After leaving the prison, Luke sat in the carriage, lifted the curtain in a good mood, and looked at the scenery along the way.
It was midday, but the number of pedestrians on the streets had not decreased in the slightest. It was still extremely lively. The festive holiday atmosphere lingered on every smiling face.
The carriage traveled all the way in the direction of home.
Some time later, it slowly stopped at the entrance of the estate.
The courtyard was still very quiet at this hour. It seemed Lux and the others had not returned yet.
After entering the living room, Luke only saw Katarina and Poppy keeping each other company, currently playing five-in-a-row.
A slightly tired Luke sat on the sofa and began resting. Seeing Yurna turn around to pour tea, he suddenly remembered something and said, "Right, Yurna, Happy New Year."
Hearing this, Yurna stopped in her tracks, turned around, and bowed lightly to Luke. "You as well, Your Highness. Happy New Year."
"Here's to another year together." Luke smiled. "The holiday money is with you. Remember to give yourself one."
"Mm."
Yurna nodded gently, then turned around, the corner of her mouth lifting into a faint smile.
Luke withdrew his gaze from her and leaned back against the sofa, relaxing his whole body.
He had given New Year's greetings to many people today and had nearly forgotten Yurna.
After all, Luke could see her every day the moment he opened his eyes, so he had forgotten out of habit.
He remembered that Yurna had left home alone after falling out with her family. As soon as she arrived in the Royal Capital, she became Luke's maid, and quite a long time had passed since then.
Judging by the way she looked, she did not seem to have reconciled with her family, nor did she seem to have any intention of going home.
But it did not matter. If she was unwilling to go back, Luke could always keep a place for her here.
A short while later, Yurna brought over a cup of hot tea at the perfect temperature.
Luke took the cup and sipped it carefully. The warm tea, combined with its spreading fragrance, relaxed his entire body even more.
He sat idly on the sofa, his gaze fixed on the fireplace. The wood crackled, and the flickering flames made him feel a little sleepy just by watching them.
After yawning, Luke looked away and shifted his gaze to the board between Poppy and Katarina.
About ten minutes later,
footsteps sounded outside. Following the sound, Luke looked toward the living room entrance and saw Lux walk in with tired steps.
She walked step by step to the sofa, then lay down on it without saying a word.
Clearly, running around everywhere all morning had exhausted her quite a bit.
Now that Garen and Jarvan IV were staying outside the border together, she was the only younger member of House Crownguard at home. As the mascot of a top-tier noble family, she naturally had a lot of people to visit.
After lying down on the sofa, the fatigue on Lux's little face finally lessened somewhat. After a while, she suddenly seemed to remember something and let out two little "hehe" laughs.
The sound drew Luke's attention. He looked over and saw the cute curve of Lux's lips, then could not help asking, "What are you giggling about?"
"Heh-heh. To be honest, I am very rich right now."
Lux sat up, the corner of her mouth lifting into a smug smile. Then she directly took out a heavy, bulging wallet and placed it on the table.
As she put it down, a crisp clinking of gold coins came from inside. There had to be at least over a hundred.
"And this is only part of my current assets."
Lux put both hands on her hips, feeling extremely wonderful.
Although her mother had dragged her all over the place this morning until her legs were almost broken, it was not as if she had gained nothing.
Just from holiday money alone, she had received a huge pile!
Ever since she broke the vase her mother loved last time, most of her spending money had basically gone toward paying it off.
Only when her luck was good could she win a little at the mahjong table.
But mahjong was something where one won and lost, so in the end, not much of that money actually remained in her hands.
Instead, a lot of it had run into Luke's pocket, and a large portion had also been won away by Poppy.
As a result, her spending money had always been stuck in a state of neither much nor little.
But now things were different. In the span of one morning, her little treasury had practically exploded at doubled speed over and over!
After easily paying off the vase money, she still had quite a substantial amount left.
"Impressive, impressive."
Luke offered a few flattering words, then asked, "Then may I ask how Miss Crownguard plans to manage this enormous fortune?"
Lux clenched her fist with fighting spirit. "Obviously, I'm using all of it to play mahjong!"
After that, she accepted the cup of hot tea Yurna brought over. After taking a sip, she let out a long, calm breath like an old master and began her speech.
"Over my long mahjong experience, I have gradually understood one truth. Money restrains a person's thinking. The less money you have, the more timid you become while playing, so your hands only get worse and worse. But when you have money, it's different. When you have money, you can play freely and boldly. Your hands only get bigger and bigger, and your money only grows more and more. That's what it means for money to make money."
