They got off the taxi on Crescent Street in the old city. Shireen looked through Mr. Devin's money bag and found that the "activities fund" she received two days ago now only had one Fra, four Sinti and one left.

Stack of copper plates.

After paying the fare, the originally small amount of money was reduced by one centi.

Her own purse was even more pitiful. There were only copper coins left in it, and even counting them all could not make up a centimeter.

"Payday is next Monday," she said to Emma worriedly. "It's only Thursday. I don't know how to spend the remaining three days."

"Well... can we go eat and drink?" Emma suggested.

"Haha, very funny, Emma." Shireen replied dryly.

They walked hurriedly along the sidewalk to the White Cat Cafe not far away.

Since Emma agreed to help Shireen do her makeup, they decided to go back to Shireen's residence first, and by the way, they could temporarily store the case report notes they copied down in the room. Of course, they had to take adequate protection measures to avoid these precious

The handwritten documents were used as claw-sharpening toys by the elusive feline creatures in the store.

When she pushed open the door of the cafe, even though she had been mentally prepared in advance, Shireen still gasped in fright.

Several kittens of different colors rushed forward and sniffed the hem of her skirt.

Shireen froze in place at a loss. Fortunately, Emma didn't seem to be afraid of cats. She took a step forward, stretched out her foot and kicked the air, and drove away those scary little hairballs without any effort.

"Thank you." Shirin looked like she was surviving the disaster.

Emma wanted to continue the topic, "I just meant it when I said that I would eat and drink. The man who was waiting for you at the station this morning obviously has an unusual relationship with you, right? If you really need money, go to him.

Can’t you just help me?”

You remember it quite clearly. "Well...he did offer to help."

"Then the problem is solved? What else is there to worry about?"

There are so many things to worry about, Shireen thought to herself. It's a pity that I can't even tell you. It feels really bad to hide the truth from friends. Now she can more or less understand the feelings of Dead Leaf.

"Don't worry about him yet," Shireen changed the topic, "We only have about an hour left, so we should quickly think about how to tidy up my clothes."

As they went upstairs, they met the female manager of the cafe at the corner of the stairs. Katie was still wearing a starched white shirt, and her short brown hair was fixed at the side of her ears with hairpins. She looked very capable.

Although they had only met once before, she still recognized Shirin at a glance: "Welcome back, Miss Marron. It seems that you didn't go back to your room yesterday?"

"Well, I spent the night at a friend's house yesterday." Shireen replied, "Let me introduce you, this is Emma Page, my work partner."

"Katieen Moridi, you can just call me Katie." The female store manager smiled at Emma, ​​but did not mean to shake hands. It seems that she is also a traditional local girl from Fire Seal City.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Katie." Emma looked at her with bright eyes, and Shireen suddenly had a bad premonition, "I inevitably noticed that you and Miss Shireen have similar figures. So.

… Do you have a decent evening gown in your closet? The kind you would wear to a noble party?”

"Emma, ​​wait"

"Are you really planning to wear this to the banquet?" Emma stared at her in surprise, "Do you know the status of the Sedu family in Fire Seal City?"

About an hour later, Shirin finished dressing up and walked out of the back door of the cafe.

Since she didn't want to look too showy, she simply applied some eye shadow. Emma helped her put her hair on top of her head and covered it with a white hairnet.

She changed out of her old dress and reluctantly put on one of Katie's light blue evening dresses. The dress had white and gray pleated lace on the cuffs and skirt, but the bustline was a bit low.

.

At Shireen's strong request ("I'm really going to be angry!"), Emma reluctantly used pins to patch up two layers of lace netting on her chest, covering the skin that should have been exposed.

When Shireen stood in front of the mirror with a blushing face, she felt that she indeed looked much better than before dressing up. In Emma's words, she "finally looked like a socialite."

Of course, she is still far from a real socialite, but at least she will not embarrass Pavel Seydoux, who invited her to the party.

They walked to the main road of Crescent Street, and Emma stopped a carriage with quick eyes and hands. After a fierce negotiation with a very fast voice and high and low pitches, she successfully reduced the fare to nine copper coins.

"Well, I wish you a smooth debut." Emma said as she helped her close the carriage door. "If the effect of the makeup and dress is not satisfactory, remember to tear off those lace nets."

"Stop making trouble, it's absolutely impossible." Shirin said with a straight face.

The carriage left Crescent Street and went straight to the upper city of Fire Seal City. Speaking of it, this seemed to be her first official visit to that exclusive city for nobles and rich people.

After entering the outer ring street of the upper city, Shireen found that the buildings on the roadside had obviously changed in style. Most of the mansions adopted the architectural style popular in the past of Si Serampel, which was a tall building composed of spires and towers.

The Seydoux family, as one of the five most politically involved nobles in the city, has a huge manor that can be called a fortress. Shireen always thought that the "castle in the city" was just a figment of people's imagination, but when she stood in the vestibule of Seydoux Manor,

Only then did I realize how wrong I was.

This manor can be called a small castle. It has its own exterior walls, courtyards, and even a huge garden. The guards in the manor are not wearing the red and blue uniforms of the city guards, but white and gold.

They are apparently the Seydoux family's personal guards.

Normally, Shireen would have stood there and stared at it for several hours. Fortunately, she still remembered that she was here to attend the banquet, but then she realized that she had no idea what to do next.

