In the large hall, the grounds have been cleaned.

On one side of the hall, a large orchestra was playing soothing music, a form of music that was gaining popularity since the Sage had pushed the limits of the number of performers, and the musicians were exploring it in various ways. In the center of the hall, there are many well-dressed people, men and women, talking and laughing with each other, and some of them walking around with wine glasses.

At various points above the hall, several white clusters of magical light were suspended, providing light for the people in the hall.

The light of this thing is much brighter than that of candles, and because these things provide plenty of light, even if it is already dark outside, the hall is still very bright and does not look dim.

This is the main hall on the first floor of the Lord's Mansion in Douala, which was used for that dance competition not long ago, and today it is clear that a dinner party is being held here.

When Norman took Ji Ruoxi's arm and came to the door, he saw such a scene.

The scene in front of him can be said to be very familiar to Norman - when he was in Nikaro, he had not participated in many large and small ball dinners, and it was not enough to describe the density as a small banquet in three days and a big banquet in five days, so he was very familiar with such a place. It's just that he hasn't attended such a noble ball since he left Nicaro, and this is the first time he's ever had one.

Ji Ruoxi seemed to be repulsed by the scene in front of her, and when she walked to the door, her footsteps stopped, or Norman secretly pushed her and signaled her, and she finally walked in.

Norman followed her step by step, and understood her stop just now: this dance came too suddenly, and Ji Ruoxi was in a really bad mood now because of Chen Qinghe's relationship, so it was no wonder that Ji Ruoxi couldn't accept it all of a sudden, and she couldn't help but be rejected in her heart.

In fact, this ball was not only sudden for Ji Ruoxi, but also for Norman, who only found out about it this afternoon at Shanni.

“...... There's going to be a dance tonight,"

When she was with Norman, Shannie's mood was always very lively, but as she spoke, her mood suddenly went down.

Although most of Norman's spirit was placed on the magic pool at that time, he still had 2 spiritual powers placed on Shanni after all, and this emotional change in Shanni was so abrupt and obvious that he noticed it at once.

Without waiting for Norman to ask, Shannie went on to say, "The Duchy of Patrick has arrived, and tonight's ball is for them. ”

Shanny's eyes had been sparkling and focused on Norman when she had spoken, but now her head was turned away and her gaze was turned in a different direction.

In that direction, there is only one wall, and beyond that there is nothing.

Duchy of Patrick......

That's Randall's territory.

It is said that Aubrey is to marry his precious daughter to Randall, so he specially selected an excellent dance teacher to teach Sunny's dance, because His Royal Highness Randall heard that he is particularly fond of dancing.

"Shival should have invited you to today's party......"

As she said this, Senny's voice fell, and her eyes were fixed on the wall, not daring to turn her eyes to look at Norman again.

She's a little weak-hearted.

In fact, Sival only intended to invite Hugo to the party, and the lady Sharia was not in the scope of his invitation, and it was Shanny herself who would go and get Sival to invite the couple "on his own initiative".

Douala is part of the Holker Domain, and has never been at odds with the Duchy of Patrick, and there has never been any overlap between the two other than some normal trade traffic. The fact that the Duchy of Patrick suddenly sent someone at such a time was obviously related to some of the efforts that Aubrey was doing.

In a way, this could almost be seen as a response from His Highness Randall to Aubrey's fanfare, which meant that he also agreed to the business.

When she realized this, Shanni was struck by five thunderbolts.

Since Norman "confessed" to her, she has been living in the clouds for the past few days, and she doesn't know the geometry of the world sweetly, but this news pulled her back from the sky and made her sober all at once.

Shanni didn't know what to do.

According to the rules of the kingdom, once a marriage is approved by the heads of the two families, then it is decided in this way, and her opinion cannot be effective.

She also thought about talking to Norman about it, after all, if she was not mistaken, this was the Holy Lord of the Church, with a noble status, and if he came forward, things would definitely turn around.

But it was only then that Shanny remembered an even more disheartening fact: if her guess was correct, her lover was the Holy One of the Church, then according to the rules of the Church, he could not intervene in secular marriages.

The same is true of the Pope, the Holy Maiden.

And if he guessed wrong, he is not a saint of the church, but just an ordinary person with transvestism and musical talent, then he has no power to change this matter......

That's when Shannie realizes that the whole thing is getting more and more complicated.

In the end, she had no choice but to take one step at a time, and the idea of letting Norman attend today's ball was also a step that her confused mind thought of, and she didn't know if it was wisdom or stupidity.

She didn't know what she was thinking: did she expect Norman to be brave enough to reveal her identity and announce their relationship to everyone at the ball for her to learn the news, or even to break the rules of the church for thousands of years?......

Unbeknownst to Shannie, her mind was completely confused by the increasingly complex situation.

She only regretted that the Father hadn't divided her beauty into her wisdom in the first place, and that might have made the best decision for her......

From the perspective of normal aesthetics, Norman's appearance is definitely not as good as that of Shannie, but in terms of IQ, he is undoubtedly higher than Shanny. Especially after the crazy education of the Templar Order, his ability to think about problems is higher than that of Shanni.

However, he was an idiot emotionally, so he couldn't guess what Shanny was thinking, so he just let out an "oh" at the time, and then waited for Shival's invitation to the couple's ball.

