"Really? The same day as mine?!"

Hearing Celitia's answer, Sophia's eyes burst with delighted light.

"I knew it—Lily and I are definitely meant to be!!"

Celitia smiled along with her, but her eyes gradually dimmed.

Sophia continued chattering: "Then we can celebrate our birthdays together. I need to think carefully about Lily's birthday gift too..."

In the girl's soft murmuring, the rain finally gradually stopped, leaving puddles everywhere that reflected the sky like mirrors.

Celitia asked: "Are we still going to see the plum blossoms?"

"Forget it. After such heavy rain, the plum blossoms have probably all fallen to the ground."

Sophia sighed. "More importantly, you got caught in the rain. If you get sick, that would be bad... Let's go back."

"Let's go back then," Celitia had no objection. "I'll change clothes and then go home for a bit."

Sophia nodded rather reluctantly.

The two returned to the bedchamber. Sophia had the maids prepare a thicker set of clothes for Celitia to change into.

Sophia took a towel and personally dried the water from Celitia's hair before seeing her off.

The arranged carriage stopped at the door. Celitia lifted her skirt and was about to board the carriage when she suddenly heard a voice behind her:

"Wait."

Celitia turned back in confusion: "What's wrong?"

The girl who had been silently standing at the door, seeing her off, suddenly quickened her pace, ran toward Celitia, opened her arms, and hugged her tightly.

The servants all stood respectfully to the side, watching everything with their own eyes. Celitia's face immediately flushed red:

"Sophia?"

"It's nothing," Sophia mumbled. "I just... suddenly wanted to kiss you."

Before Celitia could react, Sophia had already domineeringly cupped her face, leaned close to her cheek, and placed a gentle kiss on the girl's cool lips.

As their lips touched, Sophia lightly licked the corner of her lips, tasting a hint of sweetness, and was immediately satisfied.

In this moment, Celitia's heart pounded wildly, jumping into her throat and almost leaping out of her mouth.

Heaven knows how much effort it took for Celitia to barely swallow her heart back down.

But the instigator had already released her, put her hands behind her back, stepped back two paces, and showed her a mischievous smile.

Celitia covered her bright red face and glared at her: "You... you...!"

Could she please pay a little attention to the setting?!

Sophia acted as if she hadn't seen anything: "Well then, see you tonight, my dear Lily."

Celitia quickly looked around and saw the nearby servants all looking at their noses and hearts, pretending they hadn't seen anything.

"..."

Unable to say anything, Celitia fled into the carriage like she was escaping.

Only Sophia remained standing there, gently seeing her off.

The carriage wheels slowly rolled outward. When Celitia returned home, it was already close to noon.

In just one morning, news about what Marianne had announced at last night's ball had quickly spread throughout the city.

Luna and the others had gotten up early to open the shop and learned this news from customers' mouths. Everyone was extremely excited.

Seeing Celitia return, they immediately swarmed up and surrounded her completely from front, back, left and right.

Luna couldn't wait to speak first:

"Lily, we heard about what happened last night! And you even spent the night at the palace!!"

Being stared at by those pairs of gossiping eyes, Celitia was extremely helpless:

"Yes, I was rather tired at the time, so Sophia took me in and I stayed at the palace for one night."

Gidi was incredibly excited: "Tell us about the ball in detail, Miss Lily!"

"Spare me, I want to rest for a while." Celitia's head hurt even more. "Tonight, I have to go to the palace again for a banquet."

"What?" Rebecca exclaimed. "Is it dining together with Her Majesty Marianne and Princess Sophia?"

Celitia was startled by her exclamation: "Y-yes."

"Then we must prepare properly!" Rebecca immediately became anxious and flustered. "What should you wear tonight?"

Luna didn't understand why Rebecca was suddenly so nervous: "Her Majesty Marianne is very easy to get along with. Wearing an ordinary dress should be fine, right?"

"Sigh, you're all still young, so it's normal not to understand."

Rebecca shook her head with feigned profundity, cleared her throat, and emphasized: "Since rumors say that Lily and Princess Sophia are about to get engaged, then this dinner is obviously Lily meeting the parents!"

"I see!" Luna and Gidi both had sudden realizations. "Then we really must prepare carefully!"

Celitia was very powerless: "No... it hasn't reached the engagement stage yet..."

"That makes it even more crucial—it means after this dinner, they'll decide whether to get engaged or not!"

Rebecca was decisive, waving her hand grandly: "Come on, let's start preparing! Tonight, we must make Lily shine even brighter than at the ball!!"

Celitia: "..."

She could already imagine how she was going to be tormented.

She should never have come back!!

An afternoon passed, and the carriage sent by the palace stopped at the door.

Ariel, wearing deep red regular clothes, pulled back the curtain and picked up Celitia, who had been tormented into a dazed state.

"What happened to you?" Ariel asked in surprise.

"Nothing much," Celitia smiled bitterly. "My family members took this dinner very seriously and made me try on too many outfits."

"You don't need to be so nervous. This is just a family dinner." Ariel comforted her. "Just relax."

Celitia nodded silently.

She hadn't been that nervous originally. It was mainly because she'd been tormented too much by Luna, Rebecca, and Gidi.

They had nagged in Celitia's ears until calluses formed, telling her to perform well, which made her involuntarily start getting nervous.

Meeting the parents?

And in a double sense, at that...

If there wasn't the birth parents relationship, things might be simpler.

But it had already become like this. Would Marianne and Gorman oppose this relationship because both she and Sophia were their daughters...

The more she thought about it, the more terrified Celitia became, and the more restless she felt.

"It's fine. This isn't your first time meeting Mother. You know she's always been very gentle and kind."

Ariel tried to comfort Celitia. She thought for a moment and added:

"I heard Father woke up today and seems to be in good spirits. Today is the last day of the year, so maybe he'll also attend the family dinner… However, Father is quite easygoing in private, so you don't need to worry."