When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1158 The Promise of Running Horses
With a mechanical hum, the wind-up motorcycle slowly entered the arena, while Mr. SpongeBob clutched his wallet, his face ashen.

Below the observation deck not far away, Madeleine, Halkin, and Theodora gathered together.

The viewing platform is supported by a row of Ayr Revival-style acanthus leaf columns, and the shadows cast by the columns are just enough to cover three people.

"Does it really have to be done?" Halkin rubbed his hands together, feeling a chill run down his spine as he touched the back of his neck.

Standing next to him, Theodora's face darkened further. She gripped her skirt tightly: "Kissing in public... isn't that just too outrageous?"

Realizing the noise was a bit loud, she secretly glanced around.

Seeing that no one was paying attention, she dared to continue, "Am I some shameless homeless woman? I haven't done anything like that in private..."

It's true that she and Harkin fell in love freely, but they were both respectable people, and the era was extremely conservative.

Holding hands or secretly kissing once or twice is considered outrageous here.

Kissing? In front of 30,000 or 40,000 people? Just thinking about it makes me feel awkward.

Madeleine stood opposite the two, her face incredibly kind: "You absolutely must go."

He pointed his finger at the crowd over there: "People just love to see this kind of plot; it's something they enjoy."

The promise on horseback, the lovers' kiss—what a beautiful scene!

Wouldn't it be nice to give "Criston and Eugénie" a happy ending?

“But that play wasn’t about the two of us!” Harkin couldn’t help but raise his voice a little, then quickly lowered it, his tone full of disdain. “What was that play about? When I was being beaten by debt collectors, it was the Holy Grandson who saved me.”

He's thick-skinned; he wasn't afraid of being embarrassed by kissing in public, but mainly because he was disgusted by that play.

Now he has to cooperate with the performance; he's on his way to becoming a cardinal.

With such a dark history exposed, everyone sees him through a romantic lens of a poor boy, so where is his dignity?
Theodora nodded in agreement: "That's right, Eugénie in that movie isn't me at all. When did I lose my memory?"

“I know it’s not you. I understand how you feel, and you’ve made your point very clear,” Madeleine said, still smiling.

"Can we just hug?"

"No."

"Uncle Madeleine..."

“You can’t even call me grandpa.” Madelan straightened up. “Public opinion in the Holy Alliance doesn’t wait for anyone. If you don’t like it, the believers will. Who do you think you are? It’s not a difficult thing!”

The two looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes.

Harkin sighed and scratched his head: "Fine."

Theodora made a face and after a long pause, replied in a barely audible voice, "Okay, fine."

Madeleine's smile finally became genuine. He chuckled and patted the two men on the shoulder: "That's right. I'll give you the signal later, don't panic."

After saying that, he straightened his collar and walked briskly towards the stairs to the observation deck.

Halkin and Theodora were still standing in the shadows, feeling both embarrassed and helpless.

Seeing him scratching his head, Theodora couldn't help but smile wryly and say, "You'll see later..."

Harkin coughed twice: "Don't worry, it's just a kiss, it's not like we're eating each other."

"It's not anything else, it's mainly because I'm afraid of my father. He's old, and if he sees this, I'm afraid he won't be able to catch his breath."

“That’s true.” Harkin nodded. “I’ll go tell the doctor to get ready.”

"Ugh." His Majesty Spongi was almost out of breath.

The thought of his pocket money and his daughter falling into the clutches of the dwarves made his heart bleed.

My entire month's allowance was tied up in the motorcycles not coming, but now not only have they come, ten of them have arrived at once!

Fortunately, there was no betting involved, otherwise, how could they possibly lose ten times their investment?
"Axent! You damn engineer!" Gripping the armrest tightly, the Great Lord gritted his teeth and could only curse in his heart.

After taking a few deep breaths, Sibangqi settled back into his seat.

He realized at that moment that he had only brought the motorcycle, not that he had already beaten the galloping horse. Wasn't it too early to open the champagne?

He had overlooked the fact that the atmosphere was so lively.

It's not like we've never worked on locomotive test flanges before; they got stuck after running less than a hundred steps, they couldn't even outrun a donkey on the roadside.

Saint Union's motorcycle looks sturdy, but it might be all show and no substance, falling apart after just a few steps?

