She was probably worried that Shade was not prepared, so she revealed to Shade:
"At the banquet later, in addition to the local nobles, I will also take you to meet several great nobles from Tobesk City. Yes, including the Duchess of Saradir. You should know her, right? She is known as the most beautiful rose in the Cavendish royal family, the dream lady of countless men and women, the defender of the southern border, and the aunt of His Majesty the King."
"I know, I know. I've heard a little bit about it... Don't worry, I've received complete training in aristocratic etiquette. I won't be rude."
Xia De felt guilty, but he couldn't say it out loud.
"Is it the girl you know who trained you again?"
Audrey mistook his reserve for nervousness, thinking he had never met such an important person, so she asked jokingly, but what she said this time was completely correct.
The Rose Manor where Miss Carina stayed could be considered the largest manor in the center of Green Lake City. When the carriage carrying Shade and Megan arrived here, the endless stream of carriages had almost blocked the wide street.
The location here is very good. When Shad jumped off the carriage first, he could see the silhouette of Green Lake City Hall to the left, and the city's clock tower to the right. Not far behind was the silhouette of the church spire hidden in the darkness.
He turned around and held Audrey's hand, allowing the witch to carefully walk down holding the hem of her skirt. The two looked up at the red carpet illuminated by the gas lamp, which stretched from the entrance of the manor to the manor house. The witch said softly:
“It’s really a big deal.”
The guests invited to this banquet were the bigwigs of the negotiation delegation, local noble officials of Green Lake City, and some people from Carsonrick. Shade certainly didn't know any of these guests, and Megan probably only knew a few of them, so when the witch took Shade's arm and entered the manor, no one greeted them.
They arrived at the right time, just when the guests were coming in. At the gate of the manor house, Megan handed over the invitation and gave a gift. When he saw "Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals", the old butler wearing white gloves looked at Megan in surprise.
However, this diligent old housekeeper will probably take a temporary leave for one or two months after this banquet. Miss Carina brought a large group of maids to serve her, and she didn't like men walking around where she lived.
The banquet hall is located on the second floor. When the building was first built, the original owner, Earl Gaiman, had considered the function of the banquet hall, so the area of the banquet hall is quite large. When Shade and Megan followed the maid into the room, the violinist of the band was welcoming the guests with cheerful music. Men and women in formal suits and dresses were talking and laughing or whispering around the long table in the middle of the banquet hall. The crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and the bright yellow light and the light of the gas lamp made the newly painted manor and the clean floor that seemed to reflect light even brighter.
"She really is rich."
Xia De heard his female companion mutter something again, but he pretended not to hear it, and then he was taken by her to meet those business partners.
In the negotiations between Delarion and Carsenrick on the Pantanal region, the business forces can barely be regarded as a third party force, trying to influence the negotiation results through various means to make profits for themselves. Of course, the influence they can make is not as great as the third party force that was discovered by MI6 in Tobesk some time ago and whose true identity has not yet been revealed, but at least these businessmen can appear in the open.
In addition to the pharmaceutical company Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals, the wealthy businessmen who were favored by both countries and had no obvious preference for either country included Cuckoo Publishing House in the book publishing industry and Willy Brothers Aquaculture in the river and lake fishery. These wealthy businessmen came to the Green Lake area because of the invitation, and most of them attended the banquet tonight.
Although Megan Edwards's identity seemed mysterious to ordinary people, she was very prominent among these transnational tycoons. She took Shade to meet these famous businessmen in the Old World, and they gathered together, each holding a glass of wine and chatting with each other about the weather, jewelry, business and the bad climate this year. During this time, Megan also introduced Shade's identity and called Shade her friend in a rather ambiguous tone.
This is almost equivalent to saying that Xia De is her lover or lover.
"It's a pity that Miss Xiwei Aurora didn't come. It would be a pity if the Aurora Shipyard wasn't here for such an occasion."
The representative of "Cuckoo Publishing House" was an intellectual lady wearing gold-rimmed glasses. She did not wear a gorgeous long dress, but instead paired a slim blue jacket with a relatively simple black gauze skirt.
The Aurora family, represented by the Great Witch of "Light" that she mentioned, was also one of the wealthy businessmen who were invited. It was a pity that Miss Aurora did not come this time because she wanted to avoid suspicion.
"It's a pity that Miss Aurora didn't come. She must have already decided to give her full support to the United Kingdom of Carsenrick. After all, her family is from Carsenrick. Speaking of which, you will also attend the other banquet on the south shore of Green Lake on Sunday night, right?"