Fortunately, the invited guests seemed to be heading in a certain direction. So she swallowed her saliva, tried hard to ignore the fear that was gradually rising in her body, and followed them forward as steadily as possible.

Shireen walked through the castle gate and saw more strange men and women in gorgeous clothes. Some people seemed to notice her, but they lost interest soon after.

She realized how out of place she was. The common people among the nobles were too conspicuous and at the same time very inconspicuous. She felt like a duck mixed in with the swans, or an insignificant stain on the canvas.

"Shireen? For God's sake, I thought you wouldn't come!" Moira appeared out of nowhere and ran towards her in surprise and joy.

Her former roommate wore a light yellow evening dress today, and her long red curly hair hung casually on her shoulders. Shireen was delighted to find that Moira had also added a layer of lace netting on her chest.

"I also thought you wouldn't come." Her nervousness finally dissipated a little.

"You don't seem to be wearing any jewelry?" Moira frowned, "That's not okay. You must at least wear a necklace, otherwise you will be laughed at."

"I feel like I have become a laughing stock." Shireen looked around nervously, and sure enough, several women were looking at them curiously.

"No, you look beautiful, but you're just a little nervous." Moira took off her necklace and put it on for her, "Since the host and guest invited by Lord Sedu is you, then you should wear our only jewelry.

.”

"How can this be done!"

"Of course, and it must be like this. I am your female companion, so I don't need to worry about other people's evaluation of me." Moira said seriously, "But you are different. If I remember correctly, you won't immediately

Are you going to be an assistant to the Sage who protects the country? So this appearance is very important to you, you must leave a good impression in the aristocratic circle."

"I want to be his translator, not his assistant." Shireen sighed, "But what you said makes sense. It seems that I can only borrow your necklace to wear it. Thank you, Moira."

They walked together, and both of them seemed to have more courage. Shireen couldn't help but secretly rejoice that she had asked Lord Seydu to invite Moira.

If she were really thrown into such a place alone, Shireen was very sure that she would recreate all the scandals that common girls had made at noble banquets in history, and maybe even create a few new ones.

In order to further relieve the tension, she decided to chat with Moira: "I don't know yet, where do you live now?"

"The student apartment of the Institute of Truth," Moira sighed softly, "that place is really terrible. There are four girls from the music department living next door to me. Can you imagine? They will start making vocals every day at dawn.

Training! It was only the second day after I moved in that I figured out why there was an empty bed in that room."

Shireen gave her a sympathetic look, "Didn't the others protest?"

"Of course I protested, but the reply I got was 'please buy soundproof alchemical paint by yourself'. That stuff is expensive and smells bad, and no one is willing to paint it on the walls of their rooms." Moira said angrily, "

So I plan to move out as soon as possible. I will be able to work part-time in the library next semester, and then I will have enough income to rent a new apartment."

Shireen wanted to invite Moira to rent a house together at the White Cat Cafe. There were two vacant rooms on the third floor. But it was too close to Mr. Ende's handicraft shop, and she would probably have to ask Moira

Ra explains about the dead leaves...

"What about you, Shireen? Have you found a place to stay?"

"I rented a house near the company," Moira couldn't be allowed to be near Mr. Ender's game, "a shabby hut in the old town."

"It must be very inconvenient, right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, it's far inferior to the conditions in Tulip Apartments before, but at least it's better than living on the street..."

Unknowingly, they walked through the corridor and arrived at the banquet hall of the Sedu family castle.

Shireen originally thought that the evening banquet of the nobles must be a typical portrayal of their luxurious life. In her imagination, this place should be a dark and smoke-filled secret room, filled with weird blue-blooded nobles and all kinds of shady and bizarre pleasures.

Before coming in, she was even ready to run away.

But what she saw quickly reassured her. The banquet hall was brightly lit, and the walls were decorated with exquisite stained glass and brocade tapestries. Elegant and gorgeously dressed noble men and women talked in gentle tones in low voices.

She was looking around curiously when Moira suddenly tugged on her sleeve. Shireen followed her former roommate's fingers and found a short-haired woman wearing a black dress walking toward her with a smile.

Not good, she thought.

"Miss Malone, what a surprise." Ms. Clover from the Port Authority said enthusiastically. Her dress was studded with many tiny diamonds, and she wore a velvet ribbon around her neck with a nail-sized diamond on it.

sapphire.

"Ms. Clover," Shireen responded warily, "I didn't expect to see you here either."

"Shireen, what's going on?" Moira asked softly, "Who is she?"

"Oh? It seems like your lovely female companion doesn't understand the situation yet?" Clover narrowed her eyes and looked at her, and Shireen immediately understood the threat.

"She does not know much," Shireen said calmly, "You must have something important to do with me, right? Is it best to let her avoid it for the time being?"

"Shireen?" Moira looked at her in shock.

I'm sorry, she thought, but it has to be.

"Let's get straight to the point. What a great quality. If we could have a conversation like this from the beginning, many bad things would undoubtedly have a better ending." Clover smiled sweetly, "I think you should receive

Have you received the letter from the Harbor Master?"

"I received it, but I never had time to visit. You know, after the incident in the port area, Avon Insurance Company was very busy."

"I guess so. So you can imagine how surprised I will be when I see you walking into the banquet hall, right? The Harbor Master's box is upstairs, if you agree," she said and glanced

Moira next to Shireen, "We can arrange that meeting now. What do you think?"
Chapter completed!