8pm.
Valila got on her family's four-wheel carriage and arrived at Congressman Daher's house at No. 13 Williams Street in less than three minutes.
To her surprise, the people who greeted her outside the foyer were not Senator Daher and his wife, but their son, the eldest son.
After kissing her hands, the young gentleman, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, introduced her into the hall with a smile.
After entering the door, the middle-aged and fat Representative Daher and his wife greeted him.
The former was wearing an olive green army officer's uniform, an orange ribbon, and several medals hanging on his chest - in the Kingdom of Loen, active or retired officers like to wear military uniforms at dances.
The latter is wearing a long yellow dress with a non-stand-up collar, mostly with ruffles on it, and rarely with delicate lace. It is different from an unmarried lady, but it also reveals her fair neck and half of her shoulders.
After smiling and talking for a few words and complimenting each other, the two said sorry and turned to greet other guests.
Their son did stay, stood beside Valeera, and helped her get to know some of the guests one-sidedly.
Soon after, Councilor Daher took his wife to the stairs, went up to the second floor, and stood at the fence opposite the gate. He raised a glass of red wine and said:
"Thank you for attending this dance. Let us praise God, who is the source of all good things."
He and Lady Liana immediately tapped their chests four times and praised the goddess in a low voice.
In the hall on the first floor, the guests also praised the gods they believed in in corresponding ways.
On such an occasion, Valeela had no choice but to tap her chest four times to echo the story.
Unlike the others, she did not recite the goddess's name, but simply praised her.
…
After several rounds of opening speeches to heat up the atmosphere of the ball, Councilor Daher took his wife’s hand to the hall on the first floor and danced the opening dance to the soft melody.
At this time, the men present began to look for the dance partner they wanted to invite first.
"Miss Valeela, may I have the honor of asking you to dance?"
Mr. Daher, who had been standing not far from her, extended an invitation to her in a standard manner.
I knew this was what you were waiting for... Valeela deliberately waited for a few seconds, as if thinking and hesitating, before placing her palm on Mr. Daher's flat right palm.
The two entered the dance floor and danced briskly and lively to the melody.
In the Kingdom of Loen, banquets between the nobles and the middle class often serve as a matchmaking function.
The invitation that Valeera received was in the name of Councilor Daher, but it turned out that the person responsible for greeting her at the door was Mr. Daher, who was about the same age as her. Not to mention, from the time she entered to the beginning of the dance, this Both gentlemen remained by her side.
The meaning is self-evident.
In order to avoid misunderstandings as much as possible, during the dance, Valeela maintained a restrained and distant polite response to the topics raised by Mr. Daher.
At the end of the dance, young Mr. Daher stopped provoking the topic and asked instead:
"Are you going back to where you were, or are you going to get some food over there?"
This is also the social etiquette of the Kingdom of Loen. After a dance, the man must follow the woman's wishes and send her to where she wants to go, not necessarily to her original location.
"I do need to eat something, thank you."
After exiting the dance floor, Valeera picked up the dinner plate and slowly walked between the long tables filled with food, picking up some food from time to time.
In this way she avoided Mr. Daher.
After a while, when someone had already started the fourth round of dancing, Valeela put down her dinner plate and returned to the edge of the dance floor.
Not long after, another gentleman came and invited her to dance.
This time Valeela refused with a smile, citing physical discomfort.
She has skipped one round today. It would not be too rude to refuse subsequent invitations. At most, it would make people think that she is a little arrogant.
For her, this was a good thing.
Because she doesn't want to be surrounded by gentlemen who are always attentive.
For the rest of the dance, Valeela acted as a bystander, watching the guests walking around on and off the dance floor, and occasionally said a few words to the ladies.
When the dance came to an end, she said goodbye and left at the right time, neither the first nor the last to leave.
When the hall became deserted, Senator Daher and his wife had the energy to pay attention to their son's affairs and asked:
"How's it going? Is it going well?"
Little Daher shook his head, "Polite but not enthusiastic. Her character is quite arrogant."
"I noticed that she refused all subsequent invitations from the gentlemen to dance."
The congressman's wife sighed softly and said:
"Regardless of her family situation, she does have something to be proud of..."
…
Tuesday, July 3rd.
In the morning, after breakfast, Valeera took Habib to the lawn outside the house and played games with him for a while, such as throwing a ball and catching a Frisbee.
After more than a month of hardship and a few days of wandering, it finally lived a better life than it originally dreamed of.
Now, not only can it run freely, but it also has no orders and punishments from the dog trainer.
This is nothing. When it gets tired from running, there will be a maid to clean it carefully and comb its hair.
Dogs give birth to winners, that’s it.
When Valeela returned to the living room on the second floor of the house, her personal maid Liya delivered today's newspaper, "Miss, you still have a reply letter."
Valeela reached out to take the letter, opened it and glanced at it, and found that it was indeed Harold's reply.
His reply was quite simple, only three lines including the signature:
"message received."
"We are going through the resignation procedures and will rush to Backlund as soon as possible."
"Harold Joestar."
Harold's words were rather blunt.
Even if there was no emotion in the text, Valeera could tell that he was somewhat dissatisfied with herself.
Valeela smiled nonchalantly, refolded the letter and put it aside.
Then, she asked for the newspaper and started flipping through it at will.
…
Associate Professor Barak's residence is in the West End, at 47 Russell Street.
Just after eight o'clock in the evening, Valli pulled off the carriage, walked around the fountain and pond, and walked towards the main entrance of Associate Professor Barak's house.
The process of the dance is much the same.
After accepting the invitation of a gentleman who was a candidate for the audition who lived in Edward Street in the West End, and danced for the first time, Valeela used the old method of hovering among the food and trying to avoid other gentlemen's invitations to dance.
Her original plan was to attend the dance honestly, wait a few days, and then use her identity as bounty hunter Lexa to find an opportunity to contact Associate Professor Barak alone.
I believe that by then, the associate professor will not associate her with Lexa.
But what Valeela didn’t expect was that when she was taking the food, the associate professor approached her with a plate, pretending to take food next to her, and asked in a low voice:
"Miss Valeera, please forgive me for being so direct."
"I would like to ask, do you know the bounty hunter Rexxar?"
