather thick fluffy red cloak decorated with gems draped behind him.

"Congratulations, Hamilton of Rejed, you have shown us your chivalry and superb knightly skills."

He said very kindly, and the reporters took advantage of this time to find a position and prepare to take pictures.

At this time, the king's attendants had already brought over the prepared championship rewards. According to the usual practice in previous years, it was a metal shield with Shade's name and the Cavendish coat of arms - this required temporary preparation, so it was only given to Shade at the evening banquet, and it symbolized the "1854 Tobesk City Ring" Equestrian Competition Champion" trophy.

The trophy was made of gold-plated sterling silver and was shaped like a knight on a horse.

"Hamilton, do you want Duke Carina to present the award to you, or my daughter Lesia?"

His Majesty the King asked again in front of everyone. Shade, who was holding his helmet, had no expression on his face, but he quietly glanced at the two ladies whose names were mentioned. Miss Carina is by the king's side. After all, besides the king, she has the greatest power here. Lesia stood between Queen Diana and Agelina, with a very formulaic but kind smile on her face.

"Fortunately, we discussed this matter in advance and I was prepared."

Xia De suppressed the small pride in his heart, and then said respectfully:

"Since I swore an oath to carry forward the spirit of chivalry in the name of Her Highness Lesia before participating in this competition, then I would like to ask Her Highness Lesia to present me with the award."

In fact, this was not negotiated between Shade and the girls, but between Miss Carina and Lesia. This was even related to Lesia's concession that she would not mind further breakthroughs in the relationship between Shade and Miss Carina.

Without asking for permission, Queen Diana gave her daughter a gentle nudge.

Her Royal Highness the Princess, who was wearing a sky-blue dress, walked towards Shade cautiously, and picked up the shield and trophy that symbolized honor under the flash of spotlights.

Shade put down his sword and helmet, knelt on one knee on the red carpet at his feet to show his allegiance, and heard someone talking about tonight's grand banquet.

He raised his head and looked at his princess. Lecia tried hard to endure the fiery passion in her heart:

"Rejed's Hamilton."

She called softly, and at that moment, Shade seemed to be able to see the blazing fire burning in her soul.

After accepting the title, Shade was finally allowed to leave the arena and met Dorothy and Tifa in his own tent. The blonde girl gave him a warm hug, and Tifa called on the maids to help Shade take off the heavy armor:

"There aren't any scratches. Just now we all thought that the relic's sword would scratch this armor,"

The trophy that Shade planned to put together with last year's "1853 Big City Players Championship Trophy" was casually placed on the table. Then Xiao Mia jumped over happily and meowed excitedly after being caught by Shade. .

"It doesn't know that there will be a big meal tonight, right?"

Shade was joking, and while the maids were helping him take off his armor, Tifa talked about what happened after Shade left the camp.

The evening banquet will be held next to the Edward III Arena, the royal manor where the opening ceremony was held last weekend. It was now 3:30 in the afternoon. In fact, Shade had time to go to Carina Manor to take a rest.

But he did not leave immediately, but told Dorothy and Tifa about the [Faceless Man]. After waiting for a while, sure enough, they soon saw Director Anlos coming with two ring warlocks, but this time the thirteen-ring warlock from [Church of Creation] was not there.

The director congratulated Shade for winning the championship, and Shade returned the dove-shaped pendant and the sword:

"This sword is really useful."

He said with a smile, and after pretending to ask whether the "spy" disguised as a knight had been arrested, he watched the three people leave.

"Aren't you worried that they might suspect you of being a ring sorcerer?"

Dorothy asked softly.

"Don't worry, I didn't use too much force. I didn't even dare to use my full strength just now. And, thanks to the serious illness I suffered some time ago."

Shade said, and the blonde girl showed a clear expression:

"When Priest Augustus went to your home to visit you, Bishop Owen of Dawn Church also sent others to your home to express condolences. After all, you are considered a core believer. Since you will suddenly fall ill, you are definitely not a ring warlock... ....What a coincidence.”

