Whispering Verse

Chapter 3177: Light and Shadow of Civilization

Bella seemed to be planning to talk about the plan for Yuewan's development next year at this ribbon-cutting ceremony, which she should have said at the end of the year. Therefore, the normal speech part of the ceremony was exceptionally long.

As for why the ribbon-cutting ceremony was not held on the end of the year, on the one hand, it was because the citizens were busy celebrating the festival that day and probably not so many people would come out to watch the fun, and on the other hand, it was because her divination showed that today was the most suitable day.

In short, the ribbon-cutting ceremony that started at nine o'clock last time did not enter the final stage until almost ten o'clock. The high platform used for the ceremony was moved away, and the countess got into the carriage with the Belindel family emblem parked at the entrance of the bridge.

Then, amid the sound of salutes and cheers from the people, the carriage, driven by Matilda, broke through the red ribbon blocking the bridge head, and then followed the bridge deck at the bottom of the Tower Bridge, crossing the smooth bridge surface amid the sound of cannon fire.

There were no assassinations, no dissenting voices, no bad weather, and even the pigeons did not defecate on the crowds as they flew over the celebrations.

"So the fortune tellers are really amazing. Today is indeed a good day."

Although the ribbon-cutting ceremony ended in the morning, there was a special banquet in the evening to celebrate this major event. The banquet was held directly in the grand auditorium of the City Hall, and ordinary people were of course not invited this time.

Shad accepted Bella's invitation to attend the banquet, and this time he was still a "cousin". However, he spent most of the day at Mr. Albert's place, and before they parted in the afternoon, the vampire coroner gave Shad a can of "pickled jellyfish" that was said to be a specialty of Yuewan as a gift.

This is not a year-end gift, Xia De will come to visit in a few days. This is just a casual gift, but looking at the appearance of the things in the glass jar, Xia De feels that neither he nor the cat will like it.

The grand banquet in the evening also showed Yuewan’s heritage as a “city of wealth”. Fresh venison and greenhouse-grown fruits such as raspberries were available in unlimited quantities.

Although Shad did not take out all of his special cards, he still had a very exciting Rhodes card competition with local card players on the sofa in the corner of the banquet hall while Bella was busy socializing.

Although he failed to win the special rule cards, he finally received the "Moon Bay Bridge Cup Rhodes Card Competition Commemorative Medal" specially made for this banquet by the local Prophet Association after receiving sponsorship from the Belindel family because he had the best winning rate.

It was a palm-sized pure gold medal. Before the ball started, Shad learned from Matilda:

"The lady had this made especially for you. She knew that you would play Rhodes cards when you had nothing to do at the banquet, and that you would definitely win."

The two of them were hugging behind the curtains next to the window at the east end of the third floor of the City Hall. The blonde maid's voice was very soft:

"Don't tell the lady, I told you this."

"Of course I won't tell you."

So Matilda kissed Shade gently, then squinted her eyes and smiled and whispered:

"The dance will start in twenty minutes. Be careful not to get stained with my perfume. The lady will notice."

The first dance of the ball was performed by Bella and Shade. Today was a big day for the Countess, so she was particularly excited. She had been trained as an aristocratic lady since she was a child, and she almost stepped on Shade's foot with her high heels while dancing.

"Now I feel like I'm standing at the top of Moon Bay. It turns out that the reason why the seven major families fought for this position in the past was because of this."

She smiled and said to Shade amidst the dance music, and Shade pointed out:

"At the top of Moon Bay is Belindel Big Ben. Don't you often stand there?"

"You know what I mean. Power tastes really good. Of course, I still remember who I am. After all, worldly power cannot compare to my own great power."

The Countess gently squeezed Shade's hand, feeling that she had been quite fulfilled tonight:

"But now that I already have great power and authority, shouldn't I also have it?"

Just when she was having distracting thoughts because of her wonderful life, and then had some thoughts that were not in line with her identity as a witch, that is, she wanted to keep Shade overnight, Matilda hurriedly came to them who had just walked down from the dance floor, holding a piece of paper, with a very nervous expression:

"Miss, we have received urgent intelligence from Willendel. The signal given is the highest danger signal."

