"Daddy." "I'm going to see the lantern festival." ”

"Are you done with your homework?" Asker asked.

"I'm done." Anna said.

"Then let's go." Asker carried his daughter on his back.

"Where's Mom?" Anna looked back.

"Your mother is still working overtime, and she doesn't have time for the time being, is it okay for Dad to accompany you to see the lanterns?"

"Hmm."

Although she is only eight years old, Princess Anna is already extremely sensible, and it is a lot easier for him to take care of his father.

Walking out of the gate of the palace with Anna on his back, the officers and guards around him saluted: "Your Majesty! ”

"It's fine." Aske said accommodatingly, "I'll take my daughter out for a walk. ”

"Do you need to send someone with you?" An officer guard asked.

"No, you don't." Asker waved his hand.

Although he said not to accompany him, the officers and guards were not stupid enough to let him go out alone, and still sent two guards to quietly decorate from behind, and if something happened, they would take care of it as soon as possible.

However, everyone knows that the nominal co-emperor of the empire, the husband of His Majesty Theodora, although he does not care about political affairs and usually has no sense of existence, is indeed a high-level transcendent, so he does not dare to stop him from going out without permission.

The Lantern Festival, a new festival brought by the emperor, is said to have been a custom from the Dragon Kingdom of the Far East, and became the official festival of the Eastern Solomonic Empire by the will of His Majesty Theodora. The citizens of Constantinople called it "Σεληνη", that is, "Selene" or "Luna Festival", taking the first full moon in February as the festival.

On Luna Day, every household in Constantinople eats a food called "Loukoumades", which is actually dough stuffed with sesame seeds and cinnamon, coated with honey and fried.

Although it is quite popular in the local area, Asker will never admit that this Byzantine fried dumpling is "tangyuan", and the taste is almost nasil-sweet.

Anna had a great appetite, and after eating a few bowls in the sweet shop on the street, she consciously put down the soup spoon, touched her little belly with some regret and said:

"I can't eat any more."

"Full?" Asker asked.

"Mom said that ladies need to stay in shape." Anna said seriously, "Today's calorie intake is full." ”

Aske laughed dumbly, my Anna was really precocious and sensible, just like her mother back then.

In addition to eating "tangyuan", another traditional Lantern Festival repertoire, the "Lantern Festival", was also transformed by the citizens of Constantinople into a nondescript "Sphinx riddle club": a hand-tied sphinx paper lamp was placed in the streets and alleys, with a riddle written on the back and a riddle written under the belly.

"This is ......" Asker looked at a small paper lamp in the shape of a sphinx at the door of the shop, which was written in quill ink:

If you don't say it, you name it; And you have to say it.

But if you could say my name in words; That would be a miracle.

What is this going around...... Aske was a little speechless, only to hear Anna giggle, "It's 'silence'!" ”

"Oh, I see." It dawned on him and touched Anna's head, "My daughter is smart. ”

"What about this?" After walking around Anna on his back for a while, Asker found a sphinx lamp, which was placed on the railing on the side of the street, and on its back was written a riddle:

When I was born, they all wept for me; However, I soon disappeared into thin air again.

Anna's little head pondered for a moment: "It's 'smoke', right?" ”

"That's right." Asker flipped the Sphinx and wrote the answer under its belly, and sure enough, it was "smoke".

"Do you want another one?"

"Okay."

Continuing some distance, Aske and his daughter found a third giant sphinx paper lamp sculpture in front of the monument to Constantine, which reads:

It is aloft and moody, destroying towns and slaughtering the living...... And yet I just want to say, may it live a long life!

"What's this?" Aske was a little stunned, Anna couldn't think of it for a long time, only to hear a voice behind her say:

"It's a 'storm.'"

When the father and daughter looked back, they saw Empress Theodora standing behind them, the aura of a superior who was still inviolable, but with a rare gentle smile on her face.

"I see." Asker understood. The "high" and "moody" in the front refer to the storm itself, while the latter wishes it a long life is in praise of Theodora, the "Queen of the Storm".

"Really, who wrote this lantern riddle!" Her Highness Anna was also angry. The destruction of towns and the slaughter of all living creatures are clear alluded to the brutal war that her mother set off after recovering Constantinople and impatiently counterattacking Anatolia.

"Gotta arrest and hang the man who made this lamp!" The little princess said angrily.

"Don't get excited, Anna." Theodora smiled and touched her daughter's head, "This riddle is right. ”

"But ......," Anna still had some difficulty accepting, "in case the citizens chew their tongues behind their backs......"

"That's okay too." Theodora said magnanimously. Now that she has entered the demigod rank, her rule over the empire has long been unshakeable, and of course she does not care about the sarcasm that the citizens think is spicy.

"Job done?" Asker asked.

"Not yet, why don't you make some for me?" Theodora looked at him with a smirk.

"Forget it, I'm not good at this...... So you sneaked out? ”

"Not really, I'll leave the rest to Valomina."

"Your Majesty is still so willful, Madam Imperial Ink will cry, right? I'm not married at such an old age, and I have to help a lazy female emperor handle official business. ”

"You are not in a position to say so, my majesty." Theodora naturally grabbed his arm, "Since you were promoted to my 'Co-Emperor', have you ever done what an emperor should do for even one day?" ”

"Does it matter if you give birth to little Anna?" Asker laughed.

"Shut up!" Theodora didn't have the good to scold him, "The child is here, what nonsense are you talking about!" ”

"Actually, Anna is already very sensible." "Have you read the history homework she wrote last week?" 'Cast the dice of fate', the governess praised Anna in front of me, saying that she was a 'little Aristotle'! ”

"I'm angry when I talk about this, why did you tell Anna what happened in the first place!" Theodora's expression of vicious anger made Anna tremble on his back.

However, Asker only quietly put his arms around her waist, and his anger was invisibly dissolved, and his beautiful side face was dyed an imperceptible crimson.

"I just thought it was more interesting." Aske whispered in her ear, and Theodora's neck twitched slightly.

"Yes, the maids also say it's romantic." Seeing that her father calmed down her fried mother, little Anna also plucked up the courage to say, "Everyone thinks that the meeting between the two Majests is arranged by God and destined fate!" ”

"It's destined for you!" Theodora gave him another glance, but his tone was not as angry as before, "If Anna is taught bad by you and elopes with the barbarians outside in the future, I will roll you up and throw you into the Aegean Sea with a storm!" ”

"Definitely not, it's our daughter after all." Asker patted Anna's arm.

Theodora, still a little indignant, continued to take Asker's arm intimately, and walked along the street with little Anna.

In front of it is a "sea of light" composed of more paper lamps, the sound of the phoenix flute moves, and the light of the jade pot turns, just like a fairyland on earth.