Can the sadness that magic cannot take away be offset by love?

The tasseled curtains cut the dusk into pieces of golden cloth. The fragmented light spots that filtered in through the window glass were the leftover materials discarded by the dusk, which were thrown to the ground in corners that no one cares about for people coming and going. Stampede over and over again.

This is the hall where the Winter Ceremony is held. Every guest who comes to the banquet must have an invitation letter in hand - but this rule has no restrictive effect on the privileged class, such as those who have never heard of the ceremony. According to the news, Iris Adela was just tempted by Olivia's words "there will be a lot of delicious food" - she just walked beside Olivia, and no one would stop her.

After entering the venue, there were many waiters in tuxedos walking among the guests holding two bouquets of roses, one red and one white.

Olivia Novello wore an aqua-blue flowing fishtail dress, with her long silver hair hanging naturally behind her. She grabbed a bunch of hair from both temples and tied it back with a headband of the same color as the dress.

A waiter approached them with two bouquets of roses. Olivia glanced sideways at Iris, who was staring at the roasted chicken legs on the table not far away.

By the time Iris looked back, the waiter who had been beside them had turned and left, and Olivia had already held two white roses in her hands.

Iris cast a puzzled look at Olivia. Just as she was about to ask what the different colors of the two roses meant, Olivia raised her hand. The white lace gloves inlaid with tiny gemstones sparkled under the lights in the hall. She pinned a white rose on Iris' waist.

Iris's outfit was an aqua blue above-the-knee dress that Olivia helped choose. There was a simple satin belt around her waist, and it wouldn't look out of place with a rose attached.

After Olivia adjusted the position of the rose, she smoothly and nonchalantly pinned another white rose to her left ear near her hair, and then naturally led Iris towards the roasted chicken leg.

There was no sign that she had been trying to kill Iris a few days ago.

The girl finally couldn't help asking:

"What does the white rose mean? What does the red one mean?"

Olivia was holding a plate in one hand and cutlery in the other, concentrating on selecting food. She calmly replied:

"White means tranquility, and red means you can be disturbed at any time while eating."

Iris understood. She lowered her head and was about to find something to eat when Olivia handed her a plate of selected leg steaks.

"You don't need to remove the bones for this. If you want to eat the chicken drumstick, take it yourself. Would you like a drink?"

Although the thing closest to them is actually wine.

Iris follows the good deeds:

"Senior, I want to drink orange juice."

When she was looking around just now, she spotted orange juice.

Olivia was noncommittal, saying "Wait for me here, don't run around" and walked away.

Iris was concentrating on cutting the leg steaks. Soon she heard the noise at the door going up to the next floor, but she didn't even raise her head until Olivia came back with two glasses of orange juice. Behind her, Iris saw Ernest Ramirez and Levin Auceptin who had already walked up to the railing on the second floor.

Ernest was wearing a formal black suit, and Levin, who followed closely behind him, was playing with two roses, one red and one white. A circle of people gathered around the two of them.

Iris took a sip of juice and asked:

"Senior, what does it mean that you don't wear any roses and hold two colors of roses?"

The former refers to Ernest and the latter refers to Levin.

Olivia didn't even raise her eyelashes. She turned her back to the two of them, handling the food on the plate, and said in a calm tone:

"It's like he clearly wants to wear the red rose, but he's still pretending to be reserved and just waiting for others to come over and please him. This kind of person is immature and has many dirty tricks. You should stay away from them."

Her voice was not loud, but coincidentally, everyone in the hall had good hearing, especially the two people behind her.

The field gradually became quiet.

Iris quickly figured out what kind of occasion this was from the clothes of the people around her and the hints of the two-color rose - in short, a social place for rich and powerful people with the function of facilitating marriage.

In Kakar, she had no money and no power, so Olivia certainly didn't pull her over just to feed her.

There is no such thing as a free dinner...

As the competition approaches, Olivia, no, and the Novello family are already planning to break up and ask others to take a stand?

There is no need to say what it means when Ernest and Levin walk together on such an occasion.

In the quiet and subtle atmosphere, the two people in front of the railing cast their eyes on her at the same time. They, including everyone on the field who kept their mouths shut, were silently asking her to give a clear answer in a common language.

In the banquet hall filled with brilliant light, Iris's ice-blue eyes were moist and clear. She squinted slightly, hiding her inner irritation, and revealed an impeccable and innocent smile:

"Fortunately, I am walking with my senior sister, so I don't need to guess what other people are thinking."

It’s so annoying, destroy it!

Olivia raised the corners of her mouth as she faced her, her meaningful gaze not fixed on Iris. I wonder if it stayed on Iris:

“Of course it’s tiring to walk with people who have different beliefs.”

Just start fighting!

Iris pretended to think thoughtfully for a moment, then raised her head and made eye contact with Olivia. It was unknown whether she read anything from her eyes. Then she raised her arm and touched the white rose on Olivia's temples, saying sweetly:

"I know that my senior sister is the best to me, and I'm not willing to leave my senior sister behind to find someone else to play with."

The chicken legs are getting cold!

Olivia's smile deepened. She took two steps closer to the girl, leaned over slightly, and tucked her hair behind her ears without paying attention to anyone around. She tidied up a few strands of her hair and said in an unprecedentedly gentle tone:

"Of course I believe you, dear."

The end of her voice seemed to carry a surging warm current, gentle yet containing a calm heat, wrapping Iris tightly in it.

Iris was shocked by the words she used. She blinked hard to hide the unnaturalness at that moment, and then said distressedly:

"Are you going to say this to me in front of everyone?"

"Dear" is a word that is only used between Kakkar, who is considered to be an extremely affectionate lover or a close relative. But as long as Adela was still alive, she would only use this word to be mean to little Iris who had done something wrong.

The first time she heard someone say this word to her in a normal tone, Iris couldn't help but get goosebumps.

too frightening.

Olivia took her hand and said slowly:

"Let's go, let's find a place with cleaner air."

Ernest withdrew his gaze calmly and looked at Levin with a calm expression:

"Children always throw tantrums."

The other party shook the two roses in his hand and pretended to complain:

"I've been wronged so much following you. Why would you mess with a junior girl for no reason?"

Iris staggered a few steps before she had taken a few steps, and the goose bumps that had just subsided appeared again.

Olivia seemed to be shocked by the man's shamelessness, but she did not forget to help her.

As for lower grades, Olivia was no longer in the third grade, but Iris was legitimately in the first grade—but how much older could he be than her?

Iris's worldview was repeatedly shaken throughout the night. When she was alone, she blurted out:

“It costs extra money.”

After a long while, Olivia did not reply, and Iris added:

"I was mentally attacked."

Finally, Olivia looked at the "child" in front of her and sighed:

"I compensated you, who will compensate me?"

Iris thought for a moment, moved closer to her, plucked the rose from her ear, pinned it to her belt, and said happily:

"Can't I?"

——The symbolic meaning of using red and white roses is a traditional custom in winter ceremonies. Red roses mean "waiting for your beloved", white roses mean "do not disturb", and picking off other people's roses and pinning them to yourself, and If the person goes in and out together, it means that he has picked a fragrant flower.

Generally speaking, this tradition is used by married couples. If one of the unmarried parties engages in such behavior, it is often considered to be frivolous teasing.

Olivia looked carefully at the cunning big-tailed wolf in front of her.

It seems that she not only understands the customs of winter ceremonies, but is also very familiar with them.