Although Ember had a good reason, Klein was skeptical, after all, he didn't feel like Ember was someone who cared about such small things.

What can a dance change?

Is it because dancing can quickly bring you closer and make Hazel love you so much?

This is obviously impossible, after all, Ember is not a succubus.

There must have been other reasons for him to do so.

The only question is, why?

Crane looked around with champagne in his hand, his eyes swept over the guests from time to time, but he never found the key clue he thought was the key.

Of course, it may not be for a reason, Ember really just didn't want to invite Hazel to dance.

But Klein is not an ember, and he needs to maintain his status as 'Dwayne Dantès', so he can't be too outlier.

At such dinners, the ladies are invited to dance at least once.

Because the purpose of the banquet itself is to socialize, and the dance party at the beginning of the dinner is a social ball, which is essentially for social service.

Female guests may refuse invitations from other male guests on the grounds that they are not feeling well.

However, if a male guest is unable to find a lady who is willing to dance with him, he is considered 'friendless and unpopular', and at best he is considered 'not socially adept'.

So to be on the safe side, it's a good idea for male guests to bring a female companion to a dinner party.

If you don't have a female partner, you should invite someone you know.

Unfortunately, Klein did not have many acquaintances at this dinner.

The only three ladies that 'Daun Dantès' knew were Lady Liana, who was one of the hosts of the dinner, Lady Vahana, who was his teacher of etiquette, and Miss Hazel, the daughter of Councillor Mahert.

The latter doesn't have to be considered, and neither can Ms. Vahana.

With the secret help before, she should already know that inviting her to dance the first dance at this time would easily make her misunderstand, which might affect the relationship between her husband and wife, and cause a lot of unnecessary trouble to the identity of Dawn Dantès...... I'm not an emperor, I like wives, no, he likes everything, in short, you have to avoid suspicion...... Crane's eyes shifted, looking at the center of the hall at the Senator couple who had finished their opening dance.

"Lady Liana, may I ask you to do a dance?"

Daun Dantès, with graying sideburns, stepped forward and saluted in a standard manner.

"Of course."

Lady Liana smiled and held out her palm.

She knew that this Monsieur Dantès had just arrived in Bakeland, and that she didn't know many people, and even this was the first social dinner he had attended, and it was difficult to find a lady who was willing to dance his first dance with him.

As the host of the banquet, Lady Liana, of course, will not embarrass the guests, so she is also happy to relieve the other party.

Councillor Makht smiled as the two entered the dance floor and danced to the melody in a brisk and lively dance.

He took a glass of champagne from the waiter's hand, and caught a glimpse of Hézel standing on the edge, almost a 'vacuum' around her, and no man tried to approach her.

Seeing this situation, Congressman Makht couldn't help but sigh and feel a little helpless in his heart.

Their family has held many dinners, and most of the guests are not first-time guests. Most of them tried to invite Hazel at the previous dinner, but she refused on the grounds that she was 'unwell'.

And that's what it turns out to be -

Guests who have already eaten deflated will not be bored to invite Hazel. And the guests who come to the dinner for the first time will basically not take the initiative to invite Hazel. In addition, Hazel has never been invited, and most of the new guests can guess what is going on, knowing that there is a high possibility that their invitation will be rejected, so they will naturally not be bored.

After all, in this kind of social place, rejection can often have serious consequences.

He thought, and then turned his gaze to the embers on the other side of the hall.

The Viscount Blake was also alone, standing at the edge of the hall and watching the others on the dance floor dance, but he didn't have the slightest idea of getting involved, which made Councillor Maher a little puzzled.

Although the other party, like Dawn Dantès, was attending a social dinner at their house for the first time.

But he and Hazel had just had a good conversation, even to the point where Makht feared that Hazel would get too close to him. But now the other party doesn't have any idea of inviting Hazel, is he also scared to invite?

Councillor Makht thought for a moment, and prepared to walk from the edge of the dance floor to the embers.

A worthy host would not let any of his guests be rude, and he was ready to help the Viscount Black out of the siege by taking him to invite Hazel to the first dance. As for whether this will make their feelings warm up quickly, Congressman Makht thinks not, after all, he knows his daughter's character.

