Moonlight Pavilion was brilliantly lit, its lavish crystal chandeliers sparkling like stars and casting a dreamlike radiance.
As melodious music began to play, pairs danced gracefully across the floor while the clinking of wine cups sounded nearby.
Zhao Xuan and Hermione naturally drew countless gazes when they entered. The upper nobility had gradually grasped the situation, but the middle- and lower-ranking nobles were still in the dark. They had come to probe for information, and so the banquet was packed with nobles.
Xue Qinghe naturally welcomed all comers. Whether great nobles or minor ones, they were all targets he wished to win over. A thousand-mile dike could collapse from an ant hole; perhaps these minor nobles might become a turning point someday, though he did not hold much hope for it.
Under so many watchful eyes, the thin-skinned Hermione naturally flushed bright red. The strange looks from those people especially made her want to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
She had originally thought it would be a romantic ball, but she had never expected it to be this awkward.
The disturbance among the guests naturally caught the host's attention. Holding a goblet filled with red wine, Xue Qinghe approached Zhao Xuan and Hermione. Raising his cup, he smiled at them. "Zhao Xuan, Hermione, welcome."
With that, he gestured for the attendant beside him to bring over two cups of wine. The liquor was vividly red, though it was unclear what it had been brewed from.
Zhao Xuan glanced at Xue Qinghe, then turned his gaze to a woman in court dress behind him.
Taking a glass of red wine from the tray held by a nearby attendant, Zhao Xuan raised it toward the woman in court dress. "Would this be the master of Moonlight Pavilion?