As a royal butler wearing a hood and fine wrinkles walked into the small hall, everyone present knew that the investiture ceremony was about to begin.
According to the custom of the Loen Kingdom, the awarding of titles is usually only done on the New Year and the monarch's birthday, but today is just a party on the day before the New Year, and no titles will be conferred.
However, due to the smog that caused the death of at least 60,000 people, King George III ordered the cancellation of most activities and banquets during the New Year in order to express the royal family's grief and sympathy. Therefore, even the investiture ceremony was moved to today
.
According to today's arrangements, Rawls and others will participate in the New Year's party with other nobles after receiving their titles.
After getting up, straightening his clothes and buttoning his tuxedo, Rawls blended into the team and followed the royal butler to the canonization site.
…
Thousands of candles gathered together, emitting light and heat, and majestic notes flowed from the strings, keys, and brass tubes, accompanied by ethereal chant-like songs that echoed in the majestic hall.
The bright red carpet was dotted with golden patterns, and there were seats covered with brocade cushions on both sides, on which sat the nobles of the Loen Kingdom. Because the canonization ceremony was rescheduled to today, and there was a New Year's party after that, they
He was not wearing the noble ceremonial robes, but he was also wearing formal clothes.
Among the nobles sitting on the left are Earl Wolfe and Earl Leavitt, whom Rawls is familiar with, as well as Earl Hall, Baron Hindras, and Viscount Greent, whom he has only met a few times at banquets.
Viscount Conrad and so on, the only Duke in the front row is Philip Negan, who is also the only Duke who is not a member of the royal family.
The ceremony of canonizing nobles is different from other occasions. Nobles must sit according to their titles, not family strength. This is also a sign of respect for the ancestors of these nobles.
The nobles on the right are all strangers. According to Philip's previous introduction, these are royal nobles, members of the Augustus family.
At the front of the middle passage is a platform also covered with bright red carpets. Two middle-aged men wearing black uniforms with serious and majestic faces stood under the platform. There were four other people around the platform wearing red military uniforms and white trousers.
A guard with a ribbon on his chest.
On the platform, King George III of Loen is sitting on the throne. He is wearing the black crown he captured from Balam, with two mustaches at the corners of his mouth, and a resolute face. He is wearing a formal dress and holding a sword in his hand.
His lustful eyes stared at Rawls and others who entered the hall.
As the royal butler led Rawls and his party to the entrance on the left to wait in line, the singing stopped, leaving only low music.
The ceremony is about to begin.
Originally, before the formal ceremony of knighthood began, King George III would definitely make a speech, such as recalling the founding of the Kingdom, recalling the merits and efforts of the nobles, and celebrating the birth of another group of nobles.
Because this year is the New Year party, I want to express my blessings or something.
But none of this happened. George III simply explained that the ceremony had been changed to today due to the smog incident, and the investiture ceremony began.
After all, the hall was full of aristocrats who knew more or less the truth about the Great Smog, and a prince was involved, so they didn't care that George III ended his speech hastily.
As one of the three viscounts conferred tonight, even if Rawls keeps a low profile, he will still be among the first three to receive the title conferred by George III.
"Rolls Adrian, in recognition of his contribution to the legal profession, made him Viscount Adrian." (Note 1)
As the Earl of the Palace recited loudly, Rawls arranged his clothes, took a deep breath and walked to the platform. The low-pitched conversation of the nobles behind him reached his ears, and he bowed slightly to King George III.
At this time, George III also had a faint smile on his resolute face. He took the ceremonial sword, patted Rawls's left shoulder and right shoulder gently and said:
"Good evening, Viscount Derrian."
"Good evening, Your Majesty."
"The partnership system you implemented at Adrian Firm is very good. The Hillston Police Department also performed very well after the Great Smog Incident. The House of Lords is the highest level court in Loon. Maybe you can become the Upper House.
A judge of the House of Lords, assisting Sir Zomer. His work has always been very busy, and there are very few nobles with legal backgrounds in the House of Lords."
