Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 114: Just a Little Taste of Freedom

Chapter 114: Just a Little Taste of Freedom

Nadia and her siblings’ priorities were food and medicine for the people and getting as many children as possible out of Safiro.

They also began sneaking some adults with them since they needed some help in earning money for food and expenses the more children they sneaked from Safiro.

Soon Nadia’s brothers were also able to buy houses in other territories and lived there with former warriors whom they helped escape from Safiro.

The former warriors worked with them as mercenaries. Meanwhile, those who would work as farmers sneaked to Cordelia and stayed in one of the Count’s residences and worked on his farm.

With more hands working for food and expenses of the children and for people in their territory, the situation in Safiro gradually became better.

They were able to eat proper meals in secret, have clean clothing and blankets at their homes, and have some stock of medicine.

With this, Nadia was able to focus on studying for the Imperial Civil Service Exam. She spent sleepless nights studying hard for a chance to be a Civil Servant in Riva where the salary was the highest.

Once the opportunity came and Nadia believed she was ready enough, she asked permission from Count Cordelia to head to Riva.

Nadia took the exam and passed. But she forgot something important. Rather, she did not know the list of names of those who passed would be posted in a public area for everyone to see.

Thus, Count Dempsey learned that Nadia was not dead. A magician immediately came to find her and brought her to Count Dempsey.

They interrogated her about how she escaped and who was with her. Nadia swore she was alone and that she escaped because she got tired of mining.

Still, Count Dempsey sent his men to look for her brothers and sisters in the nearby territories to ensure they were not alive. When his men found none, their graves in Safiro were excavated.

But thankfully, only Nadia’s grave had no bones in it since none of those who died at the time she escaped were close to her size.

Count Dempsey interrogated Nadia about what she wanted to achieve by trying to be a civil servant in Riva. And Nadia said it was because of the money. She reasoned she was tired of being poor so she wanted to try becoming a civil servant in the Capital of the Empire since she heard the salary there was the highest.

Count Dempsey offered to make her his concubine but Nadia refused. He also offered to give her another job if she didn’t want to return to Safiro to mine. But the job he offered was to be a prostitute.

Nadia refused so she was sent back to Safiro beaten black and blue. She reverted to her days of mining and suffering from hunger.

Since Nadia was caught, Count Dempsey became wary and their tribesmen were no longer able to sneak out since the magician had set magic spells on their possible escape routes. Some of their people had perished due to it.

Her older brothers were also not able to send supplies to Safiro anymore because of this. They can no longer enter due to the magician’s spells.

Further, they had to lay low or they will catch the attention of Dempsey or the magician and risk the lives of the people who were already out of Safiro.

Nadia remained in Safiro mining magic ore day and night just to be able to eat. It was as if her days outside of Safiro were just a little taste of freedom.

Things got difficult again as no food supply, medicine, or clothing came from outside Safiro.

Parents once again had to share their portion of food with their children or the elderly as well who can no longer work.

And soon, the food they received was only soup all the time. They only occasionally received sweet potatoes and soup together.

Thus, sweet potato was a rare treat for them to eat. They got used to eating just soup with some vegetables.

’So that’s why everyone was so eager to eat the sweet potatoes,’ now Arabella understood the delight and eagerness of the children earlier.

Arabella grimaced as Nadia said that the food given to them decreased from three times a day to twice a day and soon became once a day.

It was torture. They were working on empty stomachs. But they lived on hoping for better days to come again.

Nadia bid her time waiting for the guards and the magician to let their guard down so she could once again escape. But it didn’t happen.

Only when the Imperial Summons for Nadia was received did Count Dempsey have Nadia get bathed properly and be dressed in clean and expensive-looking clothes.

During the journey, Nadia also received decent meals three times a day along with snacks in between for the first time in a while so she wouldn’t look too thin once she arrives in Riva.

Because of this, Nadia said she had already gained so much weight compared to when she was in Safiro.

Yet, she was still so much thinner than Arabella. It wasn’t so obvious at first glance, but when you look closer, Nadia was still so thin.

’Just how thin was she before?’ Imagining Nadia looking much thinner than she was now made Arabella shiver. She didn’t want to see Nadia looking as sickly and malnourished as the people she saw in Safiro.

"What about your siblings and the children in Cordelia?"

"I haven’t been able to contact them since I was caught. I didn’t dare contact them either even now since Count Dempsey’s men are watching my every move once I go out of the palace," Nadia revealed.

[I thought so. I knew she noticed those men. We didn’t catch them yet to avoid alerting their master.] Alwin had investigated the Safiro estate in Riva after all so he had also checked upon Nadia.

Nadia didn’t contact her brothers or sisters to avoid leaking information and putting them at risk.

Instead, Nadia believed in her siblings. That they were doing fine and were continuing to take care of the people they had helped to get out of Safiro even if they hadn’t been able to contact each other for a while.

With his kind heart, Nadia also believed that Count Cordelia continued helping them even after she was not able to go back as his daughter’s guard.