Yes, that must be the case.

Otherwise, how could they have produced so many locomotives in ten days?

Thinking about it this way, Si Bangqi felt a little more at ease.

Look up and down at the railway tracks.

Upon seeing this, he couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

The workers were busy around the locomotive, with colorful ribbons wrapped around the spring magazine—red, blue, yellow, all sorts of colors.

The Norn are known for their barbarity, but even Grand Prince Spongi found it gaudy, after all, it was aimed at the common people. Behind the ribbons, a large red banner stretched from the front to the back of the carriage, bearing the five mottos of the Holy Way: "Civilization, Fraternity, Liberty, Equality, and Work."

The font was bolded, making it visible from afar, not to mention the enormous black and red emblem of the Holy Alliance flag.

"Fancy and flashy," Spongi muttered, but his eyes remained fixed on the scene.

The massive spring chamber resembles a steel heart, with pipes and drive shafts extending from the chamber, gleaming coldly.

At first glance, it really looks like the blood vessels and tendons of a giant in mythology.

This steel giant now looks like it's lying horizontally on a railway track.

Even more exciting was the sight of a band carrying an orchestra and snare drums coming over from the side.

The musicians, dressed in white shirts and silk jacquard vests, with long and short pipes, snare drums and batons, looked quite professional.

However, this group came from the Dawn Federation, and there were no suitable bands in the Holy Alliance's homeland.

Spongi's gaze then shifted to the carriage road.

A man in a brown leather jacket was leading a horse back and forth, with the coats of arms of Fran and Leia printed on the carriage behind him.

Standing next to him was a notary wearing an El robe, who was probably an El judge sent by the Imperial Council to oversee fairness.

He vaguely remembered the driver; he seemed to be a famous racing coachman from Fran, named Heberle.

I won the championship at the Flower Hill City race last year.

At this moment, Heberle stroked the horse's neck, but his eyes were fixed on the wind-up motorcycle, and the corners of his mouth were curled up as if he was disdainful.

Without the help of livestock or laborers, even if such a heavy lump of iron could walk on its own, could it outrun the racing carriages of Hebery?
A glimmer of hope rekindled in Spongi's heart. Yes, even the sturdiest iron cart is heavy; it can't outrun a light horse-drawn carriage!

Before long, the workers below suddenly raised their hands toward the observation deck and gave a thumbs up.

This means we are ready.

Standing in the center of the observation deck, Horn nodded: "Let's begin."

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A series of loud noises startled many people, who instinctively dropped to the ground.

Spongi was also startled, but he didn't embarrass himself.

It wasn't that he was calm; rather, he had drunk too much and his nerves were dulled, so he didn't react at all.

By the time they realized what was happening, the sound had already disappeared.

Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be two rows of modified wind-up grenade launchers.

It wasn't filled with ammunition; it was full of confetti and ribbons.

Countless colorful streamers shot into the sky like cannonballs, scattering in the sunlight.

Red, yellow, blue, and shimmering gold dust fell like rain of flowers.

Some landed on the heads of the crowd, some hung on the railings of the locomotive, and some floated onto the horse-drawn carriage, causing the horse to snort.

People looked up in surprise, throwing colorful ribbons they had seen before.

But they had never seen ribbons thrown at such a density and so high before.

"The opening ceremony is officially beginning!" Horn's voice rang out again, with a hint of a smile. "First, let's welcome the two parties to the Galloping Horse Agreement."

Mr. Heberley's racing carriage, and the Holy Union's Clockwork Motorbike, Father's Hand No. 5!

The crowd immediately erupted in cheers, even louder than before, because the passengers were also cheering excitedly.

Isn't this what we came all this way to see?

Standing on the observation deck, Spongi looked down at the locomotives and carriages below and silently prayed.

Hibernate, don't let me down!
If I win the motorcycle, then my pocket money wasn't wasted!
He secretly touched his wallet in his pocket; it was empty, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.

"The motorcycle and horse race is now officially starting. Contestants, please take your positions!"

"The athletes are in position." As the flag waved, Horn stepped forward and picked up the starting pistol.

"three……"

"two……"

"one……"

"boom!"

"Xilulu——"

"Clang, clang, clang—"

(End of this chapter)