389 Chapter 389 Fire And Candles
“Desmond? Are you okay?” Cecilia called, sensing that Desmond’s mood had turned strange.
Desmond snapped out of his stupor with a faint mory of those afternoons in the music room, the mory of his father calling him his pride. The feeling of heaviness around Desmond cleared, his footsteps beca steady, and in an instant, Desmond had already caught up with Cecilia, who was walking ahead of him.
“I’m fine. I just rembered so things from the past.”
Cecilia did not need to ask; she just kept silent and continued on her way to the orphanage while her mind wandered to a foreign concept for her; the family. Even when Cecilia faced those who had been victims of the tragedy, she couldn’t help but feel envious, a part of her wishing she had at least t her parents, even if it was briefly.
Passing through the city’s streets in the direction of the orphanage, the festivities filled the atmosphere with warmth and color. In addition to the traditional candles, the town had been covered in all kinds of flowery decorations, and alcohol and food were served in abundance, with the taverns operating at total capacity. All sorts of minor attractions and events sprung up wherever people congregated in the city, from gambling, darts, contests of strength, and other weird contests.
Street vendors and rchants distribute their products, from clothes, masks, ornants, jewelry, exotic foods, toys, and other small knickknacks; money flowed naturally from the hands of people looking to find joy on this beautiful day.
Music and dance weren’t strange either; in every bar or tavern where enough people gather, it didn’t take long for the place to beco a party place.
More than one person on the road recognized Cecilia; at every step the holy priestess took, the atmosphere around her beca one of extre happiness and joy, full of respect and adoration towards her.
The toasts in her na never stopped; n and won approached Cecilia, trying to share a drink or a snack with her. Cecilia’s smile, like sunlight, was a source of warmth for everyone who watched her; there were even so declarations of love by people who were already strongly influenced by alcohol.
.....
Desmond had to hold back a laugh at Cecilia’s discomfort during such incidents, especially when the confessions ca from both n and won.
Another small detail that caught Desmond’s attention was that Cecilia seed to be gluttonous despite her calm and worldly appearance. Although usually, Cecilia was not very enthusiastic about her worldly pleasures, no matter how many snacks and desserts were offered, Cecilia ate them all with a calm smile.
On the other hand, Desmond also drew quite a bit of attention; in the first instance, this was because he was Cecilia’s escort, but his pristine knightly armor coupled with his devilishly handso appearance soon drew the gaze of many single ladies in the crowd.
A small part of Desmond’s ego was pleased by the attention from the beautiful won around him. Still, keeping in mind that duty ca first, Desmond kept his smile calm and showed his chivalry by refusing advances from the ladies while keeping his attention centered on Cecilia.
Ironically, his loyal gentlemanly deanor only ward the ladies’ hearts more; perhaps due to the festivities and the vast amounts of alcohol flowing non-stop, more than one lady dared to be more direct and forceful in showing their interest.
Hence, Desmond left the place with part of his face and even his neck painted with so lipstick marks, a huge wooden mug filled with so kind of cold beer in his right hand, and a basket full of homade food in his left hand.
Giving a sidelong glance at Desmond’s armor that now had so flowers attached to it, Cecilia didn’t know whether to laugh at him or be irritated at how ridiculously popular Desmond was with won.
As keen as Desmond’s senses were, there was no way Cecilia’s irritated look would go unnoticed. However, Desmond still took a deep drink of the beer, enjoying its sweetness and realizing how different this was from the beer Desmond knew; he also enjoyed Cecilia’s growing irritation.
“Okay, don’t look at that way. It’s not like you’re any less popular.”
“I have lived in this city all my life.”
“Precisely for this reason, whoever is your companion has to attract attention; the fact I am extrely handsod just adds a little more to the mix.”
“Are you always so vain?”
Desmond shrugged and replied. “Only when I’m in a good mood. You can also say what you want about , but I seem to recall that you also received so pretty intense attention from both n and won.”
Cecilia imdiately blushed, and in a childish act, she pouted, puffing out her cheeks and stomping on the ground. “Don’t talk about it.”
