Opening the box and seeing a thick stack of gold pound banknotes inside, Xio froze on the spot, even her breathing stopping. After quite a while, she finally managed to suppress the excitement in her heart and waved repeatedly as she said, "Fors, did you see this? It's 1,000 gold pounds!"
Drawn by her voice, Fors leaned over. When she saw the 1,000 gold pounds inside the box, she said with envy, "So much money… Xio, you didn't sell yourself to Mr. Hastur, did you?"
"What are you talking about? This is money I earned through my own efforts!" Xio said proudly, then told Fors about her cooperation with Hastur.
She had thought that getting one or two hundred gold pounds would already be a lot. She never expected it to be 1,000 gold pounds!
When she had spread information before, she had also taken the opportunity to sell quite a bit of intelligence, earning around eighty gold pounds. Now there was another huge sum.
She was already so excited that she didn't even know how to spend the money. There was no way she would be able to sleep tonight.
"It's obviously because Mr. Hastur felt sorry for you and deliberately gave you some work to do."
"Hmph, just keep being jealous. This is 1,000 gold pounds, you know, about the total manuscript fee for your entire book, right?"
"..." Fors didn't answer. The manuscript fee for one of her books wasn't that much, usually only a few hundred gold pounds. She had never received more than 1,000 gold pounds for a single book.
Xio smiled until her eyes narrowed. She patted her chest and said, "Don't worry, I won't forget you. I'll cover all the expenses for New Year's this year!"
"Really?"
"Of course. I'm planning to take out one hundred gold pounds to have a really lavish New Year."
The way the two of them spent New Year's had always depended on how much money they had.
If they earned more that year, they would spend a bit more and have a good New Year celebration. If they earned less, they would just buy some food, stay at home, and watch other people go out in new clothes.
In the past, Fors had always paid more. Xio had very little savings and was always aiming for promotion, so she never dared to spend money carelessly.
"I've always wanted to buy a new dress," Fors said.
"How could one dress be enough? At the very least, you need three sets of New Year dresses!"
Xio generously declared that she would cover all those expenses, treating them as a New Year's gift for Fors.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go out and shop right now!"
"Let's go. No need to save money for me today!" Xio happily led Fors out the door.
....
On the other side, as the end of the year approached and Leonard was finally able to rest, he listened to his teammates discussing how they planned to spend the New Year. He quietly walked aside and didn't join the conversation.
He had always been alone. Back when he was in Tingen, he could at least make do and spend New Year's with the captain. After all, neither of them had families, so they could stay at the Nighthawks' base together for the holiday.
But this year, he had come to Backlund.
Although Klein was also here, Klein's older brother and younger sister would be coming from Tingen to Backlund in a couple of days to spend the New Year together.
During this time, Klein had been busy arranging his new house. He clearly valued and looked forward to the New Year very much.
Even though Klein had invited him to spend New Year's together, Leonard felt embarrassed to disturb their family reunion. After all, they hadn't seen each other for almost half a year and must have a lot to talk about.
"Sigh, old man, I can only spend this New Year with you."
"Heh heh. If you hadn't refused Seraphina back then, you would've already had a new family."
"…Old man, can you stop mentioning her? I'm really afraid I'll run into her again."
"New Year… I remember this festival became increasingly valued because of Roselle. He seemed to really like this holiday."
"It's related to Emperor Roselle?"
"During his reign, every New Year he would come up with quite a few interesting activities. He even required factories to give their workers a full seven days off so they could celebrate the New Year properly."
Listening to the old man recount past history, Leonard didn't feel quite so lonely anymore.
The West Borough.
After finishing a day's work, Klein returned to the newly rented house he had in the South Borough.
It was also a townhouse, with three bedrooms and two living rooms, as well as three bathrooms. It was slightly smaller than the place he had rented in Tingen.
There was no helping it, housing prices in Backlund were far too high. Renting the same kind of house cost about one and a half times as much as in Tingen.
Although he had some extra income during this period, it still wasn't enough for him to afford buying a new house. For now, he could only rent. By this time next year, he should be able to save enough to buy one.