"Why? Does the Anjou royal family still want to take the Moon Bay from me through violence?"

Bella opened the secret letter that was sent through special means with some displeasure, translated the code in her mind and translated the content.

"What happened?"

Shade asked, Bella frowned slightly and said in a very light voice:

"The war has begun."

"What?"

"The Principality of Set and the Principality of Milson have gone to war. The two principalities are located on the north and south sides of the Pantanal Swamp, respectively. Regarding the trade route dispute after the normalization of the swamp, these two principalities are also major participants."

Shade knew the names of these two small principalities. Virgil Cameron, the other player in the championship battle of "The Big City Players of 1853", was the rumored lover of Grand Duke Set - both were men, and this principality was affiliated with the Kingdom of Draerion in the north;

The Principality of Milson is affiliated to the United Kingdom of Carsonrick in the south, where Megan and Audrey's "Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals" is headquartered.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Their father, Alphonse Edwards, fled Green Lake with his brother and sister and settled in the small principality. Megan and Audrey grew up there, and of course they chose the small principality for tax avoidance.

Since both the Principality of Set and the Principality of Milson include part of the Pantanal, the land area of ​​the principality is relatively large among the series of small principalities interspersed between Carsenrick and Draerion in the central part of the Old World.

However, due to the harsh environment of the Great Swamp, the two countries do not have a large amount of land available to them. Even though their "territories" are adjacent, the two countries have rarely appeared together in newspaper news in the past. Apart from the dispute over the Pantanal trade route, it can even be said that there is almost no communication that is well known.

"Who fired the first shot?"

Shade asked, and Bella looked at the intelligence and replied:

"We don't know yet. At first, it was just a friction between the workers on the construction site over a section of railway inside the Great Swamp, and then a swamp border patrol team from each side intervened. Both sides have different accounts of what happened afterwards, but there were casualties. This evening, the Principality of Set and the Principality of Milson all sent people into the Great Swamp, and then the two sides officially declared war."

She looked worried:

"Although I have long guessed that this would happen, it is still worrying to hear the news. Matilda, continue to pay attention to the intelligence from Willendel. Also, although we don't have many intelligence personnel in the Principality of Milson, don't we have a Chamber of Commerce?"

"Yes, Miss. It's the Eddington family who are primarily responsible for the situation over there."

"Old Martin doesn't have a ring wizard under his command, so he probably doesn't know what's going on over there. Let's talk to the Eddington family and find a way to contact the Chamber of Commerce and have them keep an eye on the situation over there."

As a relatively independent region, Yuewan had its own agents when the seven families were in power. Although they could not be compared with MI6 and Gray Gloves, it was better to have them than not in this special period.

Bella had originally planned to try to stay overnight in Shade, but she felt that she was no longer in the mood. She probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, as the two principalities that had declared war would definitely fight in the Great Swamp tonight, and no matter what the outcome of the battle was, it would have a profound impact on the order of the Old Continent.

Looking at the grand banquet, holding the note in her hand, she felt that she could sense the light and shadow of civilization. Shade also saw Bella's worries, so he said goodbye and went home after the ball. This made the blonde countess feel guilty, feeling that she had neglected him today.

Similarly, Karina, who was far away in Tobesk, naturally also knew that the two principalities had declared war on each other. Shade asked her one morning later whether she knew about it before the war or received the news after the war. Karina's answer at the time was very vague:

"My nephew trusts me very much, but the information he told me involved four place names. It seems that I guessed his hint wrongly."

The war between the Principality of Set and the Principality of Milson became a hot topic of discussion in almost all newspapers across the Old Continent in the days that followed in 1854. Even tabloids such as the Tobesk Citizens' Newspaper, which were keen on talking about aristocratic gossip, would use one or two pages to tell people the story between Grand Duke Set and his lover.

Not since the steam revolution had the Old World seen such a serious military conflict. The last time two principalities formally declared war on each other was when, according to Father Augustus, his grandfather was still stealing cow dung for winter fuel.

The winter of 1854, which was already extremely difficult due to the weather, came to an end amid discussions about the war.