"That makes sense, that makes sense."
Luke could not help applauding this speech.
"Stop acting so fake over there." Lux raised her brows and glared at him. Then she said confidently, "Just you wait later. Today, I'm going to crush everyone!"
Luke looked at the confident glow on Lux's little face and smiled, then drained the tea in his cup. "Since you're this confident, what will you do if I choose not to play mahjong?"
Lux froze for a moment. In the next second, her little face turned dangerous, and she slapped the table. "You have to play!"
Mahjong was definitely going to happen.
Luke had only been teasing her. After all, when it came to the idea that money brought confidence, he was not afraid of this little blonde at all.
Another ten minutes or so passed before another set of footsteps came from outside. Before long, Fiora, Sona, and Kahina walked in together.
By now, it was already past midday, and they had basically all eaten lunch outside.
After running around all morning, they were mostly free for the rest of the afternoon.
So Lux, whose mahjong addiction had flared up, immediately began gathering people. Counting Luke, Kahina, and Fiora, she soon put together a full table.
And so, the pleasant mahjong time began. The clattering sound of mahjong tiles rang out from time to time.
In the harmonious atmosphere, time slowly passed.
In the blink of an eye, it was four in the afternoon.
"Mahjong. Four dots. All simples."
As Fiora calmly pushed down the tiles in front of her after drawing the winning tile herself, it also announced the end of today's mahjong session.
Hearing this, Lux's small body trembled. Then she took out the wallet that had still been bulging a few hours ago and poured out the final four gold coins inside.
Looking at those four gold coins, she was deeply reluctant to part with them, then pitifully handed them to Fiora.
Seeing her pitiful appearance, Fiora revealed a faint smile and then took them without the slightest hesitation.
The next second after the gold coins were taken away, Lux deflated like a leaking balloon and flopped limply onto the table, her face full of despair.
All simples was not a big hand. Even counting all the bonuses, it only added up to four gold coins.
But this was the final straw that crushed Lux.
This should not have happened. Wasn't today supposed to be her stage? Why was she the first one to lose everything instead?
Luke smiled and handed over four gold coins, then added insult to injury. "Thank you, Miss Crownguard, for today's generous donation."
Hearing this, Lux sat up and looked at him through gritted teeth. "Next time, I'm absolutely winning it all back!"
After saying that, she collapsed again, her face showing the numb expression of someone who had lost too much at mahjong.
Today, the luck of the people at the table had all been pretty strong.
Luke had won quite a bit, most of it from Miss Crownguard's wallet.
This was thanks to the rich girl playstyle she had invented. No matter what kind of hand she had, as soon as she started, she aimed for the biggest hand possible. Whatever tile she drew, she was never afraid of dealing into someone else's win. Her whole strategy was charging bravely into the world.
To put it bluntly, she was just being stubbornly reckless.
Actually, her tile momentum had been quite good. After all, her luck was naturally pretty good.
Unfortunately, no matter how good her luck was, it could not withstand a heart determined to give money away.
The mahjong session ended with one person crying and three people laughing. Afterward, everyone sat in the living room to rest and chat.
After lying face-down on the sofa in a self-isolating heap for a while, Lux quickly filled herself with energy again and sat up lively as ever. "Right, there's a celebration after five. Let's go watch it together!"
Kahina immediately nodded in response. "Sure, sure. We haven't watched a celebration in ages."
Fiora drank her hot tea and replied, "I don't have any problem with that either."
"Then let's go together." Seeing this, Luke looked at Sona. "What about you, Sona?"
Meeting Luke's gaze, Sona's eyes flickered, and she nodded. Her inner voice rang out. "I'll go too!"
Ever since going to the border, she had recently been researching a method to block out some inner voices.
So far, there had been some small results.
Because of that, she actually needed to go to crowded places more often to test it. She felt that after studying it for a bit longer, she would be able to freely turn the reception of inner voices on or off.
Just like that, the plan to watch the celebration was decided.
There was only a little over an hour left, so everyone did not delay. After tidying up simply, they boarded the carriage and set off toward the celebration street.
By the time they were almost there, the sky had already begun to darken. It was dusk on the streets of the Royal Capital, but the atmosphere was even livelier than it had been at noon.
Amid the bustling noise, Luke and the girls got off the carriage as well.
Preparations for the celebration had already begun. Lux, who especially loved this kind of atmosphere, quickly found an excellent spot. Looking toward the plaza, her face was full of a happy smile, and her beautiful eyes sparkled like starlight.