"Thank you for your suggestion."
Rawls did not respond directly. During the knighthood ceremony, he and the king only had a few dozen seconds of conversation. He was worried that he would be found out if he talked too much, and also because something had changed in him just now.
However, Sir More in the words of George III is indeed very busy, and can even be called the busiest senior official in Loen. He is the chief justice of the kingdom, the leader of the judiciary, and the speaker of the House of Lords. He is responsible for presiding over the parliament of the House of Lords.
He serves as the Minister of Justice in the cabinet and is second only to the Prime Minister under the King.
It takes a few minutes to consecrate a new noble, and within an hour, the investiture ceremony is over.
…
Under the guidance of the royal steward, a group of nobles prepared to go to another palace for a New Year's dinner.
As the youngest among the new aristocrats, Rawls is still the most special one. Regardless of the comments of the surrounding aristocrats about himself, he took a few steps and walked to Philip who was talking to Earl Hall.
Seeing Rawls coming over, Philip paused for a moment and said with a smile:
"Good evening, Viscount Derrian."
"..." Rawls shook his head helplessly and said to Earl Hall on the side:
"Good evening, Earl of Eastchester."
Earl Hall looked at the two of them with a smile in his eyes:
"Haha, good evening, young jazz, the future is yours, I want to go see my baby girl first."
"Well, I have prepared a coming-of-age gift for Audrey. I hope she will be satisfied..."
Although Philip and Hibbert have always been at odds, it was just the competitiveness of their youth. Now that he has inherited the title, he is no longer on the same level as Hibbert, who is still fighting for the qualification to be the heir. What's more, Audrey once
After saving Duke Negan, there is no conflict between the New Party and the Conservative Party, so giving Audrey a New Year's gift can be regarded as an expression of goodwill.
Earl Hall nodded and walked in the other direction. He wanted to go to the lounge next to the banquet hall first, where his daughter Audrey was.
Seeing him leaving, Philip also walked and chatted with Rawls and set off towards the banquet hall.
"Although you are now Viscount Derien, it does not mean that you can intervene in Derien City. After all, you are not like the Negan family, which has hundreds of years of history and controls two-thirds of the land in Dixi County."
The Duke of Dixi is the title inherited from the Negan family. The fiefdom is in Dixi County, adjacent to Rawls' fiefdom of Derian.
Rawls has understood what Philip said before. Now, although the new nobles he recommends have fiefs in name, it is only limited to the land he owns, based on the location of the land and the size of the title.
Select the account number.
The land owned by Rawls was adjacent to the city of Derien, so he was named Viscount Derien.
"As for your fief, you just need to send someone to take it over, and I will help you arrange it. The parliament will not open until March next year. You have enough time to understand the procedures of the House of Lords..."
…
Audrey, who was dressed up, stood in the lounge, waiting for the New Year's party to begin, but her expression could not tell the excitement, excitement and joy of the upcoming coming-of-age ceremony.
There was a newspaper in front of her, which read:
"...According to preliminary statistics, more than 21,000 people died directly in the smog, and the subsequent spread of the plague took away nearly 40,000 people, including many young children and strong young men and women..."
Phew, Audrey couldn't help but close her eyes.
At this moment, her father, Earl Hall, and mother, Lady Caitlin, knocked on the door and came in, praising at the same time:
"You are more beautiful than anyone tonight, baby, it's time to go out, the queen is waiting for you."
Audrey exhaled slowly, smiled elegantly and brightly, and, accompanied by her father and mother, walked out of the lounge and entered the party hall.
She walked all the way up to the high platform at the front, and handed the hand wearing an elbow-length white gauze glove to the queen under the eyes of astonished eyes.
The queen led her to the edge of the high platform, facing all the guests.
After a slight pause, the queen smiled and said:
"Although this is a dark period in Backlund's history, we still have a gem that can illuminate the entire city. Her wisdom, her beauty, her character, and her etiquette are all impeccable.