From her expression of discomfort and rembrance, Desmond guessed the minor incident caused Cecilia to think of Nana, who had been in love with her for years.
Desmond did not want to touch on that sensitive topic and used Kyuru’s favorite trick. With a spectral hand of mana, he placed a cupcake in front of Cecilia, who, after giving him one last sullen look, took the cupcake and forgot about it.
After a few minutes, Cecilia took a detour, and soon she and Desmond found themselves in front of a vast store. The line of people waiting to enter the store was gigantic, but as soon as the last person in line saw Cecilia, a chain reaction began, and the path was clear within seconds.
Cecilia bowed slightly in thanks, and with Desmond at her back, she entered the shop. Desmond and Cecilia were greeted with a not-quite-luxurious but neat and clean interior, with all sorts of rchandise on display, of course; everything related to the festival of candles was arranged to be in the most prominent part of the store.
At this point, Desmond stopped bothering to be surprised when the person at the front of the store recognized Cecilia. It seed that wherever the girl went, there would be people who would give her even a tiny gesture of kindness or gratitude.
Which was unearned; Desmond did more than accept drinks and flirty gestures from the girls around him on his way here. He had also been paying much attention to what the crowd had to say. In this way, Desmond heard so exciting things about Cecilia and part of why she was already incredibly well-known and loved even before she was made a holy priestess.
Apparently, Cecilia had involved herself in many of the volunteer activities of the church, helping with healing tasks, among other things, during the war a couple of years ago. Since then, her beautiful appearance and natural charisma have brought her attention over ti.
Cecilia’s personality prevented her from sitting still, which was just one of the many activities she got involved in. With ti, both her na and appearance ford a kind of reputation among the ordinary people that maintained the favor shown by Cecilia in their hearts.
When Cecilia was made a holy priestess, the title and apparent endorsent of the church only helped cent her reputation. They gave her so sort of a unified na to be grateful for.
In this way, the church got surprised, and that was the beginning of her problems when trying to use Cecilia to promote their political agendas.
Whatever the case, Desmond could understand why this city loved Cecilia so much. Only now did he co to accept that she was not a saint because soone gave her that title but because she had spent her life looking out for the welfare of others.
The sa was true at this ti when Cecilia was spending her own money to bring a shred of joy to the children of the orphanage during this emotional day. It even seed that Cecilia had so sort of history with the shop owner, who was serving her with a smile full of goodwill.
Leaving Cecilia to take care of the shopping for the orphanage, Desmond wandered around the store, looking at the different items in it, noting that although much of the store sold mundane things, there was a section intended for those with deep pockets.
From jewelry to decorations, small luxury items enchanted with so kind of magical effect, Desmond could even feel the very faint ripples of mana in these items.
Usually, Desmond doesn’t pay too much attention to articles of this kind as they weren’t of particular interest to him. Still, all the nostalgia surrounding this day made him think of those waiting for him at ho, wanting to bring so kind of souvenir for them.
The first thing to catch his eye was a tea set. The specific materials need to be analyzed, but overall it seed that the teapot and the cups were made of porcelain decorated with delicate floral details set with rubies and eralds.
It was extraordinarily luxurious but not in an ostentatious or exaggerated sense; it was subtle with delicate workmanship. According to the description on the label, this set even featured a slight vitality mana infusion feature in the tea, and Desmond imdiately thought of a certain alchemist with a sotis shy, sotis fiery personality.
The next thing to catch Desmond’s eye was a small music box, barely as big as his two hands together, with a gold tal fra; the central box was made of a quartz-like mineral, it wasn’t as beautiful or exquisite as the tea set, but the performance caught Desmond’s attention. According to the description, this music box could repeat any song played along with it and play a moving image of a particular event.
Basically, the music box used water mana to simulate a small snippet of an event and played it along with a musical note. Desmond played with it for a few seconds and made the music box play a scene from his mory. Watching the miniature water figures dance gracefully, a smile grew on Desmond as he thought of Claire.
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