Chapter 24: A Tiny Job
"Is this the only formal wear you have?" C.C. rummaged through Ade's closet, "I could probably guess from the fact that you drink nutrients every day, but this is too shabby."
"No, don't bother looking, I don't like to wear formal clothes." Ade turned around in front of the mirror and looked at the barely handsome youth in the mirror, "Isn't this one also good? Clean and tidy, simple and atmospheric, very much in line with my aesthetic."
"This is a style that was popular a few years ago."
"Yes, four years ago. I had it custom made to match the one I wore when I went to see Queen Diana, and it's exactly the same." So women love to buy clothes no matter how old they are, but of course, he wouldn't say it out, "That one wasn't too small to wear, otherwise, I wouldn't even have to buy this one."
C.C. finally gave up on continuing to rummage in the closet and turned to look at him breathlessly. She was wearing a plain white dress gown, and her bare calves were faintly visible under the hem. No need to ask, of course, it's new clothes. She will always have new clothes.
Today is the day of the quinquennial award ceremony for the Moon's Most Eminent Persons, where one of the ten candidates will receive a medal from Queen Diana herself, representing recognition of their highest achievements and outstanding contributions to the Moon. Sort of an event born to improve the cohesion of the Moon, and so far it has worked well.
To Ade, there is not much worry about winning the prize. None of the other nine candidates is a "well-known figure", except that he is too young, he doesn't have any disadvantage, not to mention his acquaintance with Loran. He was more concerned about another rumor that after each award ceremony, the Queen will have a private conversation with the winner, and they can make a reasonable request to the Queen as a reward.
Although the rumor had not received any official acknowledgment, neither had any former winners come out to refute it, which made him faintly expect the truth of the rumor. If there really was such a thing, would it … be possible?
After checking that they hadn't forgotten anything, the two of them went out slowly, and Uraki had been waiting outside the door in his car for a long time.
The ceremony started at nine o'clock, and it was just before six. Ade yawned from time to time in the back seat. The destination was the auditorium in the city center, and it took about an hour to drive there. Uraki drove very steadily, so steadily that it made people sleepy, and there is still so far, a little catch up on sleep should not be a problem …
…a slight pain on his left cheek made him open his eyes from a daze. Who screwed my face? How boring. Then the silky touch coming from the right cheek made him rub it, quite comfortable. Vision gradually restored, in front of his eyes is the seat backrest, I am in … eh? Hmmm!
He quickly sat up straight and looked around. He was already outside the auditorium, and Uraki was standing not far from the car, concentrating on counting the number of bricks in the auditorium, and the only people inside the car were only C.C. and him. It seems he fell asleep on the road and then unconsciously, uh…
C.C. looked at him with a smirk, and he was too embarrassed to look directly into her eyes, subconsciously dropping his eyes to her neck. The long, slender neck and slightly exposed collarbone looked more and more dazzling against the dress, and he could only cast his eyes to the window again, and the afterglow seemed to glimpse the curve of her mouth more pronounced.
Saying that it was a beautiful day - if he did so, it could probably be the dumbest answer. But he couldn't think of any smooth and natural segue to defuse the awkwardness. For now, I'll just be honest and be myself, "Well, sorry."
"Here we are, get out of the car." C.C. opened the car door and finally couldn't help but laugh lightly, "The auditorium's bricks have been counted a dozen times by Uraki."
"Doctor, you're awake." Hearing the sound of the car door opening, Uraki turned around with a nonchalant expression reflecting his superior professionalism, "Are you going in immediately? I inquired, the backstage is in that direction."
"Let's go, after all, it's an event of this level." Ade looked at his watch, seven thirty-five, and then at C.C., "Say hello to the Asuka siblings for me later."
"Got it." C.C. reached out and smoothed out the folds on his shoulders, "Don't be embarrassed later."
Saying goodbye to the two who were headed to the audience, Ade was led into the venue by the staff. He and the other candidates' seats in the first row. Military, political, and business dignitaries sitting in the second and third rows. Casually looking at the first three rows, himself surprisingly became almost the last to come. There are two separate empty seats at the side of the podium, that should be the seats of the Queen and her husband, right?
Seeing that he came, many people got up and shook hands with him, as if they are familiar with each other. Ade can only pile up a fake smile to shake over one by one, saying nonsense like "Long time no see" to them. He doesn't actually like this kind of social, it's more interesting to watch live at home.
At eight-thirty, a hideous and majestic consciousness had a flash of touching with Ade. He quickly retracted his consciousness with a chill. After a while, a brawny man with an exploding head walked in, it was General Ghingham. This man is NT too?! Oh, right, Turn X has Star Funnels, if he is not NT, it's not possible to drive it. The history of the Earth-Moon War has no NT-related records at all, is he the first New Type?
Ghingham looked around the venue. Ade felt his consciousness sweep around like a low-precision radar, and finally landed on himself. Ghingham strides up to Ade and extends his hand, grinning a meaningful smile, and Ade can only stand up and shake it back and forth.
