Whispering Verse

Shade has known from a long time ago that noble banquets usually cannot completely fill the stomach, so people will eat something in advance when attending banquets. But this Thursday, because he was bidding farewell to Emilia and the others, Shade didn't have enough time after returning home, so before setting off, he only ate a few pieces of bread stored at home.

When Shade hurriedly entered the city from the St. George Stone Bridge in the north of the city and arrived at Belindel Manor without stopping, the witch and her party were already ready to set off, and were waiting for Shade to appear.

Tonight is nominally a celebration party for Earl Hawthorne's little granddaughter's full moon. In fact, it is a long-awaited gathering of the seven major families to discuss how to deal with the "dragon". Therefore, the witch with the fat-red birthmark on her eyebrows is also dressed quite formally. . Shade has been operating in Moon Bay for more than half a month, but this time he saw the great witch of fate wearing the most formal dress.

It was an extremely beautiful long golden dress with a multi-layered skirt, white lace gloves on the arms, and long golden hair that was braided into dozens of gorgeous tangled braids by the maids. She was already very tall. After putting on high heels tonight, Shade felt like he had become shorter standing in front of her.

"No, Mr. Watson, the lady specially chose high heels of the right height. She is still shorter than you."

Miss Matilda, the head maid, said from the side, as if she knew what Shade was thinking. Miss Belindel glanced at her maid angrily, and then explained to Shade:

"I invite you to be my best friend at the ball. Naturally, I won't foolishly make my best friend look shorter. Fortunately, your height is suitable. I don't want to wear flat shoes at the banquet."

As she spoke, she took a step closer to Shade. Her ears were decorated with diamond earrings, gold jewelry inlaid with rubies hung around her neck, and even her forehead was decorated with a drop-shaped amethyst forehead ornament. Her face was full of smiles. , as if deliberately teasing Shade, almost making the two faces touch each other before stopping:

"look."

Shade could almost see his own clear reflection in those golden eyes.

"This is the right height. Even if I'm wearing these high heels, I'm still shorter than you."

Even after comparing their heights, she did not retreat, and still looked at Shade with a smile. The three maids in the room, including Miss Matilda, also looked at this scene with smiles, and the witch watched with satisfaction as Shade's face turned red little by little:

"Why are you blushing? Am I not beautiful?"

she asked.

"Of course it's beautiful."

The joy deep in those golden eyes could not be hidden at all, and Shade was holding his breath to prevent his heartbeat from accelerating faster due to inhaling too much of her perfume. The "Witch's Smell" perfume can show different smells in the hands of different witches. For Bella Belindel, what Shade smells is the cold winter snow, rose tea with ice cubes and a kind of fragrance that Shade said A cool floral fragrance without a name.

It's just that unlike the "cold" character highlighted in the perfume, the blonde countess in front of Shade at this moment is quite enthusiastic. Seeing Sha De standing there with a blushing face and saying nothing, her eyes brightened slightly, and then she mustered up the courage to move forward again and tilted her head slightly, and lightly pressed her lipsticked lips on the corners of Sha De's lips. .

Seeing Shade instinctively covering her mouth and retreating, she smiled and narrowed her eyes again:

"There are crumbs in the corner of your mouth. I wiped them off for you. Didn't you have dinner before coming here?"

She spoke in a normal tone, as if she had just wiped the corners of Shade's mouth with her hands. Just when Shade wanted to explain that she didn't eat in advance because she had something to do in the evening, she unexpectedly moved forward again, and with almost the same angle and force as before, she pressed her soft lips against Shade's again. Lip corners.

"Do you know what you are doing this time?"

The great witch of fate asked with a smile.

Shade was even a little afraid of her:

"Hmm, help me wipe off the lipstick mark just now?"

For some reason, the maids covered their mouths and laughed, and the smile on the countess's face became brighter and brighter:

"What an interesting man. Look, you have new lipstick on your face. Do you want me to wipe it off for you again?"

She seemed to enjoy teasing Shade like this, and this time it was her who was unexpected, because Shade just thought about it for a moment and nodded lightly:

"Then I'll trouble you."

"Oh, you rude man!"

The blonde countess scolded softly, then immediately turned and left the room, not wanting Shade to see the blush on her face. Shade smiled and glanced at Miss Matilda aside. The maid with a smile on her face handed Shade her handkerchief and said softly:

"Miss is shy."

"Matilda!"

The Countess's voice came from the corridor, and of course she heard everything.

