Burris sat dazedly.
Countless thoughts and pictures were stirred together, kneading his mind into a pot of porridge with mixed grains, dried fruits and cereals. The composition of this bowl of porridge is quite complicated, including: self, lot, past, present, life, magic, proposal, ball, forest, tower, promise, joke, attachment, shame, common sense of life, love story...
Song after song passed, and Lott did not continue to say anything that made people blush. So Burris finally defeated the bowl of porridge and got his brain back with difficulty.
After waking up, Burris saw Estee in the dancing crowd... It was not Naylor who danced with her.
Burris' heart skipped a beat. Naylor wasn't on the dance floor. He was standing in the corner of the hall, maskless, staring at Estee from a distance while eating a salad.
Estee and her partner turned around, and the partner's face was facing the rest area. Burris took a closer look and couldn't help but be shocked: Estee was dancing with a woman! The woman was tall and she was wearing an officer uniform instead of a long skirt. She looked like a young guy from a distance, but when she turned around, her delicate slapped face was covered with heavy makeup, and the feminine features on her chest were also very proud. Man, anyone can see that this is indeed a woman.
After a few spins, Estee happened to be looking at Naylor. Naylor held the juice and made a small toast to her.
Looks like Naylor and Estee are fine, they just haven't danced together for a while. After Boris breathed a sigh of relief, he questioned himself again: Should I be disappointed or should I be grateful
In the next song, Charles invited Estee, and the female soldier invited Talina, who was full of food and drink. Princesses have danced with women, and now of course the prince's daughter can do the same.
Tarina is young, and although she wants to dance, she doesn't want to be close to strange adult men. This kind of tall and safe big sister is her best choice.
Estee just looked at Burris and nodded slightly to him. At this time, Burris suddenly understood her purpose just now.
She saw Burris and Lott dancing, and also saw other guests' "attention salute" to them. After the song ended, Burris' face flushed like a small fireball.
So the princess approached the female officer, invited her to dance, and told her that it was to demonstrate to her cousin Talina. The female soldier felt that it was very respectable for the princess to put in so much effort for her younger sister, so she readily agreed and took the initiative to take the man's step.
Seeing two people of the same gender dancing, no one dared to stare at the princess curiously, and no one dared to whisper at this moment.
After this time, whether it was a female soldier who invited the prince's daughter, or a royal servant who invited the same sex, people learned to restrain their eyes.
Lotte also saw Estee's thoughts. He leaned into Burris's ear and said, "Your students have done so much for us, it's not enough for us to be outraged if we don't get married."
While Boris was moved by the princess, he was embarrassed by Lot. He whispered helplessly: "I see... I promised, and I won't go back on my word, but this... This thing needs some time to prepare, any celebration needs to be prepared... Also, you have seen so much Can't you study the correct usage of certain words if you have too many books?"
Lott refused to explain his language disorder. He has received a promise of no regrets, and he has begun to look forward to the ceremony like the end of a romance novel, where the sky is full of flower petals.
After a slow step and a quick step, the time is approaching midnight. According to the tradition, the "last song" before the bell rings will be the end of the dance.
Before that moment came, Burris and Lott had a dance at least once, while Black Pine, Odilea and Siegfried had been eating and eating in the buffet area, never getting close to the dance floor.
It's normal for them not to dance. The strange thing is that Norad, who is the protagonist of the celebration, never appeared on the dance floor.
When Lott went outside to talk to Siegfried, he discovered this abnormality by the way.
After returning, he asked Burris: "By the way, didn't we prepare a gift for Norad? Anyway, this is his birthday celebration."
"It says on the invitation that there will be no formal audience for this celebration," Burris said.
"What is a formal interview?"
"Do you still remember the day we attended the queen's birthday banquet? After entering the palace, there was a link where the guests took turns to offer their blessings to the queen. This is also the time to present gifts. Giving gifts to people in private is not formal and decent, so Royal family celebrations will have an interview session. If the invitation says that there will be no official interview, the implicit meaning is that everyone should come to eat empty-handed, and don’t give gifts, we don’t need it.”
Lott asked: "Why don't the prince and his son want gifts? Because they are very rich?"
Charles once introduced honestly and honestly that their family would hold a celebration whenever something good happened, and they would hold it for three days or more.
"It may be, or there may be other reasons," Burris said, "For example... in order to comply with etiquette, they must invite members of the royal family, so who should they invite? The prince's son is a junior, and they cannot invite His Majesty Pacia for such a trivial matter. Come here, so Princess Estelin is the most suitable guest. Estelin is younger than Norad, and she is considered a younger sister. She should give her brother a birthday gift, but she is the only daughter of the king and the first heir to the throne. Norad has no Eligibility to 'receive' her... If all aspects are in accordance with the etiquette, things will become very troublesome, so they simply don't set up an interview session, just let everyone eat and dance happily together."
