Chapter 640: Who is more beautiful?
In the end, nothing happened that night; the two, reunited after a long separation, just cuddled in the quilt, feeling the warmth from the other, and talking about generally warm and occasionally shameful boudoir whispers.
After all, the days ahead are still long, and there is no need to rush anything.
On the third day after reaching a cooperation with the high-level human empire, Theresa moved into Capital City under Astrid’s guidance and conducted research on ancient human ruins together with Charlotte.
With the addition of this learned blue dragon lady, Charlotte’s research work here became much easier; although Theresa could not provide her with magic research basis related to Elders speech like Astrid could, the former’s long-studied dragon language magic had some understanding of space that was different from human common language magic, which was worth Charlotte’s reference and supplement, or changing her line of thinking.
Time passed day by day, and the Magic Device Exhibition arrived as scheduled.
Human Universal Calendar, Year 1733, December 8th, 7:30 AM.
On this day, Capital City bid farewell to the gloom of the past few days; the dazzling warm sun hung high in the sky, clouds were sparse, the temperature warmed up, and houses and palaces sparkled with bright spots under the sunlight, making the entire capital seem bathed in golden radiance.
Outside the imperial palace, flowers preserved in ice since summer covered the streets, and the cleaning team personally appointed by Amalia to maintain Capital City’s good external image started cleaning early in the morning, disposing of all the condensed thin ice, untimely dead branches, and tile fragments scattered at the ends of the alleys.
At eight o’clock sharp, in the main hall of the palace, Amalia, having changed into a majestic noble long dress, met the various great nobles who had come from afar; those seated with her included the equally esteemed Imperial Regent, as well as representatives of the four great families, including one of the four great dukes, Duke Thomas, and Tristian Velmont, the next successor of the Velmont family.
These people were all pillars of the empire and naturally had the qualification to meet the Empress at close range; as for the slightly rear seats, they were occupied by diplomatic personnel from the Pan-Human Alliance, as well as Theresa.
It could be seen that dragons probably didn’t care much about how to cook gourmet food; while everyone was toasting and socializing with each other, only Theresa was eating with her head down, only responding when someone asked her that she was a merchant from the Pan-Human Alliance, this was the fake identity Astrid made for her, and Theresa’s true identity didn’t need to be exposed too early.
Under the table, rarely was there any leg-crossing intrigue from a certain white-stockinged girl; Astrid took a sip of tea, saw that Theresa’s plate in the distance was almost clean, and after sighing internally at the dragon’s appetite, gave a wink to the maid at the side.
"Add more food for Miss Theresa."
’Before, I thought it was just a novel trope, but now it seems that using a fragrant roast meat in exchange for a dragon’s help might actually have a factual basis?’
After all, this noble blue dragon had already expressed her love for the cuisine of the Valeria Empire with practical actions.
At the same time, Amalia, who was eating while distractedly paying attention to her sister, also noticed Astrid’s action of instructing the maid; she moved her knife and fork gently, cut off a piece of meat steak covered in sauce, and placed it on the latter’s plate.
"Sister, try this; it’s cattle tributed from the fiefdom of Duke Charles. The chef controlled the heat very well, the texture is tender and smooth, and the seasoning is also done quite well."
In the Valeria Empire, there was generally no such thing as serving food to others, especially sharing one’s own food with others; only people with a particularly close relationship would do this, of course, if it was Amalia, as the Empress, doing this, any citizen of the Valeria Empire would feel sincerely honored.
Tristian, who was eating just now, felt that Amalia’s gaze stayed on him for a second longer, then moved away calmly, continuing to deal with the gourmet food on his plate.
"..."
As for the other nobles present, they naturally and inevitably noticed the intimate interaction between the two cores of the banquet.
In the past, it was said that the new Empress and the regent Princess of the empire had a close relationship, and some nobles didn’t believe it; holding power as they did, they couldn’t understand how the identities of regent princess and imperial Empress, which had huge overlaps and conflicts in functions, and whose existence would inevitably lead to the loss of power by the other, could coexist harmoniously or even intimately.
Seeing is believing, hearing is virtual; this Empress not only directly called Astrid "sister" in front of everyone, but even shared the gourmet food on the plate; plus the nearly unlimited delegation of power to the regent during wartime, They’re afraid those rumors cannot be false.