According to Norman's plan, it was almost time for them to leave Douala tomorrow. At this last moment, there is no need for them to come up with something else, since they are invited, they will attend, anyway, it is just a swaying and having a meal.

So, he and Ji Ruoxi appeared here.

"Viscount Speight, it's been two years since we last met?......"

"They used this shameless method to open the door to the market in Douala, but there is nothing we can do about them. I have to say, their weapons are so powerful that no one can resist them, not even you and me, can they resist the temptation of those cheap and beautiful books? That's too cheap......"

"Viscount Cheberis, my uncle in Wilshire has sent me a letter yesterday concerning some land dispute between your father and him, and I wish to speak with you. I know we don't want to hurt our relationship with each other because of this, don't we?......"

"Which clever tailor made this dress of yours? It's so beautiful! Be sure to introduce that tailor to me......"

......

Upon entering the hall, the voices in his ears became louder, and the familiar noise of the nobles reached Norman's ears, which made him subconsciously want to straighten his back—a reflex developed by the Templar Knights' ceremonial training when he was in Nicaro.

But fortunately, he firmly remembered his identity at the moment, not only did he not show elegance, but his back was more stiff, and his eyes became timid and restrained.

Ji Ruoxi didn't go wrong under Norman's instructions in advance, and behaved decently, the two of them just mixed up on the spot, not taking the initiative to talk to someone, someone took the initiative to come over and didn't refuse, and would chat a few sentences without being salty or light.

I also ran into Byron during this time.

It was the first time Norman had seen the other son of the Aubrey lord since selling him a few weapons that day.

Through this time of living in the Lord's Mansion, Norman learned that this Mr. Byron was a martial idiot, which seemed to be the common knowledge of all of them.

It seems normal for such a person not to know someone he has only met once, but what Norman didn't expect was that Byron remembered them.

"You're the gentleman who sold me the weapon in the first place. ”

Byron looked at Ji Ruoxi twice, and said suddenly.

He wore a casual aristocratic dress today, and the whole person looked much softer, but his blond hair still felt unruly.

Ji Ruoxi replied in a low voice: "I didn't expect Mr. Byron to remember me." ”

Byron smiled heartily, "Of course, your weapons are very good, especially that magic cross sword, which has greatly increased my strength." ”

But that's all he said, and after saying that, he took his leave and went to the side to talk to others, and he was also a noble gentleman who looked like a knight like him, and he looked familiar.

The nobility of Douala was unknown to Norman except for these people in the City Lord's Mansion, and they were basically unfamiliar faces to him, but he also saw Adolf during this time.

This dance teacher of unknown origin is not a wanderer's costume on a day like today, and he has changed into a fairly elegant aristocratic dress as usual, and the whole person looks a lot of spirits. And unlike the two of them, this guy who came to the City Lord's Mansion later than them actually ate very well at this ball, always saw different people talking and laughing with him, and I don't know how he could meet so many people in such a short period of time.

In this very boring state of chaos, there were more and more people in the hall, and some important people, such as Shanni and the Lord of Aubrey, also arrived one by one.

But the ball hasn't started yet, which means that the most important person has not yet arrived.

Finally, there was a commotion from the side of the door, which spread over and attracted everyone's attention.

Norman looked around, and with the advantage of his height, he immediately saw the scene over there: he saw a thin middle-aged man entering the room surrounded by everyone.

It was a gentleman that Norman had never seen, with a handsome appearance, two mustaches, a calm demeanor, not flashy clothes, quite elegant, but definitely not rude, but faintly a kind of restrained extravagance, very modern texture.

The most striking thing about this gentleman was the personal greeting of the lord of Aubrey: as soon as he entered, Aubrey lined up in a crowd to greet him, and then walked inward side by side with him, and his face was full of smiles, and he squeezed out his folds with laughter.

Although this city lord is not as cold as frost, it is really very rare to laugh like this now, and at a glance, he knows that the middle-aged man next to him is not small.

Next, Aubrey led the man to a stage on the side of the hall.

Aubrey motioned for the orchestra behind him to stop, then clapped his hands and shouted twice, "Everyone, please be quiet. Gentlemen and ladies, please be quiet. ”

Aubrey must have been trained as a knight, and his voice was very thick and powerful, and the sound drowned out the noise of the scene, making the scene gradually quiet.

Then he introduced himself to the crowd: "Gentlemen and ladies, allow me to introduce you to a friend who has come from afar. The gentleman standing next to me now is Cedric McAllen, and perhaps some of my friends have heard of this name, so it doesn't matter if they don't know, I can introduce you again, that Mr. Cedric is a Count of the Duchy of Patrick......"

This one named Cedric is the one from Patrick that Shannie said during the day.

The sudden arrival of someone from the Duchy of Patrick caused a small commotion among the nobles at the moment, many of whom whispered to each other, and some remained silent, wondering what their lord meant.

Of course, the implication is already obvious: Aubrey is likely to marry His Highness Randall.

This made many people present envious.

With the arrival of the Holy Maiden's legation in Santa Vita, who doesn't know that His Royal Highness Randall has a great chance of becoming the next king? If he can marry Randall, he may become a relative of the royal family in the future!

But envy can't help it, who let them not have such a beautiful daughter like a god?

But at this moment, suddenly a voice rang out.

"Marquis aubrey, do I understand that you are deliberately marrying Miss Shannie to Her Highness Randall?, but as far as I know, Miss Shannie is already engaged to someone else. ”