Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 133: Confidence

Chapter 133: Confidence

Fear and panic were evident in the Safirans’ eyes.

After all, for years, all the Safirans did was work in the mines day and night just to be able to eat.

Not only did they become dependent to Count Dempsey, but also lost their sense of self, and their confidence was crushed.

After all, the Safirans became prisoners and slave-like in their own beloved land to the point that some of them had to escape from it in order to survive and live better lives. It was such a painful and demoralizing experience to the Safirans.

The people of Safiro were once independent, bold, and free.

But Dempsey had targeted those traits as if telling the Safirans that they were not as strong as they thought. That they had nothing without their forest or the protection of their deity.

With what happened to Mt. Esme and the long-suffering they had gone through, most of the Safirans now believe that their guardian deity had perished.

They concluded they no longer had the protection they once had which was why they suffered.

The Safirans believed it was their punishment for not being able to protect their goddess so they didn’t really blame Count Dempsey for their situation since they formerly thought they were at fault.

Only when the magician’s spell was completely undone by Alwin did they realize that they were manipulated.

However, they had lost confidence in themselves even more for getting fooled and enslaved by Dempsey and the magician for so long.

Add the fact that they hadn’t been able to train due to having to work in the mines all the time.

They could have built some stamina but their sword kills and martial arts have been ignored for years.

Thus, the Safirans were horrified at the sight of monsters that even young Safirans used to be able to fight and survive with a few injuries.

Living in Mt. Esme had allowed the Safirans to get used to seeing monsters every now and then. They used to be able to kill monsters once they appear.

But that was years ago when they were confident and trained with the sword and martial arts. Currently, those skills have rusted and a lot of the best warriors have died from trying to get out of Safiro to look for resources outside or getting executed due to false allegations by Count Dempsey and his men.

Thus, seeing so many monsters surround them made the Safirans think that perhaps, they were not meant to live after all.

Because after someone finally came to help them, monsters appeared.

It was as if the gods wanted them to remain in their suffering state and die out just like that.

They thought they were probably being told they shouldn’t live comfortably.

Their way of thinking had turned this way after getting stuck in Safiro suffering all these years.

It was exactly what Dempsey wanted. They were made to think they were incapable and being punished so they would just accept their situation.

It seeped in so deep into their very being that even after the spell was gone, they still thought negatively.

Only Nadia and Bernardo’s group who had been outside of Safiro instantly thought of fighting the monsters and protecting their people.

Dante and the few warriors left in Safiro that he led in protecting their people also prepared to fight despite having as negative thoughts as the others. Their survival instinct and sense of responsibility didn’t allow them to just watch their people be killed by monsters.

Arabella was relieved that there were still people among the Safirans who remained with a positive mindset despite everything and those who conquered their fears. With them around, they would be able to influence their people as time goes by, and hopefully, Safiro would gradually recover.

As for her, Arabella wondered why she was no longer trembling at the sight of even these many monsters. They looked so terrifying and they were making loud scary sounds but she was more irritated by their noise than scared of them.

Was it because she already experienced death before? She was no longer afraid to die?

She felt an arm wrap around her waist. It felt warm and strong.

Oh, was it because she had this person by her side?

Someone so strong and powerful to have made even the monster in Mt. Callion run away in fear for their lives.

"Please be rest assured that not a single one of them will be able to get near you," Ferdinand promised.

"Thank you."

Right. With him beside her, of course, there was nothing to be scared about. It was the monsters who should be scared for their lives.

The monsters that attacked Arabella and her guard knights when she was sixteen were thrice the size of these monsters that appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them.

The monsters here were half the size of an adult man but there were so many of them.

Still, Arabella knew Ferdinand and his knights could easily deal with these monsters.

She could trust in their abilities because they were not famed for nothing. If Ferdinand was said to be merciless to everyone, even more so to monsters.

[She must be terrified of monsters after almost losing her life to them before.]

Ferdinand and Alwin both thought Arabella would also be in a panic. They both stared at her when they realized there was no fear in her eyes.

’Oops. How should I explain this?’

"You are not scared of monsters?" Ferdinand asked.

"I am. But I believe there’s nothing to fear with my strong husband and his reliable knights right here," Arabella beamed and Ferdinand he wanted to kiss her on the lips but held it in.

He still kissed the back of her hand though.

"Thank you for believing in me. I will protect you no matter what," Ferdinand promised as he was elated that she recognized the only thing he believed he was good at; fighting.

’Geez. He’s also actually good in other things as well like in... What else is he good at again?’ Arabella was horrified when she realized she only ever knew Ferdinand was good at fighting.

’Oh, right! He is doing well in his responsibilities as Emperor. Prudencia and Safiro had just been beyond his notice because of the circumstances.’

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A/N:

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