"Today, I will formally introduce her to you.
"Miss Audrey Hall."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, fireworks took off, exploding into dreamy lights one after another.
…
As the newly succeeded Duke of Duchy, Philip had to attend the banquet and get to know the cabinet ministers, members of the Conservative Party and many nobles whom he was not familiar with under the guidance of Prime Minister Agushed.
Other new nobles also gradually integrated into the banquet through the introduction of familiar nobles.
But Rawls neither followed Philip nor had any intention of joining the banquet. He held the wine glass, looked at the dots of light in the dark night sky outside the window, looked at the crimson half, and gradually felt the changes in the potion in his body.
When George III made him Viscount Derrian, he felt that the potion in his body had changed. It was not that the potion of his "Chaos Master" had been further digested, but another kind that he had never seen before.
past changes.
The potion can be digested faster through acting, or it can be digested by passing time. However, for the level of Sequence 5, it may take decades or even hundreds of years for the will in the potion to imprint its own mark.
The changes in Rawls are roughly equivalent to the "divineer" choosing divination as a profession, and the "lawyer" choosing lawyer as a profession. The latter has appeared in the predecessor, which can greatly speed up the digestion of potions and shorten the digestion time.
Hundreds of years turned into ten years.
Therefore, those people who added the suffix to the name of the potion were not their own initiative as Russell said, but simply to echo the "Black Emperor". It is indeed beneficial to the digestion of potions by extraordinary people in this way.
Rawls shook the red wine in the glass and looked at the distorted face reflected in the glass. However, Russell should have this view after seeing the "blasphemous slate", but certain knowledge of a path is not
What a sacrilegious tablet can contain.
"Black Emperor" Solomon should divide the titles according to strength, but she is the true god of the "Lawyer" path, and her will can completely affect the performance of this path. She believes that Sequence 5 "Chaos" can be ranked on the same level as the Viscount.
No., then becoming a Viscount can speed up the performance of "Chaos Tutor".
After all, even the unique Amon can delete the knowledge contained in the potion of this path.
Russell died soon after becoming the "Black Emperor" and is still being held in the mausoleum. He has no time or opportunity to influence this path.
But such an opportunity can only be enjoyed once... Rawls sighed slightly, it was impossible for him to obtain another earl title.
"What are you looking at?"
A sweet, slightly ethereal voice came into his ears. Rawls turned to look at the owner of the voice. She was a beautiful lady with flaxen-blonde hair tied up. She had fair skin, a high nose, and an inky face.
Green eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Her earrings inlaid with diamonds, diamond necklace embellished with rubies and sapphires, and her exquisitely tailored long dress all revealed this lady's background.
If Rawls hadn't met Audrey before, he might have thought that the lady in front of him was Earl Hall's daughter, Backlund's most dazzling gem.
Despite this, he subconsciously looked towards the banquet center and saw Audrey dancing with her brother Hibbert.
"Audrey only danced the first dance with his father, Earl Hall, today. After that, she refused all invitations. Do you want to give it a try?"
Rawls was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at the young lady, speculating on her identity. Although her tone was normal, there was obviously a little bit of dissatisfaction in it. Talking about it in front of a lady.
Another woman is a big deal, not to mention what he just did.
"...I'm not very good at dancing. In fact, I rarely attend such banquets..."
Raising his glass, Rolls smiled and introduced himself, "I'm Rolls Adrian, good evening, madam, I didn't know you..."
This is not the best way to deal with it. If he praises the other party appropriately and criticizes Audrey openly and covertly, he may be able to win more favor from the other party. But Rawls cannot confirm the relationship between the two, and he is not willing to
Go take the risk.
"The Viscount Derrian who was just consecrated today?"
"Uh, yes." Rawls became more curious about the identity of the other party. Although his title was not a secret, it was difficult for a noble lady to tell her title without paying attention to the title.
of.
"Delina." Perhaps sensing Rawls' confusion, Delina said her name and asked, "Are you a barrister?"