Her Majesty the Empress’s attitude towards the Imperial Regent can be completely compared to the late Emperor’s attitude towards the Empress; there is little difference in emotion, and it goes even further politically.
Looking at the steak on the plate, Astrid curled her lips, pierced it with her silver fork, and sent it into her mouth elegantly, chewing carefully.
Sitting beside her, Lyra saw Astrid’s interaction with Amalia, pursed her lips lightly, noticed out of the corner of her eye that the red wine in Astrid’s glass was almost finished, and took the initiative to pick up the wine bottle and fill it up for her lover.
This breakfast was eaten more luxulously than the New Year’s Eve dinner of the empire’s lower-class people; after finishing the early meal, Amalia rinsed her mouth, wiped her lips lightly with a silk handkerchief, stepped on silver-white high heels with ribbon decorations with her two smooth and delicate white-stockinged feet, stood up holding the imperial scepter.
"Since everyone has finished breakfast, please move to the Elizabeth Academy of Magic."
"At ten o’clock sharp, Marquis Charlotte will preside over the opening ceremony there. At that time, the Regent and I will go together."
...................
"Lady Charlotte, you look stunning today."
Thirty minutes before going on stage, Astrid, who had checked the security forces with Lyra, arrived at the Elizabeth Academy of Magic to meet the next protagonist.
"After the opening ceremony, I’m afraid many nobles will fall at Lady Charlotte’s feet again."
Directly opposite Astrid, the elegant beauty with dark hair and tea pupils was wearing a light silver slim-fit dress, her round and smooth fragrant shoulders draped with a brownish-black jacket; the design at the edge cleverly incorporated cape elements, which not only showed off Charlotte’s graceful figure that could look down on others, but also added a bit of nobility and solemnity.
As for the lower body, the diagonally slit skirt was wide and layered, light and floating like clouds, the naturally glossy satin revealing a fine shimmering texture; two long, white, smooth beautiful legs wrapped in transparent stockings loomed between the slits of the skirt, complementing the hollow metal high heels full of elegance at the feet; with sunlight splashing down, whether it was the smooth skirt surface or the hazy beautiful legs, they all uniformly revealed a soft and elegant temperament.
"...Is that exaggerated?"
Hearing this, Charlotte tilted her pretty face slightly, raised her hand to stroke the dark hair by her ear, and inadvertently revealed a section of metal pendant, making the wearer look even more bright and moving.
Astrid knew clearly that Charlotte would not wear jewelry in her daily life; now that she was wearing earrings, she must attach extreme importance to this opening ceremony.
"Of course, Lady Charlotte."
"Even I, who is used to seeing a big beauty like Lady Charlotte every day, still feel stunned."
Without any subjective emotion, just simply stating a fact.
After speaking, Astrid took a step forward, raised her other hand that wasn’t holding Lyra’s, and gently touched her aunt’s earlobe.
"Good... it’s clipped on..."
Hearing Astrid’s words and feeling the temperature of the other’s finger spreading on her sensitive earlobe, Charlotte narrowed her eyes slightly, her legs swaying lightly, causing the high heels to make a sound.
"What’s wrong, Astrid?"
"Nothing."
Astrid let go of her hand, letting the silver pendant shine in her red pupils, and said softly.
"I was just thinking that Lady Charlotte is already suffering enough just wearing high heels with such thin and sharp heels; if you were to pierce holes and damage your body for the sake of beauty, that would be not worth the gain."
"Lady Charlotte doesn’t need too much external decoration to be very beautiful."
Understanding that her junior was pitying her, Charlotte’s ear root touched by Astrid felt slightly hot; she glanced at Lyra, who was holding hands with the other, and her heart lake, which had just rippled, gradually calmed down.
"Okay, I know."
"No wonder Little Astrid almost never wears any earrings either."
"..."
Actually, the original Astrid was too afraid of pain, so she kept dragging it out; when the memories of her previous life awakened, Astrid, whose aesthetics and preferences had changed drastically, would no longer pursue makeup she didn’t like at the cost of damaging her body.
From a personal perspective, Astrid still preferred the innocent-type little girlfriend who was like a hibiscus coming out of clear water, natural and uncarved.
