Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 113: Hiding In Cordelia [Bonus - ]

Chapter 113: Hiding In Cordelia [Bonus Chapter]

"I was shocked when I was introduced to Count Cordelia. I was dressed as a man at that time but I know he instantly recognized me. When I was young, I had met him before in one of the General Assemblies in Medeus when they were not yet part of the Empire," Nadia revealed.

Cordelia was once an independent territory but it chose of its own volition to submit to Valeria in exchange for protection since Cordelia lacked military power.

Nadia was just a child back when she met Count Cordelia for the first time. But she greatly resembled her mother so the Count recognized her easily.

But despite recognizing her, Count Cordelia pretended to have not noticed and hired her as his daughter’s guard.

It was then that Nadia got inspired to become a civil servant in Riva. Count Cordelia’s young daughter was getting educated early on to take the exam in the future.

Nadia attentively listened to the lectures of tutors as she guarded the Count’s daughter. She thought of taking the exam someday too and borrowed the used books of Count Cordelia’s daughter.

Nadia also had an even higher salary working as a guard of the Count’s daughter and she was soon able to buy a house in Cordelia.

She chose a house surrounded by high walls because of a plan she had.

With the help of her older brothers, they faked the death of their youngest siblings and used the borders shared between Safiro and Cordelia. They were able to sneak their youngest siblings into the house she bought.

"How many siblings do you have?" Arabella asked for more details about Nadia’s siblings since Nadia just skipped it.

"Seven, Your Majesty."

Nadia, now eighteen, was the first daughter in her family. She had two older brothers from the same mother, Carlos and Bernardo.

Carlos, currently twenty-eight, was imprisoned along with their father in Dempsey.

Bernardo, twenty-six, was the first to risk escaping Safiro and looking for a job outside and became a mercenary.

From her father’s second wife, Nadia had three older brothers, Miguel and Manuel, twenty-four, were twins; and Dante who was twenty-two.

Miguel and Manuel worked with Bernardo as mercenaries and planned to also buy a house somewhere to bring people from Safiro.

Dante remained in Safiro so someone from their family would be there to watch over their people.

Meanwhile, their two youngest siblings who were female were brought to Cordelia. Aida who was sixteen and Myra who was fourteen.

Aida was of the same mother as Nadia while Myra was born of the second wife.

Soon, Nadia and her siblings succeeded in sneaking children into her house in Cordelia too.

It was hard to notice the children since Dempsey’s men didn’t care about them anyway.

Moreover, so many people were dying in Safiro so it was not rare for someone to die of sickness.

Thus, the siblings slowly sneaked children into the house Nadia bought. Her younger siblings took care of the children while she worked at the Count’s residence.

When the first house got full, she bought another one so she could sneak more children into it.

Aida and Myra lived in each of the houses to take care of the children and ensure they do not get discovered.

However, Nadia didn’t expect that Count Cordelia would catch her one day.

When Nadia bought a third house, Count Cordelia had her investigated and discovered her secret.

Nadia begged the Count to spare her siblings and the children. But thankfully, Count Cordelia was just worried she was doing human trafficking which was prohibited in the Empire.

When Count Cordelia learned that Nadia and her siblings were only trying to help the children, the Count volunteered to help them by providing a more secure residence for the children so they won’t be discovered by the locals or by anyone from Dempsey.

Since then, Nadia and her siblings were able to sneak more children from Safiro and at times even young men and young ladies.

It was then that she learned there were other people from Safiro hiding in Cordelia.

They were among those who left Safiro before to seek jobs outside and send back food supplies or money.

Nadia learned that when Dempsey prohibited everyone in Safiro from communicating or going outside the territory, he had his men find those who were working outside.

Those who had gone to Cordelia were hidden by their employers when Dempsey’s suspicious men came looking for them in Cordelia.

Count Cordelia was also notified about them and he gathered them all to work in one of his farms where they were unlikely to be discovered.

However, they had no way of contacting Safiro since all letters would have to go through Dempsey’s office and his men shoot down messenger birds.

"Count Cordelia had informed them about my presence but he didn’t let us meet since he was still wary of me. He was wondering if Count Dempsey had sent me to get our people back to Safiro. But after he caught me and learned that I and my siblings were trying to get as many children as we can out of Safiro, he finally let me meet my tribesmen."

Nadia learned from them that every month, Count Dempsey had a portion of the earnings of their fellow tribesmen working in other territories and said it was for Safiro.

Dempsey had those who didn’t want to hand a portion of their earnings to his men get arrested and imprisoned in Dempsey. They were executed later on if they refused to work for him.

What was spent to buy the food distributed to the people mining in Safiro was actually from the money that their fellow tribesmen had been giving to Dempsey’s men.

Dempsey didn’t shell out from his coffers at all. Which meant the agreement with him to mine on Mt. Esme doesn’t work since he was not doing his end of the deal.

However, they cannot go against him because of the current situation of their people.

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A/N:

We are featured on Editor’s Choice and Trending for New Novels so here’s another Bonus Chapter!

Thanks much for your support everyone!

Highly encouraging everyone to unlock Privilege Chapters. Just 200 more unlocks to go for Tier 2 of Win-Win Mission.