Lot touched his chin and said, "Your analysis makes sense, but I always feel that this is not the reason...or, it is not the only reason."
"So you think so?"
"I can't tell. I don't have any basis, it's just my intuition," Lott said, "Also, even if the reason is as you said, it is impossible for Norad to hide in the crowd and not dance. Do you remember Norad Ladd, right? How could a person like him not actively participate in the celebration held for himself? He loves to be fancy, but also pursues romance, and his talk is sweet and shameless, and he can't wait to live in a romance novel."
This comment sounds very familiar, it doesn't matter if it's Norad or not, but it looks like another person... Burris looked at the calm Lott, admiring him from the bottom of his heart, and had nothing to say.
After the jig ended, the band played a short melodious interlude, which heralded that midnight was approaching, and the next song would be the last dance of the night.
Like the ball in the capital, Lott will dance the last song with Burris today. Burris was mentally prepared, so he took Lott's hand calmly.
Estee and Sir Naylor also walked to the dance floor. The female officer just went to the rest area to hold the hand of another soldier. Tarina, Charles, and Prince Lanto all left their previous dance partners and returned to the rest area. However, Heisong, Ojilia and Siegfried didn't dance a single dance from beginning to end. They were probably tired from eating, and the three of them slumped on the soft chairs in the reception hall, their eyes relaxed and at ease.
When the first few syllables of the dance music were played, a man wearing a falcon mask suddenly emerged from the corner of the crowd.
His mask covered his entire face, and he was wearing a military uniform instead of a formal dress. He had been at the ball just now, but no one noticed him.
He went straight to the rectangular welcome hall, his steps were hurried but firm, as if he was in a hurry to deal with something. He did not leave the venue, but stood in front of a guest.
The guest is wearing a monk's robe and a poplar leaf mask that covers his entire face. He might have drunk too much just now, but now someone is blocking his eyes aggressively, but he leans on the soft chair, just tilts his head, looking a little dazed.
The falcon mask grabbed the leaf mask's arm and pulled him up.
Seeing this scene, Lott couldn't even dance well. He pulled Burris to stop at the door of the round hall, and whispered excitedly: "That person seems to be Norad!"
"It's Norad?" Burris had seen the falcon mask before. The man was dressed in a low-key manner and didn't take the initiative to communicate with others. Burris always felt that he was a soldier responsible for the safety of the ball.
It really was Norad. Norad lifted the mask and threw it on the ground. Following this action, an order came from outside the reception hall, followed by clear and orderly footsteps. The soldiers on duty outside the castle assembled according to the predetermined plan and laid down heavy defenses. Not only that, a large number of non-dancing guests also stood up, crowding each other and blocking the way to the main entrance, side halls, and windows.
These guests also included Black Pine, Ogilia and Siegfried. Heisong was holding a small glass of sea buckthorn juice to relieve the hangover. It seemed that their lazy appearance was not fake.
Norad smiled and looked around with satisfaction. The magic of lighting on the walls, dining table, and chandeliers reflected in his eyes, as if his eyeballs were seeping with fire.
He pulled the somewhat sluggish leaf mask and dragged it all the way to the dance floor. When all this happened, the music was not interrupted. Norad took the man's hand, put his arms around his waist, and directly led him to dance.
After a deliberate sharp spin, the man's leaf mask fell off, revealing a familiar face flushed with alcohol and panic.
Rose Green, formerly known as the Red Vulture, once again successfully sneaked into the Lord's mansion, and was held in the arms of his nephew, who was not young at all.
The person with the most distorted expression on the scene was Prince Lanto. Charles and Tarina were also surprised, while their father was sweating and his face was ashen.
Looking at the appearance of the prince, Boris probably understood: he was really worried that the red vultures would come back to make trouble, so he wanted to strengthen the security of the celebration. Norad probably took the initiative to take over the deployment task on the grounds of shame, and completed the task Well done...
Norad sent invitations to many unrelated people inside and outside the city, and allowed them to bring family members, so the red vulture could easily mix in with the guests; Concerns; Norad expanded the banquet area, opened two welcome halls and the entire courtyard, the red vultures would find it easy to hide, so they lowered their vigilance; Norad arranged a masquerade ball, most of the people wore masks, With such a convenient opportunity, a warlock like Red Vulture would definitely not even bother to perform illusions, and just rely on masks to hide himself...
Norad not only successfully caught the red vulture, but also danced with him the last dance symbolizing the vow of love.
Luckily, Rosey is neither like a vulture nor has red hair. He dyed his red hair black and cut it short. He is young and handsome, and looks younger than Norad Some, ordinary guests did not recognize him as the decadent bald mad warlock, nor did they know that he was the brother of the dead princess.
