April 30.

The mood in Hollier had changed slightly with the upcoming dinner at the Duke's Palace, the number of horse-drawn carriages of all kinds had increased markedly, and the nobles living in various parts of Evota had begun to arrive en masse from the estates outside the city or from nearby cities.

This banquet invited all the lords of Evta's slight strength, and because it was a formal banquet, the lords would also bring their wives and children to attend, so the number of participants exceeded more than two hundred, and this was only the number of nobles and their families, if you count the private soldiers, butlers and servants they brought with them, the number would have already exceeded two thousand.

Fortunately, the back garden of the Duke's Palace is large enough, otherwise a banquet of this scale is really not something that can be held... Butler John had seconded hundreds of maids, attendants, and cooks from all over the world, and the expenses up to the start of the banquet alone were enough to cover the taxes of dozens of villages.

The duke, who had always lived a simple life, was suddenly so extravagant, naturally not for the sake of simple "showmanship" - but as for the ultimate purpose of his behavior, everyone still speculated.

And in the "Pig's Head Bar", when the boss Hook was still in a daze and had not yet woken up, Roddy had simply tidied up his cloth robe, pushed open the dirty wooden door, led the ugly pack horse, and walked slowly along the street towards the Duke's Palace, where the nobles were gathering...

It is said that it is a "dinner party", but in fact, preparations for qiē have been started a few days ago, and in the early morning of the thirtieth, nobles and knights began to participate in it.

Although the "gluttony" was listed as one of the seven deadly sins by the Rosicrucian Church, these extremely hungry knights still generally preferred to show off their strength by hunting before the feast.

Therefore, before the beginning of the dinner, a group of knights and barons had already ridden their horses and led their hounds to the hunting area outside the city of Hollier, and in the afternoon, they returned to the banquet with wild boars, wild deer, rabbits and other food hunted by their men, and were the first to receive the first cheers and applause.

Dozens of open tents have been erected in the quiet back garden, tables are arranged neatly according to status, and the "dance floor" in the middle of the banquet hall is customary, and the musicians of the band have begun to adjust the instruments in their hands.

As the sun sets, the aristocrats begin to walk into the venue dressed in gorgeous costumes.

Their expressions subtly glanced at the back garden of the greatest lord of Evta, and it was clear that this banquet had some different meaning in their eyes. However, the "baronesses" and "viscountesses" who followed them were obviously not interested in ********, and their role was more to make their own "vases", and silently compete with well-cut long dresses and delicate jewels - in the slightly hot weather, the white furrows under the low-cut collar have become a scenery that the men present are happy to admire.

In contrast, the children of the young nobles seem to be much simpler: they do not participate in the conversation between the adults, most of them form a small circle, because the nobles live in their own territory all the year round, so most of the lord's children come here is also a "blind date", when the lord is intrigued, the heirs who have just reached adulthood or underage have begun to contact and test each other, laying the groundwork for more marriage and cooperation in the future.

When night fell and the feast began, the Duke of Angmar walked into the hall dressed in a purple robe—a bland appearance that made a worried nobleman breathe a sigh of relief, after all, the old man seemed to be extremely powerful in the eyes of most nobles.

The scene of him gaining a foothold in Ivota with ruthless means more than ten years ago has left a deep impression on too many old nobles, but now it seems that this Duke is really... Old.

Although his gray hair was meticulously groomed, the loose skin and wrinkles could not hide the fact that he was old, because of the damage of the "soul extraction potion", Duke Angmar's face looked much older than his actual age... So when he walked into the venue with his back slightly hunched and walked into the venue with a slow pace, it seemed that he no longer had the power of the past, and only made people feel that he was an old man who was dying of life.

As the lord of the realm, the Duke of Angmar did not speak any nonsense impassionedly, but simply gave a speech and announced the beginning of the banquet - the venue was huge, and it was too difficult to hear a person speak clearly, so the small exchange after the banquet began was the real highlight.

The servants began to bring the same freshly cooked meat to the table, and the outdoor banquet was not like the indoor, and it was not required to sit at the table all the time to eat all the main meals, so most of the nobles began to talk quietly after a few bites, each holding a wine glass...

"Angmar is getting old after all, and this time I'm afraid it's a scene he's putting on to compromise."

"No matter how powerful you are when you are young, you can't do it if you don't accept old age. The son died, and the daughter went to church again, and although she could come back, it would not be possible to succeed in the end. ”

"What about Wellington and Titus? No matter how much you want them to come out to support the scene, heh, is this taking the initiative to show weakness? ”

"It's not strong in the first place, so how can you show weakness? Those two big knights are just supporting the scene, if they really want to fight, what can they do if two people are strong? ”

"By the way, why didn't Viscount Juan come?"

