Why it never ends

Chapter 1213

Boheng put down his soup bowl: "I'll go get some more food."

“I’ll go too.” Eunice stood up. “Is there anything else you’d like to eat?”

Gabrielle glanced at her plate. She had been lost in thought and hadn't noticed that she had eaten most of what was on her plate.

"Get me another egg," Gahodore said, forking the fried egg back onto Eunice's plate. "I don't eat fried eggs, they're too oily."

Boheng wandered aimlessly in front of the plates. He recalled Gahodore's answer earlier—that she was unwilling to reveal her friends' privacy, which meant that she truly considered the people here as friends.

At that moment, Boheng suddenly felt that he had made a mistake in his decision, but soon he realized that such a mistake was unavoidable, since he could not have foreseen the changes that would occur after Gahodore arrived.

But then again, he should have been the one to foresee that a naive young woman like Gabrielle, full of romantic fantasies, is always more easily seduced by the allure of the world. Wasn't he himself, in his youth, equally immersed in poetry, and in all sorts of unattainable ideals and fantasies?
"Teacher, there's no more food over there."

Boheng came to his senses and realized that he had walked in front of a pile of empty plates.

"Yes! We have food—" Santa's voice came from the other side. She pushed the cart, took the plates of food off the cart, replaced the empty plates, and said with a smile, "Eat up!"

After breakfast, Boheng followed Jiahedolei and Younis to the reading corridor on the second floor, where the children and all the teachers were also present.

Gabrielle only stayed for a short while before saying she had to visit a friend and left in a hurry.

"How long are we going to stay here?" Boheng asked.

"If the teacher doesn't like it here at 10 o'clock, they can go back to their room now, but they can't come out before 10 o'clock."

"why?"

“I don’t know. The notification is like this,” Eunice looked out the window, where a new batch of guards was pouring into the courtyard. “They might be going to conduct a search of the palace first?”

"It seems we have an important guest."

"It must be related to the afternoon's activities, right? I heard from Santa that she handed over the kitchen keys again last night, and a new chef is coming over in the next couple of days."

Boheng walked to another window and reached out to push aside the closed blinds—what kind of guests would make such a fuss?
……

"Impossible!" Gahodore's eyes widened. "The Emperor? Why would the Emperor come here?"

“This was originally the emperor’s palace; he’s the one who should be here,” Chloe tapped Gahodore’s forehead twice. “Don’t get it backwards!”

Gabrielle immediately slapped Chloe's hand away in disgust, and Chloe shook her head indifferently.

“What does an emperor look like? I’ve never seen an emperor in person,” said Gabrielle. “I’ve seen him in the newspaper before; he seemed to be an old man—”

“That was the previous one,” Lü Qizhen said. “The current emperor is a child.”

“Like Chloe?” Gahodore poked Chloe’s forehead with a finger, clearly holding a grudge. Chloe tried to grab Gahodore’s hand, but she easily dodged it.

“He’s only ten years old,” Lü Qizhen replied. “But even if he were sixty, it wouldn’t matter. The emperor of the Twelfth District mainly serves as a mascot; no one should really take him seriously.”

"There are so many people outside today?" Gahodore walked to the window. "And we have to stay locked up until ten o'clock before we can go out?"

Lü Qizhen chuckled and looked at Chloe: "Are you coming with us to the event this afternoon?"

"What event?" Chloe turned her head, looking away. "I told you before, this afternoon we're all going to the farm for a gathering—"

"I'm not going, I'm not interested."

Are you afraid to see Kovichk?

The room suddenly fell silent—to the surprise of both Lü Qizhen and Gabrielle, Chloe did not immediately deny it.

Everyone heard her breathing suddenly become heavy. Chloe stood up, walked to a chair at the other end of the room, and sat down.

“I’m not afraid to see him,” Chloe said.

Gabrielle and Lü Qizhen both slightly lowered the corners of their mouths, as if using silence to answer a disbelieving "Okay, I heard you."

“I’m not afraid to see him,” Chloe repeated, her expression more serious than ever. “Believe it or not, I’m not afraid to see him—but I don’t want to see him, and I certainly don’t want to be in the same place with him at a time like this, as if I’m so reluctant to part with him and always trying to find a way to be with him.”

“Then you should come with us,” Lü Qizhen said. “Because we want to invite you to come along. If you refuse us because you don’t want to see him, then you’re still putting him in a more important position.”

"I told you I'm not going!" Chloe replied, somewhat annoyed. "I didn't receive an invitation—"

“You have one.” Lü Qizhen suddenly pulled out a piece of cardboard from behind her. “I’ve asked Hersta, and we can invite you.”

Gabrielle looked at Lü Qizhen in surprise—on the invitation in her hand, the names of both the inviter and herself were indeed written at the end.

Lü Qizhen winked at Jiaheduolei, who instantly understood—don't expose me, friend.

Gabrielle smiled.

Chloe stepped forward suspiciously and snatched the invitation.

"...You wrote this on the spot, didn't you? These are all handwritten names."

“Everyone’s invitations have their names handwritten,” Lü Qizhen said. “My invitation and Gabrielle’s invitations are also handwritten. As for whether they were written on the spot—of course not. Everyone will have a name card on their chair this afternoon. Your seat is right next to ours. You’ll see for yourself.”

Chloe was not happy. She gave Lü Qizhen a cold look, grabbed the invitation, and headed for the door.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To the restroom!"

Only Lü Qizhen and Jiaheduolei remained in the room.

“I was planning to tell you this later, but it was too rushed,” Lü Qizhen said softly. “I thought writing both of our names on it would make Chloe feel that we both care about her, so I…”

When did you ask that?

“I went to see Hershta last night after the heart-to-heart talk salon ended… she wasn’t at the palace the whole time,” Lü Qizhen said. “But she said she would be adding Chloe’s spot today.”

Gabrielle gave a soft hum and sat down on the ground.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting dancing shadows of the trees, and Jiaheduolei suddenly felt a gentle, indescribable happiness. She had already guessed why Lü Qizhen had done this, and when the other woman actually said it aloud, she felt a certain joy.