Rose was caught in astonishment, not only didn't struggle, but she couldn't even speak. How on earth did Norad recognize him in his attire
Not far away, Heisong picked up the mask that Norad threw on the ground, and picked out a coin-sized crystal from the eye position. It's a truth-seeking chip that can see through people's facial coverings, disguises, or simple illusions.
When Burris saw this scene, he felt very complicated: it is really gratifying that the black pine can finally help people instead of adding trouble; but on the other hand, the red vulture is more or less his traveling companion on the northern trip. To actually help a rich and powerful nobleman arrest his former companions, and even indulge in shameless emotional disputes between blood relatives. Could this be the beginning of his road to becoming an evil mage...
For today's last song, Burris and Lott didn't dance too seriously. Burris didn't know how to dance, and Lott kept gloating, with an excited expression of "it was so enjoyable" on his face... This is expected, Burris knows he likes to watch the excitement, as long as he doesn't get anything strange from it Just like the inspiration.
The music plays the last few bars. The lovers gradually stopped dancing and looked at each other.
Princess Estrine took off her mask. She didn't cast a spell to control flesh and blood, so she looked indifferent at this time, looking very unhappy. She took off her silk white gloves and gently stroked Naylor's cheek. Because she often manipulates spell-casting equipment and comes into contact with various potions, her fingertips are rougher than ordinary palace women. Naylor smiled and lowered her head, closing her eyes, Amidst the bells, this was their first public kiss. People let out low exclamations, this behavior meant that the princess had chosen her future husband.
The limelight of Estee and Naylor did not last long, and soon, people's attention was attracted by a shrill cry.
Rose Green struggled desperately: "Go away! If you get any closer... I'm going to set fireballs!"
Norad gripped the warlock's hands tightly and pinned him to a pole next to the dance floor. "You won't!" Norad posted it, and the two chests pressed together, "There are so many guests nearby, don't you hesitate to hurt others by mistake? Even if you only hurt me, my guests will rush to subdue me You, besides them, there are soldiers outside... Are you going to attack them? Are you going to take revenge on innocent people like in the past?"
"Shameless! You take these people as hostages?"
"Of course not. I know, you won't hurt them..." Norad leaned closer again and whispered in Rosey's ear, "You've changed. Just like back then... your flame didn't really hurt I."
Rosey remained silent for a long time, his arms were no longer so tense, and Norad simply let him go.
"How did you know I was coming?" Rose asked.
"I don't know. I just thought, what if you come? As long as you come, I will catch you."
"I didn't come here to see you!" Rosey started, "I'm... I'm here to see Prince Lanto..."
Norad smiled: "I've been staring at you. You've been walking around like you're looking for someone... My father doesn't wear a mask, and he's in the same seat most of the time, if you're looking for You have found him a long time ago. So, who are you looking for?"
Rose said sternly, "I'm looking for Tarina!"
"You met her, and you taught her to pick durians, but she didn't recognize you. Then you left her and continued to look around."
"I… "
Before Rosey finished speaking, Norad suddenly kissed him. This time, Norad did not hold down Rosey's hand. The strange thing was that Rosey neither hit anyone nor ran away.
Burris quickly looked away. He has also been kissed, but he is still ashamed to see other people love each other.
When the clock struck midnight, Burris couldn't rest his eyes, and there were kisses all over the hall. He had no choice but to look sympathetically at the pale Prince Lanto, and then at the bewildered guards... When he finally looked away, he suddenly shivered—
Just now, Lott ran to the front row to watch and catch the Warlock. Now, accompanied by the melodious bell, Lott got out of the crowd, flashing past couples, walking towards Boris with warm and bright smiles.
It's one thing to be intimate in private, but quite another to kiss in public and in full view!
Lott approached and was about to grab Burris' wrist. Burris cast a short-distance teleportation technique and disappeared into the crowd in an instant.
Proximity isn't a teleportation spell, and you won't get very far with it. Boris appeared at the door of the reception hall, without looking back, he ran to the courtyard along the long steps covered with red carpet.
There are not many guests in the courtyard now, only some servants and soldiers. They received instructions just now, and Norad has already caught the target. This young man with the appearance of a mage must be an ordinary guest, so they leisurely watched the show at will.
Another "ordinary guest" chased him out. Unlike the little mage who was panicking, this guest not only ran fast, but he was not flushed or out of breath, and he was smiling all the way. He caught up with the little mage near the gardening area, and was about to grab the mage's cloak, but as soon as he stretched out his hand, the mage disappeared from him again.
At the end of midnight, Lot was standing under the hedge trimmed into the shape of a unicorn, and he caught a few strands of hair from Burris' cloak in his hands.
The flaxen-colored soft hair was wrapped around his ring finger, shyly shimmering in the moonlight.