"Maybe that's an attitude, because we don't have to guess what he thinks now."

The lords' conversation was not loud, but if you listened carefully, most of them were not optimistic about Angmar, and some of them had even shown naked hostility - but the Duke of Angmar did not hear it at all, and was smiling and talking to several lords in a low voice, and there was no superfluous affection on their faces.

The other nobles knew that the barons who spoke with Angmar at this time were the only ones willing to support Evta.

However, such a ratio is really pitiful, and it is not surprising that the lords who are accustomed to seeing the wind and the rudder are on the opposite side of Angmar - the Rusifron family is gone, and now it is weak, rather than letting those resources be held by this old man, it is better to snatch them directly from his hands and manage them well...

In their view, no matter how squandered resources are, it is better than the current reckless support of the frontier.

The banquet was slowly going on with the accompaniment of the band, and at the edge of the venue composed of dozens of tents, Luo Di had changed into a dark green dress, standing silently in the shadows, silently scanning the group... The guys who made him a little disheartened.

Except for a few nobles in Hollier City who had seen Roddy, almost no one in the entire Ivota could confirm his true identity by his appearance, so when the slightly withdrawn Roddy stood here, he looked more like a "broken household" with no popularity, and was excluded from the mainstream circle.

Listening to the casual conversation of the nobles, the coldness in Roddy's eyes became more and more obvious, but just as he was holding his wine glass and tasting the fine fruit wine specially transported from Elsa's village, there was a sudden sound of footsteps in the open space beside him - when he turned around, he found that the person who came was a young boy, the other party's mouth was pouting, and he stomped step by step as he walked, obviously feeling wronged.

Compared with the lords, these young noble children were obviously not very interested in "********", and although the children of thirteen or fourteen years old already knew a little about the stakes, they did not have a part in speaking at such a banquet, so these young heirs left their parents in full costume and formed a small circle by themselves, either quarreling or playing, anyway, they did not care about the situation of the Duke of Angmar.

Quentin was fourteen years old, and after an unpleasant conversation with several of his peers, he wanted to be alone at the edge of the banquet hall, but as he walked, he realized a young nobleman standing in front of him.

Saying that it is a nobleman, judging from the other party's clothing, after all, only nobles will attend this banquet except for the waiters, Quentin naturally regards the other party as the eldest son of a certain lord - because Roddy's appearance is too young, he is only twenty years old, and Ivota has not been such a young lord except for the "dead" Baron Sodlore.

"Got something to worry about?"

Luo Di just asked casually, his actual age was about twenty-eight years old, and he was not interested in the children's thoughts at all, and the conversation at this time was just to prevent the other party from becoming more suspicious.

"It's annoying, but it has nothing to do with you." Quentin's temper is quite strong, which is actually a unique problem of young people's rebellious period, but he at least remembers to find out the background of the family in front of him: "Which family are you from?" Haven't seen it before, right? ”

Listening to his pretended old question, Luo Di smiled and shrugged, "The Medici family, from the south of the kingdom, just happened to come and see. ”

"Medici? I haven't heard of it," Quentin shook his head, although he wanted to pretend to be cold, he still couldn't resist the desire to complain, and said loudly: "My name is Quentin, from the Vlar family... Forget it, it's not interesting to talk about this. Surely you know about the Roussiflon family, right? That duke has been bullied by their gang and can't hold his head up, and even with me I will be laughed at by the bunch of guys. ”

The first sentence is understandable, but the latter sentence makes Roddy a little surprised: "Why are they laughing at you?" Are you related to Duke Angmar? ”

"Of course it does!"

Quentin stretched out his hand to straighten his slightly messy wheat-colored hair, and said angrily: "My father is the only lord who is willing to support the Duke, but now that the Duke's power has declined, those guys have been sneering at me since the meal - that stupid pig from Basta also said that when my family is broken, I can go and clean the toilet for him... Is***! ”

Quentin said a vague slang phrase that was obviously rude.

"I'm arguing with them, but there are too many of them to say anything, what a bunch of bastards!"

As he spoke, he kicked the wooden flower basket, and then remembered that he didn't know Roddy's "position", and looked up and asked, "You won't also cooperate with those guys to oppress the Duke, will you?" ”

"I don't have a reason to do that." Roddy looked at the boy in front of him, who was still a little immature, and the anger that had gathered in his heart had dissipated a lot—the existence of someone like Quentin's father showed that the meaning of the word "noble" had not yet rotted completely.

[I found out in the morning that I uploaded it yesterday but forgot to publish it... Depressed, two more tomorrow. 】