Because he had already delivered the New Year's gift to Yin Luna early in the morning, after returning to Tobesk, which was decorated with lights and New Year's celebrations everywhere, on Tuesday noon, Shad went directly to the Yodel Palace to wait for the king's summons.
King Larus III seemed busier than ever today. Shade met the king on time at one o'clock, and then received very formal encouragement and rewards. Just as Director Anros said, Leicia's father hinted that Shade should maintain his relationship with Princess Margaret. Of course, it was just a hint, and there was no evidence to show that His Majesty had given such an order.
The award ceremony will be held publicly after the New Year, and a suitable reason will be given to explain Shade's achievements. As for the bonus, His Majesty the King will certainly not give it to Shade personally, but after Shade left the King's study, the eunuch in red clothes who led him to the door handed Shade a bill of exchange:
"1,000 pounds? That's very generous."
Xia De said with a smile in his heart, but he put the bill away with an expressionless face.
When the attendant led him out, he unexpectedly met Leicia and Ajelina who were dressed in gorgeous clothes. The princesses and Shade did not walk in the same corridor, but Shade still heard their conversation with his excellent hearing.
The little princess seemed to be asking Leicia why she looked younger and younger recently, and then she was scolded by her sister:
"Ajelina, didn't I look young before?"
Even at the end of the year, Resia was not afraid to show her authority to her sister. What Shade was more curious about was how Resia and Dorothy negotiated the time with Luvia.
No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't imagine that Leicia would agree to waste even one hour of the precious 24-hour Red Butterfly Day.
After leaving the Yodel Palace, Shade first took a carriage to the cemetery outside the city and presented a bouquet of flowers to Detective Sparrow who was buried there. After mourning, he went to Miss Carina's manor and wished the witch and the black-haired maid a happy holiday.
Miss Carina will spend the end of the year at the Yodel Palace, which is also a royal tradition. And tonight, Leicia obviously plans to sneak out after the family dinner.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon when he returned to the city. The festive atmosphere in the city was about to reach its peak. Shade first went to Old John's pawn shop and found that the old man had also returned to the city. Father John looked the same as before, as if he had really just gone on a long trip. He even brought Shade a Carsonrick rabbit fur hat as a gift.
The last stop this afternoon was the Dawn Church, which was filled with a strong festive atmosphere. As one of the core believers of the parish, although Shad could not participate in the full-day activities, he at least had to participate in the year-end opera this afternoon as a representative of the believers with Bishop Owen.
It is worth mentioning that Shad played himself in the opera that afternoon. The content of the opera was that Shad blocked a bullet for Queen Diana in the summer, and the "Holy Prayer Day Commemorative Coin" blessed by God blocked the fatal blow for him.
This opera adapted from a legendary story was quite attractive, and a few weeks later Shade even heard that the script had been bought by a local opera company, which wanted to adapt it into a large-scale five-act opera. Shade himself also received a very generous "image fee".
Of course, that is all after the year-end holidays.
It was Tuesday night, the last night of 1853. Most of the shops in the city were not open today, and most of the shops and restaurants that were open closed in the afternoon.
People in this era prefer to spend the most important festival of the year at home with their loved ones. And Shade's house has been decorated by the maids.
Miss Carina even considered Shad's year-end dinner. Although she could not accompany Shad herself, in order to prevent Shad from having no food to eat on such an important holiday, she asked the chef of the Jodel Palace to prepare a sumptuous dinner in advance and sent it directly to No. 6 St. Teresa's Square.
The servants who filed in and the dining carts that were pushed in naturally could not be hidden from others, but since the current owner of the Yodel Palace, the Duchess's nephew Larousse III, did not say anything, others naturally would not say anything.
This sumptuous dinner was not only enjoyed by Shad and Mia, but also by Luvia, who had the last dinner with Shad at home in 1853. After all, both Resia and Dorothy had families to accompany them. Resia naturally needed no introduction, and although Dorothy had moved out of her home to live independently, she would still spend the end of the year 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 put on light makeup. It can be seen that she was in a particularly good mood tonight, and she even tried to feed Mia.
Of course, the cat didn't accept it; it rarely ate food offered by anyone other than Shad.
