Little Tyrant Doesn't Want to Meet with a Bad End[1-200]

Chapter 35: Journeying

A faint perfume coming from scented sachets suffused the interior of a spacious, moving carriage. By his side, a lightly snoozing small girl felt a little warm against him.

 It was such an environment that Roel opened his eyes groggily to look at the same, old ceiling he had seen for the last three days now.

 They were traveling in a horse carriage at the moment. It had been two months since the onset of winter.

 Roel, who rarely left the Ascart Fiefdom, was on his way to an annual social gathering of nobles that started just last year—Her Highness Nora's birthday celebration.

 As the only successor to the Xeclyde House, Nora Xeclyde was extremely doted on by her grandfather, the incumbent Holy Eminence, John Xeclyde. For this reason, the social debut she had on her previous birthday was made extremely grand.

 The word 'debut' sounded just like an idol making their first media appearance, and it was a surprisingly apt description of the ritual. In this world, a noble's social debut referred to the first time he or she appeared in public, or put more simply, the first banquet that was attended.

 Children of nobility would undergo etiquette classes until their parents felt that they looked respectable enough to appear before the circle of their peerage. The parents would then find a suitable occasion to hold a banquet and invite guests over to introduce their child to them.

 The occasions most commonly used for social debuts were birthdays, since it doubled as a celebration at the same time. The Ascart House had also held a banquet for Roel's social debut earlier at the start of the year, and it was quite a grand event too.

 Contrary to popular belief, nobles rarely held celebrations without deeper agendas, since celebrations were rather costly to host. Nora Xeclyde had already made her social debut the previous year, so there was bound to be a different agenda for her birthday banquet this time around and for the following years too.

 Using the words of the Xeclydes, it was an occasion to unite everyone together and deepen relationships so that they could work together to lead the Theocracy toward a brighter future. In more conventional terms, it was to build connections and make friends.

 Even with the Xeclydes authority as the royal family, there were still many issues where they would need the support of the nobles, especially those from the Five Eminent Noble Houses. The Five Eminent Noble Houses carried a lot of clout due to their long-standing history, so even the royal family had to try to maintain friendly relations with them.

 As for the minor nobles... their role there was to pay respects to the royal family and know what the top brass of the country looked like, so as to avoid crossing them in the future.

 Roel was absent for this important banquet last year due to illness, so unless he were to be incapacitated, there was no way he would be able to escape from it. Not to mention, he was supposed to be a 'close friend' of Nora Xeclyde too.

 Close friend, my ass!

 Roel retorted coldly in his heart as he straightened his body upright and gazed out of the carriage's window. As the temperature continued to plummet, fewer people were getting out of their homes to move outside, especially in the suburbs.

 The road that they were traveling on had piled up high with quite a bit of snow, but fortunately, the Ascart's carriage was a top-quality magic tool. Putting aside its top tier ability to absorb shock, it was also able to travel at speeds comparable to riding on a normal steed, and it could steer through difficult terrain too. Nevertheless, even with the unobstructed traffic, it still took three days to travel from Ascart City to Holy Capital Loren.