He deadpanned as he stared at her face as she leaned in, his eyes turning dark red.
When Paige finished, she looked down at his hand and frowned, “Your hand is injured.”
She turned her head and Steward Beau had been the first to see it, pulling Dr. Clinton right up to bandage Enrico’s hand.
“Fortunately, no debris got into the wound.” Dr. Clinton said as he applied medicine to Enrico.
Enrico didn’t even raise an eyebrow, hanging his hand and letting Dr. Clinton fiddle with it as he kept one eye on Paige, on her extraordinarily calm looking brow.
A number of people sensed something strange and looked this way.
Paige stood there and watched as Dr. Clinton wrapped Enrico’s wound in gauze and asked softly, “Does it still hurt?”
Enrico looked at her, “It hurts.”
Paige’s long eyelashes quivered, “Do you want painkillers then?”
“It won’t stop.” Enrico’s eyes watched her for an instant.
Dr. Clinton, self-conscious of being a redundancy, dared not be conspicuous when he finished bandaging her and lowered himself to leave silently with his medical kit.
Once he was gone, there was a lot of empty space between Enrico and Paige.
How could Paige not understand the other layer of meaning in his words, she lowered her eyes to the gorgeous gown she was wearing and whispered, “I’m sorry, I just wanted to make you happy.”
“And what about you? Are you still happy doing this?” Enrico asked, looking at her, his eyes dark as night.
Was she really that happy to be wearing a gown that was no different than a wedding dress at this node, and was she really that happy to be arranging the aftermath for him?
At that, Paige smiled faintly, “I’ll cheer myself up.”
Not happy, not unhappy.
Rather, she would cheer herself up.
After saying this, and without waiting for Enrico’s reaction, she turned her head with a champagne glass in her hand and looked out at the room, where a maid immediately pinned a small microphone to her lapel.
“Thank you all for coming.”
Paige smiled lightly, her eyes glowing as she slowly paced to the center of the room, her every move like a walking painting, beautiful to behold.
Everyone’s eyes fell on her.
Enrico stared at her, resisting the urge to clutch her back into his arms; after he died, she would always live in the gaze of others.
He could pull back this once today, but not for the rest of his life.
“Six years ago, the first time I set foot on Wind Island, there were no supplies on the island, the mountains were treacherous, and the poisons were more wanton than the people living there, and at the time I felt like I had stepped into hell instead of dying.”
Paige said faintly as she stood there.
A comment that brought the entire ballroom to silence as everyone sat in silence.
“The lock ring on our hands is like a tattoo of shame, etched into our bones year after year, telling us that we are just a lowly crowd.”
Paige said touching her already grown wrist.
The ghetto bunch sat together and their eyes dimmed at this.
She continued, “It’s just that I don’t understand why we are lowly when we were also born with two eyes and one mouth. We are also A country people, born on the land of A country, why can’t we have a fair opportunity to study and work, when I have these doubts, I was always told to resign myself to fate, people are divided into three, six, nine classes since they were born, and to think more is just to live with myself.”
“…”
Silence in the room.
Alfredo was sitting with Uncle Artie and Bastion, and none of them could hear it.
“But I just can’t get over it, for the three years I was on the island, I kept telling myself that if I could get out of this place alive, I would change all of that.”
Paige said, “Today I finally saw it all changed, of course, I know very well that it wasn’t me, it was all thanks to the help of everyone in the room, all thanks to the heroes who sacrificed their lives for this process, it’s you guys, you made my dream come true, and changed the destiny of Wind Island.”
With those words, she held her glass steady in one hand, and with one hand in front of her, she slowly bent down and bowed to all of them.
The room erupted in thunderous applause.
Paige bent down for a long time before standing straight again, she raised the champagne in her hand and smiled brightly, “I toast to all of you, may the future be bright and open.”
“To President Paige.”
“To Sister Paige.”
“To Wind Island.”
The crowd raised their glasses, and for a while the atmosphere in the banquet hall was ignited.
Paige tilted her head and drank the champagne from her glass in one go before nodding her head towards the crowd, “Please make yourselves at home.”
Finally, everyone’s attention returned to the dinner itself, and they each chatted animatedly.
Paige turned her eyes to Enrico, and she smiled at him, signaling him to get some.
“…”
Enrico looked at her without moving.
Paige lifted her foot and tried to walk towards him when a voice came from far away, “Little Paige, this way.”
She turned around and looked over to see Uncle Artie sitting in his seat waving at her and smiling as he greeted her to come over.
Paige took off her lapel mai and handed it to the maid next to her, glanced at Enrico, and turned toward Uncle Artie’s table.
The tables nearby were filled with Wind Islanders, who had been instrumental in mobilizing everyone to sign the peace agreement.
Seeing Paige coming over, Uncle Artie immediately pushed Bastion, the teenager beside him, “Go play by yourself and make room for your Sister Paige.”
“Okay.” Bastion obediently stood up.
“Bastion has grown taller.” Paige looked at him with some surprise, but after a small period of time, Bastion had grown taller, it seemed that food was important to a developing child.
Hearing this, Bastion was very happy, and even stood on his tiptoes to show that he was very tall, then said, “Sister Paige, you sit down, you guys chat.”
After saying that, the person ran away in a puff of smoke.
“This Bastion, always trying to show off in front of you.”
Uncle Artie laughed brightly, so much so that the repaired beard on his face twitched, “Come on, little Paige, sit here, it’s been another while since we’ve talked.”
“Good.” Paige sat down next to Uncle Artie and met Alfredo’s gaze directly across from her, who nodded at her, “Paige, you look beautiful today.”
“Thanks.” Paige smiled, it seemed that different water and soil raised different people, Alfredo had obviously put on weight, no longer bony, and the man looked more and more handsome.
All the people from Wind Island looked much more refreshed, and she looked from one face to the next.
Really good.
“Things have been one thing after another since we got back from Wind Island, and I haven’t had a proper chat with everyone yet, so here, I’ll toast to all of you.”
Paige smiled as she lifted the glass in front of her, tilting her head back and taking a drink.
“Boozy enough.” Uncle Artie would give her a thumbs up and follow suit with a drink, adding, “But what you just said, I don’t agree with it entirely, this rebuilding of the slums, the first person to take credit for it is you, little Paige, without you, we people would still be living like dogs on the island.”
“Uncle Artie, you flatter me.” Paige smiled, in a humble manner.