As night fell, the sound of fireworks could be heard outside the window. Even though the night sky was still filled with gray fog, the lights of the Yodel Palace not far away could be seen without even going close to the window. The light almost illuminated the entire night sky.
It was a memorable night. The purple-eyed girl sat opposite Shad at the dining table, twirling her glass goblet, listening to the fireworks and the sound of the soundstones, and laughingly lamented with him how difficult the whole year of 1853 was.
Amid the sound of fireworks exploding outside the window, at the last dinner time of 1853, Luvia and Shad clinked their glasses together, then both stood up slightly, leaned over the table and kissed each other.
The girl's lips are so soft.
I don't know if it was because of the wine or because of excessive excitement, but Luvia's cheeks were quite rosy. She put down the wine glass and picked up the knife and fork again, then smiled and looked at Shade's face under the light of the golden candlestick:
"Meeting you is the greatest luck in my life."
"I'd be embarrassed if you said that."
Xia De smiled and stroked Xiaomia, saying that tonight was a special day. He relaxed the cat's food intake standards for each meal out of concern for the orange cat's weight, and now the cat was eating happily.
It was only 7:30 in the evening after dinner. Luvia and Shad watched the fireworks at the Yodel Palace from the window together, and then gave each other year-end gifts.
What Shad gave was "The Book of Fools" written by the ancient fable writer. Luvia did not give the gift immediately, but smiled and said that the gift would be given in the evening.
Until now, Shad still didn't know how Luvia, Dorothy and Lecia discussed the time, but it seemed that the purple-eyed fortune-teller had made up her mind not to leave tonight.
The atmosphere of the year-end festival was just right. After watching the fireworks, Luvia smiled and said that she wanted to go to the bathroom to wash up, so she went into the bathroom with a change of clothes.
Shade stood in the living room holding Xiaomia, looking down at his cat. The cat once again stared at Shade with its big eyes, obviously seeing what Shade was going to do.
It didn't try to escape, but instead curled up in Xia De's arms and meowed docilely a few times. Unfortunately, this did not arouse any sympathy from Xia De.
However, before Shade could build a soft nest for the cat in the closet, he heard the door open downstairs. There were only three girls who had the key to St. Teresa's Square No. 6. Shade went to the stairs and saw the princess excitedly holding up her skirt and walking up the stairs in her white diamond-studded high heels.
She had probably just attended a dinner at the Jodel Palace and accompanied King Larus III and Queen Diana to watch the fireworks. She came here excitedly without even changing out of her formal golden princess dress or taking off the ruby crown on her head.
Meeting Shade at the entrance to the second floor, the red-haired princess gave Shade a warm hug and an even more passionate kiss:
"Oh, it was not easy to get out, but Ajelina helped me... Is Dorothy not here yet?"
She smiled and hugged Shade, with a fiery look in her eyes:
"This is the first time that I didn't spend the entire night of the year-end festival at the Yodel Palace. Even when I was studying at the Zaras Academy of Literature, I would go home at the end of the year... I had always thought that this day would come sooner or later, but even in my adolescent girl's fantasy, I never thought that I would meet a handsome knight like you."
The lipstick-covered lips kissed Xia De's cheek, and then walked into the living room hand in hand with Xia De. Xia De was surprised that she acted as if she could not hear the sound in the bathroom at all, and let Xia De sit on the sofa:
"It's certainly worth postponing the Red Butterfly Day for nearly three weeks. Xia De, don't plan anything tomorrow. How about we go around the city together? I know you don't have any memories of the past, so you definitely don't know about the Silver Cross Avenue float parade at the end of the year..."
This is an event sponsored by the royal family and is the most grand celebration on the first day of every year.
"I haven't seen the churches of the Five Gods Church and how they are decorated for the end of the year. We can go to the church and listen to the New Year's choir's hymns!"
When Shad went to the Dawn Church this afternoon, he saw some of the New Year decorations and could only say that the church was really rich.
“I had no idea how wonderful the opera house’s year-end gala was!”
Lecia's face flushed 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 is it really all right that you don't show up at Yodel Palace all day tomorrow?"
Shade was worried about this, but Leicia pressed Shade on the sofa and said with a smile:
"I surrendered to Karina temporarily and asked her to help cover it up, and she agreed... probably because it was the end of the year. I didn't expect that there would be a day when she would be willing to help me."