But before Councillor Macht could speak, his eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of a handsome man with brilliant blond hair holding a glass of red wine and smiling towards the Viscount Black.

Congressman Makht paused and lowered his brow slightly.

He knew the blonde man—

Not surprisingly, the other party should be the highest status among the guests present.

Because he was the eldest son of the Earl of East Chester, Hibbert Hall, a future earl!

He and Viscount Black know each other?

Earl Hall's fiefdom is in East Chester County, also to the north, adjacent to Wintershire.

And judging by the current situation, it is clear that they knew each other before.

Could it be that the family fiefs of the two sides are very close to each other, so the relationship is also relatively close?

Congressman Makht was not sure about their relationship, so he did not step forward immediately, but silently observed from the sidelines.

——

Hibbert Hall greeted with a smile:

"Ash, long time no see, you haven't been a guest at my house for a long time lately."

Ember raised his glass and touched him with a false touch, smiling the same way:

"Four months, to be exact."

Hibbert took a sip of red wine and quipped:

"My mother has been talking about you lately, and Audrey wants to see you too. If you have time recently, let's have a meal together at home. ”

Ember put down his glass, thought for a while, and said:

"I'll have time tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."

Receiving an affirmative reply, Hibbert smiled contentedly, and then asked curiously:

"Do you know Congressman Mahert?"

"I don't know."

Ember shook his head and explained:

"I met Dawn Dantès a few times when I was in South Walshire, and I asked him to bring me to this dinner, what about you?"

"Huh?"

Hibbert immediately realized the hidden meaning in the other party's words -

Having known each other for so long, Hibbert knew that Ember wasn't the kind of person who liked to socialize. If Ember had such an idea, he could have attended the ball held by the upper nobles of Rune.

So he wouldn't let a businessman he had only met a few times take him to a dinner party hosted by a councillor for no reason.

And when it comes to Ember's identity, Hibbert can probably guess why.

Among the guests of this dinner party, there is probably a very dangerous extraordinary.

But Ember didn't know the guests, and wasn't sure who would be attending the dinner. The only person he was sure would attend the dinner was the hosts, the Makht family.

That is, there is an extraordinary person hidden in the house of the Maht parliamentarian?

If it's just an ordinary extraordinary, there shouldn't be a need for Ember to come out in person, after all, it's not uncommon for the upper class to raise extraordinary. As long as nothing happens, the church and the royal family generally don't care.

Unless this extraordinary person of the Makht Senator's family is very high, there is a high probability that it will cause unimaginable damage!

Hibbert quickly sorted out the ins and outs of the matter, and said with a smile:

"I'm not like you, and you know that I'm the chief secretary of the Air Pollution Investigation Commission. Congressman Makht has been a strong supporter of this, and many air pollution-related bills have been introduced with his help. ”

After a few minutes, a lady finished her first dance, walked up to the two and smiled:

"Hibbert, what are you talking about?"

Hibbert immediately introduced the two:

"Ash, this is Mary Short, the largest shareholder in Coim and a member of the Air Pollution Investigation Committee."

"Mary, this is Viscount Ash Black from Wintershire, and his family history is even older than that of the House of Hale."

After a pause, Hibbert smiled again and said:

Speaking of which, Ash is also a shareholder in Coim. I suggested that Ash invest in Coim last year, and I had planned to do it myself, but because I was busy pushing for the bill, I had to leave it to the people below. Ash, how much money did you invest at the time? ”

Ember took a sip of champagne and thought for a moment:

"Ten thousand gold pounds, it's been too long, I can't remember it clearly."

Hibbert did tell him about it at the time, so he just threw a little bit of it — well, some of it was borrowed from Audrey.

Mary Short looked surprised and said softly:

"Yes, 10,000 gold pounds, Viscount Black already owned 10% of the company's shares when he invested."

As the largest shareholder of Coim, Mary Schott owns 20% of the company. But at that time, she was still busy divorcing her husband and did not focus most of her attention on handling the company's affairs, so even if there was a change in the company's equity, she did not understand it in detail at that time.