Maybe he could even do it in one step and buy a small villa.
After walking through the house a few times, Klein listed on paper the things he still needed to buy.
In two days, Benson and Melissa would arrive in Backlund. He had to prepare their rooms properly, treating it as a small surprise for them.
Besides arranging the rooms, he also needed to prepare some New Year goodies. How could you celebrate the New Year without stocking up on food?
As for spending money? Wasn't working hard for an entire year all for these few beautiful days of the New Year?
Money was saved precisely to be used at a time like this.
"Right now, daytime temperatures in Backlund are generally around minus seven or eight degrees, and it gets even colder at night. I must prepare a warm new set of clothes for Melissa before she arrives in Backlund. Otherwise, she'll definitely come up with all kinds of excuses to refuse."
"When Benson comes to Backlund and, after passing the civil service exam, he'll also need a proper new suit, plus a tie, a pocket watch, and a cane."
"As for myself… I can also buy a more casual set of clothes. After all, buying summer clothes in winter saves quite a bit of money."
"For food, meat, fish, and pork should be the main items. I can also prepare a few Backlund specialties and let Benson and Melissa try something new."
"During the New Year, I can also take them to the Empress Borough for a stroll. That's the liveliest place in Backlund during the New Year."
An unconscious smile appeared at the corner of Klein's mouth. Celebrating the New Year really gave him an unreal feeling.
Fortunately, he had a home here as well, and family to accompany him through the New Year.
....
The Hall Villa.
Audrey looked at the maids who were constantly busy and felt an indescribable emotion rise in her heart.
After this New Year, she would be an adult.
In aristocratic circles, once a noble young lady comes of age, her family will soon arrange a marriage for her, and in another two or three years, she will be married.
Every time she thought about this, she felt a bit resistant to growing up and becoming an adult.
Yet adulthood seemed to possess a kind of magical power that always made people yearn for it.+
Even though the difference was only one year, being an adult and being underage were very different in many ways.
Generally, after coming of age, parents would no longer strictly restrict their private lives. They would give them more freedom and, in many matters, would no longer forbid this or that.
Instead, they would encourage them to try more things and quickly become familiar with the new set of rules for adults.
Even on matters between men and women, parents would start turning a blind eye. Some would even encourage them to interact more with outstanding young nobles of the opposite gender.
Once both sides liked each other and their family backgrounds were considered suitable, arrangements for a marriage would begin.
These were all firsthand experiences shared by other noble young ladies when she attended tea parties.
Although many of their words sounded like complaints, the smiles on their faces were bright.
It was clear that they weren't very resistant to coming of age. On the contrary, they were willing to accept their new identities.
Feeling somewhat troubled, Audrey looked at Susie lying on the floor beside her as usual and couldn't help but sigh.
Sometimes, Susie's life was quite enviable. It seemed to have no worries at all. Whether it was the New Year or any other holiday made no difference to it.
How many bones it could eat this year, it could still eat the same next year.
Perhaps the only thing it needed to worry about during the New Year was how much delicious food its stomach could hold.
"Woof?" Sensing Audrey's gaze, Susie slightly raised its head and looked at her.
"It's nothing. Go back to sleep."
Susie lowered its head again and closed its eyes, beginning to think.
This year was different from previous years. In the past, when it lay on the floor, it was truly sleeping. Now, when it lay there with its eyes closed, its thoughts kept running.
It was thinking about major questions that went beyond a dog's life, such as where dogs came from and where they were headed.
Who was it? What kind of existence was a dog, and how was it different from humans?
What kind of life goals should a thinking dog set? There were simply too many questions worth pondering, and it also wanted to ask Audrey for answers.
But it understood that when it came to reading, it had already surpassed Audrey by far.
After all, it read some of Emperor Roselle's works every day, learning the knowledge and spirit within them.
Meanwhile, Audrey had to study things she didn't particularly like every day, such as dancing, social etiquette, instrumental music and painting, various languages, and even political history.
Comparing the two, it felt that it was much happier than Audrey.
As for this year's New Year gift, it had already decided. It wanted a complete set of Emperor Roselle's work on thoughts.