"Dr. Lingus, it's been a long time." Ghingham shook it very hard, "I really never thought the doctor could bring me such a surprise. Too much surprise."
"General, long time no see." This man was so strong that Ade's hand hurt from the squeeze, "I really didn't expect that either."
Ghingham let go of Ade's hand, laughed a few seconds, and went back to his seat. A few people seemed to be trying to decipher the deep meaning and whispered to each other, only Ade felt baffled.
General Gym Ghingham is estimated to be more than fifty years old by his appearance, and is now in the position of commander-in-chief of the lunar forces. But his strong muscles and sharp, fierce eyes show that he is far from being retired. In the Earth-Moon War, with his excellent MS technology and beastly instincts, he reversed the situation many times and made great achievements.
Ghingham has been serving Diana for decades, so he is not likely to betray the moon. But Ade is always inevitably affected by the "memory", preconceived thinking that this person will betray. But Ghingham and he do not actually have any conflict of interest. Even if they recognized each other's NT identity, it does not seem to have any effect, right?
It was almost nine o'clock when Diana and Loran finally appeared hand in hand and sat down on the two seats by the podium. The two of them smiling and whispering in a loving manner. Behind the Queen stood a handsome middle-aged man, his cool expression and short snow-white hair made him the dream lover of countless middle-aged women. He is the Queen's personal guard, Harry Ord, the only person holding a gun in the entire venue.
The ceremony finally began, a beautiful emcee whom Ade had never seen before came on stage to preside. It should be a first-rate host who can participate in such occasions, but unfortunately, Ade doesn't like to watch TV, so he doesn't know her. For more than ten years, the only star he knows is still only Lacus.
It was Diana's turn to speak soon, and this is one of the few times when the moon residents can meet Diana. The Queen and her husband live in seclusion, except for the New Year's speech and the national day speech, they almost never appear on TV and news. Looking at the doll-like girl on stage, Ade could not help but start thinking about it again.
Diana, Loran, Harry, and Ghingham all participated in the Earth-Moon War. Harry and Ghingham's age had a visible growth from their appearances, but only Diana and Loran still look less than twenty years old. In addition to the origin of the moon's black technology, this is what Ade thinks most confused.
And the Queen couple's so-called neutral attitude is simply bizarre. The moon never showed any position bias. And Anaheim, as the embodiment of the will of the Queen, is opening the door to do business with all forces, but not to incite any war. During the One Year War, there were Moon residents who volunteered to join ZAFT, and there were those who volunteered to join the Federation, but Diana was completely oblivious to this.
Ade understands that the so-called political neutrality is more like "waiting to be sold in exchange for greater benefits". But what the Queen couple's doing is almost like true absolute neutrality, and as the leaders of the moon, it's completely unreasonable.
It's so unscientific, isn't it? Isn't it simply the same as C.C.? C.C. said something similar back then, he didn't take it seriously, but after all these years he couldn't find a reasonable explanation. It's impossible that the Queen couple are also Geass holders, is there something else he doesn't know about?
When he was thinking, Diana had already finished speaking, and now it was Loran's turn to speak, but he didn't listen to a single word. Looking at the serious faces of the people around him, he could not help but deeply feel that his own practice was still not good enough. After a long while of random thinking, he finally saw Diana with an envelope on stage again. Oh my God, it's finally almost over.
Diana elegantly opened the envelope and softly read out a name, her voice was carried throughout the venue by a loudspeaker, "Adrien Lingus."
The whole room resounded with applause, and Ade walked up to the stage to stand beside Diana amidst the applause. The Queen took the medal from the Master of Ceremonies and handed it to Ade, who reached out and took it in gratitude. See, it can be over in a minute. Why don't we do it simply and have to have a ceremony?
Diana smiled at Ade, nodded, and turned back to her seat. Ade began to recite into the microphone the speech he had prepared yesterday.
"… self-struggle, but also consider …" he recited the words while searching in the direction of the audience, ah, found it, indeed, C.C.'s hair is easy to distinguish. C.C. noticed his eyes and waved at him. Uraki was listening to him with a serious face. The Asuka siblings looked tense as they sat as disciplined as schoolchildren being physically punished.
"… tiny work, thank you all." The Ade who finished his speech returned to his seat, and the host started talking nonsense again. Originally, he could pass the time by looking at the beauty, but after living with C.C. for a long time, Ade's aesthetic level is seriously elevated, never return to the past happy days of beautiful women are everywhere in his eyes.
The long award ceremony finally ended, everyone began to disperse in an orderly manner under the direction of the staff. Ade also took out his phone and turned on the power. When he was hesitating whether to hurry up and run away to avoid the media, or to dawdle for a while longer for the possible existed private conversation, a staff came up to him and whispered, "Dr. Lingus, Her Majesty and His Royal Highness invite you to lunch."
Is this the legendary state banquet?