Inside the Golden Hall, noble envoys from every nation stepped forward one after another to pay their respects to Holy Light I according to protocol. This sort of courtly formality was endlessly long-winded and troublesome; anyone not thoroughly versed in noble etiquette could easily make a laughingstock of themselves and become some unfortunate soul mocked and ridiculed within aristocratic circles.
Lin Qi and the attendants of several other great nobles stood at the entrance to the Golden Hall, listening to the activity within. Everyone stood there smiling. Only after presenting gifts, meeting the Emperor, and exchanging a round of hollow pleasantries would the proper palace banquet begin.
Nobles had begun entering at three in the afternoon, and the fuss would continue until night had just begun to fall before the palace banquet could officially commence. Before that, the countless tedious ceremonies were enough to drive anyone with poor patience mad. But those who had made it here naturally could not lack patience. Including Lin Qi, everyone stood quietly, smiling like a great heap of puppets.
No one knew how much time had passed when, with the clear chime of a golden bell, Victory Palace suddenly blazed with light. Magical lamps lit up throughout more than a dozen gardens, bathing the surroundings in brilliant radiance. The floor-to-ceiling windows around the Golden Hall swung open, and many nobles walked straight out through them, descending the steps into the gardens.
Holy Light I, together with Huali, Marshal Beian, and other key imperial ministers, emerged from the Golden Hall and formally announced the beginning of the palace banquet.
Melodious music rose from every direction, converging over Victory Palace into an incomparably graceful waltz. Dancers dressed in thin gauze garments twirled through the gardens in groups, gradually drawing some of the young nobles into dancing