"Come on, hurry! It's about to start!"
Standing in the spot she had chosen, she waved toward Luke and the others.
When Luke and the others walked over, the sound of drums and gongs rang out, drawing everyone's attention. Amid the festive music, the lively celebration began.
One performance after another was staged, and applause and cheers seemed to ring out without interruption.
The darker the sky became, the less it could extinguish the people's celebratory mood.
Katarina felt the Demacian celebration around her, and a slightly different feeling welled up in her heart.
Her eyes flickered faintly as she looked toward the celebration, toward the smiling faces of the people.
She could not help wondering whether she had ever felt an atmosphere like this in Noxus.
Blurry. Her memories were too blurry.
Her gaze slowly turned toward Luke. At this moment, that guy was also watching the celebration with a relaxed smile on his face, his black hair swaying with the faint cold wind.
It seemed that before meeting this guy, her life had never experienced things like this.
Day after day of grueling training, tests on the edge of life and death, had left her almost completely disconnected from these things.
As if sensing her gaze, Luke turned his head and met her emerald green eyes, then smiled and asked, "What do you think of our celebration?"
"It's passable."
Katarina's voice was drowned out by the celebratory noise. She looked away, avoiding that guy's eyes, while her heart was unknowingly infected by the atmosphere of the celebration.
The moment she blended into this atmosphere, what Katarina felt was a rare kind of ease.
Noxus naturally had celebrations too, and holidays as well, but compared with what was before her right now, she kept feeling that something was missing.
Looking at the heartfelt smiles on those people's faces, she watched as a firework flew high into the sky and burst with a bang into brilliant colors, pushing the celebration's atmosphere to its peak. Her vision could not help going hazy for a few seconds.
After the celebration ended,
by the time everyone returned home, the sky had already gone completely dark. Bright starlight illuminated the Royal Capital.
Luke also began preparing dinner. Hot pot was good, but they could not eat it every day.
Today was New Year's, so naturally, they also had to eat something nice. Because of that, he prepared an extremely abundant dinner.
When dinner was placed on the dining table, the girls had already taken their seats, unable to wait any longer.
After dinner, they did not rest. Instead, they all ran to the front courtyard and brought out the fireworks Luke had already prepared.
Luke was currently fiddling with a large firework.
Seeing this from not far away, Lux lowered her head and glanced at the small fountain firework in her hand, and immediately felt it had lost its appeal.
So she ran over, pushed Luke aside, and said eagerly, "Me, me, let me do it."
Luke did not fight her for it and gave her the chance to light it.
Lux lit a match in her hand, and everyone's gaze could not help turning toward her. They watched as she carefully brought it toward the firework's fuse.
With a hiss, the fuse immediately caught fire in the next second. Lux instantly threw away the match and jogged back, her sparkling eyes watching the fuse burn little by little, full of anticipation.
When the fuse was completely swallowed by the flame, there was a whoosh, and a firework suddenly shot toward the sky.
Bang!
Immediately afterward, dazzling colors burst open in the sky.
At the same time, Yurna and Fiora also lit the fuses on their side.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
In the next moment, the fireworks no longer stopped. They launched one after another, dyeing the entire night sky with multicolored light, extraordinarily brilliant and beautiful.
Lux tilted her head up and watched the fireworks in the sky. The colors of the fireworks glittered in her bright eyes, and the light reflected on her radiant, flowerlike face, making it even more dazzling, even more beautiful.
The fireworks celebration had only just begun. After that, the courtyard was filled with the nonstop sounds of fireworks and firecrackers.
Even Katarina could not resist those colorful fireworks and joined in to play with them.
After they finally finished playing, they went to the backyard to soak in the hot spring.
By the time they had comfortably finished soaking in the hot spring, it was already late.
Sitting in the living room, everyone felt time pass quickly. Before they knew it, New Year's Day was nearly over.
Lux said goodbye and went home with quite a bit of reluctance, as if she still had not recovered from the happy atmosphere of the New Year.
Then Kahina, Sona, Poppy, and the others said goodbye one after another and left.
Luke looked at Fiora, who was sitting in the living room reading. Fiora also noticed his gaze and lifted her head, and the two of them met each other's eyes.
The corner of Fiora's mouth curved into a faint smile. Paired with her vivid red lips, she looked extraordinarily beautiful and alluring.
At this moment, Luke knew.
He was about to fire the first shot of the new year.
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