Chapter 559: Convoy and Road

On Tuesday morning, the moon had just completely vanished from the horizon, and the sun would not rise for another hour; it was the darkest moment.

Yet under the glow of thousands of whale-oil streetlamps, the entire Redwood Avenue was blindingly bright as day; the usually silent Redwood Avenue had, in this extravagantly excessive light, grown noisy ahead of schedule.

Coal, flour, spices, lamps... cargo crates and baskets of all sizes, piles of expensive vessels, silks and velvets stacked into small hills...

Carriages laden with various supplies and congratulatory gifts nearly filled the wide freight road completely; these carriages, linked front to back in a single line, wound like interlaced, entangled long dragons toward the end of Redwood Avenue, where the Bobby Laien Manor lay.

Tsk tsk, truly the heirship ceremony of the Lionheart Duke; they really know how to spend money!

Poking her head out of a two-wheeled light carriage, looking at the endless queue ahead, and seeming somewhat uncomfortable from the late-autumn chill, the young woman in a pale green formal dress hurriedly withdrew into the carriage, touched her frozen, round, cute nose, and muttered:

"A miscalculation. If I'd known it would be so cold today, I would have put on a couple more layers when I left."

"..."

Watching the young woman, who was coldly blowing warm air into her palms while stomping her feet roughly, the middle-aged noblewoman seated opposite held back again and again, but finally could not help but speak to remind her:

"Your Highness Veronica, even if you snuck out, please mind your demeanor!"

"Spare me today; I'm so cold I can't even think about demeanor. Honestly, if the carriage could just get warm now, never mind minding my demeanor, I'd even get down and dance for you."

After sharing a joke with the middle-aged noblewoman, the young woman tugged hard at her woolen shawl, covering the two pale, fleshy hills that were nearly bursting above the skirt's hem, then leaned sideways by the carriage window and continued observing the convoy outside.

"So many people have come today..."

Squinting and watching the noble-only thoroughfare for a while, after counting the number of carriages that had passed, the beautiful young woman said with a half-smile:

"Silver Goblet Flower, Ostrich, Light Shield... heh, in just this short while, three great noble houses have already passed; it seems the Bobby Laien family's inheritance is indeed tempting enough.

Whether they should come or not, anyone with the ability wants to take this chance to come and bite off a huge chunk; today's heirship ceremony will probably be very lively!"

"..."

Whether it will be lively or not later, I don't know, but this dress on you is simply "too hot"!

Watching the young woman, whose posture leaning against the window frame made a pair of abundant breasts nearly squeeze out from the front opening, the middle-aged noblewoman's eyelids twitched repeatedly; she hurriedly reached out to pull her back and said, full of irritation:

"Your Highness, mind your demeanor! Really...

If your identity is exposed at the ceremony, seeing you dressed in such immodest attire, the entire royal family would be shamed! You should at least find a more fitting dress before coming out!"

"This... I have no choice..."

After looking down at the formal dress on her body, the young woman tugged at the floral pleats at her waist to show the middle-aged noblewoman how much space was left, then said somewhat helplessly:

"My dress size is special; it's always custom-made. This is already the most suitable dress I could find in such a rush. If you don't believe me, look at how large a gap is here at the waist; any bigger and I wouldn't be able to wear it."

"..."

Looking at that formal dress, whose style could originally be called simple but which on her body appeared exceptionally striking, the middle-aged noblewoman's corners of the mouth twitched violently twice.

She roughly snatched the young woman's shawl, then pulled the tassels off the carriage cushion, tied more than a dozen floral knots along the shawl's side, and forcibly wove a net-like border to cover the front opening.

After draping the altered shawl back over the young woman, watching her chest blocked beneath the tassel net border, the middle-aged noblewoman let out a long sigh, then gritted her teeth and threatened: "Once we arrive at the manor later, even if you literally cook to death, this shawl cannot be taken off; you must wear it properly! Do you hear me?"

No way?

Hearing this, the young woman was slightly stunned; looking down at this unusually thick shawl, a look of difficulty inevitably appeared on her pretty face.

"This is woven from pure wool, and the tightest-stitched kind at that. Besides, there are charcoal stoves burning in the Bobby Laien Manor; if I don't take off the shawl..."

"Your Highness Veronica!"

"Fine, fine, fine, I won't take off the shawl."

Seeing the "wear it or die" expression on the middle-aged noblewoman's face, knowing this was already the other party's bottom line, the young woman could only sigh, properly covered herself with the shawl, then once again poked her head out the window to look at the traffic outside.

"By the way, having me take the freight road instead of the thoroughfare was truly a good idea; if I'd taken the thoroughfare, I wouldn't have been able to see so many interesting things."

After several carriages painted with the three-feather bronze crown raced past on the thoroughfare, the young woman, while carefully counting the number of nobles attending the ceremony, smiled at the worried middle-aged noblewoman and said:

"Look, even that little runt Count has come; I wonder if he brought that cabbage along too?"

Little Runt Count?

Hearing the young woman's words, the middle-aged noblewoman couldn't help but frown and asked:

"Your Highness, what does 'Little Runt Count' mean?"

"It's an insult."

The young woman explained with a smile:

"That new Lionheart Duke had a bit of a conflict with this Little Runt Count a few days ago; upon discovering that although he clearly held the title of Count, his coat of arms bore only three basic feathers, he directly poked his finger at the coat of arms on the man's chest and, with a look of utter contempt, called him a little runt, nearly killing him on the spot with anger.

Later, after this Little Runt Count regained consciousness, to retaliate against the Lionheart Duke's mockery, he placed a cabbage in his home and declared that the Lionheart Duke's dukedom would probably rot faster than the cabbage in his house."

After educating the middle-aged noblewoman on the origins of the "Little Runt Count" and the "Cabbage Duke," the young woman, with curved eyebrows and a smile, said:

"Although he is about to inherit the dukedom, that Lionheart Duke gives people the feeling that he is simply... very un-noble. The reason I insisted on coming to see the heirship ceremony today is to see what other interesting things he can stir up."

Your Highness... is, after all, still a young person who loves a lively scene...

Watching the young woman laugh with great joy, no longer wearing her usual expression of constant frowning and deep thought, the middle-aged noblewoman's heart softened slightly; she was just about to give some instructions when she suddenly heard a clamor from behind.

"Clear the road!"

"Make way! Make way!"

"The royal procession approaches; pedestrians retreat!"

The two people inside the carriage turned around in surprise and discovered that the temporary barrier separating the freight road from the thoroughfare had been forcibly pushed down and then roughly piled to the roadside.

Next, two squads of brightly dressed guards, holding long poles with curved ends specifically designed for driving people away, shoved numerous carriages that failed to dodge aside, forcibly widening the central road of Redwood Avenue to allow a luxurious carriage drawn by eight fine horses to enter.

(End of this chapter)