Under the night sky, the auditorium building was as beautiful as a glowing castle, with huge French windows and dark blue glass walls, lit up brilliantly inside.
It was a Western church-style spire building, later converted into an auditorium.
Members of the Activities Department, responsible for organizing campus events, wore black formal wear with the golden school emblem of Saint Antiona embroidered on their tops—a white thorny flower intertwined with red roses—and stood at the entrance and in the corridors to greet guests.
Everyone attending the event would show their mobile phones to the staff at the entrance, who would confirm the electronic invitation and allow entry.
The school anniversary celebration was generally attended by lower-grade students.
For higher-grade students, staying in their dorms was preferable to eating a sumptuous dinner and listening to school leaders speak; only the lower grades would be excited and curious.
An Xiaoxue stood not far away, observing students and professors entering one after another.
Students walked in groups, all dressed appropriately.
Except for the Activities Department members and professors, most students wore school uniforms.
It must be said that Saint Antiona’s uniform designer had some skill, designing the uniforms to be even more beautiful than formal wear: pure white stand-collar shirts, deep rose-red ties loosely folded three times, and black uniforms that appeared steady and solemn, with fine silver trim along the collar and cuffs, as if moonlight was scattered on the edges of the clothes.
This was a school disguised as a militarized violent institution.
Although the uniform’s design prioritized practicality and solemnity, its close fit and exquisite tailoring still gave it a ceremonial dignity and elegant demeanor.
An Xiaoxue looked down at herself, wearing a white nightgown that was the only thing she could find, with an oversized khaki trench coat over it.
She had only thought of coming to join the fun and forgotten that clothes would also be a troublesome matter.
“Oh my gosh! It’s so lively, it would be a shame to miss it.”
Suddenly, someone next to her spoke, seemingly a student who also didn’t have an invitation, with a familiar voice.
An Xiaoxue nodded in agreement, which was also something she regretted; she had never attended a major event similar to a large banquet.
Firstly, due to her family’s situation, they were reclusive old blood kin who had conflicts with the Blood Party.
To avoid trouble and stay out of sight, she had never participated in any grand events.
Secondly, An Xiaoxue had never held her own Blood Rite, which was also a grand occasion.
She had heard since childhood how magnificent and wonderful Blood Rite were for blood kin.
Only by holding a Blood Rite could one truly celebrate a birthday, and only then could a blood feast be considered a birthday gift.
As a child, whenever she heard her aunt say that another blood kin was holding a Blood Rite, An Xiaoxue felt a pang of envy.
At the age of thirteen, she almost snuck into a blood feast banquet of a Baron-level blood kin.
Since then, her family did not allow her to attend any banquets, fearing she would have such thoughts.
Young children, after all, can yearn for many things; if they don’t get them, they eventually forget.
But if the object of yearning is something one should have had but never did, it can easily become a lingering dream.
An Xiaoxue often thought about the scene of her first Blood Rite, even just once would be enough.
No Blood Rite, but a banquet should be fine, especially since it was just Saint Antiona’s evening party.
“Do you want to go too, sister?” the girl next to her asked.
“I have the principal’s invitation, but no suitable clothes,” An Xiaoxue said absently.
“Clothes aren’t important! You’re just too introverted, aren’t you? It’s normal to be nervous the first time you attend a large banquet. You’ll have to drink, maybe dance, and it’ll be stressful if you don’t have a companion.”
“I’m introverted?”
“Your face is practically screaming, ‘I’m shy, I’m scared, please don’t approach me,’ you seem a bit weak.”
Hearing this, An Xiaoxue instinctively reached up to touch her face.
She was indeed not good at expressing emotions.
Principal Farrow once said that her common facial expressions were only three: calm, blank, and dazed.
An Xiaoxue turned her head and finally saw the girl beside her clearly: golden hair and azure eyes.
“Dorothea?”
“You know me?”
“The Felice family’s distinctive feature is blond hair, and there are very few blond girls at this school.”
An Xiaoxue explained, wondering what expression she should show—should she be cheerful or enthusiastic?
“Oh, I didn’t realize I was so famous.” Dorothea didn’t notice An Xiaoxue’s appraising gaze.
“What’s your surname, big sister?”
“Professor An Xiaoxin’s younger sister,” she answered without thinking.
Dorothea looked at her strangely, observing her for a moment.
An Xiaoxue didn’t feel anything was wrong.
“What’s wrong?”
“Who is An Xiaoxin? Do you mean Professor An Xiaoyi?” Dorothea looked at her.
“I remember Professor An has a sister. You look better in person than in the photo.”
An Xiaoxue then realized she had unconsciously blurted out that woman’s name; she had meant to say An Xiaoyi.
Unknowingly, she had truly started to think of herself as her sister.
Suddenly, she paused, then reacted: “What photo?”
“You don’t know? Here.” The blond girl took out her phone to show her.
An Xiaoxue was stunned on the spot.
It was a post on the campus forum.
Someone had actually taken a photo of her dragging luggage into the dorm on her first night, when she was wearing a very cold, blood-red long dress.
The first comment: This is Professor An’s sister, she’s drop-dead gorgeous! So beautiful in her sickly state!
“Sister, are you cosplaying?” Dorothea asked.
“Uh, I didn’t have time to take off my makeup and help my brother tidy up his place.” An Xiaoxue really wanted to cover her face.
“Damn it, do you know who took that photo? Is your school that gossipy?”
“It seems Professor An’s neighbor took it, someone surnamed He.”
“He Xiaoxin!” An Xiaoxue gritted her teeth.
“Hurry, hurry, everyone’s gone inside!” Dorothea darted towards the auditorium.
The staff responsible for greeting guests had already gone in, likely meaning all invited guests had arrived.
An Xiaoxue then realized that Dorothea probably didn’t have an invitation either and thought she herself didn’t have one, finding an opportunity to slip into the banquet while they were chatting.
Actually, An Xiaoxue did have an invitation.
Along with the principal’s text message and birthday wishes, an electronic invitation had appeared in her inbox.
However, she wasn’t sure if it was valid because her name wasn’t on it.
She had stayed outside simply because she didn’t want more people to discover her.
She planned to be the last one in, simply hide in a corner of the banquet, eat and drink for free, and then quietly leave when it was almost over.
A few people were still lingering at the entrance, including a black-haired girl staring at her phone.
They were probably together.
An Xiaoxue stopped, her fingers twitching slightly, then she casually brushed past.
Out of the corner of her eye, the black-haired girl, noticing the silver hair, looked up and met the deep eyes of the silver-haired girl in front of her.
She watched An Xiaoxue enter the corridor, wanting to say something, her expression very confused.
She had been startled by the silver-haired girl’s eyes.
An Xiaoxue stood at the corner of the corridor, leaning against the wall.
Saint Antiona University, did a blood kin really slip in unnoticed? That black-haired girl.
She’s a Viscount-level lesser blood kin.
“What are you still standing here for?”
Dorothea had appeared in front of her at some point, tilting her head as she looked at the daydreaming girl.
“Oh, I have a bit of social anxiety; there are too many people inside,” An Xiaoxue said, patting her chest.
“You’re just like your brother, silly and dull. I knew you wouldn’t dare go in. Luckily, I just found a perfect corner spot with good feng shui. Come with me!” Dorothea grabbed An Xiaoxue’s hand and rushed straight to the table in the furthest corner of the hall, where a rich array of food was conveniently piled up.
It blocked everyone’s view.