When she later learned that 10% of the company's shares belonged to a gentleman named 'Ash Black', she actually thought about visiting this Mr. Ash, but unfortunately although he owned 10% of the company's shares, he never came to the company in person.

If it weren't for the fact that the 10% equity actually belonged to the other party, Mary would have wondered if there was such a person. And she never thought that she would actually meet this shareholder in this situation.

Hibbert joked:

"Then it seems that my vision is quite accurate, this investment is very cost-effective."

Mary Shawn's face is a bit complicated, Coim was originally a small company that barely made a little money, but as the pollution situation in Beckland increased and the demand for anthracite and charcoal increased, Coim quickly expanded and gradually became one of the top 10 companies in the industry in the capital region.

By the time the Black Viscount invested last year, the overall value of the Coim company was already 100,000 gold pounds.

In the past few months, with the introduction of air pollution related bills, the demand for anthracite and high-quality charcoal has increased significantly, and the company has developed beyond the previous years of efforts, and the overall value is said to have exceeded 250,000 gold pounds!

In other words, the 10,000 gold pounds that Ember invested last year are now worth at least 25,000 gold pounds.

150% rate of return, far from most of the investment on the supermarket! Isn't that more than a good deal?

But this is not because Hibbert is accurate, but because he is actually a relevant interest group.

As the chief secretary of the Air Pollution Investigation Committee, Hibbert also contributed to the introduction of the relevant bills. And as the initiator of all this, how could Hibbert not see a business opportunity?

Although he himself did not invest in Coim because of his identity and need to avoid suspicion. After all, the Coim Company sounds like a behemoth, with a total value of more than 250,000 gold pounds, but the Hall family is even bigger, and its wealth is calculated in tens of millions of gold pounds!

Although the overall value of the Coim company will continue to rise, and it is even expected to break through the 100,000 gold pound mark, it is still less than one percent of the Hall family.

And compared to the small amount of money from the Coim company, Hibbert's political future is obviously more important.

So Mary never knew that the shareholder of her company was actually a friend of Hibbert, and even that the other party was Coim Company, which invested in Hibbert's recommendation.

And from the words of this Viscount Black, it can be learned that the other party did not take the 10,000 gold pounds in his eyes at all, but just regarded it as an idle move, even if the investment loss did not matter, so the other party, as a shareholder of Coim Company, never asked about the company's business status at all!

Mary Sean's expression became more and more complicated, although she held 20% of the shares of Coim and had total assets of more than 50,000 gold pounds. But even for her, 10,000 gold pounds in cash was not something that could be taken out casually, which accounted for one-fifth of her entire wealth!

And you must know that most of the nobles, those viscounts and barons, their assets may not be as good as Mary Seando, and even many of them are burdened with huge debts and are on the verge of bankruptcy.

So it's no wonder that this Viscount Black can have a good conversation with Hibbert, their family strength may be very similar, Hibbert even admitted that the Viscount Black family has a longer history than the Hall family, and it is likely that it is an ancient aristocrat that existed when the country was founded.

For this part of the nobility, the level of the title is meaningless, because their actual status is often more than several levels higher than the title!

Hibbert looked at the look on Lady Mary's face and could probably guess what was going on in her heart.

But instead of paying attention, he was thinking about who was the most likely source of danger in the hall—

He didn't ask Ember if he needed help, as he spotted Bishop Elektra and the man in the black trench coat beside him. Hibbert was no stranger to the dress, and the watchmen who protected them were all dressed in the same way.

Compared to the Church of the Night, which has a large number of extraordinary beings, his 'magician' who only has Sequence 7 is nothing at all.

There is no more of him, and no less of him.

Since he doesn't need his help, Hibbert has to think about how not to mess with the Night Church's actions.

After all, among so many people present, his identity is undoubtedly the most noble.

If the potentially dangerous Extraordinaire erupts, he will be taken hostage.

However, since Ember didn't remind him to leave early, it means that although the danger level of this matter is high, it should not be urgent.

Don't worry too much.

(End of chapter)