The banquet was held at the Hawthorne family's manor in the city, which was of course also in the core of Yuewan City. Although Shade had twice attacked Freeman Hawthorne, Earl Hawthorne's grandson, he was sure that he was well disguised, so he was not afraid of being recognized at all.

Even because of the dragon egg fossils from the New World found on the smuggling ship, he and Miss Belindel both suspected that the Black family and the Hawthorne family were actually cooperating with the [Dragon Eater Order].

The seven major families in Yuewan City gathered together, and this banquet was enough to be regarded as the highest-level banquet in the city. In addition to members of the seven major families attending the banquet, envoys from various countries stationed in Yuewan City and noble nobles such as the Marquis of Ankara were also on the list.

Of course, Count Bella Belindel is still the most important guest at this banquet. When the motorcade stopped along the street under the illumination of gas lights and stopped at the entrance of the bustling manor, the long-awaited old butler immediately led people to greet them.

According to previous practice, the first person to come out of the carriage should be the head maid, Miss Matilda, but this time it was a man in formal clothes who jumped out of the carriage neatly.

Shade smiled and nodded at the surprised old housekeeper, then turned around and stretched out his hand, took the hand offered by the Countess, and helped her out of the carriage.

She didn't say a word, she didn't even take a step, but her very appearance seemed to suck the light from all the ladies present. The sound at the door of the manor seemed to be suspended for two seconds, and then people expressed their greetings to the increasingly dazzling countess.

Miss Belindel also responded to the acquaintance, and then naturally took Shade's arm:

"This feels really interesting. I used to come to banquets without bringing anyone with me."

"Didn't the maid pretend to be a man?"

Shade asked softly, and the two of them were led by a team of maids through the manor courtyard to the building where the banquet was held. The Hawthorne family's manor is smaller than the Belindel family's, but it can be seen that the owner of the manor is very fond of gardening. Compared with Belindle Manor, which has a wide view and is only decorated with shrubs, trees, flowers and grass, the artistic trees in the courtyard of Hawthorne Manor and the asymmetrical architectural arrangement using shrubs and ground-mounted gas lamps are obviously It took a lot of effort.

"If you don't have a male companion, you don't have one. Why use a maid as a disguise?"

The countess said softly, with an elegant smile still on her face:

"Destiny gave us thirteen people power, but it also cost us. It's fair. I'm different from others. I never thought it was a curse. To me, it was a different kind of blessing from fate. I accepted it as fate accepted me.”

This was the first time Shade heard this view from a modern witch. Even Miss Aurora, who paid the least attention to the "witch's curse", never thought it was a blessing.

"If this is a blessing, what is my presence?"

People around him kept nodding to the countess, but more people were looking at Shade. Although Miss Belindel's "cousin" had appeared publicly on other occasions, this was his official appearance.

"Of course it's fate. I never question fate."

The two maids outside the building lowered their heads and each pulled a door back. Inside the door was a place that had been decorated as a banquet hall on the first floor. A long table filled with food was placed in the middle of the red carpet, and a musician played the piano on a high platform in the corner with his back to everyone.

Men and women in formal attire gathered together and spoke in Kasenric with a standard Yuewan accent. Earl Hawthorne and Earl Eddington, who were talking over wine glasses, immediately came up to them with a smile. Before responding to this social interaction, Bella Belindel said in a voice that only Shade could hear:

"You are also a gift given to me by fate."

Because this banquet is nominally to celebrate the full moon of Earl Hawthorne's little granddaughter, Freeman Hawthorne's little sister, no matter what we want to talk about, we must meet the little girl first, so the Witch and Shade After a brief exchange of greetings with the two earls, they were led to see the "host of the banquet."

The girl, who was cared for by an elderly but reliable-looking maid who probably didn't like being disturbed by so many people, was placed in a cradle, looking tiny, only slightly older than Mia. But at least most of the men and women who came to see the child were genuinely happy for the birth of the child. There may be many problems in this era where steam and magic coexist. This world that is about to face the end of the world in the steam wave may not be liked by everyone, but at least the people here still retain a sense of mission for the continuation of the race and the innate ability of human beings. love for children and young babies.

Even the infertile witch likes this child very much. Of course, this is largely because the other person is a girl. Miss Belindel prepared a gift for the child in advance. When she and Shade left the baby, she heard Shade ask with a smile:

"It's such a shame that she was blessed by only one witch instead of seven."

The Countess knew that Shade was telling the story of "The Sleeping Princess":

"In this day and age, it's impossible for any child to receive so many blessings."

PS: Actually, I originally wanted to use "tiaoqing" as the title of this chapter, but I was afraid it would be too conspicuous.