Tifa asked from the side:

“What will happen to [The Faceless Man] in the end?”

"Based on the information I've got, he won't be caught, but will hide again and become confused until he's done eating himself."

"So what is going on with this angel-level relic? The mainstream views of the church and the academy believe that he probably does not have any brothers at all, but that he had a disorder such as split personality before becoming a relic, so he fell into the trap of trying to make up for it. All in your own crazy desires.”

Dorothy said, seeing this from information passed on to the group from the academy.

Shade shook his head, so Tifa asked low-level and ordinary girls who were not suitable for understanding information about angel-level relics to stay away first.

"[The Faceless Man] did have a twin brother in the fifth era where he lived. But that brother did not disappear, but was eaten by him."

Shade recalled the information given by Grace and Helen:

"I don't know exactly what happened, but when the two merged into one, he transformed directly from an ordinary man in the Fifth Age into some kind of inhuman faceless monster whose gender is not even sure. This may be The conspiracy of the evil god may also be some kind of extremely ancient transformation ritual. He completed himself and then went crazy."

"So, the person he is looking for has always been in his belly?"

"You can say that. These humanoid relics seem to have their own tragedies."

After tidying up a little at the camp, the group rushed back to Carina Manor to prepare dresses and long skirts for the evening banquet.

That night's grand banquet, in Shade's later memories, only the gorgeous banquet hall with reflecting lights, the lively and joyful dance music, and dozens of handkerchiefs and garters stuffed into his pockets were all that remained. type of intimate clothing.

At the banquet, he accepted an interview with the "Tobesk Morning News". As the champion of this year's riding competition around the city, he expressed his thoughts on the chivalry in the steam age. The most sincere part of Shade's speech was that he hoped that Rhodes cards could be considered as one of the events in future riding competitions around the city.

And Earl Lewis, who had an accident on the first day of the competition, was assassinated later, and even broke a leg while recovering from illness, actually appeared in the banquet hall in a wheelchair. The Fulen brothers and the earl appeared together. The preliminary negotiations had ended, and they were about to head to the Green Lake area. While the earl was temporarily pushed away by the servant, the twin brothers also expressed their congratulations to Shade for winning the championship, and invited Shade to visit their home racecourse when he had the opportunity to go to Willendale, in addition to playing Rhodes again. ——The Fulan family is quite wealthy.

Even though he was injured, Earl Lewis was still trying to get close to the beautiful Duchess of the North. Only this time, the stranger, who had enough reason to show off his high spirits, stepped forward and extended his hand like he did at the opera house. This time he did not wait for the count to shake his hand, but rather took the initiative to grab the count's hand rather politely.

Queen Diana and King Larousse III were both there at that time, so out of politeness, Earl Lewis, with a very reluctant expression, wanted to shake the two people's clasped hands. But he didn't expect Shade to smile at him, then use force, and then the earl's cry shocked everyone.

Of course, Shade only came close to crushing the bones of his hand, remembering that he wasn't supposed to have a lot of strength.

Although Earl Lewis's expression was ugly at the time, no one reprimanded Shade for this. After all, he is the champion tonight, and he is also trying to protect his lover, so enjoying a small privilege can even be said to be a very romantic move in this social situation.

Of course, the most romantic moment of the night was when Princess Lesia invited Shade and his female companion Dorothy. After enjoying the dance music of the ball, they went to the lounge together and let the knight show them his skills again. Excellent riding skills. Lesia kept her promise, and in order to reward Shade for winning, she not only brought the "goods" sent by Miss Sylvia from Willendale City, but also allowed Shade to do some outrageous things with the live rope trick. .....

Due to lack of time, they went to Carina Manor together after the banquet to continue the long-lost Red Butterfly Day. Of course, it would have been better if there hadn't been an astonishing sound like a gas pipe explosion in the distance in the middle of the night, which disturbed the three people's interest.