Lachésis City - Smoke Fairy Festival, the night comes with drizzling rain. The dripping raindrops soaked Turing's dreams. Merka's footsteps, like an illusion, could be heard from far to near, delicate as mosquitoes. Turing had dreamed of this in some distant dream, today, at this moment, Merka would come, holding an umbrella, riding a white horse, rushing through the wind and rain. Is it an illusion? The fragile "girl" couldn't withstand such lies.
"Miss, your speech this morning was absolutely perfect!" Smoke Ling and Turing were in the dressing room for the party. After a busy day, Turing wanted Smoke Ling to do a lighter and more natural makeup for today's party.
"You were born so delicate like a flower... your behavior exudes natural elegance, and coupled with your recent "Red Port Incident," it further proves your incomparable kindness and bravery. If we were talking about beauty contests... my god!" Smoke Ling squinted and smiled, sincerely praising, "How could anyone surpass you?"
Turing felt restless, anxious about whether Merka would come or not. Upon hearing Smoke Ling's words, Turing's mood finally relaxed a bit, intending to tease this mischievous little maid.
However, when Turing turned around, what came into view was Smoke Ling's overly fair complexion and slightly sunken eye sockets - apparently, this poor girl, Smoke Ling, hadn't fully recovered from the impact of her hunger strike.
[It's all because of me.] Turing thought.
Turing's smile froze, her lips moved slightly, but in the end, she closed them.
"Miss, today... why not choose a dress in watermelon red?" Smoke Ling walked to a large mahogany cabinet on the side, searching, and finally took out a fitted watermelon red evening gown.
"After this incident, I've thought a lot... indeed, Miss has grown up." Smoke Ling approached Turing with the dress, and her eyes, like a lake, gradually revealed waves that couldn't be contained.
"I'm not oblivious... I'm not uncomprehending... I'm just, I'm just..." Smoke Ling's voice was choked and trembled Turing's fragile heart.
Smoke Ling handed the dress to Turing from afar, wiping away her tears in secret, not letting any tears fall on the dress.
Turing silently took the dress.
"Let me help you put it on, Miss." Smoke Ling quickly adjusted her own mood. Her smile also calmed Turing, who was restless.
She was like a Smoke Bellflower, possessing the magical power to heal souls.
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"Is this it... I never thought I would one day attend such a high-level banquet." Merka shook off the rainwater from the umbrella in his hand, tidying up his neatly dressed outfit. Although this outfit was the most presentable one in Merka's wardrobe, compared to the surrounding nobles and aristocrats, Merka still felt an invisible restraint on his clothes.
Merka proceeded with stable steps, walking on the red carpet that connected the castle gates with the courtyard. To prevent the red carpet from getting wet by raindrops, the Agio family had arranged a magnificent glass tunnel with hanging flowers on top.
Elaborate and sophisticated, this was the Agio style.
Even before Merka finished walking the red carpet in front of the castle gates, many servants had already surrounded him.
"Wipe it for me, I'm going to take it inside later." Merka handed the umbrella to a servant who came to take it. The butler who took the umbrella froze for a moment, and then carefully wiped it on the side.
"You are... Mr. Merka, right? We have it recorded here." The receptionist took the slightly damaged glass ring that Merka handed over, carefully examined it for a while, and returned it to Merka.
"But we need more than just your name for registration, at least... at least we need to know where you are from." The receptionist and Merka walked at the same pace, using his small eyes to constantly signal Merka, "Or... you can tell me directly if you are from a city or the countryside."Merka knew this problem very well, and understood it very well. The butler was actually there to record his identity, whether he was a noble or what level of noble he was. Normally, Merka wouldn't be bothered by such a trivial matter. But today, on the day of meeting Turing, Merka felt unusually annoyed because of this issue. Watching the well-dressed male companions around the women, Merka couldn't help but speak up with a guilty conscience. "Agio family, please help me remember the Agio family." But in reality, the only connection Merka had with the Agio family was through a teacher named Maria. "I understand... Please come in and make yourself at home," said the butler as they walked to the front door and he pushed it open for Merka.
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[Too light...]
Turing held the dart in her hand, imagining throwing it like a javelin. But in the end, she hesitated and adopted a conservative throwing posture, holding the tail of the dart. In a small corner, a sparse crowd surrounded Turing, anxiously holding their breaths as they watched the bullseye in the distance, almost filled with darts. [Why is it so complicated, Merka?] Turing decisively threw the dart, without any suspense, hitting the bullseye once again. Praise and awe spread among the surrounding crowd. "Truly worthy of the perfect tobacco..." "She really leaves no room for criticism in anything she does..." Unbeknownst to Turing, ever since the Red Port incident, the title of the [Perfect Tobacco] had spread throughout all of Red Port. [If only relationships between people could be like the competitions and duels I excel at... where it's either win or lose.] [Why don't they just let me give up?] Turing, as if oblivious to the crowd surrounding her, continued to take darts from a small bucket nearby, aiming towards the target. not far from the crowd, there was another girl around the same age, deeply troubled. "Why, why is she always the center of attention?... She's just throwing darts to entertain herself," Diana muttered quietly as she busied herself socializing with the male students at the venue. "Sorry, what did you say?" asked one of the boys next to Diana. "Nothing, shall we go somewhere else?" Diana with a mask on her face, still elegant and gentle. She acted like a cheetah, searching for prey in the venue—who is the master of etiquette, who is the male companion invited to the party, often revealing everything with one try. She always manages to charm others effortlessly. But not as much as Turing—Turing's every frown and smile captures people's hearts. Meaningless... Diana thought. No matter how outstanding or perfect I am, [it's all meaningless.] Turing suddenly became despondent, put down the dart in her hand, and looked around at the murmuring people. Although their words sounded like compliments, they still maintained a certain distance from Turing. How much hidden malice could possibly be contained in them? How many people have I hurt without even realizing it? Where is my worth... [What is that thing hanging on the table...?] Just as Turing was absorbed in her melancholy, she suddenly noticed a plain black umbrella hanging quietly next to the dining table. Turing shifted her gaze away from the umbrella and looked into the distance. There was a familiar figure walking further and further away. Turing hurriedly walked in that direction...
