Chapter 1132: Year-End Festival (Part 1)

Because he had already gone to give Iluna her Year-End Festival gift early this morning, after returning to Tobesk, which was decorated with lanterns and colored streamers and celebrating the Year-End Festival everywhere, at noon on Tuesday, Xia De went directly to the Yodel Palace to wait for the King's summons.

Today's King Larus III looked busier than ever. Xia De met the King on time at one o'clock, and then accepted very formulaic encouragement and rewards. Just as Director Anluosi said, Lei Qianya's father hinted that Xia De should maintain his relationship with Princess Margaret. Of course, it was just a hint; there was no evidence to show that His Majesty the King had given such an order.

The knighting would be held publicly after the year, and at that time, a suitable reason would have to be produced to explain Xia De's meritorious service. As for the bonus, His Majesty the King naturally would not give it to Xia De personally, but after Xia De left the King's study, the red-clothed eunuch attendant who led him there handed Xia De a draft:

"1000 pounds? Truly generous."

Xia De said with a smile in his heart, putting the draft away with an expressionless face on the surface.

And when the attendant was leading him out, he unexpectedly encountered the gorgeously dressed Lei Qianya and Ajilina. The princesses and Xia De were not walking in the same corridor, but relying on his extremely excellent hearing, Xia De still heard their conversation.

The little princess seemed to be asking Lei Qianya why she looked younger and younger recently, and then was reprimanded by her sister:

"Ajilina, did I not look young before?"

Even on the Year-End Festival, Lei Qianya did not hesitate to show her majesty to her sister. And Xia De was more curious about how Lei Qianya and Dorothy had discussed the time with Luvia.

No matter how he thought about it, he could not imagine Lei Qianya would agree to waste even one hour of the precious 24 hours of the Red Butterfly Day.

Leaving the Yodel Palace, Xia De first took a carriage to the cemetery outside the city to offer a bouquet of flowers to Detective Sparrow, who was sleeping there. After mourning, he went to Miss Galina's manor to exchange holiday greetings with the witch and the black-haired maid.

Miss Galina would spend the Year-End Festival at the Yodel Palace, which was also a royal tradition. And tonight, Lei Qianya clearly intended to sneak out after the family banquet.

When he returned to the city, it was three o'clock in the afternoon, and the festive atmosphere in the city had almost reached its peak. Xia De first went to Old John's pawnshop and found that the old man had also returned to the city. Old John still looked the same, as if he had really just gone on a long trip, and even brought Xia De a rabbit-fur hat from Kassenrik as a gift.

And the last stop of this afternoon was the Dawn Church, which had a very strong festive atmosphere. As one of the core believers in this parish, although Xia De could not participate in the activities all day, he still had to participate in the Year-End Festival opera this afternoon as a believer representative together with Bishop Owen.

It is worth mentioning that Xia De played himself in the opera this afternoon. And the content of the opera was that in the summer, Xia De blocked a bullet for Wang Hou Diana, and the "Saint Prayer Festival Commemorative Coin" blessed by the god blocked that fatal blow for him.

This opera adapted from a legendary story was quite attractive, and Xia De even heard a few weeks later that the script had been bought by a local opera troupe wanting to adapt it into a large five-act opera, and Xia De himself also received a very generous "image fee."

Of course, those were all things after the Year-End Festival.

Time came to Tuesday night, which was the last night of 1853. Most of the shops in the city did not open at all today, and the shops and restaurants that did open mostly closed for business in the afternoon.

People in this era preferred to spend the most important holiday of the year at home with their loved ones. And Xia De's home had also been decorated with lanterns and colored streamers by the maids.

Miss Galina even considered Xia De's Year-End Festival dinner; although she herself could not accompany Xia De, to prevent Xia De from having no food to eat on such an important holiday, she had the Yodel Palace chefs prepare a sumptuous dinner in advance, which was plated and sent directly to No. 6 St. Teresa Square.

The servants who filed in and the dining cart that was pushed in naturally could not be hidden from others, but since the current owner of the Yodel Palace, the Duchess's nephew Larus III, did not say anything, others naturally would not gossip.

This sumptuous banquet was not only enjoyed by Xia De and Mia; the person having the last dinner of 1853 with Xia De at home was Luvia. After all, Lei Qianya and Dorothy both had family to accompany. Lei Qianya naturally did not need to be mentioned; although Dorothy had already moved out of her home to live independently, she still spent every Year-End Festival at her own home with her parents and unmarried brothers and sisters.

The dinner was very sumptuous; although they were just eating at home, Luvia did not dress up, but she also wore light makeup. It could be seen that she was in an exceptionally good mood tonight, and even tried to feed Little Mia food.

Of course, that cat did not accept it; she rarely ate food handed to her by anyone other than Xia De.