Mr. House of Healthy Cigarettes asked. He had three gold rings on his thick right hand holding the wine glass and spoke with a thick Delrayon East Coast accent that people had to listen carefully to distinguish.
When he asked the question, no one in the circle answered immediately. Although the registered place of "Healthy Cigarette Joint Company" is not in the two countries, in fact, the company's business is mainly in Delarion. When Megan introduced the situation to Shade on the way here, she mentioned that the bloated Mr. House was suspected to have a relationship with a prince of Delarion, and it is possible that he has been a glove of the royal family for a long time.
As for the "party on the south shore of Green Lake on Sunday night", it refers to the welcome party at Carsonrick. It is naturally difficult for him to answer this sensitive question here.
"Mr. House, I heard that you've been doing business with the islanders of the Kingdom of Islands-Kailagli recently? If those pirates can afford your cigarettes, will there be enough money left to buy matches?"
After everyone looked at each other in silence, the tall, thin man with blond hair changed the subject. Not only was he not a businessman, he wasn't even from Delarion. He was a representative of the Accounting Guild of the United Kingdom of Carsenrick, and somehow he got here and joined the conversation.
As for the Kingdom of the Islands, Miss Carina and Shade had talked about it, and it was one of the main forces that posed a threat to peace in the Old Continent.
"You make it sound like I have any connection with those pirates. My connection with the archipelago is limited to my love for cod and shark fins from the North Sea."
Mr. House said, pointing at Megan:
"Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals, don't they also want to sell their earthworm oil and quinine water to the islanders, and then exchange them for farmland to grow herbs?"
Megan's public name is Megan Green, and only a few places use the name Megan Edwards. In addition, Edwards itself is not a particularly rare surname, so for the time being no one has linked Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals with the Edwards family.
The witch nodded gracefully. She did not deny it.
"Who here doesn't want to do business with those islanders? Oh, Cuckoo Publishing certainly doesn't want to, because the islanders' literacy rate is too low. Although the number of islanders living in the Eye of the Storm Islands is less than one twentieth of the population of the Old World, there is a lack of everything there. Once the market is discovered, there will be treasures buried there that are more valuable than the Pantanal Trade Route."
The merchants nodded together:
"That's true, but even if we exclude the risk of being robbed by the islanders, the cost of shipping and the risk of ocean trade have increased the cost by at least 20%. It's not easy to open up the market."
Everyone tacitly agreed not to talk about the other banquet on Sunday night.
"It is said that the Ministry of Finance of Delarion has considered providing trade subsidies in the form of tax rebates for ships going to the Kingdom of the Islands for business."
Xia De suddenly said, and seeing that everyone else was looking at him in surprise—even Audrey, he explained:
"I have friends in the Delarion Treasury Department and heard this from them. However, this proposal was made nearly ten years ago.
At that time, the Kingdom of Delarion was considering establishing closer ties with the Kingdom of the Islands and expanding its influence on the west coast, so merchants were needed to open up a gap. But then, due to the conflict between the Delarion New World Development Corps and the pirates, the matter was put on hold. "
In fact, this was learned from the memory of neighbor Mr. Smith. Last time in the past life, the Sixth Era, Shade obtained a lot of memories of neighbors. When Mr. Smith was young, it was the prosperous era of the kingdom. He was a witness to many major historical events and a legendary figure who was more powerful than "Grey Eagle" Sparrow Hamilton - because he lived to this day.
"I don't know about that. No, I've heard about it, but I don't know that much... Miss Green, I didn't expect your... friend to have such a relationship in Tobesk."
The fat businessman Mr. House exclaimed, and then took the initiative to hand Shade a business card. Although it was the first time that Megan knew that Shade had such a relationship, she still pretended to be calm and dealt with a few words, and became more and more curious about Shade's true identity.
Around 8pm, the main character of the banquet, Grand Duchess Carina Cavendish, showed up with her nephews and nieces. Everyone stood up and listened to the Duchess's speech on the theme of "Peace and the Future" under the flashing lights.
Although the situation is now precarious and the Old Continent may fall into the cage of total war again if we are not careful, this does not stop the adults from saying anything.
Of course, Shad's attention was not on the speech he already knew the content of, as he had listened to it yesterday afternoon. He noticed that Miss Carina was looking in his direction at an abnormal frequency during the speech.
Audrey thought it was her colleagues in the Witch Council greeting her, but Shade knew it was the Red-haired Witch warning her to act according to the plan.