The guests had already arrived, and the host had returned home, leaving no reason to delay the start of the banquet.
However, tonight's dinner at Montaigne Mansion was to welcome the "old friends" visiting from Sea Blue. Therefore, Anna intentionally avoided extravagance, aiming for the dinner's atmosphere to be more like a family gathering.
This could be seen from the composition of her invited guests—Andrea Cherini, Bard, Richard Mason, John Jeska, Moritz van Nassau, Gerard Mitchell, Ellen Mitchell, and Scarlett Mitchell—all of whom were close friends with familial ties to her and Winters.
Xial and Heinrich, as Winters' only close attendants, attended as members of the host family;
Originally, Caman was also invited, but at this moment, Mr. Priest was busy guarding five powder kegs that, although defused, still posed a risk of explosion, and couldn't come.