With the arrival of night, the sound of fireworks rang out one after another outside the window. Even though gray fog still lingered in the night sky, the lights of the Yodel Palace not far away were so bright that one could see the light almost illuminating the entire night sky without even approaching the window.

This was a night worth commemorating; the purple-eyed girl sat opposite Xia De at the dining table, twisting a glass goblet, listening to the sound of fireworks and the recording stone, and sighed with him with a smile about how difficult the entire year of 1853 had been.

Amidst the sound of fireworks exploding outside the window, during the last dinner time of 1853, Luvia and Xia De raised their glasses to touch together, and then both stood up slightly, stretching their heads to kiss above the table.

The girl's lips were so soft.

Whether it was because she drank wine or because of excessive excitement, Luvia's cheeks were quite rosy. After putting down her wine glass, she picked up her knife and fork again, and then looked at Xia De's face under the light of the golden candlestick with a smile:

"Meeting you is truly the greatest luck of my life."

"If you say that, I will be shy."

Xia De said with a smile while touching Little Mia; tonight was a special day, and he relaxed the cat feeding standard he had set due to his concern for the orange cat's weight; now this cat was eating happily.

It was only seven-thirty in the evening after dinner; Luvia and Xia De watched the fireworks set off by the Yodel Palace at the window together, and subsequently exchanged Year-End Festival gifts with each other.

What Xia De sent was "The Book of Fools" written by an ancient fabulist, while Luvia did not give the gift immediately, but smiled and said the gift would be given later at night.

Up to now, Xia De still did not know how Luvia had discussed the time with Dorothy and Lei Qianya, but it looked like the purple-eyed diviner lady had made up her mind absolutely not to leave tonight.

The atmosphere of the Year-End Festival was just right; after watching the fireworks, Luvia smiled and said she was going to the washroom to wash up, so she took her change of clothes and entered the washroom.

Xia De stood in the living room holding Little Mia, looking down at his cat, and the cat also looked at Xia De with wide eyes again, clearly seeing what Xia De was preparing to do.

She did not try to run away, but curled up in Xia De's arms and meowed obediently, but unfortunately, this did not arouse any sympathy from Xia De.

Just, before Xia De could help this cat set up a soft nest in the wardrobe, he heard the sound of the door downstairs being opened. There were only three girls who had the key to No. 6 St. Teresa Square; Xia De went to the stairs to take a look, and sure enough, he saw the Princess Highness excitedly lifting her skirt, stepping on white diamond-encrusted high heels, and walking up the stairs.

She likely had just finished attending the banquet at the Yodel Palace, and had watched the fireworks with Larus III and Wang Hou Diana, and without even changing out of that set of gorgeous golden princess long dress, without taking off the crown inlaid with rubies on her head, she excitedly came here.

Seeing Xia De at the entrance of the second floor, the red-haired Princess Highness gave Xia De a hug and an even more enthusiastic kiss:

"Oh, running out was truly not easy; fortunately, Ajilina helped me... Has Dorothy not arrived yet?"

She hugged Xia De with a smile, firelight burning in her eyes:

"This is my first time not spending the entire night of the Year-End Festival at the Yodel Palace; even during the years I studied at the Zalas Academy, I would go home for the Year-End Festival... I had long thought that there would be such a day sooner or later, but even in the fantasies of a teenage girl, I never thought I would meet such a... handsome knight as you."

Lips painted with lipstick kissed Xia De on the side of his face, and subsequently, she held Xia De's hand and entered the living room. Xia De was very surprised; she actually acted as if she could not hear the sound in the washroom at all, letting Xia De sit on the sofa:

"Specifically delaying the Red Butterfly Day by nearly three weeks, this is naturally worth it. Xia De, you must not arrange anything tomorrow; how about we go stroll around the city together? I know you don't have memories of the past, so you definitely don't know about the Silver Cross Avenue float parade of the Year-End Festival..."

This was an activity sponsored by the royal family, and it was the most grand celebration on the first day of every year.

"And you haven't seen what kind of decorations the churches of the Five Gods have made for the Year-End Festival; we can go to the church to listen to the hymns of the New Year choir!"

When he went to the Dawn Church this afternoon, Xia De had seen part of the New Year decorations; he could only say that the church was truly very rich.

"And you don't know how outstanding the Year-End Festival performance at the Opera House is!"

Lei Qianya's face flushed red with excitement, and the fireworks exploding outside the window made her face even more beautiful; she had already arranged all the activities for tomorrow.

"But you not showing your face at the Yodel Palace for the whole day tomorrow, is it really no problem?"

Xia De felt worried about this, but Lei Qianya pressed Xia De on the sofa and said with a smile:

"I temporarily admitted defeat to Galina and let her help cover for me, and she agreed... likely because it's the Year-End Festival; I didn't expect there would be a day when she would be willing to help me." ===== CHAPTER 1133 =====