That is Lyra Beckett.
Gently replying "okay" to Charlotte, Astrid saw that the woman wanted to say something but stopped, guessing that the latter had something to say, so she waited silently for a few seconds.
"Little Astr... do you think..."
Feeling that asking this directly was a bit blunt, Charlotte fluttered her eyelashes a few times, and her fingers slowly organized the skirt hem.
"Me today... compared to previous hosts..."
"Who looks better?"
Previous hosts?
Astrid thought slightly after hearing this, her snow-white pretty face looking thoughtful.
The last large-scale event she attended that required a host seemed to date back to the Magic Exchange Tournament during the Elizabeth Academy of Magic period.
The host at that time was the linguistics professor, Evelyn.
It seems Lady Charlotte still cares about her matters.
Sometimes, Evelyn really likes to provoke Charlotte, her elder, in terms of occupying her time, including but not limited to saying things that are easy to misunderstand in front of the other, and inviting her to the mansion at night to learn foreign languages.
Is this the inexplicable competitive heart of being in the same mature older-woman category?
Facing Charlotte’s inquiry, Astrid responded softly.
"Of course it’s Lady Charlotte."
This was both an intuitive fact in the general direction of aesthetics and a reflection of Astrid’s survival instinct.
Whether it was Charlotte who hoped to receive her praise, or the little girlfriend Lyra on the side, or Amalia who was communicating about work, none of them would want to hear her praising another woman profusely.
Getting Astrid’s answer, Charlotte narrowed her tea pupils slightly, put away her glistening gaze, and spoke softly.
"I am very happy to hear Little Astr say so."
Charlotte, who had started to pay extra attention to her own charm at some point, was quite satisfied with this answer.
"It’s about time, Lady Charlotte, you should go on stage to host."
"Don’t be nervous, I will always be watching Lady Charlotte."
After explaining a few last words, Astrid and Lyra parted ways with Charlotte and went to the audience seats, while the latter went to the central high platform through the underground passage.
..................
Relying on the previous speech script and Charlotte’s own excellent understanding of magic devices, the opening ceremony proceeded extremely smoothly; whether it was emotional mobilization or the on-site atmosphere, it rose to a level comparable to the match where Lyra, with the strength of a peak tier Magnus, defeated the Sentos Apulios.
When the opening ceremony came to an end and the nobles finished their lunch, the Valeria Royal Collection Hall and the exhibition room of the Elizabeth Academy of Magic opened together, allowing entry with ticket stubs for browsing.
To ensure that the visitor flow would not be overly crowded, the tour this afternoon was only open to VIPs, namely nobles of the rank of count and above and their direct lineal relatives, craftsmen and researchers participating in magic device research, and some foreign friends who had made significant contributions to the Valeria Empire.
Astrid walked in the exhibition room with the heating on, surrounded by bustling streams of people; many nobles dressed in gorgeous clothes stopped in front of glass counters set up with magic isolation barriers, listening to the staff explain the functions of various magic devices.
"This is the work of Vice President Charlotte; by using a diversion array to control the output size of the wind attribute crystal stone, it affects the specific speed of the air outlet."
"Among them, a fire attribute crystal stone is also embedded to heat the blown wind, thereby making clothes and hair dry faster; in terms of safety, this fire attribute crystal stone is equipped with several sealing barriers, it will only extinguish and not explode, and the upper limit of heat is set within a safe range that will not damage the human body, making it extremely convenient to use."
"Your Excellency Duke Thomas, this is a malleable special brick stone; using a mixed forging process, liquid volcanic rock is fused into iron blocks to form an alloy, which has an extremely weak amplitude of thermal expansion and is not prone to cracking."
"The bottom is equipped with a dual-element crystal stone of fire and ice, which can easily achieve warmth in winter and coolness in summer."
Listening to the staff’s explanation, Astrid crossed her arms relaxedly, propping her lotus arm on her lips, her high heels hitting the floor tiles with a crisp sound, becoming another beautiful scenery at the Magic Device Exhibition.
On the other side, in the Valeria Royal Collection Hall which had not yet been visited by too many people, a magic musket placed deep in the hall was taken out of the glass counter by a hand, gently touching the metal gun body and the red crystal stone inside.
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